All my teammates online are my girlfriends

006 - Only men truly understand men.

"Password correct, anti-addiction measures disabled, logging in..."

Welcome to The Kyoukai!

As the emotionless, mechanical female voice resounded in his ears, Lin Qiu's pitch-black vision was instantly filled with soft white light.

His vision was distorted and blurry, and when he came to his senses again, he was already back in his hut.

Looking around at the collections of items and potions he had displayed on the shelves, Lin Qiu felt completely relaxed and refreshed.

"Ring ring-"

However, he had only been online for a short time when a dialog box popped up in front of him, accompanied by a piercing ringtone, which startled him.

"Ding--"

As Lin Qiu pointed, the image of a blond boy with cat whiskers appeared on the chat box.

"You unscrupulous merchants are finally here! We've been waiting for you for ages."

The moment he opened his mouth, the deep voice of the young man, which was completely out of character for his age, made Lin Qiu's lips twitch.

"Can you please stop changing your voice like this? It's not repeating itself every day, and it's getting weirder and weirder."

"Hey - you have to protect your identity online, and it's also quite fun. If you want, I can switch to a female voice."

"I've heard from Qingyuan that you're quite troubled lately because you don't have a girlfriend. Do you need me to comfort you? - Although it's not really true, only men truly understand men, right?"

The cat chuckled and teased, but the deep male voice accompanying it was filled with an eerie atmosphere.

Lin Qiu rolled her eyes, not wanting to continue arguing with him about this, and waved her hand, asking—

"Have Qingyuan and the others arrived yet?"

"Everyone's here. We're already at the entrance to the Edge Ruins. Come on over."

"almost there!"

After hanging up the call, Lin Qiu quickly opened his friend list and finally locked onto Qing Yuan's name.

A few seconds later, Qing Yuan, far away in the edge of the ruins, narrowed his eyes, and a notification box suddenly appeared in front of him—

"Player 'Linzhong Huiyuan' requests to be teleported to your location."

"coming."

As Qingyuan greeted him and clicked "agree," Lin Qiu appeared beside him in an instant.

As soon as the main character arrived, the young boy and the weathered uncle, who had been lazily waiting on the side, suddenly perked up and all crowded around.

"Let me introduce you. This guy is called Jiu Niang Yuan Zi. He uses a greatsword and his skills are quite impressive."

"Hello."

As Qingyuan introduced them, Lin Qiu shook hands with her in a friendly manner.

The cat that stole the fish had already spoken with Lin Qiu before he arrived, so he didn't say much more.

"How should the rewards that are revealed later be distributed?"

"Distribute them as needed, and roll the dice randomly for the rest."

"Row."

After reaching a consensus, Lin Qiu was about to lead the team into the sweet fermented rice balls shop when he was suddenly stopped—

"Wait, are we just going in like this? Don't we need to figure out formations or anything?"

"Ah, that's how random teams or strategy teams usually arrange things. We can just play it easy here and play it safe."

"That support..."

"I'm the support, Qingyuan is the melee fighter, and Touyumao is the assassin. If we encounter ranged opponents, we can leave them to them."

Sweet fermented rice balls paused, wondering why this didn't feel like the usual way of playing.

"Should I be the main tank (MT)?"

"Oh no, I'm also the MT. Basically, when we go out to raid, I'm in charge of all the positions except for the DPS."

"..."

Looking at Lin Qiu chuckling, Jiu Niang Yuanzi didn't know how to complain. "Isn't there something wrong with your team?"

She looked at Qingyuan questioningly, and when he nodded, Jiu Niang Yuanzi didn't say anything more and could only wait and see.

The maze that the fish-stealing cat discovered was located underground in the Edge Ruins, with its entrance concealed by a mechanism.

As he turned the broken stone statue beside him six times, the already dilapidated ground suddenly trembled.

As if drawn by a force, the earth writhed and contracted, pulling to both sides to reveal the pitch-black entrance.

The interior was pitch black, without any light, except for a few low, eerie roars that occasionally drifted from the depths, sending chills down one's spine.

"Did you bring all kinds of medicine? Just in case something goes wrong and you suddenly die."

"I've brought everything. Even if we run out, you have plenty more. Hurry up and stop dawdling."

The fish-stealing cat urged, as he was still waiting to gather more information to sell for money.

Let's also see just how many good things this guy has hidden away!

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving."

Seeing that this guy was completely impatient, Lin Qiu didn't delay. He took out the luminous stone from his backpack and stepped into the cave first.

The remaining three followed closely behind, their bodies tensing up at that moment.

Compared to the outside world, the interior of the maze is exceptionally dark, and even with the use of luminous stones, the field of vision that can be illuminated is extremely limited.

"Forced Dark Zone, huh? That's a bit troublesome."

Looking around at the complete darkness where nothing could be seen, Jiu Niang Yuanzi frowned.

If there are ranged monsters in this kind of scenario, it will be difficult for these melee teams to fight them.

