This reply eased Ling Mo’s slightly tense nerves.

Good thing it wasn’t a bullet wound…

“Get ready,” Xia Xinyan whispered in his ear, her voice strained as if holding back pain. “They might be coming.”

She rolled off him, landed beside him, and raised her rifle toward the rear.

Ling Mo quickly grabbed his own rifle and aimed the same way.

Before the enemies arrived, a mortar shell slammed down between them. The deafening blast kicked up thick dust and smoke, blinding everyone.

More shells followed—explosions erupted one after another, turning the area into a death zone.

“Now! Go!” Xia Xinyan urged.

Ling Mo sprang up to pull her, but his eyes locked on the torn hole in her left pant leg—ripped clean by a bullet.

“You were hit?!” His heart jolted.

So her earlier cry *was* from a bullet?

Why lie and say she just bumped her hand?

To keep him calm?

“Don’t worry about me,” she said, still lying there, barely moving. “You go. I’ll cover you.”

She wasn’t giving up—she *couldn’t* move.

The game hadn’t added dismemberment yet, but bullet impacts still triggered effects like broken bones.

She didn’t know how many shots hit her. One shouldn’t shatter a leg… unless multiple bullets struck the exact same spot. Rotten luck.

Still, clearing the dungeon herself wasn’t the goal. Gaining her ability was inevitable. This first dungeon? Get Ling Mo through. Her survival was secondary.

But Ling Mo disagreed. “I’m taking you!”

He’d promised to protect her—how could he abandon her?!

Without waiting for protest, he dropped his rifle, swept her into his arms, and sprinted toward the beach.

Seconds later, a mortar shell cratered the spot they’d just left. The shockwave nearly knocked him down—and left him injured.

His first taste of 70% pain feedback.

Searing agony shot through his back, but he gritted his teeth and charged toward the armed gunboat anchored offshore.

The beach stretched wide. What was normally a short dash now felt like a death march—no cover, water ahead slowing them further.

Arms wrapped around his neck, Xia Xinyan glanced back. Trees flattened. Smoke swirling. Figures in pink charging through the haze—members of the Protection Association.

They wouldn’t make it.

After a beat, she patted his shoulder. “Put me down. You can reach the ship alone. Carrying me slows you.”

“We’ll make it!” He tightened his grip. “Don’t even think it. I’m not leaving you.”

*Xia Xinyan wanted to curse.*

Why play hero? Think dying together for scraps of dungeon loot is romantic?

Inwardly sighing, she kept her tone calm. “It’s just a game. Not real death. Escape now. Bring me next run.”

“*Because* it’s a game, I won’t quit!” Ling Mo pushed harder. “What loser ditches a girl in-game? Not me!”

“…”

“Don’t be afraid! I’ll get you on that ship!” His voice hardened. “Even if we die—we die together.”

She stopped arguing.

She knew that stubborn streak. Once fixed on something, no pulling back… Wait, *she’d* mellowed. But *this* Ling Mo? Stubborn as an ox.

Too late anyway.

Over fifty meters left. Water ahead. Open beach. They were sitting ducks.

*Forget it… Next round’s fine.*

Jostled in his arms, she closed her eyes, bracing for the end.

—but—

“Hey! Run! I’ll cover you!”

Murong Yue’s voice cut through the chaos.

Ahead, twin heavy machine guns rose from the gunboat’s stern, swiveled toward the charging pink-clad figures, and unleashed relentless fire.

The barrage halted the advance instantly. Murong Yue appeared at the hatch, waving wildly. “Hurry! Don’t freeze!”

Ling Mo clenched his jaw and sprinted.

Just as they reached the ship, Murong Yue leaped down to help. The moment all three were aboard—

[MISSION COMPLETE. RETURNING TO LOBBY.]

“The dungeon’s cleared. I’m logging out,” Xia Xinyan said—and vanished in a flash of white light.

Ling Mo blinked, opened the menu, and exited.

Alone on deck, Murong Yue watched the pink-clad crowd on the beach fall still. The gunboat pulled away. “Why rush off…? This game’s actually fun.”

Ling Mo didn’t feel the same.

Back in his private villa space—thanks to their linked game pods, Xia Xinyan could enter freely—she found him staring blankly into the living room mirror.

He turned, expression uncertain. “Um… back there… did it hurt?”

He’d taken shrapnel too. Even at 70% pain, it nearly dropped him. Not a memory he’d cherish.

But the pain vanished post-dungeon.

He just kept thinking: *She took a direct rifle shot to the leg. How much did that hurt?*

If *he* almost cried out… had she held back tears to save face?

*Why bother… It’s just a game…*

Xia Xinyan read his thoughts instantly.

Current Ling Mo really couldn’t hide a thing—especially not from her, his future self.

But…

“It hurt,” she answered softly.

“A lot.”