Chapter 90 - Someone Has to Be Lucky

"Let me introduce you to each other. This is Five Poisons Saintess. Judging by your reactions, it seems both of you have already met her," Lu Ran said with a smile.

Pig Farmer and Lu Bing felt their scalps tingle. They had never expected Five Poisons Saintess to be part of the team. Anyone who had fought Fang Lan before likely carried some PTSD from being poisoned.

Even though Pig Farmer was stronger now, he still couldn’t shake the unease. Lu Bing was even more nervous. As a hunter who enjoyed PvP, she had her share of victories, but back then, not only had her familiar been poisoned, Fang Lan had also knocked her over. As a talented female hunter from Lu Village, it was the first time she had encountered such a peculiar city gal.

The waters in the city are deep, and the village roads are slippery. Life is hard no matter where you go,

she thought.

"Hello, we meet again!" Fang Lan greeted them with a smile.

Fang Lan changed into a new set of clothes for clearing the secret realm. It was a purple outfit in the style of the Miao people [1] that she customized in Limitless City. It had great defense and poison resistance stats. With a smile and a bit of playfulness, she really gave off the feeling of a Miao woman, and her cosplay was a perfect fit for her ID[2].

"Hello..." Pig Farmer and Lu Bing responded with bitter smiles.

I thought Lu Ran was the only boss in the team, but there are actually two!

"He's Pig Farmer, and his familiar is a Rock-type wild boar," Lu Ran continued, introducing them. "She’s Icy Roads Ahead, and her familiar is an Ice-type wolfhound, if I remember correctly."

"You’re correct," Lu Bing said with a nod. "This is my first time joining a team. Please guide me."

"Me too. If you have any instructions, just let me know," Pig Farmer added.

"Don’t be nervous," Lu Ran reassured them. "Let’s get to know each other better as we go. For now, we should summon our familiars."

Taking the lead, Lu Ran summoned Captain Doofus. The others followed suit, summoning their familiars as well.

Lu Ran activated his Eye of Detection to assess the team’s lineup.

Captain Doofus: Level 10

Wolf Spider: Level 9

Wild Boar: Level 10

Wolfhound: Level 9

The level differences among the four familiars weren’t significant, ensuring no one lagged too far behind.

The familiars glanced at each other, assessing their newfound companions. The boar and wolfhound visibly shuddered at the sight of the Great Xia wolf spider. The boar even shuddered twice, having also recognized Captain Doofus.

“Hmph,”

the boar snorted bitterly.

As team captain, Lu Ran quickly took charge.

"Since we entered as a team, the wild beasts will appear more frequently and in larger groups. The difficulty will also be slightly higher. Do you want me to handle everything, or would you like to try taking the lead yourselves?"

The question was primarily directed at Fang Lan. Since she hadn’t ventured into a secret realm in a while, she might be eager to prove herself. For their first team run, Lu Ran wasn’t focused on efficiency but on building teamwork and familiarity.

"I’ll give it a go first. You can step in if I can’t handle it," Fang Lan eagerly volunteered.

"Leave the miscellaneous work, like collecting resources, to me," Pig Farmer offered, wanting to contribute and justify his spot on the team.

"I’m fine with anything," Lu Bing added. She didn’t have a specific preference and planned to follow the team captain’s guidance.

As Lu Ran had mentioned, with a larger team, wild beasts appeared more frequently. Right at that moment, all four beastmasters sensed something approaching.

The noses of Captain Doofus, the wolfhound, and Goldie twitched simultaneously. Meanwhile, the wolf spider, Little Blue, detected danger through vibrations in the ground.

"Rwoar!"

Three flame lynxes appeared simultaneously, each at level 10 with awakened Fire attributes. They glared at the team with ferocity.

Their bodies were cloaked in flames, as were their claws, as they charged forward. Their kind had recently suffered a natural disaster that wiped out most of their population, leaving them on edge.

"Each of you will take one. Wrap it up quickly," Lu Ran commanded.

Fang Lan's wolf spider was the first to act. It spat out several strands of silk that wrapped around a dead tree, swinging it into the air. While airborne, it continued to shoot out silk, but this time with arrows made of purple silk mixed in.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The poisonous spider silk targeted one lynx specifically, like a hidden weapon. Sensing danger, the lynx turned and spewed fire from its mouth, engulfing the silk in a sea of flames.

The Great Xia wolf spider didn’t stay still, constantly swinging to change its position. From the lynx’s blind spot, it launched its deadliest poison. A strand of silk shot out like a bullet, piercing the flame lynx in the eye!

