Rumeng Zhimeng kept an exceptionally low profile for a long period afterward.
She even reduced the frequency of her public appearances, and even her so-called support club exercised considerable restraint.
Some fans of Rumeng Zhimeng whom Su Shu found familiar seemed as though they were under genuine strict order; upon seeing her, they either pretended not to notice or even managed a smile and a head nod in greeting.
Just when everyone thought she was preparing to unleash a massive power move, everything remained peaceful and quiet.
It seemed as if the whole affair had simply blown over.
Ending with the victory of the newcomer, Huashuo.
Su Shu: -.-
To a certain extent, Rumeng Zhimeng did not disappoint Su Shu.
This was actually a very smart approach.
After all, if she were in Rumeng Zhimeng’s shoes, she wouldn’t continue to cause trouble at the height of public attention either. She would also wait…
Wait until the enemy lowered their guard before delivering a fatal strike!
However, Su Shu didn’t pay any particular mind to this matter, because her goal in joining the game wasn’t Rumeng Zhimeng, nor did she need to revolve her actions around the woman’s behavior. If that woman hadn’t rushed forward to offer her head on a platter, Su Shu wouldn’t have spared her a single glance in the first place.
Still, peace was a good thing; Su Shu needed time to level up as quickly as possible and upgrade her skills and equipment.
Although Su Shu was confident, she also understood her own shortcomings—
Whether it was injuring Wuji, robbing Shentu, killing Rumeng Zhimeng, or blowing up the resurrection point to block those who put a bounty on her that day, she had relied on her combat techniques and the element of surprise—
Just as she would have been counter-killed by Wuji’s weapon if she hadn’t ended him with one slash, if she couldn’t kill an enemy in a single blow, she could barely survive a single ultimate skill from the opponent.
This had nothing to do with skill; it was the game’s intrinsic rules.
No matter how formidable she was, she could not bypass the rules of the game itself.
So at times, Su Shu was even grateful to the game developers—
At least when formulating the rules, they hadn’t made equipment the sole, ultimate basis for deciding the outcome of a PK match.
Therefore, after obtaining a rare moment of peace, Su Shu chose to…
Run dungeons.
Although fighting higher-level monsters yielded more experience, it was truly exhausting and consumed a lot of potions.
What’s more…
Some dungeon bosses in this game sounded extremely delicious.
For instance, inside the Level 30 dungeon, there was an adorable roe deer spirit.
Recalling the silly roe deer she had once caught on the border years ago, Su Shu drooled with anticipation -.-
Thus, Su Shu put on a mask and squatted at the entrance of the small forest shrouded in mist for the Level 30 dungeon.
—Knowing full well that her current face possessed no less lethal impact than Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf grandmother, she specifically wore the mask to keep a low profile.
A pink one.
It couldn’t be helped; her previous set of scrap clothes happened to have a pink exterior.
The soft pink mask softened Su Shu’s somewhat sharp and fierce brows.
There were quite a lot of people at the Level 30 dungeon entrance, with players calling out everywhere nearby to recruit team members or seek a group.
Su Shu felt that standing around shouting was too silly, so she chose to squat at the entrance—
A talent like herself would surely be picked up by a hero.
When Wuyou arrived at the entrance of the small forest in the mist to gather gardenias, she saw a little girl dressed in ragged clothes squatting lonely at the entrance.
The surrounding people were all bustling with activity, leaving her squatting there all by herself.
Wearing a pink mask, she raised her head from time to time, her large, watery eyes rolling around as she scanned the people around her.
Wuyou was reminded of a cat she used to keep.
It was a stray cat; she had fed it for a long time before warming up to it, and only then was it willing to let her approach.
Yet once spring arrived, that cat ran off with other cats -.-
When Wuyou finished harvesting the last gardenia flower and turned around, that little girl was still squatting in the exact same spot.
Quite pitiable.
Wuyou put the gardenia flowers into her bag, deciding to do her daily good deed.
Although game dungeons in Meng Hui Jianghu had set level tiers, the monster levels inside were not fixed—
The system adjusted the difficulty of the monsters inside based on the levels of the players entering the dungeon.
