Chapter 132 Knife-Winged Butterfly

The illumination provided by the [Compound Anti-Gravity Catapult] was undoubtedly superior to that of an ordinary flashlight. Not only was the beam's range greater, but its power source was also infinite. Therefore, having Feng Bujue lead the way at least ensured they could see further than anyone else.

Furthermore, Brother Jue was devoid of fear. When confronted with sudden, startling changes, he wouldn't hesitate due to momentary fright.

And, most crucially… Feng Bujue possessed Soul Skill – Zero Hour Calculation. With this ability as an aid, no matter the situation, he could make a relatively rational response.

In short, just as Brother Jue thought, in this environment, he was indeed the most suitable choice to lead the way.

As for any extra mental burden… it didn't matter to him. His brain was never idle anyway, constantly contemplating many unrelated things…

Unconsciously, the group had walked for nearly half an hour when Honghu, bringing up the rear, suddenly spoke, "The walls seem to have changed."

"Yeah, I noticed it too," Uncle Waste Chai added. "Although the color looks no different from the previous walls… this stretch of stone wall seems to absorb light."

"Eh? Really?" Tianma Xingkong said, simultaneously shining his flashlight on the wall beside him. "I can't see it…"

"Because my Investigation Specialization is higher," Honghu said, adjusting his glasses. "So, my eyes are more sensitive to light."

Uncle Waste Chai pointed to the sunglasses on his face: "My sunglasses are a special item that allows me to see this difference as well."

"Then… what does this change indicate?" Atobe interjected.

"Heh… isn't that obvious?" Feng Bujue, walking ahead, replied without turning his head. "Something's about to happen."

"That's right, this should be the system subtly warning us that there will be danger ahead," Honghu also said.

"Don't worry, I'm more reliable than the system," Feng Bujue replied in a relaxed tone. "When danger comes, just listen to my instructions."

"Keep bragging…" Atobe squinted at him.

"No… Brother Feng isn't bragging, he's really powerful…" Uncle Waste Chai said in a deep voice. "In this tunnel, the pressure on the leader is far greater than those of us following behind." As he spoke, his eyes behind the sunglasses glanced meaningfully at Brother Jue's back. "If it were me, I'm afraid I wouldn't have the spare energy… to turn around and talk to my teammates so easily."

"Aha! See, someone appreciates me," Feng Bujue laughed. "Brother Chai has great insight."

"Tch… I'm relaxed too, what's so great about it, la la la~" Atobe was still unconvinced; he forced himself to taunt Brother Jue a few times.

"Yo~ You seem pretty energetic?" Feng Bujue curled the corner of his mouth and sneered. "Alright~ To boost morale, let's sing a song…"

"You're not going to sing 'Little Ma is Heading West' again, are you?" Honghu said, forehead in hand.

"Brother Jue~ Brother Jue~ You're truly rare! A beauty player can't beat you, an Inlinker pops up~" Feng Bujue used his deepest and most sonorous voice to sing, "Everyone wants you when there are difficulties, Big Bro is always there when there are dangers, experienced in a hundred battles, always leading the charge, punishing evil and promoting good, with a heart like a demon~"

"Do you have any shame!" Atobe roared, covering his ears.

The other three also had disgusted expressions, complaining and scolding, causing a cacophony of [Bleep] sounds in the tunnel.

Brother Jue was just that kind of person. When his teammates' trust and goodwill had gradually accumulated to a certain level, he would easily refresh the lower limits and overturn all your expectations and fantasies…

It was hard to say whether this person was reliable or not…

"Ha… this tunnel even has an echo, hey, not bad," Feng Bujue said with a laugh after finishing a song. "It's like being in a bathhouse."

"If you did that in a bathhouse…" Uncle Waste Chai said, "getting beaten up would be the least of your worries…"

"Yeah, if I ran into you, I'd definitely hold you down in the pool and drown you…" Tianma Xingkong added.

