Chapter 31: Niuniu Wants to Cry But Has No Tears

Even Luo Ge had never set foot in the endless Dark Boundary on the outskirts of Candle Island.

But when the player Niuniu jumped straight into the Dark Boundary with his Candle Spirit Body, a terrifying Power annihilated him in an instant.

It wasn’t just his Candle Spirit Body.

Even the Spirit Candle couldn’t use its Power to preserve his Wandering Soul. Everything about him was simply wiped from existence.

Needless to say, the Dark Boundary was horrifying...

’That blockhead. Couldn’t you have just stuck a hand or a foot in first to test it? Did you really have to jump right in...’

’I just managed to save up a bit of Wax Oil, and now it’s gone again.’

Niuniu’s Candle Spirit Body was gone, vanished into nothingness. This wasn’t a simple death, but something closer to "account deletion."

Even Luo Ge couldn’t use the Spirit Candle Power to resurrect him; he could only re-summon him.

’You’re going to have to bear some of the loss for me, kid.’

Luo Ge thought to himself as he reforged his Candle Spirit Body.

’If I don’t punish him a little, this guy will just forget the pain once the wound heals.’

...

"Niu? Niu!"

Mushroom swallowed nervously. He’d been shouting for a while but heard no response from Niuniu.

Holy shit!

Mushroom had a bad feeling. Even if Niu had croaked, he should at least be able to see his Wandering Soul.

’His soul is gone... Don’t tell me he got caught in a bug and the game crashed?’

"Fuck."

At that thought, Mushroom couldn’t be bothered to return to the Spirit Candle to log off. He just forced himself offline.

And after he left...

The Candle Spirit Body, which should have stood motionless without a player controlling it, slowly turned its head as if lured by something, its eyes staring straight at the Dark Boundary...

...

[Warning! You have entered an extremely dangerous area! Please leave immediately!]

A blood-red message flashed, heralding the Descent of a terrible danger.

But Niuniu was in no state to pay attention to any of that.

In that one instant, he felt as if he saw all sorts of terrifying, bloody scenes and waves of despair rushing toward him like a giant tsunami, threatening to swallow him whole.

And he was like a lone boat in a storm. Just by watching, despair welled up in his heart, and agony began to grow uncontrollably.

But in the next moment...

A giant hand seemed to reach out from behind him, snatching him back and pulling him away from all that terror.

When he came to his senses again, his vision was pitch-black, with only the faint glow of the Spirit Candle’s game interface before his eyes.

"HUFF!"

"HUFF... HUFF..."

The still-shaken Niuniu came to, gasping for air as if he had just survived a disaster. The unfocused look in his eyes slowly returned to normal.

"Holy shit..."

"Even if you don’t want people going to the edge of the map, you don’t have to do this! That was too damn scary!"

Niuniu swallowed, his breathing still ragged. The feeling from that moment was something he would likely never forget for the rest of his life.

His very survival instincts recoiled at the thought of remembering that moment.

"Dammit, I’m done. I’m so done..."

Niuniu wiped away his sweat. He was brave enough to try new things, but he didn’t have a death wish.

Just as he recovered and was about to re-enter the game, he heard his phone ring.

He was a bit surprised. Exiting the waiting lobby, he saw it was a call from Mushroom.

"Hello? Niu, you alright, man?"

"I’m fine, the game just crashed on me. I’ll be right back."

After hanging up, Niuniu put his helmet back on and re-entered the game.

However, a series of notifications awaited him.

[Notice: After entering the Dark Boundary, your body was annihilated. After being reforged, your strength will be reduced.]

[Your remaining Wax Oil has been reset to zero.]

"What the fuck?"

Niuniu was dumbfounded.

’Seriously? Is the penalty for exploring the edge of the map this severe?’

’They wiped out all my Wax Oil!’

Niuniu wanted to cry but had no tears left.

After entering the game, it was the same familiar body, but he could keenly feel that its strength seemed to have decreased.

Sure enough, Niuniu opened his personal information panel and took a look.

[I do Bull’s Push-ups]

[Tier: Residual Ash]

[Level: 3]

[Ability Value: (View Details)]

[Talent: Sneaky]

[Skill: Dodge]

’Oh god, they knocked my Level 7 character down to a Level 3 newbie...’

Niuniu’s face twisted in agony.

This time, he had truly learned his lesson.

...

After learning that Niuniu was fine, Mushroom logged back in.

Regaining control of his body, he was startled to see the Dark Boundary so close and quickly maneuvered the Spirit Fire Raft backward.

’I almost drifted in there myself.’

Mushroom felt a lingering fear.

He had assumed the Spirit Fire Raft had drifted closer to the Dark Boundary because of the ocean waves while he was logged off.

With that thought, Mushroom didn’t linger any longer and quickly headed for Candle Island with his pile of things.

Behind him, the darkness remained profound, like the gaping maw of an Abyss awaiting its prey...

...

「Time gradually passed.」

The number of players on Candle Island also grew day by day.

More and more laborers meant less and less work for Luo Ge.

In the beginning, as the Candlekeeper, he still had to kill monsters to earn Wax Oil. But now, he had turned a profit, with players providing him with a steady supply of it.

Naturally, Luo Ge could now free up his energy to do other things.

One of them was practicing the use of the Spirit Candle’s Perception Power.

After some research, he discovered that the Spirit Candle’s Perception Power could not only cover a wide area but could also be focused for precise exploration.

So, recently, he had been using the Spirit Candle’s Power to perceive monsters in the nearby sea. He would then feed the information into the Spirit Candle, just like with the monsters on Candle Island, so that players could see it and wouldn’t be completely clueless when encountering them for the first time.

’This monster seems a bit special...’

Luo Ge’s brow furrowed as he perceived an unknown monster.

It was a strange, manta-ray-shaped fish with long, glowing tendrils covering its belly. A bizarre, periscope-like appendage grew from its head, from which Luo Ge could sense a faint, peculiar power.

This was also a powerful monster, similar to the Giant-tailed Sea Monster, that could be considered an Elite Monster or a small world boss.

’I’ll go check it out tonight. It might drop something special...’

Luo Ge made a mental note of it, planning to go when there were fewer players around.

Then, he thought for a moment and decided to post an announcement on the forums that player slots were temporarily unavailable.

However, a player’s post caught his attention.

CallMeHighPlant: "My godson said this game is super fun, so I came because of the hype, but why are there no slots?!!! I’ve been waiting for so long! I’ll pay! Can’t I just pay money?! If you give me a slot, I’d even be willing to make it so my godson can’t play this game anymore. Just give me a slot, I’m begging you! @Spirit Candle (Crying)(Crying)(Crying)"

Below, quite a few players expressed their agreement.

"..." Luo Ge didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’Buddy, I’ve been reincarnated in an Otherworld. What use do I have for your money? If I wanted anything, it’d be Wax Oil...’

’Wait... Wax Oil?!’

An idea suddenly flashed in Luo Ge’s mind.

’Hiss... These veteran players like Li Miao and Faraway seem to have a lot of Wax Oil saved up, don’t they?’

’Perhaps... it’s time to find a new way to scam... no, to *earn* back the Wax Oil in their hands!’