Safe Room

“This really is… should I call it lucky or unlucky…?”

Staggering into the safe room, Ye Yousheng finally exhausted the last bit of his strength and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

“Yousheng! Are you okay?! You’re not dead, right?!”

Yiwu’s phantom appeared, kneeling before him and looking at him anxiously.

She wanted to grab his hand, or at least move the woman pressing down on him, but without a physical body, she couldn’t do anything.

Face pressed against the floor, Ye Yousheng struggled to raise a hand and gave a thumbs-up.

“Yeah… barely alive… though it feels like I might die any second…”

After escaping from Death Knell, Ye Yousheng, with only 6 HP left, had charged through the labyrinth like a headless fly.

The result was drawing the attention of a large number of monsters and accumulating massive aggro.

In his fragile state, even the slightest hit would have meant death.

But somehow… he made it out.

Whether it was monster attacks or thrown weapons, not a single one hit him.

Relying solely on Wind Walk, he had actually escaped that terrifying mob of monsters—while severely injured and carrying another person on his back.

Perhaps the Goddess of Fortune’s blessing still had some lingering effect.

With absurd, unmatched luck, Ye Yousheng managed to break through the horde with a burden on his back and even found a rare safe room.

Once inside this ‘safe zone’ of the labyrinth, he would no longer be attacked.

No matter how many monsters there were, they would not enter this room.

No reason—because that was simply the rule of the dungeon labyrinth.

After lying on the ground for a long time, Ye Yousheng finally regained a bit of strength.

He moved the girl off his back and crawled over to lean against the wall, sitting down.

Looking at his T-shirt, which had been sliced clean in half across the chest, and his jeans missing a leg, he scratched his head in frustration.

At this point, it wasn’t even a “punk beggar style”—he just straight-up looked like a beggar.

He shoved his hands into his pockets, tilted his head back, and let out a long breath.

“…Didn’t expect this labyrinth… to actually be one I’ve ‘cleared’ before…”

If dodging all those monster attacks was thanks to luck, then finding this safe room had nothing to do with luck at all.

It was pure experience.

You might wonder—what experience could Ye Yousheng possibly have?

Wasn’t this his first time in this dungeon?

But the truth was exactly that.

He had found this safe room relying entirely on his memory.

Because the dungeon he was currently in… was exactly the same as the one he had cleared in the game.

He opened his phone gallery and pulled up the map he had taken screenshots of earlier.

That trash-tier game hadn’t even included a map function, and since he had zero drawing talent, taking photos with his phone had been the best solution.

Who would’ve thought that something he did out of convenience back then would end up saving his life here?

“What even… was that game…?”

Hearing his murmur, Yiwu turned her head.

“Hm? What game?”

“It’s nothing.”

Ye Yousheng changed the subject before she could probe further.

“By the way, do you know why monsters don’t attack this room?”

He didn’t want to reveal anything about the game before figuring it out himself.

Though he was deflecting, he genuinely wanted to know the answer too.

In the game, safe rooms existed—they were ‘save points.’

No game would ever place monsters near a save point.

So naturally, they were the safest places.

But this wasn’t a game.

This was a real labyrinth filled with monsters.

How could a place like this have an absolutely safe zone like a save point?

He hadn’t even expected such a place to exist.

Finding it had been pure coincidence.

Originally, he was searching for stairs to the upper floor, thinking monsters might not be there.

Instead, he stumbled upon this room.

Trusting his instincts, he rushed in—and it actually turned out to be safe.

The monsters chasing him had immediately stopped at the entrance and dispersed.

No matter how you looked at it, it made no sense.

Yiwu tapped her chin and replied uncertainly.

“Mm… I’m not really sure either. The dungeon labyrinth is the lowest-tier among the seven great labyrinths, so it doesn’t usually have monsters that mortals can’t handle… I’ve never been here.”

“…Not that strong, huh…”

Ye Yousheng couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.

To Yiwu, Death Knell was probably nothing more than fodder she could crush with a finger.

But to him, it had been a lethal threat.

That final soundwave when it broke free had nearly blown out his eardrums.

