Chapter 15: He Kissed Me
A thin barrier of compressed air covered the outside of the wall, but Rongrong tore straight through it with one swipe of its paw.
Dong Li jumped to the ground.
Several hawk spirits immediately swooped in to stop him and Rongrong—
only for several streaks of golden sword aura to flash past and knock them all back.
Rongrong seemed to sense something and looked up in confusion.
Dong Li didn’t notice anything unusual. He scooped up the little fox, turned around, and ran.
“Who’s there?!”
“Stop!”
But more patrol guards were already rushing in from another direction.
With countless hawk spirits watching from overhead, Dong Li had nowhere to hide.
Heidan finally lost patience and crawled out of Dong Li’s coat.
It had caught Lufiel’s scent just now.
That was the man who had beaten it half to death before!
Heidan’s crimson eyes sharpened warily. It didn’t act immediately, but there were patrol guards everywhere, and players in the distance were starting to notice the commotion and come over to investigate.
With so many humans nearby, Heidan couldn’t help swallowing.
Then it looked hopefully at Dong Li.
Dong Li was completely at a loss.
He looked down at Rongrong and the two little beasts in his arms and murmured, “What do we do…?”
What did they do?
Was he asking it?
Heidan’s eyes lit up instantly.
“Awooo!”
Before Dong Li could react, the tiny black figure leaped from his arms.
Under the night sky, at least thirty hawk-spirit patrol guards rushed toward the disturbance.
Lufiel was several steps behind them.
He had watched Dong Li jump from the wall and immediately sent his sword aura after him.
Dong Li had been perfectly fine when he entered the Trial Grounds that afternoon.
Yet by the time he appeared again at night, a huge number of patrol guards were surrounding and pursuing him.
Almost instinctively, Lufiel’s sword aura knocked aside the hawk spirits near Dong Li.
The faint outline of the Crimson-Gold Sword also appeared at his side, restless and ready to be drawn.
Players who killed too many NPCs without cause could also become red-named and wanted.
Within the game’s setting, that was treated as falling into the path of a half-demon.
But Lufiel couldn’t care about any of that right now.
His mind was filled with the look Dong Li had given him from atop the wall.
It had been as though…
Dong Li remembered him.
The disturbance was loud enough that other players were already rushing over.
Lufiel reached into empty space and closed his hand around the hilt of his sword, preparing to eliminate every NPC in the way.
But the moment the Crimson-Gold Sword left its sheath, something else happened.
Beside the wall, a mass of pitch-black clouds began swelling rapidly.
[Attention]
[Demonic energy detected at coordinates (90, 200). Concentration: Level 5.]
“ROAR!”
With a deafening bellow, the enormous Taotie appeared outside the wall as if from nowhere.
Its colossal body blocked out the moonlight, plunging the surrounding area into deeper darkness.
“A demonic beast!”
One of the nearest patrol guards shouted, “Fall back! Fall back!”
The Taotie roared again, opened its enormous jaws, and effortlessly swallowed two people.
All the NPCs descended into panic.
According to everything they knew, this demonic beast should never have appeared here like this.
Only Lufiel saw clearly that someone was clinging to the back of the Bronze-Armored Taotie’s neck.
His pupils contracted.
For a moment, his grip on the sword hilt faltered.
Dong Li was clutching one of the beast’s raised armor plates with both arms, patting its head frantically.
“Go, go! And stop eating people!”
When Heidan suddenly transformed, Dong Li had nearly frozen in shock.
Rongrong had reacted faster, biting his hand to snap him out of it.
The moment the giant beast appeared, the patrol guards and hawk spirits all treated it like a deadly threat and hurriedly backed away.
Heidan had barely gotten two bites in and was thoroughly unsatisfied.
But Dong Li kept urging it onward, so it obediently turned and charged toward the dark forest in the distance.
—
Not long afterward, the mayor personally arrived at the scene.
When the Taotie appeared, it had accidentally cracked part of the wall, and several NPCs were already busy repairing it.
The enormous leopard spirit prowled back and forth, radiating aggression.
In the middle of the open ground beside the wall sat another cage covered in black cloth.
The mayor stood at the front, his expression grave.
“The demonic beast was last seen entering Northern Dark Forest. Spirit wielders, please assist us in hunting it down and killing it before it causes further disaster!”
By then, a large crowd of players had gathered.
“Finally, a quest. But why did the Taotie run toward Northern Dark Forest?”
“Maybe its roaming range expanded. Where was it hiding before? How did it not come out and eat anyone?”
One player approached the mayor and asked, “What about the ancient demon king? Has the new boss appeared yet?”
The mayor’s face grew even more serious.
“We have yet to confirm any information regarding the demon king. But for a demonic beast to infiltrate Dragonbone Town, it must have received the demon king’s assistance!”
Liufeng was among the crowd.
He stared at the chaos in shock.
“What the hell…?”
He had only been offline for half a day.
How had so much happened already?
He stepped back a few paces and lowered his voice.
“Where are you?”
Lufiel answered over the voice call.
“Northern Dark Forest.”
Liufeng had already guessed he’d gone after Dong Li.
“You really saw the Taotie take him away? You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“That’s weird.” Liufeng scratched his head. “The NPCs back here aren’t mentioning Dong Li at all.”
According to Lufiel, the patrol guards had originally been chasing Dong Li.
But the moment the Taotie appeared, all the NPCs’ attention shifted to the beast.
It was as though they had completely forgotten that someone had just tried to escape town without permission.
Liufeng thought aloud.
“He left the Fuling Region and came to Dragonbone Town, then somehow became an NPC at the Trial Grounds, and then… tried to sneak out again? Could it have something to do with the Taotie?”
He was trying to interpret Dong Li’s behavior from the perspective of a game NPC.
It could very well be part of the new storyline.
But no matter how he thought about it, something didn’t add up.
Lufiel didn’t respond.
Instead, he asked, “How many people accepted the quest?”
The Taotie had appeared in a region where it shouldn’t have been, and the entrance to Northern Dark Forest was close to Dragonbone Town.
Worried that the demonic beast might return, the mayor had asked players to join the hunt.
“Hard to say. A few have already started heading toward Northern Dark Forest.” Liufeng glanced roughly over the crowd. “Most people came for the arena anyway. Since there’s a new storyline happening right next to them, they’re taking the quest while they’re here.”
There were no long-distance teleportation arrays in the game.
The arena would open the next morning, so plenty of ranked players had already arrived tonight.
And now that Lufiel had registered too…
He hadn’t appeared in the arena for a very long time.
Partly because he attracted too much attention and everyone wanted to challenge him.
And partly because his combat-power rating hadn’t been updated in ages.
Now that his first-place ranking was on the verge of being overtaken and he had suddenly returned, the other players were taking the competition even more seriously.
In any case…
Liufeng lowered his voice.
“Find him as soon as you can. Liuye will head over later too.”
They still didn’t know exactly what was happening.
They couldn’t let someone else discover Dong Li traveling with the Taotie first.
“Okay.”
The call ended.
Lufiel stood inside Northern Dark Forest, golden sword aura gathering around him and illuminating the way ahead.
The giant beast’s tracks stopped abruptly here.
It had probably shrunk back into its smaller form afterward and hidden somewhere in the woods.
Dense trees and weeds covered the entire forest, making the search difficult.
Another voice call came through.
Lufiel answered.
“The mayor of Dragonbone Town is heading there too,” Liufeng said. “They brought a half-demon with them.”
—
At the same time, Dong Li was carefully making his way through the forest.
When Heidan had carried him away, Dong Li sat on the giant beast’s neck and watched Dragonbone Town grow smaller and smaller behind them.
His heart had been racing.
He’d also been incredibly excited.
Heidan’s giant form was about the same size as Yuanbao’s.
Riding on its back really did feel impressive!
With Heidan’s help, escaping had been far easier than Dong Li expected.
Though they had still been spotted in the end.
If he had known, he should have simply left at noon…
Only now did Dong Li belatedly realize that he had two demonic beasts with him.
