My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon-Chapter 125 - 101: A Shortcut to Clearing?

Steady Shot.

Combat Focus.

Precision Instinct.

Fang Zhen activated three skills at once.

He quickly sank into a state of deep concentration.

Under the effect of Precision Instinct, Fang Zhen was fully confident he could correct for any trajectory deviation caused by the distance.

He aimed below through his optical scope.

The three Abnormal Ghosts, still oblivious to the danger, were fighting over the half-full waterskin of goat's blood.

One Abnormal Ghost snatched the torn waterskin, opened its maw, and began pouring the goat's blood into its fanged mouth.

The other two Abnormal Ghosts, feeling like they'd been robbed of a prize, roared in fury and charged forward to wrestle the waterskin away.

Just then...

Fang Zhen's intuition told him it was the perfect moment to attack.

Following that feeling, he raised his aim in the Hunting Crossbow's optical scope by a little over a centimeter and immediately pulled the trigger.

WHOOSH!

The Hunting Arrow was loosed.

The Hunting Arrow flew over a hundred meters, even tracing a slight arc through the air before landing on its target after a one-second flight.

In Fang Zhen's view through the optical scope, he saw the Hunting Arrow, after its one-second delay, precisely pierce the head of the Abnormal Ghost that had snatched the goat's blood.

The Crossbow Arrow entered through its left temple and exited diagonally through the right side of its brain.

The Abnormal Ghost froze for over a second, then crashed to the ground like a stiff log, motionless.

HISS...

The sound of a sharp gasp rang out.

It was Mark, beside Fang Zhen.

Mark sucked in a breath of cold air.

Through his tactical binoculars, Mark saw it clearly: the Abnormal Ghost had been headshot by the Crossbow Arrow.

Mark had never seen such precise archery.

He knew that the Abnormal Ghost hadn't been standing still; it was shaking its head, drinking the goat's blood, and dodging the attacks of its two kin.

There had to be some element of prediction in that shot.

Forget seeing such precise archery—Mark had never even seen a bow or crossbow that could shoot so far with such power.

This incredible sight made Mark unable to resist turning to stare at Fang Zhen.

As if he hadn't noticed Mark, Fang Zhen focused on cocking his Hunting Crossbow and loading another arrow.

He was in peak condition right now.

By the time he finished loading the Hunting Crossbow, the two remaining Abnormal Ghosts below were still looking around, confused about who was attacking them and from where after their companion's death.

They roared with savage fury, but it was aimless and without direction—just impotent rage at their surroundings. They didn't even look toward Fang Zhen's position.

Seeing this, Fang Zhen had a sudden realization.

'Their eyes have degenerated. Even if they have other senses, they must be range-limited. From over a hundred meters away, they can't see me!'

With this understanding, Fang Zhen grew even more confident.

He aimed calmly, not rushing the shot, but waiting for his intuition to trigger.

After aiming for two or three seconds, his heart suddenly stirred as inspiration struck.

He pulled the trigger.

The Hunting Arrow shot out!

A second later, the Hunting Arrow pierced the back of the head of an Abnormal Ghost that had turned its back to the slope, hitting the exact point where the brain connects to the spine.

The Abnormal Ghost pitched forward onto the ground and lay there, motionless.

Fang Zhen calmly loaded the third arrow.

The last living Abnormal Ghost was clearly scared. It cowered slightly, constantly looking and roaring toward the sides of the valley, but its body was steadily retreating.

Just as Fang Zhen finished loading the third arrow, a sensation like an electric current surged through his body.

He barely even aimed. Following the feeling, he fired the third Crossbow Arrow.

The Crossbow Arrow flew. The Abnormal Ghost happened to take a step back, and its movement over that one second perfectly coincided with the arrow's point of impact.

The Hunting Arrow plunged straight through the Abnormal Ghost's forehead, pierced its skull, and exited from the back of its head.

The Abnormal Ghost didn't even make a sound as it collapsed, its life extinguished.

At that moment, Fang Zhen came out of his skill-enhanced state.

He had just triggered a critical hit.

When this skill activated, the physical reaction was more intense than Combat Instinct. It felt like a jolt of electricity, a very strong sensation upon triggering.

All three Abnormal Ghosts below were dead. The entire battle had taken less than twenty seconds from start to finish.

Beside him, Mark's jaw was hanging open.

Mark whipped his head around to look at Fang Zhen.

The intense shock left Mark speechless. He could only open and close his mouth, so wide that one might think his jaw would start to ache.

Mark had encountered Abnormal Ghosts before—it was a painful memory, and he knew how strong they were.

Subconsciously, Mark had come to believe he could never defeat a single Abnormal Ghost, forming an emotional block of fear.

But now, seeing Fang Zhen kill three Abnormal Ghosts so effortlessly—with an almost artistic and free-flowing grace—Mark felt his perception of the world shifting.

Were Abnormal Ghosts really this weak?

If so, what did that make him?

Fang Zhen saw Mark's expression and could guess what he was thinking.

"Standard procedure. This is just what happens when you do it right. No need to be surprised," Fang Zhen said.

Mark's mouth twitched.

Fang Zhen stood up and looked down at the battlefield.

He had made it look easy, mainly because he had chosen the terrain so well.

From this position, he could attack the Abnormal Ghosts, but they couldn't even find him by the end.

