TYMIMA Chapter 76.1

At three in the afternoon, Zhan Pingchuan went to the first floor to report. Captain Old Bang was already counting heads.

 

Their squad had eight people total: two C-level recovery system Awakened ones, two animal system B-level Awakened ones, one enhancement system A-level Awakened one, one control system C-level Awakened one, one insect system B-level Awakened one, and Zhan Pingchuan.

 

With just a glance at the squad configuration, Zhan Pingchuan knew he probably wouldn’t need to try hard today.

 

They were already a combat squad that frequently worked together with good cooperation. The control system would handle mob control, one A-level and two B-levels were combat types, plus two recovery systems as backup. Never mind B-level underground cities—they could retreat safely even from A-level underground cities.

 

He was purely squeezed in to observe, learn, and accumulate experience, which suited an intern’s status.

 

But he was curious why High Tower’s group treated interns so well—high pay and helping with experience points.

 

Could Lan Wendao have the heart of a philanthropist?

 

As he pondered, Old Bang’s scrutinising gaze finally fell on him.

 

“Intern, what’s your name?”

 

Old Bang had a rough voice and rugged features, tall and burly with a beard covering his face.

 

His hair looked like a mass of expanded popcorn, appearing thick and fluffy. He wore a sweatband on his forehead printed with inspirational text—

 

Don’t let your dreams be dreams.

 

Yesterday, from the young miss’s words, he vaguely sensed the squeezed-in intern had something special, but couldn’t be sure. Dream Witch repeatedly emphasised treating Zhan Pingchuan well and imparting as much experience as possible.

 

Old Bang had earned his position as combat squad captain through ability. High Tower Guild didn’t emphasise pleasing superiors, so he immediately stated he’d definitely bring the person out safely, but cultivation was individual—if someone wasn’t cut out for it, no amount of teaching would help.

 

Dream Witch curved her red lips meaningfully: “Old Bang, careful the back waves push the front waves[mfn]means that newer generations surpass and replace older ones[/mfn].”

 

Since entrance level testing went directly into records, Zhan Pingchuan’s CV listed A-level, but Lance had already told her Zhan Pingchuan was actually S-level.

 

All this stemmed from that showing-off entrance on registration day.

 

The showing off was too much, so only Lance and Erdiff could see his true level at the time, whilst everyone else completely believed it.

 

So, ineffective showing off.

 

Old Bang naturally didn’t know these inside details.

 

At this moment, Old Bang’s gaze toward Zhan Pingchuan inevitably carried some contempt.

 

Zhan Pingchuan looked down at the roster in Old Bang’s hands, which clearly showed his name.

 

He raised an eyebrow with a light smile, lazily putting his hands in his pockets: “I’m called Zhan Pingchuan.”

 

Old Bang snorted through his nose, shooting him a glance: “Once we’re in the underground city, remember to learn more. Don’t think you can do nothing just because we’re here. The [Rainforest] materials have been sent to you. Don’t act rashly when encountering giant poison dart frogs—their toxins are too much even for most A-levels.”

 

“Right-o.” Zhan Pingchuan was quite easygoing, still wearing a smile.

 

The bespectacled control system Awakened one nearby was older. He patted Old Bang’s back, then said to Zhan Pingchuan: “Relax, this mission isn’t difficult. We’re not hunting mutant beasts, just looking for ore.”

 

Zhan Pingchuan pretended complete ignorance about crystal ores: “I know, [Rainforest] has red… what crystal ore.”

 

“Red parrot crystal ore!” The insect system Awakened one was impatient, immediately answering.

 

Zhan Pingchuan had a realisation, slapping his palm: “Right, that’s it!”

 

The purple-clothed animal system Awakened one said: “[Rainforest] has a particularly large area. We might need to search quite far this time. Be careful not to get lost—it’s easy to get into danger if you’re unfamiliar with the routes.”

 

Old Bang impatiently interrupted: “Stop being long-winded. He’s an adult—do you need to teach him such basic things?”

 

He was here to work, not babysit. If newbies didn’t even know to keep up with seniors, they should go back to school and be giant babies!

 

Purple-clothes was deafened by his booming voice and could only shrug and shut up.

 

The eight-person group drove to Harbor Tan’s old district.

 

The houses here had long been abandoned, existing for about a hundred years.

 

There were no high-rises—three storeys was already standing out. Exterior wall paint showed large areas of peeling, exposing earth-red bricks underneath.

