Chapter 63 Part 5

Shu Heng chimed in, “We’ll head to -5F tomorrow at eight in the morning. Since you found your way here, I don’t need to remind you to prep, right?”

Xiao Gao nodded. “We’ll be here at seven-thirty waiting for you.”

“Be careful. We don’t know the monster respawn timer yet. If it’s too tough, fall back to the elevator and wait for us.” Shu Heng gave a friendly reminder.

She then handed them three elevator key cards. They agreed to meet at the fountain before dark, then returned together to the wooden raft.

Xiao Gao and Xiao Di proved honest too, handing over all special items to Shu Heng and keeping only two gold coins. As a show of good faith, Shu Heng agreed to craft titanium swords for them. Considering titanium ore’s rarity, she only charged ten pieces of metal ore as processing fee.

With that, trust between the teams rose another notch.

–

Li Jianwei sat cross-legged on the bed, checking the World Channel. Info about the Spherical City trickled in steadily—more people had found it smoothly than she’d expected.

【Kong: Online, looking for friends to explore together. Blocked by a shipping container—need backup.】

【Scorpio: Don’t let mutant rats bite you. You’ll get an attack power debuff for a full hour.】

【Qing He: Anyone know? If you get zapped in the planting area, how much HP does it deduct?】

【lu: Meow haha, fished up three super huge salmon in an hour. Call me the Fishing King!】

Li Jianwei chuckled at the latest message, then typed one out for the World Channel.

【Li Jianwei: Full gear takes 55 HP per zap. Suggest buffing up first.】

【Shu Heng: Cooperate cautiously. Don’t entrust your life to strangers lightly.】

After their messages, Xiao Gao and Xiao Di chipped in with what they could, answering a couple of minor questions.

“They seem decent. Plenty of survivors know them—lots thanking them on the World Channel for sharing info.” Li Jianwei said.

“Good thing. At least tomorrow’s adventure won’t worry about backstabs.” Shu Heng replied, fiddling with the radio Li Jianwei had scavenged from the top floor.

“No repair option? Gotta install a whole battery?” Li Jianwei asked.

“Probably not. Look at the Fortune Cat—been sitting there forever and it’s still waving.” Shu Heng said without looking up, still tinkering.

“It’s a game, after all. Can’t apply real-world logic. Take us—we can eat endlessly without getting full or having other… needs.”

Li Jianwei rubbed her chin, then said thoughtfully, “Not entirely true. When I’m lying with you, I do have needs.”

Shu Heng: …

Fine. If that counted as a need, she had them too.

After fiddling a while, Shu Heng hit the power button. The radio crackled.

A bit of tweaking later, it played soothing music—great for sleep, but only one track on a ten-minute loop.

“Nice tune. Shame no obvious buffs.” Li Jianwei sighed.

“Maybe we haven’t figured out how to use it. Leave it on—might surprise us.” Shu Heng placed the radio on another shelf.

“Sleep time. Big fight tomorrow.” Shu Heng habitually patted Li Jianwei’s head.

Li Jianwei’s head rested on Shu Heng’s softness. “We got back early today, and we’re in top shape. How about… two hours from now?”

Shu Heng got it instantly. After a token second of thought, she moved her hand from Li Jianwei’s head.

Li Jianwei grinned happily, changed into new clothes, and got to work.

Unlike newbie gear, Li Jianwei now wore something like a pilot’s uniform—crisp and proper.

To immerse Shu Heng more, she even donned the captain’s hat from before, attempting some uniform play.

Shu Heng gripped the captain’s hat instinctively, wondering if she’d spoiled Li Jianwei too much. Her desires were ramping up—three days without, and she’d start whining.

A few rounds wouldn’t tire them, but Shu Heng figured moderation was key. Otherwise, back in the real world, she might not handle the same intensity.

Soon, such thoughts fled as rounds piled up. Li Jianwei had her weaknesses pinned down perfectly.

Hands or tongue—either made her surrender, clinging and letting out embarrassing sounds.

–

Sated, Li Jianwei and Shu Heng geared up and re-entered the underground entrance.

Good news: no mutant rat respawns. Smooth sail to the elevator.

Bad news: guard robots fully revived. Time to clear again.

Not really bad—they still dropped elevator key cards, letting them loot more buildings for more supplies.

Plus, with helpers, a few key cards yielded heaps of loot.

Li Jianwei and Shu Heng arrived early; so did Xiao Gao and Xiao Di. Plenty of guard robots lingered on the surface.

Xiao Di whipped out her weapon and started clearing without a word. Xiao Gao helped while sneaking peeks at Li Jianwei and Shu Heng’s moves.

Seeing them nearly perma-locking guard robots left Xiao Gao stunned—and grateful for her honesty yesterday. No holding back special items out of selfishness.

These big shots’ solo power matched their duo combined. Conflict? They’d die trying to take one down.

Shu Heng caught Xiao Gao’s admiring gaze and withdrew her attention, satisfied.

The four, in full gear, crammed into the elevator. Status check: all good. Shu Heng hit the -5F button.

As it descended layer by layer, they all keenly felt the dropping temperature.

In five seconds flat, Xiao Di started rubbing her hands for warmth.

“Very cold?” Shu Heng asked as the doors opened.

A massive aquarium-like tank filled the view, ringed by humming refrigeration units.

“Achoo—” Xiao Di sneezed. “Freezing. Gotta be near zero degrees.”

“Check for debuffs. Head back if you’ve got one.” Shu Heng said. She wore casual slacks and a blazer—one of Li Jianwei’s yesterday finds.

“Think this place has those too?” Li Jianwei, unfazed by the cold, stepped up to inspect the giant tank.

Xiao Di didn’t retreat, just ate some buffed food and followed.

“Shut down the fridges?” Xiao Gao asked, weapon ready, scanning warily.

