34: Chapter 34 is terrifying; what should I do when faced with a teammate who seems to have been possessed?

The sky in the Burial Grounds was a sickly yellow-green. The sunlight was shredded by the thick haze, falling to the ground as nothing more than a hazy, ghostly green glimmer. It was as if the light didn't come from the sun, but seeped up from the soil—a manifestation of necromantic energy so thick it couldn't be dissolved.

The air had distinct layers of stench. At the bottom was a rotting foulness, as if someone had stewed a whole swamp's worth of sludge, dead fish, and rotted shrimp for three days and nights. The middle layer was the smell of stale blood—a metallic tang mixed with a cloying, fishy odor that clung to the nasal cavity and wouldn't leave. Occasionally, the wind would snake out from a distant rift, carrying a cloying scent of sulfur, reminding every living soul that the breath of hell had already seeped into this place.

"This was originally a sacred site where the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye buried their Fallen warriors, but under Andariel's corruption, it has turned into a dead, silent swamp."

The cold voice came from Liu Betti, her tone as flat as if she were reading an archaeological report. She stood next to a semi-collapsed tombstone, the edge of her raven-feather hood fluttering in the eerie wind. Her exposed jawline was taut, a stark contrast to the mixed-blood girl who would occasionally crack a joke.

Hu Jinsi was squatting on the ground, checking his shoelaces—actually using the movement to secretly scan his surroundings. Hearing Liu Betti speak, his movements paused, and his heart skipped a beat: both the tone and the voice didn't sound like Liu Betti at all.

Ignoring the gazes of the three, Liu Betti reached out and brushed over the blurred carvings on the tombstone, her fingertips stained with a layer of moss. She continued: "Blood Raven was once a high-ranking officer of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, Moreina. Before she fell, she was one of the three heroes who defeated Diablo."

Hu Jinsi kept his head down, his eyelids twitching wildly. Moreina, Blood Raven, Diablo, Andariel. These names were like a ring of keys, clicking open a dust-covered drawer deep within his memory. He pressed his lips together tightly, swallowing the question, "How do you know that too?" and turning it into a vague mutter: "...Sounds like a big deal."

"Oh right, Andariel and Diablo are also on my quest list." Liu Betti turned around, leaning against the mottled tombstone, her gaze sweeping over the three. Her eyes looked exceptionally deep in the ghostly green glimmer, like two bottomless wells. "After defeating Diablo in Tristram, Blood Raven's soul was quietly corrupted by dark forces. Upon returning to the monastery, Akara sensed that she had 'become a different person.' Later, during Andariel's invasion, she voluntarily defected to the Maiden of Anguish, betraying the Sisterhood. In the subsequent battle, she was killed, dying as a living being. Andariel then resurrected her corpse as an undead, granted her the ability to summon zombies, and sent her to the Burial Grounds to command the army of the dead."

As her voice faded, the forest fell into an eerie silence. Even the wind seemed to have its throat choked by this history.

Lin Rui's hand gripping the rifle tightened involuntarily, his knuckles turning white. Su Wan held her lyre, her mouth slightly agape, not even noticing that the instrument was tilted.

Watching their stunned expressions, Liu Betti suddenly curled her lips. That smile was like a crack in an ice sheet, and her cold voice became like snow melting under the sun, dripping back into its usual lightness: "Isn't it a very epic story? I've told the story of this place to every companion who has teamed up with me to come here. I hope that if one day I'm gone, the stories here will still be passed down."

She clapped her hands, the crisp sound appearing exceptionally jarring in the dead swamp: "Wake up, don't be scared by the content of this story. Things like Demon Lords are far away from us. The Blood Raven here is no longer her original self; she is just a projection within an instance, and she can be defeated. Since the world consciousness of Water Blue Star has marked the entry level for this instance, then professionals of this level have the strength to defeat Blood Raven."

Hu Jinsi slowly stood up, patting the mud off his knees. He looked up with a "you're right" expression, but internally, he was pulling the fire alarm: Something is wrong, very wrong. This girl usually struggles to use idioms properly, so why did she suddenly start quoting books today? And "Diablo," "Maiden of Anguish," "Akara"... With this amount of knowledge, not to mention being a Level 7 Rogue, even if you said she was a Level 70 Rogue, people would believe it.

He instinctively took a half-step back, his gaze scanning Liu Betti, trying to see if there was some phantom of an old grandfather or grandmother hidden in the outline of her shadow.

