Chapter 314 - 79: A Common Little Bug

In the spacious corridor, the splatting of large Slimes was incessant, a relentless patter like a hailstorm.

A few small Slimes were fleeing frantically at the front. Darts Guest, clutching his dog, ran for his life, terrified that the horde of Slimes would eat his pet.

Compared to those enormous Slimes, the ones the players represented were astonishingly tiny. They looked like pimples on the behemoths, ready to burst at the slightest squeeze.

"Eight Desolates! Can you stop showing off next time?! Even if you don’t get struck by lightning, you’ll get creamed by these giant balls!" Duan Fei shouted as he ran.

"You’re blaming me for this?"

"I’m not blaming you, I’m just resenting you!"

"So you *are* blaming me!"

Just then, several colossal Slimes suddenly appeared up ahead. They opened their mouths, and a thick, viscous slime shot toward the players.

Facing the sky-filling ooze, Eight Desolates decisively summoned a gem. A dazzling white light evaporated the airborne slime and pierced through the Slime in front of him.

However, his Light Energy was clearly not as terrifyingly powerful as Duan Fei’s. The colossal Slime that had been pierced merely shuddered for a moment, the hole healing instantly, before it resumed its pursuit of the players.

The colossal Slimes here seemed endless. The intricate network of pipes overhead had apparently become their nest, and they continuously poured out to swarm Duan Fei and the others.

"Duan Someone, use your ultimate!"

"Fine. I’ll just blow this place up, and we can all respawn and start over. Super Ultimate: Nuclear Fusion God Fist."

"You don’t have to use such a powerful ultimate! And how the hell do you get nuclear fusion from Light Energy?!"

"Matter is a wave! Matter is light!"

"@#$%&#!"

Realizing they had no other choice, the group could only continue to charge forward, soon arriving in a new area.

This was still a section of the laboratory, but the paths here spread out in all directions, covered in incomprehensible signs. They had no idea which way to run.

Seeing that all the surrounding paths looked identical, Darts Guest immediately shouted, "Duan Someone, which way?"

"Jinghong, which way?" Duan Fei yelled back.

Without wasting words, Jinghong leaped onto Duan Fei’s body, pointed in one direction, and shouted, "That way."

Duan Fei didn’t hesitate either. Carrying Jinghong, he ran for his life while shouting to the others, "Follow me!"

Although they didn’t understand why Duan Fei trusted Jinghong, out of faith in their companion, the group continued to charge onward, following Duan Fei’s lead.

The paths in this area branched out everywhere. The interior of the modern-looking structure seemed boundless, fully showcasing the *Abyss* design team’s perverted "infinity is beauty" aesthetic.

At every fork in the road, Jinghong would decisively point in a direction, and the group would sprint that way without pause.

Soon, they discovered that Jinghong’s directions were actually working.

With every fork they passed, the sounds of the colossal Slimes behind them grew fainter.

By the time they finally reached a new path, the sounds behind them had vanished completely. Ahead of them lay a long corridor.

Realizing the colossal Slimes were gone, the group finally sat down, exhausted, and began to eat and drink to restore their stamina.

After catching their breath for a moment, Eight Desolates looked at Duan Fei and Jinghong—who was still clinging to him—and asked, "That was weird. How did you know the way?"

"Intuition," Jinghong said with certainty.

"That’s a little too mystical, don’t you think? But then again, this is *Abyss*. Anything mystical can happen here."

After they had rested, the group continued on their way.

The long corridor stretched out of sight. White ceiling lights illuminated the area as if it were daytime. The complex network of pipes was gone, replaced by a smooth, flat ceiling.

Looking around, Duan Fei noticed the place seemed like a former large-scale factory. There were signs of human activity everywhere, but on closer inspection, something felt off.

As they slowly reached the end, they discovered a massive mechanical puppet at the end of the hallway. Its body was covered in scale-like armor plating.

The puppet looked to be four stories tall. Its height of over ten meters stood in stark contrast to the tiny players, making them seem all the more insignificant.

As the players entered the area, the puppet’s eyes began to glow. Its massive body started to tremble, shaking off all the accumulated dust.

This, perhaps, was the true boss of this floor.

Facing the Slimes that had arrived, the behemoth was just about to make its move when it was suddenly crushed by a heavy object falling from the sky, and then absorbed.

A horde of colossal Slimes fell from the sky, each one delivering a fatal blow to the puppet as it landed.

Under the barrage of the Slime rain, the puppet finally collapsed. Every component was absorbed by the Slimes, giving them a metallic sheen.

"Is this... infighting?" Eight Desolates asked, confused.

"I think it’s more like synergistic evolution," Duan Fei said, his expression grave.

After absorbing the puppet’s body, the Slimes began to fuse together. Each Slime constantly changed its form, ultimately combining to create a new puppet, identical to the previous one but far more vicious.

Eight Desolates unleashed his Light Energy, but the beam that should have pierced the target was now directly deflected, shocking him.

"What the hell is up with this thing?!"

"Let’s just die and respawn," Duan Fei said decisively. "We can’t handle these things."

"That’s right. You can’t handle them."

A lazy voice called out. A languid, intellectual, older-sister type appeared on the other side of the corner, her body covered in mosaics.

The group of players stared at her for a long moment before finally realizing the implication of the mosaics.

’The art department really gets it.’

Jinghong discreetly shifted her body to block Duan Fei’s line of sight, then shouted to the woman, "Who are you?"

"I am one of the Four Heavenly Kings under the Demon King. You may call me the Alchemist. I never expected the first ones to arrive here would be Demons like you. A real surprise. But no matter, you’re about to die by my puppet’s hand anyway. Better luck with your reincarnation next life; try not to be such a low-level Demon. Go, my little darling, crush my enemies!"

Upon hearing the Alchemist’s command, the Slime Puppet backhanded her and slammed her into the ground.

Looking at the unconscious Alchemist, Duan Fei thought for a moment, then shouted to the Slime Puppet, "Little darling, get us out of here!"

The Slime Puppet immediately walked over, placed the players on its shoulders, and carried them toward the lower level.

Before leaving, Duan Fei took advantage of the chaos to quickly touch the Alchemist on the ground, copying her Profession effect and overwriting his Actor effect.

Just like that, he now had the Profession effects of Mage, Light Mage, and Alchemist.

When Duan Fei returned, Eight Desolates asked in confusion, "Duan Someone, what did you do?"

"Nothing much. Just a common little bug," Duan Fei said calmly.