Chapter 10: The Silver Treasure Chest

Since we cannot find it outside, we might as well change our approach.

Xiao Qichen nodded, and the two turned back. Upon entering the cave, they immediately noticed something unusual. The Jade Purple Tree, which should have been bare, was now shrouded in dark shadows, as if wrapped in black tape. Even more disgusting was that these shadows were constantly moving, even bulging, like black pus.

Ning Yun felt a wave of nausea.

"What should we do? It's on the tree; we can't just attack it directly." If they accidentally damaged the Jade Purple Tree, their mission would be a failure.

Fortunately, the boss of this dungeon wasn't that malicious. As they approached the tree, the dark shadow descended from the trunk and gradually formed a humanoid shape. Without wasting a word, Xiao Qichen rushed forward and struck with his blade.

Ning Yun cursed herself for not having any long-range weapons; otherwise, she could have been of some help. Soon, however, Xiao Qichen realized that the damage his weapon dealt to the boss was minimal, all in the double digits.

This wouldn't work—the boss had high resistance to weapons. Ning Yun noticed this too.

"What's wrong? Why is the damage so low?"

Xiao Qichen sparred with the boss for a while, but its health bar barely moved.

"This boss has high resistance. There must be something nearby that can lower its defense. I'll hold the boss off; you go look around!"

Since this was a game, the boss must have a weakness. Especially in a dungeon, items that could weaken a boss were usually kept nearby. She searched the cave twice, but found nothing but rocks.

"What do I do? There’s nothing here!" she said, feeling anxious.

The boss seemed to have some intelligence; realizing that the two couldn't deal significant damage, it increased the frequency of its attacks. Although Xiao Qichen wasn't injured, his stamina was constantly being drained.

No, they had to find a way!

Ning Yun’s mind raced. Since this was a game, the developers would surely have hidden the key item well. If she were designing this dungeon, what would her logic be? As the pressure mounted, Ning Yun forced herself to clear her mind. She stared at the boss, carefully observing its positioning.

Xiao Qichen seemed to share a telepathic connection with her, circling the boss and tracking its movement patterns.

"The branches of the Jade Purple Tree!"

Exactly. Although the boss was highly aggressive, Ning Yun noticed that it seemed to be intentionally avoiding the branches of the Jade Purple Tree! Even though the branches swayed aimlessly and were easy to bump into—she had been struck by them several times when she first approached the tree—the boss had never touched them once. Who would have guessed that while the boss crawled down from the tree’s trunk, the branches themselves were its nemesis?

Hearing this, Xiao Qichen immediately turned and charged toward the Jade Purple Tree. He gripped his Crimson Blood Blade in his right hand, reached out with his left to snatch a branch, and swung it backward!

The boss, following closely behind, couldn't dodge in time and was struck across the face by the branch.

"Aaaaaah!" Its face seemed to corrode, and the black shadows all over its body flickered, becoming somewhat translucent.

"It works!" Ning Yun cheered.

With its weakness exposed, Xiao Qichen didn't drag out the fight. Before long, the boss vanished with a final, resentful roar, leaving behind a pile of loot. The most eye-catching item among them was a silver treasure chest.

Ning Yun ran over. "Is that a silver-quality chest?" Everything else seemed insignificant to her compared to this.

"This dungeon run was truly worth it. I never expected to see a silver chest."

Xiao Qichen was also surprised; in his previous life, he hadn't encountered a silver chest for a very long time. Or perhaps, this was the good luck that Ning Yun had brought along. He picked up the rest of the loot, sorted out what Ning Yun could use, and handed them to her.

"You open it."

Without needing to be told, Ning Yun was already beaming at the chest.

"Ahem, you killed the boss, so after I open the chest, I’m giving the contents to you—don't you dare refuse!" She knew that a silver chest was bound to contain something good.

A hint of a smile flashed in Xiao Qichen's eyes. "If I can use it."

Ning Yun didn't rush to open the silver chest. Instead, she rubbed her hands together, closed her eyes, and pressed her palms together.

"Gods of all heavens, please bless me with good loot, Amen!"

This was her unique ritual for drawing cards. While it didn't work every time, it at least prevented her from hitting the absolute bottom of the drop rates. After finishing the ritual, she knelt piously in front of the chest and lifted the lid.

A golden light flashed. She looked into the chest, her face filled with astonishment. Xiao Qichen, however, furrowed his brows. Why was it this?

With less than 20 minutes left before the dungeon closed, they placed the three offerings before the Jade Purple Tree.

Ning Yun felt a bit emotional. "I never imagined the third offering would be the boss's heart. It feels a bit bloody."

Xiao Qichen felt nothing. In his previous life, he had cleared countless dungeons, many far more horrific than this. His only concern was whether they could complete the mission.

As the three offerings were set in place, a ray of sunlight suddenly shone down from above, landing precisely on the Jade Purple Tree. In a daze, Ning Yun thought she heard a sigh—a sound that seemed both distant and near—but she felt certain it had come from the Jade Purple Tree.

The offerings dissolved into light and flowed into the tree. Its charred wounds healed rapidly. The already tall Jade Purple Tree seemed to grow a bit higher, and even its branches began to sway more vigorously.

A system notification rang in Ning Yun's ears:

[Congratulations to the player for completing the mission: Heal the Jade Purple Tree! Reward: 3 Free Attribute Points, 2 Bronze Chests, 1 Emergency Kit.]

"Xiao Qichen, we finished the mission!"

Her pathetic attributes could finally be improved! A radiant smile spread across her face, brighter than the sunlight. Xiao Qichen wanted to say something, but the system countdown had already begun.

[Please leave the dungeon. Three, two, one!]

Without a chance to say goodbye, Ning Yun and Xiao Qichen were instantly teleported back to their starting points. Ning Yun felt a wave of dizziness once more. After she returned home, she realized that time in the dungeon flowed at the same rate as it did in her home base.

It was now five o'clock in the afternoon, with one hour left until sunset.

"Damn it, I didn't even get to say goodbye to Xiao Qichen."

In the past, Xiao Qichen had left without a sound, and by the time she realized it, his home had been cleared out. Now, after finally reuniting, they were separated again before they could even catch up.

"XX system, would it kill you to open a friend system!"

She wanted to curse at the wretched system, but thinking of the potential punishment, she swallowed the first two words.

"Forget it, let's just go home." She didn't want to fight strange monsters after dark.

Back inside her house, the first thing Ning Yun did was organize her backpack. The haul was so large that she felt a bit overwhelmed. But what mattered most to her was the reward from the silver treasure chest.