Chapter 451 [(*^▽^*)]

Xue Rui woke up groggily, and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a white... mosquito net?

He blinked, quickly regaining his senses. He sat up and realized he was alone in the mosquito net. "Brother Lin?"

He slowly emerged from the mosquito net, and soon Lin Leyou walked in from outside. "You're awake? Isn't there a stream outside? I went to see if there were any fish. I didn't expect there to be any, so I caught two."

Xue Rui asked blankly, "Are you planning to have grilled fish?"

Lin Leyou said, "Sure, I've cleaned it all. Let's grill the fish. Didn't you bring a lot of seasonings? Perfect for this. But the aroma will waft out when we grill the fish, but that's okay. Nobody will know we're grilling the fish; they'll all think it's someone else."

Xue Rui said, "Then let's have a good breakfast and then head to Xiushan Village to get a clear understanding of the terrain there. It will be good for us."

Lin Leyou casually added some firewood to the campfire. "You're right. Besides these two fish, let's get something else. We need something hot to eat."

The clothes that had been left by the fire yesterday had dried, so he slowly picked them up and put them in his backpack. Xue Rui also went over and put the clothes away, and then the two of them started making breakfast.

And you know what? The aroma really did waft out through the cracks, even quite far, and many people in the distance could smell the grilled fish!

Those who had the means stayed by the river for a while and caught a few fish to eat, but those who didn't just gnawed on their compressed biscuits or some dry food they carried with them, all the while grumbling and cursing.

Fortunately, none of them thought much of it, and not many people even remembered Lin Leyou and Xue Rui, since their presence was too weak, except for Jiang Changdong.

He was sitting on a rock, looking at the small red dots on his wrists, neck, and other exposed skin. These red dots were from the black ant bites he had received the night before.

Jiang Changdong has now also discovered that these red dots... disappear quickly when they first start to be bitten, but as the number of bites increases, the duration of these red dots will be prolonged.

Moreover, the bite has changed from initially being painless and itch-free to now being itch-free for a while, but then becoming very itchy.

Right now, Jiang Changdong felt an unbearable itch where he had been bitten, but he dared not scratch it, in case he scratched it and it got worse.

Fortunately, he had some antidotes in his backpack. After taking one antidote pill, he felt much better, but it did nothing to treat the red spots on his body; they were still there.

Jiang Changdong has now officially confirmed that, over time, his physical condition will indeed become closer and closer to the identity assigned to him by the instance.

His own body, whether it's physical strength, physique, or mental state, is at full strength, but now he feels that his body... these three data points have dropped to around 95 points.

In a few days, his score might drop below 90. He had to speed things up. What happened to others was no longer his concern. If he encountered Lin Leyou while he was weak, Lin Leyou would definitely not let him off the hook. Although he had a clear advantage in items and experience, Lin Leyou was certainly no pushover either.

Especially that defensive item; as long as I have it, I'm basically helpless against him. In that case, I need to focus on completing the dungeon quest.

Jiang Changdong wasn't the type to dwell on things. Since the situation was now unfavorable to him, he should prioritize the mission. After all, Lin Leyou was there, and although this opportunity was good, it wasn't impossible for them to meet again in the future.

Having made his decision, Jiang Changdong took out his map. Although he didn't know the route, he knew the approximate location of Xiushan Village. As long as he reached this area, he was sure he could find Xiushan Village.

"Phew..." Jiang Changdong ate something casually, waited for a while, and only got up and walked forward after the red spots on his skin disappeared.

After Lin Leyou and Xue Rui finished breakfast and cleaned up the place, they left and quickly headed towards Xiushan Village.

They moved quickly, after all, they had a detailed map of the route to Xiushan Village. Although the road hadn't been traveled for decades and was indeed difficult to traverse, but...

Xue Rui suddenly stopped walking. Lin Leyou paused slightly. "What's wrong?"

Xue Rui did not answer, but turned to look back at the path they had taken and fell into deep thought.

Lin Leyou also looked back for a while. At first, he didn't think anything was wrong, but soon he exclaimed in shock, "Oh no! We left some traces where we walked, which will make it easy for them to find us!"

If others saw this, wouldn't it leave them with a correct road that leads directly to Xiushan Village? This...

