Chapter 25: The Truth Potion Is Ready
Lufiel fell silent.
His breathing paused for a moment, still tense.
The sword-aura barrier around them silently thickened inch by inch, as if he wanted to make absolutely certain Dong Li couldn’t escape before forcibly taking him back to the Fuling Region.
Rongrong was trapped inside the barrier too. It raised a paw and scratched at the surface, but the barrier remained hard and completely intact.
The two little beasts crouched beside the fox.
Heidan wanted to try ramming it open with its head, but Yuanbao stopped it, signaling for it to wait and see what happened first.
It wasn’t time to fight yet.
Heidan listened to Yuanbao now, so it obediently held back and secretly observed the two people still holding each other.
Lufiel didn’t say anything for a long while.
Finally, he asked, “Why don’t you want to go back?”
His tone was no longer forceful.
He was simply asking what Dong Li wanted.
“I want to see what’s outside,” Dong Li answered honestly. “I don’t want to stay in the Fuling Region anymore. Every day is boring, and there’s no one there to play with me…”
“I can stay with you.”
That had once been true.
Back when they were dating, Dong Li had been very happy with Lufiel there.
“But…” Dong Li lowered his lashes. “Then you disappeared.”
Lufiel’s lips moved.
He fell silent again.
Dong Li tightened his arms around Lufiel’s waist and continued almost to himself,
“I already made it out on my own. Now I can go wherever I want. I don’t want to go back…”
He didn’t want to spend every day trapped in the Fuling Region and that little alchemy hut.
Especially now that he had discovered this world might actually be a game.
He was curious.
Players had so much freedom.
They could go anywhere they wanted.
Why couldn’t he?
Dong Li didn’t understand all those rules and restrictions anyway.
And as far as he was concerned, he hadn’t really done anything bad since leaving the Fuling Region.
At most, there had been the incident in Northern Dark Forest…
But those players didn’t actually die for good.
Lufiel had turned into an ice statue too, and yet here he was now, perfectly fine.
Dong Li cautiously looked up at him again.
Lufiel still wasn’t saying anything.
Nor had he removed the sword-aura barrier.
The view beyond it had grown increasingly blurred, obscured by layer upon layer of dense golden light until almost nothing outside was visible.
Dong Li pursed his lips.
Then he resorted to a threat.
“I’m not going back no matter what… If you don’t agree, I’ll have Heidan eat you!”
The moment Heidan heard that, it hurried over, ready to start eating at any moment.
Lufiel didn’t react.
He didn’t even look at Heidan.
Dong Li was still in his arms, and the threat sounded more like pouting than anything remotely dangerous.
At last, Lufiel lowered his eyes.
“I’ll think about it.”
Think about it?
Dong Li frowned.
“How long are you going to think?”
Lufiel was silent for another moment.
Then, instead of answering, he said, “Stay like this a little longer.”
Fine…
As long as he didn’t have to go back.
Dong Li buried his face against Lufiel again and tightened his arms around his waist, breathing in the familiar scent at the tip of his nose.
Heidan stood guard for a while.
Finding it boring, it eventually turned and wandered off.
At some point, Liufeng had ended the call.
Several messages appeared on Lufiel’s interface.
[Liufeng: Send me your coordinates. Liuye should be getting out of the arena soon anyway. I’ll come find you two.]
[Liufeng: Forget everything else—if he can get hold of that metal plate and hear player voice calls, there’s no way he’s an ordinary NPC. I’m curious what that plate is too.]
[Liufeng: But don’t panic. He managed to wake up successfully. He shouldn’t be reset that easily again.]
Whether Liufeng truly believed that or was only trying to reassure him was hard to say.
Not long afterward, the sword-aura barrier finally disappeared.
Rongrong was the first to dart out, immediately circling the area to inspect the forest again.
Hearing the movement, Dong Li lifted his head.
“I’m going to look around nearby,” Lufiel said.
He tried sending Liufeng their coordinates, but the only location he could transmit was the entrance to the Illusion Forest dungeon.
There was no way to pinpoint their actual position.
They had already found the Mind-Bewitching Herb.
Everything else could wait until they got out.
“I’m coming too!” Dong Li said immediately.
He scooped up the two little beasts and picked up his medicine furnace from the ground.
The truth potion wasn’t like the ordinary pills he casually brewed.
It still needed more time before it was ready.
Lufiel didn’t stop him.
He led Dong Li into the forest ahead.
At first, Dong Li obediently stayed close behind him and even warned Rongrong not to run off.
But after walking for a while, nothing unusual happened.
