Chapter 32: Fox Ears and a Tail
About fifteen minutes earlier—The instant the golden fire erupted, every player’s vision went black as they were forcibly disconnected from the game.
Lufiel was no exception.
He immediately tried to reconnect, only for a server maintenance notice to appear.
[Due to circumstances beyond our control, Otherworld is currently unavailable. Please wait patiently. Estimated reopening time: 119:59:50.]
The gaming pod opened automatically.
Lufiel stepped out, picked up the communicator he had tossed into a corner, and called Liufeng.
The call connected almost immediately.
“You got kicked out too, right?” Liufeng asked anxiously. “What happened just now?”
Dong Li had said he wanted to try using his own golden fire.
Liufeng didn’t know much about it, but he had seen Lufiel eventually give in and take Dong Li toward the magma monster.
Not long afterward, the entire game server had gone offline.
Liufeng had a feeling the two events might be connected.
“Yeah,” Lufiel said, sounding uncertain for once. “It happened right after Rongrong released his golden fire.”
In the final second before he was disconnected, he had seen the golden flames explode outward.
Compared to the tiny bursts Rongrong usually breathed out, that level of power looked more than enough to drain someone’s mental energy completely.
Lufiel hadn’t wanted Dong Li to try in the first place.
He hadn’t wanted Dong Li dealing with the magma monster either.
But Dong Li had said he wanted to go out and explore.
And when he heard about the magma monster, there had been no fear in his eyes—only excitement and curiosity.
So Lufiel had thought he would let Dong Li play around for a bit, then step in and lure the magma monster away himself.
Instead…
Liufeng was silent for a moment.
“Could his fire have crashed the server?”
“I don’t know.” Lufiel asked, “Can you find a way back in?”
“I’m trying.”
A machine was set up beside Liufeng, and he was using his mental energy to connect it to his gaming pod.
“But I wouldn’t get my hopes up. The server is completely down. The forum still works, though.”
He opened it as he spoke.
Sure enough, the entire forum was in an uproar.
[Title: I Was This Close to Getting Orange-Tier Weapon Material and NOW You Pull This?!]
[Title: Memorial Thread for Otherworld’s First Two-Hour Maintenance and Most Random Shutdown Ever]
[Title: Did the Maidong Half-Demons Take Steroids?! Why Were They So Hard to Kill?! And They Got Away!]
[Title: Wait, Is No One Going to Talk About the Taotie Outside Illusion Forest?]
Everything mentioned in those posts had somehow happened because of Dong Li.
The more Liufeng read, the more unsettled he became.
Could a simple NPC who had merely escaped the system’s control really cause all of this?
Liufeng specialized in creating bugged game items, but he wasn’t particularly knowledgeable when it came to intelligent consciousness.
He couldn’t draw any firm conclusions.
For some reason, his earlier speculation about the Energy Stone and the Xinen people returned to mind.
A wildly audacious possibility surfaced.
But Xinen consciousness wasn’t bound by physical form.
How could one possibly become trapped inside a full-dive game…?
Liufeng was still turning it over in his mind when Lufiel suddenly said, “Someone’s here.”
Liufeng instinctively asked, “Who?”
Lufiel pulled back the curtain.
Two familiar hovercars were parked downstairs.
“People from the capital planet,” he said quietly. “Keep an eye on things for me. I’ll contact you later.”
Liufeng had barely said, “Okay,” before the call ended.
He lowered his communicator, worried.
Why now of all times…
The former Chief was recuperating on the capital planet.
Had he heard that Lufiel had taken several days off in a row and come to demand an explanation?
Liufeng sighed and went back to trying to reconnect to the game.
—
Lufiel opened his dorm room door.
Butler Lin stood outside.
He bowed respectfully.
“Young Master, the Chief is waiting for you.”
Lufiel was silent for a moment.
“All right. Give me a minute.”
He went back inside, changed his clothes, and drank a bottle of nutrient solution.
Beside the nutrient solution sat a small medicine bottle.
Lufiel glanced at it, then closed the drawer.
In the past, whenever he went to see Lu Zenuo, he would take medication that temporarily suppressed his mental energy.
Otherwise, Lu Zenuo would inexplicably start complaining that Lufiel’s mental energy was too sharp and was giving him a headache.
This time, Lufiel didn’t take it.
He picked up his communicator and followed Butler Lin downstairs.
The route was exactly the same as always.
They took a hovercar to the plaza, boarded a private starship, and traveled to the capital planet.
By the time Lufiel arrived at the sanatorium, Lu Zenuo was sunning himself in the garden.
When he saw Lufiel and Butler Lin approach, the caretaker standing nearby retreated to a distance.