Maybe there were plenty of situations where he didn’t actually need to worry so much.
Afterward, Heidan carried him into a dense forest.
The giant beast intended to charge straight through.
But after stepping over broken tree trunks and traveling for a while, it somehow ended up back where they had started.
Heidan was confused.
It changed direction slightly and tried again.
Only to return to the same place.
That was when Dong Li realized something was wrong too.
He asked Heidan to shrink, then tried walking on his own.
Dong Li kept the metal plate open and checked the map as they moved.
The pale light from the screen barely illuminated their surroundings.
Rongrong walked in front, occasionally breathing out a small puff of golden fire to check the way ahead.
Heidan followed close behind Rongrong’s tail.
Yuanbao had also climbed out of Dong Li’s coat and was looking around.
According to the map, the forest was long and narrow, almost like a straight river.
If they picked the correct direction, they should be able to cross it in a little over an hour.
But Dong Li had no idea how long they’d been walking when he checked the coordinates again.
They had barely moved at all.
“What’s going on…” he muttered. “Did we walk into a maze?”
And it was night.
Everything was pitch-black.
They couldn’t even leave useful markers behind because all the trees looked exactly the same.
Eventually, Dong Li grew tired and sat beneath a tree to rest.
Rongrong prowled around nearby, using golden fire to drive away a few small insects.
Dong Li pulled out some wild fruit he had picked along the way, wiped it casually on his sleeve, and took a bite.
Fortunately, it tasted good.
Otherwise, he might not have had anything to eat tonight.
He chewed on the fruit while opening the game forum.
As expected, everyone was talking about what had happened in Dragonbone Town that night.
The players were shocked that the Taotie had appeared again.
They were also curious about what the mysterious demon king the mayor kept mentioning actually looked like.
No new boss had ever been introduced with this much secrecy.
Dong Li skimmed through several threads.
No one mentioned him.
Thinking about it, that made sense.
There had only been patrol guards nearby when Heidan appeared.
The players wouldn’t know why the Taotie had suddenly shown up.
But…
Dong Li lowered his lashes and stared blankly ahead for a moment.
Aside from the NPCs, Lufiel had been there too.
He was probably the only player who had seen Dong Li.
Why did he keep running into him…?
Dong Li complained silently to himself and shut off the metal plate.
After finishing the fruit, he opened his medicine furnace and fed the two little beasts.
Then he simply lay down in the soft grass.
Dong Li had no idea what Rongrong had done, but the blades beneath him felt pleasantly warm.
He turned onto his side, hugged the little fox close, and buried his face in its thick, soft fur.
Gradually, sleep began to overtake him.
Heidan yawned too.
Yuanbao crawled out of Dong Li’s coat and settled protectively beside him.
—
Meanwhile, quite a few people had entered Northern Dark Forest in search of the Taotie.
Game time matched reality exactly.
Even though it was already very late, plenty of players were willing to stay awake for the chance to discover the new storyline first—and possibly obtain hidden rewards.
The mayor and his leopard spirit arrived shortly afterward, bringing more players with them.
Two patrol guard NPCs walked at the front to clear the way.
The leopard held a thick iron chain in its mouth.
At the other end was a half-demon.
The half-demon was painfully thin, his tattered clothes barely covering his body.
A pair of dirty wings drooped behind him.
He trembled constantly and looked as though he could barely stand.
Under the NPCs’ repeated urging, he forced himself to sense the direction ahead.
A player looked at him curiously.
“What kind of half-demon is that?”
“Probably some kind of sparrow demon. They’re using him for tracking,” his companion replied. “But there’s an illusion formation in this forest, so be careful.”
Suddenly, the half-demon raised his head and looked timidly in one direction.
The mayor immediately pointed.
“This way!”
Several players rushed forward.
But the illusion formation was even stronger at night.
Even with special items, it was easy to get lost.
They wandered around in circles and eventually returned to where they had started.
With no other choice, they continued following the mayor and the half-demon.
—
Elsewhere, Dong Li was sleeping soundly.
