“Only B-rank? Sigh, Brother Lin Ran, I’m really sorry. I dragged down our treasure chest rewards.”
Wang Fatty looked at the bronze treasure chest with obvious dissatisfaction and muttered.
The meaning in his words couldn’t be more clear—
“If it weren’t for those two women holding us back, I would’ve definitely gotten an S-rank!”
Shen Yu and Liu Yan weren’t fools either.
Hearing this, they got annoyed and immediately started arguing with Wang Fatty.
Lin Ran had no mood to watch them quarrel.
His attention was already completely drawn to the bronze treasure chest in front of his door.
Treasure chest…
He now felt a bit anxious just looking at this thing.
He always had a feeling that if he opened the treasure chest, he’d get dragged in and sucked dry again.
What am I, some kind of new-age catnip?
No, wait, it should be monster mint.
Who knows what kind of demon or monster would jump out of this thing.
Especially in team battles, monster girls find it hard to take action, making accidents more likely.
However, while he hesitated, Wang Fatty had already opened his treasure chest.
“Whoa! It’s a skill book!”
Wang Fatty shouted excitedly, cradling the book from the chest like a treasure.
“[Flame Meteor: Summon a meteor to deal extra damage to biological enemies…] Damn! This is violent, I love it!”
He even read his own skill aloud, showing off.
On the other side, Liu Yan and Shen Yu also opened their treasure chests, obtaining a new staff and a set of fine armor, respectively.
The enhancements were clear—Liu Yan’s staff compensated for the clumsiness of her golem, and Shen Yu’s armor made healing less risky.
Of course, whether they would actually use them was another matter.
Even Qi Xiaoyu opened a high-level potion recipe from his treasure chest.
He excitedly showed Lin Ran the recipe, which seemed to have aging properties, making it especially useful against certain enemies.
Lin Ran looked at the spoils in their hands and felt a little itchy inside.
What if…
What if this time it’s really not a mimic?
After all, I have a certain ability to deal with treasure chests, right! That must be it!
As for the system’s display of a mimic…
It must be a display error! Yeah!
Isn’t it normal for this crappy system to malfunction!
[Please do not slander the system, the system is absolutely 100% correct.]
“I can’t hear you!”
Lin Ran covered his ears, though it was pointless.
In the end, he couldn’t resist the temptation.
Sometimes, Lin Ran felt he was a good match with An Mengyue.
One was a stingy merchant, the other couldn’t move at the sight of treasures or system rewards.
Both were blinded by money.
“There are so many people here, even if it’s a mimic, it should be fine—”
He tried to encourage himself as he reached out to lift the lid.
Before he finished speaking, his vision went black and he was swallowed whole.
No fantasy cabin, no landmine girl, only warm digestive fluid and constantly squirming flesh walls.
Almost simultaneously, Vera’s telepathic voice echoed in his mind.
“Miss Lim says: Master is unlucky.”
“Mimic Miss says: Is Mama unlucky?”
“I say: Mr. Lin Ran is indeed very unlucky.”
“Vera! There’s no need to transmit these messages to me!”
Complaining, Lin Ran smashed the mimic with a punch.
Several humans who witnessed this scene couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Especially Qi Xiaoyu, who liked Lin Ran and didn’t want to laugh at him.
But the sight was just too comical.
He held back his laughter for so long that tears came out, and finally he had to turn away to chuckle in secret.
“Brother Lin Ran… It’s not that I’m disloyal, but man, you’re really unlucky. Yours was the only mimic. And wasn’t it obvious? Everyone else’s was bronze, but yours was wooden. Clearly suspicious!”
Lin Ran just chuckled.
Luck Minus 11, kid!
But there was good news too.
The appearance of the mimic also meant the third wave of special rewards had arrived as scheduled.
Vera wouldn’t bother reporting useless information.
While relaying the monster girls’ complaints, she also transmitted an image to Lin Ran’s mind.
In the wooden house, an ordinary iron sword appeared.
It wasn’t particularly useful, but the key was that it materialized the instant the mimic was defeated.
In other words, the reward for defeating a mimic would appear directly in the wooden house.
And in places unnoticed by the group, a large number of mimics appeared at the edge of the team battle zone.
“Send the slimes to handle them, but don’t alarm my teammates.”
Lin Ran commanded Vera mentally.
“But… there are too many. The wooden house might not have enough space.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“I didn’t bring that mimic back to the wooden house for decoration.”
The corners of Lin Ran’s mouth lifted slightly.
Upon hearing this, Vera suddenly understood.
Inside the mimic’s body was an enormous space.
It was the perfect storage room—
As long as you didn’t put living things inside.
“I’m giving her a name now, to strengthen her. I’ll call her Cangdouxian. Because she’s a landmine girl, my first thought was ‘potato landmine.'”
“Your naming sense… as consistent as ever. She calls you ‘Mama,’ so let’s match your surname, Lin, with Huanxia. It means a box that can create illusions. What do you think?”
Vera’s tone was calm, but there was a sense of helplessness.
For the sake of this family, she really worried too much.
Lin Ran thought for a while before barely choosing the possibly, maybe, somewhat better option, [Lin Huanxia], between the two names.
The mimic liked the name too.
The moment the decision was made, he felt a surge of energy drawn from his body.
In the next instant, an image from Vera showed that after receiving Lin Ran’s magic, the mimic—Lin Huanxia—grew much stronger, with greatly enhanced predatory abilities.
She also actively absorbed the iron sword.
Lin Ran nodded in satisfaction and shifted his gaze back to reality—
“Hey! Did you monster girls charm Lin Ran? Hand him over now!”
It was Wang Fatty’s voice.
He opened his eyes.
The familiar wooden house.
How did he get back?
The next moment, a soft body hugged him tightly.
“Mama—!”
It was Lin Huanxia.
Hmm… still that strange ‘Mama’ title…
Wait, could it be that after gaining a name, her strength increased, allowing her to forcibly pull him back with some kind of ability?
“Save the cuddling for later. Where are Vera and Lim?”
Lin Ran held Lin Huanxia’s shoulders and asked.
Lin Huanxia didn’t fuss, obediently pointing outside the door.
Wang Fatty’s roar echoed again—
“Damn it! You monster girls not only sucked my brother in, but even dared to charm him. So what if you’re pretty? In the end, it’s still a scam! Even if I die today, I’ll save my brother!”
He rolled up his sleeves as he spoke.
In front of him stood Lim and Vera, looking bewildered by the intruder barging into the wooden house.
…