With the four of them coordinating with an efficiency that bordered on brutality, this elite patrol, consisting of a dozen or so High-Rank Insect Guards, was slaughtered to the last one in just a few dozen seconds.
The entrance to the Metallic Underground Palace was covered with severed limbs and broken arms that were still twitching slightly.
Green blood stained the cold metal floor a messy sight, and the air was filled with the sour stench peculiar to insect fluids.
"The hell, they just had to come up and ask for trouble."
Lin Xiyue heaved her shield onto her shoulder and took a deep breath.
Far from showing any fatigue, her fair cheeks were actually flushed with an excited crimson from the intense battle.
After that boring "dialogue-heavy sequence" at the Azure Dragon Temple, the combat cells in her body were about to go moldy!
Su Wan withdrew her staff, her ice-blue eyes calmly scanning the battlefield as she made a precise post-battle assessment.
"The firepower transition and target-switching efficiency have improved by about five percent from the last time, not bad."
Xia Lian silently glided out of the shadows, crouched down, and pulled her own arrow out of a Mantisfolk's eye socket, wiping it carefully.
Lin Qingyue rested her staff, [Beloved], on the ground, its tip scraping the metal floor with a piercing screech.
The bloody wind sweeping across the battlefield ruffled her long pink hair.
She gazed at the endless, slowly undulating dark green Insect Tide in the canyon, a flicker of solemnity crossing her eyes.
Their victory was not even a small ripple before this wave comparable to a natural disaster.
"If we want to reach the Temple, we definitely can't kill our way through."
Su Wan frowned as she stared at the surging dark green ocean in the canyon.
"Our stamina and Magic Power are limited, but these things... they seem endless."
Lin Xiyue violently shook the blood off her shield, sending it splattering onto the ground. Her dark eyes were full of soaring fighting spirit, yet they couldn't hide a hint of helplessness.
"The sky, the ground, even the cracks in the rocks are packed! To get through, we'd need to be able to tunnel through the earth!"
Individual martial prowess seemed so pale before truly overwhelming numbers.
Lin Qingyue, of course, understood this truth as well.
Her consciousness sank into the System Space, glancing at that azure card representing freedom and slacking off.
[Venti Trial Card (22 hours 33 minutes remaining)]
Using [Wind's Grand Ode] to clear the field could indeed instantly carve out a path.
But what if there were still larger ones ahead?
This card was still a bit too weak against those massive Commanders or Broodmothers.
Just as she was weighing the pros and cons, wondering whether to transform into a Bard on the spot, a sound of hurried and chaotic footsteps mixed with heavy gasping came from the passage behind the allied forces' defensive line below!
More enemies?
Lin Xiyue spun around instantly, slamming her Blackstone Heavy Shield down in front of her with a "clang," lowering her center of gravity like a fortress ready to spring into action.
"Over here! Quick!"
An anxious shout echoed from the passage, followed by a small squad that charged out in a disheveled state.
Leading the way were several fully armed, blood-soaked Pandaren Warriors. The battle axes and round shields in their hands were chipped and dented, evidence of a fierce battle they had just endured.
And being escorted by them in the middle was a young man who looked completely out of place on this bloody battlefield.
A white lab coat.
Goggles.
And a metal toolbox in his hand.
He looked more like a researcher who had just run out of a laboratory.
The young man kept glancing up as he ran, clearly drawn by the commotion in the sky earlier.
When he saw the ground in front of the fortress exit covered in the mangled remains of Mantisfolk, his footsteps stopped abruptly.
The eyes behind his goggles widened.
Then, his gaze swept across the wreckage on the ground, landing on the four women who were completely unharmed, their clothes hardly even stained.
Especially Lin Qingyue's signature long pink hair.
The young man's breath caught, his shocked expression rapidly transforming into a look of incredulous joy.
"Wait—"
He almost blurted it out, his voice tinged with a hint of uncertainty and intense excitement.
"Pink hair! Priest! An all-female squad! My god! Are you the Monster Squad from Tianshu University?!"
This sudden shout caught all four of Lin Qingyue's team by surprise.
Lin Qingyue narrowed her eyes. The white lab coat, the goggles, and this face... she vaguely remembered them.
