Chapter 19: The Dungeon Quest is Different

Chapter 19: Chapter 19: The Dungeon Quest is Different

From the bushes, a small, round, jade-green head poked out.

It raised its body, tilting its head. When it saw Shi Zhile, its pitch-black eyes seemed to hold an accusation.

Shi Zhile shook her head, dismissing the thought.

’It’s just a little snake. How could it possibly accuse someone?’

She tapped its head with a branch and whispered, "There are bad people around. If they find you, they’ll skin you, drain your blood, and roast you."

The snake’s body shuddered. It lowered itself and darted straight for Shi Zhile.

"So you really are intelligent. I’m very poor. I can’t afford to keep you."

The snake slithered up the branch, finally coiling itself around her wrist and becoming still.

Shi Zhile found this fascinating and didn’t throw it off.

First, the Cuiqing Snake wasn’t venomous and was quite beautiful.

Second, maybe this little guy really was sentient. It might even be able to scare off other players.

It was getting late. Only a crescent moon hung in the sky. Yawns broke out one after another, but since no one knew each other and everyone was wary, no one suggested setting up a watch.

Only the two girls with short hair were sleeping soundly.

「At three in the morning」, just as everyone’s guard was down and they were drowsy, a thick fog began to slowly rise from the foot of the mountain.

The Cuiqing Snake twisted its body, its tongue flicking in and out ceaselessly.

Shi Zhile forced herself to stay alert, taking two sips of spring water to wake herself up. "What’s wrong?"

"HISS HISS~"

"I don’t understand."

The snake’s head stretched out, pointing toward the woods, and then hissed twice.

Shi Zhile took out a branch again, wrapped a piece of unburnt, tattered underwear around the end, and lit it with the fire.

She put the rest of the bonfire into her backpack.

She got up and tiptoed toward the woods.

A light mist rose in the woods. The snake’s head changed direction, pointing straight up the mountain.

"Is it dangerous to stay here? Is the danger the fog or the animals in the mountains?"

"HISS HISS~"

’Okay, I still don’t get it!’

"Hiss once if it’s the fog, hiss twice if it’s the animals."

"HISS HISS HISS~"

"The fog and the animals are both dangerous!"

"HISS~"

’Looks like I guessed right!’

After Shi Zhile left, three people came up the small path halfway up the mountain.

Two men and a woman, all of them strikingly good-looking.

The trio took a short break, then continued up the path.

When Shi Zhile reached a fork in the road, she ran into a problem: she was lost.

To be more precise, it was like she was trapped in a supernatural maze.

No matter which path she took, she always ended up back at the starting point of the three-way fork.

The little snake hissed nonstop, its head pointing to one path one moment and another the next.

A small head filled with great confusion.

The soil in the woods was damp, leaving a footprint with every step, yet there were no footprints on the three paths she had just walked.

Shi Zhile frowned. She took out the Magma Stone Basin to repel insects and then a rock to sit on.

’A path I’ve walked should have shoe prints, but the game’s settings might not follow that rule. But I’ve walked down every path, only to end up back where I started...’

’Wait, I haven’t tried the path I came from!’

The little snake on her wrist suddenly coiled tighter. It raised the upper half of its body, its tiny, bean-like eyes staring fixedly at the middle path leading upward.

This was a defensive posture.

Shi Zhile became vigilant, her hand gripping the torch slick with a fine sweat.

’Are the mountain animals coming down?’

The sound of footsteps reached her. Shi Zhile put away the stone basin and cautiously moved to a blind spot at the fork.

There were two small trees here. As long as one wasn’t paying close attention, it would be difficult to spot her.

The footsteps drew closer, and Shi Zhile heard a familiar voice.

"Brother Nan, do you think something might have happened to Sister Zhile?"

"She’ll be fine!"

"How do you know? A lot of people have their eyes on that freshwater lake of hers.

One moment she’s rewarded with a water source, the next a dungeon instance starts. No matter how you look at it, this instance seems to be targeting her. I suspect the Water Source Beast the instance wants us to hunt is Sister Zhile herself."

’Hunt the Water Source Beast?’

’Why is the mission different?’

’Is everyone’s mission different, or is it just mine?’

Shi Zhile thought again of her own mission: "Survive."

She couldn’t help but connect the two.

Maybe Wang Peng was right. The target for the other players in this instance was her. Even if it wasn’t, someone would still want to kill her. After all, dead players drop their loot!

"I wonder where Chuyi got teleported to..."

"Come out!" The man’s voice was frigid as his gaze shot toward the trees.

Shi Zhile slowly emerged from behind the trees. Instantly, three pairs of eyes locked onto her.

"Sister Zhile? Is that really you?"

Shi Zhile nodded but didn’t move closer. "What a coincidence!"

An awkward smile hung on Wang Peng’s face.

"You heard all that? It was just a wild guess. It’s just that the instance starting was too much of a coincidence. You were forced into it right after getting the lake. Isn’t that just another way of getting players to hunt you down? Are you okay?"

Shi Zhile: "I’m fine."

She glanced at the path they’d come from. There were no footprints on it, yet their feet were caked with mud. ’Is the game treating me like I’m blind?’

"Maybe your guess wasn’t wrong. This instance is targeting me. I’ve been trapped here for half an hour. Look at that path." She pointed to the path they had come from.

"Does it lead up the mountain or down?"

Wang Peng: "Down the mountain! Isn’t that the way we just came up?"

Shi Zhile spread her hands. "In my eyes, it’s a path leading up! And it’s a path I’ve already walked, only to circle back."

Jiang Yu pointed to the other side. "Have you walked all three paths over here?"

Shi Zhile: "Three? Isn’t there only one path here?"

Everyone fell silent, their minds racing.

Jiang Yuxing, holding a torch, chuckled after a moment.

"Are you afraid we’ll kill you for your treasures?"

Shi Zhile was genuinely scared. These three were big and burly; they looked dangerous at a glance.

Even the shortest of them, Jiang Yu, was half a head taller than her. Her own lack of height, combined with her current physical weakness, truly left her feeling insecure.

Right now, she only had an axe for self-defense. If a real fight broke out, she’d be the one getting pinned down and slaughtered in close combat.

"What do you mean?"

Jiang Yuxing pointed at the empty space between them. "Good thing this place is small. If it were any bigger, you’d probably have run to the other side of the Earth."

Shi Zhile: "..."

’This man... what a vicious tongue!’

"We don’t know each other beyond a few trades. It’s only normal to be cautious when we don’t know each other’s character."

’How many people are as carefree as him? He’ll get himself killed sooner or later.’

She felt a sense of familiarity with Jiang Yuxing, yet she was certain she didn’t know anyone by that name. In the end, she looked toward the enthusiastic Brother Volcano.

"Brother Peng, am I right?"

"Right, right, right, Sister Zhile is..."

He looked at Jiang Yuxing, but when he met the man’s mocking gaze, he didn’t dare utter the last word.

Then he looked back at Shi Zhile, who was thin, small, and seemed well-behaved.

’She just doesn’t know Brother Nan and is afraid he might be a bad person.’

’What did she do wrong?’

Jiang Yu spoke, her voice as cold as a mountain stream:

"Right! You’re a young woman; you have to be wary of people. When necessary, you can’t even trust your teammates. In matters of life and death, you can’t trust family or lovers."

It sounded like there was a story behind her words.