Xiao Muyu looked down at Shen Qingqiu after hearing what she said. “Do you want to draw first?”
Shen Qingqiu still looked very delicate. “I’m too dizzy, I don’t want to draw.”
Xiao Muyu truly felt her presence beside her, and the panic from Mei Qianqian’s words gradually subsided. Seeing her pretentious look and hearing her fake-sounding words, Xiao Muyu couldn’t help but smile, “Alright, let’s not draw first. Chen Kaijie, you guys draw first. Our team has two chances; this time you draw one, and give the other to Qingqiu, okay?”
Shen Qingqiu didn’t have anything good for self-defense. The sword she previously drew had been taken away, so she needed a replacement.
Naturally, Zuo Tiantian and the others had no objections. In a team, no matter who had the items, they would share them generously. Switching drawers only meant that the types of items drawn would be different.
However, they felt that their team’s luck with drawing cards lately had been quite strange.
“No problem, you can give them all to the vice-captain. This dungeon is too punishing, she needs some comforting.”
Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian seemed to be enjoying themselves. In front of Xiao Muyu, Shen Qingqiu was no longer intimidating, so they even dared to tease her.
Shen Qingqiu hummed softly in displeasure. This dungeon was really frustrating, making her image completely change in Su Jin and the others’ eyes. They weren’t afraid of her anymore. Xiao Muyu, naturally hearing Shen Qingqiu’s hum, looked up at Su Jin and laughed lightly, “She’s going to get angry. You’d better be careful. Once we leave the dungeon, none of us can beat her.”
Shen Qingqiu poked Xiao Muyu’s palm hard with her finger, expressing her dissatisfaction.
This was to satisfy Xiao Muyu. She had to pretend to be weak even after exiting the dungeon, but she didn’t allow others to tease her.
Xiao Muyu loosened her grip on her palm and then held it tightly again. This public display of affection was already beyond her usual limits, so she controlled her gaze and expression, seriously watching Chen Kaijie draw cards, as if she was simply supporting a dizzy Shen Qingqiu.
But she glanced to the right, where the big screen that had been there when they entered the dungeon still hung. The screen showed a total of eighty-seven teams.
The white color had disappeared, indicating that all teams had entered the dungeon. However, more than half of the colors had turned gray, with only less than thirty teams in red. As for the teams that cleared the dungeon, only their team had the conspicuous SSS marked.
However, Xiao Muyu noticed that one team’s leader had the surname Qi, though the name was hidden, reminding her of Qi Hongyue.
But this team was still in the process of clearing the dungeon. It was just a surname, and Qi Hongyue wasn’t that important to her, so Xiao Muyu didn’t pay much attention, focusing back on the card drawing.
Chen Kaijie was the first to draw. He rubbed his hands and took a deep breath before stepping forward to draw his card.
Upon reaching S-rank, the cards became different. This time, the cards were much more exquisite, with each back embossed with silver patterns. Upon closer inspection, they still featured bellflowers, which intrigued Xiao Muyu.
She felt that the bellflower had some special significance, and every time she saw it, she felt a strange flutter in her chest.
Originally watching the cards, Xiao Muyu soon shifted her gaze to the steward standing behind the counter.
The steward, still in a black tailcoat, stood upright. When Xiao Muyu looked over, he also raised his eyes to meet hers briefly, making her feel even stranger. He was different from the previous judges.
No matter how real the previous judges seemed, they always felt programmed, never breaking from their duties when observed.
But the steward felt like a real person.
Chen Kaijie soon finished drawing. He glanced at his card and excitedly announced, “An S-rank card, it’s a suona.”
Shen Qingqiu, nestled in Xiao Muyu’s arms, raised her head, clearly curious.
They had known that card draws could be related to dungeon plots, but the suona, which heightened the horror atmosphere in “Wedding,” was particularly intriguing.
Suona, Rarity S, extremely low probability of dropping in ancient dungeons.
Item Description: When the suona sounds, it either signals a wedding or a funeral. The S-rank suona, when played, reflects the sorrows and joys of the world.
When the suona sounds, enemy groups feel like they are at a funeral, losing morale and reducing attack power by 10%. Allies, feeling like they are at a wedding, gain 10% attack power. Duration: five minutes, cooldown: 24 hours.
This item was quite interesting, a form of group control.
Next was Su Jin, who had few offensive tools. The most practical ones were the bone whistle and external assistance. She hoped to gain more initiative through her tools.
Su Jin soon finished drawing, obtaining another S-rank card. It depicted a paper figure with the label “White River Lord.”
Su Jin felt a chill, as the White River Lord had left a significant shadow on her. Even though it was her card, she was still a bit scared.
“Captain Xiao, it’s the White River Lord.”
Xiao Muyu motioned for Su Jin to show her. Taking the card, she examined it. Typically, cards depicting in-dungeon characters were powerful but occasionally risky.
“When the holder recites the name of the White River Lord, White River Lord Dong Zhongxuan can be summoned. The White River Lord, deeply resentful from losing his bride on his wedding night, will stop at nothing to marry a new bride. All female enemies will become his targets, taken away to be his bride. Duration: thirty minutes. If not successful, the White River Lord retreats and does not reappear for three days. Usage limit: eight times.”
Xiao Muyu read it aloud, laughing, “Very useful, but only if the enemies have women.”