He knew nothing about the danger approaching.
Rongrong woke once during the night, breathed a scorching blast into the grass, then went back to sleep.
It wasn’t until dawn began to brighten the sky that Heidan woke first.
It spotted a small squirrel nearby and chased it playfully for a few steps.
The squirrel leaped onto a branch and quickly disappeared.
Then faint footsteps sounded nearby.
Heidan froze.
A moment later, it glared viciously at the person who emerged between the trees.
Lufiel stood in the forest, looking at the little black beast.
A low hum sounded beside him.
The Crimson-Gold Sword materialized in midair.
He caught the hilt in one hand.
“Where’s Dong Li?”
Heidan had no idea what relationship Lufiel had with Dong Li.
As far as it was concerned, this man was an enemy.
“Awooo!”
Its body immediately began expanding.
Hmph.
The last time this man beat it up, it had hurt more than anyone else’s attacks.
But that was then.
This time, he didn’t have anyone else helping him.
Heidan wouldn’t even need to use its Domain.
It would eat him first, then take Dong Li and leave.
“ROAR!”
Within a few breaths, the enormous Taotie raised a paw and slammed it toward Lufiel.
—
Elsewhere in the forest, Dong Li jolted awake at the roar.
He opened his eyes blearily.
Yuanbao lifted a paw and pointed in one direction.
At almost the same time, the group led by the mayor finally arrived.
The giant beast towered above the trees, impossible to miss.
“Finally found it!”
A player immediately sent the coordinates to the others.
“Come on! Let’s go!”
The mayor sat atop the leopard and checked the half-demon’s condition.
The Taotie’s demonic aura was overwhelming.
The half-demon leaned trembling against a tree—
yet his gaze was fixed somewhere else.
Not where the giant beast stood.
Slightly off to one side.
The mayor shouted,
“It’s this way!”
Several players looked confused.
In the end, the group naturally split in two.
One group went to surround and kill the Taotie.
The other followed the direction indicated by the mayor.
Both sides soon found their targets.
Lufiel had not yet dealt a killing blow to the Taotie when more players arrived to assist.
Dong Li, worried about Heidan, was trying to head toward the battle when the other group spotted him.
“Who are you?” the player at the front asked, studying him. “An NPC?”
“Yeah,” his companion said. “He has a spirit body. Looks like… a fox spirit?”
Rongrong stood protectively beside Dong Li, its violet eyes full of vigilance.
The direction indicated by the half-demon had led them to a fox spirit?
The players were confused.
But also curious.
“Whatever. Grab him first.”
Dong Li immediately turned and ran.
Rongrong spat out a huge burst of golden fire, then spun around to follow him.
A player summoned a shield to block the flames and was about to give chase—
when a massive black claw came crashing down between them.
Sensing danger near Dong Li, the Taotie abandoned the attacks landing on its body and rushed over to stop them.
The players tried to dodge around it and continue pursuing Dong Li.
Then an enormous formation appeared beneath their feet.
[Bronze-Armored Taotie] — [Domain]
A wall of black mist rose, dragging every player inside.
“Is the Taotie protecting that fox spirit?” one player clicked his tongue.
The shield in his hand transformed into a long whip.
“Fine. We’ll kill you first.”
Not far away, Dong Li saw the Domain appear too.
He stopped.
“Heidan…”
His worry intensified.
He hadn’t seen exactly how many players had arrived.
What if Heidan couldn’t beat them?
As long as…
As long as Lufiel wasn’t here…
The dense trees blocked his view.
He could hear the chaotic clash of attacks inside the Domain, but couldn’t see what was actually happening.
There was no way Dong Li could abandon Heidan and leave.
He was still hesitating over whether to move closer when another sound came from the side.
A giant leopard slowly emerged from the trees.
Its vertical pupils locked onto Dong Li.
Before he could react, it crouched and sprang directly at him.
Yuanbao urgently lashed its tail and jumped from Dong Li’s arms.
But Rongrong was faster.
The leopard saw only a blinding flash.
A massive surge of intense golden fire erupted in front of it.