Hu Jinsi's first reaction was that she had been possessed. His second reaction was, considering there were many old grandmothers in the Rogue Encampment, this girl might have been possessed by the remnant soul of some old grandmother. Although this sounded like a protagonist's lucky encounter in a third-rate novel, Hu Jinsi never wanted such a story to happen to himself. Even if such a story happened to a teammate, he felt very uncomfortable. Who knew if that "old grandmother" would come out in the middle of the night to use a teammate's mouth to tell them bedtime stories?

As a girl, Su Wan's intuition was sharper than the two boys'. She took half a step forward, her voice trembling slightly: "Betti... are you okay?"

Liu Betti looked at their nervous expressions and suddenly smiled. That smile carried a bit of helplessness, a bit of relief, and a bit of the realization of "I knew you would think that." She spread her hands and shrugged: "I can probably guess your thoughts. You don't need to worry; I haven't been possessed by any old monster, nor am I being inhabited. These are truly some knowledge and historical stories I obtained when I took the job, it's just that this knowledge and history are too heavy. So every time I team up with others, I can't wait to pour these stories out, letting others share my feelings. After all, being the only one who knows this is just too lonely."

She paused, looking at Su Wan sincerely: "Really. If I were possessed, I should have already tricked you all to your deaths by now, right?"

This was crude but true, and it actually eased the atmosphere a little.

Hu Jinsi and Lin Rui exchanged a look. The meaning in that look was complicated—skeptical, but they couldn't find any flaws for the time being. Aside from suddenly becoming a living history book, she was indeed still that Level 7 Rogue.

"Alright, alright," Hu Jinsi waved his hand, hoisting his iron-wrapped long staff onto his shoulder, "As long as you're not possessed. Even if you really were, the three of us fighting you, a Level 7, we might not necessarily lose."

"Can you wish for something good?" Su Wan nudged him with her elbow, but the tension on her face had indeed faded quite a bit.

The purpose of the team's trip was ultimately experience and equipment. The four of them quickly pulled their energy away from Liu Betti's "epic storytelling session" and turned to the swaying monsters in the Burial Grounds.

Looking out, in this cursed cemetery, skeletons and zombies were scattered densely between the decaying tombstones like discarded toys. They moved slowly, their joints making dry, rubbing sounds, swaying with every step, appearing completely lifeless.

Su Wan held her light crossbow, complaining while stringing the bolt: "Betti, you never said before that the monsters here were all melee types. Except for Blood Raven, there isn't even a single ranged monster, completely different from the Cold Plains."

Liu Betti was nocking an arrow, aiming at a skeleton crawling out of the mud. She was stunned upon hearing this: "Did I not say that? I should have. If this place didn't completely lack ranged monsters, why would I have taken the risk to come here with other squads to farm these undead? Since we clearly knew Blood Raven was here, and we still came here to farm undead, there must be an advantage to the monsters here. They don't have ranged attacks. Compared to the Cold Plains, what a huge advantage that is. And look, these undead move so slowly, I feel like even if we completely ignored them, they couldn't catch up to us."

As she spoke, she released the string. The feather arrow pierced the air and precisely nailed into the skeleton's eye socket. The skeleton swayed, its jaw opened, letting out a silent sigh before dissipating into points of light.

Under Liu Betti's suggestion, the squad cleaned up these skeletons and zombies bit by bit along the periphery of the Burial Grounds. Testing the intensity was also a process of weakening the monster numbers. Sure enough, as Liu Betti said, these undead were simply too weak. Their health points were not much more than those Fallen. The skeleton's scimitar slashed onto Lin Rui's round shield, leaving only a shallow white mark; the Hungry Dead's claws swiped over, moving so slowly that even Su Wan could dodge by turning sideways.

Lin Rui didn't even use many skills. Holding the shield in his left hand and a one-handed hammer in his right, a couple of casual flat swings were enough to smash a skeleton into scattered bone fragments or shave off half the head of a zombie. The bone fragments and rotting flesh dissipated into points of light, leaving only a few wisps of disgusting black smoke.

"They are indeed brittle." Lin Rui shook the filth off his sword, his tone flat, "Easier to deal with than the Fallen Shaman in the Cold Plains."