Feng Bujue laughed. "Overpraise… overpraise… I'm really not a professional singer."

"Who the hell is praising you!" Atobe shouted. "Can't you tell good from bad?"

Just as these guys were bickering and complaining, suddenly…

Fuk… fukafukafukafuka… a strange sound rang out, sounding like clappers, but not as crisp.

The sound came from above the tunnel, approaching from afar. Feng Bujue's expression immediately turned serious upon hearing the sound, and he raised his lamp and looked far ahead.

A few seconds later, several black, strange shadows entered his vision.

"Butterflies?" That was Brother Jue's first reaction.

After a few more seconds, more and more butterfly shadows appeared…

As the distance shortened, their appearance gradually became clear. On closer inspection… each of the "butterflies'" wings were shaped like "knife leaves," each emitting the cold light of a weapon; their bodies were as thick as human knuckles, and their bodies were dark green; on top of their heads were a pair of pincer-like antennae.

If only one or two of these things flew over, the players wouldn't have cared at all, and would have slapped them to death. But now, what was attacking from above the tunnel… was a tide of butterflies like a wave…

"Turn around! Run!" Feng Bujue only considered it for a second before shouting these three words concisely.

The teammates behind him didn't hesitate either. As soon as they heard the order, they turned around and ran…

"How fast should we run?" At this time, the person running in the front had become Honghu, so he naturally wanted to ask clearly what speed he should maintain.

"Not too fast, but not too slow either," Feng Bujue said, taking out [Miss Moxxi's Bad Touch] from his knapsack while firing at the butterfly swarm behind him.

"Isn't that obvious…" Honghu said, but his steps didn't stop. "You might as well say 'follow your feelings'!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Can't you see I'm busy with hit_and_run (a concept that first appeared in Starcraft, referring to: mastering the attack rhythm of a group of ranged units, so that they can achieve saturation attacks even while moving. Later, it gradually evolved into a term like 'kiting')?" Feng Bujue shouted loudly. In the time it took to say these two sentences back and forth, Brother Jue had already fired off his first magazine.

"Hey! Little Ma," Feng Bujue said to Tianma Xingkong in front of him while changing bullets, "Ask you something."

"What?" Tianma Xingkong replied while running and looking back.

"Can you… release Meteor Fist into the tunnel without touching the walls?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Ha! Piece of cake," Tianma Xingkong replied confidently.

In fact, Brother Jue also knew that the other party should be able to, but in this situation, it was best to confirm it, just in case.

"Alright, let's switch positions, you cover the rear," Feng Bujue said, gradually running to Little Ma's side, nudging him with his elbow, and having him turn around from the other side.

"That's what I wanted!" Tianma Xingkong twisted his body and spun around, facing the butterfly tide, and said heroically, "How can a hero flee in such a disgraceful manner!"

In a short moment, he had already taken a stance, aiming at the surging butterfly swarm… and unleashing a move!

"Pegasus Meteor Fist!" As a person who felt uncomfortable not shouting the name of his moves, he had to shout this out.

In an instant, a piece of silvery-white fist light flew out, gathered in the middle of the tunnel, and met the dense butterfly swarm.

Bang bang bang… the sound of collisions rang out one after another, followed by a "crashing" sound of metal falling to the ground.

"Very good, hold on like that!" Feng Bujue saw that Tianma Xingkong's attack was very effective, and shouted, "Honghu, don't run either, Little Ma is holding on."

The three people in front immediately stopped and turned back when they heard this.

"What exactly is it?" Atobe asked. "I didn't even see it clearly."

"It's a kind of monster similar to a butterfly, with at least a thousand of them," Feng Bujue said the information he had observed in a very fast voice. "The flight speed is slightly faster than ordinary butterflies, and the attack method is temporarily unknown…" He paused, then said, "Their wings have a hardness close to steel, and they can withstand several shots from bullets. I fired a whole magazine, and only killed a single-digit number of butterflies… so, I decided to change someone to cover the rear."