Just looking at the unconscious mage in front of him was enough to understand how terrifying it had been.

Using his Observe skill, he checked her information.

Alicia Metatron.

Only eighteen years old, yet already a Level 48 third-tier mage.

The fact that she entered the labyrinth alone proved her strength.

If not for being dragged into his mess, she wouldn’t have ended up like this.

“Oh right… since she’s an adventurer too…”

As if remembering something, Ye Yousheng stood up and walked over to her, flipping her over to inspect her.

Like him earlier, she wore a cloak, and the labyrinth’s dim lighting had obscured her appearance.

Only now did he clearly see the face of his second savior.

A beautiful girl.

Shoulder-length coffee-colored curls tucked slightly inward, paired with soft side-swept bangs.

Her delicate features gave her a sweet, gentle aura.

A girl like that lying unconscious… any man might have improper thoughts.

Well—any man except Ye Yousheng.

After all, a peerless goddess was literally floating beside him.

Even if he couldn’t touch her, just looking at her was enough to stun anyone.

On top of that, Ye Yousheng was already good at restraining himself.

Under Yiwu’s watchful gaze, he had zero inappropriate thoughts.

However, Yiwu frowned when she saw his actions.

“Yousheng… you’re not planning to take advantage of her, are you? That would be way too despicable!”

“I’m just taking a bottle of healing potion. Consider it payment for saving her.”

What Ye Yousheng realized was simple—since she was an adventurer, she definitely carried supplies.

His HP recovery was painfully slow.

After all this time, it had only risen to 11.

Roughly one HP every five minutes.

At this rate, fully recovering would take over a day.

That wasn’t acceptable—he wanted to return to the surface as soon as possible.

“Ohh, I see.”

Yiwu patted her chest in relief.

“I thought you were going to…”

“What did you think I was going to do?”

“I thought you were going to rob her blind. Turns out you’re just taking one potion~”

“…”

Now it was Ye Yousheng’s turn to frown.

He had already suspected it, but it seemed the Goddess of Life, Yiwu… was even more naïve than he thought.

Probably because she had lived isolated in that icy palace, never interacting with mortals.

Her innocence felt almost childlike.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Ye Yousheng continued searching.

Eventually, he found an item pouch in her arms and reached in without hesitation.

Just like looting spoils from corpses on a battlefield—natural, smooth, instinctive.

Except this time, the “target” wasn’t a corpse…

And was very much a living woman.

“Ah, Yousheng, she’s waking up. I’ll go back into the phone. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

“Huh? Waking up?”

He looked up in confusion—only to see Yiwu had already disappeared.

He turned his gaze back to the mage.

Their eyes met.

“…”

“…”

Just as Yiwu said—Alicia had woken up.

She blinked in confusion, stared at Ye Yousheng for a moment…

Then slowly shifted her gaze downward.

To his hand.

Currently inside her clothes.

From an outside perspective, this was the situation:

A ragged-looking man had his dirty hand inside the clothes of a sweet-looking girl lying on the ground.

No matter how you looked at it—it was bad.

Even though Ye Yousheng only wanted a potion, Alicia had no way of knowing that.

And to her, this looked exactly like something indecent.

Perhaps because she had just woken up, she simply stared at him blankly without shouting.

The air turned painfully awkward.

Ye Yousheng wanted to pull his hand out… but somehow that also felt wrong.

He awkwardly coughed into his left hand.

“Uh… you’re awake, huh.”

“Mm.”

She actually responded.

Now he had no choice but to continue.

“…I was checking your injuries.”

Originally, he had planned to ‘borrow’ a potion.

But now that he was caught red-handed, he hastily made up a terrible excuse.

“My chest isn’t injured though?”

Instantly exposed.

“…”

“…”

At this point, any explanation felt useless.

Only one path remained—apologize!

“I’m really sorry! Actually I just wanted to take a healing pot—”

Before he could finish—

A fireball flew straight at his face.

Exactly like the one Lulu had once used on him.

“Die, you pervert!”

So it seemed… the safe room wasn’t absolutely safe after all.

At the very least, Ye Yousheng almost died here too.