Where's the cute girl we were promised? She's completely wiped out S-rank dungeons!

Lu Yan walked over, easily pulled Zhao Xufeng up, and said matter-of-factly:

"Let's go and clear the way."

"Wait, is it really appropriate to assign this kind of work to me?"

A huge question mark appeared above Zhao Xufeng's head. In his view, he was a strategist, trailing behind the team and providing assistance when his teammates needed it, which was perfectly reasonable.

Shouldn't tasks like leading the charge and clearing the way be done by players like Tao Rong or Song Yuan?

But Lu Yan didn't care about any of that and dragged him to the front without saying a word—because in his eyes, men should bleed and charge ahead, while women should be protected.

"Okay~ let's go then, darling...?"

On the other side, Tao Rong naturally turned her head to try and take Gu Ji's hand, but for some reason, Gu Ji subtly dodged her. The man took two steps forward expressionlessly, turned back to give her a meaningful look, and then joined Lu Yan and Zhao Xufeng's group.

Zhao Xufeng was caught between two tall, menacing men, feeling oppressed like he was being controlled by a high-level player. He felt this wasn't the place for him. He quickly moved aside with small steps, giving the center position to Lu Yan.

Now, there are only four female players left in the back of the line.

Tao Rong was disappointed after being refused a hand-holding due to her reluctance, standing there looking dejected. An Xiaoyou whispered in Song Yuan's ear, "Hey, what's wrong with that person? Is he mute? Or are they a couple breaking up?"

As soon as she asked the question, Tao Rong gave a firm reply: "No! We're just having a cold war. That's just how he is; he doesn't like to talk when he's angry. We have a very good relationship."

An Xiaoyou: "..."

Xu Tai'an: "..."

Song Yuan gently reminded her, "If you speak any louder, everyone in this cave can hear you."

Fortunately, Tao Rong doesn't mind people talking badly about her boyfriend behind her back.

Song Yuan looked up and saw Zhao Xufeng giving her a pleading look. Just to be safe, Song Yuan confirmed with Tao Rong, "Your people shouldn't attack our team members halfway through, right?"

Tao Rong winked at her and held up three fingers: "Don't worry, we still keep our promises. Now that I'm alone with the three of you, you can ambush me anytime, right?"

That's right, that makes a lot of sense.

So Song Yuan nodded, ignoring Zhao Xufeng's pleas for help.

And so began my first cave exploration.

......

The cave was silent. Occasionally, the sound of water droplets falling on the rocks could be heard. Pale blue, root-like things clung to the cave ceiling, just like the plants they had seen at sea—let's just call them plants for now. They emitted a faint glow, enough to see most of the scene even without a flashlight or kerosene lamp.

The group of seven moved through the cave at a moderate pace. Every now and then, Lu Yan and his companions would find some odds and ends: such as a large, shell-less snail that was entirely blue, shells and corals of various shapes, and human skeletons of all sizes—or perhaps even mermaid skeletons.

In such a maze, they had to memorize the route as they went—ideally, they could draw a map by hand and memorize all the forks in the road. This is where the disadvantage of Qiao Ran's absence became apparent:

With Qiao Ran around, the rest of the team didn't need to spend time or effort memorizing anything. Qiao Ran would memorize everything perfectly. This allowed them to navigate complex environments like mazes more freely.

But that's no longer possible. They have to be extremely careful every time they choose a fork in the road, lest they accidentally get lost here.

"Hey, what if we don't get out of here by dawn?"

Half an hour passed, and they continued their monotonous cave exploration. An Xiaoyou was getting restless, and seeing that there was still no fork in the road, she started chatting with the other two.

Xu Tai'an tapped his chin and whispered a guess: "They might be forced into a coma by the system and then wake up at sunrise. At that time, this cave, and even this island, will disappear."

"Because this map only appears at night, if the player hasn't found anything by daytime, they should be kicked out."

Song Yuan looked at Xu Tai'an: "Have you had a similar experience?"

Xu Tai'an entered the game two years earlier than them, so he can be considered a veteran player.

Xu Tai'an nodded: "Yes, I've encountered this before when running other dungeons."

After a brief exchange, the atmosphere returned to silence. Just as Song Yuan was concentrating on her journey, she suddenly felt a burning gaze on her left cheek. Following the gaze in confusion, she saw that it was Tao Rong looking at her.

Song Yuan frowned: "What do you want?"

"It's okay, it's okay~"

Tao Rong covered her face and waved her hand:

"I'm so envious of your guild having so many female players. There are really very few teams with a high percentage of female players these days. I wish I had female friends all around me, otherwise I'd be all alone with no one to talk to."

That's true. Guilds like [Justice Tribunal], which are predominantly female players, are indeed very rare.

Modern women often pursue an aesthetic ideal of being petite and slender, with fair and flawless skin and delicate, three-dimensional facial features.

Therefore, female players are generally weaker in terms of physique and strength throughout the game. This often results in an unequal gender ratio in player strength rankings.

"Doesn't your guild have female players too?"

Seeing that the conversation had been started, An Xiaoyou casually picked up where she left off:

"That girl who looks to be only seventeen or eighteen years old."

"Oh, you mean Qiaoyan? She's still young, she's still in school. I want to talk about things related to relationships."

Tao Rong sighed and pointed with a troubled expression to the backs of the three men ahead:

"Our guild is full of clueless men. It puts me in a really difficult position at times like this... Why are men so hard to appease when they're throwing a tantrum?"

"Why are you trying to appease him? What happened between you two?"

安小有实在不理解。她的恋爱观比较畸形，面对不听话、闹脾气的男人，要幺揍一顿，要幺直接当垃圾丢掉。

As for the option of "coaxing a man," it is generally not considered.

An Xiaoyou raised her hand, her fingertips circling among the three people before finally stopping at Xu Tai'an's chest:

"Among the three of us, Xu Tai'an is probably the only one with dating experience, right?"

Furthermore, although Xu Tai'an's relationship ended in hurt and hatred, the beginning was quite beautiful. It's a fairly complete story; didn't the two eventually live together, get engaged, and prepare for their wedding?

Song Yuan kindly reminded An Xiaoyou, "You'd better say less."

Even someone as lacking in emotional intelligence as her knew that this was incredibly tactless. They were well aware of Xu Tai'an's current attitude towards the puppeteers. Not everyone is willing to casually recount such a failed relationship.

"It's alright, I don't mind." Xu Tai'an waved his hand very calmly. "Ms. Tao, would you mind letting us hear what exactly happened between you and your boyfriend? Why are you having a cold war?"

"Um... well..."

Tao Rong paused, seemingly finding it difficult to speak about this matter. After a long while, she said somewhat awkwardly: