NOVEL WEB Chapter 196: Apache's Potion
As they reached the underwater volcano with the Special Affairs Bureau, Rita received the tenth reward from Eleanor—a set of three baskets of crab roe soup dumplings. Once again, there were no words included; Rita silently accepted them without replying.
Rita often wondered if her stubbornness was inherited from Eleanor. Back when Rita had become a star and met Eleanor in B City, she had felt awkward approaching her grandmother, feeling as though it might seem like she was after her money. But now, things were different.
She and Nivalis sat on the steps in the backyard, enjoying the dumplings together. Nivalis couldn't use a straw but didn't care about the heat, so she simply grabbed a whole dumpling and stuffed it in her mouth. "Delicious!! Way better than that talkative eel stir-fry a hundred times over!" she exclaimed.
Rita responded, "My grandmother made it, of course, it's good." She paused, slightly embarrassed by her pride.
After finishing the dumplings, Rita left home to meet Shadow.Q for the trip to the undersea volcano, with Nivalis tagging along. Lately, Nivalis didn't like staying home alone, even if it meant she'd just play on her phone while sitting on Rita's shoulder.
The meeting spot had changed to a more hidden location. Following Shadow.Q's instructions, Rita made her way through L.A.'s largest amusement park, took several turns, and entered a small balloon shop. There, she found an icebox in the corner with a staircase leading downward.
Rita couldn't help but comment, "Do we have a mole in our group?"
**Shadow.Q**: "Nope."
**Rita**: "Then why are we being all sneaky? Couldn't we just meet at a police station or something?"
**Shadow.Q**: "It's for the vibe. The player who'll help us with the undersea volcano likes this sort of ritual."
When Rita reached the bottom of the stairs, she was met with a dimly lit room containing a man sitting right in the middle. As Rita approached, the man pulled the cigarette from his mouth, flicked the ash, and said, "What do you want here?"
Recognizing his face, Rita paused for two seconds—wasn't this the guy with the 9cm revolver?
The man, aka Gun King, furrowed his brows, reaching for his gun on his waist, "I'll give you and that cool, handsome, adorable dragon beside you another chance to live."
Nivalis, taking this seriously, nodded her dragon head, confirming that she heard her being called.
Rita sighed. "I'm here to join the Blue Horizon Cruise for a 7-day, 6-night adventure."
Gun King: "Sea-view or inner cabin?"
Nivalis, quick to answer: "Volcano suite."
Gun King let go of the grip on his gun and, with a hearty laugh, got up. "Oh, you're the last ones! Miss, you must be Rita, and this is none other than the legendary Nivalis! Welcome, welcome, hahaha."
Rita: "…"
A few minutes later, Rita followed Gun King to an underground room approximately 200 square meters wide. It was bustling with players, about a hundred in total. Upon seeing Rita, Shadow.Q came over to pull her aside and go over the precautions.
With ten minutes to go before the planned departure, everyone was either relaxing or chatting in small groups. No one forced awkward introductions, and people just went with the flow.
From the corner of her eye, Rita noticed Gun King and whispered to Shadow.Q, "Is he also with the Special Affairs Bureau?"
**Shadow.Q**: "Not exactly. He approached us himself. Said he's been chased since the game started and wanted the Bureau's help hiding his whereabouts, especially from mystical tracking methods. But apart from that, he doesn't need a safe house or other protection. As a trade-off, he completes three missions a month for us—so we're like partners."
Rita: …Was this because of something she did?
**Rita**: "Does he know who's after him?"
**Shadow.Q**: "We asked. He said he doesn't know; he's offended more people than he can count. It's impossible to narrow it down. He says he's destined to be a dangerous but charming rogue… his words, not mine."
Rita: "…I can understand why someone would want to kill him." She almost felt like ordering it herself.
**Shadow.Q**: "Agreed."
Rita scanned the nearby players, using **Insight**. Unlike the group that fought the dragon, only a third were A-grade, while most had B-grade talents. She could piece together some of their roles—securing the area, setting up fortifications, using their abilities to construct sea vehicles, or conceal the region from outsiders.
She decided to **Insight** Gun King again. His real name was **Silas**. Rita was sure he was related to **MightySocks** somehow…
Seeing Silas's Divine Gift made sense of why the Bureau chose to work with him, even though he was clearly not a law-abiding citizen.
**Divine Gift**: Rogue (B-grade)
- **Skill 1**: Young Rogue—Requires no commitment; can leave whenever. By touching a point in a photograph, you can instantly teleport to that location, carrying up to the combined total weight of your four attributes (in kg). Cooldown: 6 hours. Enjoy exclusive content from empire
- **Skill 2**: Old Rogue—Upon retreat, no skill or item in existence can block your path. During this skill, your health is locked. Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
With **Young Rogue**, Silas could teleport to any place shown in a photo, even carrying other creatures. Combined with **Old Rogue**, he was practically unkillable unless surprised in the right circumstances.
Rita was impressed. "That's a powerful gift…"
As she nodded to herself, she realized that carrying weight limit—Silas was level 6, so his attributes only totaled 61 kg! Rita had a bad feeling as she looked around.
Short-haired woman in the corner—check. Short-haired woman holding a transparent organizer—check.
She turned to Shadow.Q, pointing at the organizer. "Is that where we're staying? Am I worthy of this kind of luxury?"
**Shadow.Q** avoided her eyes again, "Uh… I did manage to get you and Nivalis a single room."
**Nivalis**, head up, "Single room?"
Before Rita could answer, the players had begun lining up, ready to be miniaturized and packed into the "rooms."
Nivalis, looking at the beetle-like players, hastily retreated to her space. Rita cursed, realizing she was on her own.
Once close enough to Avery, Rita loudly shouted, "I'll donate 300 pounds of dragon dung! 300 pounds!!"
She summoned two large crates, dropping them on the floor. Transforming into a two-pound kitten, she dodged the bullet of being transformed.
**Shadow.Q**, holding the kitten, sighed deeply. She decided to include this entire ordeal in her application for promotion at the end of the year—to demonstrate her perseverance, adaptability, and fortitude.
Two minutes later, Rita was on Avery's shoulder, staring down at the beetles in the jewelry organizer. Occasionally, she swiped her paw at them, amused.
Once everyone had been miniaturized, Silas extended his arm to allow Avery to hold on. Rita, still in kitten form, jumped to Silas's shoulder, grabbing his armor for stability.
Once ready, Silas took out a photo of an undersea volcano—Lania Kaia's underwater creatures illuminated the photo's darkness.
"Take a deep breath and hold it!" Silas shouted before pointing at a spot in the picture.
Suddenly, Rita felt like she was being spun in a washing machine. Gripping Silas's shoulder armor tightly, she braced herself for the moment they landed—cold water surrounded them, pressing in, and her health began to slowly drain at 3-5 points per second.
Silas and Avery's health bars dropped at an alarming rate—nearly 5% per second.