Chapter 24: That is right, I have taken a fancy to you.

Li Yao stepped out of the vortex.

The Void Predator following him had transformed into a small green bird.

The crowd felt that the figure looked familiar, but they did not pay much attention. They were still waiting for that "Li Yao" to emerge. The existence capable of clearing a Nightmare-level difficulty dungeon alone was someone they could not even hope to meet in their daily lives; now that they had the chance to witness it firsthand, even if they couldn't build a connection, they wanted to at least become a familiar face.

They did not yet realize that the Summoner passing by them was none other than Li Yao himself.

However, this mask was something Li Yao had grabbed on a whim. It only covered the lower half of his face, making it easy for anyone familiar with him to recognize him at a glance.

"Li..."

"Shh!"

Li Yao quickly made a silencing gesture. Qin Yue suddenly realized, hurriedly covering her mouth, and rushed over with quick steps.

Qin Yue’s delicate face was smudged with a bit of dust, and the remnants of thunder-elemental fluctuations still lingered on her body. It was clear she had just finished a battle, having just emerged from a dungeon.

"Let’s go, hurry!"

Without another word, Qin Yue grabbed Li Yao’s arm the moment she reached him and pulled him toward a more secluded area.

Li Yao looked at the overly familiar girl, just about to pull his arm away, when he saw another young woman running toward him.

For Jiang Ningyu, Li Yao did not possess the same patience he had for Qin Yue. His cold, piercing gaze made Jiang Ningyu’s delicate frame tremble. Thousands of words were choked back in her throat.

By the time she snapped out of it, Li Yao had already been pulled away by Qin Yue and had vanished from sight.

"Was that woman... Qin Yue?" Jiang Ningyu clenched her fists involuntarily, her brows furrowed tightly.

It had only been a few days since they broke up, and he already had a new flame? No, that woman must have seduced Li Yao!

The more Jiang Ningyu thought about it, the angrier she became, and the more sour her heart felt. If it were an ordinary woman, she wouldn't be this furious. But this was Qin Yue—the famous second miss of the Qin family. Her figure and beauty were not at all inferior to her own, and even her advanced class was slightly superior.

Jiang Ningyu felt a wave of helplessness. "It was clearly me who was with Li Yao first..."

"No, I have to find him. Li Yao must have misunderstood me."

With Qin Yue by his side, Jiang Ningyu knew very well that she had no chance.

"I'll go level up first."

Yuwen Hao, upon learning that Li Yao had cleared the Nightmare-level dungeon, had rushed back to the Yuwen family in a panic.

She wanted to level up, so naturally, she had to slowly search for a team like other professionals.

"If Li Yao were still here, he would definitely take me with him..."

On the other side, Li Yao was pulled by Qin Yue to the shade of a large tree.

This place was some distance from the Goblin Lair, and there was no one else nearby except for them. Dungeons had cooldown times; for Nightmare-level, it was 12 hours. Otherwise, Li Yao would not have let Qin Yue pull him here.

"Speak, what is it?" Li Yao’s voice was calm.

"What level are you?"

"Level 15."

"What!" Qin Yue exclaimed in shock. "The Nightmare-level gives that much experience?"

She was envious. Curiosity killed the cat. Qin Yue wore a bitter expression. Since coming out of the rookie dungeon until now, apart from sleeping and eating, Uncle Wu and the others had been taking her to level up without any rest, and she was still only halfway to level 8.

Yet Li Yao, who had been alone from start to finish, was already level 15? How could the gap between people be so vast?

Seeing the young miss looking so miserable, Uncle Wu quickly tugged at her, signaling her to get to the point. Qin Yue then remembered she was here to ask for a favor.

"Hehe... Young Master Li." Qin Yue rubbed her hands together, her fair, smooth legs pressing together and gently brushing against each other.

Li Yao just watched her calmly.

"You know, our Qin family mainly deals in equipment."

"Could you... let our Qin family handle the equipment you don't need?"

"So that's what it's about." Li Yao smiled. "Even if you hadn't asked, I would have come to you."

The Qin family was primarily responsible for the equipment industry. It seemed that the person in charge of equipment for the Jiangzhou Star Network was none other than Qin Yue’s uncle. Usually, one could just hand over equipment to the Star Network tellers, but for rare items, it was still necessary to negotiate with people higher up. Like the bladeless heavy sword and the 'Charge with Sword' skill.

Hearing Li Yao’s words, Qin Yue almost jumped with excitement. That was loot from a Nightmare-level dungeon; even the Bronze or Black Iron gear would be far superior to the norm and would definitely make for a prestigious sign. Even Uncle Wu looked at Li Yao with a solemn expression of gratitude.

"By the way, you said 'so that's what it's about.' What did you think I was going to ask you for?"

With the business concluded, Qin Yue’s curiosity surfaced again. Since his excess gear had a sales channel, Li Yao felt relaxed and teased, "You were so anxious at the time, I thought you had taken a fancy to me."

"Oh, so that’s what you meant!" Qin Yue was immediately displeased when she heard this and let out a huff.

"Seeing your relieved expression at the time, I... I..." Qin Yue was flustered and exasperated. How bad am I? I took a fancy to you, and you’re not satisfied?

However, Qin Yue noticed the half-smile on Li Yao’s face and realized he was joking. She blinked her eyes, looking mischievous. Then, she gently folded her hands, pressed them against her warm cheek, and looked at Li Yao with starry, affectionate eyes.

"That's right, I did take a fancy to you."

"Uh."

Li Yao was speechless, which earned him a merciless laugh from Qin Yue.

"Alright, I need to go back to grinding dungeons, or the level gap will just keep growing."

"When you return to Jiangzhou, you must contact me. I’ll definitely get you a great price for the equipment!"

Qin Yue promised with conviction, then prepared to head off with Uncle Wu and the others to run a Hard-level dungeon.

"Wait, hold on." Li Yao quickly called her back. "Didn't you just come out of a dungeon?"

If his perception was correct, the aura on Qin Yue and the others was clearly from having just finished a battle; how could they enter another dungeon now?

Qin Yue gave him a look of utter surprise. "You actually don't know?"

He wasn't an encyclopedia; there were plenty of things he didn't know. Qin Yue held up a mirror in front of Li Yao.

"The Abyss Mirror. It can offset dungeon cooldowns. The number of times it can be used decreases with difficulty."

"It's about 16 times for Normal, 10 for Hard, 8 for Master, I think. Nightmare-level... I don't know about Nightmare-level."

Li Yao took the mirror. It showed 4 uses left for Nightmare; it must only display the remaining charges after clearing it once.

"That’s not right. President Li couldn't have failed to give you one of these, could he?"

Li Yao didn't explain and asked, "Can this thing carry teammates, or does everyone need their own mirror?"

Li Yang hadn't given him such a mirror; he probably hadn't expected Li Yao to clear dungeons this early. Even if he were to clear them, he would have sought help from the Silver Wolf Guild, and he could have produced it then.

"Of course it can, as long as the party leader holds the Abyss Mirror," Qin Yue said as if it were obvious.

Speaking of the Abyss Mirror, Qin Yue seemed to recall something painful, furrowing her brows as she complained.

"You don't know, once this Abyss Mirror is activated, it automatically dissipates after 48 hours."

"I've only cleared Hard-level twice, and including my own dungeon cooldown, I have to run at least 15 more dungeons within these 24 hours!"

"Oh my god! This young lady is going to die of exhaustion!"

"This mirror must be very precious, right?"

"Huh?" Qin Yue was stunned; she didn't know either.

Uncle Wu quickly replied, "Young Master Li, it is very precious. It’s worth about the value of a piece of Gold-tier equipment. Even our Qin family can only produce one in a short period."

Li Yao thought for a moment. "I can take you through the dungeons, and you won't even have to lift a finger."

"Take me through the dungeons?" Qin Yue’s eyes lit up. "Nightmare-level?"

"Nightmare-level."