Chapter 157: Fan Service Item

Wennan first quickly browsed through the messages in the Steadfast Guild chat.

It seemed the members had successfully found the secret passage leading to the underground furnace—located directly beneath the main building of the Irene Group.

However, the temperature near that furnace was simply too high for players to rush in directly with their physical bodies.

In an instant, Wennan's mind recalled the inner thoughts expressed by Yang Jingyuan's other soul in the underground parking garage not long ago.

Pulling up the chat window, Wennan quickly sent a message:

[Nine: Do not approach the furnace directly.]
[Nine: Try using the welfare item.]

……
……

Staff dormitory, respawn point.

Seeing Wennan's message, Hu Jiayao was somewhat bewildered. "Welfare item? That... wall-pin thing? How is that even supposed to be used? Put it against your chest to cleanse your soul?"

Gu Jinxing took the soft, pink ball out of his spare equipment slot and cradled it in his palm.

He had studied this item for quite a while before and harbored a vague guess in his heart, but out of pride, he hadn't wanted to try it in front of Hu Jiayao.

Now that the Guild Master had explicitly issued instructions, Gu Jinxing could no longer afford to care about his image. Lifting the pink mass, he brought it up to his mouth, bit down on a spot in the middle, and began blowing air into it.

"No, Ah-Xing..."

Hu Jiayao couldn't bear to watch anymore, looking at the other man in sheer disbelief. "Doing that makes you look like a total pervert."

Gu Jinxing lifted his eyelids, glanced at him, and ignored the skepticism, solely focusing on blowing air into the item.

Soon, the pink ball in his hand inflated, resembling the inflatable life vests provided under every passenger's seat on an airplane.

However, whatever material this pink ball was made of, it possessed extraordinary elasticity. The moment the gas was pumped in, it immediately expanded, turning into a massive, translucent spherical protective shield.

"Damn," Hu Jiayao stared in a daze. "It really is blown up like that? This thing... is actually an airbag?"

"Holy crap! What a huge ball!" Huang Yan happened to walk into the respawn point at that moment, catching sight of the spherical protective shield in the center of the room, and uttered a less-than-intelligent exclamation.

Gu Jinxing put down the protective shield, turned his head, and seeing Yang Mingzhong supporting Guo Xiaofu as they walked in, immediately retrieved a first-aid kit from the guild's equipment storage.

……
……

Wen</i>nan hurried down from the top-floor president's office and quickly located the area near the drainage outlet, only to see Yu Shujun coming out of the underground passage holding a sword, her expression looking rather poor.

"Did that person get away again?" Wennan asked.

Yu Shujun nodded, having no intention of pursuing further—ensuring Wennan's safety remained her primary duty.

In the message Yu Shujun had sent earlier, she directly used the name "Silver Sting." Wennan was unfamiliar with the name, but immediately guessed it must refer to that silver figure.

"That Silver Sting, do you know her?"

Yu Shujun nodded once more.

"What's her background?"

"The character piloted by the Guild Master of the Ghost Controller Alliance Guild, with a level reaching eleven stars."

Eleven stars? No wonder she could enter a dungeon that didn't belong to her.

This star rating was higher than any female character Wennan had ever conquered—except, of course, for an anomaly like Yu Shujun.

As he was thinking this, he heard Yu Shujun continue, "The underground led to by this passage should be the character and item incineration pool. The temperature is too high, and Silver Sting's star rating is insufficient, leaving her unable to get close. Approaching it carries the risk of being completely incinerated, so she sneaked in and left shortly after."

"...Character and item incineration pool? That furnace?" Yu Shujun paused slightly, then nodded. "You could call it that."

Wennan fell into deep contemplation.

When Silver Sting had controlled Zhang Beibei last time and dined with Wennan, she had tried to extract information about the key items in that confidential laboratory from him. And this time, she had appeared again at this newly excavated underground passage leading to the furnace...

Although he couldn't completely determine her exact objective in breaking into this dungeon map, judging by her current course of action, the overlap with the main quests of Wennan and the other players was extremely high.

If that were the case, her next move would very likely be...

"Back to the respawn point!"

Wennan turned around and rushed toward the staff dormitory at top speed.

……
……

Ten minutes ago, staff dormitory.

The rather cramped living room was currently crowded with huge, translucent pink bubbles.

Several members were deflating their "airbags."

Just a short while ago, Hu Jiayao and Gu Jinxing had confirmed that this pink airbag possessed vastly superior defense compared to the "safety bubbles" in the trial maps—Hu Jiayao's sledgehammer, Gu Jinxing's lighter, and Yang Mingzhong's dagger were all unable to inflict any damage on the surface of the airbag, not even leaving a single scratch.

With the lighter scorching the outside while a finger placed inside felt zero heat—this item even possessed strong insulation properties while maintaining excellent breathability.

Truly living up to the name of a "welfare item," it could practically be said to be custom-made for them to sneak into the furnace.

The three people preparing to march toward the furnace once more confidently let the air out of their "welfare items" in the living room, shrinking them back to a size that could barely be grasped in the palm of a hand, and then walked out one after another.

Guo Xiaofu, having just recovered from heatstroke symptoms, clutched a bottle of iced mineral water and walked at the very front.

Huang Yan held up his camera, recording away with chuckles.

Yang Mingzhong stood at the doorway, bringing up the guild chat from the system, just about to report the situation to the Guild Master when a message popped up from the opposite end:

[Nine: It's an ambush!]
[Nine: Do not leave the respawn point!]

"Xiaofu! Come back!"

Yang Mingzhong shouted in a deep voice while rushing toward the door at top speed, grabbing Guo Xiaofu's arm with all his might to yank him back into the respawn point.

Guo Xiaofu was still dizzy, but upon hearing Yang Mingzhong's warning, he instinctively turned around and scrambled back into the room cooperatively.

However, just as he stepped one foot inside the room—

Swish!

A silver-white figure flashed like lightning, grazing the outer wall of the respawn point to launch an attack.

Startled, Guo Xiaofu took several steps backward, instinctively trying to protect his head and raising his arms, only to find his palms empty.

While he was still in a daze, a golden beam of light immediately followed right after, chasing off in the direction where the silver figure had vanished.

Guo Xiaofu stumbled and fell backward into the room.

Not long after, Wennan hurried back, scanning the people in the room. "How is it? Is everyone alright?"

Huang Yan was still holding his camera, raising his hand to wave it. "We're fine, Boss."

Guo Xiaofu, sitting paralyzed on the floor facing upward, said with a pale face, "My... my welfare item has been stolen!"

(End of chapter)