Chapter 16: Finally Face-to-Face
The appearance of two giant beasts in quick succession had trampled a huge swath of the forest.
By now, dawn had broken, and visibility was finally improving.
Rongrong led the way while Dong Li tucked the two little beasts—one black, one white—inside his coat.
The blizzard had sent the temperature plummeting. Dong Li pulled up his hood and wrapped his coat tightly around himself, still not quite recovered from everything that had just happened.
If only he hadn’t stopped to sleep last night.
He’d woken up to find so many players all at once.
Seeing Heidan injured had broken his heart. Dong Li knew Heidan had only opened its Domain at the end to protect him, drawing all the attacks onto itself.
Thankfully, Yuanbao had been there.
So Yuanbao really had recovered…
Dong Li took out the metal plate and opened it again.
The information on the screen had changed once more.
Probably because both demonic beasts had used their abilities at the same time, the metal plate had detected two different energy signatures and displayed both of their information.
[Species: Ice Qilin]
[Region: Fuling]
[Level: 150]
[HP: 35,000]
[Status: Weakened]
[Species: Bronze-Armored Taotie]
[Region: Dragonbone]
[Level: 180]
[HP: 30,000]
[Status: Weakened]
Dong Li read everything carefully, then fell into thought.
So Heidan was actually a higher level than Yuanbao!
But it had less health.
By now, Dong Li had finally learned a little more about the two demonic-beast bosses.
When there weren’t many opponents, Heidan could probably handle them easily. But against a large group, it couldn’t win.
Yuanbao’s blizzard was incredibly powerful—it had frozen all those players into ice statues in an instant—but using it once seemed to drain Yuanbao completely.
Heidan had just suffered serious injuries too. Although the pills had helped it recover a good deal, its status was still Weakened.
Dong Li put the metal plate away.
They needed to get out of here quickly and find somewhere safe.
Fortunately, he had gathered plenty of herbs over the past couple of days, so he still had a decent stock of pills.
The bigger problem now was that a lot of players had seen him.
The two little beasts could hide inside his clothes.
Dong Li, on the other hand, was much harder to conceal.
If only he had one of those black coats the players wore…
Something that could cover his face and hair too.
His thoughts drifted back to the white hat in the clothing store.
He had arrived in Dragonbone Town in a hurry and left just as suddenly, yet somehow the thing he regretted most was not getting that hat.
And then there was Lufiel…
Dong Li had hugged the ice statue earlier.
He had even lost control and kissed it.
Now that he had gradually calmed down, though—an ex-boyfriend was still an ex-boyfriend.
They had broken up a long time ago.
Lufiel had probably come here because of the demonic beasts.
Besides, during those few times they had crossed paths in Dragonbone Town, Lufiel hadn’t exactly come over and tried to talk to him.
Dong Li had conveniently forgotten that the first time they met on the street, he had been the one to lower his head and pretend not to see Lufiel.
As for what he had done to the ice statue…
Well, it was only an ice statue.
He’d kissed it. So what?
Dong Li felt no guilt whatsoever.
He had started pursuing Lufiel in the first place because Lufiel was handsome.
Rongrong continued scouting ahead, its nose twitching every now and then.
Dong Li watched their surroundings warily too, one hand protecting the pockets of his coat.
For now, Yuanbao and Heidan were both weak.
If they ran into danger again, Dong Li would have to protect them.
After walking for a while longer, he spotted two or three unconscious hawk-spirit NPCs lying on the ground.
They had probably gotten caught up in the chaos when the giant beasts appeared.
Dong Li had once thought Level 10 NPCs were incredibly strong.
Apparently they weren’t much after all…
Just then, Rongrong turned sharply toward one side and let out a low, wary growl.
Dong Li followed its gaze.
Behind a tree not far away, a dirty gray wing drooped to the ground.
Huh?
What was that…?
Rongrong immediately spat out a small burst of golden fire.
The flames struck the tree trunk.
The figure hiding behind it hurriedly stumbled backward, finally revealing himself.
[Regional Mini-Boss · Half-Demon Titmouse]
[Region: Maidong]
He looked like a child who hadn’t yet reached adulthood.
His whole body was filthy, his hair tangled, and he was shivering in the suddenly freezing forest.
A pair of large wings hung from his back.
Huh…
A bird person?
No, wait.
A half-demon?
Dong Li froze as he remembered the iron cage the mayor had transported through town yesterday.