It was just a pity that Su Wan's attack method was often accompanied by a lot of noise. As long as her lyre strings were plucked, the crisp timbre could travel far. In order not to attract Blood Raven's attention—that creature was still wandering deep in the cemetery in the distance, but Rogues' ears were notoriously sharp—Su Wan didn't dare to chant any magic the whole time. She could only follow along, stifled, using the hand crossbow to pick off those swaying undead.

"I'm playing this Bard class like an assassin." Su Wan shot an arrow through a zombie's knee, waiting for it to topple to the ground before firing another shot to finish it, "Sneaking around, not daring to make a sound."

"Bear with it." Hu Jinsi swept from the side, his long staff knocking away a skeleton trying to sneak up behind Su Wan, "Once we take down Blood Raven, you can go back and play 'Spell-Breaking Melody' for three days and nights, and no one will care."

Since it had been confirmed that the strength of these undead was not too high, the four began their further plan.

They dispersed. Hu Jinsi volunteered to keep an eye on Blood Raven's movement range from afar. He found a semi-collapsed tombstone as cover, exposing only his eyes, watching the thin figure wearing worn leather armor and holding a bone bow wandering aimlessly among the graves. Blood Raven's pace was strange; it didn't look like walking—in Eastern terms, it was more like shrinking the ground to an inch. Every time she took a step, the mud beneath her feet would ripple with a faint ghostly green halo.

The others were on the side away from Blood Raven, cleaning up those scattered skeletons and zombies. Every time they cleared an area, Lin Rui began to set up trap pits on that ground here and there.

His movements were fast. The enchanted entrenching tool cut into the soil, turning, digging, and compacting; in less than a minute, he could dig a standard cylindrical trap pit. Lin Rui deliberately dug each pit not very wide, about one meter in diameter and one meter eighty deep. This size was just enough to trap Blood Raven's feet, yet narrow enough that after she fell in, she couldn't fully draw her bone bow inside. The bow limbs needed space, and the side walls of the pit would press tightly against her elbows.

"What if she climbs out?" Su Wan asked while helping to sharpen the wooden stakes to be inserted at the bottom of the pit.

"Then we'll just send her back down." Lin Rui didn't even look up, the shovel blade covered in black mud, "I'll guard nearby; if she sticks her head out, I'll Charge and knock her back in. Or you stand far away, use one Thunderwave, and she'll have to Roll back down as soon as she crawls up."

Su Wan imagined the scene and couldn't help but shiver: "...That's ruthless."

"Being ruthless to the enemy is being kind to ourselves." Hu Jinsi snuck back from the distance, holding a throwing knife he took out from his backpack, spinning it between his fingers, "In two hours, I want to make this place the final hurdle of her life. Run anywhere, and it's a pit; stop anywhere, and it's death."

Two hours later, on the pre-set battlefield, Lin Rui had set up nearly thirty trap pits here and there. Each pit was marked with a sign that could be recognized by the squad members—that was a sharpened wooden stake inserted diagonally at the edge of the pit, with a small piece of red cloth borrowed from Liu Betti's quiver tied to the top of the stake. In the ghostly green glimmer, the red cloth strips were like clusters of faint flames, guiding the squad members' movement.

After the preparation work was completed, the squad members regrouped and began to discuss the final step.

"Let's start the fight." Hu Jinsi squatted on a tombstone, his long staff resting across his knees, his gaze cast toward the direction where Blood Raven was wandering in the distance, "The strength and movement speed of these undead pose absolutely no threat to us. They are so slow that even Su Wan can kite them slowly. This way, even if Blood Raven suddenly goes crazy halfway and summons twenty undead, it won't pose too much of a threat to us, it's just a matter of wasting more time and means."

He paused, looking at Liu Betti, his tone becoming a bit more serious: "However, just don't let Liu Betti start it. Blood Raven might have an extra aggro mechanism for Rogues; after all, according to the story Betti told, they are considered to be killing each other within the same sect. Try not to let Liu Betti build aggro in the early stage. Lin Rui, you pull the monster from afar with your rifle, see if you can pull Blood Raven directly over through aggro. If you can, that's the simplest way. If not, we'll then use melee methods to force her to flee in this direction."

Lin Rui checked the rifle's magazine and nodded: "Okay."

The squad quickly carried out the operation according to the pre-set plan.

Lin Rui chose a high slope with an open view, knelt on one knee, and raised the standard-issue rifle. The barrel gleamed with a cold, hard metallic luster in the ghostly green glimmer. He took a deep breath, held it, and the sights locked onto the thin figure wandering in the distance.

