Corrosive Rain and Unexpected Allies

“Lin Huanxia, come with me! These healing potions are all for you. If any Slime or Little Doll sustains an injury, immediately draw her in for treatment!”

A rapid succession of commands was issued, and the three monster girls sprang into action with terrifying efficiency.

Lim, leading a swarm of smaller Slimes, plastered themselves onto the wooden house’s exterior walls and merged together.

Concurrently, they secreted corrosive fluid, encasing the wooden house.

With a wave of Vera’s hand, hundreds of Little Dolls formed a circular formation around the wooden house, their fire axes wildly hacking at the empty air.

Lin Huanxia, meanwhile, swallowed all the healing potions Vera had produced, remaining dutifully by the doorway, ready to retrieve any casualties.

Having arranged all of this, Lin Ran then turned his gaze to Anmeng Yue…

“Cough, cough… Sister, does your head still hurt? Did I perhaps go a little too hard yesterday? Could I possibly run up another tab? I’m hoping to buy some anti-stealth glasses or something similar…”

Lin Ran pleaded, his gaze fixed pitifully on Anmeng Yue as he asked.

He understood that an open tab couldn’t extend indefinitely; the fact that he had already accrued a debt of seventy thousand crystal cores was solely due to Anmeng Yue’s personal bias.

If unlimited credit were possible, Anmeng Yue, as a Dream Eater, would become a wish-granting machine, fulfilling any desire with a simple IOU.

Any other proper, upright Dream Eater would certainly not permit such a practice.

Indeed, his conjecture proved correct.

Upon hearing his words, Anmeng Yue’s delicate face instantly blanched.

Her eyes welled up with tears, making it seem as though she was on the verge of crying.

“Lord Lin Ran… please, have pity on me…”

As she spoke, her hand clutched at the corner of Lin Ran’s clothes.

“Seventy thousand crystal cores… that’s my absolute limit. Our Dream Eater clan has KPIs too! My ‘Employee of the Month’ award for this month vanished because of your gun, and if I incur more debt, I’ll be ‘optimized’… boo hoo hoo…”

“I’m just a rookie Dream Eater merchant; granting seventy thousand in credit was already an exceptional allowance…”

“At the very least… at the very least, I need to wait until we defend against this wave, the rewards are settled, and my boss deems you capable of repayment before I can open up your credit line again… It’s regulation…”

Lin Ran paused, taken aback.

He had previously read her mind, discovering her desire for him to owe a million.

Yet, now she was refusing his request for credit, indicating that her words were indeed genuine.

Perhaps each instance of credit required waiting until the next reward was obtained.

Just like in reality, lending money necessitates assessing the borrower’s ability to repay before agreeing.

No lending company, for instance, would willingly offer a loan to an elderly person with no relatives, suffering from a terminal illness, and with little time left.

However…

Well, I’ll be! KPI culture has even made its way here?

Are the Demon King’s Army’s management systems truly that modern?

Never mind, she was clearly out of the question for the time being.

Nevertheless, his method clearly held promise.

Whether the opponents were invisible or simply too tiny, the solution remained the same!

‘If I can’t see you, I’ll just carpet-bomb the area with AOE!’

Lin Ran rushed over to Wang Pangzi’s wooden house, where Wang Pangzi was already speaking.

“Brother Lin Ran! What’s going on? What should we do?!”

Wang Pangzi had finally met his match; he was truly at a loss for how to deal with the current situation.

“Don’t ask. If you ask, someone’s backdooring our base! In every sense of the word!” Lin Ran stated concisely, then continued:

“Pangzi, your and Qi Xiaoyu’s houses are also in danger. Prepare to face the enemy!”

Lin Ran pulled out the Affinity Pistol, then unceremoniously expelled all the corrosive slime stored within his body.

Carefully, he loaded this slime into the pistol’s magazine, completing the ammunition refill.

Raising the gun, he aimed it at the sky directly above the three wooden houses.

“My wish is…” Lin Ran took a deep breath, practically roaring his desire aloud.

“For a rain of corrosive fluid!”

“Bang!”

After the gunshot, a vibrant green bullet shot skyward, detonating with a roar in mid-air!

A massive, green corrosive fluid firework bloomed in the sky, then transformed into countless green specks of light, showering down upon the ground.

“What the— Lin Ran, what kind of move is this? Aren’t you worried about our houses… Wait! Holy crap! I get it!” Wang Pangzi exclaimed, looking up, finally understanding after a long moment of contemplation.

Lin Ran nodded in satisfaction, acknowledging that the young man was indeed teachable.

The fine rain of corrosive fluid evenly blanketed the area around the three wooden houses.

With that, the entire defensive position was covered by a thin carpet of corrosive fluid.

‘I don’t care if you’re invisible or tiny; if you’ve got the guts, walk across this corrosive fluid!’

The method, as expected, yielded immediate results.

The incidents of wooden planks vanishing into thin air ceased.

Lin Ran let out a long breath, feeling that his guess had been correct.

He mentally tagged this wave of unknown enemies as either [Invisible Units] or [Microscopic Units].

Wang Pangzi also seized the opportunity to round up the remaining giant enemies.

After all, Lin Ran’s kills had drawn away many of the giant enemies, significantly reducing the pressure on Wang Pangzi’s side, allowing him to cope.

However, before he could fully exhale, a series of broadcast announcements rang out:

[Warning! Team #18039’s battlefield has been completely wiped out.]

[Warning! Team #18077’s battlefield has been completely wiped out.]

[Warning! Team #18062’s battlefield has been completely wiped out.]

…

A succession of team wipe announcements echoed in everyone’s ears.

Most teams wouldn’t be wiped out when facing giants.

But against these unseen foes, most people were utterly helpless.

Not everyone, like Lin Ran, possessed a functional cheat like Slimes, capable of devising such a simple yet brutal countermeasure.

Facing such invisible enemies, the vast majority were powerless, forced to watch as their wooden houses were slowly dismantled, then erased by the system.

Wang Pangzi and Qi Xiaoyu both wore grim expressions.

Even Liu Yan emerged; this time, she neither acted out nor caused a fuss, merely watching the trio, hoping they could devise a solution.

Although their side was temporarily safe, the chilling sensation of shared vulnerability weighed heavily on everyone’s hearts.

“Brother Ran, how long can this move of yours last?” Wang Pangzi couldn’t help but ask.

“I haven’t calculated it. Once the corrosive fluid evaporates, it loses its effect. But it definitely evaporates faster than I can regenerate it.” Lin Ran shook his head, gazing at the ground.

Though the corrosive fluid was tenacious, still…

At most… it would last another hour.

Replenishing his corrosive fluid, however, would take at least a full day.

Even borrowing from Lim and the others would be futile, as the replenishment rate of corrosive fluid simply couldn’t keep up with its consumption.

Time ticked by, minute by minute, and the scent of corrosive fluid in the air grew fainter.

Suddenly, a faint ‘sizzling’ sound emanated from the direction of Qi Xiaoyu’s wooden house.

Everyone’s heart sank.

A single wooden plank on Qi Xiaoyu’s rooftop simply vanished, bit by bit, into thin air!

Sure enough, the corrosive fluid’s effect had worn off!

Next, a plank disappeared from Wang Pangzi’s wooden house.

The corrosive fluid’s efficacy was rapidly fading, and the unseen thieves had once again resumed their grand mission of backdooring.

Aside from the wooden house Lin Ran had plastered with his Slime body, the other two houses were in grave peril!

What was to be done?

Were they simply to watch their teammates’ wooden houses be completely dismantled, then erased by the system?

Just as Lin Ran found himself at his wit’s end, even beginning to consider calling his own Slimes over for help—

“Yo, Boss, I’ve been looking for you for ages. Are these guys your friends?”

A familiar, rough voice echoed from behind him.

Lin Ran turned, his gaze falling upon a face scarred by a blade.

****