'Liuli?'
'The one ranked first on Blazing Ember City's reputation leaderboard, with an astonishing five-digit reputation?'
Also, the one who schemed to make Wu Gang drop a Shadow Heart, then mailed that Shadow Heart, worth tens of millions, directly to Lin Mo?
The moment he heard that ID through the system prompt, Lin Mo's heart jolted violently.
He had imagined countless times who this Liuli was, someone who hadn't existed in Blazing Ember City in his previous life.
And why she would help him.
Now, as Lin Mo turned around.
Not far behind him, a mage girl stood quietly, dressed in a black magic robe.
Although the black hood concealed her face, the gentle, refined, scholarly aura she gave off, along with her figure, was enough to make one imagine that the girl must be very beautiful.
Seeing her, even the high-level players of the Dragon Soul Guild around them were stunned.
"Holy crap! First place on Blazing Ember City's reputation rankings! A big shot with five-digit reputation… Liuli!"
"Boss Liuli is actually a girl?"
"When did this boss get in?"
Su Muqiu pondered for a moment, "Could it have been just now, when I went out to escort Lin Mo?"
"Otherwise, with Chaotic World guarding outside, she wouldn't have had any other chance to get in."
At this moment, Liuli was standing right in front of him.
And Lin Mo's curiosity about her had reached its peak.
He desperately wanted to see what this Liuli actually looked like.
Who exactly she was that he knew.
But just as Lin Mo was about to take another step forward, about to uncover Liuli's secrets and satisfy all his curiosity.
Suddenly, a Dragon Soul assassin rushed over to report, "Boss! Chaotic World is launching an attack on the city from all four gates, east, south, west, and north!"
Dragon Soul Aoshi frowned slightly, "Looks like they've already anticipated that we're going to make a move on the Shadow Holy Hall."
As he spoke, Dragon Soul Aoshi asked Lin Mo, "Roughly how long will you need to clear the dungeon?"
"One hour," Lin Mo replied without hesitation.
"Good!", Dragon Soul Aoshi said firmly, "You just go in and fight. Leave the outside to us."
At this moment, Lin Mo glanced once more at Liuli, who stood silently not far away, saying nothing.
The most urgent task was to take down the Shadow Holy Hall as quickly as possible.
So Lin Mo could only suppress his curiosity for the time being.
He accepted Liuli's guardian application.
Even though this Liuli was a girl, and on the surface looked gentle and weak. She was, after all, the number one on Blazing Ember City's leaderboard.
To be able to reach such a position, her strength was unquestionably real.
With the number one on the leaderboard as one of the guardians, Lin Mo naturally felt even more confident.
Thus, Liuli replaced the warrior Dragon Soul Chiyan, who was ranked fifty-fifth on the leaderboard.
At Lin Mo's ear, the system prompt sounded—
[Ding~ Dungeon raider identity confirmed. Please enter the dungeon to begin the challenge.]
At the same time, the ten guardians, including Liuli and Dragon Soul Aoshi, also heard a system prompt—
[Ding~ Dungeon guardian identity confirmed. Please fully defend the Shadow Gate and ensure that the dungeon raider Rulebound successfully clears the dungeon. Please note: your life and death will affect dungeon progression. For every guardian that dies, dungeon monster strength will increase by 10%. If all ten guardians die, the dungeon will be forcibly judged a failure.]
Buzz!
As Lin Mo raised his right hand, matching it to the bloody handprint on the Shadow Gate—
Clatter!
The heavy stone door finally opened.
Lin Mo stepped through the doorway, disappearing into a swirl of white mist.
As the stone door closed.
Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!
From all directions, a wave of howls like those of zombies suddenly echoed through the air.
Immediately after, the Shadow Guards wearing black armor and wielding spears, who had already been killed by Chaotic World's players, all rose back up from their fallen, dead state.
And the levels above their heads jumped straight from level 25 to level 30.
Clang!
Dragon Soul Aoshi instantly drew his sword.
With a commanding shout, "All troops hold the line. Not even a single fly is to be let through the Shadow Gate!"
"Yes!"
All around, Dragon Soul's players drew their weapons, surrounding the Shadow Gate on both sides, and engaged the resurrected Shadow Guards in fierce combat.
———
At the same time, on Lin Mo's side—
After passing through a layer of white mist, he arrived in a boundless land of dark ruins.
The ground around him was littered with bones.
Countless maggots crawled between the skeletal remains.
Above, the sky was filled with dark clouds.
Under the oppressive gloom, this place was like a living hell!
And straight ahead, in the darkness far away, a black palace sat silently.
That palace was the Shadow Holy Hall.
At this very moment, a powerful suffocating pressure came crashing down on him.
And this suffocating feeling wasn't just a sensation.
It was a very real poisonous gas: Shadow Breath.
[Ding~ Venomous Set skill Immunity to All Poisons has taken effect. You are immune to the erosion of Shadow Breath!]
The Venomous Set's value was instantly demonstrated to ninety-nine percent out of a hundred.
Otherwise, based on Lin Mo's memory, "The poison damage from Shadow Breath ticks at a fixed 2% of max HP per second. A normal person inside, even without fighting any dungeon monsters, would last less than fifty seconds just standing still."
At this moment, the system voice rang out again.
[Ding~ Welcome to the elite hidden dungeon Shadow Holy Hall! Please locate the dungeon quest and complete it within the time limit. Dungeon countdown: Sixty Minutes.]
The dungeon only allowed sixty minutes of exploration time.
As the system prompt fell, Lin Mo immediately entered a focused state.
For hidden dungeons, the official game guides provided nothing. Everything had to be figured out by the players themselves, including how to trigger the dungeon quest.
He really had to thank Wang Junjie.
Because if he hadn't watched Wang Junjie's livestream, after entering, Lin Mo truly wouldn't have known where to start for a while.
But now, his objective was extremely clear.
He immediately headed to the right.
Sure enough, before long, he saw a human soldier lying behind a rock, letting out low groans of pain.
The soldier's name was [Allen].
His armor was shattered, both legs were mangled and bloody, his face deathly pale. One glance was enough to tell he didn't have much time left.
Lin Mo stepped forward and triggered the dialogue.
"Adventurer… you should never have come to this place. This is nothing but hell!"
Allen could barely protect himself, yet he was still worried about Lin Mo's situation.
"But since things have come to this, the only way for you to escape alive is to go to that Shadow Holy Hall."
Allen pointed weakly toward the Shadow Holy Hall sitting in the darkness and said to Lin Mo, "Find the Shadow Codex inside. It not only records the secrets of the Shadow Clan, but also contains a way to safely leave this place."
"The Shadow Codex concerns the safety of our human race and Blazing Ember City. It's extremely important. You must… obtain it!"
After saying this, Allen breathed his last on the spot.
Fortunately, Lin Mo got what he wanted—
[Ding~ You have accepted the Shadow Holy Hall dungeon's unique quest: The Path of Confrontation!]
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