After giving the little one a cute name, the Cangyou Wildcat Team, now full and satisfied, began to focus on their main objective for this trip to the Saint Ruins.
They set out to explore this new passage—the previously uncharted second underground layer.
And with the addition of the Saint Ash Rabbit, the exploration—or rather, the treasure hunting—suddenly became much smoother.
Uh ah…
At this moment, an angry and unwilling roar echoed.
A burly Zombie King collapsed onto the long blade in Lin Xue’s hand.
With the monster vanquished, the routine of looting and cleaning the battlefield began.
Seeing no more danger, the little creature cradled in Su Qi’s arms carefully examined the area and found a hidden mechanism tucked away in an inconspicuous corner of the stone wall.
Soon, a stone door concealed within the wall rumbled open.
Watching the slowly opening stone door, the adorable Saint Ash Rabbit proudly lifted its little head and glanced at Su Qi with an expression that screamed, “I’m amazing—go ahead and praise my cuteness.”
Seeing this, Su Qi suddenly understood why the Adventurers’ Guild had assigned the Saint Ash Rabbit an A-rank status.
Because this little guy seemed to have a unique talent for treasure hunting.
“Wow, this armguard looks like a Spiritual Artifact! Little Nose Ga, you’re amazing.”
After a few simple tests confirmed the hidden room was safe, Jianghu Hao, who had gone in to investigate, found a Zombie King’s Armguard that perfectly matched his ability.
But Hao wasn’t the only one to gain loot. The team’s tank, Big Mountain, soon discovered a Spiritual Artifact Shield in another hidden chamber.
Although Saint Ash Rabbit couldn’t speak human language, its frequent head pats from Su Qi and the smiles around made the little one feel the joy radiating from the entire Cangyou Wildcat Team.
The small tail on Little Pi Gu, merged into its body, began to sway adorably.
…
Following the Cangyou Wildcat Team, they explored room after room along the new passage.
They fought off beast monsters, scavenged corpses, searched for hidden doors, and hunted for Spiritual Artifacts.
Occasionally they encountered traps, and sometimes they marveled at strange sights.
As a boy, Su Qi felt some regret that his combat ability wasn’t strong enough to fight monsters directly, so he mostly stayed in the safest position within the Wildcat Team.
But the thrill of this game-like adventurer experience, the treasure hunting, and the unknown made Su Qi genuinely excited.
As they delved deeper into the second layer passage and reached its farthest point, Su Qi’s excited brows furrowed slightly.
Though the Cangyou Wildcat Team was powerful—Big Mountain alone could hold off the Spring Stage Tyrant Bear with his incredible defense, Jianghu Hao could summon multiple clones, An Xiaoling was agile with her short bow, Lin Xue the Blood Princess wielded her blood-red long blade with unmatched combat power, and Wei Mian provided backup by putting enemies to sleep or freezing their minds temporarily—their roles were clear and well balanced.
Still, seeing the end of the second layer passage made Su Qi uneasy.
Unlike the scattered monsters they had faced along the way, which were diverse, unorganized, and attacked on instinct, and unlike the earlier reliance on Fire Seeds for lighting, the end of this passage was lit by hundreds of torches, burning brightly without any flicker of going out—likely enchanted by magic.
Bathed in torchlight, Su Qi clearly saw the monsters guarding the stairway.
They had human-like limbs, each standing nearly three meters tall with a strong build.
Their skin was a tough gray-red, covered with brown fur.
They walked upright on two feet, but their heads were shaped like bulls’, adorned with sharp horns—just like the Minotaur figures from films.
The Minotaurs looked formidable on their own, but what shocked Su Qi even more was that eight Minotaurs guarded the stairs, each equipped differently.
Some carried large shields, some wielded chains, others held massive blades or axes… the eight monsters each had distinct weapons.
On closer inspection, Su Qi realized these eight Minotaurs operated like a professional adventuring squad, each with specific roles and training.
They likely wouldn’t separate easily.
As Su Qi and the Cangyou Wildcat Team hid behind distant stone pillars, pondering how to break through,
their leader Lin Xue stepped forward to lay out their formation.
