113 Third Day

Xing Hotpot, the rumored the best hotpot in the city. At least, it was what people say on the internet and forums. Nine out of ten people would say Xing Hotpot was the best place to eat hotpot.

Various kinds of rumors spread such as Xing Hotpot used something in the meat to make it more delicious than normal meat. There was a saying Xing Hotpot used some witchcraft to bewitch the customers.

Of course, such a rumor was coming from the competitor. There were many people who visited Xing Hotpot to purchase this place but Uncle Yan and Auntie Ning rejected these people outright. There were people coming to buy the stock's secret recipe but denied.

These people used this method to swallow the Xing Hotpot, but to no avail. The customers defended on the behalf of the Xing Hotpot. It became a hot search and hot topic for a while, benefitting the Xing Hotpot. Gaining popularity from the controversial.

Even the people who lived in the inner region and the core region heard about this place. Many forces tried to require this profitable business by force, but the people they sent to the Xing District went missing and only came back after a week with lost memories.

And today, Shen Miao finally achieved one of her wishes to eat the rumored the best hotpot. Yes, Shen Family intended to make a family trip to this place to try the hotpot. However, for an unknown reason, they canceled the plan.

Even the four-year little girl had heard about this place. It because her friends in the inner region had visited this place and shared with her how delicious the hotpot was.

But Shen Miao was shocked when she learned the rumored best hotpot in the city was close to her mommy's home. She froze for a moment as she halted her steps and looked up.

Her friend shared the picture of the Xing Hotpot with her, so she wanted to make sure this place was the same place that her friend visited.

"It's the same place…" Shen Miao muttered in a low voice as she checked the picture in her smartwatch.

"Miao Miao? What's wrong?" Han Ying concerned voice entered her ears, "You don't want to eat hotpot?"

Just like Heero said, Han Ying's medicine was her daughter. Not even a day, but her condition was much better than before. So she followed the group to eat hotpot.

"Of course not, I want to eat hotpot!" Shen Miao blurted instantly as she was afraid her mommy would bring her to the other place. Anticipation and excitement were boiling inside her as she recalled her friend's exaggeration expression when they shared about the Xing Hotpot.

She did not want to miss this chance.

"This is the best hotpot in the city, you will regret it if you don't eat the hotpot with me," Heero chimed in a strangely proud manner.

Han Ying and Hong Yu cast a weird glance at Heero. They never saw this side of Heero.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Uncle Yan and Auntie Ning always give me their best meat, the secret recipe that not in the menu, so eating with me is the Little Tigress's luck!" Heero declared arrogantly in front of the little girl, Shen Miao.

Han Ying and Hong Yu had a strange expression. It was "What's wrong with this guy!" expression. Heero's action was just like a child who showed off his new toy to his friend.

Shen Miao's eyes shone when she heard this, 'If what Teacher Xing said is true, then I can show off to my friend. I eat the hotpot they can't eat...'

It was children's habit to show off with her friend to gain admiration from their friends. Her friend ate the best hotpot, then she now would eat the best hotpot that was not sold by the Xing Hotpot to the public. It was good material to show off.

'Heh heh heh, It seems this guy has some uses to me… This is Xing District, there are many wonderful things here, with this guy, I can experience every secret in this district, and then I will show to those arrogant friends of mine who have been mocking me, I am more amazing than them...'

The Little Tigress schemed in her mind. The adult and the little girl had their own schemes, it was unknown who was going to win.

Sure enough, Uncle Yan and Auntie Ning, who was in charge of the Xing Hotpot, giving the best treatment they had to Heero and his family. The best amongst the best of meats, the secret broth they did not put in the menu, and a room that only available for Heero.

The little girl was amazed and weirdly, as they entered the Xing Hotpot, she began taking pictures. Whether it was the room that specially decorated for Heero or the best meat prepared by Uncle Yan.

