Chapter 16: Return

Cao Yu really had no intention of doing anything more. The Mother Buddha was too dangerous, and there was no reason for him to risk his life in an E-rank dungeon.

Seeing his stance, An Li abandoned the idea as well and went aside to refine her corpse puppets. The three she had previously prepared had been destroyed in the blast created by the "Flame Staff" thrown by Chen Ran during the battle. Fortunately, while hunting ordinary ghosts, she had managed to collect more remains and transported them over using her "Golden Ring of Dust-Separation."

This time, she had brought back thirteen ghost corpses. As she returned, she was trailed by a mass of corpses, looking for all the world like a villainous sorceress from a xianxia novel who specialized in necromancy. Combined with the dark atmosphere of the night, the sight was, in a word, chilling.

On the other side, Chen Ran took out her phone and called Zhou Fan and Zhou Zheng. Everyone’s phones had been looted, and they had exchanged contact information. She informed them that the "Puppet Grudge" had been eliminated. After all, they were teammates who had shared hardships, and she didn't mind sharing such trivial information.

Zhou Fan and Zhou Zheng thanked her, but they didn't leave the cat cafe, maintaining their caution and vigilance. They wouldn't wander around before eleven o'clock at night. Chen Ran said, "See you later," to Zhou Fan and hung up.

She put away her phone and stretched, her tone lightening. "Once we get back, I can really brag to my graduation class. I wonder what kind of dungeon evaluation I’ll get?"

"Generally, completing all main and side missions earns at least an 'A-' evaluation," Cao Yu said with a smile. "If nothing goes wrong, we should all receive a prop."

"Mm-hmm, I'm dying of anticipation!" Chen Ran’s eyes sparkled. "We have to have a celebratory dinner once we’re back."

Props were precious. She would have to return this "Flame Staff" to her brother. Honestly, she was a bit reluctant to part with it. She stroked the staff and said hopefully, "I hope I can get a prop that fits me just as well."

"I’ve been meaning to ask," Cao Yu looked at Chen Ran, "how much does that staff of yours actually weigh?"

"Two hundred pounds," Chen Ran replied. "I know what you're going to say, but this prop has a 'lifting the heavy as if it were light' effect. Once I equip it, the perceived weight when swinging it depends on my will—I can make it as light or heavy as I want." She wore a smug expression and added, "And the weight I feel doesn't match its true weight. Even if I hold it and it feels as light as a feather, the swing hits with the force of a genuine two-hundred-pound object. How about that? Pretty impressive, right?"

"For an E-rank prop, it’s certainly excellent," Cao Yu said, spinning his pistol. "More useful than this 'Blow-dryer Gun' of mine."

"Hey, the Fourth Academy is just too stingy!" Chen Ran comforted him. "With your superpower serial number being so high, logically, they should have supported you with a D-rank prop."

"If Baldy Teacher heard you say that, he’d cry," Cao Yu shook his head. Baldy Teacher actually had a very elegant name, but his appearance was so distinct that the students at the Fourth Academy loved to call him that in private. Cao Yu was still grateful for the loan of the prop. After all, giving props to a novice player for a dungeon run was a huge risk; it was very easy to lose everything. If a player died... if killed by another player, the prop would be inherited by them; if they died to a normal threat, the prop would be reclaimed by the Evolution Game. The risk the teacher took was significant.

"I really can't imagine Baldy Teacher crying." Chen Ran tried to picture it—the image was too painful to look at, and she felt goosebumps rising, so she quickly changed the subject. "I heard that the higher the dungeon evaluation, the more likely you are to get a prop that perfectly matches your abilities. You performed so fiercely this time, I bet your rewards will be great."

Cao Yu laughed. "Then I'll take your word for it, Xiao Chen."

In truth, his expectations for the dungeon's prop rewards weren't high. After all, his system store contained countless props ranging from E-rank to S-rank, with all sorts of functions. Having seen the gourmet feast, even if he couldn't eat it yet, he had little interest in the scraps an E-rank dungeon provided. Yes, he had become arrogant. Compared to prop rewards, he was more curious about how many achievement points the "dungeon achievements" would bring him. The system store even sold aptitude for immortal cultivation. His craving for achievement points was maxed out. With money, one could do whatever one pleased!

At this moment, An Li had finished refining the new corpse puppet.

The thirteen ghost corpses had been merged into a single puppet the size of a normal human. It possessed feminine features, but it had no face—or rather, no facial features; its face was as smooth as a mirror, looking quite eerie.

Seeing this, Cao Yu said with a subtle tone, "You... can combine them? Thirteen ghost corpses into one puppet? A thirteen-fold increase in attributes?"

"Not that exaggerated, at most a three to four-fold increase," An Li explained. "I didn't have this 'Synthesis' ability before. After being amplified by the Mother Buddha’s rules, I gained this instinct. By the way, this puppet is called the 'Faceless One'."

"You even gave it a name..." Cao Yu thought to himself. "I experienced something similar. It must be that our superpowers were always capable of this, but our evolution level is too low to have unlocked the corresponding abilities. The Mother Buddha’s amplification just gave us a preview." He sighed. "Unfortunately, the amplification is temporary. I can already feel it weakening. I suppose by eleven o'clock tonight, the buff will be gone."

He felt a twinge of envy for An Li’s ability. The puppet she created during the buff was considered a derivative of her superpower and wouldn't vanish once the amplification ended. In other words, An Li had managed to acquire a powerful combatant for free.