 

Doors and windows appeared dilapidated. Glass hanging on window frames was stained with dark substances, shattered. Through rust-covered old-style unit doors, one could vaguely see discarded household items in stairwells. Fine dust drifted out through cracks in buildings, merging into the air.

 

This place was simply two different worlds from the prosperous, modern new district.

 

Zhan Pingchuan turned to the seemingly most approachable glasses-wearer in the team: “Senior, Harbor Tan is so wealthy—why not clean up this area?”

 

Glasses patiently explained: “This is the guild master’s idea. He says these things aren’t rubbish, but history. Look at this half-collapsed building—supposedly it was Harbor Tan’s best café before Dawn Day. Only high-level white-collar workers consumed here. You can still find cups people used back then inside.”

 

“And that weed-overgrown courtyard we just passed was once a special education school. In that era, children with intellectual or physical disabilities were sent to such schools for education. The government provided high subsidies, but now, even non-Awakened ones are called worthless people.”

 

“Oh, that better-looking building was once a university, founded by a renowned scientist of the time. The school trained many biochemical talents. Originally there was a statue of this scientist in front, but it collapsed long ago. The guild master had the statue repaired and moved back to High Tower Guild for careful preservation. He said this scientist was called… Li Rong.”

 

Zhan Pingchuan hadn’t expected such a detailed response and was somewhat surprised: “How does Guild Master Lan… how does Guild Master Lan know so much about the past? Weren’t historical records all destroyed?”

 

Glasses shook his head: “I don’t know about that, but the guild master is indeed particularly erudite.”

 

Old Bang said roughly: “Stop wasting words with him. We’re here.”

 

These days’ newbies just had too many questions, unwilling to think for themselves, wishing seniors would pour all experience into their brains.

 

In this abandoned urban village, a spacious area had been cleared out. This area was the free recruitment market for the underground city [Rainforest].

 

There weren’t many people left in the market now. Recruitment signs had been taken down, and teams with gains were dividing spoils.

 

Zhan Pingchuan casually glanced over, seeing one team had hunted a giant centipede. The centipede’s mouthparts had been cut off with knives, whilst the remaining body was being intensely negotiated over.

 

 

This was clearly a scattered team, just in it for a quick profit—not aiming for high returns.

 

Although in principle, only killing the highest-level mutant beast in the underground city would open the iron gate, you wouldn’t always encounter a B-level mutant beast each time, and not every team could successfully kill one either.

 

So, humans gradually figured out the “bug” for opening the gate.

 

For example, you could pay a bit, latch onto a powerful combat squad, and leave together after they’d hunted a B-level mutant beast.

 

Or you could leave a friend outside, agree on a time, and have them use crystal ore to open the gate.

 

Or, the most economical way: stagger your entry time with other teams—when they go in, you come out, and split the cost of the crystal ore.

 

Zhan Pingchuan looked away and saw Old Bang checking documents with the underground city’s gatekeeper.

 

Nearby, two newly-formed scattered teams were hesitating at the air-raid shelter entrance. Without any high-level Awakened ones, they were worried about accidents.

 

Spotting the High Tower Guild insignia, two team leaders’ eyes lit up and they hurried over to Old Bang to curry favour.

 

“Big bro, you’re with High Tower Guild, right? Let us tag along? We just want to make a bit of extra cash.”

 

“Hey big bro, let me tag along too, we’ll pay.”

 

Old Bang immediately waved them off: “No, no, absolutely not this time.”

 

He was actually being kind—this time they were exploring a new map in [Rainforest], which was riskier, and they didn’t have time to look after other scattered teams.

 

But he was blunt by nature, spoke harshly, and didn’t look friendly, so it was easy to be misunderstood.

 

The young, tall team leader, having been rejected, held in his frustration and was about to leave, but the older, short and stout leader was clearly used to being snubbed and was more steady.

 

He continued to plead with Old Bang: “Big bro, have a heart. I just want to go in and kill a few hunting spiders and giant centipedes to feed my family. I won’t cause you any trouble.”

 

Old Bang’s frown deepened and he simply shook off the man’s hand: “Was I not clear? Not this time. With your setup, you’d better split up early—don’t go in and never come back.”

 

The tall, skinny captain, who’d been planning to leave, was provoked by this and became defiant.