It looked like an ordinary forest.
Dong Li gradually relaxed.
He chased Rongrong a few steps, then wandered forward on his own while curiously looking around.
There were scattered medicinal plants nearby too.
Dong Li resisted the urge to pick them.
He would wait until the truth potion was finished and gather them on the way back.
Lufiel followed behind, checking the map from time to time.
Before long, they emerged from the forest and entered an entirely new area.
Dong Li stopped dead at the sight before him.
“Wow…”
Bright sunlight spilled over thick grass.
Enormous vines twisted together everywhere, forming structures like short, broad tree stumps.
Some were covered in colorful wild fruit.
Others actually had little wooden houses built on top of them.
At a glance, there were at least a dozen of these houses.
Dong Li had no idea who lived there.
Flowers and all kinds of plants surrounded the area too, clearly tended with care.
Dong Li’s eyes lit up.
He instinctively started forward to take a closer look, but Lufiel stopped him.
“Careful.”
Lufiel scanned the area.
“There’s demonic energy here.”
Traces of mental-energy fluctuations were everywhere as well, as though left behind by creatures that had lived here for a long time.
The system hadn’t issued a demonic-energy warning.
Either the creatures here weren’t particularly high level—
or…
Lufiel looked at the little houses perched atop the vine stumps.
A thought occurred to him.
The Crimson-Gold Sword materialized beside him.
He swung it through the air.
Just as the sword aura was about to strike one of the vine stumps, a layer of tough gray feathers dropped from above and barely blocked the attack.
Several half-demons appeared one after another.
They belonged to the Titmouse and Illusion Snake clans.
The Titmouse at the front looked vaguely familiar.
“Who dares trespass on our clan’s territory?!” he demanded hoarsely, his expression furious.
Lufiel closed his hand around the hilt of the Crimson-Gold Sword.
“Where’s the exit?”
The attack just now had only been a test.
Now that the target had appeared, the only question was how many half-demons were here.
Dong Li stood safely behind him, holding Rongrong while cautiously peeking out.
The two little beasts poked their heads from his pockets too, wanting to see what was happening.
Then the Titmouse spotted Dong Li and Rongrong.
He visibly froze.
At once, he raised a hand, signaling his companions to lower their weapons.
Then he stepped forward eagerly.
“It’s you!”
Lufiel frowned and raised the Crimson-Gold Sword, stopping him from coming any closer.
Dong Li recognized him too.
He stared in surprise.
“I think he’s the one from last night…”
It was the Half-Demon Titmouse that had broken into the beast arena.
The same one Dong Li had given pills to in Northern Dark Forest.
Lufiel remembered him as well.
His vigilance didn’t lessen.
Red mist drifted slowly from the Crimson-Gold Sword, ready to unleash another attack at any moment.
The Titmouse stopped.
His brown eyes swept briefly over Lufiel.
Then he folded his wings and bowed deeply.
“My Lord Fox Spirit.”
Rongrong tilted its head in Dong Li’s arms.
“Mm?”
Dong Li clutched Lufiel’s sleeve and nervously asked,
“Is… is he talking to me?”
Lufiel lowered his voice.
“You know him?”
Dong Li hesitated, then nodded.
“Sort of… I ran into him in the Northern Dark Forest. He looked really pitiful then, so I gave him some pills…”
And that same night, the Titmouse had broken into the beast arena and caused a massive incident.
The Titmouse had excellent hearing.
When he raised his head again, his eyes were actually red.
“Yes, My Lord Fox Spirit. Thanks to your help, I was able to stand here today.”
An Illusion Snake behind him stepped forward too.
“My Lord Fox Spirit, you helped me as well. Last night, it was thanks to you that I defeated those humans.”
Dong Li looked at him uncertainly.
“This… this might’ve been Rongrong…”
The half-demons spoke with slightly blurred diction and unusual intonation, but their words were understandable.
The Titmouse stepped aside and gestured invitingly.
“My Lord Fox Spirit, please come inside.”
The Crimson-Gold Sword still blocked the way.
Dong Li quietly asked,
“Lulu, should we go in?”
Lufiel considered it for a moment.
Then he dismissed the sword.
He held out his hand.
Dong Li obediently placed his own in it.
Only then did the two of them walk forward.
—
After winding past several vine stumps under the guidance of the Titmouse and the other half-demons, they reached a small open area in the center.
The entire region was actually quite small.
The outermost layer was forest.
The middle held the tree houses, presumably where the half-demons lived.
In the central area, the grass grew even thicker, nearly reaching their knees.
