Chapter 8: Found You
Dong Li was still shaking the little beast when he suddenly heard movement from the front of the shop.
He couldn’t tell whether it was a player or one of the NPC’s companions.
Shu Bai still looked dazed, clearly not over the shock of what had just happened. Out of habit, he started toward the front to greet the customer.
Dong Li reacted quickly, grabbing Shu Bai and dragging him out through the back courtyard.
By the time Lufiel entered the medicine shop, no one was there.
This was the hour when all the shops should have been opening for business, yet there wasn’t an NPC in sight.
His gaze shifted toward the half-open door at the rear.
He hesitated for only a second before walking over.
[You have entered an NPC’s private area. Leave immediately!]
[You have entered an NPC’s private area. Leave immediately!]
…
System warnings immediately began flashing across his interface.
Lufiel ignored them and swept his gaze around the room.
The faint trace of demonic energy he had sensed earlier was already gone.
No one was inside, but a mattress and bedding still lay on the floor, not yet put away.
Two blankets.
Two pillows.
Both had clearly been used.
Were there two NPCs working here?
This was Lufiel’s first time visiting the shop, so he wasn’t sure.
But where had they gone?
Combined with the demonic energy he had sensed earlier, something felt wrong.
Demonic energy in the game world fluctuated much like mental energy. There was no way Lufiel had mistaken it.
The Bronze-Armored Taotie that escaped yesterday had never been found. It also seemed not to have been repaired and reset to its original location.
Had it secretly slipped into Dragonbone Town?
Then there was the Ice Qilin that had vanished from the Fuling Region…
Lufiel frowned slightly.
He had no interest in these abnormal bugs.
His gaze moved instead to the other door leading into the courtyard.
But the system warning had already entered its final countdown.
If he stayed any longer, he would be penalized.
After a moment, Lufiel turned and left.
—
At the same time, beneath the courtyard wall outside, Dong Li was panicking.
What was he supposed to do?
That NPC had been eaten!
Just like the players he had watched that enormous black beast swallow yesterday…
What was that thing called again…?
Dong Li looked down at the little black beast in his arms.
It really was the same one!
The little beast still had its eyes shut, pretending to be dead.
Then it burped.
Its injuries hadn’t fully healed, but briefly enlarging part of its body was no problem.
Besides, it had seen everything.
That human and his dog spirit had tried to attack Dong Li.
The nerve!
Who dared lay a hand on its meal ticket?!
Sure, Dong Li had technically knocked the man unconscious himself.
But that just made things easier.
Might as well eat him.
Hehe.
Dong Li was still uneasy.
He hurried to reassure Shu Bai beside him.
“Xiaobai, don’t be scared. It… it’s actually…”
He wanted to say the little beast was actually quite cute.
That it was a lot like Yuanbao and had only hidden in the room because it wanted something to eat.
But considering it had just swallowed someone right in front of them, Dong Li couldn’t quite bring himself to finish.
Shu Bai sat blankly on the ground, staring into space.
Dong Li wasn’t even sure he had heard him.
So Dong Li turned to scold the black beast instead.
“You scared my friend! You’re not allowed to just eat people!”
Yuanbao added a couple of soft, threatening growls.
The little black beast wagged its tail innocently.
At the moment, it looked downright obedient.
Dong Li worried over the problem for a while before pulling out the metal plate.
He had noticed before that he seemed to be able to make forum posts too, though he had never tried it.
Dong Li opened the game forum, fumbled around until he figured out how to create a thread, and typed a title:
[An NPC Seems to Have Been Eaten. What Do I Do?]
[Floor 1: ?]
[Floor 2: Haven’t seen a newbie this fresh in ages.]
[Floor 3: Isn’t eating people one of the Taotie’s skills? That Taotie bug still hasn’t been fixed, right?]
[Floor 4: @Floor3 Other demonic beasts eat people too. Depends on whether they feel like it and whether they get the chance.]
…
There were always plenty of people on the forum.
Several replies appeared almost immediately, but none of them actually answered his question.
Dong Li sat there holding the metal plate until finally, a useful response appeared.
[Floor 13: Serious answer: dead NPCs respawn after a cooldown. They lose the memory of their death. Exact respawn time depends on NPC level and other factors.]
Dong Li carefully read the entire reply.
Then he relaxed.
Right!
Players couldn’t truly die in this world.
Of course NPCs couldn’t either!
So there was nothing to worry about.
It had only eaten one NPC.
Hehe…
Dong Li put the metal plate away and looked at Shu Bai again.
