85: Important tasks

A transparent barrier, glowing light blue, suddenly appeared, forming a perfect square on all sides, enclosing the group, the house, and the snowmen within it.

It was like the air wall encountered in a Boss battle: either the group would be killed, or they would kill it.

But now the snowmen really wanted to be killed, clinging to Cheng Zhen and the others like rabid stalkers.

“Spread out, spread out!”

Brother Tian shouted. They were too bunched up to dodge effectively, and in their haste, they could easily hinder their teammates.

The group immediately scattered. Although they were confined within the square by the air wall, fortunately, the snowmen's speed wasn't too fast, so they could still evade them with caution.

The group started playing a game of 'catch me if you can, and then I'll let you hehehe,' dodging here and there under the snowmen's pursuit and interception.

Their thick clothes reduced their agility, and the snowy ground also slowed their movement, making it somewhat difficult for them to dodge.

Cheng Zhen tried to avoid the frenzied stalker snowmen, pondering a way to break the stalemate.

Constantly dodging was not an option. Their stamina would eventually run out, while the blizzard in the dungeon was endless. If they couldn't run anymore, being surrounded by dozens of layers of 'Ice and Snow Curse' would surely freeze them to death.

“Mba, take this and try it on them!”

Cheng Zhen handed Mba a handheld pig-hair-removal flamethrower.

To clear the dungeon, the Raiders's inventory was like a magical house, filled with all sorts of items. Cheng Zhen wanted to confirm the stacking conditions of the 'Ice and Snow Curse': was it physical contact, or destroying the snowman?

Mba did as he was told, and the blue flames instantly melted the head of the nearest snowman.

Then, he shivered again. Cheng Zhen saw on the panel that the curse layers had already stacked to 12.

It seemed that no matter the method, destroying a snowman would result in a curse.

Cheng Zhen took back the flamethrower and observed his surroundings again.

They couldn't use brute force, so they could only do as before: find a specific snowman, and based on the clues on it, deal with the map box.

“Just like before, if we find the box, we can clear the level!”

Cheng Zhen shouted loudly, telling Brother Tian and the others not to just focus on dodging.

Brother Tian and the others heard him, but it wasn't easy to look for differences while hastily dodging, and they also didn't know which specific difference they should be looking for.

Moreover, from previous experience, the boxes were always hidden indoors and near snowmen.

So Cheng Zhen had two theories: one was that the box was inside the house, and they needed to enter the room to search while surrounded by snowmen and avoiding the curse.

The second theory was that the box was on a snowman, and they needed to bravely search the snowman for it, disregarding the curse.

Cheng Zhen couldn't be sure which it was, but either way, they had to try; they couldn't keep dragging it out.

“A Shi, Lizi, can you two go inside the house and look for the box?” Cheng Zhen asked loudly.

He had observed that Brother Tian had the most physical enhancements and was the most agile, so he should be able to dodge outside and distract the snowmen.

Lizi had good observation skills and was meticulous, suitable for finding things. Adding A Shi would increase efficiency; as long as they could find the box, they wouldn't have to worry about this level.

“You two go, I'll draw the aggro!”

Brother Tian agreed with Cheng Zhen's idea. To ensure the two could find the item smoothly, he immediately activated his title skill—

Title: Level 4 Dog Tag (Green)

Active Skill: After displaying the dog tag, enemy units that see it will rapidly increase their aggression towards the user (small chance of friendly units also becoming aggressive). Cooldown: 12 hours.

Note: Don't you dare display it! The base is about to explode!

Hasaki!

The Yasuo Level 4 Dog Tag appeared above Brother Tian's head, making a metallic sound and glinting brightly.

The moment they saw the dog tag, the group of snowmen almost couldn't help but laugh, their rage nearly melting them.

Then, they ignored A Shi and Lizi, rushing towards Brother Tian with unwavering determination. Even the snowmen near Cheng Zhen followed suit.

“You go left, I'll go right!”