"Bang!"

The gunshot exploded in the dead Burial Grounds, startling a flock of crows hiding in the dead trees.

Blood Raven's figure tilted violently at the moment of the gunshot. The bullet grazed her decaying shoulder, bringing up a puff of shattered leather armor residue. She slowly turned around, two points of scarlet light lit up in her deep-set eye sockets, like a beast rudely dragged from slumber.

Lin Rui immediately stood up and began to retreat toward the trap area. His pace was neither fast nor slow, maintaining a just-right provocation—making Blood Raven feel like she could catch up, but not enough to make her give up immediately.

However, Blood Raven did not chase as expected.

She stood in place, her withered fingers drawing a bone arrow from the quiver at her waist and nocking it onto that twisted bone bow. The bowstring was pulled back, emitting a tooth-aching creaking sound. An arrow wreathed in pale flames condensed out of thin air, its tip aimed at Lin Rui's direction.

"She doesn't take aggro!" Hu Jinsi whispered behind cover, "She's outputting from where she stands!"

The first arrow came extremely fast.

Lin Rui didn't dodge. He slammed on the brakes, rooting his left foot, stepping back half a step with his right, holding his round shield high, shrinking his whole body behind the shield face. He wanted to test Blood Raven's attack power; only by figuring out the damage could the subsequent tactics be deployed.

"Boom!"

The flame arrow slammed into the round shield, exploding into a burst of pale fire. The impact force transmitted through the shield face to Lin Rui's arm, shaking him back two steps, the web between his thumb and index finger numb, and a scorched mark was burned onto the iron sheet of the shield face.

Lin Rui lowered the shield, glanced down at his panel, then looked up and shouted to his teammates: "Twenty-three damage! Acceptable!"

Hearing this number, Hu Jinsi, Su Wan, and Liu Betti all breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. Twenty-three points, for Lin Rui's thick health bar, was indeed within the acceptable range. This meant that although Blood Raven's ranged attack looked scary, as long as they weren't hit consecutively, they had room to maneuver.

"Received! Deploy as planned!" Hu Jinsi flashed out from behind cover, spinning his long staff in his hand, "Melee group, move out!"

Lin Rui and Hu Jinsi quickly moved toward Blood Raven.

Blood Raven stood in place, pouring fire toward the two of them, arrow after arrow.

The pale fire arrows trailed with flames, carving twisted trajectories through the air.

But the two were not charging in a straight line.

Lin Rui's figure suddenly dropped into a Roll, triggering [Tactical Roll].

His body kicked up dust as he dashed forward four meters in an eerie arc; mid-Roll, he smoothly stowed his rifle into his backpack and gripped his spear.

The second arrow shot by Blood Raven grazed his rolling trajectory, nailing into the ground and exploding in a burst of sparks.

On the other side, Hu Jinsi initiated [Roll].

His body darted rapidly toward the front-side, maintaining a semi-concealed posture while moving.

A fire arrow predicted his movement but missed due to his sudden change in direction, exploding two meters to his side; the heat scorched his cheeks, but it caused no real damage.

"The previous attacks didn't have much impact!" Su Wan, watching clearly from the back, shouted while holding her lyre, "She can't hit us!"

After being approached, Blood Raven did not give the two melee fighters much time to attack.

She let out a sharp hiss and drifted backward, attempting to widen the distance between herself and Lin Rui and Hu Jinsi.

Her speed was extremely fast; it didn't look like she was running, but rather being pulled backward by an invisible thread.

Facing this situation, it was clearly within the analysis of the pre-battle simulation.

Lin Rui suddenly exerted force with his legs, triggering [Charge]!

His body was like a cannonball fired from a chamber, slamming straight toward Blood Raven; the eight-meter distance was closed in an instant.

Blood Raven was forced to change direction again, drifting toward the flank.

But as soon as she moved, in the shadows of the flank, Hu Jinsi's figure had already leaped into the air, using [Parkour]!

His movement speed doubled in an instant, and the distance of his next jump doubled accordingly.

Like a leopard leaping over a mountain stream, he carved a sharp arc in the air and landed steadily behind Blood Raven, his long staff held horizontally to block her retreat.

"This path is closed." When Hu Jinsi landed, he deliberately slammed his long staff into the ground, shaking up a circle of dust, his tone carrying a hint of chuunibyou.

