165: Chapter 165 The Otherworld of the Science Park Ruins?

"There are already herbs here at the edge that can be used as alchemy materials?" Mia's voice carried a hint of disbelief.

She crouched down and picked a [Ghost Face Flower] from the ground.

"Yes, at this rate, if we don't clear out the supernatural urban legends here, this entire area will fall into an unknown world in a few months, won't it?" Chen Mo pressed down the brim of his baseball cap, his voice low.

The colleague from the Coordination Office next to him felt a bit embarrassed; he was a [Hexmaster], roughly below Lv10.

He glared at Chen Mo. "If it weren't for the fact that I'm not as strong as you, I'd definitely pin you to the mud and give you a beating. Chen Mo, you lazy bum, isn't this the jurisdiction you're supposed to handle?"

"Uh, it seems so! Hehe! The things inside are too powerful; I can't handle them alone."

Chen Mo gave this weak explanation in his most confident tone.

"Heh~ So you're treating us like suckers..."

A dangerous light began to flash in Tuaner's eyes as she aimed all over Chen Mo, considering where to shoot him in a moment.

"Stop messing around. Is there any relevant information? You must have been inside here." Mia held the photo Chen Mo had taken between her fingers.

"There is, but telling you now wouldn't be worth much."

"The urban legends inside are all in Tuaner's book, but I didn't encounter the later ones."

"Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be standing here, chatting away with a devastatingly beautiful woman like you."

Chen Mo checked the strange-looking firearm in his hand.

"I'll go in with you... If we're lucky enough to uproot this urban legend park, this place might stay quiet for a few years."

"Just this? At most, it's a Lv1 difficulty dungeon; it might not even be as intense as a Lv0 war dungeon?" Tuaner started acting proud.

"The intensity indeed isn't that high, but it's very strange inside..."

Chen Mo muttered a follow-up, "But it's also possible I was just lucky and didn't run into anything high-intensity..."

A few shadowy figures in the Science and Technology Park began to slowly wobble toward the entrance.

Visibility was poor in the red mist, making Mia's [Eye of the Dead] feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"It seems this place is just as hospitable as before. Something is coming out." Mia had Xiaoya open a [Mental Link] for everyone to facilitate conversation and keep track of their positions.

"Let's go. Ryan, Chen Mo, Sister Loran, and I will enter. Tuaner, stay outside and protect Xiaoya."

Mia's grouping was a bit different from usual. Tuaner, who filled the scout role, was being rotated out.

"No, I want to go with you." Tuaner began to cling to Mia's arm, acting spoiled.

"You two really are the best rear-guard team, and I didn't say we wouldn't call you for support at all," Ryan explained patiently to Tuaner.

"Using the Elephant Herd as a base, you can act as a turret. Xiaoya can also help you with [Shikigami] and [Blessings]."

"Fine then, but you guys must be extremely careful," Tuaner said, a bit unwillingly.

"Careful of what? Except for our guide, Mr. Chen, this formation Mia arranged is all about steamrolling. The few of us are going in for demolition."

As he spoke, Ryan pulled his two [Incineration Furnaces] from the pack on his back.

The two two-handed hammers, burning with unquenchable fire, were gripped in his hands, exuding an immense sense of pressure.

Mia also wiped her slender hand across her body, and a black evening gown—which had evolved to [A-rank] and been renamed the [fallen angel set]—appeared on her.

Now, Mia's temperament and appearance didn't seem so out of place in this ghostly, abandoned Science and Technology Park.

Her elegant and mysterious aura made her suitable for almost any occasion. Naturally, that included a feast of slaughter.

Loran was also ready. Her exquisite leather armor outlined her voluptuous, mature figure, enhancing her mature charm, yet her dazed eyes and pure face created a massive gap moe effect.

She held her staff, which looked like a twisted dough stick, and signaled to everyone that she was ready.

[Paradise Lost System Prompt: Unknown foreign dungeon ahead. Danger level determined to be Lv0~Lv2. Begin clearing the supernatural entities within this dungeon? Formally open the dungeon?]

[Open!]

[Opening Special Dungeon: Wandering of the Initial Despair. Paradise Lost wishes everyone good luck.]

After checking that Xiaoya's [Mental Link] had no issues, Ryan was the first to charge in. He could now draw two Knight's Blessings simultaneously; the ones he drew were [Blessing of Justice] and [Blessing of Kings].

They respectively provided a chance to lock onto two additional enemy targets when attacking to deal damage (can crit), and a 10% increase to all attributes.

These two blessings were more than welcome for Loran and Chen Mo, but for Mia, they represented a total qualitative change.

Her Intelligence and Stamina temporarily reached 55 points. At the same time, she gained two temporary skills.

One was an active skill called [Fate's Retention]; once activated, all damage taken is reduced by 90% for three minutes.

The other Intelligence-based skill was a bit strange, called [Fool's Humility]; it randomly cleared negative statuses every 10 seconds, acting more like a defensive skill.

Burning within Ryan's two double-handed hammers was the legendary hellfire, capable of incinerating all evil.

Even though Tuaner and the others didn't have vision as excellent as Mia's, they could barely see Ryan acting like a giant windmill, a single spinning sweep taking out six or seven humanoid enemies.

In a short while, Ryan had almost completely cleared out the walking corpses heading toward them.

The small plaza of the Science and Technology Park ruins returned to its peaceful, hidden atmosphere.

Mia crouched beside the remains—hardly any of which were intact after Ryan's sweep—and said solemnly, "No internal organs; they've basically all been hollowed out."

Ryan didn't respond. Mia had previously confessed her past to them. His eyes under the metal helmet turned red with rage, looking very much like Goblin Slayer in a berserk state.

"Let's head further in. These were all unfortunate souls too..." Chen Mo and Loran also came to their side.

"Split up or stay together?" Ryan was used to waiting for Mia's decision.

"Together. We can't imitate horror movie tropes and get picked off one by one."

"But our previous experience at Kulong Mountain also shows that these urban legends likely don't want us to stay concentrated."

As they spoke, a raspy air raid siren suddenly sounded, and the entire park was covered even more tightly by a denser red mist.

The walls were covered in even more mottled red rust. Malice permeated the air; it felt as if just standing there would lead to a swift death.

Chen Mo had a feeling that they had arrived in another world...

"Sister Mia, I can't maintain the [Soul Link] continuously anymore. I can only perform basic voice calls and location queries."

Xiaoya's voice rang out in the temporary channel. "Mm, understood..." Mia was already used to sudden situations.

She turned her head to look at Chen Mo. "When there are enemies you can't handle, follow me and run. Those two will be in a group."

"Got it!" Chen Mo touched the [wish compass] in his breast pocket—a gift from Captain Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean"—and flipped the safety off his pistol, following Mia closely.