The scorching heat seemed capable of consuming and incinerating everything.
The leopard had no time to dodge.
Surrounded by flame, it forcibly twisted aside, its huge muscular body crashing through several trees.
Rongrong spat out another blast.
Then bared its teeth viciously.
“Mm!”
The leopard scrambled upright and retreated in embarrassment.
Dong Li nearly stared himself speechless.
Once the leopard disappeared, he scooped Rongrong into his arms.
“Rongrong…” Dong Li stared at it in disbelief. “When did you get this strong?”
The little fox withdrew its golden flames and looked innocently back at him with violet eyes.
“Mm?”
The leopard had been easily driven away.
But things didn’t seem to be going nearly as well for Heidan.
Dong Li approached the Domain and climbed onto a moss-covered rock to look inside.
He didn’t seem to see Lufiel.
But there were plenty of unfamiliar players.
All of them were attacking the Taotie.
The giant beast’s roars came one after another.
Armor shards littered the ground within the Domain.
Another lightning attack struck.
The Taotie was forced half a step backward.
Dong Li grew more anxious by the second.
What should he do…?
There were too many people.
Heidan really seemed unable to beat them.
Rongrong tried spitting fire at the Domain, but the barrier shut everything outside.
Nothing could pass through.
Only Yuanbao remained relatively calm.
It licked Dong Li’s fingertip as though telling him not to worry.
Dong Li vaguely understood.
He lowered his head.
“Yuanbao…”
Before long, the Taotie could no longer hold on.
With a sharp crack, the Domain shattered completely.
The giant beast rapidly began to shrink.
A moment later, the little black beast lay panting in the grass.
Heidan glared furiously at the players in front of it, deeply unwilling to admit defeat.
Damn it.
Why had so many strong people suddenly shown up?
It couldn’t beat them at all.
Had Dong Li managed to escape?
And what about that one called Yuanbao…
Heidan sniffed the air.
Then suddenly caught Dong Li’s scent nearby.
It froze and looked up.
At the same moment, several other players spotted Dong Li too.
He was standing on a large rock, golden hair stirring in the wind.
His violet eyes perfectly matched those of the little fox beside him.
Someone stared.
“Who’s that…?”
Lufiel tightened his grip on the Crimson-Gold Sword.
He didn’t look at Dong Li.
Instead, his gaze swept across the surrounding players as he prepared to kill every last one of them.
Then the temperature in the forest suddenly plummeted.
An icy wind roared through the trees.
Dong Li shouted,
“Heidan, get down!”
The next instant, swirling snow and mist appeared from nowhere.
A white shape began rapidly expanding within it…
Another giant beast emerged.
Its body was covered in fine snow-white fur.
Horns rose from its head.
Its icy-blue eyes were cold and piercing.
“Holy shit!”
“Wait, isn’t that—”
The beast threw back its head and roared.
A massive blizzard erupted.
[Ice Qilin] — [Song of Ice and Snow]
Almost instantly, before anyone could evade it, the storm swept through them all.
Dong Li pulled up his hood and clutched Rongrong tightly.
He hid behind Yuanbao’s front leg, where the attack couldn’t reach him.
Only when the blizzard gradually subsided did he cautiously peek out.
Frost covered the entire forest.
In the span of moments, early autumn had turned into deep winter.
Every player who had been there before…
was now an ice statue.
The frozen figures began cracking one after another.
Limbs broke off and crashed to the ground, shattering into even smaller fragments.
Once it confirmed the danger was gone, Yuanbao shrank back down.
Dong Li picked it up and carefully asked,
“Did they all die?”
Yuanbao gave a soft “mm” and proudly flicked its tail.
Rongrong grew curious.
It padded forward over the snow and smashed apart the remaining intact ice statues with its paws.
Dong Li hurriedly called, “Heidan?”
The moment the name left his mouth, a black blur shot out from a corner.
“Awooo!”
Dong Li quickly caught Heidan as it raced toward him.
He hugged it close with the others and immediately fed it several pills.