Even though the item drops remained aligned with the dungeon’s base level.
Wuyou was a Level 55 high-level character; if she were to carry a low-level character, while the dungeon would still drop Level 35 items, the average level of the monsters would be pulled up to Level 45.
This made things a bit strenuous for her.
So Wuyou thought about it and sent a group message to her friends—
*Small forest in the mist, doing a daily good deed by carrying a lowbie, anyone want to join?*
Only after the message had been out for a while did two people agree.
Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu and Zongcai Dianxia.
The three quickly formed a team and arrived at the dungeon entrance.
At this moment, Su Shu—the lonely, pitiful little girl in the pink mask—was lowering her head, deep in thought about how best to cook the silly roe deer.
—She had been squatting here for over ten minutes, yet not a single person had approached her.
She was already planning to solo it—
After all, what if there was only one roe deer? If there were too many people, what if there wasn’t enough to eat?
Before she could make a final decision, a shadow fell over her head.
Su · Pitiful, Weak, and Helpless · Shu’s large eyes met the gazes of Wuyou, Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu, and Zongcai Dianxia.
The hearts of the three twitched simultaneously—
How could there be such a helpless little girl?!
In the eyes of the three, Su Shu was weak and helpless—
Ah… looks like she couldn’t eat the roe deer all by herself anymore.
She stood up and asked the leader, Wuyou: “Forming a party?”
Zongcai Dianxia nodded frantically and sent a party invitation.
Almost the second Su Shu clicked accept, she was instantly teleported into the dungeon.
Su Shu: “…”
She hadn’t even agreed with them on how to divide the roe deer yet…
The small forest in the mist was called a small forest, and it truly was a small forest enveloped in fog—
In the thick black mist, one couldn’t distinguish male from female a meter away, nor human from beast three meters out.
Wuyou took out a gardenia flower from her bag and casually tucked it into Su Shu’s hair: “Wearing this flower gives off a scent. If you get lost in a bit, we can follow the fragrance to find you.”
Su Shu: “…”
Her nasal cavity filled with a rich gardenia fragrance; Su Shu touched the soft petals near her temple and softly replied, “Okay.”
Only then did Zongcai Dianxia lead Wuyou and Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu forward.
The difficulty of the small forest in the mist lay right here—
Under extremely low visibility, monsters hiding in the forest could launch surprise attacks at any moment—
Upon death, a system announcement would broadcast: *Player So-and-So was dragged into the small forest by a female tiger and has not returned for a long time.*
—Even though players returned to the resurrection point outside the dungeon after dying, those words “has not returned for a long time” never failed to…
Spur wild imaginations.
Watching the system announcements, Su Shu silently tightened her grip on her long umbrella.
Because monsters would launch surprise attacks, Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu and the others adopted the most conservative tactic—
Sweeping forward while casting area-of-effect skills as they walked.
Though it wasted mana potions, it was undeniably effective. Even though Su Shu couldn’t see the monsters outside, the miserable shrieks echoing from the fog and her steadily rising experience bar told her this was a highly efficient strategy.
Normal mobs didn’t drop items; dropped copper coins were automatically looted and distributed evenly among the team.
Shielded by the three, Su Shu quickly reached the center of the small forest—
Su Shu clearly sensed that the three girls carrying her had grown tense.
Zongcai Dianxia said, “Once we get here, area-of-effect skills won’t work anymore.”
Su Shu said, “It’s fine, I…”
Wuyou hurriedly chimed in, “Don’t worry, we won’t let you die!”
Su Shu: “…”
Alright then.
If anything happened, it wouldn’t be too late for her to clean up the mess afterward.
Zongcai Dianxia nudged Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu beside her: “This lowbie is actually pretty quiet.”
Not at all like the people they used to carry, who would chatter endlessly demanding this and that upon entering.
Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu nodded; she was quite happy to carry lowbies—
Who hadn’t started out as a lowbie?
However…
She nudged Zongcai Dianxia: “Don’t you think her voice sounds a bit familiar?”
Zongcai Dianxia: “Not really.”
Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu: “…”
She silently closed her mouth.
