Chapter 49: A Race Against Time

The auntie behind her was the classic image of an old-school landlady^[1], sporting a frizzy perm, a floral dress, and red slippers.

Holding a rolling pin high in her hand, she chased the bad dog who had stolen her sausage with a look of pure fury.

Mo Yubai fled at high speed, keeping a close eye on the changing highway.

The once flat, straight highway had become winding and cluttered with obstacles.

Even the terrain rose and fell, and the two-lane road had turned into a three-lane road. Vehicles occasionally sped toward her from the opposite direction, forcing her to dodge them in time.

However, aside from the obstacles, the highway was covered in gold coins!

Hearing the crisp clinking of gold coins rushing into her arms, Mo Yubai’s lips curled up in a wide, excited grin.

Highly focused, she watched a taxi hurtling toward her and instantly switched two lanes in rapid succession.

At the same time, she silently accelerated and leaped, clearing a gap in the highway.

Before she even landed, she spun in mid-air to switch lanes, dodging an obstacle.

Mo Yubai continued running forward. Seeing an abandoned train car parked on the highway packed with gold coins, she yanked the door open and flipped inside.

The moment she entered, she saw a small “Gold Coins x2” icon in the middle of the carriage.

Mo Yubai wagged her tail in excitement and accelerated forward. After she passed through the icon, all the gold coins seemed to copy and paste, doubling in number.

At the same time, a five-minute countdown appeared above her head.

Before she could celebrate, she reached the end of the three carriages.

Making a sharp turn, she leaped out of an open window. Her body swung forward with momentum, narrowly dodging the rolling pin that was inches away.

Mo Yubai ran forward with all her might, the wind howling in her ears. The sun beat down relentlessly overhead, and even with Xiao Ling following her, she was inevitably drenched in sweat.

Suddenly, she noticed that all three paths ahead were blocked by barricades, with only the middle barricade set relatively high.

With determination in her eyes and a faint smile on her lips, Mo Yubai rolled rapidly to dodge a tricycle crashing in from the left lane.

Then, bending low, she used her momentum to slide under the middle barricade. In that instant, her sneakers frictioned against the highway, letting out a sharp screech.

Without pausing, she pushed off the ground with both hands and quickly got to her feet.

With a leap, she landed on the roof of a speeding car, and then began jumping from roof to roof, collecting gold coins along the way.

Eventually, the large buses disappeared, and the endless yellow sand around her transformed into a dense forest.

The scorching sunlight overhead was filtered by the tree canopy, casting dappled shadows. The three-lane highway ahead turned into two forest paths.

The paths were made of packed dirt, littered with muddy puddles, rocks, large trees, and small animals blocking the way.

It seemed everything had changed, except for Rolling Pin Auntie, who was still chasing her relentlessly with her rolling pin.

Mo Yubai warily perked up her dog ears, clearly hearing the sound of rabbits hopping in the jungle, and strode over the muddy puddle in front of her without hesitation.

Watching a lamb charge toward her, the throwing knife in her sleeve moved at her command.

The lamb’s neck was instantly slit. Before blood could even spray, Mo Yubai swept its carcass into her backpack as she brushed past it.

Feeling the backpack instantly gain Mutton x25, Mo Yubai’s lips curled up in a wide grin.

The fatigue of running and the stress of the high-tension chase were swept away. She couldn’t suppress her excitement.

Actively rising to the challenge, she quickly attacked the animals on the path ahead. The throwing knives danced in her hands, and Mo Yubai spared nothing in her wake.

Until a crow only had a few feathers sliced off by a throwing knife, escaping with its life.

As she brushed past it, hearing its angry cawing, she tried to put it in her backpack but failed.

It seems only animals I kill myself can be put into the backpack, she thought.

With this in mind, she focused, striving to make every single throw count.

She kept accelerating, leaping over mud pits and dodging green trees. Her sneakers stomped heavily on the dirt ground, kicking up thin clouds of dust.