"Huiyuan, have you learned the skill 'Shining'? Why don't you send one out to scout ahead?"

Sweet fermented rice balls tentatively asked.

"Hmm? You haven't learned any eye-type skills?"

The three people in front stopped in unison, looking at Yuanzi with some surprise.

"Aren't eye-type skills only obtainable through hidden quests? I've never seen one."

Yuanzi shrugged helplessly. She had spent most of her time fighting monsters and farming materials, and hadn't had much time to research quests.

"The cat knows quite a bit about the hidden quest for the eye-type skill. You can ask him about it later. If you have this skill, the Dark Area won't be a big problem."

As Lin Qiu explained, he continued walking down, and eerie blue light flashed past his eyes from time to time, while the darkness before him was reduced to the extreme.

"I see, are all your eye-type skills the same type?"

"No, mine is Cat's Eye, which works best in dark environments. This shady merchant's is Analytical Eye, which is mainly used to assist research skills."

"Qingyuan's Eagle Eye is mainly used to increase the field of vision and slow down the opponent's movements to a certain extent."

The fish-stealing cat explained in great detail that they were able to acquire these skills all thanks to him!

The sweet fermented rice balls nodded thoughtfully, then leaned closer to the fish-stealing cat to ask for information—

How much for information on eye-type skills?

"Sure, buyers referred by acquaintances get a 30% discount. Since you were brought by Qingyuan, I'll give you a 50% discount. Are there any specific skill requirements?"

"Is there anything like that...?"

Looking back at the two who were already chatting privately, Lin Qiu smiled. Just as he was about to say something to Qing Yuan, he noticed that her figure suddenly blurred and swayed...

007 - Teammate Sacrificed

"What's wrong, Qingyuan? Was there a network fluctuation just now?"

"No, my sister and the others came back early. They just sat on me without me noticing."

"If you're busy, you can log off now."

"It's alright, I've already told them beforehand, let's continue."

Qingyuan waved her hand. Although her younger sister was a bit quirky, they still knew their limits when she was busy...

Suddenly, Qingyuan's body trembled slightly, and a look of embarrassment and annoyance appeared on her face.

What are those two guys groping around for?!

Are you sure it's alright?

Lin Qiu glanced deeply at Qing Yuan, whose expression seemed off, but didn't say anything and could only continue leading the team down the path.

Although Qingyuan's situation is somewhat special, her combat strength is still genuine.

As the group ventured deeper into the maze, the darkness intensified, affecting Lin Qiu and the others' pupil-related skills to varying degrees.

The glutinous rice balls at the very back also subconsciously moved closer to the nearest fish-stealing cat.

Now, I'm the only one on the team who can't see anything. If there's a sudden attack, I won't even be able to fight back.

"Click——"

A sudden, soft sound startled the four of them, who immediately looked down at their feet.

Surprisingly, there was no place where it had sunk.

Before they could even react, a sudden gust of wind howled in from afar.

As if by instinct, Qingyuan, who was in the center of the group, narrowed her eyes and took a step forward, throwing a punch at the left side of the group.

"Bang!!!"

A muffled thud echoed in everyone's ears, and as the crimson phantom flickered, a rather thick log was instantly smashed away by Qing Yuan.

Before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, the fish-stealing cat suddenly felt a tightening around its waist, and the next second—

"Waaaah! Help—"

Before he could even finish speaking, the fish-stealing cat was dragged into the darkness and disappeared without a trace.

Watching helplessly as her teammates disappeared before her eyes, unable to even struggle, Jiu Niang Yuanzi was completely terrified.

Everything was fine just a moment ago, how did it suddenly become so dangerous?!

"It seems to be mainly a maze with mechanisms."

Lin Qiu frowned. He could hardly find any trace of the mechanism being activated, and he didn't see any monster either. It seemed that it was either a high-level monster or something with special abilities.

This means... there are probably a lot of good stuff here!

"That—the fish-stealing cat... "

"He's probably dead already. Be careful from now on. While the situation is still unclear, try to gather as much information as possible."

"You just abandoned him like that?!"

"You'll get used to it. Every time I team up with that guy, he always manages to trigger some weird traps. You get used to it after dying a few times."

"These days, it's fashionable to sacrifice the dead guy to the heavens so that we can have a smooth journey ahead."

"..."

Looking at Lin Qiu, who seemed unfazed by the situation, Jiu Niang Yuanzi was at a loss for words.

Why is your team a little different from normal people?

"You heartless, unscrupulous merchant! I was just moved to a different location, and you're cursing me to die!"

However, not long after Lin Qiu finished speaking, the fish-stealing cat's cursing voice suddenly came from afar.

Damn it, I've never had this problem when I team up with other people, but I keep having all sorts of problems when I'm with this shady merchant. This guy must have affected my luck!

"Huh? You didn't go back to the respawn point?"

Do I look like I'm going to die so young?