Chapter 70: Are You Also on the Five-Star Class Advancement Quest?!

"The world has changed. These days, people value decisiveness and ruthlessness. Haven’t you noticed how the protagonists in popular novels are all aloof lone wolves?" Wang Chen tried to pry her hand away.

"It’s not that I won’t help you. But if I just help you for nothing, when I go back and talk about it with my brothers, they’ll call me a saint," Wang Chen sighed.

"I see—so as long as it’s not for nothing, it’s fine, right?" Lin Lehan asked, letting go of Wang Chen’s hand.

After a moment of hesitation, she resolutely reached into her clothing, her collar falling open.

"Hey, hey, Miss Lin, what are you doing..." Wang Chen awkwardly averted his gaze. "Miss Lin, please don’t do this. I am a chivalrous hero of the martial world—how could I take advantage of someone in distress?"

With a swift movement, Lin Lehan produced a cloth-wrapped package from inside her garments.

"If the great hero helps me, I am willing to give you this book!"

Wang Chen was taken aback. "A martial arts manual? Shadow Lady, are you serious?"

He reached out to take it. "Is it the Nine Yang Divine Skill or the Tendon-Changing Classic?"

"What’s that?" Lin Lehan asked curiously as she opened the cloth. "This is a martial arts comic I’ve treasured since childhood—Blade Man."

"..."

Wang Chen was speechless.

Lin Lehan looked up at him with innocent, wide eyes. "Is it not enough? I can add a copy of Bandit King."

Seeing that Wang Chen didn’t respond, she grew anxious. "Then I’ll add one more—Retreating Dwarf, is that enough? Wang Xiaotu, don’t be too greedy!"

"If you want to speak, do it properly—don’t call me Wang Xiaotu!" Wang Chen, embarrassed and angry, snatched the comic books from her hand, intending to tear them apart.

"I’m sorry, please don’t rip my comics!" Lin Lehan lunged, trying to hug his leg. "I don’t want your help anymore, hero. Just give my comics back."

Wang Chen deftly dodged her grasp. "So much for Shadow Lady—why do you forget your skills when fighting over comics?"

"I give up," Wang Chen rubbed his forehead. "Tell me about your class change quest first."

"Ah? You’re willing to help me, hero?" Lin Lehan sat on the ground like a duck, not particularly dirty but looking oddly bedraggled, like a scruffy puppy.

"Start talking."

"Alright." Lin Lehan stood and brushed the dust from her clothes. "My quest is to obtain a strand of silk from the Celestial Silkworm Spider."

"That sounds simple. Your profession is Shadow Goddess Thief—getting some silk should be easier than stealing a purse," Wang Chen said, puzzled.

"The Celestial Silkworm Spider is a gold-ranked feral beast, and its skills happen to counter mine," Lin Lehan explained. "My class skills focus on agility and quick attacks, but the spider fills its lair with silk so densely I can’t sneak in without touching the threads."

"And once you touch the silk, your movement speed drops drastically."

Wang Chen was still puzzled. "Then just don’t touch it—can’t you grab some silk from the edge of the lair and leave?"

"Oh please, five-star quests aren’t that easy!" Lin Lehan replied. "The silk I need isn’t the common silk scattered everywhere. It’s the rare egg-protecting silk that the Celestial Silkworm Spider produces in very small quantities."

"This silk is said to be resistant to all elements, impervious to water and fire, and so tough that blades can’t cut it. The spider uses it to weave egg sacs to protect its eggs, thus it’s called egg-protecting silk."

"And that silk is always hidden deep inside the spider’s lair, so you have to get past ordinary silk first," Wang Chen mused, then asked, "Ordinary silk isn’t impervious to fire and water, is it?"

"No, ordinary silk is just extremely sticky, trapping the limbs of prey and making it hard to move," Lin Lehan answered.

"Then it’s fine. Just burn it and clear a path."

Lin Lehan nodded. "I thought of that too, but I don’t have any fire-based skills. Plus, the bestiary says the Celestial Silkworm Spider can sense vibrations in its silk."

"If you want the fire to spread beyond recovery before it notices, you’ll need a lot of kindling and precise ignition points. The second part I can manage, but the first is beyond me."

Wang Chen waved his hand. "That’s easy. I have fire-based skills—enough to open a path."

"Then the real trouble is how to retrieve the egg-protecting silk," Wang Chen frowned. "This silk can’t be cut by blades and isn’t afraid of water or fire. What should we do?"

"I don’t know either," Lin Lehan admitted dejectedly. "The only way I can think of is to take the entire egg sac, with the eggs attached. But the spider’s eggs are as big as eight-year-old children."

"That’s not a problem. I have a storage ring. Just put the eggs into the space," Wang Chen said.

"But storage spaces can’t hold living creatures, right?" Lin Lehan asked.

So she knows storage spaces can’t hold living things—this makes things tricky, Wang Chen thought.

He had intended to put the spider eggs into the Ring of Life, but he didn’t want to reveal that life-saving artifact.

Wang Chen was conflicted. On one hand, he guarded against Lin Lehan because they’d only just met; on the other, the quest didn’t seem that hard, and helping her would forge a bond, making a friend and opening new paths.

As he pondered, a sudden idea struck him.

"If it’s not alive, then it can be stored in the ring," he declared.

"What do you mean?"

Wang Chen smiled at Lin Lehan. "This egg-protecting silk can resist water, fire, and blades, but it can’t block airflow, right?"

"Of course. If air doesn’t circulate and there’s not enough oxygen, the eggs won’t hatch and may even die," Lin Lehan nodded, though she still looked puzzled. "But what does that change?"

Wang Chen rolled up his sleeve. "This bracelet can release potent toxins. If we vaporize the poison into a mist and channel it into the eggs, it should be possible to kill the embryos, allowing us to store the eggs in the space."

Lin Lehan was stunned, not responding immediately. Instead, she bit her thumbnail, deep in thought.

As she considered, she started asking questions—how Wang Chen got the bracelet, what its abilities looked like when activated, and so forth.

After a while, she finally looked up. "That seems like a plausible solution. But I’d like to run an experiment first."

"Huh? What experiment?" Wang Chen asked, bewildered.

"I need to determine whether your bracelet releases biological toxins or chemical toxins. If it’s biological, it’s likely to lose potency at high temperatures, making it ineffective."

"Also, if it’s chemical, but toxic substances precipitate out of the solution at high temperatures, it would still lose its toxicity."

Lin Lehan spoke at length and began describing her experiment design to Wang Chen.

"Enough!" Wang Chen interrupted hurriedly. "By the time you finish experimenting, the opportunity will be long gone!"