Blood Raven, having her retreat blocked by the two, quickly changed her direction of movement.

Like a chess piece trapped on a board, she was forced to move slowly toward the area densely packed with pre-set traps.

Along the way, during the intervals of her high-speed movement, Blood Raven raised her bone bow several times, the bowstring vibrating.

With every vibration, the soil beneath her feet would crack open, and pale skeletons would crawl out from the ground, brandishing scimitars and pouncing toward the four of them.

But as soon as those summoned creatures took form, Liu Betti's arrows arrived.

She stood on the flank of the battlefield, pulling her Soul-Sucking Short Bow to its full draw, triggering [Multishot].

An arrow left the string, splitting into two in mid-air, covering the skeletons that had just crawled out of the ground in a fan shape.

The arrows pierced through skulls and ribs, pinning those fragile summoned creatures back into the soil.

Liu Betti, having taken care of the summoned creatures, did not idle; she began to shoot arrow after arrow at Blood Raven's main body.

The fire arrows exploded around Blood Raven; although the damage caused was limited, it successfully forced her to keep moving closer toward the team's pre-set battlefield area.

"Don't let her stop!" Hu Jinsi shouted while moving, "Don't give her time to draw the bow! Force her to keep moving!"

The rhythm of the entire battlefield was like a net being gradually tightened by the four.

When Blood Raven moved left, Lin Rui's [Charge] slammed into the left; when Blood Raven moved right, Hu Jinsi's long staff intercepted the right; when she wanted to stop to shoot, Liu Betti's fire arrows would explode at her feet, forcing her to continue drifting.

After the seventh minute of the battle, Blood Raven finally fell for the trap.

She stepped into a pit perfectly camouflaged by withered leaves and loose soil.

The wooden stakes at the bottom of the pit pierced her decayed calf, causing her figure to sink abruptly.

The narrow space of the pit clamped down on her lower body; she tried to raise her bone bow, but the pit wall pressed against her elbow, preventing the bow limbs from fully opening.

She could only let out an angry hiss, attempting to use her hands to brace against the edge of the pit and climb out.

"Trying to run?" Lin Rui had been waiting at the edge of the pit.

He watched the half of her body that had emerged and, without hesitation, triggered [Charge]!

"Bang!" The tower shield slammed into Blood Raven's shoulder, forcefully knocking her body, which had just emerged, back to the bottom of the pit.

Blood Raven rolled in the pit, her bone bow striking the pit wall and making a teeth-grinding cracking sound.

Unwilling to give up, she tried to climb again, her fingers digging into the soil at the edge of the pit.

But this time, Su Wan, standing three meters away, pressed her hands onto the strings of her lyre.

"Thunderwave!"

A strong sound exploded! The sound wave spread in a circular ring, precisely sweeping across the edge of the pit.

Blood Raven's body, which had climbed halfway up, was pushed hard by this invisible force and fell back to the bottom of the pit again, sending bone armor fragments flying everywhere.

"Stay back!" Su Wan shouted until her voice cracked, but her fingers did not pause in the slightest, immediately starting to prepare the next spell.

Trapped in the pit, Blood Raven completely lost the ability to perform ranged attacks.

She could not draw the bone bow and could only occasionally wave it to summon one or two skeletons, or futilely attempt to climb.

But every attempt to climb was knocked back by Lin Rui's [Charge], or shaken back by Su Wan's Thunderwave, or Hu Jinsi, having nothing better to do, would [Roll] close and strike her back to her original position with his staff.

The four members of the team tacitly retreated to cover outside a safe distance to output damage.

"Don't get close," Hu Jinsi warned, holding a throwing knife in his hand, "If this thing self-destructs after death, being face-to-face is suicide. We'll output from afar and grind her to death."

Blood Raven let out shrill hisses in the pit; the sound no longer resembled a demon's roar, but instead gradually revealed a sharp ringing that belonged to a human female warrior, filled with pain and liberation.

The bone bow in her hand snapped with a "crack" during a futile wave, the decayed bowstring breaking and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Her body fell backward, landing heavily at the bottom of the pit.

The moment she hit the ground—

"Boom!"

A pale soul energy exploded from within her, turning into several twisted lightning chains that burst wildly in all directions!