 

“It was out of courtesy I asked to tag along—what’s with the attitude? We’ll just follow you, what can you do about it?”

 

He turned to his team: “Brothers, let’s just follow High Tower Guild. We can’t afford to leave empty-handed this time!”

 

Old Bang’s face twitched with anger: “You—!”

 

The tall captain stuck out his tongue smugly: “If you’ve got guts, don’t go in. If you go, we’ll follow!”

 

Old Bang was furious: “Who the hell cares about you? Move!”

 

He led his team into the air-raid shelter.

 

As a lowly intern, Zhan Pingchuan didn’t say a word the whole time, just followed at the back.

 

The air-raid shelter was narrow and dark, filled with a damp, fishy smell.

 

Wind blew into the tunnel, carrying sounds like human crying. Footsteps echoed against the cement walls, and moss underfoot squelched with every step.

 

After about a hundred metres, the moss disappeared, the wind died down, and a massive iron gate filled the corridor ahead.

 

The iron gate was carved with strange patterns, rusted seams exuding a faint earthy scent.

 

Zhan Pingchuan saw ancient, crooked writing among the patterns—Ignotum amet (Unknown Land).

 

He couldn’t read the words, but he could sense the aura of a high-level underground city.

 

Old Bang walked to the front, raised a crystal ore, and pressed it to the iron gate.

 

Soon, the gate shook violently, dust falling in clouds, then suddenly swung open.

 

Old Bang was about to step forward when the tall captain gloated from behind: “Damn, that’s awesome! We didn’t even have to use our own crystal ore to open the gate.”

 

“Haha, bro, you really know how to freeload.”

 

“Why not? High Tower Guild’s wool is there for the taking.”

 

The one in purple muttered under his breath, “What kind of people are these?”

 

The short, stout captain wasn’t as cocky as the tall one, but he couldn’t resist the temptation either, and led his team to sneakily follow.

 

Three teams, thirty people, all surged into [Rainforest].

 

Compared to other gloomy and terrifying underground cities, [Rainforest] looked gentle—it really resembled a tropical rainforest, with giant trees, trickling streams, dense foliage, diverse clusters, and muddy, damp soil underfoot. Unnamed bugs darted quickly beneath thick leaf litter.

 

The only drawback was that it wasn’t a sunny day, but a dusky night.

 

Everyone switched on their mining lamps, illuminating the scene ahead.

 

Shadows danced, the rainforest was tranquil, only the iron gate behind them reminding them how perilous it was inside.

 

High Tower Guild’s animal system Awakened one, Anpa, had already switched on his detector, watching the green needle swing back and forth on the screen.

 

That meant, from the starting point, there were crystal ores in every direction, so the needle couldn’t stabilise.

 

Old Bang, experienced as ever, kicked aside some branches: “Let’s pick a path we haven’t taken before—got to gamble on luck.”

 

Glasses pointed: “Let’s go this way, it’s narrower and sounds like there’s a big river. Everyone be careful—oh, and newbie, be extra careful. There might be undocumented mutant beasts in the river.”

 

“Thanks, senior. I’ll follow you.”

 

With that, Zhan Pingchuan quickly carved a mark on a nearby tree.

 

Even though the team had professional compasses, Zhan Pingchuan habitually left the most primitive marks.

 

Ghost Eye Guild’s combat squad had once entered an S-level underground city with a strange magnetic field that interfered with the brain’s sense of direction.

 

That was the first time Zhan Pingchuan used his third-tier ability, [Void Realm]. Unable to fully control it, he failed, and the combat squad nearly perished.

 

Since then, Ghost Eye Guild required all members to not only use modern equipment but also possess basic survival skills.

 

Old Bang took the lead, slicing through thick branches with his bone dragonfish-scale knife, forcefully opening a path.

 

Occasionally, an F-level mutant beast anteater would scurry past in the light, but Old Bang ignored it, forging ahead.

 

The two scattered teams behind, on the other hand, seemed to have fallen into the sweet trap of “free shopping”—killing and collecting as they went, amassing plenty of mutant beast parts to sell.

 

“Heh, today’s a real haul. This stuff’s enough to buy me the latest game disc.”

 

“Gotta piggyback on the big guilds—they don’t care about these little things.”

 

“How about we specialise in following them? Pick up a little each time, what game can’t we afford?”

 

“Why not think bigger—can’t we get the latest console?”

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 (advanced chapters available on kofi)