Volume 3, Chapter 30 – Let’s Go Kidnap Him

The violent explosion outside the door made Anran clap her hands over her ears at once. Even so, because it was so close, her ears still rang.

Zhou Jieyu, whom Anran had dragged in along the way, had it even worse. The moment she came in, she stumbled and fell flat on the ground. Shaken by the deafening blast, she curled up into a ball.

Anran had originally wanted to pull Leading the Charge in with her, because compared to “Leading the Escape,” Leading the Charge was still more reliable.

Unfortunately, Leading the Charge had been standing too far away. In the urgency of the moment, Anran could only grab Zhou Jieyu and haul her in.

Of the two “mobile armories,” at least one had to be kept.

At a critical moment, she could still be used as a meat shield.

Groaning, Zhou Jieyu tried to get back up. That fall had left her whole body aching and weak.

Anran had no time to help her up. She pulled out a flashbang and threw it out through the doorway.

This time, she quickly stuffed something into her ears, bent down, and pressed both hands over Zhou Jieyu’s ears.

A flashbang could not only produce a blinding burst of light, but the sound from the explosion could also make enemies lose the ability to act for an instant.

Zhou Jieyu was stunned by Anran’s sudden gesture of covering her ears.

She raised her head slightly and stared blankly at Anran.

The distance between the two of them was less than twenty centimeters.

Zhou Jieyu felt as though she could sense the heat of Anran’s breathing.

That profile looked even more delicate and lovely at such close range.

Her nose was slightly wrinkled.

Her eyes were fixed on the doorway.

A cold gleam flowed through her pupils.

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Boom!

At that moment, the sharp sound passed through Anran’s palms and into Zhou Jieyu’s ears.

Her body shuddered.

And curled up even tighter.

Anran glanced at Zhou Jieyu. She was not in great shape herself either, but even if she had to grit her teeth and tough it out, she still had to move. The faster they finished people off, the safer they would be.

Anran removed her hands from Zhou Jieyu’s ears, grabbed the assault rifle off the ground, and charged out.

Bang!

Bang, bang, bang!

Faint gunshots came from outside the room.

Leaning against the wall, Zhou Jieyu slowly climbed to her feet. She was gasping for breath, her forehead covered in sweat, like someone who had just been pulled out of the water after drowning.

Only after waiting quite a while did she see Anran come back in from outside.

Her clothes were a little disheveled, and there seemed to be a cut on her arm.

In truth, that wound had come from a guard who had been playing dead and slashed her with a knife. Fortunately, the cut was not deep.

Only after entering this dungeon did Anran realize that the game’s kill notifications were gone.

This damned dungeon did not give EXP for killing enemies, and it did not even give kill notifications!

“Can you move now?” Anran asked.

“Mm.” Zhou Jieyu stood up. She had recovered a little, at least enough that walking was no big problem.

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It was best if she could walk on her own. There was no way Anran was going to carry her on her back, much less in her arms.

“Where’s my brother?” Zhou Jieyu asked as she walked into the outer room.

“The wall looks like this now. What do you think?”

Zhou Jieyu instinctively looked around.

There was a huge hole in the doorway, and the walls farther away were now riddled with holes.

There was no need to say more. Her brother, Leading the Charge, was definitely out.

Speechless, Zhou Jieyu asked, “Wouldn’t it have been fine if we’d just stayed here honestly a moment ago? Why did you have to throw a grenade?”

“If we’d been locked in here, when would we ever have gotten out?” Anran shot back.

“…”

Zhou Jieyu shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Then do you think this bunch could have repelled Morningstar’s attack?” Anran continued.

Zhou Jieyu thought for a moment. “Probably not.”

Heh.

Anran glanced at Zhou Jieyu.

She had thought Zhou Jieyu might say maybe.

“Not probably. Definitely not.” Anran walked out of the small house. “Our mission is to keep this retired official alive until six in the morning. If these guards alone could repel Morningstar, then this mission would have no meaning at all. So they were doomed from the start.”

“Collect the useful weapons. And switch to a different gun while you’re at it,” Anran said.

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“Okay.” Zhou Jieyu did as instructed.

Anran started gathering grenades as she spoke. “Since these guards are doomed anyway, if we’re trapped in here and can’t get out, that means mission failure. So instead of waiting to die, we might as well take a risk.”

Anran found several grenades. As she straightened up, she suddenly patted Zhou Jieyu on the shoulder. “Your brother’s sacrifice had meaning. Even though he died, we still have plenty of chances to complete the mission!”

“Uh…”

Hearing Anran put it that way, Zhou Jieyu suddenly had the illusion that her brother was some kind of great hero.

She hurriedly shook her head. He was just a weakling who got taken out by a single grenade. Once she got out, she was definitely going to mock him properly.

That was what Zhou Jieyu decided.

She casually picked up a rifle and equipped it.

“That should be about enough. Still, we need to leave something behind.” Anran looked around.

She walked to the doorway, arranged the already badly blasted little house a bit, then set up a simple trap near the entrance and hung a grenade on it.

“What’s that for?”

Without turning around, Anran said, “There’s a ninety percent chance the people from Morningstar will come over to check. Let’s leave them a little gift.”

If it could blow up a few of them, then all the better.

“Oh.” Zhou Jieyu sank into thought. “So… we’re setting people up?”

“More or less.”

Anran wiped the blood from her hands and stood up.

Zhou Jieyu stared at Anran.

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Beneath that cute exterior, this NPC really was dark and devious.

She was impressive, sure, but she was always setting people up.

She wondered what would happen after raising Anran’s favorability.

She was an NPC, after all. Once her favorability got high enough, she probably would not keep tricking her anymore, right?

Zhou Jieyu’s current favorability with Anran was 21 points, a very ordinary value.

“Let’s go!” Anran stepped out of the small house again.

She gripped the assault rifle. Even while talking to Zhou Jieyu, she remained on full alert.

“Where are we going now? Shouldn’t we find a place to hide first, like before?” Zhou Jieyu asked.

She could actually come up with a somewhat constructive suggestion now?

Anran looked at Zhou Jieyu in surprise. Even so, she still had no intention of adopting Zhou Jieyu’s perfectly reasonable proposal.

“We’re going to pull off something big!” Anran said.

“What big thing?” Zhou Jieyu asked in confusion.

Anran explained, “Morningstar still has four more waves of attacks. Even if each wave only has ten people, the two of us would still have to deal with forty enemies. That’s far too difficult, and completing the mission that way would be hard. Since that’s the case, why don’t we do the opposite? Let’s just go kidnap this retired official directly!”

“Huh? Kidnap him?” Zhou Jieyu was stunned. “Aren’t we supposed to protect him?”

“Kidnapping him is protecting him! As long as the people from Morningstar can’t find him before six in the morning, the mission counts as complete. As long as this retired official stays alive, we can do whatever we want with everything else.”

“That works too?” Zhou Jieyu’s eyes widened.

“Can you stop thinking so rigidly for once?” Anran finally tossed out a complaint. “Let’s go. Be careful.”