Those zombies and skeletons that were still shambling nearby were swept by the lightning chains and instantly froze in place, as if their skeletons had been crushed by an invisible giant hand, turning into powder filling the sky, as if they had never existed.

After the lightning extinguished, Blood Raven's corpse quickly shriveled and weathered.

The tattered leather armor covering her lost its support and collapsed.

Ultimately, only a withered skeleton wrapped in leather armor remained at the bottom of the pit, along with the string of Rogue nameplates at her waist that no longer glowed.

The four team members stood a dozen meters away, looking at the devastated battlefield, a layer of cold sweat breaking out on their backs simultaneously.

"Good thing..." Su Wan's voice was weak, "Good thing we didn't get close."

"Yeah," Hu Jinsi looked down at the throwing knife in his hand that he hadn't managed to throw yet and swallowed, "If anyone had lost their head and jumped down to finish her off just now, they'd probably be lying on the ground watching black-and-white TV right now."

Lin Rui silently raised his round shield in front of him; the shield surface still bore scorch marks from the previous fire arrows.

He checked his own HP and looked at the withered skeleton at the bottom of the pit, saying in a low voice, "These boss monsters all have the nasty habit of trying to take people with them when they die."

Just as the four were about to breathe a sigh of relief, a cold, emotionless dungeon announcement sounded in their ears simultaneously.

The voice felt like it was poured directly into their brains from their crowns, making their scalps tingle.

"Congratulations to Lin Rui, Su Wan, Hu Jinsi, and Liu Betti for defeating a boss-level monster for the first time in the Cold Plains, thanks to your own excellent combat proficiency."

"Hereby granting the achievement—[Pure Skill: Rogue's Redemption]."

"This is a public announcement!"

The expressions of the four split into two distinct states in an instant.

On Liu Betti's face was pure surprise, which then turned into irrepressible joy.

Her hand holding the Soul-Sucking Short Bow trembled slightly, and her lips moved, as if wanting to say something, but no sound came out.

As for the three members of the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad—Lin Rui, Su Wan, and Hu Jinsi—the expressions on their faces were like they had all swallowed three pounds of undercooked potatoes, looking identically constipated.

"...Here we go again." Hu Jinsi looked up at the sky, even though there was only a yellowish-green haze, "Can't this damn announcement be anonymous? Every time we finish, it's a public execution; it's like they're afraid the whole world won't know what we've done."

Su Wan held her lyre, looking hopeless, "Is it too late for me to change my name? Once this announcement rings, everyone in the dungeon will know we've been up to something again."

Lin Rui didn't speak, just silently opened his panel.

The achievement reward had been issued: a choice of one of two perks, plus a 10,000-point class experience reward. (First-time trigger reward).

[Oath of the Blind: You defeated the Fallen Blood Raven (Moreina), which means you have inherited the orthodox will of the Blind Sisterhood. Your archery has become more precise, never missing again. Effect: All your ranged weapon attacks deal +1 additional damage on hit.]

[Withered Bone Tough Skin: Having withstood the siege of the undead army, your body has become harder than the withered bones of the Burial Grounds. Effect: Your maximum HP is permanently increased by 10 points.]

"Obviously," Hu Jinsi glanced at the options and rolled his eyes, "This Oath of the Blind is basically tailor-made for Liu Betti. The three of us can only choose the Withered Bone Tough Skin, which is like a freebie."

Liu Betti had also finished reading the options. She didn't hesitate and directly chose [Oath of the Blind].

A faint golden light flashed over her, and she drew the Soul-Sucking Short Bow to test the feel, the corners of her mouth curling up involuntarily: "...It really suits me."

"Congratulations." Lin Rui listlessly chose [Withered Bone Tough Skin], his maximum HP jumping to a higher number, but there wasn't much joy on his face, "A bit tankier, that's good."

Su Wan and Hu Jinsi also successively chose [Withered Bone Tough Skin].

Ten HP points were added; for a squishy Bard and a Monk, it counted as a solid consolation prize.

After the battle came the familiar work of collecting loot.

Beside Blood Raven's corpse, two pieces of equipment lay quietly.

A pair of leather boots, with dark red metal spikes embedded in the soles, and faint fire patterns flowing across the surface of the boots.

A soft cap, looking tattered and worn, as if it had been worn by countless people, with one corner of the brim tilted, yet it radiated a strange, captivating affinity that made it impossible to look away.

The moment Hu Jinsi's gaze touched those leather boots, he couldn't look away.