Through this battle, Fang Zhen had also discovered a weakness of the Abnormal Ghosts.

Their eyes really were degenerated.

When he rescued William and the others, the Abnormal Ghosts had been able to find him because he was only fifty meters away. Perhaps their other senses could pinpoint his location at that range.

But beyond a hundred meters, their senses were no longer effective.

Fang Zhen blindly guessed that the Abnormal Ghosts' perception might be related to dark environments.

"Aren't you going to collect the cerebrospinal fluid?"

Fang Zhen asked, seeing Mark still staring at him blankly.

"Huh? Oh!"

Mark finally snapped back to his senses, remembering the purpose of their trip.

"I'll go get it right away."

"Okay, be careful. We don't know if more Abnormal Ghosts will show up. After all, we're not far from their nest," Fang Zhen said.

"I'm on it. I'll be quick."

Having come to his senses, Mark immediately ran to the woods, untied his old horse's reins, vaulted into the saddle, and rode down.

Fang Zhen packed up his binoculars, Hunting Crossbow, and other gear, placed the equipment bag on his Jue Ying motorcycle, and followed him down.

He rode his motorcycle to the sniping site.

Mark had already dismounted and was quickly extracting the Abnormal Ghosts' cerebrospinal fluid.

Mark had brought a leather pouch, from which he now took out a hollow iron rod. It looked something like a large syringe, about as thick as a forefinger.

A tube was connected to the back of the hollow iron rod. It looked like some kind of animal intestine, but it must have been specially treated, as it appeared quite tough.

On the tube was a thing that resembled a pig's bladder.

Fang Zhen was quite curious and wanted to see how the cerebrospinal fluid was extracted.

He watched as Mark picked up the hollow iron rod and viciously plunged it into the back of the Ghoul's head.

That was the spot where the brain connects to the spinal cord.

The iron rod sank deep. Once it was stable, Mark squeezed the pig-bladder-like object on the device.

The object was quite elastic. After being squeezed like a rubber ball, it sprang back into shape.

Fang Zhen understood at a glance. It was a crude version of a spinal tap needle and catheter, using negative pressure to draw out the cerebrospinal fluid.

Soon, some grayish, translucent liquid could be seen being drawn through the semi-transparent tube.

Mark took out a glass jar, the same kind used for Alchemy Healing Medicine, and began to collect the extracted Abnormal Ghost cerebrospinal fluid.

The process was quite fast.

In just two minutes, Mark had extracted the cerebrospinal fluid from all three dead Abnormal Ghosts, filling a total of five apple-sized, crude glass bottles, which he then sealed with wooden stoppers.

ROAR!

Suddenly, a roar echoed from deep within the valley.

Fang Zhen frowned.

It sounded a bit like an Abnormal Ghost, but the roar seemed louder and more imposing.

'A Vicious Ghost?'

He recalled the information he had read before entering the instance.

"Is that enough?" Fang Zhen asked Mark.

"It's enough. The Master said she only needs three to four bottles of Abnormal Ghost cerebrospinal fluid for now, and we have five," Mark said.

"Alright. If it's enough, let's pull out," Fang Zhen said.

Mark also knew this was no place to linger. He quickly packed up his tools, stuffed the five bottles of cerebrospinal fluid into his leather pouch, then turned and leaped onto his horse's back.

Fang Zhen started the Jue Ying motorcycle, turned it around, and twisted the throttle.

The Jue Ying motorcycle shot forward, kicking up a cloud of dust, with Mark following closely behind on his horse.

...

「Twenty minutes later.」

Fang Zhen was already back at the town.

Mark followed close behind, but his old horse was nearly exhausted. It was drenched in sweat, and its muscles had begun to tremble as if it had the chills.

Fang Zhen slowed down.

He hadn't pushed deeper into the valley and entered the Ancient Castle Caverns because he felt he wasn't strong enough yet.

Killing the three Abnormal Ghosts had seemed incredibly easy, but that was mainly due to proper strategy, a terrain advantage, and exploiting their weaknesses.

But inside the Ancient Castle Caverns, the terrain would give the advantage to the monsters.

Besides, based on what he'd seen, the Abnormal Ghosts were already quite strong. The Ancient Castle Caverns held even fiercer things, in unknown numbers. A direct assault would be impossible.

With this level of difficulty, it didn't seem like something that could be speedrun.

Fang Zhen also wondered, if the difficulty was this high, why wasn't its rating higher?

Assuming the difficulty rating of the "Dungeon Life" game wasn't wrong, there was only one other possibility.

There was likely a shortcut through the Ancient Castle Caverns instance.

Based on the information he had, Fang Zhen guessed the shortcut was related to either the Cursed Seals or the Alchemy Poison Gwendolyn had mentioned, which was highly effective against aberrant creatures.

He chose not to force his way through, but to return to town and see if he could find any clues.

「Seven or eight minutes later.」

Fang Zhen and Mark returned to Gwendolyn's small courtyard.

Mark knocked on the door.

"You're back so soon? Did it not go well?" Gwendolyn asked with some confusion after opening the door and seeing Mark.

Mark was unable to contain his excitement.

"Master, we got the Abnormal Ghost's cerebrospinal fluid!"

"Mister Fang Zhen, he's just too strong!"

Mark couldn't help himself, his voice rising uncontrollably.

Hearing this, Gwendolyn looked past him at Fang Zhen, her face a mask of surprise.