"The Meteor Fist seems to be really effective…" Uncle Waste Chai looked over Feng Bujue's shoulder, looking at Tianma Xingkong and said, "And this guy really didn't touch the walls with a single punch…"

"Yeah… if it was my Arashi Foot, I wouldn't be able to do what he does," Feng Bujue followed Uncle Waste Chai's gaze and added, "Although I don't know if this tunnel can still be considered part of the temple, it's best to avoid directly hitting the walls as much as possible. If we trigger any counterattack spells under these circumstances, it could be dangerous…"

"Be careful! Some of them got through!" Tianma Xingkong suddenly turned his head and shouted, startling his teammates who had just breathed a sigh of relief again.

"I expected it," Honghu said calmly, then stepped forward, drew his longbow, and focused a light arrow on his fingertip, "Watch carefully… what's called high-precision continuous strikes."

His plan was… to use ultra-fast light arrow volleys to break through each of the stray monster butterflies.

This tactic was extremely risky. If even one arrow missed or grazed the target, the light arrow would immediately hit the stone wall. But judging from Honghu's expression, he was full of confidence, and there was not a trace of hesitation in his eyes.

"Wouldn't that be too troublesome?"

Unexpectedly, Atobe… blocked in front of everyone at this time.

In the face of such a crisis, he had a calm expression, and once again took out his weapon…

[Name: Peacock Screen]

[Type: Weapon]

[Quality: Perfect]

[Attack Power: Relatively Strong]

[Attribute: None]

[Effect: Comes with the skill "Screen Gale", cooldown time is ten minutes]

[Equipment Requirements: Fighting Specialization A]

[Note: After activating "Screen Gale", the Peacock Screen can obtain double attack bonus for ten seconds. During this time, waving the fan body can fan out a strong hurricane forward, causing area damage.]

"If I had known it was just a bunch of butterflies, I would have taken care of it," Atobe said, already two steps behind Tianma Xingkong, and said to the latter, "Little Ma, step aside, let me do it!"

In this team, only Feng Bujue knew Atobe's true strength, while everyone else thought this guy was a top player. They all felt that… Atobe was, after all, the head of Hyotei, and his individual combat strength was probably no less than any one of the Named Trio.

So… Tianma Xingkong stepped aside without any hesitation.

The most nervous person at this moment was Feng Bujue, who was really afraid that Atobe would screw things up. Unexpectedly… things progressed surprisingly smoothly.

Atobe held the giant fan vertically in front of him, grasped the fan handle with both hands, and then rotated it clockwise like a stick. Layers of fierce wind immediately rolled out in front of the giant fan, like an invisible drill that advanced section by section, and shattered the monster butterflies in front of it with overwhelming force.

In just five or six seconds, Atobe cleared out the butterfly tide. After finishing, he also stylishly flicked the fan to retract the move, put the weapon into his knapsack, and turned around and said proudly, "See, it's not that complicated."

"Not bad, you…" Feng Bujue put away his submachine gun and wiped his sweat. "A scholar who has been away three days must indeed be looked at with new eyes."

"Of course~" Atobe replied. "You thought it was still back in Azure Spirit Town? Now the equipment on my body has long been upgraded."

"Okay, if we encounter a similar situation later, just leave it to you to solve," Feng Bujue said, returning to the front of the team again, "Let's continue forward."

The five cleaned up and returned to their original formation, resuming their journey.

After walking for another seven or eight minutes, Feng Bujue finally saw… a spot of purple light flashing in the far distance.

"Huff… huff… the exit is probably ahead," Brother Jue said, panting heavily. At this moment, the slope of the tunnel was close to forty-five degrees, making it quite difficult to walk. "Judging by the time… it should be about time."

He naturally had a basis for saying this. In the previous half hour, Feng Bujue had used Baseball Fist once again. Therefore, he could roughly judge how long the task time limit was from the skill cooldown.