Bang!

The lynx's eye was instantly crushed by the silk's surprising force.

The sturdy flame lynx howled in pain as the flames on its body turned purple and backlashed. Patches of its fiery coat began to burn and ooze purple blood.

The lynx writhed in a pool of poisoned blood, wailing as its body convulsed. The Great Xia wolf spider’s poison infected the creature’s energy, spreading as long as its energy intensity wasn’t strong enough to resist. Using energy only accelerated the toxin's spread, but avoiding energy usage meant certain death. Expelling it was nearly impossible.

"Damn."

Lu Ran didn’t say anything, but Pig Farmer and Lu Bing couldn’t hold back their curses. They had seen the wolf spider in action before, and their scalps tingled. The Five Poisons Saintess remained as terrifying as ever. Compared to Fang Lan’s lethal poison-instakill style, Pig Farmer and Lu Bing’s methods felt much tamer.

"Roar!"

After consuming rare resources, Goldie’s strength, defense, and speed were enhanced to epic levels. Seeing the enemy pounce, it locked onto a flame lynx. Cloaking itself in stone armor, it charged forward with its rock fangs.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Goldie’s speed was even more explosive than the lynx’s. When the lynx’s flaming claws struck the boar, they merely chipped the stone armor, dealing no real damage. Instead, the lynx found itself in trouble. Caught off guard, it was bulldozed into a tree with overwhelming force.

"Rw-oar!"

The flame lynx wailed in pain as two deep wounds appeared, blood gushing from them. Its defenses were no match for the Rock boar.

Despite being an Intermediate-Transcendent species, Pig Farmer’s boar was strong enough to suppress a Superior-Transcendent flame lynx of the same level. No wonder it had ranked on the Heavenly Familiar Rankings a few times.

Compared to Fang Lan and Pig Farmer’s decisive battles, Lu Bing’s fight was far more contentious. Her ice wolfhound was fierce but disadvantaged by its attribute. It relied on combat skills to fend off the flame lynx, carefully avoiding any direct hits.

While Fang Lan and Pig Farmer debated whether to assist Lu Bing—

“Swoosh!”

An arrow streaked through the air in a flash of blue light. The flame lynx, pinned by the wolfhound, let down its guard for a moment and was struck in the head. A gaping hole appeared, and the lynx fell lifeless to the ground.

Lu Bing stood panting slightly, her bow in hand and a smile on her face.

"I am a hunter by trade, so I fight side by side with my familiar," she said confidently.

Although the arrow had drained a lot of her stamina, she had successfully defeated the enemy.

"As expected." Fang Lan smiled. This was the first beastmaster who had dared to personally attack her during an arena match, and she remembered it well.

"Women are so scary," Pig Farmer muttered under his breath.

"They’re a decent bunch," Lu Ran said, feeling relieved that his teammates could at least hold their own in battle.

However, running a secret realm on Hell as a team wasn’t that easy. Right when Fang Lan, Pig Farmer, and Lu Bing started to relax, they heard sounds of running once again.

"Awoo~!"

"Awoo~!!!"

Pig Farmer and Lu Bing’s expressions sank when they heard the howls.

"It's a pack of wolves."

It wasn’t just a pack of dogs related to wolves like huskies or wolfhounds. It was a full-blooded wolf pack.

Under their cautious gaze, eight or nine wild wolves with beige fur and green eyes quickly surrounded the team!

[Name: Forest Wolf]

[Attribute: Lightning]

[Species Rank: Superior-Transcendent]

[Level: 10]

Zzt, zzt, zzt.

Their fur emitted occasional flashes of electricity as they advanced toward the four.

Fang Lan, usually calm, finally looked nervous.

“Is it even possible to clear this secret realm?”

The three flame lynxes earlier had seemed manageable, but the sight of this wolf pack made her doubt that Little Blue’s AoE poison mist would suffice.

While Fang Lan found the situation difficult, Pig Farmer and Lu Bing were visibly more tense.

"What did you expect? If Hell secret realms were easy, raid teams wouldn’t lose so many people," Lu Ran said.

"Y’all can take a break and leave them to me."

He tossed out the Frosty Sky Greatsword. Captain Doofus, who had been watching from the sidelines, finally sprang into action. Leaping into the air, it caught the weapon mid-flight.

"Awoo!"

The moment it clenched the sword in its jaws, the wolf pack sensed the threat and attacked simultaneously.

But Captain Doofus, now in the Sword Sovereign state, barely acknowledged them. With a look of disdain, it unleashed nine successive bursts of sword qi at an unimaginable speed.