All the plants were unusually large.
Some flowers stood half as tall as a person.
There were tables and chairs woven from vines, tall artificial tree trunks, and even swings.
Seeing strangers from another race enter, most of the half-demons hid at a distance and peeked at them curiously.
Dong Li and Lufiel were led to the largest table.
Once they sat down, a half-demon brought over an enormous platter piled with fruit.
Rongrong jumped onto the table, leaned over to sniff it, then turned and began pawing at a leaf growing through one of the cracks.
Dong Li picked up a small red berry.
Lufiel ate one first to make sure it wasn’t poisonous before allowing Dong Li to eat it.
“My Lord Fox Spirit,” the Titmouse asked from across the table, “how did you come here?”
Dong Li shook his head.
“I don’t know. We came into the forest looking for Mind-Bewitching Herb, then ran into some… robbers. After that, we somehow ended up here.”
Lufiel immediately asked,
“How do we get out?”
The Titmouse looked at the two of them, apparently confused as well.
“The exit is above.”
He pointed toward the sky.
“Our people and the Illusion Snakes live here. Humans normally can’t enter.”
From the Titmouse’s explanation, they learned that this region was the shared settlement of the two half-demon clans.
It was the safest place they had.
There weren’t many half-demons living here—only a little over twenty in total—and they were all around the same age.
Although their settlement was safe from human intrusion, natural disasters could appear at any time.
Heavy rain.
Sandstorms.
Hail.
Those disasters could destroy the half-demons’ food supplies.
Whenever that happened, two or three half-demons had to travel to another forest high above and eliminate the humans causing trouble there.
Only then would the passage to the outside world open.
At all other times, it remained sealed.
Dong Li ate several berries while listening.
He understood almost none of it.
Eventually, he looked at Lufiel for help.
“Someone has to reach the center of the dungeon before the exit opens,” Lufiel explained quietly.
Dong Li still didn’t really understand.
So he ate another berry.
Lufiel turned back to the Titmouse.
“Did the exit open once not long ago?”
Players only encountered the half-demon boss after reaching the center of the Illusion Forest dungeon.
That boss could be either a Titmouse or an Illusion Snake.
On their way here, Lufiel and Dong Li had heard the puppet snake’s movements.
The passage had probably opened then.
Sure enough, the Titmouse nodded.
“Yes.”
But his expression became heavy.
“One of my clansmen went with an Illusion Snake. They haven’t returned yet. I wanted to go myself, but my brother’s injuries still haven’t healed…”
Not every battle against humans ended well.
Sometimes the half-demons died.
Sometimes they were captured alive.
The Titmouse himself had been captured during one such outing.
He had been imprisoned in Maidong City for a long time before eventually being sent to Dragonbone Town.
Lufiel was already messaging Liufeng, explaining what he had discovered about the hidden area.
[Liufeng: ? Seriously? There’s a place like that? Isn’t this basically the backstage area of the dungeon?]
Dong Li looked at the Titmouse and couldn’t help asking, “What happened to your brother?”
The instant he finished speaking, the Titmouse abruptly stood.
Then he dropped straight to his knees.
“My Lord Fox Spirit,” he said, his voice trembling, “please help my brother…”
Dong Li jumped in fright and even forgot about the berries.
“Y-You should get up first…”
The Titmouse looked only fifteen or sixteen.
He wiped his eyes but refused to rise.
“I rescued my brother last night… but he’s badly hurt. Even medicinal herbs haven’t helped.”
After listening to the broken explanation, Dong Li finally understood.
One of the half-demons the Titmouse had rescued from the beast arena last night was his older brother.
But his brother had been imprisoned there for too long.
He had been given too many drugs, and the accumulated injuries in his body couldn’t be treated quickly.
His condition had rapidly worsened.
“Can I help?” Dong Li asked uncertainly.
He casually pulled several pills from his pocket.
“I only have these…”
The Titmouse immediately became excited.
“Thank you, My Lord Fox Spirit!”
Dong Li was still confused.
But he had plenty of pills left, so he handed over two full handfuls.
The Titmouse carefully carried them away.
About ten minutes later, he returned with another Titmouse beside him.
“My brother recovered!”
The younger Titmouse was even more excited now.
“Brother, this is My Lord Fox Spirit…”
The two half-demons looked around the same age and resembled each other closely.
They seemed so overwhelmed with gratitude that they were about to throw themselves at Dong Li’s feet.
Dong Li had never experienced anything like this.
He hugged Rongrong tightly and instinctively edged closer to Lufiel.