Lufiel lowered his eyes.
“Grandfather.”
Lu Zenuo was resting with his eyes closed.
He didn’t open them at the sound of Lufiel’s voice.
He simply raised his right hand.
Butler Lin immediately stepped forward, picked up a display screen from the wooden table, and handed it to Lufiel.
Lufiel took it.
The instant he saw what was playing, his pupils contracted.
It was a recording from Otherworld.
Dong Li was sitting beside a lake.
Lufiel stood beside him.
The angle of the recording was strange and somewhat distant, but their voices were still audible.
Dong Li was telling Lufiel to stop following him because they had already broken up.
Lufiel replied, “We didn’t break up.”
It was exactly what had happened inside the Illusion Snake’s illusion that night.
After the illusion first changed its terrain, another player must have stumbled across them and recorded the scene.
As for how the recording had ended up in Lu Zenuo’s hands, Lufiel could more or less guess.
Either Lu Zenuo had people following him—or someone had planned to upload the recording, only for Lu Zenuo to intercept it first.
At last, Lu Zenuo slowly opened his eyes.
His voice was cold.
“So this is why you’ve been neglecting your studies?”
Lufiel said nothing.
He handed the display back to Butler Lin.
Seeing that he offered neither an explanation nor an apology, Lu Zenuo’s expression darkened further.
“After what happened last time, I thought you’d learned your lesson. Apparently, you’re still just as unreliable.”
Lufiel’s face remained expressionless.
“Please don’t upset yourself.”
“Don’t upset myself?”
Lu Zenuo sneered.
“Do you think that because you’re the last blood relative I have left, I won’t do anything to you?”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
The tension between them was clearly worsening.
Butler Lin moved to Lufiel’s side and quietly urged him,
“Young Master, please apologize to the Chief. As for that game, you can simply stop playing it from now on…”
Lufiel remained expressionless.
It was impossible to tell whether he had heard a word.
Lu Zenuo closed his eyes again and forced himself to calm down.
“If he doesn’t want to train, send him to Qiming Island. Let him spend some time there reflecting.”
Qiming Island was on Lanqi Star.
The small planet was Lu Zenuo’s private territory.
When Lufiel made mistakes in the past, he was often sent there for confinement.
Lufiel lifted his eyes.
Without saying a word, he turned and walked away.
Butler Lin immediately followed, notifying the starship crew to prepare for departure to Lanqi Star.
Lu Zenuo closed his eyes again, suppressing the tightness in his chest.
Two caretakers hurried over and brought him calming tea.
He had just lifted the cup when a commotion broke out beyond the garden.
Not long afterward, Butler Lin rushed back.
His face was pale with alarm.
“Chief… Young Master… he stole the starship and escaped.”
The private starship only had a small passenger capacity.
And with Lufiel’s strength, knocking out the guards and using his mental energy to seize control of the cockpit had hardly been difficult.
Lu Zenuo nearly choked on his next breath.
He hurled the teacup in his hand.
Crash!
It shattered across the ground.
“Bring him back,” Lu Zenuo said, barely containing his fury. “Suspend all his classes!”
—
Maidong City, underground mine.
Dong Li had been hiding in the narrow mining crevice for a long time before he gradually calmed down.
He was still completely bewildered.
He raised a hand and touched the top of his head again.
Ears…
Soft, furry ears.
Then farther down…farther…
A slit automatically tore open in the back of his pants, and a thick, fluffy tail emerged.
When Dong Li pinched it hard, it hurt.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
His breathing trembled.
Why had he suddenly become like this…?
More importantly, Rongrong had disappeared.
Dong Li couldn’t even sense his spirit form anymore.
It felt almost as though…
he had fused with Rongrong.
That was why he had grown ears and a tail.
Just like the Titmouse and Illusion Snakes, he now had visible nonhuman traits.
Dong Li didn’t know what to do.
He put his hat back on and tried to press his ears beneath it.
Then he tucked his tail toward the stone wall and curled himself into a tight ball.
He didn’t dislike or reject half-demons.
On the contrary, he had been very happy to become friends with them.
But now, for some reason, he felt terrified.
The instant he touched his fox ears, he had felt as though he had suddenly become something different from everyone else.
Something that might be captured.
Perhaps this was the fear the other half-demons had lived with all along.
They could speak.
They understood emotions.
They possessed human traits.
Yet they were treated little differently from demonic beasts.
And…what would Lufiel think when he saw Dong Li like this?
Would he accept him?
Or would he be disgusted and stay away…?
Dong Li tugged his hat lower and let his thoughts run wild for a while.
But then—where was Lufiel?
