chapter 114

The cage was level with the child’s line of sight, about a meter off the ground.

Only the inside of the cage and the child’s body had any light on them. Everything else was swallowed by vision‑blocking Black Mist. The whole space was dull and gloomy; it was impossible to see what was really out there.

Lu Li took out the assembled Flashlight from his wristband.

Relying on his sales pitch, Gu Yu Chu had talked the three of them into not only each buying a full set of Climbing Items, but also getting a Flashlight that was “half off when purchased together with the Climbing Items.”

The Flashlight’s beam swept up, down, left, and right.

It was cages. Nothing but cages.

The cages formed a solid wall.

They were inside one of them.

“Every cage is full of Wristbands…” Luo Jia Bai’s expression grew grave. “White Evil Spirit Bracelets that represent Players who died.”

The worst part was that they could only see the Wristbands.

There were no Player Corpses. Not even bones.

The child outside the cage realized that screaming and shouting hadn’t attracted his parents’ attention. His mouth split wider and wider, tearing open half his face as he began to wail in earnest.

A man’s and a woman’s voices drifted over from within the Black Mist, laced with impatience and annoyance.

“We see it, we see it!”

“Alright, stop yelling. That’s someone else’s pet. Pull your hand back; be careful it doesn’t bite you! Then we’ll have to spend money to get you shots!”

“I’ve got a business trip this afternoon, and the doctor said they have to operate today, so let’s just leave it at the hospital. It’s just a little inflammation. How is the bill this expensive?”

“The doctor said they’re using imported Medicine-better effect, faster recovery, and less pain. Vet bills are about the same as human medical bills these days; this is money we still have to spend. All the pets in this room are getting treatment. Looks like everyone else is spending plenty too.”

“I told you not to reach in. Why don’t you listen? That’s not our pet. Put your hand back!”

“No!” The child forced his fingers through the bars of the cage. “I won’t! I wanna play with him!”

The nasty little voice was shrill and grating, drowning out his parents’ attempts to scold him. Not only did he shove his hand in, he grabbed the bars and warped the iron, shaking the cage hard like he was playing with a toy.

“Why does your face look like that? You look like a ghost. Why do you keep lying there? Move! Move! Move for me!”

Without warning, the cage lurched and flipped. The three of them were thrown off their feet and slammed into the walls of the cage.

The child’s enormous face pressed up against the bars. His Eyeballs squeezed into the gaps between the iron, spinning rapidly.

Lu Li braced himself in a corner to stabilize his body.

He looked up.

In the jostling chaos, just below the child’s face was the cage’s lock.

Lu Li grabbed the wire, lowered his body, and moved forward through the swaying, making his way beneath the lock. He had to raise his hand to reach it.

There was a keyhole, but no Key.

All around them were other iron cages and one aggressive child NPC. Where were they supposed to find a Key?

Lu Li yanked down hard on the body of the lock, but it didn’t budge.

A line of red text appeared above the lock.

[Item Durability: 99.9%]

He’d just pulled on it once, and the durability had dropped by 0.1%.

The method the game was offering for clearing this stage was: destruction.

If they drove the Item Durability down to 0, the lock would drop off, and they could escape.

“He’s out of his mind. This kid is absolutely insane.” Luo Jia Bai staggered to his feet, dizzy, and had to cling to the bars to stand. “What sick pet in treatment could survive him messing with it like this?”

The child’s fingers threaded through the wire and kept reaching in, slowly turning into dark, viscous Tentacles.

The tips of the Tentacles split and spread again and again, then lunged for the direction they were trying to dodge toward, threatening to fill the entire cage.
“Stay away from him! He’s a Monster too!” Luo Jia Bai finally noticed how close Lu Li had gotten to the kid and hurriedly shouted a warning.

Lu Li had one hand clamped tight around the wire mesh around the lock. He spoke calmly. “There’s a lock here. We need to get out of the cage.”

He exchanged for an iron rod and smashed it against the lock.

[Item Durability: 99.7%]

The durability ticked up by 0.1%.

When he used the iron rod again, the durability didn’t change.

Lu Li paused, thoughtful. It seemed the system required different attack methods.

Repeating the same thing did nothing.

This level didn’t just demand time-it burned through Points. They’d have to exchange for a large number of tools.

In all this shaking and chaos, they’d need to inflict at least a hundred hits on the lock.

Lu Li said, “We need to exchange for a lot of offensive Items.”

“I’ve got a ton of Points!” Luo Jia Bai volunteered immediately. “If you don’t have enough, use mine.”

Mirella pressed him back down. “I’ve cleared more Instances than you two. I have more Points. Use mine first.”

She looked at Lu Li. “What do you need to exchange for?”

“I have Points.” Lu Li let out a breath. Thanks to Bosi, his balance was still very healthy. “What I need right now is time.”

“Before I get this lock open, you two be careful not to get hurt.”

Luo Jia Bai was full of confidence. “That won’t be a problem. These Tentacles are about as dumb as their master. All they know is to charge straight ahead. Their IQ isn’t high. They always have a wind‑up before they attack-we can dodge.”

He was standing right under a Tentacle that was thrust horizontally through the middle of the iron cage. The moment the words left his mouth, he suddenly felt a chill along his Arm, followed by a stab of sharp pain.

A single drop of black liquid had fallen onto his clothes.

It rapidly ate through the fabric and burned his skin.

Luckily he had an Ability, but it could only restore flesh and skin. His clothes now had a gaping hole.

Beside him, Mirella abruptly stepped back and pressed a hand to her shoulder, frowning.

“The slime is corrosive.” The smile at the corner of Luo Jia Bai’s mouth froze. “No wonder the Players didn’t even leave corpses behind, just their Wristbands. They must have been completely dissolved by this stuff.”

The Tentacles crisscrossed the inside of the cage like a spiderweb, packed so densely that the dripping slime rained down nonstop.

With the kid’s sobbing and shrill screams, more and more Tentacles kept sprouting. Very soon, the slime would wash over every corner of the cage.

“There’s anti‑corrosion clothing in the Shop.” Luo Jia Bai hurriedly exchanged for Items, then urged Mirella and Lu Li to change as well.

“This still isn’t a solution. Once the Tentacles fill the entire cage, even with anti‑corrosive gear, we’ll still…” He noticed that after changing, Mirella had also exchanged for Medicine. He walked over.

“The slime hit you just now?”

“I’m fine.” Mirella pressed the Medicine over the wound on her shoulder. “Medicine Items still work somewhat.”

It couldn’t heal her completely, but it eased the pain.

“Hey, didn’t I tell you to come to me? Don’t waste Points on that. I can heal.” Light sparked in Luo Jia Bai’s palm as he pressed his hand to Mirella’s shoulder.

When he removed it, the wound was gone.

“See? Faster than an Item, right?”

A clear, crisp click of a lock opening sounded in their ears.

The two of them turned around in surprise, thinking Lu Li had finally gotten it open-only to see that he was still working at it.

The sound of the lock opening seemed to have come from the next cage over.

A strong beam of light pierced the Black Mist behind the child, sweeping back and forth before finally settling on the cage they were in.

From the far end of the beam, Gu Yu Chu’s voice drifted over:

“Using Items and time to wear down that lock is going to cost you at least a hundred and fifty thousand Points.”

“I’ll open one lock for you-for six thousand Points. Interested?”