For the first time, Shen Miao acted like a likable little girl in front of Heero. It showed that the inner region teaching in her was still shallow. She had not lost her innocence yet, he still had a chance to change Shen Miao not to be like the people in the inner region.

As Heero enjoyed the moment with his small family, he received a message from Hirata.

"Master, I found three suspicious people entered the district. There's a possibility that these people are part of Shadow Fang. Currently, I and Bearded Wang are following them for now,"

Heero was surprised after reading the message. Even though he said these people might hide in the district, he did not expect it would come true. He increased the security just in case that happened and it happened. The rats had entered his territory.

In a flash, Heero's face turned cold, but it returned to normal in a flash as well.

'It seems I have to keep a watch as well,'

'I don't want to lose the people I love, no more!'

'As I am now entangled with the Shadow Fang, it will be better to eradicate them thoroughly!'

Heero came into great determination. Whether the Shadow Fang was an organization comprised of people or Specter, he did not care. If his family's safety was threatened, he would kill whoever it was.

Plan after plan formulated in his mind and earned him a sigh, 'There are so many plans, I am going to be busy for a moment…'

Then, he looked at the message from Musashi Hirata. His disciple was working hard for him, he had to reward his disciple as well.

'Should I teach him my technique?' Heero contemplated while Hong Yu and Han Ying played with the Little Tigress.

Heero never taught any technique to his disciples until now. Ki Comprehension, it was the way to feel, control, and how to utilize Ki within the body. Except for Hirata, but it was because he had the basics of Draw Sword and Quake Sword.

He taught Musashi Hirata those techniques, but Butcher Wang and Sun Zhou Yi had not learned any technique. Moreover, he could not teach them the Saint's technique, not without his Master's consent.

But he created a few useful and a few useless techniques during his spare time. He could teach his disciples those techniques which might be useful for his disciples.

Clap!

"Hoy!" someone clapped and shouted at the same near his ear. Heero was startled, but then he smiled as he recognized the voice.

"What are you thinking about? You look so serious!" Hong Yu asked with a sweet smile formed on her lips. Her wife's smile soothed him and he could forget his problem for a moment as soon as he saw the smile.

"Nothing, let's eat~"

*** ***

The third day of exploration of the second dungeon

After the fruitless second day expedition, Musashi Naizen formed a new team. The new team was more solid than the beforehand team despite the team had less in number than the beforehand team.

The new team consisted of three Emperor Class Heroes and eighteen Gold Class Heroes. The only three Emperor Class Heroes participated in the expedition, Huo Liang Xun, Musashi Naizen, and Wu Jiang Shan.

Sun Zhou Yi as the core team, Bai Xin Yue, Yang Mushen, Mushin Rashed, Abdul Azam, Kang Seo Yeon, and her former team, and eight other Gold Class Heroes. These people were chosen because they could stay longer inside the dungeon than the other heroes.

This solid team could explore the dungeon for up to eight hours. Rather than taking in turn to explore the dungeon which was wasting more time, he formed the new team.

The beforehand plan was forming four teams and send the team in turn to explore the dungeon. Each time only had ninety minutes to explore the dungeon and it took them twenty or thirty minutes to get back.

They had to get back to Ence Fort to prevent the Gold Class Heroes infected by the dark energy. The Gold Class Heroes could only last two hours on average inside the dungeon.

It would waste more time if they explored the dungeon with four teams. So, Musashi Naizen formed the strongest team and explored the dungeon as long as possible. Musashi Naizen estimated the team could last to eight hours.

Four hours of exploration

The team took a break

They formed a circle as Kang Seo Yeon explained her discoveries. Kang Seo Yeon and her former team were acting as a scout in the team.

"We are still in territory three, I saw nine 'little dragons' ahead. I suggest we take a detour, it's hard to get through unnoticed from those nine 'little dragons',"

Kang Seo Yeon opened the half-finished map that only showed a small part of the second dungeon. She pointed at a certain location where the nine 'little dragons' roamed around.

