GAMMT - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Partners

Fu Chuan was inwardly frustrated. She hadn't expected to run into so many skilled people in such a low-level dungeon. Had she mistaken the countless newbie players from the game for the actual inhabitants of this Arcane world?

Or perhaps, in the most barren region of the weakest province, Beluke, the average level of Arcanists in Jingyang City shouldn't have attracted so many shrewd individuals to this small farm area.

Or maybe she was just incredibly unlucky, and the concentration of cunning people nearby was just too high?

"It's probably related to the start of the school year. To get into better academies, this younger generation is going all out, adventuring and hunting in the wild instead of reviewing Arcane knowledge at home… After all, you can spend your first ten-plus years studying hard, but opportunities to practice for practical field assessments are likely few and far between."

Fu Chuan had found a reasonable explanation. Looking at the drenched Groundhog before her, her expression turned peculiar.

At that moment, the Groundhog didn't even bother to wring the water from his clothes, only warily creating some distance. "What's with that look? What, you want to fight? I'm telling you, human girl, you'll find out how tough I am!"

As he spoke, he was about to draw his gun, but then he heard the human girl, whose mask was still dripping with water, say in a slightly refined and gentle tone, "I thought you looked quite chubby before, and I figured it was just your fluffy fur. I didn't expect that even after getting wet, you still look quite chubby."

Groundhog: "???"

He was now soaked to the bone, his bright yellow, soft fur plastered to his skin, even his tail. But it was clear that the chubby parts of him weren't just his body, but also his head. Unlike the pointy snouts of many rodents, his head was round, and his face was round, with a bit too much flesh, revealing small dimples. His nose was slightly pink, and three silly strands of hair stuck up from the top of his head.

To be honest, he had a bit of an anime-like appearance.

Fu Chuan was suddenly reminded of her childhood friend, who had a Samoyed. Every time she saw it, she thought it was as fat as a polar bear. Her friend would stubbornly argue that her precious baby was just fluffy, not fat. Later, she went to find her friend on some matter and found her at a pet salon with her dog. The moment Fu Chuan walked in, she saw… a Samoyed-pig in the water.

So, it was true that no fat on any chubby body was innocent.

Thinking of the childhood friend she might never see again, Fu Chuan felt a pang of sadness. But after seeing the Groundhog's momentarily stunned expression, he bristled again.

"Who's chubby? Who are you calling chubby? A duel! I challenge you to a duel!"

He was furious, pulling out his gun, ready to blast Fu Chuan to bits. However, Fu Chuan remained calm. "We may have escaped for now, but they have an airship. The equipment on board can detect sound and energy fluctuations. If we start a fierce battle, they'll likely track us down."

The Groundhog had actually thought of that too, so he was just bluffing. Seeing this, he plopped down, grabbed his tail from behind him to wring out the water, and glanced at Fu Chuan.

"That group of people probably has an average level over ten. There are a lot of them, and they look rich and well-equipped. We're no match for them."

Fu Chuan thought so too. She had originally believed the final MVP of this dungeon was securely hers, but with the sudden arrival of this formidable group, she was beginning to have doubts.

She had only encountered a few people since entering and had already run into such characters. Who knew what the others were dealing with?

Fu Chuan looked into the distance, where she could still see dark clusters—the locust swarms.

"A hundred thousand locusts won't be enough to satisfy them. Once they're done killing the monsters, they'll start killing people—black eats black. Judging by their seasoned and decisive methods, this probably isn't their first time attacking others. So, they might not wipe out all the mobs to end the dungeon right away. They might deliberately leave some locusts to maintain the sky barrier village, and then start assassinating other teams."

Black eats black was where the real profits were.

According to dungeon rules and imperial law, killing within a dungeon was not subject to legal oversight. Thus, the world within the dungeon's sky barrier was known as a lawless zone, where all kinds of slaughter were taken for granted. As such, teaming up was the most common way to increase one's chances of survival.

This wasn't the Groundhog's first hunt, so he understood. He sized up Fu Chuan and suddenly said, "I see you're in your teens, but you're only level seven. Your level is so low. Although your skills are pretty good, you're hunting monsters alone. You must be poor and unpopular. How pitiful. How about this: I can reluctantly accept you as my teammate, but you'll need to pay a team fee. I'm thinking three skill books and… where are you going? Hey, why are you leaving? I'm not finished!"

Hearing him say this, Fu Chuan knew this guy must have some kind of Eagle Eye Perception that allowed him to see her level directly. She just didn't know if he could see her attributes.

