Chapter 93: Assembly Line Encounter

Like an assembly line factory, everyone stood at their designated spots waiting for the monsters to respawn. The moment those monsters were born, before their feet even touched the ground, knives plunged into their necks.

Each spot had to be manned twenty-four hours a day. If adventurers wanted to eat or rest, they first had to find a substitute to take their place; otherwise, the respawning monsters would run amok.

The spots were drenched in blood. It was said that every three days, the labyrinth would pause for half a day of rest, and the cleaners would mobilize to clear away the remains and blood from each spot.

The mental state of the adventurers on this assembly line was truly worrying. Their faces showed no emotional changes whatsoever; they mechanically dealt with the newly spawned monsters, seizing the brief moments before the next spawn to hurriedly dispose of the corpses, take a short breather, and then repeat the process.

This extremely mechanized work couldn’t be called interesting—at least it was utterly agonizing. Yet most people only felt numb. The initially processed monster corpses and materials piled up at their feet, and Menglinna’s job was to collect these materials.

As an adventurer doing this work for the first time, Menglinna seriously wore a mask and gloves, carefully placing materials and corpses into the cart.

But the seasoned cart workers weren’t so particular. Without masks or gloves, even with their hands covered in monster blood, they would occasionally rub their eyes or wipe their foreheads as usual. Their strange looks reminded Menglinna that she was just a passerby.

Although they were adventurers recognized by the factory, working shifts in the labyrinth like this, without any joy of exploring it, repeating the same life day after day—how could that be called adventuring?

Menglinna composed herself and continued pushing her cart deeper into the labyrinth.

Even though she was just here to scope out the target, she still had to maintain her disguise. She worked earnestly.

Finally, at the middle section of the labyrinth, Menglinna spotted her assassination target.

Despite the mask, Quyi recognized Menglinna, the nun. “Prelate, why are you here?”

Quyi, who was resting, looked up and suddenly saw a somewhat familiar figure.

He could hardly forget the prelate Menglinna—her shimmering golden hair alone was enough to catch anyone’s attention, and she had also healed the wound Yixing’s bite had left on him.

Menglinna was a bit surprised to be recognized so suddenly, but she just gave an awkward smile. “Although I am a nun, we still have to rely on our own efforts to make a living!”

‘The truth that clergy depend on believers’ offerings for wages—she certainly wasn’t going to say that out loud.’

“You’re really hardworking, Lady Prelate.”

Seeing that Quyi had nothing urgent at the moment, Menglinna set down her cart and chatted with him. “Speaking of which, weren’t you injured before? How’s my divine art? Has the wound healed?”

Quyi nodded. “Thank you for your concern, Prelate. The wound from before is indeed much better.”

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeve to show Menglinna the wound.

“Good, that’s good.” Menglinna nodded feigning sincerity. “Be more careful when you work. These assembly-line monsters can occasionally hurt people.”

“No, you might have misunderstood. That wound was actually—”

“Actually?”

Menglinna pretended to be curious, but inwardly she wished she could force him to spit out the reason right now.

‘Maybe this is why he turned into a beast. Although Miaomiaonia said investigating this isn’t the guild’s mission, if possible, Menglinna still wanted to find out the truth.’

“Nothing much.” At the last moment, Quyi chose to keep his mouth shut. “You’re right, I should focus on my work.”

Just then, a monster respawned at his spot. Quyi caught the unfortunate flame rabbit by the neck and directly strangled it.

“Then you work hard; I won’t disturb you.”

Despite her reluctance, Menglinna had to respect his wishes.

‘She was just a prelate; she didn’t have the right to interrogate him.’

Menglinna pushed her cart, ready to head to the next spot.

But Quyi called out to her one last time. “Lady Prelate!”

“?”

Menglinna turned back, asking with her eyes.

“Um… the church has a confession room, right?” Quyi’s eyes hesitated, but he still spoke his mind. “I have something I’d like to confess to you.”

‘Looks like I’ve found an opportunity?’

Menglinna was slightly surprised. Although she tried her best to restrain herself, she couldn’t help but show a hint of anticipation. “Of course. The church welcomes you anytime.”

Quyi didn’t think much of it, interpreting the anticipation in her eyes as joy at gaining a new believer.

“I’ll come find you tomorrow noon.”

“No problem.”

Menglinna waited for him to dispose of the monster corpse, then slowly pushed her cart to the next spot.

Although she definitely couldn’t assassinate Quyi inside the church, at least she could use this opportunity to pry information out of him. Thinking about that, Menglinna felt a bit pleased.

After her cart had made almost a full round and was filled with low-level materials from the labyrinth, Menglinna returned to the entrance to unload and switched to a different route.

Though they were a couple, Quyi and Yixing’s spots were far apart; she had to switch to the other half of the area.

With the idea of ‘since I’m already here,’ Menglinna decided to observe Yixing up close while also earning more money.

After all, this was piecework; every little bit counted. The money-grubbing Menglinna had no intention of working for free for Death Keycap.

She pushed the cart around and finally approached Yixing’s spot.

But before she reached it, she heard some strange sounds.

“Haah… if you attack now, I’ll definitely die!”

“O hoho hoho—”

It seemed to be ending. Menglinna deliberately pushed her cart to make a loud noise.

If possible, she didn’t want to stumble upon any unpleasant scenes.

Sure enough, the two people who had been gradually calming down hurriedly busied themselves again. When Menglinna pushed her cart over, Yixing and another male adventurer were standing by the spot.

Seeing Menglinna approach, the male adventurer pretended to say to Yixing, “I’ll leave this to you. I’m going to the bathroom; I’ll be back to relieve you soon.”

Without waiting for Yixing’s reply, he quickly walked away.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Feelings of love

darkHealinglove

Read Now →
Not interested