Chapter 112: The Red Pavilion

“Fifth-rank Fallen. The temperature outside is around 260 degrees. If we go out now, we’ll be dried into jerky. Maybe we should wait?”

Xu Lin glanced at the thermometer. Even inside the ice hut, the temperature had reached over fifty degrees. Melted ice water streamed down in sheets, and a two-inch layer had already pooled on the floor.

“Tangtang, how are you feeling?” Su Mang patted Fang Tang on the shoulder.

Fang Tang: “……”

He had lost all five senses and was patting himself all over, completely unaware that Su Mang was touching him.

“Can you help me find the green hat?” Fang Tang asked tentatively. Since he couldn’t hear his own voice, he had no idea if anyone else could hear him either.

Then, suddenly, he felt a cool sensation on his head and vaguely sensed someone touching it. His senses recovered quite a bit—like a person lost in black fog suddenly catching sight of light, even if the light wasn’t all that clear.

“How do you feel now?”

Fang Tang heard someone asking him by his ear and could faintly make out a blurry figure. He nodded in response. “The green hat is a spirit-bound item. It reduces negative status effects by fifty percent. I feel much better now.”

“That’s good. There are three fifth-rank Fallen outside attacking the ice hut. We’re discussing what to do. Do you have any ideas?”

Judging by the tone, it was Su Mang asking.

Fang Tang weighed his options and answered without thinking, “Can’t we just go out and…?” He was halfway through the sentence when he remembered they were in the extreme-temperature zone, and the ice hut’s walls were melting away in large patches, which showed just how blistering it was outside. He quickly added, “Well… there’s no way to go out now. How about waiting until evening? I can stabilize the hut from inside using the extreme-freeze gun?”

“The ice hut is about to crumble!” Liu Yiran said flatly.

Fang Tang opened his mouth, then said helplessly, “Then what other options are there? Only the three of us have level-six armor, and that can barely withstand the heat outside. Apart from that, I don’t see what we can do.”

“That’s exactly why we need your help, Tangtang!” Su Mang patted Fang Tang’s head with a grin. “The job of taking care of the three scorpions is up to you guys.”

Fang Tang couldn’t see Su Mang’s face, only a plump silhouette swaying in front of him.

“…I have a Distorter hung on me, and I’m down to less than a tenth of my strength. Can I really handle it?”

“That’s how you train yourself better.” Liu Yiran looked at Fang Tang with a smile. “When you get stronger in the future, you’ll face far more negative effects. If one Distorter sends you running, you’ll never grow into your potential.”

“You’re just trying to scare me…” Fang Tang muttered. He pressed a hand to his chest, and lava armor covered his body. With a green hat on his head, he looked utterly ridiculous.

Exaggerated as Liu Yiran’s words were, they were indeed true. To raise your evolution level and grow, you had to stay inside the Twisted Rules for a long time, inevitably facing all sorts of debuffs. A freebie debuff was no big deal, but what if you ran into another Distorter? You couldn’t just turn back every time.

“Adapt, adapt…” Fang Tang murmured to himself. He pulled the green hat down over most of his head, then in a flash dashed out of the ice hut.

In an instant, a blast of heat hit him in the face. For the first time, Fang Tang felt that the Distorter had its uses—at least he couldn’t feel the intense burning sensation.

He could vaguely make out three enormous black silhouettes. Fang Tang drew the Daxia Longque blade and charged toward the shadows.

Screech!

The Daxia Longque clashed against the hard scorpion shells, letting out a piercing, grating sound.

Fang Tang knew he couldn’t break through the shells with brute force alone, so he hurled the reverse blade. As luck would have it, it sank precisely into one scorpion’s joint. The blade followed the weak point of the joint and buried itself deep into the scorpion’s body.

Before long, thick smoke poured from that scorpion’s mouth.

With one dealt with, the remaining two scorpions flew into a rage. Strange sounds came from their mouths as their enormous tails swept toward Fang Tang.

“Thank the sand scorpions for their contribution!” Fang Tang silently thanked the scorpions he’d seen in the cave. Activating Extreme Shadow, he moved with a long trail of shadow behind him and came up behind one of the scorpions.

His eyesight was blurry, and he couldn’t make out the details on the scorpion’s body, so he just stabbed wildly.

Thunk!

The sound of the blade sinking into flesh. Decapitation triggered, and the huge scorpion head shot into the air.

Fang Tang clicked his tongue, thinking, “That actually worked?”

Only the last scorpion remained. Seeing its two companions killed in the span of one exchange, the creature sank into fleeing thoughts, even though it was not a sapient species. It waved its two great pincers furiously, dug a pit in the ground, burrowed into it, and disappeared, as shifting sand slowly filled the hole.

The crisis from the Fallen was resolved. Fang Tang returned to the ice hut, and a wash of coolness quickly enveloped his whole body.

“That feels great!” Fang Tang couldn’t help sighing in relief.

Xie Ling and Liu Xu were using their Frost Armor to reinforce the ice hut. When they saw Fang Tang come back, they hurriedly shouted, “Tangtang, take off the Lava Armor quickly! Otherwise the ice hut will melt from your heat.”

“Oh!”

“Now that the Fallen are gone, once the second debuff attaches, we should be able to go out and find the region’s guardian.” Liu Yiran glanced at the time and said calmly, “Everyone adjust yourselves and try to get used to the negative effects on you.”

Ta Meng stood up and waved at Xu Lin. “Spar with me. Time’s almost up.”

Ta Meng’s debuff was called “Fight or Die”: if he didn’t engage in battle within fifteen minutes, his health would continuously drain.

Xu Lin’s mouth twitched. He got up with an exasperated look and traded blows with Ta Meng. With “Death Like the Wind,” Xu Lin was extremely fast. Under normal circumstances, Ta Meng could never catch a glimpse of him. But Xu Lin’s debuff was “Imbalance”—in simple terms, his sense of weight and direction was skewed, and that gave Ta Meng his opening.

Punch after punch landed on Xu Lin’s body with dull thuds, enough to make even Fang Tang wince. He knew how overwhelming Ta Meng’s strength was. He found it hard to imagine how Xu Lin, who had no defensive ability, could withstand those fists.

Having temporarily satisfied his debuff, Ta Meng stopped and said sheepishly to Xu Lin, “I hit a little hard.”

Xu Lin covered his chest, wincing in pain, and waved a hand. “It’s fine. We’re teammates. Just take me to the Red House when we get back.”

“Sure!” Ta Meng grinned in a simple, honest way.

“What’s the Red House?” Fang Tang blinked, curious.

“It’s… that kind of place…” Under Su Mang’s disapproving gaze, Xu Lin leaned close to Fang Tang’s ear and explained in a low voice.

Fang Tang suddenly understood. “Is it expensive?”

“The price is reasonable.” Xu Lin wrote a five on Fang Tang’s palm.

Fang Tang’s heart stirred. He grabbed Xu Lin’s hand firmly and said solemnly, “Be sure to bring me along!”

“Ahem!” Su Mang gave the two a look of disgust and coughed loudly. “Xu Lin, don’t lead your teammate astray.” The warning in her tone was unmistakable.

Xu Lin gave an awkward smile and shot Fang Tang a reassuring look. Then he remembered that Fang Tang’s vision was still blurry, so he squeezed Fang Tang’s hand hard to let him know he understood.

Fang Tang smiled knowingly, pulled an ice chair over, sat down, and crossed his legs.