Chapter 15 The Price of Victory

The "defeat" that Feng Bujue was referring to was naturally not the loss of a battle, but the failure of a side quest...

At the moment the Silkworm Mother let out her death throes, another sound rang out. But at the time, the players' ears were enduring an extremely painful impact, and it was difficult to pay attention to other subtle sounds...

Only Jue-ge... vaguely caught something.

As a person accustomed to multitasking, he wouldn't let go of any similar detail. In the blink of an eye, he almost instinctively glanced at the game menu... and discovered the reality of Uncle Waste Wood's death.

That's right, the sound covered up by the roar was a system prompt: [Team member: Uncle Waste Wood, has died.]

"What?" Honghu quickly reacted to Jue-ge's words and noticed the change in the team column, "Tch... still miscalculated..."

After drinking the Survival Value Replenishment, both Tianma Xingkong and Jibu habitually opened the game menu to confirm the recovery of their health, so they quickly discovered Uncle Waste Wood's death as well.

"Actually, there's nothing to miscalculate." Feng Bujue shrugged. "We've tried our best, but we still couldn't save Uncle Waste Wood. We can only blame the monsters in this scenario for being too intelligent..." He continued with a helpless tone, "I think... at the last moment, the Silkworm Mother probably knew she was doomed, so she decided to drag someone down with her."

"No, I was too careless..." Honghu shook his head. "I should have told you earlier..." He looked at Jue-ge and continued, "You weren't affected, so you don't know... when controlled by the Silkworm Mother's brain threads, the controlled person's five senses are amplified to the limit. During that time... my sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste... were all feeding back a large amount of information that was enough to cause panic..."

"Yeah, yeah, that was super terrifying." Jibu interjected from afar, "Especially the sounds inside my own body... too creepy."

Honghu nodded and continued, "When formulating the strategy, I forgot to take this point into consideration... Since Uncle Waste Wood was caught by the Silkworm Mother, he must have also been in a 'super five senses' state. Under that situation, the impact of the roar would cause unimaginable damage to the brain..." He said with some regret, "Alas... if it weren't for my miscalculation, maybe we could have come up with a more appropriate strategy."

"Pfft..." After holding it in for a second, Feng Bujue actually laughed, "Hahahaha..."

"What's wrong?" Honghu looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Laughing at you." Jue-ge replied with a face that deserved a beating, "Still calling yourself a 'strategist'? You're just an idiot! Hahahaha..."

"How did you even live to your twenties..." Honghu drew a long face, "It's a miracle you haven't been beaten to death..."

Suddenly, the laughter stopped abruptly. Feng Bujue took only half a second to suppress his smile and replace it with an extremely serious face: "Alright, you've already been despised and insulted by me, can your self-blame stop here?"

"Um..." Honghu replied blankly, "Your way of comforting others is really unique..." He pondered for a few seconds, "Although my self-blame and regret haven't diminished much, my attention has indeed been diverted by you... I have to say, you're good at attracting hatred..."

"You flatter me." Feng Bujue replied.

"Alright, stop dwelling on it..." Jibu lay sprawled out on a Dreadleaf, "Since things have come to this, we might as well rest for a while. Anyway, there's no time limit for the main quest. I suggest everyone rest in place and recover to full health before taking action."

"That's a good idea." Feng Bujue also drank a bottle of medicine (Jue-ge's bag always has five medium-sized bottles of Survival Value Replenishment, and he drank one now), and stood up, saying, "But the resting place can't be here. We'd better change locations... and quickly."

"Huh? Why is that again?" Tianma Xingkong asked doubtfully.

"Of course, for safety." Honghu also stood up at this time, adjusting his glasses, "Now that there are no tigers in the mountain, the monkeys will soon come out to be kings."

"Uh..." Tianma Xingkong pondered for a few seconds before understanding the metaphor, "You mean... this place is the 'mountain', and the Silkworm Mother is the 'tiger'?"

"That's right." Honghu replied, "In this Crystal Labyrinth, the Silkworm Mother was undoubtedly the king. Now that she's dead, many creatures second only to her have lost their natural enemy. Once they realize this, they will come here and try to take over this area..."

"[Beep—]! Then let's run quickly!" Jibu jumped up with a carp-like leap, "I can't fight anymore."

Tianma Xingkong also supported himself on his knees to stand up: "Yeah, heroes also need to rest, for example... if the light on their chest flashes for too long, they have to fly away and detour for a bit."

"I understood the first half of what you said." Feng Bujue sighed and complained, "You don't need to use aliens from the M78 Nebula as an example..."

…………

Five minutes later, in a path southeast of the Dreadleaf.

Clang, clang, clang...