Could Lufiel have already seen him like this while he was unconscious…?
Dong Li forced himself to calm down again and cautiously looked outside.
The mine was eerily quiet.
The only sound was the constant crackling of golden fire.
The magma monster from earlier was gone too.
The two little beasts in Dong Li’s pockets were still deeply asleep.
Dong Li curled himself inside the crevice and struggled to open his medicine furnace.
He stuffed a pill into each of their mouths.
They still showed no sign of waking.
After hesitating for a long time, Dong Li finally gathered his courage and crawled out.
He tugged his hat lower and tried his best to hold his tail out of sight as he walked back the way they had come, hoping to find the half-demons.
But when he reached the place where the group had been earlier, more than twenty half-demons were lying unconscious across the ground.
They looked exactly like Heidan and Yuanbao.
Liufeng and Liuye were gone too.
It was as though the entire world had stopped running.
Dong Li immediately sensed that something was wrong.
He hurried back to the mining crevice and crawled inside again.
His breathing shook.
Confusion filled his violet eyes.
Could this be…the same situation Lufiel had described before?
Maybe Dong Li had fallen asleep again without realizing it.
Maybe Lufiel was right beside him and Dong Li simply couldn’t see him.
With Rongrong gone as well, the thought made him even more anxious.
Only now did Dong Li seem to truly understand—he and Lufiel belonged to different worlds.
Dong Li dug his nails into his palm.
He desperately hoped his worst guess wasn’t true.
He had no idea how much time passed before something moved inside his pocket.
Dong Li’s eyes lit up.
He hurriedly looked down.
The two little beasts had finally woken.
They seemed just as confused about what had happened.
Heidan looked around in bewilderment.
Yuanbao stared at Dong Li, then leaned closer and sniffed him gently, as though it had noticed something unusual.
At that moment, noise came from where the half-demons had been lying earlier.
They were probably waking up too.
Then footsteps sounded.
Liufeng rounded the bend in the mine and entered Dong Li’s field of vision.
He had successfully logged back in and immediately hurried over to check on everyone.
Fortunately, the time while the server was shut down hadn’t counted inside the game.
When players logged back in, they were still at their previous coordinates.
Liufeng immediately spotted a corner of fabric protruding from the mining crevice below.
He bent over and looked inside.
Sure enough, it was Dong Li.
“Are you okay?”
Liufeng visibly relaxed.
“The game server suddenly shut down earlier. Every player got kicked out, including us. Liuye had class, so she went to that first…”
Seeing Liufeng, Dong Li brightened too.
His violet eyes lit up instantly.
But he still didn’t come out of the crevice.
Instead, he asked softly, “…Where’s Lulu?”
“He…” Liufeng paused. “Something came up. He got delayed, but he’s on his way.”
Dong Li’s expression immediately fell.
He couldn’t help asking, “What happened?”
The half-demons farther back watched from a distance.
Seeing that Liufeng and Dong Li were talking, they waited where they were as usual.
Liufeng could tell Dong Li’s mood wasn’t quite right.
But the two of them weren’t familiar enough for him to pry.
After thinking for a moment, he stepped back and sat on the ground.
“His grandfather suddenly called for him,” Liufeng explained. “He had to go.”
Dong Li quietly repeated, “Grandfather?”
Lufiel had mentioned him before, back when they were together.
Liufeng nodded.
“And Lufiel doesn’t get along very well with his grandfather. But… it’s not like he can just refuse to go.”
Dong Li wasn’t surprised.
After hesitating, he said, “Because… Lulu is an illegitimate child?”
Liufeng blinked.
“You know about that?”
Dong Li looked a little embarrassed.
“I… saw it on the Player Forum.”
“Oh.”
Liufeng nodded again.
“Yeah, he’s an illegitimate child, so his grandfather has never liked him much. But whether he likes him or not, they’re still related by blood.”
Liufeng wasn’t sure whether he should be telling Dong Li any of this.
But Dong Li seemed faintly interested, curiosity showing in his eyes.
And since Lufiel still hadn’t arrived, Liufeng’s talkative streak returned.
“Lufiel probably never told you much about his past, did he?” Liufeng said. “Liuye, Lufiel, and I have known each other since we were kids. We originally lived on a remote planet.”
“Remote planet” was the nicer way to put it.
“Slum planet” would have been more accurate.
Still, all three of them had turned out fairly well.
Their mental energy had awakened at high ranks.
They couldn’t afford formal schools, but high-level mental energy opened up plenty of work opportunities.
At the very least, life in the slums hadn’t been unbearable.
Liufeng sat cross-legged.
“Don’t let the way Lufiel trains on schedule and follows every rule now fool you. He wasn’t like that before.”