Xue Rui frowned slightly. "Brother Lin, what do you think is the best way for us to get there?"

The road was overgrown with weeds and blocked by many branches. To pass through it, you had to leave many traces, some of which were so obvious that you could spot them at a glance!

But if they don't continue forward, how are they supposed to get to Xiushan Village? Are they supposed to fly there? They don't seem to have any flying items, and even if they did, they'd be available in the system shop, but they'd be very expensive!

Xue Rui: "Let's take the route with less vegetation."

This way, there will be very few traces left, and on roads with little vegetation, there will be many dead branches and fallen leaves on the ground, so even their footprints will not be left, which is the best choice.

After all, these days you can buy items that allow you to fly...

Xue Rui: "The props that can make us fly are all very expensive, and... looking at the red dots on the map, none of them are fast enough to fly. Is it really true that no one has any props that can make them fly? I can't see any."

Lin Leyou, "So... it's not that they don't exist, but that such items are not allowed in this instance. It's not that there are no restrictions on all items, it's just that we..."

Is it simply because they lack these kinds of props that they are relatively poor?

Lin Leyou looked at his more than 200 million points, which did seem like a lot, but this time the SS-level difficulty dungeon would deduct 200 million points if he failed. So, his points were not that many.

Gold-tier item cards cost tens of millions each, not to mention the others. Purple-tier items cost millions of points. All these things combined would easily amount to 200 million points.

Not to mention there are SSS-level difficulty dungeons above that, and even dungeons that are more difficult than that!

They quickly devised another route. It wasn't that they would completely abandon this route, but rather that they would detour around some difficult and easily marked areas and instead take some more open roads.

In this way, they can minimize the traces they leave behind.

Even as they moved forward, they would occasionally hear the system notification sound of points being credited to their accounts. Whenever such a sound rang out, they would exchange smiles, as if a delicious meal had been delivered to their door.

To be honest, they were quite happy to receive points without even having to lift a finger.

They walked for a whole day, which was certainly not enough time for them to actually reach Xiushan Village, but according to the map, they had already covered half the distance. At their current speed, if there were no unexpected events along the way, they should be able to reach Xiushan Village in another three or four days.

They didn't find a cave to spend the night in, but they did find a water source. The water source wasn't very obvious; it was just a small stream of spring water, like a tap that had been turned on, flowing down from above.

Lin Leyou breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's rest here tonight."

Xue Rui naturally had no objections. "This tree hole is indeed nice. It's very dry inside. I'll go in and clean it up, and then I'll rest in it tonight."

Lin Leyou nodded, "I'll join you, let's clean together."

To be honest, the tree hollow was just the right size for the two of them to lean against. Of course, they couldn't lie down, but having a safe, enclosed place to rest was already quite good.

Xue Rui, however, had a strange expression. It seemed like the two of them had been sleeping together for the past two nights since that incident.

Xue Rui's heart raced a little, but he kept a straight face and secretly glanced at Lin Leyou, who was cleaning up the tree hole with him.

Just then, Lin Leyou bent down, his collar open, and that's when he saw it...

Xue Rui’s gaze snapped back as if he’d been electrocuted, but then he realized that he wasn’t unfamiliar with the sight; he’d seen it while showering last night. Why was he acting so awkward now?

Just then, Lin Leyou suddenly said, "Everything's cleaned up. I'll bring the old mosquito net over and put it inside. What do you think?"

Xue Rui snapped out of his daze. "Okay, no problem, I'll help."

Although the tree hole was relatively small compared to the cave, it was still big enough to fit the mosquito net inside. The two of them worked on it for a while and finished. "Get a good rest tonight."

Although not being able to lie down might make it difficult to sleep, the conditions are already quite good given the current circumstances.

As Lin Leyou was about to get some water for dinner, he suddenly saw flames in the distance. Was someone setting the mountain on fire? Would that even work? If the fire grew bigger, wouldn't it attract some unusual people?

For example, police officers and firefighters. In that case, they might search the mountain? After all, this is arson, just like the police in the previous S-rank difficulty dungeon, who were their good helpers.

But that method won't work here. If they get arrested by the police in this instance, they won't be able to kill them. Their mission is to kill all the bandits.