The next day at lunch, Yuri formally raised the subject of dungeon clearing.

At present, they still had 34 dungeons left uncleared. They had walkthroughs in hand for 3 of them — they could start with those, then work through the rest gradually.

“Without walkthroughs for the others, we’ll inevitably use more weapons and ammunition. So some of the dungeons we’ve already cleared may need to be replayed several times to accumulate points and fund new equipment.”

Yuri looked around at everyone and said in earnest:

“If no one has objections, I’d like us to — go shopping for smoke grenades and other supplies tomorrow, give everyone a chance to practice, and then tackle Death Mine the day after.”

He finished speaking, then surveyed the others, waiting for their responses.

A’da leaned back lazily in his chair. “No objection from me.”

Natasha said: “No objection here either.”

Shen Mo was silent for a moment, then gave a small nod. “Let’s do it.”

That left Bai Youwei.

She glanced at Shen Mo, then looked toward Yuri, and spoke softly: “Whatever the case, going into a dungeon without walkthroughs is dangerous and inefficient. Why not go with the easier option?”

“Hm?” A’da immediately spun around. “There’s an easier option?”

“Of course!” Bai Youwei said with complete conviction. “Jason has walkthroughs, right? We could all temporarily leave the team, let Jason and his teammates join, let them clear the dungeons until they’re mostly done, then have Yuri kick them out and add us back. Isn’t that incredibly convenient?”

Shen Mo gave her a quiet sideways look.

A’da’s mouth twitched. “I mean… yeah, that is… pretty convenient…”

And spectacularly vicious…

Natasha frowned and turned it over in her head — and to everyone’s surprise, a look of agreement crossed her face.

But Yuri’s expression darkened. He replied: “I won’t deceive any of you, and I won’t deceive Jason. I’ve already turned him down — there’s no logic in bringing him in just to kick him back out.”

Bai Youwei pursed her lips and leaned indifferently against Shen Mo, lowering her eyelids. “Fine then… do whatever you want~”

And so the matter was decided.

Lunch wasn’t even finished before A’da, following the thread of the conversation, asked: “Have you all heard about Shake the World team lately?”

Natasha said: “What could they possibly be up to? None of our business anyway.”

“The Demon Island record got broken again.” A’da looked a little gleeful about it. “Surpassed by 1 point. Nick’s group must be about to lose their minds, right? They lost multiple teammates to claim that score, and someone just knocked it off — all that effort completely for nothing~”

“That is quite rough.” Bai Youwei asked curiously, “Which team broke it?”

A’da: “Something Extraordinary or something like that. That team had it pretty rough too — five people cleared the dungeon, and two of them collapsed and died right there on the subway on the way out. Too severely injured to save. The remaining three are also injured; they’ll need several months to recover.”

“Ah…” Bai Youwei thought this over. “So it seems the advantage lies in not losing anyone inside the dungeon. When Shake the World cleared Queen’s Nest, someone died, right?”

“Yeah, one core member died. And this morning when I was out getting information, I heard the new member who was badly injured also succumbed to their wounds.” A’da said, and let out a little laugh. “I also heard that Nick himself was injured. This team has people dying or critically wounded left and right, they lost their record too — I’d say they’re not going to be causing much trouble anytime soon~”

Yuri thought for a moment and said quietly: “Looking at it that way, even without walkthroughs, we’re currently the team with the best chance of earning the spot. Everyone give it your best — let’s practice well tomorrow and aim to take down Death Mine smoothly.”

“Understood, Captain~” A’da said with a lazy grin. “Smoke grenades~ I’m quite good at those. Mission completion guaranteed!”

Natasha followed with a smile and looked toward Yuri.

The atmosphere felt almost like what it had been before.

—