Seeing Fu Chuan turn and walk away, the Groundhog grew anxious, quickly dropping his tail and hopping after her.

Fu Chuan was also soaked, and even her mask had slipped a little from the force of the water. But she couldn't take off her clothes. So, she adjusted her mask, pulled off her hair tie to wring it out, and sent the Groundhog a team invitation.

Without a single word, an invitation just popped up.

The Groundhog was momentarily stunned.

Fu Chuan's current body was still in its adolescence and hadn't reached her original height. Due to long-term malnutrition, she looked thin and weak. The eyes under her mask seemed gentle, but they were actually very resilient.

But it had nothing to do with her eyes; they barely knew each other.

It was mainly because they had fought before.

Only after fighting did you know what the other person was made of.

Those descriptions in novels about "her eyes, her aura made it impossible to refuse" and so on—what a load of nonsense!

In the world of Arcane, only Arcane ability meant anything!

The Groundhog knew she was a tough nut to crack. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Fine, I'll reluctantly agree to team up with you. I won't ask you for anything, but I have to be the captain."

Fu Chuan didn't say a word. She simply canceled the team invitation and looked up at the sky. The airship, in autopilot mode, was flying over under the control of her wrist device. She was clearly about to leave.

The Groundhog panicked, chasing after Fu Chuan with his gun on his back. "Invite me, invite me, invite me! You can be the captain, alright? Hurry up!"

Fu Chuan simply disliked wasting time on nonsense. Time was tight, and she needed to find a place to hide from those people, process the hunter's resources, and continue farming for new ones.

But she hadn't expected the Groundhog to think so highly of her.

She was a bit puzzled. She wasn't bad, and she was a decent choice for a teammate, but why was he so eager?

Fu Chuan didn't overthink it and just sent him another invitation.

Within a dungeon's sky barrier, teams were a default feature used for the final reward calculation. Once a team was formed, members couldn't attack or harm each other unless they left the team. However, anyone who voluntarily left would have all their achievements wiped clean.

Once he confirmed, he wouldn't be able to have any second thoughts.

The Groundhog quickly clicked confirm, then nimbly boarded the airship and buckled his seatbelt with a click, looking very pleased.

"Alright, where are we heading next? Are we going to ambush that group?" The Groundhog was stubborn; he felt that group was despicable and couldn't let it go.

Fu Chuan started the airship and turned the steering wheel. "They'd bury us alive. We need to go somewhere we can farm resources. Sit tight."

Groundhog: "Oh, I'm sitting tight. You can go."

The airship shot off with a whoosh.

Five minutes later, in a valley below a loess plateau on the far side of the small farm, an airship landed. The cabin door opened, and a groundhog rolled out, collapsing on the grass and retching…

After he finished, he roared at Fu Chuan, "Don't you know that if you stun your teammate to death with an airship, your score gets deducted too!"

Fu Chuan actually felt a little guilty and explained awkwardly, "I know, but our team was just formed, right? Our score is zero, so there's nothing to deduct."

Groundhog: "???"

You make a good point. So you really did it on purpose?

Upon learning that Fu Chuan had just learned to fly an airship, the Groundhog once again concluded that she was a poor hick and couldn't be too harsh on her. He surveyed the valley and said thoughtfully, "There are hardly any plants here. Are you sure those locust swarms will build their breeding nests here?"

On the airship, Fu Chuan had mentioned that insects have a high food-to-energy conversion rate, and they would typically prepare to reproduce right after eating.

"It rained yesterday, and a humid environment is not conducive to reproduction. Besides, the abnormal acidity and alkalinity stimulated their gonadal development, causing them to turn into a disaster swarm ahead of schedule. But that doesn't mean their reproductive needs can adapt to this environment. They still need a place with a suitable temperature that's dry. This is the most suitable place."

Fu Chuan had only been to this farm a few times, but she had observed the terrain on her way. She had passed this valley several times and, based on the types of plants and their growth, had basically determined the ambient temperature below.

Most importantly, there were wind tunnels in the valley walls.

The Groundhog scratched his head. He clearly wasn't very knowledgeable in this area, but it sounded reasonable. So, he followed Fu Chuan to the entrance of a wind tunnel.

"I'll burrow in and see if there are any monsters."

The wind tunnel was narrow. Rushing in without knowing the situation could easily get one killed. The Groundhog was quite experienced and was about to go in, but Fu Chuan stopped him.