Bill's footsteps on the crystal crust were quite loud. His weight and metal soles made it almost impossible for him to walk quietly.

"Almost there." Billy, riding the tricycle in front, said without turning his head, "In terms of time..." He looked down at his watch, "It's a few minutes late..."

"It sounds like there's something fighting up ahead." Bill looked up and said. Although the crystal path was covered by pink and white silk webs, Bill seemed to know what was happening not far away.

"Ah..." Billy responded weakly, "Just two ignorant and greedy beasts fighting..."

"Should I clean them up?" Bill made a palm with his left hand and made a fist with his right, bumping them together in front of his chest.

"Heh... go ahead if you want to." Billy saw his brother's eager look and found it a bit funny, "You've been locked up for quite a while, it's a good opportunity to warm up."

"Alright!" Bill responded excitedly. The next second, his right leg slammed into the ground...

With a bang... the extremely hard crystal crust was shattered into a large piece by his step, and everything within a hundred meters shook.

Billy, riding on the tricycle, was lifted a few centimeters off the ground along with the vehicle. After landing, he helplessly spread his hands, straightened his bow tie, and continued to pedal forward.

On the other side... Bill's massive figure had already flown out like a fired cannonball, rapidly rushing towards the Dreadleaf.

"This silk is really annoying..." Bill muttered in mid-air, reaching out to tear off a few layers of silk web covering his face.

After the Silkworm Mother's death, all the silk webs in the Crystal Labyrinth had lost their special properties and become ordinary silk fabrics. Even if you accidentally got them on you, you could easily tear or rip them off.

"Roar—" A strange roar suddenly sounded from ahead.

Bill focused his eyes and a giant beast entered his vision.

This creature had a pig's head and a dog's body, with a huge body, black fur, hard thorns, and red eyes, capable of seeing in the dark. It liked to eat carrion and lived in dark and humid places. The *Shan Hai Jing* (Classic of Mountains and Seas) mentioned it, it was the Red-Eyed Pig Demon...

At the other end of the Dreadleaf, another slender humanoid monster made of vines was standing, seemingly confronting the Red-Eyed Pig Demon.

In between the two creatures, a large pile of body fragments was scattered, with blood flowing everywhere... Judging from the quantity and volume, this pile was undoubtedly the Silkworm Mother's corpse.

"Heh... are they fighting over this pile of carrion..." Bill smiled, "Haha... same as my purpose! Hey!"

He shouted and, taking advantage of the momentum of his fall, punched the Red-Eyed Pig Demon that was closer to him.

The Red-Eyed Pig Demon was also a rare beast in this Crystal Labyrinth, with formidable strength. Facing Bill, this uninvited guest, it naturally refused to be outdone, raising the sharp tusks on both sides of its nose to meet him.

Unexpectedly...

Crunch—

The sound of bones breaking announced the result of this attack. Bill's iron fist easily broke the Red-Eyed Pig Demon's sharp tusks, which were shaped like steel knives, and he did it with only one hand...

Just now, at the moment of approaching the enemy, Bill slightly changed his stance, swinging his fist with lightning speed and delivering a horizontal punch.

Only the person who was hit could understand the terror of this punch.

A seemingly understated and unadorned attack contained unparalleled power and speed.

There were no fancy special effects, no cool move names. In fact... this punch couldn't even be considered a move, it was just a very simple action. But... it was just strong.

This was unadorned, flawless absolute power.

Steel body, immense strength, swift speed. This was the "Primitive War Golem" – Bill. From a data perspective, his design could be described as "simple." If a derivative saw Bill and Billy appear at the same time, they would never be able to tell that these two sets of data had a "brotherly" relationship.

But simple didn't mean weak... In Bill's simple design, what was commendable was the "value" of each of his stats. Only in this regard could he be compared to the Four Pillar Gods...

To put it metaphorically, Billy was like a next-generation smartphone, finely crafted and feature-rich. And Bill... was an old-fashioned phone made of titanium alloy. He could only be used to make calls and send text messages, but he didn't sell for any cheaper than you.

"Ah—" The Red-Eyed Pig Demon wailed, and its broken tusks flipped out of its mouth, tearing the flesh inside. But it couldn't even care about the "pain." The intense fear and instinct for survival made it leap off the Dreadleaf and run away headfirst...

"Hehe..." Watching the Pig Demon run away, the "Vine Monster" chuckled twice, then raised its eyes to look at Bill, "Although I don't know where you came from, you seem to be quite strong... hehehe..." It twisted its vine body and slowly stepped forward, surrounding Bill with a thicket of thorns, "How about this... you become my subordinate, and we'll rule this la... cough... cough... ah..."

Bill grabbed the Vine Monster's "neck" with one hand, sneering, "You're even stupider than a pig, you sprout..."