Don't You Come Over Here

More than half an hour earlier, Liu Xuan had stood in the same spot, staring at the numbers on the stone tablet.

“Huh? The run I just did counts toward the dungeon record too?”

Liu Xuan let out a smug chuckle. He had practically annihilated every monster in the logging camp, so this record was probably going to be permanently etched in place. No one would be able to beat it.

If the time spent luring the monsters in wasn’t included, the actual battle had lasted less than fourteen seconds.

Shaking his head, Liu Xuan prepared to return to the Novice Village at once. He had spent quite a bit of time earlier farming health points.

He was already more than 400 percent ahead of the expected pace, but he would have to hurry through the quarry.

He had no idea that Vaughan, who was only 48 percent ahead, was already grinning from ear to ear.

Liu Xuan hurried back toward the Novice Village and soon reached the shrubland.

Thanks to the thirty points of armor provided by his door-panel-sized great shield, his total armor had now reached a full sixty points. The level-four [Woodland Rats] could no longer break through his defenses, and could only deal a forced one point of damage.

However, as he neared the edge of the shrubland, he still put his two overly conspicuous pieces of equipment into his backpack.

By now, quite a few people should have reached levels three or four. There was a chance someone might be grinding here in the shrubland.

His current goal was to save every second. If someone latched onto him—even if it was only to say hello—that would still waste precious time.

Yet just as he was about to leave the shrubland, he suddenly spotted a party being attacked by a group of [Woodland Rats].

There were five people in total: one soldier, one priest, and three archers.

At the front, the soldier was holding a small round shield. Under the alternating attacks of three [Woodland Rats], he was already sweating profusely.

The priestess, who looked only seventeen or eighteen, wore an anxious expression.

“Brother Wang, I only have one mana potion left. I can’t hold out much longer.”

“Don’t panic. My damage reduction skill will be ready soon. I can hold them off for a little longer. Luo Yu, kill them faster!”

“My hands are practically smoking over here!”

One of the archers, Luo Yu, said that with his mouth, but his eyes secretly darted toward the rear.

At this rate, they could kill at most one more [Woodland Rat] before Wang Fangcai died.

What would the rest of them do against the remaining two?

Whoever ran the slowest would become the tank, right?

But Luo Yu’s archer build focused on Strength, leaving him less agile than the other two. When the time came, if he couldn’t outrun them, he and the priestess, Xiao Lu, would be the ones to die.

A ruthless look flashed through Luo Yu’s eyes. He turned around and ran.

“Brother Wang, I’ll go find help nearby! Hang in there for a little while!”

Better a fallen comrade than oneself—sorry about this!

Wang Fangcai was both shocked and furious. “Luo Yu! What the hell are you doing?! What are we supposed to do without you? We’ll kill them even slower!”

But Luo Yu didn’t even look back. He ran faster than a rabbit.

The other two archers saw what was happening and thought, That’s right—without one person, we’ll kill them even slower. So what’s the point of fighting?

They lowered their bows and hurriedly ran off as well.

The shrubland was far too dangerous. They were better off returning to find a ranged party and farming rabbits for a while longer.

Watching the three archers flee one after another, Wang Fangcai was filled with despair.

It was over. He was going to die here today.

Xiao Lu’s hands were trembling, yet she still asked him, “Brother Wang, what are the two of us supposed to do?”

“Ah... You should run too!” Wang Fangcai said with a bitter smile. “My damage reduction skill is ready again. I’ll do my best to hold them off for a while.”

“But...”

Before Xiao Lu could finish, a voice suddenly came from nearby.

“Stay right where you are! I’ll be there in a moment!”

A spark of hope lit up Wang Fangcai’s heart. Someone was nearby!

Maybe they could still be saved.

He hurriedly looked toward the voice, only to freeze in shock as cold sweat broke out across his forehead.

A young man was running toward them, with five or six [Woodland Rats] hot on his heels.

“Damn it, is this guy trying to get me killed faster?”

Don’t come over here!

But then he noticed that the young man was moving incredibly fast. The rats couldn’t keep up with him at all.

Wang Fangcai quickly shouted, “Brother, after I die, draw these monsters’ aggro and lead them away. Save this girl! Thanks...”

Before he could finish, however, the young man—who had just reached them—suddenly slowed down and was bitten by the rats.

“...”

Wang Fangcai’s heart sank once more.

It was over. That guy must have used a movement-speed skill to outrun the monsters.

Now that the skill had worn off, the rats had caught up with him.

He was so utterly despairing that he failed to notice the rats had all been frightened.

All he could do was continue shouting to his teammate, “Xiao, run!”

Yet the few rats attacking Liu Xuan suddenly exploded. The blast also killed several monsters within range that had been attacking him.

It was the effect of [Corpse Explosion].

“What...?”

Wang Fangcai stood there, completely dumbfounded.

Why had the monsters suddenly died?

Seeing him staring blankly, Liu Xuan walked over and patted him on the shoulder. “Brother, are you all right?”

Only then did Wang Fangcai snap back to reality. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine.”

He plopped down on the ground and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “Thank you so much, brother. We would’ve been done for without you.”

“It was nothing. I was just passing by.”

Seeing the state the two of them were in—and the priest girl still looking shaken—Liu Xuan tossed them several bottles of potions.

To him, these things were dirt cheap. Besides, with his enormous health pool and rapid regeneration, they were barely useful anymore.

Wang Fangcai hurriedly waved his hands. “No, no, we can’t. These are too valuable. We’ll just rest here and wait for our health to recover naturally.”

“Take them. By the time you recover, the monsters will have respawned.”

When Wang Fangcai still tried to refuse, Liu Xuan simply shoved the potions into his hands.

“I’m heading out. Just follow in the same direction behind me. I’ll deal with the monsters along the way.”

With that, he waved and left.

Liu Xuan had seen what had happened between the two of them.

They were decent people with a strong sense of loyalty. Even when they were on the verge of death, the soldier had still been urging him to save the priest girl.

There was nothing wrong with giving people like that a hand.

“Wait! We haven’t even asked your name...”

Wang Fangcai waved and called after him, but Liu Xuan was so fast that he vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

All Wang Fangcai could do was smile wryly. “Looks like he doesn’t want to reveal his identity.”

“But he’s such a good person.” Xiao Lu gazed at the disappearing figure, her eyes sparkling. “And he’s really handsome, too~”

“Ha... ha...” Girls really do focus on the strangest things...

Wang Fangcai shook his head. “We should get moving too. It’ll be bad news if more monsters spawn.”

Xiao Lu suddenly thought of something. “Brother Wang, do you think he could be that Liu Xuan? He came out of the woods, and the battlefield announcement about the lumber camp being conquered came not long ago. The timing lines up perfectly.”

“It’s possible.” Wang Fangcai had thought of that too. He quickly reminded Xiao Lu, “He may not want the trouble of revealing his identity, so we absolutely mustn’t tell anyone about what happened today. After all, he did save our lives.”

“Mm, I know.” Xiao Lu nodded, then sighed. “I wonder if we’ll ever get to see that handsome guy again.”

Wang Fangcai rolled his eyes. What a lovestruck girl...

“Uh... We’re on the same battlefield, so we should still have a chance.”