"No need. Just pick up those pellets on the ground and smell them, and you'll know."

Fu Chuan pointed at the ground. The Groundhog looked closely and saw some dark little pellets at the entrance of the wind tunnel. He bent down, picked one up, and sniffed it. His cheeks puffed out as he pinched his nose and looked at Fu Chuan to report his findings. "It's soft, and it stinks."

Only then did Fu Chuan confirm, "Looks like it really is droppings. That's right, they're nesting inside."

Groundhog: "???"

It looked down at the droppings in its hand, then back at her, tilting its head with a dazed expression. The three silly strands of hair on its head swayed in the wind.

Fu Chuan lowered her head, busy organizing the items in her backpack, pretending not to see with a serious expression.

This little fatty was fierce in a fight, but he seemed quite young and especially gullible… To be honest, she had just said it casually, not expecting him to actually bend down and pick up the droppings.

What to do? She felt so guilty, but she really wanted to laugh.

Hahahaha.

The Groundhog quickly realized what had happened and was about to lose his temper when Fu Chuan swiftly pulled something out.

"Look, get ready. We're going to take a technical approach."

The Groundhog's attention was diverted. After hearing Fu Chuan's plan, his eyes lit up, and he gave an OK sign.

To deal with that group as soon as possible, the human and the rodent were absolute go-getters and quickly got to work.

They gathered a lot of dry firewood. Then, Fu Chuan took out some pesticide bottles she had brought from the small farm and mixed them in a bucket.

Although the Groundhog knew the plan, he wasn't entirely sure it would work. "These pesticides are probably for ordinary pests. Are you sure they'll work on dungeon mobs? I'm the one luring them out, you know. Don't get me killed."

Clearly, he still had some reservations about Fu Chuan.

Fu Chuan wasn't the domineering type. She explained with reason and evidence, "These pesticides alone won't work, of course. But the ones still inside are mostly egg-laying females. Because of yesterday's acid rain, their bodies are sensitive. I've reconfigured the pesticides to be highly alkaline to counteract their body chemistry, which will be enough to cause devastating damage to the eggs inside them. Once the eggs die, it will also weaken and damage their bodies. And then… what do you think? If you don't agree, we'll scrap this plan and use a trapping method, setting up an ambush outside…"

She had come prepared, specifically for this wind tunnel. Her original plan was to develop her strength for a while first, but she didn't expect to use it ahead of schedule. The sense of urgency from that other group was just too strong.

The Groundhog stood up, hands on his hips, and said, "No, I'll go. Because I think you're more cunning and treacherous than I imagined. You're quite formidable. And when it comes to luring monsters, I'm definitely a professional. I'm off!"

After he left, Fu Chuan touched her nose and thought to herself: When I was pretending to be Xie Keli, the guard captain's praise sounded like an insult, all because of the persona. But why does this little fatty say the same thing about me when I'm being so serious, gentle, and elegant?

How am I treacherous?

Isn't this method quite harmonious? No fighting, no conflict, just peaceful prosperity.

But with the Groundhog gone, Fu Chuan finally began to inspect the resources she had obtained from Chen Lixing.

It wasn't that she didn't have time before, but they didn't know each other well. It was normal to be cautious and not reveal one's hand. So, Fu Chuan hadn't checked until now.

Now that the Groundhog was gone, Fu Chuan began to look.

Actually, she was a little confused because at the time, she felt like he had only dropped one thing.

That couldn't be right. The man looked like he had plenty of assets. How could there be only one item?

Fu Chuan opened it now. Ding!

"Congratulations on obtaining one Bronze-level auxiliary equipment backpack."

Fu Chuan was stunned, but she quickly understood. Hunters were in the long-term business of black eats black. It wasn't surprising that they could loot or pool money to buy a backpack.

"This backpack alone was worth killing him for! Even though it's only Bronze-level, its rarity is higher than most common green-tier items!" Fu Chuan was a little excited. She had long grown tired of the cumbersomeness of a physical backpack. This kind of equipment backpack, however, was a storage space that could hold weapons and other slightly larger items. As long as the weight and slot limits were met, it was an incredibly useful piece of equipment, worth more than two S1 Gene Keys on the black market.

She had struck it rich!

"That Groundhog probably has a backpack too. After all, he's a gunslinger, and the weight of his ammunition must be considerable."

Fu Chuan thought to herself as she opened the backpack to check Chen Lixing's other legacies…

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