Chapter 282 - 47: Advancing into the Dungeon

The Black Mashed Potatoes were emergency rations Duan Fei had brought along, and he had quite a bit stockpiled in his backpack.

Even when compared to the finest royal provisions in this dungeon, the Black Mashed Potatoes would come out on top by an absolute landslide.

For people who had never been bombarded with processed foods, the monosodium glutamate was a complete game-changer. And that wasn’t even mentioning the fats and sugars it was loaded with—components that made for the ultimate rations in this era.

As they savored the delicacy, the brother and sister grew more and more astounded, more and more shaken with every bite.

Even though they had already drunk their fill of Slime, the two children still ate a large amount of Black Mashed Potatoes. Then, they pulled Duan Fei into their arms.

"To think we were just planning to eat you tonight. How embarrassing," the little girl said gently.

"That’s right. We should at least wait until you run out of such delicious food before we eat you."

"My heartfelt thanks to you both," Duan Fei said resignedly. "Okay, now take me to the Dungeon."

This time, the brother agreed without hesitation.

Replenished by the high-quality food, he felt his body fill with strength. The soft, sticky mashed potatoes were easy to digest. What’s more, they contained an extraordinary effect born from the collaboration between Duan Fei, Cuihua, and Johnson, which was causing the little boy’s wounds to start scabbing over.

The little boy didn’t realize this, however.

He just felt warmer and could walk faster. His body, which would previously get winded after just a few steps, now felt more vigorous, allowing him to reach the front of the Dungeon with no problem.

The Dungeon’s exterior looked like a giant, open mouth, and a stone stele at the entrance was covered in inscriptions.

Looking at the words, the little boy said wistfully, "If only I could read, I might know what this all says."

"It’s meaningless," Duan Fei explained. "It’s just a list of who made it to which floor and who died on which floor. The deepest anyone’s gotten is the fifteenth floor. They’re still alive for now, but who knows what’ll happen later?"

"You can read, too?" the little boy exclaimed in surprise. "I’m really starting to not want to eat you."

"Can you please stop bringing up eating? Anyway, this is far enough. I’m heading into the Dungeon."

"Then what am I going to eat tonight?" the little boy asked pitifully.

Duan Fei gave the little boy a hard slap, then cast a [Rough Healing Technique] on the dazed child. After that, he broke free from the boy’s grasp and headed for the Dungeon’s entrance.

But before entering, he hopped back, tossed some Black Mashed Potatoes to the little boy, and then plunged into the Dungeon without a backward glance.

Several members of the Clergy were guarding the Dungeon entrance, but perhaps because no one had entered for a long time, they weren’t watching the entrance very diligently.

Besides, even if they had been paying attention, they wouldn’t have cared about a Slime slipping past. After all, what kind of trouble could a Slime get into?

And just like that, Duan Fei became one of the first players to enter the Dungeon.

After passing through a dark corridor, Duan Fei found that the first floor of the Dungeon was a pitch-black, damp cellar. Its complex layout was like a massive labyrinth, silently swallowing any Adventurers who rashly entered.

Checking his backpack, Duan Fei discovered that aside from the mashed potatoes, his Crowbar was locked, his phone was locked, his drone was locked, and his Spider Suit was locked. In other words, he had practically nothing he could use at the moment.

The area was utterly silent, save for the cold wind that blew past, letting out a miserable wail.

Hopping alone through the Dungeon, Duan Fei had only advanced a few steps when he saw a steel trap lying in his path.

The trap was wide open, its rusty frame blending perfectly with the surroundings. One careless move and you’d step right in it.

Carefully skirting the trap, Duan Fei immediately spotted another strange mechanism.

A small pressure plate lay on the floor, easy to step on by accident.

Above the plate, dozens of spears were aimed at the spot. Anyone who dared step on it would be obliterated, leaving not even bones behind.

Gripping a rock in his mouth, Duan Fei tossed it at the trap and watched as dozens of spears descended from the sky, turning the ground into a forest of pikes.

He went up, gripped a spear in his mouth, and gave it a few test swings. It felt decent enough.

Although he didn’t have any spear-related Skills, having a weapon was better than having none at all.

The corridor was long and cramped, dark except for the light from the torches lining both sides.

As he moved continuously through patches of light and darkness, Duan Fei felt his sense of time beginning to blur.

Just as he was getting so bored he was considering killing himself to respawn, he finally heard an unfamiliar sound.

The sound of stones cutting through the air rang out. Each pebble precisely struck something, shattering on its target.

Creeping forward cautiously, Duan Fei saw a Slime standing before a cave entrance, locked in a fierce battle with bats that were flying out of it.

He never missed; every shot found its mark. He spat out stones like machine-gun bullets, and each one sent a bat squealing as it was knocked from the air.

After a dozen or so bats had been smashed to death, the swarm finally realized this guy was not to be trifled with. They retreated deep into the cave and did not reappear.

Having dealt with these sudden enemies, the Slime was just sighing in relief when it heard movement from behind. It spun around violently, its whole body twisting up like a pretzel.

However, upon seeing who was behind him, he breathed another sigh of relief. "Oh, it’s Duan Someone. What a coincidence."

"Darts Guest, it’s actually you. I didn’t realize you were so formidable."

"Just how weak did you think I was?" Darts Guest said with a sigh.

The green Slime, Darts Guest, spat out the stone in his mouth, flexed his fat tongue, and said irritably, "These damn devs. They stuck us in a huge dungeon as Slimes, I guess they were afraid we’d have it too easy."

"I think it’s pretty innovative. You know, the tongue is an incredibly tough organ. I once saw two brutes use their tongues as fists, wildly battering each other’s lips until they were both gasping for air and covered in sweat."

Darts Guest gave Duan Fei a weary look. "You should stop watching those kinds of messed-up movies."

"Don’t act like you’re so pure and innocent."

Because his Profession was Darts Player, Darts Guest had a major advantage when throwing ranged objects, even without any bonuses from his Attributes.

And with stones being so plentiful here, Darts Guest could finally put his skills to good use. He was in his element, like a fish in water or a tiger that had grown wings.

Of course, that was only limited to the first floor.

The Dungeon’s difficulty started easy and grew harder, with each floor’s difficulty increasing geometrically.

Therefore, even though there were only twenty floors, the difficulty spike on each one was absurdly high.

Even with tens of millions of players, reaching the twentieth floor and defeating the Demon King in a short amount of time would be an incredibly difficult task.

But regardless, they had to try.

The Dungeon here was also absurdly large, so the chances of players running into each other weren’t high. The chances of them being acquaintances were even lower.

It was as if by some unseen design; Duan Fei felt he was truly being looked after by the Chaos of the Abyss, as he always seemed to be lucky enough to run into people he knew.

After resting for a moment with Darts Guest, they temporarily formed a party and pressed onward, deeper into the Dungeon.