This was the Captain of the "Heavenly Craft Squad" from Yuheng University, whom they had met once before at the Dungeon entrance plaza.
They hadn't expected to run into an acquaintance here.
"You're from... the Heavenly Craft Squad?"
The young man dashed forward, taking two steps for every three, his words jumbled with excitement.
"Yes! I'm Hao Chi! This isn't the place to talk, follow me!"
Without waiting for Lin Qingyue's reply, he turned and ran back toward the massive metal gate they had just passed through. The Pandaren Guards immediately split into two lines, warily bringing up the rear.
Lin Qingyue and her three teammates exchanged a glance and followed without hesitation.
In their current situation, finding an "informant" who knew the layout was undoubtedly a godsend.
THOOM—
The heavy metal gate swung shut again, completely sealing off the chaos and carnage outside.
The world instantly fell silent, leaving only the cold, stark weapons display room and the sound of their slightly ragged breathing.
"Hoo... finally safe."
Hao Chi removed his goggles, revealing a face that looked a bit tired but still spirited, with fine beads of sweat on his forehead.
He looked at Lin Qingyue, his eyes still filled with unconcealed astonishment.
"My name is Hao Chi, Captain of the Heavenly Craft Squad. I really never imagined I'd run into you guys here."
He introduced himself again, this time much more formally.
"Lin Qingyue, from Tianshu University."
Lin Qingyue stated her name concisely, then pointed to her teammates beside her, "Lin Xiyue, Su Wan, Xia Lian."
"I've heard a lot about you."
Hao Chi gave a wry smile.
"Everyone outside is saying Tianshu's freshman squad is insanely powerful this year. Now it seems the rumors were too conservative! Those were High-Rank Insect Guards! You all..."
He looked at the corpses that had been dragged inside, then at the magnificent staff in Lin Qingyue's hand, which hadn't been stained with a single drop of blood. His eye couldn't help but twitch.
The image of that pink-haired priest just now, using her staff to impale a Mantisfolk, was simply too shocking.
But considering Tianshu University's style, it seemed not so surprising after all.
"Still, Captain Lin, why... why did you come out of the White Tiger Temple's armory?"
Hao Chi asked the biggest question on his mind.
"This is a Forbidden Zone. We only got in to retrieve items after obtaining the Allied Commander's written order."
"An unreliable friend sent us here. The delivery service was a bit off," Lin Qingyue explained without changing her expression.
Hao Chi was a smart man and immediately sensed she didn't want to talk about it, so he tactfully changed the subject.
Besides, someone who could teleport people into a Forbidden Zone was clearly no ordinary "friend."
He glanced at the Pandaren Guard behind him and gave a wry smile.
"I originally brought a team here for routine maintenance on the enchantment structures of a batch of ballistae."
"Every time we come here, we have to bring a full escort of guards, just in case those things in the sky ambush us."
"I never expected that this time, you would come out from inside, draw all the fire for us, and... and even deal with them so decisively."
His tone was filled with the relief of a survivor and genuine admiration for the four of them.
His squad specialized in research and manufacturing, and this kind of close-quarters combat was not their forte.
If they had been caught by that elite patrol squad, even with the Pandaren Guard, it would have taken a lot of effort to deal with them.
"Maintenance?"
Lin Qingyue caught the keyword and asked with interest,
"Are you hiring technical workers? How's the pay? Do you provide the five major insurance and the housing fund?"
"Huh?"
Hao Chi was so stunned by the sudden question that his brain completely crashed, and he subconsciously started analyzing:
"Hiring? The environment here... as far as I can see, the life support system for long-term deployment hasn't been fully set up yet, so the logistics pressure is very high. As for benefits and compensation..."
Lin Xiyue and Su Wan, who were beside him, facepalmed at the same time, while Xia Lian awkwardly turned her face away.
Their sister's (the Captain's) train of thought was going off the rails again.
Hao Chi also came to his senses halfway through speaking. He shook his head vigorously, clearing those messy regulations from his mind, and looked at Lin Qingyue and her three companions again. This time, he was truly puzzled.
"Since you arrived here by accident, what was your original purpose?"