"Yeah… there's probably about five minutes left," Honghu added, it seemed he was also silently calculating the time. "Speaking of which… have you guys noticed? In the hints for these past two missions, the sentence 'Exceeding the time limit will result in obliteration' hasn't appeared." He paused, taking a breath, "Was it omitted?"

"Heh… of course it wasn't omitted…" Feng Bujue smiled, "There really is no obliteration."

"What?" Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

"Think about it yourselves… [Within fifteen minutes, use the altar in the sacrificial hall to summon and defeat the wandering god Vok'er] this task…" Feng Bujue continued, "There are only two cases in which it won't be completed. The first is 'Vok'er is not successfully summoned within fifteen minutes'; the second is 'Vok'er cannot be defeated'." He licked his lips, "There's no need to explain the latter, since Vok'er took care of us, then what's the system going to obliterate? As for the former situation… it's very likely to foreshadow a must-die plot."

"Are you saying… if Vok'er's summoning hasn't been completed after fifteen minutes, then there's a chance that some kind of change will occur in the sacrificial hall?" Uncle Waste Chai followed Brother Jue's train of thought.

"That's right, for example… a super-defense spell in the hall suddenly activates and kills everyone in the room," Feng Bujue said. "In short… if we don't complete that task, what awaits us will probably be utter destruction, so there's no need for the system to obliterate us."

Hearing this, Honghu thoughtfully added, "Then… [Within one hour, pass through the tunnel behind the altar and arrive at the Crystal Labyrinth], the same principle applies?"

"That's right," Feng Bujue said. "Maybe when the time limit is up, this tunnel will collapse or implode… without the system's intervention at all."

"That seems to make sense," Honghu nodded. "This is a rule worth referring to… In the future, as long as we look at whether there are sentences about 'obliteration' in the task content, we can deduce the form of death in the 'uncompleted' situation."

"Actually, there's no point in paying attention to this now," Feng Bujue shrugged. "I estimate… all the following missions will no longer have the word 'obliteration'."

"Why is that?" Uncle Waste Chai said.

"Because as the plot progresses, the environment we are in is becoming more and more unsafe," Feng Bujue said in a rather gloomy tone. "In my opinion… the following tasks will not only cancel obliteration, but may even cancel the time limit…"

"Yeah… is it finally going to enter…" Tianma Xingkong added, "…that kind of rhythm where we are always in a life-threatening situation?"

In the midst of the conversation, they had already reached the end of the tunnel.

Before stepping out of the tunnel, Feng Bujue saw the crystal wonders outside. When he was ten meters away from the exit, he put away the catapult in his hand, because the light outside was quite sufficient.

After stomping through the last few steps, the five finally walked through this seemingly endless road and came to a brand-new map.

Looking out… countless mountain-like crystal pillars stood jaggedly, forging a huge crystal maze. A bright purple light shone from the crystals, illuminating the surrounding environment. The strange light and disorderly paths all gave people a sense of space-time dislocation.

And the most unique thing about this wonder was the sky… the sky here was not covered by purple mist, but the moon could not be seen either. When the players looked up, what they saw was actually a piece of land.

The piece of land looked far away on the horizon, yet seemed close at hand. If you carefully observed the terrain there… you would even feel that it looked familiar.

[Current task has been completed] The system prompt arrived as scheduled. Hearing this sentence, the players felt a stone in their hearts fall to the ground.

"Haa… haa… how much stamina do you guys have left?" Atobe was the one panting the most among the group. He sat down as soon as he stepped onto flat ground.

"Not much…" Feng Bujue replied, "But it should be a little better than you…"

"Before the new task refreshes, let's take advantage of the time to rest," Even Honghu sat down, he licked his lips and said, "Although we ate something earlier, we hardly replenished any moisture, and thirst will obviously accelerate the loss of stamina…"

"Hehe… to think there would be guests…" Suddenly, a woman's voice rang out, needless to say, she was definitely not a player. "The last human who successfully entered 'Reverse Island' was a very excellent explorer. I wonder what you are…"