Now, he was quite excited, since he had read many cultivation novels, both good and bad, in his spare time, such as Pastor Madness, one of his favorites, which was unfortunately banned.
As the two ate the cooked fish in silence, Hei Lee Jin had thoughts of her own. She was naturally worried about Lao Liang, since he had a bit of a crush on him. He was a capable man, very smart, resourceful, and capable of dealing with things on his own. During their time as students before university, he was always the smartest between the two and had a talent for quite literally everything.
It felt a bit ironic that his talent for everything hadn't carried on to his skill, which was the weakest rank. She naturally felt the need to protect him, because her skill, an Energy type, was far stronger than his own.
Luckily, because of him, they had managed to kill over a dozen monsters and collect a good amount of EXP and mana she was sure no one else had. She was more than fine letting him lead, because he'd always taken that role when they were younger, but he always encouraged her to take a leading role and do things on her own sometimes.
Perhaps, now would be the time for her to rise and finally learn how to lead herself in this perilous time they were in.
"Liang, do you want to sleep first?" She asked, offering to take the first night shift, something they had done for a few days. He denied her and told her he should take the first shift, since she was more tired than him from using her skill.
After a short bicker, she lost and took her first rest, curling up in one of the roll-up beds they had found in the supermarket during their first few days of wandering. Lao Liang looked at her as she slept, a small smile on his face that quickly turned into a frown.
What was originally a get-together between them and a few of her friends had turned into a mission for survival. He still remembered the car ride as they came to the capital early in the day, a hangout between friends planned for the whole day, only to be ruined in the first hour by monsters slaughtering and eating people, filling the streets with puddles of blood. Unfortunately, their friends did not survive, having all been eaten by a Jiaolong that had rushed through the street that would've also killed Hei Lee Jin had he not pulled her away in time.
The two had hidden in one of the stores for a few hours before leaving and actually killing a few weak monsters along the way. Now, it had been almost a full week of this hell, and he was tired of it.
Tired of looking around the corners all the time, tired of worrying if he could keep Hei Lee Jin safe, and especially tired of these damn dragons constantly flying around. Lao Liang needed a break, and desperately.
It was just at that time, by some terrible, accursed luck, that a dungeon had opened across the large store, with multiple pandas emerging from it, followed by a Baihu, covered in metallic fur that glinted under the buzzing lights of the overhead lighting.
Lao Liang's eyes widened as his necklace went off like a siren in his head, immediately alerting him to the danger. He peeked over the stall and saw the panda group as they obediently followed the Baihu for its patrol around the dungeon.
Lao Liang quickly shook Hei Lee Jin awake, wanting to leave as quickly as possible before the Baihu smelled them. It was still a tiger, after all, and tigers were extremely proficient hunters. He was a bit of a nerd and knew damn well it could smell the lingering fish they had eaten soon if the two didn't leave now.
Just as she woke up and he told her about the threat, the tiger turned its head, sniffing the air. Once it caught the scent of the cooked fish, it began to slowly approach the stall where the two hid. Thankfully, the stall was quite far from it, and with its nature, the tiger would take quite a while to reach them, but Lao Liang wouldn't put his trust in that amount of time.
"Lee Jin, we need to go now!" He whispered in a panicked tone, taking nervous glances at the tired through a small hole in the stall as it prowled closer, less than twenty meters away from them.
He grabs her arm, quietly but quickly as possible, dragging her away. He hears the tiger growl, its metallic paws making a clunking noise as it walks, like a suit of armor walking on stone.
The pandas behind it aren't disregarded as harmless either, many of them attempting to crawl over some fruit stalls and crushing them under their weight, or tearing them apart with their claws. Lao Liang successfully wakes Hei Lee Jin up in time for the tiger to pounce on the stall they were at before, destroying it and roaring at them. She quickly reacts, using her skill to attack, throwing a miniature star at the tiger.
The miniature star, a product of her skill, explodes on contact with the tiger, hurting it and angering it. The tiger roars in pain, its panda entourage quickly charging to them across the store and bashing into the stalls. Hei Lee Jin expends more of her mana, sending multiple of those stars at them, hitting all of them with great accuracy and slowing them down.
"Lao Liang, go! Don't worry about me! I can handle them, they're just F-ranks!" She yelled at him, trying to give him the chance to escape. Lao Liang hesitates for a moment before running off and turning a corner. She continues to bombard the pandas and distract the tiger, mainly as they approach closer, slowly killing them.
[You've slain a Mutated Panda, you've gained 1+ EXP!]
[You've slain a Mutated Panda, you've gained 1+ EXP!]
She blinks twice, a bit surprised she actually killed two of the ten pandas, watching them collapse to the floor. Then again, Hei Lee Jin was aiming for the head, as one should. She didn't mind that Lao Liang left her; she was more than capable of dealing with the monsters, but it did hurt a bit that he left so quickly. She imagined he'd argue with her like in those novels she always saw him reading.
As she thought this, a panda snuck around her blind spot, and attacked, only for its head to be caved in by a sledgehammer. Said sledge hammer was held by Lao Liang, as its impact blasted a hole through the panda's skull and into the floor.
[You've slain a Mutated Panda, you've gained 1+ EXP!]