Swish, swish!

In an instant, the sword qi struck. The wolves, mid-attack, found their heads severed, their eyes still wide with confusion as they flew into the air.

Bang!

Captain Doofus landed gracefully, basking in the astonished stares of the wolf spider, boar, and wolfhound. Pig Farmer and Lu Bing swallowed hard.

"Strong!" Pig Farmer trembled. He couldn’t deny it—he was still no match for Pedestrian A.

"You’ll be able to do this too after a few runs," Lu Ran assured them with a smile.

"If luck’s on our side, once I gather what I need, I’ll take y’all to grind secret realms for beastmaster skills and trait crystals. You can keep whatever drops."

"Really?"

Lu Bing couldn’t believe her ears. This wasn’t just charity; it was a gesture of true generosity. She suddenly wished Lu Ran could become the village chief and lead her village to prosperity.

Pig Farmer was equally stunned, his emotions stirring.

Pedestrian A, why are you so good to me?

"When you guys grow stronger, we’ll clear these realms more efficiently," Lu Ran explained. "Captain Doofus can’t take care of every group of enemies. Its stamina is limited and needs to be conserved for the boss fight. The boss is the real challenge—even Captain Doofus will need to go all out to defeat it."

Pig Farmer and Lu Bing straightened up, their expressions turning serious. They both knew: the boss was always the most terrifying part.

The team didn’t dare to let their guard down as they carefully followed Lu Ran. After handling several waves of beasts, the secret realm boss finally appeared!

A giant bear, cloaked in red lightning, charged forward, violently knocking down anything in its path as it entered their line of sight.

Captain Doofus immediately unleashed its 10x Storm Slash.

With a single strike, the bear's body was split in half and fell to the ground. It turned out to be much weaker than the Minotaur.

Fang Lan, Pig Farmer, and Lu Bing stared, dumbfounded.

“Is this what Lu Ran called difficult to beat?”

Before they could even react, the boss was already dead!

Lu Ran ignored them, eagerly calling out, "Let’s see what dropped!"

He had instructed Captain Doofus to defeat the boss as quickly as possible in hopes of earning a triple S score. Though Lu Ran had already lost hope of getting anything valuable, he knew there was a guaranteed upgrade card, so it couldn’t be too bad.

[Congratulations on completing the secret realm mission!]

[Score: SSS]

[Congratulations on obtaining 1,000 crystal coins.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the Advanced resource: Mutant Bear Bone.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the Advanced resource: Mutant Bear Gall.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the Unique resource: Upgrade card.]

“Who’s the lucky one?”

The others shared their drops one by one. According to their initial agreement, except for crystal coins, all other resources would be distributed by Lu Ran.

"I got the Advance resources: Mutant Bear Paw, Thunderstruck Wood, and an Upgrade Card," Lu Bing reported.

Does everyone surnamed Lu share the same luck?

"I had a good haul. I got a Lightning-amplifying beastmaster skill, Mutant Bear Paw, and Mutant Bear Bone!" Fang Lan happily called out.

She felt very lucky.

I heard that beastmaster skills were very hard to get!

Lu Ran's face lightened, and was even a little surprised. Beastmaster skills, even the most basic attribute-amplifying ones, weren’t cheap. They cost at least 10,000cc. Just that alone put them in the black.

Pig Farmer spoke up last and blew Lu Ran away.

"Red Lightning trait crystal, Thunderstruck Wood and a Mutant Bear Gall! I got a trait crystal!" Pig Farmer exclaimed.

I never thought that I would be so lucky!

"Awesome!"

What else could Lu Ran say? He finally knew who the lucky one was. Running as a team was the way to go. He couldn’t do it alone, but they could definitely make it as a team! This was a blessing for Sudden Death King!

"Is it so easy to score a SSS?"

Fang Lan, Lu Bing, and Pig Farmer were all excited. None of them expected the harvest from Hell-difficulty realms to be so abundant.

"Let's go, we're done! I'll treat you all to a celebratory feast!"

Lu Ran, feeling generous, finally believed that the day he’d pay off his debts was drawing near. Maybe, before entering the ascension realm, he could gather enough money to power up himself and Captain Doofus!

Advanced dog food... wait, it was time to upgrade to Rare dog food. What would that taste like?

1. ☜

2. Five Poison Sect appeared in Proud Wander and the sect leader was a Miao woman, the image earlier is from the 2001 version of the drama ☜

2.

https://pix2.tvzhe.com/thumb/character/285/620/405x540.jpg

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