On the second day exploration, the group found that a certain monster only stayed in a certain territory. Territory one was a territory where the Undying lizardmen could be found while the second territory was where the Undying bear located.

The third territory, they found undying that similar to a dragon. It was different than Hover Flame in the first dungeon. Hover Flame had a similar body to lizard, but this monster was different. It had similar features to a fantasy dragon in movies albeit smaller in size.

Therefore, they called this monster Little Dragon and the Little Dragon resided in territory three. The Little Dragon was hard to kill, not because they were far stronger than the team, but because they were flying in the sky.

No matter how strong Musashi Naizen or the other two Emperor Class Heroes were, but if the attack could not reach the Little Dragon, they were no different than Wood Class Hero, useless. Moreover, the Little Dragon had ten dark cores that were trickier to kill.

They had tried once to kill the lone Little Dragon and it took them an hour to kill even with "Fiery Archer" Kang Seo Yeon in the team. After that, they tried to avoid the Little Dragon, but even after three hours, they were still in territory three.

"It seems this dungeon is larger than the first dungeon…" Huo Liang Xun muttered in a low voice as a frown appeared on his tanned forehead.

"Good, we will take a detour. Have you found the route for a detour?" Musashi Naizen immediately agreed at Kang Seo Yeon's suggestion to take the detour. If it was him alone, he was confident to pass through unnoticed, but with the current team.

"Yes, we can take this route. I have checked this area, there's no Little Dragon around here!" Kang Seo Yeon immediately at a certain area on the map. She suggested to change the route, of course, she had already found a solution for their new route.

Musashi Naizen nodded in agreement to show his trust in Kang Seo Yeon's scouting capability. The others also agreed as they trusted Kang Seo Yeon's judgment.

But there was one man who showed hesitation when he heard Kang Seo Yeon's explanation. He was Sun Zhou Yi.

"Isn't that weird?" he voiced his thoughts. The others immediately turned toward Sun Zhou Yi, they asked an explanation why did Sun Zhou Yi said Kang Seo Yeon's idea was weird.

Mushin Rashed and Abdul Azam had a sly smile as they heard Sun Zhou Yi's words.

"Isn't that weird? In such a big area, but no monster can be found. There might be a monster that stronger than the Little Dragon. That was why the Little Dragon avoided that area," Sun Zhou Yi told what was in his mind.

"You are right!" Kang Seo Yeon responded positively to Sun Zhou Yi's suspicion as she also had the same suspicion. "I have prepared an alternative route just in case, we can take this route. But there are seven Little Dragons."

"I only checked these two routes, so it will take more time if you want me to scout more routes! The decision in your hand!" Kang Seo Yeon's words were directed to the leader, Musashi Naizen.

Musashi Naizen held his chin as he fell into deep thought. Sun Zhou Yi's suspicion was not groundless, there was a possibility the area with no monster was a nest of the strong monster. So the weaker monster avoided that place.

"Hmm, Let's take the alternative one and pray we don't encounter a strong monster. If we encounter a strong monster, then we can turn back and take another route!"

They had the best scout team in Gold Class Hero and Musashi Naizen believed in Kang Seo Yeon and her team scouting ability. Even though there was a strong monster, they could try to avoid the monster.

Then, the team continued the expedition. They took the alternative one route and they truly did not find any Little Dragon. Even after half an hour of walking, not a single Little Dragon could be found.

At this time, the team relaxed their tensions and believed there was no monster in this route. However, as the team lowered their guard, the situation took a sudden change as a shadow loomed over them.

They looked up and found a creature that had the same size as a dragon above them. The grey dragon looked down with its hollow eyes, staring at the team.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, there was a gush of darkish aura spread out of the grey dragon's body. The darkish aura stun the team, everyone with no exception the Emperor Class Heroes. They could not move their bodies as the darkish aura reached them.

Then, the grew dragon spewed a big black fireball toward the team. Despair and shock were mixed as the team faced the big black fireball that moved toward them. They were defenseless as they could move their bodies, death was the team's end.