Online Game: Crazy Skeleton-Chapter 1610 - 1428: The Heart of Mud

"Hahaha, truly a man of mettle!"

This golden mud ball seemed like it had masochistic tendencies; after being rebutted by Su Ran, it didn’t get angry but instead burst into loud laughter, "I was just testing your character, you’ve passed the test!"

"..."

Su Ran really wanted to give it a mouthful of complaints: talk about testing, such an obvious test, it would be strange if he didn’t see it coming!

All that talk about dark gold equipment, platinum treasures, was nothing but bait to trick him!

Fortunately, the bro had insight into all of this beforehand, and it’s not easy to say, this guy is really cunning, checking for character even in task assignments—does he look that untrustworthy?

Su Ran couldn’t be bothered to reply, just shot it a look, as for what that meant, let it figure it out for itself.

"Human, you are the most righteous and loyal being I have ever seen, good job!"

The big mud ball was very satisfied with Su Ran’s performance, wriggling its body, it jumped down from the throne and hopped over to Su Ran’s side, looking up at him and said, "You are a trustworthy candidate, entrusting you with this important task is just right!"

Upon hearing the big mud ball’s words, Su Ran felt something was amiss.

What does he mean by trustworthy?

What’s this, it wants to marry me or something?

"Senior, please tell me, as long as it’s not too outrageous, I’ll take it!"

Su Ran had a serious expression, his ears wide open, afraid of missing any important message.

"Human, I need you to swear that this task must not be known by a second person!"

"Senior, look at what you’re saying, don’t you trust my character?"

Su Ran deliberately paused, and realizing that the big mud ball remained unmoved, he could only swear to the system, and only then did he pass this level.

"I need you to find a special key and help me retrieve the Heart of Mud!"

Being overly excited, the big mud ball’s body kept transforming, and with an urgent tone, it said, "This concerns my life and death, there must be no mistakes!"

"Geez, that serious?"

Su Ran was surprised, not because of the special effects of the Heart of Mud, but because this BOSS trusted him so much, confiding such a life-and-death secret without reservation. Does it imply that if he simply destroys the Heart of Mud, he could just snag a BOSS?

Lucky break!

"Ding! Congratulations to player Skeletal, you’ve obtained a special hidden quest, Retrieval of the Heart of Mud! Within three hours, deliver the Heart of Mud intact to the big mud ball to complete the quest. Quest rewards: Mud Tribe Friendship, a dark gold treasure chest, 100,000 experience points. Penalty for quest failure: Random drop of attributes by 100, loss of the right to enter the Ice and Snow dungeon."

As soon as Su Ran accepted the quest, the system notification followed. Seeing the penalty for quest failure, his expression changed.

A drop of 100 attributes, who could stand that?

At that point, his account would be ruined!

With no choice, since the quest had already been taken, he could only face reality. Thankfully, the big mud ball was quite reasonable, cancelling the previous quest, so he didn’t have to worry about the previously imminent infighting scenario.

"Senior, rest assured, even if I have to risk my life, I will bring back the heart for you!"

"Human, I trust you. Go now, I need to hibernate and recover, do not disturb me before you obtain the heart."

The Mudman hopped back onto his throne after speaking, taking up a comfortable posture and signaling that it was time for Su Ran to leave.

"Senior, what should my friends do when they come back to complete the quest?"

Recalling this awkward problem, Su Ran realized they wouldn’t be able to meet the BOSS and thus couldn’t turn in the quest—even if completed, wouldn’t this just add to the troubles of Wan’er and her companions?

"Without my authorization, they can’t even enter the Mud Castle! But you’re different. In this Mud Castle, you may come and go as you please; no one can stop you!"

Ermahgerd.

Upon hearing this, Su Ran instantly felt his status was now different; having privileges was awesome, and it was quite nice for showing off.

Su Ran could already imagine Overturning Water’s dumbstruck look, and he couldn’t help but grin.

Having bid farewell to the Mudman, Su Ran left the Mud Castle alone. He didn’t need to be on guard and just strolled out casually. Even if he encountered Mudmen, it didn’t matter—he didn’t have to worry about being thrown into a cage and dragged back because he had strong backing; that’s just how capricious he could be!

He could feel the goodwill emanating from these Mudmen, and even the Mudmen children circled around him, treating him as one of their own. This feeling was actually quite heartwarming.

"Uh, they’re this enthusiastic now; if I earn the Mud Tribe Friendship later and return to this underground world, how much more enthusiastic would they be?"

Subconsciously, Su Ran quickened his pace and headed out of the city.

...

In a glacial terrain, four players were fervently attacking strangely shaped fish.

"Creamy, do you think Overturning Water will be alright?"

Youtong’s voice was filled with self-reproach, "Overturning Water is a man of pride; being held hostage is torture for him. Add the threat of the BOSS, and disputes are likely to arise. Had I known it would be like this, I would rather have remained the hostage than witness that dangerous scene earlier."

"It’s not your fault. No one expected that upon entering the Mud Castle, we’d face the final BOSS right away. That Mudman really doesn’t play by the rules, appearing so early—just to mess with us."

Creamy smashed an incoming tuna, which fell onto the ice and turned into chunks of mud—quite bizarre indeed.

"Youtong, don’t worry. With Overturning Water’s strength, escaping from the cage wouldn’t be hard. Besides, we’ve already accepted the quest, so the BOSS won’t turn on us so easily."

Platinum wasn’t worried about Su Ran’s situation. He had run the instance many times and never saw Youtong run into any trouble, despite the increased difficulty this time. There wouldn’t be any fatal risks; after all, the reward of the quest was to rescue the hostage. The quest hints couldn’t possibly lie to them.

"I hope so, or else the guilt on my conscience would be colossal."

The worry in Youtong’s eyes didn’t subside. It was rare for Overturning Water to join them in an instance, but to cause such a mess—if he ended up dying, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself...

"Let’s quickly kill these Mudfish and return to submit the quest; it’ll lessen the danger for Overturning Water."

Creamy increased her attack speed, ruthlessly going after the Mudfish leaping onto the ice, quickly killing five or six.

"Creamy, we seem to have brought insufficient bait today..."

While restoring Youtong’s health, Gu Yue mentioned, "Previously, the quests only required us to kill 30 fish, but now it’s suddenly 100. This is troublesome."

"If we can’t lure the fish, then we’ll go down in the water to kill them!"

Creamy was determined, without a hint of hesitation.

"Ah? This is a glacier, isn’t jumping down there akin to suicide?"

Ice and Snow instinctively wrapped himself tighter in his cold-weather coat, his complexion turning somewhat ashen.