“How sexist, can’t it work on men?” Shen Qingqiu peeked at the card, commenting.
Su Jin, Zuo Tiantian, and Chen Kaijie: … Seriously?
The team’s luck didn’t hold. Zuo Tiantian drew a B-rank card featuring a bloody head, making her nauseous.
This dungeon had given Zuo Tiantian a phobia of severed heads. The image of using heads for paper figures and the sight of those poor girls’ decapitated heads made the head card unbearable.
The description was even more annoying: A seemingly ordinary head, still fresh. A good intimidation tool if necessary. If you have peculiar tastes, the brain is fresh and guaranteed to satisfy.
Zuo Tiantian turned pale, gagging and wanting to discard the card.
Su Jin quickly took it from her, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
While patting Zuo Tiantian’s back, Su Jin glanced at the card, then also turned pale and gagged.
Their reactions were too intriguing. Shen Qingqiu, still clinging to Xiao Muyu, was curious and would have reached out if she didn’t have to pretend to be dizzy.
Finding it amusing, Xiao Muyu took the card and handed it directly to Shen Qingqiu without looking at it first.
Shen Qingqiu laughed after reading it, “What a perverted item, but I like it, especially since it promises fresh brains.” Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian looked at Shen Qingqiu in horror, wondering if the vice-captain really had such twisted preferences.
Xiao Muyu was initially stunned, but quickly recovered. She looked down at the card she handed and immediately started to laugh. “This must be what they mean by searching high and low only to find it by chance. A brain is a great thing; I really need one.”
Though Xiao Muyu was smiling, the smile didn’t reach her eyes. Shen Qingqiu naturally noticed this and understood what Xiao Muyu was thinking.
However, the outcome before them was clearly good, whether it was intentional or not. The goodwill outweighed the malice.
“I must have been confused; this is absolutely amazing! The brainless zombie that Captain Xiao had before is still vacant, and now there’s a brain! How could something so great happen? Are we really turning trash into treasure with these cards?”
After saying that, Su Jin was stunned. Turning trash into treasure—it wasn’t the first time, and the inherent contradiction of the system surfaced again.
She opened her mouth but decided to hold back since they hadn’t finished drawing the cards. More importantly, she believed that if she felt this way, Xiao Muyu must have felt it too.
All along, she could sense that Xiao Muyu was hiding something, but Su Jin knew it wasn’t to keep it from them—Xiao Muyu had her own burdens to bear.
In the dungeon, her strange behavior and occasional lapses made Su Jin feel sad without knowing what exactly had happened.
In this team, Xiao Muyu was like a lighthouse, standing tall and seeing far, but isolated from the crowd, alone at sea.
Luckily, she had Shen Qingqiu by her side. Shen Qingqiu was like the lighthouse keeper, always there whether the sea was lonely or noisy, calm or stormy.
Su Jin couldn’t continue her thoughts as Xiao Muyu smiled at her and said, “You take this card. I’ll give you that brainless zombie. It can be a good card for your protection.”
Su Jin was taken aback and quickly waved her hand. “Captain Xiao, you keep it. Summoning a zombie could be very useful. You’re the brain of our team; if you’re safe, we have hope.”
Shen Qingqiu rolled her eyes and threw both cards in her hand to Su Jin. “She’s mine, not yours. Just take it. Sometimes I can’t always look out for you guys, so it’s better to ensure Xiao Muyu’s safety. You’ll be much better protected this way.”
Then she added with frustration, “If I need saving, you’ll only have hope if you’re stronger. Otherwise, if you get knocked away like Chen Kaijie, I won’t have any hope at all.”
Though it seemed like she was complaining about Chen Kaijie, everyone understood her personality and laughed.
“Just take it. It’s indeed embarrassing. Haha.” Chen Kaijie scratched his nose. He had finally been a hero but got knocked down.
Xiao Muyu watched them laugh, her eyes softening. Though the person in her arms had scared her, having teammates like this gave her a different kind of joy from what Shen Qingqiu gave her.
“Shall I draw first?” Xiao Muyu asked Shen Qingqiu.
“Yes, go ahead.”
Xiao Muyu seemed to be in a good mood, and though she was thick-skinned, she didn’t have the habit of showing off their love in front of others. So, she stood up from Xiao Muyu’s arms, though she didn’t let go of her hand.
Xiao Muyu glanced at her, as if asking something. Shen Qingqiu blinked and whispered, “I’ll be right back.”
Xiao Muyu pursed her lips and nonchalantly said, “It’s not like I don’t know you’ll be right back. You’re just going to rest.”
Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help but laugh. The familiar tsundere attitude was back, indicating she was truly feeling better.
Without hesitation, Xiao Muyu pointed at one of the cards. The spinning card revealed only a silver glow until it stopped in front of her. The card had no picture, only a name and description. The name made Xiao Muyu’s lips twitch.
Shen Qingqiu instinctively leaned in to look at the card and read the name aloud with a bemused expression.
“If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands?” What kind of card is this?
Author’s Note: The card-drawing segment is full of fun, but it has wracked my brain. Here’s a little interaction—I’d like to collect some of your imaginative ideas. For Captain Xiao’s card, “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands,” what kind of item description and function do you think this card could have?
Haha. It’s a bit late today, so I can’t write too much. If there are any mistakes, please let me know, and I’ll correct them when I wake up. Thanks for understanding.
