"Swish!"
Inside the alleyway, a person instinctively turned to run the moment they saw Firefly approaching. However, before they could take more than a few steps, a silver-white lightsword pierced through the air, skewering the person's chest and pinning them to the ground with its immense momentum.
In the next instant, Firefly arrived before the individual. She pulled out the lightsword and used her foot to flip the prone figure over. With the blade pointed directly at the person's throat, she spoke coldly:
"Who are you, and why are you spying on us? I can feel a very strong malice in your eyes."
"Cough, cough... As expected of an S rank powerhouse. We previously thought you only relied on that armor, but it seems we underestimated you."
The person coughed a few times before speaking slowly.
Strangely, however, what the person coughed up was not blood, but withered weeds. Moreover, no blood flowed from the wound in the chest where Firefly had just pierced them.
"But the revenge of the forest never ends! Even if you are an S rank powerhouse, you will eventually be swallowed and assimilated by the forest!"
Upon seeing this, Firefly gave a casual wave of her hand and severed the person's head.
Similarly, even with the head cut off, no blood gushed from the wound. This time, however, it was clearly visible that dried grass had replaced the flesh and blood inside the body.
"Forest's Wrath?"
Firefly was not surprised; she had sensed something was wrong from the moment she thrust her first sword. Her questioning had merely been to confirm her suspicions.
"I didn't expect that just burning a small patch of forest would lead to such a strong desire for revenge... I'll just head to the Forest Restricted Zone tomorrow. Although these people pose no threat to me, they are quite annoying..."
Having said that, Firefly dissipated the lightsword, turned around, and walked out of the alley.
As for the corpse in the alley, small flickers of flame began to emerge from the wounds on the chest and neck. The flames grew larger and larger until they completely enveloped the entire body.
Before long, the corpse—originally composed of weeds—was reduced to a pile of black ash by the burning fire.
...
"Hmm? Firefly, you're back? That fast? Nothing happened, right?"
Seeing Firefly return, Ye Yunzhi was somewhat dazed. She had been worried to death when she heard Firefly say someone was spying on them.
She hadn't expected Firefly to walk back in less than a minute.
"No, the spy has been cleared by me."
Firefly nodded, indicating that nothing had happened to her.
"As expected of an S rank powerhouse..."
After hearing Firefly's words, Ye Yunzhi felt an inexplicable shiver. From discovery to resolution to return, the entire process took less than a minute. If it were her, she probably wouldn't even have noticed the spy, let alone dealt with them so quickly.
For some reason, she suddenly felt like mourning for that spy. Of all the people to provoke, they just had to pick Firefly, an S rank powerhouse. The strength she showed by punching through an A- rank spider with a casual blow was no joke.
At that moment, the sound of hurried footsteps approached. The two looked toward the sound and saw Su Xiaoxiao running toward them. Coincidentally, Su Xiaoxiao also happened to spot the two of them.
"Yunzhi... Firefly... I finally escaped, waah... Five-star difficulty really isn't for normal people!!!"
As soon as she reached them, Su Xiaoxiao began to wail her grievances. "Five hours... a full five hours! At least I just fainted after an hour of being scared in the Haunted House, but the Maze terrified me for five whole hours! I feel like my spirit is about to collapse..."
"Um... actually, I did say you didn't necessarily have to challenge the same difficulty as me..."
Seeing Su Xiaoxiao in this state, Firefly scratched her cheek awkwardly.
After experiencing the five-star Haunted House, she knew that five-star challenges were likely beyond what Su Xiaoxiao could handle. Thus, she had told Su Xiaoxiao at the Phantasm Maze that it was best not to take such a large leap all at once...
To explain the game restrictions here: the star-level challenges for the Haunted House and Maze must be unlocked progressively. Initially, one and two stars are unlocked; clearing two stars unlocks three stars, and so on. However, because Firefly had obtained a VIP card at the hundred-meter event, she could directly play the five-star levels.
So... even if Su Xiaoxiao had played twice before, at most she had only played the three-star difficulty...
Because of Firefly, she had challenged the five-star difficulty directly this time... it would be strange if it wasn't torture.
"Serves you right," Ye Yunzhi rolled her eyes. "You already fainted once, yet you didn't learn your lesson and continued to challenge the five-star difficulty. We've been waiting for you for nearly three hours."
"I won't dare to next time..." Su Xiaoxiao muttered quietly.
"Alright, it's fine." Firefly waved her hand, then looked at Su Xiaoxiao. "Xiaoxiao, what exciting thing are we playing next?"
"Uh..." Hearing the word 'exciting,' Su Xiaoxiao froze. She patted her head and forced a smile that looked more like crying. "How about we don't play anything exciting for now and do something relaxing for a change? You know, balance work and play?"
"I'm fine with anything," Firefly nodded, indicating she had no objection.
Seeing that Firefly didn't mind, Su Xiaoxiao's previously wilted appearance instantly recovered.
"Then let's go take the cable car! We can get a bird's-eye view of what Greenshade Spring looks like!"
With that, Su Xiaoxiao began skipping toward a certain direction again.
Watching her departing back, Firefly fell into thought.
Why did it feel like Su Xiaoxiao wasn't being her guide anymore, but rather Firefly was the one accompanying her to play?
Forget it, accompanying her is fine; it's quite fun anyway.
Thinking this, Firefly pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and followed in Su Xiaoxiao's direction.
The boarding location for the cable car was the spire of the tower where they had done the hundred-meter high-altitude drop when they first arrived. Being VIP customers, the three of them were seated in a cable car in no time.
The cable car started slowly and soon followed the cables into mid-air.
"When you come to Greenshade Spring, the high-altitude panoramic cable car is a must-experience part of the visit. Sitting in the cable car, you can clearly overlook the entire Greenshade Spring!"
As she spoke, Su Xiaoxiao pressed a button on the cable car. Suddenly, under Firefly's somewhat surprised gaze, the cable car became completely transparent, giving her the sensation that she was suspended in the air.
Though from the outside, the cable car still appeared to exist.
It was now afternoon, and the sun was about to set, dyeing the sky and the city in a layer of red clouds.
Looking down at the city below, Firefly murmured to herself:
"It's so beautiful..."
"Yeah," Su Xiaoxiao also rested her face in her hands, looking at the city scenery. "Because we frequently need to go into the forest to hunt Mutant Beasts for commissions, we spend most of our time living in the Southeast Sector. It's been a long time since I've seen the city scenery of the Northwest Sector..."
Hearing this, Firefly turned to look at the two of them. She was curious why the gap between the Southeast Sector and the Northwest Sector was so large.
However, just as she opened her mouth and before she could even utter two words, an accident occurred.
For some unknown reason, the originally smooth-running cable car suddenly jolted violently, as if something had gone wrong, nearly causing Ye Yunzhi and Su Xiaoxiao to lose their balance.