Chapter Seventeen: Explosive Luck

The shadowy, invisible Mubei, a Black man, materialized a dagger in each hand. Though he still held out hope, the newcomers’ combat abilities were woefully inadequate—more precisely, it seemed only Li Zang’ai possessed a combat-related Destiny Talent, and he had already used it to pierce the layer of flesh. In terms of basic attributes, the newcomers were no different from ordinary people; without a powerful combat talent, it was impossible to slay a box garden boss.

Thus, Mubei could only act himself. If he killed this boss, he could break through this inner world, but there would be no reward—nothing but a wasted kill. There was no alternative; he couldn’t let all the newcomers perish. The severely wounded Li Zang’ai and Chu Qingfeng, who had lost a leg, could still be saved, but if the battle continued, everyone would die.

Just as the guide was preparing to attack, Tang Tianjie suddenly moved.

“Detonate—Lucky Explosion!”

Tang Tianjie raised his hand, pulled the pin of an M67 grenade, and threw it. At that moment, Dr. Smith, who had used his veins to burst through the coffin, emerged with jaws opening wide like a crocodile, splitting to a full 180 degrees.

In that instant, the round grenade was thrown directly into the boss’s gaping maw!

Could a single grenade slay a boss? Clearly, it was unlikely. Even five grenades exploding nearby wouldn’t kill a boss nourished by thousands of zombies, whose strength, agility, and regenerative powers were monstrous. But a grenade tossed into its mouth was different. Miraculously, after biting down on the grenade, the boss’s mutated throat expanded, and he swallowed it in one gulp!

“Get down!” Mubei shouted. Everyone hurriedly threw themselves to the ground. The next second, a fierce eruption tore through the cramped space barely five meters across. Yan Luo, clutching his head on the ground, felt the blast wave strike him like a barrage of fists.

Fortunately, he absorbed the shock with his back and suffered no major injuries.

Li Zang’ai and Chu Qingfeng weren’t so lucky. Already gravely wounded, the blast nearly killed them. Even the obese Zhu Xiaoyong, thanks to his size, now lay groaning in misery.

“You have slain a box garden boss, destroyed the singularity, and earned the title: World Breaker.”

The notification echoed in Tang Tianjie’s mind, filling him with joy. Previously he was merely a Zombie Hunter, while Li Changxin earned her title by hacking apart a hundred zombies—just meat grinding. He had hoped to kill a minor boss and win the title Enemy of the Zombies.

Now, he had received “World Breaker”!

The grenade swallowed by the Smith boss exploded in its stomach, ensuring total destruction. The boss’s strength lay in regeneration, not constitution—even the Tyrant from Resident Evil or the Tank from Left 4 Dead would die if a grenade detonated inside them.

Destiny Talent: Lucky Explosion!

Tang Tianjie’s luck surpassed human limits; his Destiny Talent, Lucky Explosion, unleashed all his luck in a single, explosive moment! Otherwise, how could Dr. Smith’s jaws just happen to open? How could the grenade land so perfectly in his mouth, and how could the boss swallow it so conveniently?

A cascade of coincidences brought by luck.

A talent verging on invincibility: Lucky Explosion!

Of course, this talent had a price. After use, his luck would be utterly depleted, rendering him no more fortunate than any ordinary person for a while—perhaps even cursed. But it didn’t matter; the boss was dead.

A thunderous rumbling shook the world. Outside, Li Changxin and Yali Kotori saw the enormous Zombie Sphere in the sky—the desiccated corpses forming its shell began to fall like dumplings, and the twenty-meter-wide sphere started collapsing.

“The boss is dead?”

In the hollow chamber, Tang Tianjie darted forward, snatching a glowing object wrapped in light beside the boss’s remains.

“Bloodline Material: Source Virus”

Earlier, he had obtained Bloodline Material: Zombie, but it was worthless. This one, when used, would grant the “Source Virus Bloodline”—unquestionably a boss-level bloodline! Judging by Dr. Smith’s previous appearance, a hunched old man, it probably wouldn’t change his outward form.

A boss-level bloodline that preserved appearance!

The description advised: after use, there would be a period of transformation—ensure no disturbances nearby before applying.

Tang Tianjie stowed away the bloodline material.

The massive Zombie Sphere—the boss “horde”—finally disintegrated, leaving heaps of bones piled across the ground. The layer of flesh lost all vitality; the once-vivid red carpets faded to black, shriveling into dried meat.

“Haha, we really did it!”

Mubei laughed with delight. He had been prepared to act himself, but Tang Tianjie’s grenade made the boss’s death so effortless! He produced a hemostatic spray from his phone’s storage, treating Li Zang’ai’s wounds.

Then he crouched beside Chu Qingfeng, spraying the severed leg, and comforted the sweat-soaked, pain-racked man: “Don’t worry. In Dreamspace, losing a leg is nothing—it can be healed. Moreover, next time you encounter a situation like this in the inner world, you’ll be mentally prepared and won’t collapse in panic.”