Shu Bai finally seemed to be recovering. He looked back with a bewildered, confused expression.
“Xiaobai,” Dong Li tried to explain, “don’t worry. That person… he’ll be fine. He’ll come back soon, and he won’t remember what happened.”
Shu Bai still looked completely lost.
He didn’t understand at all.
His gaze dropped to the little beast in Dong Li’s arms.
“Demon…”
Shu Bai was a low-level NPC.
His ability to think independently was limited, and he had never directly faced a “dangerous demonic beast” before.
Dong Li thought for a moment.
“Xiaobai, why don’t you come with me?”
If Shu Bai was afraid something might happen, Dong Li could take him somewhere else.
He wouldn’t have to stay here.
Shu Bai looked up and instinctively refused.
“No…”
Once he came out of his frozen state, Shu Bai wasn’t frightened or panicked.
He still knew that the person in front of him was Dong Li.
But he was also an employee of the medicine shop.
He had work to do.
“I have to go back,” Shu Bai said. “Customers will come to the front.”
Dong Li pressed his lips together and didn’t insist.
After hesitating for a moment, he said, “Then… I’m going.”
He still needed to visit the herb field.
The two little beasts with him were both hungry.
After thinking about it, Dong Li added, “I’ll come back once I finish gathering herbs.”
To be safe, he wanted to wait and see when the NPC who had been eaten would respawn.
The black beast had only shown up at the medicine shop because of him.
If Dong Li had never come here, Shu Bai wouldn’t have gotten dragged into trouble.
This time, Shu Bai didn’t stop him.
He slowly nodded.
Then he stood and pushed open the courtyard door.
Dong Li still wasn’t entirely reassured, so he decided to leave Rongrong behind to keep watch.
Rongrong wanted to go out and play too.
The little fox gave an unhappy whine.
Dong Li coaxed his spirit form.
“Come on. I’ll take you next time… I’ll bring you a toy when I come back!”
Only then did Rongrong swish its tail and follow Shu Bai into the courtyard.
Dong Li stood outside for a moment with one black and one white little beast tucked in his arms.
Then he turned and left.
He pulled up his hood and kept his head lowered as he walked.
Shu Bai was his friend.
But Shu Bai was different from him too.
That was okay.
He still had Yuanbao.
And now there was another little beast following him as well, though he didn’t know whether it would leave once it had eaten its fill.
Dong Li had realized a long time ago that he was different from everyone else.
Or maybe…he was simply a little strange.
Back in the Fuling Region, there had been plenty of fox spirits living at the foot of the mountain.
Each stayed within their assigned area, each supervised by their own snake spirit.
Every day, the fox spirits went up the mountain on schedule to gather herbs, while their spirit forms obediently followed beside them and helped.
Rongrong, on the other hand, was always running off to play.
Sometimes it didn’t even listen to Dong Li.
But Dong Li had never thought too deeply about it.
So what if he was different?
He didn’t care.
Just like now.
His entire world had turned out to be a game, and he wasn’t scared.
As Dong Li walked, he suddenly found himself missing Lufiel a little.
They had already broken up, but putting their romantic relationship aside, Lufiel really had kept him company in the Fuling Region for a very long time.
Dong Li stopped.
Then firmly threw the thought out of his head.
—
The herb field closest to Dragonbone Town lay to the south, behind the Trial Grounds.
It wasn’t far.
When Dong Li passed the Trial Grounds, he noticed the gates were still shut.
A new notice had been posted outside.
[High-level demonic beasts are suspected to have recently appeared within the town. To ensure the safety of Dragonbone Town, all spirit wielders are requested to assist with the investigation and, if necessary, drive out or eliminate the beasts.
As a token of our sincerity, once the Trial Grounds open, the top 50 participants will receive the blessing of the Dragonbone Runestone and double spirit-medicine rewards. The top 10 will also receive a personally inscribed token from the mayor.]
Dong Li read it with curiosity.
High-level demonic beasts?
Could they mean…
He lowered his head and looked toward the collar of his coat.
Two little beasts were hidden in the inner pockets, one on each side.
They were small enough that he didn’t have to worry about anyone noticing them.
The black beast was asleep with its eyes closed.
Yuanbao occasionally poked its head out, keeping a close eye on it in case it tried anything again.
Dong Li quietly pulled his coat tighter.
A demonic beast invading the town was probably just hungry, right?
If they fed it, everything would be fine.
There was no need to kill it…
Several players nearby were reading the notice too.