So this was the half-demon they had supposedly borrowed from another city…
But no matter how Dong Li looked at him, he was just a child with wings.
Maybe fifteen or sixteen years old at most.
The half-demon’s brown eyes were filled with fear.
He barely dared look at Dong Li or Rongrong.
A broken length of iron chain was still fastened around his neck.
Not long ago, the leopard had been injured and had fled with the mayor amid the chaos, leaving him behind.
Dong Li studied him, puzzled.
Then his heart softened despite himself.
According to the text above his head, this half-demon was still a regional mini-boss.
Yet he looked absolutely miserable…
In this game world, half-demons were probably considered part of the same “evil” faction as demonic beasts.
Dong Li hesitated for a moment, then walked toward him.
The closer Dong Li came, the more frightened the half-demon became.
He tried to shrink back, but he was too weak to escape.
“D-Don’t be scared,” Dong Li said softly as he approached. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
He crouched in front of the half-demon, thought for a moment, then opened his little medicine furnace.
Dong Li took out several pills and placed them in front of him.
“Can you eat these?”
The half-demon caught the fragrance of the medicine.
He seemed unable to believe what was happening.
After a long pause, he gave a tiny nod.
“Once you finish them, hurry and hide,” Dong Li whispered. “More players might come soon.”
The half-demon seemed to understand only vaguely.
He watched as Dong Li stood and walked away.
Rongrong lagged behind for a few steps.
It secretly watched the half-demon wolf down the pills.
Only when his wings visibly relaxed and spread a little did Rongrong finally turn and hurry after Dong Li.
—
About twenty minutes later, Dong Li finally made it out of Northern Dark Forest.
On the opposite side of the forest lay Maidong City.
Like Dragonbone Town, there was also an outer district beyond the city walls, dotted with giant rocks in all kinds of irregular shapes.
Dong Li’s journey had been surprisingly smooth.
The destruction caused by the two giant beasts seemed to have disrupted the maze-like formation in the forest, finally allowing the paths to return to normal.
But just as Dong Li neared the edge of the woods, he spotted more than a dozen players in the distance.
They wore all kinds of different clothes and stood in groups of two or three.
It looked like they had been waiting there for some time, though none of them stood too close to the forest itself.
Dong Li hid behind a tree and watched them.
His instincts told him this was bad.
They were probably here looking for the demonic beasts too.
He was still debating whether to find some way to lure them away or retreat back into the forest when several short arrows suddenly came flying from nowhere.
They struck at every player in the area.
“Fuck! Ambush!”
“Who is it?!”
“It’s that one from Tianheng Star—”
“Liuye! What the hell did we ever do to you?!”
Huh?
Dong Li cautiously peeked out.
Why had they suddenly started fighting?
And it seemed to be one person against everyone else.
A strange figure moved through the crowd, swinging a long blade and somehow holding her own without the slightest disadvantage.
Dong Li watched curiously.
But he didn’t have time to stand around watching people fight.
While everyone’s attention was distracted, he pulled up his hood, scooped Rongrong into his arms, and dashed out of the forest.
He quickly hid behind one of the giant rocks nearby.
Cries of pain and angry curses rang out behind him.
The fighting grew louder.
Dong Li carefully slipped over to another rock.
His nerves were stretched tight.
He looked toward the distant city gate, then toward a stretch of dark forest beside it.
There would definitely be a lot of people inside the city too.
Maybe he should hide in that forest first and wait until Yuanbao and Heidan recovered…
Decision made, Dong Li began sneaking from rock to rock.
He didn’t notice the sounds of fighting gradually dying down behind him.
When he finally reached the fifth boulder, a cold gust swept over his head.
Someone landed on top of the rock.
Dong Li looked up.
It was the person who had attacked those players earlier.
“Hi.” Liuye wore a mask as she greeted him casually. “You’re Dong Li, right?”
Before Dong Li could even panic, he froze.
“How do you know—”
Liuye glanced past him.
“He’s here.”
Then she jumped down from the boulder and disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.
Dong Li followed the direction she had looked.
And saw Lufiel.
Lufiel wasn’t wearing his mask.
His black outer robe fluttered in the strong wind sweeping through the outskirts.
His gaze was fixed directly on Dong Li as he walked toward him.
Dong Li froze for a second.
Then, purely on instinct, he turned to run.
Hum—
A massive crimson-and-gold sword dropped from the sky and hovered upright in front of him, blocking his escape.