After running for about another ten minutes, the scene changed again. The lush forest gradually disappeared.

The muddy path turned into a winding river channel, and a wooden raft appeared beneath Mo Yubai’s feet.

Hastily stopping her forward run, she felt the weakness in her body after the intense exercise. She looked down and took a bite of the sausage around her neck^[2]. The instant burst of savory, tender, and bouncy flavor completely won her over.

At the same time, she felt her stamina instantly restore from that single bite. Her eyes lit up, and she began paddling hard while savoring the food with relish.

Just as she finished eating the first sausage around her neck, she heard the game system announcement.

[Ding! The player has successfully angered Rolling Pin Auntie. Rolling Pin Auntie is about to enter Berserk Mode! In Berserk Mode, Rolling Pin Auntie’s movement speed increases by 60%, and her rolling pin’s length doubles!]

Mo Yubai’s eyes widened instantly. You’ve got to be kidding me.

What did I even do to make you go berserk all of a sudden?

She quickly glanced back. The small wooden raft Rolling Pin Auntie had been riding had turned into a wooden boat, the rolling pin in her hand had instantly lengthened, and a burning flame above her head displayed a thirty-minute countdown.

Mo Yubai quickly cleared her mind and paddled with all her might. She didn’t even have time to steer toward areas with more gold coins, only slightly turning to dodge when giant rocks blocked her path.

But as time passed, Mo Yubai felt like every second was an eternity.

Overexertion made her arms grow heavy, and her speed involuntarily slowed down.

I can’t go on like this!

She grit her teeth and looked at the three waterways ahead. Steeling herself, she accelerated and charged toward the right path, which was clearly cut off by a waterfall.

Feeling the rolling pin right behind her, her dog ears twitched nervously and her fluffy tail swished back and forth. The next second, the raft soared into the air from the top of the waterfall.

Mo Yubai tried her best to adjust the raft’s direction in mid-air. Her dog ears flattened back against her head, and she remained highly alert, watching her surroundings and the sky above.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and the raft began to spin in mid-air.

Mo Yubai’s palms went cold, but her mind grew even calmer. She carefully observed her surroundings, trying to find a sliver of hope.

Just then, she spotted a white icon on the steep cliff of the waterfall. She could feel the raft spinning uncontrollably beneath her in the wild wind.

With no time to think, a fierce look crossed her eyes as she pulled a longsword from her backpack. She bent her knees and leaped, using the raft as a springboard to plunge the sword heavily into a crevice in the rock face right where the white icon was.

The violent pull sent a dull ache through her arms. At that moment, she noticed Rolling Pin Auntie aiming her rolling pin down at her from above.

Mo Yubai swung her arms forcefully, using the momentum to dodge to the side and narrowly avoid Auntie. At the same time, she kicked off the stone wall, throwing her full weight into the white icon.

The moment she hit it, a pair of pitch-black wings sprouted from her back, carrying her in a spinning turn up into the sky.

A hundred meters in the air, the woman wore simple combat gear, with massive, ink-black wings that blotted out the sun behind her.

Holding her longsword, a smile played on her lips as her hair fluttered in the breeze. Deep in her eyes lay a wild ambition that looked down on everything.

This was the first time Mo Yubai had experienced the sensation of flight. In the distance lay an endless river, interspersed with several towering mountains.

The wind roared in her ears. Looking up, the sky seemed within arm’s reach, and the grandeur and beauty of the mountains and rivers were all laid out before her eyes.

At this moment, she finally understood why so many emperors in history were obsessed with building their palaces so high.

Following the rise and fall of the gold coins in the air, she controlled the wings behind her to continuously spin and dash.

Sometimes she dove sharply to collect the gold coins, only to soar back into the sky the instant before she touched the water’s surface!

Other times, she controlled her body to spin and spiral along the spring-like patterns of the coins, striving not to miss a single one!

The moment she collected the final coin in the air, the wings on Mo Yubai’s back instantly dissolved into a wisp of smoke and drifted away!