The squad kept pressing forward at speed.

The route had been mapped out in advance, avoiding the line of sight of most of the aberrant monsters on the building’s exterior. Even so, when they entered the underground parking garage, a small cluster of them couldn’t be avoided.

This was Bai Youwei’s first time seeing the monsters inside a dungeon.

— They looked like cockroaches that walked upright, or maybe lizards — lean and slimy, with grotesquely oversized skulls. Between two rows of serrated teeth, a thick, dark purplish tongue lolled out. Their outer shells were a murky blue-black, slicked with dripping viscous fluid. Utterly revolting.

Still, having encountered all manner of monsters during the doll game, she could just barely stomach this level.

Not wanting to alert the monster clusters deeper inside the building, Shen Mo, Natasha, and Ada didn’t use firearms — they went straight to close-quarters combat with short blades and knives.

Meanwhile Yuri led Bai Youwei around to the side, behind a partially collapsed building nearby. He found a concealed vantage point, attached a suppressor, and began picking off targets from range.

Their coordination was seamless.

Shen Mo, Natasha, and Ada would deliberately create distance between themselves and the monsters, giving Yuri clear angles to snipe from.

Yuri fired his last shot, lowered his head to glance at the time, and spoke through the earpiece: “Thirty seconds until the next wave spawns. Get into the parking garage.”

In a dungeon, every second had to be calculated with precision — there was no room for delay. Otherwise, another wave of monsters could be triggered.

Not that they couldn’t handle it, but it would disrupt the entire rhythm of the advance.

Shen Mo and Ada entered the parking garage first to clear the path, while Natasha held position at the underground entrance to wait for Yuri and Bai Youwei.

“Put these on,” Natasha said, handing Bai Youwei a pair of night-vision goggles. “Stay close to us — it’s very dark down here.”

Bai Youwei put them on and followed behind Yuri and Natasha into the underground parking garage —

By the time they came down, Shen Mo and Ada had already cleared three small monsters. The ground was slicked with thick, viscous fluid that smelled sharply like asphalt.

“Same as last time — only seven or eight down here,” Shen Mo said. “And they’re spaced far apart. They don’t pose much of a threat.”

“Good. We move according to plan.” Yuri nodded.

Bai Youwei covered her nose and mouth, silently keeping pace behind the others.

Ada and Natasha went car by car collecting fuel, while Shen Mo and Yuri kept watch for any aberrant monsters that might appear.

The atmosphere was tense, but with four people working in sync, the operation moved swiftly.

Before long, they had collected three large canisters of fuel. Still not satisfied, they continued collecting.

There were a few moments when monsters caught wind of them, but Shen Mo and Yuri handled each one easily. The monsters in the underground garage were scattered and spread out, with plenty of places to take cover — hit-and-run fighting was very convenient.

Bai Youwei didn’t feel the least bit endangered so far.

“If we need fuel, why not just buy it before going into the dungeon?” she whispered to Shen Mo.

Shen Mo replied, “Ammunition burns through very fast inside dungeons, so backpack slots should be saved for weapons and ammo as much as possible.”

Bai Youwei thought for a moment. “Would it help if… the fuel went into my backpack? I can see you’re all carrying quite a bit.”

Everyone froze for a split second.

Ada immediately slapped a hand to his forehead. “Right! How did we forget about Weiwei’s backpack? We’ve always operated as a four-person team out of habit, so we’ve been thinking in terms of four backpacks — but now we’re a five-person squad!”

Shen Mo asked, “How many slots does your backpack have?”

Bai Youwei said, “Tier three. Twelve slots.”

Everyone inhaled sharply at the same time.

Even Shen Mo was taken aback. “…Tier three — twelve slots?”

“Right,” Bai Youwei said, looking at them with mild confusion. “Isn’t that the same for everyone?”

Ada looked like he might cry. “Tier three, six slots for us…”

Bai Youwei’s eyes widened in surprise, and then the realization clicked. “I see — the competitive district deliberately reduces backpack slots to limit how much ammo you can carry.”

—