“Last time, we tried fighting the Minotaurs. The key issue is their unity. Eight Minotaurs working together outnumber us. Although Su Boss’s meal boosted our stats just now, we still need to be careful. I think we should start by activating one Minotaur first to reduce their numbers. What do you all think?”
Hearing Lin Xue’s proposal, Su Qi wasn’t surprised.
As an introverted gamer, when facing strong foes in groups, he always preferred to separate enemies and defeat them one by one to avoid being surrounded.
But there was a problem—Minotaurs were massively built.
In game terms, they would have huge health bars.
If the initial focused attack failed, the Cangyou Wildcat Team would likely fall into a passive position due to poor formation.
So, what was the solution?
As Su Qi pondered this, an adorable loli voice suddenly rang in everyone’s ears.
“Um… I just observed carefully, these Minotaurs all seem to be male, and beneath their armor, it looks really bulgy down there.”
Upon hearing An Xiaoling’s unexpected clue, a huge question mark appeared over Su Qi’s head.
Why bring up something like that at such a serious moment?
Before Su Qi could react further, Jianghu Hao, An Xiaoling’s rival, immediately ridiculed her.
“Seriously, it’s this time and place, and you’re thinking about that lewd stuff? And aren’t you a yuri fan?”
An Xiaoling rolled her bright eyes upward and stuck out a little tongue, giving him a massive eye-roll in response.
“No, Mouse, use your big brain and think about the point I just made.”
“The point?”
Jianghu Hao was momentarily stunned, then repeated it in disbelief.
“All Minotaurs are male, and down there…”
As Hao summarized the two points, Su Qi suddenly felt a bad premonition.
This scenario felt eerily similar to his first encounter with the Tyrant Bear during his initial trial!
Emmmmmmm, could it be that An Xiaoling wanted him to seduce the Tyrant Bear?
Looking up in disbelief, Su Qi met An Xiaoling’s confident gaze as her cute loli voice softly reassured him.
“Sister Su Su, don’t worry, we’ll protect you! This time, it’s all on you!”
At this moment, Su Qi could only feel like crying and laughing at the same time.
Although this plan seemed the most reasonable for now, it just felt… so embarrassing!
As the guardians of the second-floor stairs, the Minotaurs were highly alert.
According to the Wildcat Team’s previous experience, they patrolled near the torches regularly.
If anything happened, they would sound the alarm, signaling all their kind to form ranks and stay vigilant against intruders or monsters.
As a boy, Su Qi didn’t know how to seduce, nor had he ever learned.
Hiding alone on the narrow stair path patrolled by a Minotaur, Su Qi only intended to test An Xiaoling’s theory briefly.
If it failed, he’d just give up.
He hadn’t expected much.
When a Minotaur wielding a huge axe turned and spotted Su Qi, it immediately gripped its weapon tightly.
Seeing the massive axe, Su Qi shuddered instinctively and dashed backward.
But upon noticing Su Qi’s frightened little figure and the charming aura he radiated,
perhaps sensing his weakness or driven by a selfish “no outsiders get my loot” mindset, the Axe Minotaur glanced back at the stairs, licked its greasy lips, and charged at Su Qi.
But soon, fighting alone, it reached its fate: I don’t eat beef.
Seeing this, Su Qi quickly tried the same trick on another Shield Minotaur.
I don’t eat beef +1.
After losing two Minotaurs, the others no longer fell for Su Qi’s seduction attempts.
But without those two teammates, the Minotaurs guarding the gate were severely weakened.
In the end, the Cangyou Wildcat Team successfully surrounded and defeated them.
With the Minotaurs dead, the Wildcat Team looted the spoils and proceeded to the third layer at the deepest part of the passage.
But upon arrival, as the torchlight illuminated the surroundings,
Su Qi suddenly felt a bad premonition.
This place looked strikingly like the last scene Old Clan Leader had remembered.
Moreover, the huge black statue here looked exactly like the massive Black Demon Beast that had mobilized Old Clan Leader and his group to exhaust the Hero.
The Hero had defeated Old Clan Leader; that monster should have been destroyed!
As Su Qi recalled this, whether it was his imagination or not, the black eyes of the beast statue seemed to move slightly.