The Mimic’s Dilemma and a New Discovery

“I know it’s a treasure chest, but you need to calm down first!”

Lin Ran pressed her back down, his guard immediately rising.

He had just received a notification that the special enemy for the third wave of attacks was a Mimic, and now, a treasure chest had spawned right in his dorm room.

The sensation was akin to finishing a horror movie, only to turn around and find the ghost from the film standing right behind you.

It was strangely exciting… no, it was unsettlingly eerie.

As for the chest before him, was it truly a Mimic, or a genuine treasure chest?

Lin Ran’s mind drifted to his -11 luck value.

Indeed, the answer was self-evident; he should dispose of this thing as soon as possible.

“You can’t open it, at least not yet,” Lin Ran said, shaking his head and patting Lim, who was still struggling in his grasp.

“You’re a monster yourself, don’t you know you have a colleague called a Mimic? What if this thing is one?”

“Then what should we do?” Lim tilted her head, her entire body slumping in disappointment.

Yet, after Lin Ran’s reminder, a shiver of dread ran through her.

Had she truly rushed forward to open the chest, she might now be a Mimic’s grand feast.

No, wait… as a slime, she’d be more like a dessert…?

Wouldn’t that mean she wouldn’t even be enough to fill a Mimic?

It was this thought, fueled by a desire for revenge, that sparked an idea in her mind.

“I’ve got it! Master didn’t you test for an air wall outside before? We can just throw it out with a portal!”

Lim suggested, with a perfectly serious expression, a terrifying solution that would undoubtedly crush her former colleague.

‘That won’t do! What if this thing can also be ‘captured’?’ Lin Ran mused. ‘Wouldn’t that be like personally killing my wife?’

Nonetheless, the suggestion did hold some merit.

Lin Ran stroked his chin, and a plan swiftly formed in his mind.

His original purpose for returning to the dorm was to retrieve some items from the convenience store, especially since the portal had already been upgraded.

However, who could guarantee that there wouldn’t be an air wall on the other side of the portal?

His previous method of using toothpaste to scout was certainly ineffective, as the convenience store was currently closed.

It was pitch black inside; sending in a tube of toothpaste wouldn’t reveal what was happening.

But the treasure chest was large! If it were crushed, there would be a sound!

This suspicious chest would be perfect for scouting.

‘Hmm… although there’s still the risk of accidentally killing my wife.’

‘But that’s better than letting this thing stay in my dorm, right?’

Deciding to act immediately, Lin Ran instructed Vera to release some control threads.

As a Self-Disciplined Doll, she had previously been the core monster controlling the smaller dolls.

In the dream realm, she had used these invisible threads to control the infinitely evolving dolls in battle against herself.

Utilizing Vera’s abilities, Lin Ran carefully wrapped the treasure chest.

Then, he activated the portal.

Vera deftly manipulated the threads, steadily pushing the massive chest into the portal.

The chest vanished within the door, but no sound of anything being crushed echoed from the other side.

‘It worked!’

A surge of joy filled Lin Ran’s heart.

It seemed that air walls indeed did not generate indoors, which meant the space he could explore was significantly larger.

Next door were a phone repair shop, a barber shop, and the like; though their value was far less than the convenience store, he might still be able to pilfer…

No, ‘rationally utilize’ was the correct term!

To rationally utilize the remaining value of those remnants of human technological civilization that no one would ever use again.

This was something to be proud of!

…Or so it should be.

With this thought, Lin Ran, holding Lim and Vera by a hand each, stepped into the portal without hesitation.

The scene before them twisted momentarily, and in the next second, they found themselves in a dimly lit space.

It was the familiar convenience store.

The massive treasure chest rested safely in the aisle of the store.

Even so, a large quantity of goods had been knocked over by the sudden appearance of the huge chest, scattering snacks across the floor.

“Master, what do we do with this chest now? Should we still open it?” Lim’s attention remained fixated on the treasure chest.

“Not yet,” Lin Ran said, stopping her as he surveyed their surroundings.

“First, let’s move all the fragile items, food, and drinks back to the dorm to prevent them from being destroyed if a fight breaks out later.”

Placing the Mimic outside the dorm was also one of his goals, to prevent his own room from being damaged.

As Lin Ran spoke, he gave Vera a look.

Vera immediately understood, summoning the small dolls from the wooden house.

They put down their fire axes, lining up to move items from the shelves.

Lin Ran also joined in moving things; he always preferred to be hands-on and lead by example.

However, as he rounded a shelf corner, his peripheral vision caught something.

Beneath the shelf, there was an ice cream wrapper.

Crucially, a bit of still-unmelted ice cream clung to the wrapper.

‘No!’

‘There’s someone else here!’

Lin Ran’s body instantly tensed, and he drew his Favorability Handgun, ready to unleash a powerful shot at any moment.

Lim, too, immediately shifted from her relaxed state to serious mode, leaping up with her slime-like elasticity to stick to the ceiling and observe.

Vera was even more direct, countless threads already silently spreading throughout the entire convenience store.

Yet, even with these efforts, no one appeared, leaving only one possible location.

—The small storeroom behind the convenience store.

He held his breath, approaching step by deliberate step.

“Don’t hide, come out. I mean no harm.”

Lin Ran spoke tentatively.

Though he wasn’t certain if the person was indeed hiding in the storeroom, speaking first would prevent him from losing the upper hand in terms of psychological momentum.

At the same time, he tried to make his voice sound as gentle as possible.

Whether he truly harbored ill will would depend on the person’s actions once they emerged.

However, even after two or three minutes, a deathly silence persisted behind the door.

Seeing no reaction after a prolonged wait, Lin Ran felt a sense of helplessness.

He transformed directly into a slime and slipped under the door crack.

As expected, inside the storeroom, a girl in a white shirt stood, clutching a dagger, her body trembling as she pointed it towards the door.

Her appearance was quite ordinary, perhaps slightly above average among the girls at school.

She was from an entirely different world compared to Lim and Vera; even Xia Li, also a human, surpassed her in looks by several leagues.

Moreover, her current state was quite disheveled.

Her hair was messy, her face streaked with tears and dust…

Coupled with her eyes filled with terror, Lin Ran could tell.

This woman harbored no trust for him; she only possessed the despair of the apocalypse.

If he had simply opened the door and walked in, that dagger would have plunged into him without hesitation.

‘What about her romance potential?’

[Target: Zhou Qingqing (Human Female)]

[Romance Potential: 10 (Passerby)]

What struck Lin Ran most was this 10-point romance potential.

He knew he possessed the heaven-defying passive skill [Cupid’s Hatred]!

And this woman’s romance potential was neither zero nor a negative number!

‘Could she be a normal person?!’

‘But… why is she so afraid of me?’

‘She shouldn’t be this scared… I feel like my voice was pretty gentle, right?’ Lin Ran silently complained to himself.

However, seeing her unstable emotional state and the weapon in her hand, direct communication posed too great a risk.

The best course of action would be to subdue her first, then slowly ascertain the situation.

‘But if that’s the case, don’t blame me for being impolite.’

Slithering stealthily through a crack in the wall, Lin Ran soon reached the ceiling.

Then, he transformed into a giant net and pounced!