Growing up on a slum planet inevitably rubbed some rough edges onto a person.
Back then, Lufiel had practically been a little tyrant.
Hardly anyone in the entire neighborhood dared provoke him.
People used to say he had the makings of a future space-pirate boss.
Dong Li’s curiosity grew.
“Space-pirate boss…”
“Yeah.”
For some reason, Liufeng sighed.
“Then when Lufiel was fifteen, his grandfather found him and took him back.”
Lu Zenuo had never liked this grandson.
Yet he had forcibly remade Lufiel into a completely different person and made him discard everything from his past.
Even after all that, Lu Zenuo still didn’t like him.
Liufeng didn’t elaborate much on that part.
“Later, Liuye and I managed to get into Tianheng Star too. So the three of us were able to stay friends.”
Dong Li listened intently.
His earlier nervousness gradually faded.
Liufeng tried taking out a pancake and stretched his arm toward him.
“Want something to eat?”
Dong Li really was a little hungry.
After hesitating, he cautiously leaned partway out of the crevice, took the pancake, then immediately retreated again.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
Liufeng got up afterward and walked around the nearby tunnels.
Plenty of players had logged back in immediately, but there didn’t seem to be anyone nearby.
The reason was probably the intense golden fire still blazing in the tunnels ahead.
It seemed to have spread into other parts of the mine as well, making the area inaccessible.
Liufeng stopped at the mouth of the tunnel.
The golden flames gave off very little heat, yet carried a terrifyingly powerful aura.
It felt as though they could devour anything.
Even though he had already prepared himself mentally, Liufeng was still stunned.
If Dong Li were a player…if this fire were externalized mental energy in the real world…then Dong Li’s rank would unquestionably be above S-class.
In the game, fire was already the most destructive element.
Even Lufiel’s mental energy became more restrained here.
Fire was different.
If flames this powerful had accidentally crashed the game server…maybe that wasn’t so strange after all.
Liufeng felt his understanding of the situation being overturned yet again.
He quietly adjusted his breathing.
Dong Li remained curled inside the mining crevice, slowly eating his pancake.
By now, he felt much better.
As long as he hadn’t fallen asleep again, everything was fine.
He would still be able to see Lufiel.
Then he could figure out what exactly had happened to him…
The pancake wasn’t very large.
Dong Li finished the last bite.
Liufeng had gone farther back to speak with the half-demons.
Dong Li sat there hugging his knees, lost in thought, and tugged at his hat again.
Suddenly—a flash of light appeared.
Lufiel finally logged back in.
“Rongrong!”
He appeared exactly where he had been before logging out.
The moment he lowered his head, he could see Dong Li hiding in the mining crevice.
Dong Li saw him too.
Relief and nervousness surged together.
But he still didn’t come out.
Lufiel crouched down and carefully moved closer.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Liufeng had already told him that something seemed strange about Dong Li.
Lufiel assumed Dong Li had simply been frightened.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m back.”
He held out his hand.
“Come here.”
Dong Li hesitated, fingers tightening nervously.
“But I… I’m a little strange right now…”
Lufiel patiently asked, “What feels strange?”
Only then did he notice that Rongrong seemed to be missing.
Heidan and Yuanbao were still in Dong Li’s pockets, but the little fox was nowhere to be seen.
Dong Li was anxious and uneasy.
Now that Lufiel was finally here, all the fear and hurt he had been holding back surged up again.
He struggled with himself for a long time.
Then he finally gathered his courage and removed his hat.
A pair of fluffy golden fox ears appeared on top of his head.
Lufiel’s breathing stopped for a moment.
Dong Li watched him cautiously.
Lufiel showed no disgust.
He didn’t move away.
Instead, he continued coaxing him gently.
“Don’t be afraid. Come here.”
Some of Dong Li’s anxiety finally eased.
Making sure no one else was nearby, he climbed out of the crevice and immediately dove into Lufiel’s arms, trying his best to hide himself inside Lufiel’s outer robe.
Lufiel sat down on the ground and held him securely.
Then he asked again, “Are you hurt anywhere? Do you feel uncomfortable?”
Dong Li thought about it.
Then shook his head.
But he still looked terribly aggrieved, his violet eyes uneasy.
“Lulu…”
Lufiel lifted a hand and wiped a smudge of dust from his cheek.
Then he leaned in and kissed him.
“I’m here. Don’t be afraid.”
The kiss finally soothed Dong Li a little.
In a small voice, he confessed, “I… I grew ears.”
“Mm.”
Lufiel kept his gaze on him.
Dong Li fidgeted.
Then, stammering, he added, “And… a tail too.”
