In a restaurant in Yan’an City.
Xiao Jiu furtively glanced at Fire Finch beside her, then whispered conspiratorially, “Papa, guess what?”
“What is it?”
“Today, Sister Fire Finch brought another really pretty big sister to pick me up! She was super, super beautiful!”
A pretty big sister?
Aya Tone’s expression suddenly tightened, his heart skipping a beat.
Yet, he quickly regained his composure.
He smiled gently, “What kind of big sister was she?”
Seeing that her Papa was intrigued, Xiao Jiu happily began to gesticulate.
“She was, like, tall, with long hair, and a frame on her nose…”
She tried her best to articulate with her limited vocabulary.
Unfortunately, Aya Tone could only barely grasp such abstract descriptions, unable to form a clear image of the woman in his mind.
Tall, long hair, wearing glasses?
Aya Tone searched his memories, but no one matched the description.
The single detail of wearing glasses perfectly excluded anyone he knew.
Huff~
Relieved that it was someone unfamiliar, Aya Tone let out a breath.
He was genuinely worried about Fire Finch’s impulsive actions.
If she took Xiao Jiu out to play and they accidentally ran into an acquaintance, he wouldn’t know how to explain the situation.
“Alright, alright, it’s time to eat now, I’m hanging up!”
Fire Finch, standing nearby, had naturally noticed the little darling’s sneaky glance at her.
Even with her right there, Xiao Jiu was still so clingy to Aya Tone, the conversation showing no signs of stopping, which made Fire Finch feel a touch of ‘jealousy’.
Thus, she mischievously cut short the tender moment between father and daughter.
Fire Finch scooted her chair closer to Xiao Jiu, wrapping one arm around her small waist while the other hand fiddled with her phone.
“You’re such a grown-up, yet you’re still clinging to your daughter, shameless—”
With that, Fire Finch abruptly ended the call.
She wouldn’t give Aya Tone a chance to argue; her sole aim was to annoy him.
Watching the call return to the chat screen, Aya Tone offered a helpless smile.
He wasn’t as angry as Fire Finch might have imagined; he simply found her behavior a little childish.
Such a grown-up…
Fire Finch’s words just now seemed more like she was talking about herself.
Still—
A long-haired big sister wearing glasses?
****
The following day, the scorching sun hung high in the sky.
Inside the White Tiger Guild in the Imperial Capital, the usual throngs of people bustled about.
Everyone was frantically busy, overwhelmed by the surging number of dungeons.
However, as they passed the entrance, people couldn’t help but pause their hurried steps, watching the scene before them with considerable interest.
Nothing complicated; it was simply amusing.
“Are you guys really that useless? Weren’t you all so enthusiastic yesterday? How can you be so dejected after only a few dungeons?”
“Brothers, we’re the guild’s elites, alright? We need to set an example for the juniors! Lying around like this, what kind of discipline is that?”
Aya Tone spoke, addressing the ‘salted fish’ sprawled on the ground, a hint of ‘hate iron for not becoming steel’ in his voice.
How many dungeons had they even cleared?
One A-rank, three B-rank.
And then about five or six C-rank dungeons.
Was that really enough to collapse upon returning to the guild?
They were worse than Li Jia alone.
Useless!
“L-leader, I-I truly can’t go on… I’m completely drained…”
Fu Ling struggled to lift his pale face, his pupils now showing signs of dilating.
He looked as weak as someone who had engaged in ‘nine times a night’.
Indeed, it was true; every last drop of his magic power had been squeezed dry.
He lay there, feeling as if he would perish in the next second.
The others were much the same.
Though they disliked being spoken to this way, they genuinely lacked the strength to retort.
Returning here had already been a miracle.
“Don’t give up, guys!” Seeing them not even bother to argue, Aya Tone grew anxious.
They hadn’t even scratched the surface!
“Where was all your drive from last night? We said we’d hit the big one together!”
“At your age, how can you even sleep?”
“Get up! Fight! Fight!”
But alas, anime was deceptive; in reality, not a single person could rise.
These subordinates peacefully closed their eyes, and no matter how Aya Tone called out, it was all in vain.
“Sister Ning, wake up!”
Aya Tone’s last hope rested on Ning Fan Ying.
Judging by the energy fluctuations, Ning Fan Ying was the strongest among them.
Sister Ning would surely be able to continue with him, right?
“…”
To his surprise, Ning Fan Ying seemed not to hear Aya Tone’s summons, keeping her eyes tightly shut, just like the others.
She silently apologized to Aya Tone in her heart.
Although she genuinely liked this little girl who had brought her new hope.
With the workload they had this morning, anyone would struggle to endure it.
They had been running non-stop, their only breaks occurring during the journey to the next dungeon.
Her internal energy had been completely depleted.
If they had to do this again in the afternoon…
Ning Fan Ying shivered at the thought, her legs trembling.
It wasn’t from excitement, but from sheer exhaustion.
“So, no one’s getting up, huh?”
Everyone thought Aya Tone was angry and stealthily opened a sliver of an eye, exchanging glances as they debated whether to rise.
But the next second, they abandoned that idea.
They heard Aya Tone continue, “Then I’ll lie down too…”
And so, a peculiar scene unfolded on the ground floor of the White Tiger Guild.
Right in front of the main entrance, several ‘salted fish’ lay stretched out.
Men and women, young and old, they were all there.
To an uninformed observer, it would seem as though the guild had been poisoned.
Yet, some recognized a few of the adventurers.
“Isn’t that the Spatial Mage from Ling Feng’s team? He’s a B-rank adventurer, why is he lying here?”
“Forget B-rank adventurers, look at the one next to him, the young master of Fuyi Group! They say he awakened an S-rank ability—the Space Walker. Isn’t he lying there too?”
“Really?”
“What on earth happened? All these spatial ability users have inexplicably collapsed in front of the guild!”
The onlookers murmured amongst themselves, yet none dared to approach.
These individuals were all prominent figures, and every single one of them was a spatial ability user; combined, they could sweep through most dungeons.
To put it grandly, they might even challenge an S-rank dungeon.
Who knew if they were merely playing a prank?
The crowd gathered to watch the spectacle grew larger and larger.
Ultimately, it was Bai Xiao who was alerted, finally bringing an end to the farce.
****
Inside the rest room.
Aya Tone lay bored on the sofa.
Fu Ling and the others had all been carried away on stretchers; today might truly be the end of their dungeon delving.
He had even planned to visit a comic convention after finishing this big job.
Sigh—
“Ugh, why is this anime so disgusting? Author, you’re a poet, I say!”
Projected onto the wall was a recent anime with a rating of 3.0.
He had clicked on it out of curiosity, only to discover it was truly a piece of trash, and a monumental one at that!
Indeed, the audience’s eyes were sharp.
To be able to create such a brainless script was also a kind of genius.
It was bad enough that the female lead was a ‘holy mother’, but then the male lead, swayed by her few words,
Cheerfully let the enemy go?
Seriously, buddy, didn’t you think about your teacher?
Your teacher was publicly humiliated and killed, and then you just let the enemy go.
What happened to going dark?
My goodness, I’m utterly disgusted…
If I ever see that author, I’ll definitely rip off their head and see if it’s filled with excrement!!!
Aya Tone thought to himself, a fierce look in his eyes.
“Click!”