A Shi shouted to Lizi, then turned and plunged into the house. Lizi didn't waste the precious time Brother Tian had bought them, hurriedly searching inside the house.

Seeing a whole nest of snowmen rushing towards him, Brother Tian was quite nervous and immediately consumed an item.

Item: Suan Sour Fruit

Quality: Common

Effect: Increases all speeds by 15% for fifteen minutes.

Note: Suan~ Sour!

With one bite, Brother Tian's face contorted in an instant from the sourness. But the item's effect was real; his movements were much more agile than before, and he immediately pulled away from the nearest snowman.

“You go look too! The sooner we find it, the better!” Brother Tian shouted to Cheng Zhen while leading the snowmen.

Cheng Zhen nodded, thought for a moment, and left him a contingency plan, then also entered another house to search.

Mba didn't follow. He listened to Cheng Zhen's arrangement, standing still and waiting for any important tasks that might arise.

The houses were still the same as before, empty, dilapidated, and bare, visible from one end to the other at a glance.

Cheng Zhen overturned tables, chairs, and bed boards, finding nothing.

The other two were the same. After about ten minutes of searching, they had even pried up the floorboards but still hadn't found the box.

“I have nothing here!”

A Shi searched several rooms but found no box.

“Me too, I haven't found anything…” Lizi said anxiously. She saw the snowmen forming an encirclement, already about to surround Brother Tian.

Cheng Zhen knew very well that everyone was now facing the same survival challenge. If Brother Tian died, the rest of them would also suffer, so there was no possibility of pretending not to find it to deliberately harm teammates.

That could only mean that the box was truly not in the buildings; it was most likely being carried by the snowmen.

“Brother Tian, have you noticed if any of those snowmen are particularly strange?” Lizi shouted.

“No, no! Uh…”

Brother Tian, fully focused on drawing aggro and dodging, had no time to observe closely. His movements suddenly slowed down because the item's effect had worn off.

The sudden decrease in speed caused him to lose control of his distance, resulting in him crashing into and shattering two snowmen head-on.

Cheng Zhen noticed that Brother Tian was already a bit out of breath. If this continued, he would eventually be completely surrounded.

He was about to observe more closely when he heard Lizi's startled cry: “Robinson! Behind you!!!”

Cheng Zhen instinctively dodged forward, then turned to see two snowmen suddenly emerge from the house, rushing towards him.

“Here too!” A Shi exclaimed, crashing through a window and scrambling out.

Soon, more snowmen appeared from the houses, swarming towards the group.

These ghostly things actually increased in number?!

The three could only move away from the houses to prevent being trapped like turtles in a jar.

“If this continues, we're done for!”

A Shi's face was grim. A dozen or so could still be dealt with slowly, but with the snowmen spawning endlessly, how long would it take to find it? They would probably be frozen into ice sculptures before they found anything!

“There's no other way,” Cheng Zhen clenched his fist, “we can only choose the most foolish method.”

They could no longer afford to delay. So… they had no choice but to destroy all the snowmen by hand and forcefully dig out the item.

Thus, Cheng Zhen shouted to Brother Tian: “No time for hesitation, quickly use that move!”

The two people next to him were stunned, thinking Brother Tian had some secret technique.

And Brother Tian, upon hearing Cheng Zhen's shout, slid out from among the snowmen and ran towards Mba.

The simple native warrior was confused, only loyal to Cheng Zhen's instructions to stand still.

Then, Brother Tian picked up the unlucky fellow, grabbed his leg, and with himself as the center, used centrifugal force to wildly spin, spin, spin, and spin, creating a human flesh fire wheel – the Black Whirlwind version.

Like a tornado destroying a parking lot, Brother Tian swung Mba, taking out all the snowmen in a straight line.

Mba said nothing, merely becoming dizzy from being spun.

Cheng Zhen heard a series of dungeon messages, but he no longer had time to pay attention.

A metal box fell to the ground, glinting.

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