Still, knowing his medicine had helped the half-demon made him a little happy.
He turned to Lufiel and whispered,
“They’re just like Heidan and Yuanbao. When they eat the medicine I make, they recover.”
Lufiel lowered his eyes.
“What kind of medicine is it?”
“Well…” Dong Li touched his little medicine furnace. “I just brew whatever.”
Lufiel didn’t press further.
He only said, “Don’t let anyone else know.”
Dong Li half understood.
He nodded.
“Mm.”
The older Titmouse’s recovery delighted the rest of the half-demons as well.
Even their hostility toward Lufiel faded considerably.
When the younger Titmouse returned last night, the others had already heard about Dong Li.
But seeing an unfamiliar human beside him still made them wary.
Before long, the half-demons brought over even more fresh fruit.
There were also small buckets of juice and sweet jellies made from wild vegetable roots.
The Titmouse brought out a large pile of miscellaneous items as well.
They were all things the half-demons had picked up during battles against humans.
Dong Li immediately leaned closer in curiosity.
He picked up a small knife set with colorful gems and examined it.
“If anything catches your eye, My Lord Fox Spirit, please take it!” the Titmouse said.
Rongrong rummaged through the pile too.
It eventually pulled out a pretty brooch with its teeth and delivered it to Dong Li.
Dong Li became absorbed in choosing things.
He picked out quite a lot that he liked, even though he had no idea what some of them were for.
His pockets couldn’t hold everything.
So he gave it all to Lufiel.
Lufiel stored each item neatly in his inventory while asking Liufeng when he would arrive.
[Liufeng: On my way, on my way.]
Once Dong Li finished choosing his treasures, he ran off to play on a nearby swing.
The two little beasts crawled out of his pockets too.
Their auras were extremely faint in their shrunken forms, so none of the half-demons noticed their true identities.
They simply assumed they were Dong Li’s pets.
Seeing that Dong Li was happy, Lufiel silently followed along.
He even accompanied him to inspect the little wooden houses built atop the vine stumps.
Outside the dungeon proper, the half-demons showed none of their usual ferocity.
They looked no different from ordinary NPCs.
After touring the area, Dong Li returned to the table and resumed eating berries.
The two Titmouse brothers had followed them the entire time.
Now they exchanged hesitant looks.
Then both knelt again.
“My Lord Fox Spirit,” the younger Titmouse asked carefully, “we plan to rescue the rest of our half-demon companions. We would like to ask for your help…”
His brother hurriedly added,
“If you’re unwilling, that’s all right. We’ll still escort you out.”
Dong Li put down the berry in his hand.
“How are you going to rescue them?”
The younger Titmouse explained,
“Some of our companions are still being held inside the city. Those wolf spirits are working with the outsiders. We aren’t strong enough right now. We need your help.”
Lufiel frowned, clearly displeased.
Dong Li, however, immediately nodded in excitement.
“Sure!”
The half-demons were overjoyed.
In an instant, every one of them dropped to their knees.
Dong Li couldn’t stop them.
He couldn’t even get them to stand no matter how much he called out.
So he hurriedly grabbed Lufiel and escaped to the back.
Rongrong remained sitting alone on the table, looking left and right as it lazily swished the tip of its tail.
Lufiel’s gaze swept across the kneeling half-demons.
“You want to help them?”
“Mm.” Dong Li nodded. “There are lots of fresh medicinal herbs here. I can just make more pills.”
“Does making medicine have any side effects?”
“Probably not.” Dong Li tilted his head thoughtfully. “Sometimes I get tired, but I’m fine after I sleep.”
Lufiel still didn’t seem reassured.
“Half-demons have never willingly invaded Maidong City to launch an attack before.”
“Is that bad?” Dong Li said vaguely. “I think it sounds fun… Lulu, you already promised you’d stay with me.”
Lufiel only gave a quiet “mm.”
He didn’t say anything else.
Dong Li looked up at him with bright violet eyes and took his hand on his own.
“When they go, can we come along and watch?”
Lufiel remained silent for a long time.
Finally, he said softly, “Give me a hug.”
That meant yes.
Dong Li immediately brightened and threw himself into Lufiel’s arms, hugging his waist tightly.
The half-demons were all nearby.
Rongrong had taken the two little beasts off to patrol the area.
None of them came over to disturb the two.
Dong Li buried his face against Lufiel.
Then suddenly—
“Huh?”
He reached down and touched his little medicine furnace.
Dong Li looked up at Lufiel and slowly said, “Lulu… the truth potion is ready.”