"Why is that a pity?" Chen Ran was optimistic and encouraged Cao Yu energetically. "I see this buff as being at most on par with a D-rank player. With your ability, it won't be long before your evolution level reaches this point. More importantly..." She looked at the dark sky in the distance and asked curiously, "I was always busy with missions, never having time to explore... How big do you think this dungeon world is? Is it just the city of Ge Tan? Or are we actually standing on a planet?"

"It should be a planet," An Li said. "I flew quite high before and didn't see any boundary barriers outside this city."

"Is that so..." Chen Ran sighed. "For a random dungeon to have such a scale, the Evolution Game is truly shockingly large!"

"Did you forget our player IDs?" Cao Yu reminded her. "The Evolution Game is a behemoth that covers an unknown number of worlds. A planetary dungeon isn't even the tip of the iceberg."

He glanced at his player panel: [ID: C09009233333]. The last six digits represented that he was the 233,333rd player from the Federation’s world. The "009" before the serial number was the Evolution Game’s designation for the Federation world, or the "009 World Sector." This was information players had gathered from various dungeons, which the Federation had recorded. As for what the "C09" at the beginning meant, no one knew.

"IDs... aside from the various dungeons, no player has ever seen another numbered world," Chen Ran said suspiciously. "I feel like this information deserves a question mark."

"I believe it's true," Cao Yu said with conviction. One couldn't conclude whether something was true or false if they hadn't seen it, but he was willing to believe it was true. After all... he hadn't forgotten that he was a transmigrator! He was counting on the Evolution Game to help him go home and take a look.

...

Amidst their idle chatter, time passed quickly, and it was soon 11:00 PM. At that moment, the player panels of all players in the dungeon popped up automatically, and a notification echoed in their minds.

[You have completed the main mission "Survive 12 hours"]
[This dungeon session has ended and will close in 30 minutes. Please leave the dungeon within this time limit.]
[Dungeon Evaluation:
Cao Thief: A+;
Annie: A;
Call Me Queen: A-;
Partner of Justice: B-;
Good Names Taken by Dogs: B-;
The Young Lady Has Arrived: D;
Song Yiming: D]
[Your dungeon rewards have been issued.]
[Congratulations on clearing your first dungeon; all E-rank player permissions have been unlocked.]
[Leave the dungeon?]

"Yo," Cao Yu looked at Chen Ran and teased, "Queen, how does it feel to get an 'A-' evaluation?"

"..." Chen Ran blushed, embarrassed. "And you, 'Cao Thief'? What kind of terrible nickname is that?"

"Alright, you go back first," Cao Yu said, his tone turning serious.

"You be careful," Chen Ran warned. "Our buffs have already worn off."

At this moment, she, Cao Yu, and An Li were standing on the outskirts of the Marriage Mother Buddha Temple. Chen Ran didn't insist on going inside to investigate and obediently chose to return, her figure vanishing on the spot.

Cao Yu and An Li walked toward the entrance of the Mother Buddha Temple. Neither spoke, their nerves taut, focusing their attention to prevent any sudden incidents. Upon entering the temple and reaching the base of the Mother Buddha's statue, An Li commanded her "Faceless One" puppet to attack, easily shattering it.

As the fragments hit the ground, the two held their breath, scanning their surroundings... Nothing was discovered; nothing happened.

An Li mused, "Is the Mother Buddha really not part of the conquest target? If so, it's impossible to trigger an S-rank evaluation in this dungeon."

Now that the evaluation was set, the Mother Buddha was meaningless to the players. Even if they could challenge her and win, the dungeon evaluation wouldn't change. They had entered the temple out of pure curiosity—was there truly a way to trigger an "S-rank evaluation"? It seemed not...

"Look at the statue's eyes," Cao Yu suddenly warned.

An Li looked and saw that the broken head of the statue, lying on the ground, had blood-red tears leaking from the corners of its eyes. More and more poured out... In just a few seconds, the ground was covered and soaked in blood.

Cao Yu felt his shoes submerged in blood, followed by his ankles, then his pant legs... The blood covering the floor turned into a sea of gore, rising at an incredible speed. Within seconds, it had reached his waist.

His body... he couldn't move! The sea of blood had turned into solidified cement, pinning him firmly in place. Annie was the same.

The two immediately used their respective trump cards—Cao Yu used the "Slaying Immortal Curse" to tear through the restraint and sprinted toward the temple exit; An Li used the "Golden Ring of Dust-Separation" to push back the sea of blood while commanding the "Faceless One" to scoop her up and retreat rapidly.

With the dungeon ending, both had lost their previous buffs; their mental strength couldn't sustain the drain of continuously activating superpowers and props, and they turned pale within seconds. Fortunately, they escaped the main shrine.

Not daring to stop for even a second, they ran wildly toward the temple gate. Cao Yu took a moment to look back, seeing a surging wave of fresh red. In just those few seconds, the blood level had risen dozens of meters high and was still climbing, the speed making his scalp tingle. A few seconds later, it had formed a scale that blotted out the sky. Countless humanoid creatures crawled out of the sea of blood, wrapped in the waves, emitting shrieks of pain, resentment, and misery... It was a tsunami of the undead!

Running, Cao Yu and An Li were immediately caught in layer after layer of hallucinations, unable to tell where the path ahead lay.

*Damn it...* Cao Yu didn't hesitate, abandoning all desire to investigate, and mentally whispered, "Return."

The next instant, he and An Li vanished from the spot.

The surging undead tsunami, having lost its target, quickly receded and calmed down, disappearing entirely within ten seconds. The Mother Buddha Temple returned to peace, as if nothing had ever happened.