"Um, um... hello?"

Damn it, Irene, what are you being so scared for? Didn't we drink together before? Why are you acting so badly now? At least greet me confidently!

Even though her inner thoughts were rich and colorful, when facing someone alone, she exhibited a full-blown social anxiety style. Her slightly normal behavior at the previous banquet was only because there were many people around, and most of them were acquaintances.

She raised her head nervously and looked at the "strong man" standing across from her, meeting a face as terrifying as an animated corpse, with eyes cold and emotionless, not even regarding her as anything significant, like she was just insignificant air. You could tell just by looking at this character that he was a tough one!

At this moment, she saw the person's lips move, and he took out a card.

"I can only lend you this much." The animated corpse's voice seemed to come from the coldest part of hell.

Irene immediately looked at the card, which was just an ordinary card forcibly condensed by spiritual power, representing a great amount of spiritual power but having no other use.

And the spiritual power recorded in this card was...

"!"

Irene heard herself suck in a cold breath, her heart pounding like the engine of an emperor.

It's a sky-high price, to her, it's a sky-high price!

The hope of continuing the dungeon operation lay before her, and she finally understood what she should call the person in front of her.

"Dad!"

She leapt forward with tears of joy!

"Thud!"

And then she was kicked flying out.

————————————

"Who in their right mind would hide under a cloak pretending to be a slime...?"

Gong Qiying sat on a throne, lavishly studded with jewels, clearly showcasing opulence and tackiness, looking at Irene at his feet and remarking.

The latter was hugging the card, rubbing it vigorously, making a "guhee guhee" sound. Hearing his comment, she could only continuously nod in agreement, repeating, "That's right, that's right."

Gong Qiying couldn't help but cover his forehead, feeling his spiritual power being molested by a foolish woman, not feeling any guilt for the kick just now.

He wasn't trying to kick Irene deliberately.

He just didn't expect the other party to choose to disguise herself with a cloak in such a dark and lightless room.

When he first came in, the seemingly indifferent gaze in Irene's eyes was actually because he hadn't seen Irene yet; he was searching around.

Just as he was taking out the spiritual power card, the "carpet" at his feet suddenly jumped up exaggeratedly, shouting something like "DIE" while lunging at him.

Any normal person would reflexively counterattack, wouldn't they?

Gong Qiying glanced at Irene again, who, though still stubbornly refusing to come out from under the cloak, appeared not to mind the kick from earlier.

As Flame Fire mentioned previously,

taking out just a tenth of the cost of a Burning Furnace Golem (Willow Man) and throwing it at Irene's face would make her obedient to him.

It seems that this isn't just obedience; her affection for him might even be skyrocketing.

This is too easy to deal with...

Having never lacked spiritual power himself, Gong Qiying felt more sympathetic towards Irene. How could such a high-level dungeon manage to bankrupt itself?

"So, tell me, what's your situation now, and why can't you even maintain operations?"

He wasn't there to be overly generous; at the very least, he wanted to fully explore the White Blood Dungeon.

Upon hearing this, Irene stopped squirming around. After a few more awkward movements, she stood up, still looking like a slime under the cloak.

"The situation is rather complicated, Mr. Gedwin."

Having calmed down from the shock of the massive spiritual power crashing onto her face, Irene changed her impromptu cry of "DIE" to calling Gong Qiying "Sir," which seemed, well, quite flattering too.

Gong Qiying's mouth twitched. The person in front of him was absolutely the quirkiest City Lord he had ever met.

Then again, if Irene had a normal personality, she wouldn't have possibly run her Level 3 Dungeon to the brink of bankruptcy—such a result was nothing short of divine.

"Anyone familiar with me knows I don't lend money for nothing." Irene waved her hand; judging from the cloak's bulges, her figure didn't seem too large.

The entire micro-model of the White Blood Dungeon immediately appeared before Gong Qiying. Meeting someone and having them display the modeling of their dungeon without reservation was a first for him.

"You see, this is my dungeon, styled like the Blood Clan royal court, absolutely classical and elegant, earning high praise from adventurers."

With Irene's proud narration, Gong Qiying scrutinized the micro-model of the White Blood Dungeon.

This dungeon gave him a strong sense of déjà vu, involuntarily drawing comparisons in his mind.

Aincrad, the gigantic multi-layer structure from Sword Art Online. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

While the White Blood Dungeon wasn't that huge, with layers under ten and not floating in the air, it was nestled in a false night sky, narrow at both ends, and broader in the middle. This "castle" seemed to be plunged into the earth, prompting curiosity about why it didn't collapse.

Gong Qiying had perused the background of the White Blood Dungeon, noting its various structures had quite ancient backstories, tracing back to missing historical records.

Legend has it that a group of ancient vampires erected such unique architecture to demonstrate their supreme authority, eventually becoming part of the dungeon, prompting some scholars interested in vampires to explore and uncover stories within.

Yet Gong Qiying wasn't a vampire hunter and wasn't interested in such matters. He merely wanted to know how Irene ended up digging her own grave, so he shot her a questioning look.

Irene enlarged the White Blood Dungeon, the scene focusing on the most centralized and spacious layer.

"My dungeon has unique attributes, capable of long-term, continuous operation. Though it brings many inconveniences, it allows me to continuously harvest the spiritual power of people residing here, so I freed up a layer just for them to live in."

The scene on that layer was indeed quite lively, with people from outside settling in the uniquely styled dungeon—a sight unique to the dungeon.

The people appeared to live well, smiles on their faces.

Just then, Gong Qiying noticed Irene moving restlessly.

"Sir, if I let them stay here for free, wouldn't it be too generous? There's no such thing as a free lunch, and living in comfort too long impacts the spirit. Therefore, hehe, I need to give them a bit of external stimuli."

The scene shifted to people mostly asleep in the occupied level, as figures with red eyes and bat wings flew across the sky, breaking into homes, and screams immediately echoed.

Not only on the residential floor but monsters in other levels began raging, traps emerged, and the entire White Blood Dungeon exuded danger.

"To train adventurers, I constantly have to devise new designs, continuously stimulating their growth."

Irene sighed in trouble, "As a result, I often exhaust my spiritual power researching these things, but what else can I do?"

Gong Qiying glanced at her, suddenly taking back the spiritual power card.

"Hey, hey, hey, sir, what are you doing!?" Irene panicked instantly.

"Your fabricated excuse is too poor. I can't listen to it anymore."

Gong Qiying shook his head, while Irene faltered, appearing guilty, stammering, "N-no, I'm not fabricating, it's all true..."

"If you really want spiritual power from me, you need to show some determination. At least promise me one thing." Gong Qiying spoke nonchalantly.

"What thing?" Irene hastily asked with a fawning smile.

Gong Qiying smiled.

"Let me beat you up."

Irene's smile froze on her face.

"T-t-this, what do you mean?"