One of them read aloud, “Drop-rate buff, double leveling rewards, limited-time mounts… Yeah, there’s definitely a new storyline coming.”
Dong Li thought, Oh. So that’s what those rewards mean.
Another player beside him looked puzzled.
“So is the Taotie actually bugged or not? The demonic beast mentioned here has to be the Taotie, right?”
Dong Li didn’t linger.
He was about to leave when a burst of noise rose from the street nearby.
He turned his head.
A leopard nearly three meters tall was slowly walking down the road.
Residents moved aside to let it pass.
An NPC sat on the leopard’s back.
Dong Li looked carefully and saw the text above his head.
[Level 20 NPC · Leopard Spirit]
So impressive…
But then Dong Li remembered Yuanbao and the little black beast in their giant forms.
Suddenly, the leopard didn’t seem all that special.
Yuanbao was Level 150.
Way stronger than this NPC.
Dong Li watched for another moment, then turned away.
—
After circling around the Trial Grounds, a vast plain came into view.
Sheets of metal fencing enclosed the entire area.
Through the entrance, Dong Li could already see several players inside, all bent over gathering herbs.
He hurried closer.
Only to be stopped at the gate.
The NPC guarding the entrance had [Level 5 NPC · Rat Spirit] above his head.
“Please pay the herb-field entrance fee.”
Entrance fee?
He needed a ticket just to gather herbs?
Dong Li froze.
Then he felt through his completely empty pockets.
When he failed to produce any money, the Rat Spirit continued blocking the entrance.
He wasn’t getting in.
Other players were approaching from behind.
Afraid someone might notice something strange about him, Dong Li turned around and left.
As usual, though, he didn’t go far.
He quietly circled around the outer metal fence, inspecting it.
The panels were thick and solid beneath his hand.
They were also quite tall.
Small ventilation holes had been left at regular intervals, allowing him to peek inside.
Dong Li pressed an eye to one.
This place looked much prettier than the rear mountains of the Fuling Region.
He really wanted to go inside…
And there had to be lots of fresh herbs in there.
Enough to make lots and lots of pills for Yuanbao.
Dong Li crouched in front of the fence, racking his brain for some way to get inside.
Or some way to get an entrance ticket.
The black beast quietly crawled out of his coat.
It was starving.
And after waiting this long, it was getting impatient.
It experimentally lifted a paw and swiped through the air.
Three streaks of black light flashed.
Riiip!
A huge opening split across the metal fence.
Dong Li stared.
Then slowly turned toward the little beast.
This…
This fence was ridiculously flimsy!
Fortunately, Dong Li had chosen a secluded spot.
A small patch of woods nearby rarely saw anyone passing through.
There was no one on the other side of the fence either.
The herb field itself had rolling rises and dips across the plain, so visibility wasn’t completely open.
Dong Li looked left.
Then right.
And immediately crawled through the hole.
At last, he was inside.
Delighted, he wandered around and bent down to touch a small medicinal flower growing beside him.
Then he casually plucked it.
There really were a lot of herbs here.
Several times more than in the rear mountains of the Fuling Region.
Dong Li walked and gathered at the same time, happily picking everything that caught his eye.
He didn’t pay much attention to the species.
Once it went into the medicine furnace, it was all more or less the same anyway…
If it looked good, he picked it.
As time passed, more and more players entered the herb field.
Dong Li was digging up a long purple vine when he heard people talking nearby.
“Forget it, forget it. Leave this one. Let’s go look over there.”
“We waited an entire week and the limit’s only thirty herbs? That’s nowhere near enough…”
Dong Li raised his head.
He looked down at the purple vine in his hand.
Limit?
What limit?
Whatever…
Dong Li went right back to gathering.
The tiny medicine furnace beside him seemed bottomless.
No matter how many herbs he stuffed inside, it never filled.
Once he had gathered enough, he slipped into an empty corner and prepared to start brewing.
Rongrong wasn’t here, so Dong Li had to light the fire himself.
He held the medicine furnace between both hands and closed his eyes.
Just a little.
Just a tiny little flame…
Boom!
A towering burst of golden fire erupted from the furnace.
Dong Li hurriedly slammed the lid shut.
Fortunately, it hadn’t made much noise.
No one nearby noticed.
After resting for a while, Dong Li saw that the weather was nice and got back up.
He strolled around leisurely, humming as he continued gathering herbs.
The flame he had created was strong enough that the first batch of pills soon finished brewing.
Dong Li counted them.