He wrapped the wound skillfully with a bandage.

“So this is actually a good thing?”

Chu Qingfeng, true to his psychologist’s nature, managed a joke even now.

“Haha, of course it is. The more you experience as a rookie, the more you’ll realize how precious this experience is. With me here, no matter what happens, you won’t die. As long as you survive, no matter how serious the injury, after treatment in Dreamspace you’ll be as good as new.”

“As a reward for your courage, I’ll cover the bioenergy cost for this treatment.”

Mubei patted Chu Qingfeng’s head reassuringly, then turned and surveyed the group, noticing the twisted, grimacing face of Li Zang’ai.

After a brief thought, he understood the resentment in this “kill-mat” and spoke after a few seconds’ silence: “Actually, no matter what you gain from a mission, as long as you survive, that’s victory. Once you’re dead, nothing remains. If you live, you still have a chance to create miracles.”

“This kill belongs to Tang Tianjie; don’t dwell on it. Breaking the inner world means everyone—including the two ladies—will benefit at settlement. You nine newcomers are counted as a team—everyone gets the team reward, though… it won’t compare to Tang Tianjie’s.”

While Mubei spoke, a series of cracking sounds reverberated through the world—Xu Han gazed at the sky in surprise, seeing countless thick fissures appear in the heavens. The earth, too, was riddled with cracks like an earthquake-shattered road.

“This inner world is about to collapse.”

Mubei exhaled deeply. Limited by his own potential and talents, he was only a Level 3 World Modulator; he had experienced several inner worlds, but this was the first time he’d witnessed such a collapse after breaking through.

“We did it!”

As a guide, Mubei was exhilarated. Leading newcomers to defeat a box garden boss and break through an inner world during their rookie mission was immense satisfaction for someone who had chosen the “teacher” identity so akin to reality.

The singularity was the key to maintaining a world. Once the boss acting as the singularity was destroyed, the inner world would collapse completely. Afterwards, everyone would be pulled directly into Dreamspace by the phone’s program, no need for a portal—just wait.

“Everyone, enjoy the collapse of this world!”

Yan Luo quietly checked his Heartless Doll: twenty points of disgust filled, sixty points of fear maxed out. Thanks to the release of anger, he now had room to store twenty points of madness, with eight still to go. The mask’s 100-point requirement was at ninety-two.

It seemed he wouldn’t need to fuse with the mask to face the boss after all, since the boss was dead.

Tang Tianjie, triumphant, equipped the “World Breaker” title atop his head—a title visible to other Modulators, and unmistakably a show of prestige.

Wang Dongwei, Yan Luo, and Chu Qingfeng wore “Zombie Hunter” above their heads; the obese Zhu Xiaoyong had no title at all. Tang Tianjie bore the bright words “World Breaker.”

To draw an analogy, it was like King of Glory: Zhu Xiaoyong had no skin, others had the 288-point skins like Hou Yi the Elf King, Trendy Immortal Elder, Lucky Brothers Luban No. 7… Tang Tianjie was Li Bai’s Phoenix Seeker—no, “World Breaker” was not just Phoenix Seeker, but Ocean’s Heart!

“Hahahahahaha…”

Tang Tianjie laughed freely. This burst of luck, unleashed at the critical moment, earned him a bloodline—boss-level at that. Who knew how much his power would grow after digesting it? There was also the end-of-stage settlement. With just one rookie mission, he had pulled far ahead.

In the real world, he was already elite—in Dreamspace, so too!

He glanced at Yan Luo; the cold, venomous light in his eyes sent a chill down the spine. That slap—he would repay it someday, and not just with one slap.

Chu Qingfeng lowered his head, donning gold-rimmed glasses to hide his pitch-black pupils.

Li Zang’ai’s body trembled slightly as he stared at Tang Tianjie’s title overhead. His heart was already full of jealousy and anger, and now a nameless fury surged within him, threatening to consume everything like a raging fire!

“Why? I was the first to strike the boss. I suffered grievous wounds. That guy did nothing but throw a grenade, and he killed the boss?”

“Why is he the one with luck beyond human limits, while I am the one with kill-mat prowess?”

“Why, in the real world, is he an elite, while I am a despised thug?”

“Why, in the inner world, is he the protagonist, and I am just a supporting character?”

“Why… this world is unfair, unfair, unfair! I refuse to accept it!”

Li Zang’ai’s hair began to grow silently, snaking across the floor toward Tang Tianjie, unnoticed by all. The locks shimmered with a metallic sheen.

“Huh?”

Mubei, about to take out his phone to capture the collapse, suddenly noticed the cracks in the sky and earth had stopped spreading—as if some force had forcibly halted the inner world’s destruction.

On the ground, after the Smith boss was killed, the remaining half-skull and exposed gray-white brain tissue began to swell like foam. Upon the bulging brain, golden-red lights flickered, resembling fiery clouds reflected on a lake, or the shattered glow of a blood-red sunset swept by the wind.

Like fire, like blood.