“Not yet. Stick together. Check for other exits or hidden monsters. Clear threats.” Shu Heng said, giving the tank an extra glance.

Looked like any aquarium tank, but something nagged at her.

“Don’t worry. Four of us now—we’ve got each other’s backs.” Li Jianwei whispered reassuringly, edging closer to the tank, battle-ready.

The four circled tensely. No monsters—just four 30-second timed explosives.

“We blowing something up?” Xiao Di said. “This tank? But it spans floors—look, open to above.”

Xiao Gao followed her gaze. Ceiling around, hollow in the middle.

“Keep looking. Maybe blast a wall for an upstairs path.” Shu Heng suggested.

They split four ways: tapping walls, floors, some swinging weapons at them.

Twenty minutes later, empty-handed, they regrouped at the elevator.

“Thirty seconds: enough to plant, hit elevator, and go up.” Shu Heng analyzed. “Risk it?”

“But if it works, can we elevator back down?” Xiao Di asked earnestly.

“No clue on blast power. Gotta test.” Li Jianwei joined in. “I’m fastest—ten seconds to elevator post-plant. Run time covered, back to 1F no issue.”

“If that’s the case, why don’t we try blasting from the top?” Xiao Gao offered her opinion. “Going layer by layer downward should have a better margin for error than blowing it open directly on -5F, right?”

After Xiao Gao spoke, the other three began brainstorming.

Considering there were four explosives, everyone unanimously agreed to Xiao Gao’s proposal. They used the elevator as an anchor point, roughly estimated the center of the fish tank, and stuck the explosives to the floor.

“You all run far away first. I’ll catch up after I activate it.” Li Jianwei was still in charge of the blasting.

Li Jianwei herself was the fastest, and with buffs from drinks and food, she could dash nearly four hundred meters in thirty seconds—enough to reach the back of another building.

“Once we’re in position, I’ll send you a message.” Shu Heng didn’t hesitate. Tasks testing speed were best left to the fastest person.

“Got it, awaiting Leader’s orders!” Li Jianwei saluted, and with her outfit, it looked quite authentic.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t nervous, but she wasn’t scared either.

Li Jianwei patiently waited for the instruction on the Friend Channel. Once she saw Shu Heng’s message that they were in position, she pressed the activation button and bolted out like a cheetah.

Bang—Bang—

Li Jianwei could clearly hear her own heartbeat. She had chosen the safety spot behind the adjacent building, only about three hundred meters away in a straight line.

Before the explosives activated successfully, Li Jianwei had already arrived at the destination. However, her momentum was strong, forcing Shu Heng—who had spread her arms to catch her—to stagger back three or four steps before steadying herself.

“Leader, mission accomplished.” Li Jianwei whispered into Shu Heng’s ear.

Boom—

A massive explosion rang out the next second, kicking up clouds of dust and debris.

Worried that fragments might fly their way, Xiao Gao shielded Xiao Di with her body, just like Li Jianwei holding Shu Heng.

Fortunately, the building blocked all the debris. Only the billowing dust reached the back, making them cough a few times.

“Did it work?” Xiao Di poked her head out from Xiao Gao’s embrace and looked toward the spot still shrouded in smoke.

The blast point had been chosen well, avoiding the building’s main load-bearing walls, so there was no worry about the high-rise collapsing.

In fact, the structure wasn’t destroyed at all. Only one layer of flooring had a hole blasted through, revealing the floor of -1F.

“It seems like it wasn’t enough. Do we need to blast the floor below as well?” Xiao Di asked.

Xiao Gao held Xiao Di’s hand. “But how do we take cover? We haven’t found a way from -1F to 1F.”

Li Jianwei and Shu Heng stood shoulder to shoulder, peering down to observe.

“The explosive power matched our expectations. We can take cover behind the walls on -1F,” Shu Heng concluded preliminarily.

“But to be safe, you all stay outside. I’ll handle the blast and hide, then message you when it’s done.” Li Jianwei turned to Shu Heng. “The explosives are identical, so the power won’t differ much.”

Xiao Di seemed about to say something, but Xiao Gao pinched her arm, signaling her to stay quiet.

Their job was to follow Shu Heng’s arrangements and avoid voicing opinions on critical matters.

“My food buff hasn’t worn off yet. I can get much farther away than you—way farther.” Li Jianwei spoke first, cutting off what Shu Heng wanted to say.

“Fine. Give me the remaining two explosives. You only use one.” Shu Heng said, then jumped through the gap to -1F.

Li Jianwei followed closely. Xiao Di and Xiao Gao jumped down one after another to help scout the best hiding spot.

They finally settled on a spot about one hundred fifty meters from the blast point. The structure of -1F differed slightly from 1F, so they couldn’t clear a straight path for Li Jianwei to run.

“You all go back up top and wait for me. I’m already very familiar with the escape route.” Li Jianwei smiled reassuringly at Shu Heng. “You’ll see me complete the mission successfully again in a bit.”

Shu Heng nodded silently and left her with an ointment that restored health.

The ointment’s formula had been found yesterday. Its ingredients were relatively precious, so they had only made one batch, and its effects were still unknown.

Boom—

The explosion sounded three minutes later, accompanied by a message from Li Jianwei.

【Li Jianwei: Only a tiny bit of dust. I’m very safe. Mission accomplished~】

Shu Heng couldn’t help but relax her brows and waved for Xiao Di and Xiao Gao to jump down together.

Li Jianwei was already waiting at the gap. This time, the blast hadn’t exposed -2F’s floor but rather a massive fish tank with a broken opening.

This meant the fish tank the four had seen on -5F occupied nearly four floors’ worth of space.

If they had chosen to blast on -5F, the overflowing water would have flooded it entirely, and the elevator would likely have been scrapped too.