[Hot Boot Spike]

[Type: Leather Boots]

[Defense: +3]

[Required Level: 5]

[Damage Replacement: Kick Damage 3-8 (Piercing)]

[Effect 1: Fire Resistance +45%, +15% Maximum Fire Resistance.]

[Effect 2: Adds 3-6 Fire Damage.]

[Effect 3: +15 HP.]

[Item Description: Walk the path of fire, and your body shall not burn.]

"This..." Hu Jinsi swallowed. He looked down at the basic shoes on his feet, then looked at the Hot Boot Spike, his eyes fixed intently, "This thing is practically tailor-made for me."

On the other side, Liu Betti's eyes were also nailed to the soft cap.

[Biggin's Bonnet]

[Type: Cap]

[Defense: +3]

[Required Level: 3]

[Effect 1: +30% Enhanced Damage, +30% Attack Rating.]

[Effect 2: +15 HP. +15 Mana.]

[Item Description: A well-loved cap, passed down through generations of idlers.]

Su Wan looked at Hu Jinsi, then at Liu Betti, and couldn't help but laugh. She walked over, bent down to pick up the [Biggin's Bonnet], patted off the dust, and handed it directly to Liu Betti: "Take it, Betti. This cap looks much better on you than it would on me."

Liu Betti was stunned for a moment, then reached out to take the cap. She did not refuse, only smiled politely, her voice very soft: "Thank you. Then... I won't participate in the distribution of the rest of the dungeon's loot. Besides that, if your team needs anything in the future, just call me, and I'll be there."

These words rang with conviction.

Seeing this, Hu Jinsi quickly darted over and tightly gripped the pair of [Hot Boot Spike] in his hands. He looked up, looking at Lin Rui and Su Wan with a solemn expression, imitating Liu Betti's tone: "I won't participate in the distribution of this dungeon either. If you three need me in the future, I'll be there too."

The three were stunned for a moment.

Su Wan slowly turned her head, looking at Hu Jinsi's claws clutching the leather boots and refusing to let go, and then at the "I've won" expression on his face, silently rolling her eyes.

Lin Rui was more direct; he turned around, facing Hu Jinsi with the back of his head, his voice coming through muffled: "...You should wipe your drool first."

"These are tears of being moved!" Hu Jinsi hugged the Hot Boot Spike closer to his chest, "You don't understand, a Monk's feet are their second life!"

Liu Betti watched this scene from the side, unable to help but purse her lips and smile, putting the [Biggin's Bonnet] on her head. The cap sat crookedly over her raven-feather hood, looking rather incongruous, but she was very satisfied.

Those skeletons and zombies, apart from the corpses that turned into points of light, also left behind quite a bit of materials.

The skeletons dropped a lot of [Bone Essence]; the grayish-white bone dust contained weak undead energy and was a raw material for crafting undead-type items.

Unfortunately, in the four-person team, no one knew any Necromancers or related classes.

These things were no different from scrap in their hands and could only be sold back to the school at a low price.

As for the Hungry Dead, those rotting zombies, they dropped a pile of [Rotting Flesh].

It was pitch black, exuding a stench even stronger than when they were alive, sticking stickily to the ground, and even stringing when picked up.

"These..." Su Wan pinched a piece of [Rotting Flesh] with two fingers, holding it as far from her nose as possible, "Who wants them?"

"Take them back and ask Li Hao." Hu Jinsi carefully tucked the Hot Boot Spike into his backpack, then straightened his back, "He's an Alchemist, maybe he can brew some potent medicine with these things. If he doesn't want them, we'll just have to turn them in to the school. Anyway, we can't waste them; these were all exchanged with our lives... uh, disgusting things."

"You just said you'd be there whenever called." Lin Rui finally turned around, expressionlessly adding a final blow, "Now you're starting to push Rotting Flesh?"

"One thing is one thing, another is another." Hu Jinsi said righteously, "Personal favors are personal favors, business is business."

The four cleaned up the battlefield and took one last look at the graveyard, which was covered in pits and scorch marks.

Blood Raven's withered skeleton still lay quietly at the bottom of the largest pit, the nameplate at her waist gleaming with a dim, almost sorrowful cold light under the faint, eerie green glow.

The wind in the Burial Grounds was still blowing, carrying the smell of rot and sulfur. But this time, it didn't seem so cold.