The Poison Apple remained motionless, perfectly camouflaged. Gu Gu attempted to flick the apple, and it emitted a dull “thump” sound, suggesting a crisp texture.
A faint berry fragrance wafted from the apple. Gu Gu took a deep breath and frowned, murmuring, “Apples aren’t supposed to smell like this, are they?”
The scent suddenly changed, becoming an alluring sweet and tangy aroma.
Gu Gu understood.
The apple could understand him perfectly, but it was ignoring him, likely in a sulk.
Based on the hatching time he’d seen earlier, the pet egg might have hatched a long time ago. However, with the need to care for the big cat in heat and grind through the NGC7331 dungeon, Gu Gu had completely forgotten about the pet egg.
Now it was angry, pouting.
“Don’t be mad. Papa will sing you a lullaby and give you a nice bath,” Gu Gu whispered to the moody pet.
Nearby players passing by looked curiously at the boy talking to a piece of fruit. Was this some sort of hidden gameplay feature?
None of the temptations could move the apple, so Gu Gu could only sigh, saying, “Kids grow up so fast.” He put the Poison Apple back in his backpack and entered the Zerg dungeon.
Inside the flickering lights of the spaceship, a few words flashed on the large screen in front of Bo Ge.
“[The training system welcomes you.]”
Accompanied by a strange “hissing” sound, the flickering lights revealed a desolate landscape outside the porthole. Craters of various sizes dotted the barren environment, with a giant red full moon as the only light source, casting a blood-red glow over everything.
“[Background hint: Your spaceship has crashed. There are two standard A33 laser guns and an Extreme Flame Dagger in the weapons compartment. You must resist five waves of low-level Zerg attacks to clear the dungeon.]
[Notice to trainees: This dungeon is designed to enhance combat skills, so player skills, items, and levels are disabled. The system highly simulates player body data, with pain sensitivity increased to 20% (10% for rare species).]
You will earn corresponding points after completing each stage. If you wish to exit, please inform the training system. Upon exit, only your score from the previous stage will be retained.]”
No skills or items? Gu Gu’s original plan to use his staff to hammer the Zerg was now scrapped.
“[The dungeon will begin shortly. Countdown: five, four…]”
As soon as the countdown ended, Gu Gu could move his body. His first reaction was to quickly find the laser guns and dagger in the weapons compartment.
Large laser weapons required time to charge and needed to cool down after continuous firing. The two laser guns provided in this dungeon were small-scale, non-auto-charging weapons that consumed embedded energy cores. The energy cores were like bullets—if depleted without replacement, the guns would be useless.
Both laser guns had fully charged energy cores, and the Extreme Flame Dagger had a protrusion on the hilt that, when pressed, would automatically heat the blade. The longer it was pressed, the hotter it got, and the more lethal it became.
Gu Gu hadn’t had the chance to use laser weapons before, so he familiarized himself with them by shooting a few beams at the blood moon. It felt more user-friendly than he had expected.
The “hissing” grew louder. Bo Ge jumped off the wrecked spaceship, rolled on the ground to cover himself with dust and dirt, then quickly jumped into a crater that suited his height, setting up the two laser guns and aiming at the source of the noise.
Black dots appeared on the giant blood moon. As the “hissing” grew louder, the dots grew larger. Bo Ge held his breath, watching the massive Zerg with vibrating black wings approach, his finger on the laser gun trigger.
The closer they got, the clearer Gu Gu could see the Zerg.
These were probably the lowest-ranking worker Zerg—mindless creatures that only obeyed higher Zerg orders, hunting, tearing apart prey, and using their sharp, toxic, slime-covered mouthparts to swallow and digest their food.
They ate everything, like a swarm of insatiable locusts, their sharp screeches mingling with the agonized screams of their prey. Their slippery, hard exoskeletons were covered in razor-like bristles, and their saw-toothed legs gave them extraordinary jumping abilities.
One moment, they could be devouring prey not far from you; the next, they could be standing behind you with blood-dripping mouthparts, targeting your neck.
Turning back or fleeing seemed to result in the same fate. The only hope was to shoot through their chest nerve nodes. Though it would result in a shower of foul-smelling slime, like a bursting balloon, it was still better than becoming their waste.
Now, they were close enough.
Bo Ge aimed at the worker Zerg and quickly pressed the trigger. Two red laser beams shot out from the crater, piercing through the chest of two worker Zerg. With their nerve nodes damaged, the worker Zerg plummeted to the ground, unable to move.
Even if their heads were cut off, the worker Zerg’s limbs could still move and even fly, slicing through enemies’ throats under the brain Zerg’s command. A headless worker Zerg could survive for a while, breathing through the spiracles on its sides until it died of starvation or dehydration.
The real determinant of a worker Zerg’s life or death was its nerve node. Once the chest nerve node was destroyed, the worker Zerg became immobile, no different from a dead Zerg.
Brain Zerg, however, were different. As thinking beings, attacking their brains was the most effective method.
