Huh? Isn't This A Galgame?-Chapter 161 - 158: The Allure of Props

The target of Silver Thorn this time is indeed the "welfare gadget". Now that she has put on the "safety airbag", where will she go next?

Wen Nan stood at the entrance of the staff dormitory, his gaze falling on that secret tunnel directly below the drain of the main building opposite.

"Brother!"

A familiar voice rang out from downstairs.

Wen Nan lowered his gaze and saw a petite figure in front of the flowerbed under the dormitory, looking up at him.

"Qiqi?"

Qiqi raised her hand, gesturing with two fingers a square screen in front of her, signaling Wen Nan to check the message.

Wen Nan brought up the chat window from the system and saw several messages —

[Slave-Jun: Silver Thorn's target is likely consistent with your mission objective. If she successfully enters the furnace, it will be defenseless.]

[Slave-Jun: For safety reasons, I need to leave. Pursue at full speed and completely destroy it before the other side enters the furnace to prevent future troubles.]

[Slave-Jun: Take Qiqi with you, be wary of being led away, master.]

Wen Nan raised his eyebrows slightly.

Once again, he was clearly arranged by his own junior maid.

Putting away the chat window, Wen Nan borrowed welfare gadgets from Gu Jinxing and Hu Jiayao, giving one to Little Fu and one to Qiqi.

In the blink of an eye, the sky had turned completely dark.

Under the cover of night, the assassin would be even more at ease, and the "pathogenic core" in Wen Nan's hands would be easier for the other side to steal.

The longer the night, the more dreams, they must enter the furnace as soon as possible, complete this final main quest, and then leave here.

A few minutes later, they were fully prepared, gathered at the entrance of that secret tunnel in the flowerbed.

The pathway leading underground was divided into three stages —

The top was a corridor similar to a water park slide, about twenty meters deep, so narrow it could only just accommodate a person.

Passing through that cramped corridor, further down were many junctions. From a side view, they should resemble countless tangled octopus arms. Standing at one of those junctions, Wen Nan felt like he was in a spider's lair.

After passing through this spider's lair, below should be the scorching furnace.

However, they were stuck at the beginning of the second stage.

Those large and small holes embedded in the inner wall were like the compound eyes on a spider's head, densely packed. They had no idea which hole was the correct path to the furnace.

Yang Mingzhong, taking the "Brother Tiger" he caught earlier by the flowerbed, quickly crawled into one of the holes, leaving behind: "I'll scout ahead."

Huang Yan and Little Fu also picked different holes and crawled in, "We'll split up to act faster, boss, wait for our news."

Wen Nan nodded, watching the three leave, then found a clean spot nearby, sat down, and opened the location sharing in the guild group to guide them back.

Qiqi squatted next to Wen Nan, vigilantly watching the entrance to the corridor, with a fierce glint in her eyes. It seemed as if any hint of danger would make her pounce like a mad dog to ensure Wen Nan's safety.

Wen Nan turned his head to look at her side profile and smiled. Qiqi didn't turn back, merely whispering, "Brother, don't worry, with me here, no one can harm you."

Wen Nan wanted to say, with Jun Wuming's rank, he should be concerned about the other person, not himself.

But he said nothing, just raised a hand and gently ruffled Qiqi's soft hair.

The exploration by the other three did not go smoothly.

In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed without any progress.

Wen Nan reached into the equipment spare slot, his thumb lightly stroking the hard shell of the marker.

The streamlined design, minimalist style, smooth surface…

His gaze distant, while tracing the shape of the pen, the various events that happened during the day, and earlier in the instance, replayed quickly in his mind.

Wen Nan's brow unconsciously furrowed slightly.

In the backseat of the parking garage, Yang Jingyuan's soul, which should have been sent into the furnace, emerged unexpectedly after being inserted by the end of the marker…

After completing the fourth main quest and successfully removing the marker using Mr. Jiao in the lab, Guan Ailin's loss of that segment of memory, and when Wen Nan accidentally inserted the marker into the data line port while sitting on the ground, Guan Ailin suddenly returned, eagerly confiding in Wen Nan…

And even earlier, in the depths of Li Shuyi's memory, preserved were her memories of her late husband, and the nostalgia that led her across the instance to send a text to Wei Junjie…

According to Yang Mingzhong, that text shouldn't have existed and couldn't have been sent, yet for some reason, it was received when he was still Wei Junjie…

These thoughts turned over and over, constantly circling in Wen Nan's mind.

His finger pulp quickly swirled around the pitch-black marker, over and over, stroking it continuously.

Without realizing it, his behavior at the moment was very much like a hobbit elder bewitched by the magic ring, his finger resting on that marker, unable to move.

Wen Nan: [9527.]

9527: [I'm here.]

Wen Nan: [If I want to take a key item related to a main quest out of this instance, what will happen?]

9527: ...

In his mind, there was silence for about ten seconds before the cold mechanical voice sounded —

9527: [This behavior is extremely dangerous! If detected by the task settlement system corresponding to the instance, you will be unable to complete the task settlement, which would be processed according to a failed task or the contestant's accidental death, resulting in the account being deleted and entering the queuing space!]

Wen Nan: ...

In other words, it can't be taken away, and one would perish.

Wen Nan sat up, pulling that black rhinoceros beetle out from the shared equipment area beside him, pinched its antennae, and placed it into his equipment spare slot.

Mr. Jiao landed belly up in the equipment grid, several small limbs flailing in the void, trying to right itself.

Wen Nan picked up the marker and used the pen to nudge Mr. Jiao's hard shell to flip it over.

When nudged by the marker, Mr. Jiao warily propped up, its antennae sweeping across the marker, freezing when it touched the metal break at the end of the marker.

Next, it seemed suddenly activated, its alloy pincers on the mouth stretching out, starting to "crunch" the marker's shell.

Wen Nan closely monitored the system prompts.

Ensuring during Mr. Jiao's gnawing of the marker shell, he did not receive any notifications that a "key item" was being destroyed.

In the blink of an eye, the hard black pen shaft was gnawed apart, and from within, a metallically glistening item fell out.