Heidan rubbed against Dong Li’s fingers, then against Yuanbao.
It even tried to lick one of Yuanbao’s horns.
Yuanbao shoved it away in disgust.
Seeing that both little beasts were all right, Dong Li finally relaxed.
He looked around again.
Every player’s ice statue had shattered.
Except one.
Rongrong stood beneath the intact statue, staring up at it.
Then it looked at Dong Li.
Dong Li hesitated.
Slowly, he walked over.
Even with a mask covering his face…
even frozen solid inside ice…
Dong Li recognized him instantly.
He stopped in front of Lufiel.
His emotions became complicated.
When Heidan carried him away from Dragonbone Town, Dong Li hadn’t had time to think about anything.
And now…
he had run into Lufiel again.
Still, Lufiel had probably come here because of the demonic beasts too.
Dong Li stared at him.
Then suddenly realized something.
Lufiel’s body was facing a different direction from everyone else’s.
When the blizzard appeared, all the others had tried to escape.
They simply hadn’t made it in time.
But Lufiel…
had turned toward Dong Li instead.
Almost as if he had been trying to get closer.
Dong Li looked bewildered.
He remembered yesterday morning too.
How Lufiel had stayed near the herb field the entire time.
That strange feeling returned.
Maybe because after all these years apart, this was the first time the two of them had been this close again.
Dong Li couldn’t resist reaching out.
He touched the frozen metal mask.
“Lulu…” he murmured, studying him carefully.
Yuanbao gently tugged at Dong Li’s sleeve with its teeth, reminding him that they needed to leave quickly.
Heidan glanced between them, confused.
It had no idea what relationship Dong Li had with this man.
But Dong Li was still lost in thought.
He supposed…maybe he still liked his ex-boyfriend after all.
Otherwise, why would he still think Lufiel looked so handsome even as an ice statue?
In the end, Dong Li couldn’t resist hugging him too.
It was only an ice statue.
And Dong Li was about to leave anyway.
When they broke up, he had never even gotten the chance to say goodbye properly.
Dong Li wrapped his arms around Lufiel.
Strangely, he didn’t feel cold.
It was almost as though he could still feel warmth through the ice.
And then—he couldn’t stop himself from kissing Lufiel lightly on the cheek.
“Lulu, I…”
Before he could finish, cracks suddenly spread across the ice statue on their own.
Chunks of ice fell to the ground.
Dong Li jumped in fright.
He didn’t dare waste another second.
With Rongrong and the two little beasts, he hurried away.
—
At the same time, the game forum exploded.
[Title: This Is What I Get for Staying Up All Night Waiting for the New Boss]
[Title: Can Someone Please Explain What the Hell Just Happened? I’m So Confused]
[Title: Who Is That Mysterious Fox Spirit?! Also, Damn, He’s Pretty]
[Title: Did Everyone Die? Because I Died Too]
[Title: Forget the Taotie—WHY DID THE ICE QILIN SHOW UP?! WHY?!]
No one could survive the Ice Qilin’s ultimate.
If you saw it, you died.
But before the ice statues shattered, players’ consciousness remained where they were.
Which meant quite a few people had seen Dong Li.
Several hot threads shot to the top of the forum.
Then a new one suddenly appeared.
[Title: Holy Shit, Lufiel Lost a Level Too.]
Liufeng finally managed to connect the voice call.
“What happened? Did they—”
Lufiel cut him off before he could finish.
“He woke up.”
Liufeng froze.
“What?”
Lufiel’s voice was very quiet.
But his breathing sounded heavy, as though he were desperately restraining something.
“Rongrong woke up.”
It took Liufeng a second to remember who “Rongrong” was.
Then he instinctively asked,
“How do you know?”
“He kissed me.”
Liufeng went silent again.
After a long moment, he asked,
“And then?”
At the respawn point, Lufiel didn’t wait even a second.
He paid the enormous gold fee for an early resurrection and immediately headed back toward Northern Dark Forest.
Author’s Note:
And then?
—He ran away.
Hehe, they’re finally going to meet face-to-face!