One by one, the worker Zerg fell. The first wave wasn’t large, more like a warm-up or an appetizer. Gu Gu took a few deep breaths, quickly leaped out of the crater, and found the next hiding spot.
Most humans feared these multi-legged, hideously terrifying insects, and Gu Gu was no exception. The more he looked at them, the more horrifying they seemed. But knowing that the laser guns in his hands could turn these bugs into grilled insects made him feel slightly better.
The second wave of worker Zerg was noticeably larger, almost twice the number of the first wave. As soon as they arrived, they immediately rushed to their fallen comrades’ corpses, feasting ravenously. Gu Gu fought back his discomfort and shot them down one by one.
The holographic technology simulated the scene to an extreme degree of realism. Gu Gu could even see the slime splattering from the worker Zerg’s mouthparts as they devoured their own kind. After the second wave was wiped out, there was hardly any time for Gu Gu to catch his breath before the third wave swarmed in.
The number of worker insects increased with each wave, multiplying the pressure and visual impact. The harsh, desolate environment made it easy to feel helpless and hopeless.
Fighting alone against thousands of insect creatures, Gu Gu’s prior experience on the desolate star, along with repeatedly reminding himself that this was just a holographic game, kept his mindset particularly calm.
After shooting down the third wave of worker insects, Gu Gu looked down at his laser gun; the energy core had only one bar left. The two laser guns could last for one more wave of insects at most, but based on the current pattern, the number of insects in the fourth and fifth waves would surely be beyond his imagination.
Taking advantage of his remaining physical strength, Gu Gu put away the laser gun, drew out the Scorching Flame Dagger, and swiftly concealed himself by the bodies of the third wave of worker insects after leaping out of the circular crater.
As the fourth wave of worker insects descended, ready to bite into the corpses of their kin, a nimble figure sprang up from the side, grabbed the black wings of a low-flying insect, quickly approached its chest, and precisely drove the scorching hot dagger into the insect’s neural node, slicing downward with ease.
Covered in insect slime, Gu Gu wiped his face, his eyes devoid of any emotion.
The worker insects closely resembled the mutated creatures on the desolate star—cold, slimy, and prone to exploding without warning. Most of this slime was corrosive, but Gu Gu’s protective suit shielded him from the worst of it.
The continuous attacks on several worker insects brought back memories of the desolate star, making Gu Gu long for the comfort of something soft and furry.
Gu Gu soon realized that these worker insects were clearly not being directed by the brain insects; they were simply mindlessly devouring and digesting. When faced with Gu Gu and their own kind, their instincts led them to choose the larger, more nutritious bodies of their kin over the smaller and seemingly less meaty Gu Gu, whom they disregarded.
Perhaps… this was one of the advantages of being smaller.
This realization made hunting even easier for Gu Gu, who moved effortlessly among the worker insects, wielding the Scorching Flame Dagger with skill.
Leaping onto the back of an insect, Gu Gu drove the Scorching Flame Dagger into its neural node again and again until, upon landing on the back of an insect that was devouring the abdomen of another, he pressed the dagger’s button and stabbed down hard. But the dagger didn’t fully penetrate the insect’s back as it had before.
Agitated by the attack, the worker insect shook violently, throwing Gu Gu off its back. He rolled on the ground to absorb the impact as the pained insect dropped its meal and charged madly at him.
Bo Ge glanced at the dagger in his hand. No matter how hard he pressed the button, it no longer heated up. The area where he gripped the dagger had started flashing a red warning light, possibly indicating it was out of power.
The boy’s momentary inspection of the dagger gave the worker insect the perfect opportunity to attack. Although the insect’s movements were slightly uncoordinated due to the stab to its neural node, it did not hinder its charge to tear apart its prey.
The insect’s hind legs pushed off the ground, propelling it high into the air, with its forelimbs and mandibles aiming straight at the boy. Bo Ge saw the shadow on the ground, raised his laser gun without a trace of fear, and fired a shot at the insect’s chest.
The insect’s slime rained down, and its massive body crashed to the ground behind the boy, kicking up a cloud of dust. Gu Gu, slightly concerned, touched his hair and flicked the slime off his hand.
As the fourth wave of insect bodies filled the circular crater, the last of the energy in Bo Ge’s laser gun ran out. He glanced worriedly at the remaining laser gun with its single energy bar and sighed.
The sound of “ssss” came from all directions as the blood moon was slowly obscured by dark clouds. Bo Ge looked up and saw that the clouds were actually a mass of worker insects, covering the sky in numbers almost equal to the total of the previous four waves.
Despite his best efforts, Gu Gu felt that this beginner-level insect dungeon had exceeded his expectations in difficulty. Even a beastman might not be able to clear it.
Or was there something he had overlooked? Something that could make clearing this dungeon a bit easier?
Glancing at the worker insect corpses scattered everywhere, Gu Gu quickly dived into the wreckage of a previous spaceship, searching around until he found the still-flashing lights of the cabin. A marker next to the dungeon completion stage read 4/5.
1You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you and Enjoy reading! ❤️” -TL: Ysiad
