Chapter 105
Chapter 105: I Treated You Like a Brother, but You Wanted to Be My Father?
Before she went after the dungeon boss, Qian Qi hit a few other spots first. With System’s flight support, she tore through her self-assigned “hidden tasks” at record speed.
Of course, she paid dearly for it.
Six thousand bucks.
“I thought we understood each other,” Qian Qi said mournfully as she sent the transfer, “like true partners forged in life-and-death hardship.”
System displayed the receipt with smug efficiency.
[Dear brother, clear accounts.]
[Our relationship is closer than real brothers, so we should calculate even more clearly. ^_^]
Qian Qi pouted and put away the light-brain.
Now—boss time.
She crept to the highest canyon in the Early Cloud Mountain dungeon…
…then immediately went to the opposite canyon.
This dungeon’s boss wasn’t a magic beast.
It was a magic plant.
And that didn’t make it less dangerous. If anything, it made it worse. As a boss, it could bully anything in the dungeon—magic beasts, magic plants—one at a time or all at once.
Qian Qi pulled binoculars from her backpack and peered at the cliff top across from her.
A massive magic plant writhed in the wind, its body crowned by a grotesque central growth, surrounded by a dozen whipping vines.
“It’s a Shakyamuni Magic Vine,” Qian Qi murmured.
The center knot looked like a monk sitting in meditation. The surrounding vines flailed like raised arms casting a spell. That was why it was named that way.
She counted.
Twelve vines.
“That’s an E+ boss.”
Qian Qi patted System like she was patting a loyal dog. “You stay here. I’m going to buy two oranges and I’ll be right back.”
System went still.
Then, offended: ???
Don’t act like I’m too uncultured to get your meme.
Qian Qi strapped her defensive armor around her waist and headed out anyway.
System, suspicious, followed.
And watched her crawl beneath the cliff top like a thief, then punch the rock foundation under the Shakyamuni Magic Vine so hard the stone blew apart.
The vine lost its balance.
It toppled.
Then it tumbled off the cliff like a rolling nightmare.
Qian Qi scrambled after it down the slope. The vine tried to jam its roots into the canyon wall to slow itself—anchoring, tearing loose, anchoring again—like a spider desperately trying not to die.
Qian Qi’s grin went crooked.
She leaped onto it.
She swallowed a defense fruit in one smooth motion, then grabbed three vines at a time and twisted them into thick braids.
System’s mind briefly left its body.
What—what was she doing?
Qian Qi finished four braids, yanked off her defensive armor, and tied the braided vines together with it like she was tying down a hostage.
The vine kept sliding down the cliff, roots scrambling. But Qian Qi clamped her legs around the central knot as if she’d been born riding nightmare plants.
She tested the braids.
They held.
Satisfied, she grabbed two like reins and yanked.
The Shakyamuni Magic Vine twisted under her control, forced to change direction.
Qian Qi swung her body, turning her back to the cliff and facing downhill.
“Giddyup!”
She snapped the vine-braids again.
And rode the Shakyamuni Magic Vine straight down the mountainside.
Its countless roots hammered the rock in huge, frantic strides, like some multi-legged sea monster trying out land for the first time. With Qian Qi’s wild, gleeful expression, the whole scene was both horrific and—somehow—perfectly coordinated.
System floated there in absolute silence.
It did not understand.
But it was deeply, profoundly shaken.
Who met a magic plant for the first time and thought: Horse?
“System~!” Qian Qi spotted it and waved like they were on a casual stroll. “This thing can climb mountains! With this, there’s nowhere in this canyon I can’t go!”
System wasn’t impressed. System was furious.
That was System’s job.
That was System’s six thousand bucks.
[We should go back,] System said pointedly.
Qian Qi checked the time. The defense fruit was wearing off. “Sigh. Fine.”
She punched the vine’s central knot and cracked it open, then reached in and pulled out a seed.
“I’ll plant this later,” she said, carefully storing it. “Maybe it can become a designated driver for magic plant people.”
System stared.
Then, in its cold, official voice, it announced:
[Cleared the Early Cloud Mountain dungeon. Gained toxic attribute bonus. Your current toxicity level is: E+.]
“Toxicity?” Qian Qi echoed, baffled. “What toxicity?”
Then dizziness hit like a hammer.
Her world tilted.
Her vision went black.
She fell.
System flashed behind her and caught her before she hit the ground. It hauled her through the air and returned to where Li Hai Sheng was stumbling through the canyon, still muttering curses like they were oxygen.
System lowered Qian Qi gently to the ground.
Then its panel thickened.
If it had once been a thin, half-millimeter sheet, now it swelled to a brutal three centimeters—like it had upgraded itself into a weapon.
System swung.
Fast.
Clean.
Vicious.
It smashed into the back of Li Hai Sheng’s head.
He didn’t even have time to turn.
His skull burst like an overfilled balloon.
His body staggered, twitched twice, and collapsed.
System wiped blood and brain matter on his clothes with mechanical indifference, flattened back down to its usual thickness, scooped up Qian Qi, and left the dungeon.
*
When Qian Qi woke up, she was in a room.
Judging by the decor, it looked like the property she’d recently bought.
“How did I…” She rubbed her head. “How did I leave the dungeon that fast?”
Memory flickered. She’d blacked out. Then—
“System?” she called.
[What?] System replied lazily.
Qian Qi leaned close and sniffed its panel.
“…Why do I smell shower gel?”
System went stiff. [If you have something to ask, ask it fast.]
“Oh—right.” Qian Qi sat up. “Why did I pass out? And what does toxic attribute mean?”
[Six thousand bucks.]
A QR code popped up like a guillotine.
Qian Qi’s mouth twisted, but she transferred the money anyway. “Fine. You did carry me out.”
System brightened instantly, then explained:
[The Shakyamuni Magic Vine releases colorless, odorless poison gas. You breathed it in, so you passed out.]
“Then what does my toxicity level mean?” Qian Qi patted her chest and stomach like she was checking for new organs. “Can I release poison gas now?”
[Yes~] System’s tone turned suspiciously cheerful. [Dear, you can fart poison gas now~(*?`)?]
[Happy? If you’re happy, clap your hands~^?^]
Qian Qi just stared.
And stared.
And stared some more.