Su Shu was currently distracted, checking a guide on the forum to see where the roe deer appeared in the dungeon—
It turned out to be the exact spot she was standing in right now.
After thinking it over, Su Shu wanted to tell Wuyou to leave a live specimen, so she pulled down half of her mask, took two steps forward, and poked Wuyou beside her: “Leader…”
Wuyou was focusing intently on the path ahead. Being poked by Su Shu made her shudder, and she instinctively thrust her dagger backward—
Su Shu stepped to the side, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her toward her own side—
Wuyou came face-to-face with her exposed face.
Wuyou’s pupils shrank violently—
“Huai-Huai-Huai-Huai-Ow-ow… You’re Huai-Huai-Huai-Huai!!”
Su Shu pulled her mask back up.
Wuyou immediately covered her mouth—
Holy crap, the big boss is wearing a mask!
Definitely can’t speak out loud!
Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu couldn’t see Su Shu whose back was turned, and hearing Wuyou stutters, she couldn’t help saying, “What broke on you? Do you have money to repair it?”
When equipment broke in the game, gold coins could be used to repair it automatically.
With a trembling finger, Wuyou slowly pointed at Su Shu.
A question mark slowly floated above Zongcai Dianxia’s head—
Weren’t they doing a daily good deed by picking up a lowbie?
How did she turn broken in the blink of an eye?
Did her mind break?
Yet before she could ask out loud, a black shadow suddenly pounced from the side toward them!
Zongcai Dianxia instinctively flung a fireball out!
—Swish!
A long umbrella suddenly snapped open and swung forward; her fireball drifted off to the right, following the gust of wind carried by the umbrella!
Gaining a moment to breathe, the nimble dark shadow seized the opportunity to leap toward where Su Shu was standing—
Su Shu snapped her umbrella shut and struck downward with a backhand chop!
—Smack!
The long umbrella hit the black shadow squarely on its back!
Mid-air, the black shadow’s figure froze, and Su Shu promptly dealt a second blow—
With a loud “Thud!”, the black shadow was pressed directly onto the ground by the force of Su Shu’s strike.
The spines of the other three went cold as they listened—
Zongcai Dianxia couldn’t help rubbing her own back…
It felt strangely painful.
And that black shadow—
Which was to say, the roe deer that didn’t act like a silly roe deer at all—was currently lying there half-dead, twitching uncontrollably.
The other three stood dumbfounded—
W-What kind of maneuver was this?
Save it first, then beat it?
So were they still killing this monster or not?
Zongcai Dianxia opened her mouth to ask—
Only to have her mouth covered by Wuyou’s palm.
#Is a big boss’s business something you can butt into?
Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu stood further away, so Wuyou couldn’t cover her mouth: “Little girl, what are you trying to do?”
Su Shu took out a rope from her backpack and looped it around the roe deer’s limbs: “We can add some chili and roast it to eat.”
Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu: “…”
This kind of spicy-spiced NPC operation…
She had a daring thought.
She slowly turned her head and looked toward Wuyou.
Wuyou nodded in bitter anguish—
Now that they knew the big boss’s true identity, how were they going to die?
Sweet and sour, or braised in soy sauce?
She personally preferred steamed.
Seeing the deep emotion in her eyes, Shiguang Buyu Qianqiu: “…”
A mood of grief and indignation circulated among the three.
Dragging the roe deer, Su Shu pulled down her mask and slowly walked toward the three.
The three: “…”
Yingyingying, were they going to be eaten up?
Su Shu walked up to them, pointing at the silly roe deer on the ground: “I’m going to make roasted roe deer and spicy-and-sour blood curd soup. Do you want to eat?”
—Ah-ha?
The three froze.
Su Shu asked again: “Do you want to eat? To get rid of the gamy odor, I might make it a bit spicy. But if there are any spices you don’t eat, you can tell me.”
The three exchanged glances: was this meant to be a final meal before execution?
In unison, the three said firmly: “We’ll eat!”
What a joke! Rumeng Zhimeng’s lackeys died so many times without ever managing to get a single bite of food from Master Huashuo, and now they…
Zongcai Dianxia declared with absolute resolve, facing death without fear as she ordered: “I want a roe deer leg! And add cumin!”