Ten in total.
Six for Yuanbao.
Four for the newcomer.
He had originally planned to give Yuanbao one more, but the black beast was still injured, so he redistributed it.
The little black beast had already been so hungry its eyes were practically glowing green.
It devoured all four pills in two bites.
Afraid the glutton might steal its share, Yuanbao hurriedly buried its head and finished its own pills too.
The medicine took effect almost immediately.
Gentle spiritual energy filled the black beast’s body.
It shook its head.
The injuries covering it healed completely, and its crimson eyes regained their brilliant glow.
Yuanbao, by comparison, showed little change.
As if feeling cold, it burrowed deeper into Dong Li’s arms.
Dong Li reached out and stroked the black beast’s head.
“Are you going back now?”
The little creature looked up at him.
It remained sitting exactly where it was.
Dong Li tried again.
“Then… do you want to stay with me?”
The beast licked its lips.
Apparently, it still wasn’t full.
Yuanbao didn’t seem to object either.
Dong Li said, “You can come with me, but you have to behave… and you’re not allowed to just eat people whenever you feel like it!”
The little beast thought about that.
Then nodded.
He had only said it couldn’t eat people whenever it felt like it.
He hadn’t said it could never eat anyone at all.
The beast immediately put on its most obedient expression.
Dong Li couldn’t resist picking it up.
“I should give you a new name!”
A name?
The beast narrowed its crimson eyes.
It already had a name!
It was the infamous and terrifying Taotie!
Dong Li studied its completely black body for a long time, thinking seriously.
“I know! I’ll call you… Heidan!”
Black Egg.
The little beast’s eyes flew wide open.
For one glorious second, it nearly broke free from Dong Li’s arms and fled Dragonbone Town entirely.
No!
Absolutely not!
What kind of stupid name was that?!
Unfortunately, its protests were completely useless.
Dong Li tucked both little beasts firmly into his coat and stood up to continue gathering herbs.
By the time noon approached, Dong Li finally left the herb field with a full haul.
He was in an excellent mood.
The little incident from that morning had already been pushed to the back of his mind.
Once he returned to the medicine shop, he was going to show Shu Bai and Rongrong everything he had gathered.
Dong Li quickened his pace.
But as he passed through a relatively secluded path, several figures suddenly appeared ahead and blocked his way.
“Finally caught him,” one of them said, looking Dong Li up and down. “That’s him, right?”
The companion beside him nodded.
Then he raised a hand and smiled in greeting.
“Hey. Remember me?”
Dong Li looked at him.
“I do.”
It was the player who had spoken to him in the clothing store yesterday.
Naturally, the others were players too.
There were four of them altogether.
All wore plain black robes, and two had masks covering their faces.
Dong Li immediately went on alert.
He instinctively glanced behind him.
“Relax,” the player in front said.
A long saber slowly materialized in his hand.
“We just want something you’ve got. Hand it over nicely, and you won’t have to suffer too much.”
Dong Li blinked, confused.
“You’re going to attack me? Why?”
The way he phrased it sounded strange.
Almost…like an NPC.
The players didn’t have much patience and didn’t think too deeply about it.
“Give me the orange weapon material! Otherwise, we’ll keep killing you until your inventory’s empty.”
Dong Li understood none of those words.
He simply stared at them.
So in this game world…people could kill each other after meeting only once.
The forum had said NPCs wouldn’t truly die.
But if he died, would he be sent back to the Fuling Region?
He didn’t want to go back.
And he didn’t want the players to kill him either.
But Dong Li couldn’t see their levels.
He had no other information about them.
What was he supposed to do…?
Dong Li lowered his head.
Inside his coat, the little black beast heard the threat and opened its eyes.
Its crimson gaze darkened.
The nerve!
Who dared touch its meal ticket?!
—
Meanwhile, in Dragonbone Town, Lufiel returned to the medicine shop.
He stepped inside.
Shu Bai had just finished serving a player.
He offered Lufiel a practiced smile.
“Hello. What can I get for you?”
Lufiel studied him.
“You’re Shu Bai.”
He remembered this NPC.
Shu Bai had appeared in the Fuling Region before.
And he seemed to know Dong Li.
Shu Bai froze for a moment before nodding.
“Yes. What do you need?”
Lufiel’s gaze moved toward the back room.
Instead of answering the question, he asked,
“Have you seen Dong Li? Where is he?”
The demonic energy he had sensed earlier.
The way the items in the back room had been arranged.
He had felt the faintest sense that something was off.
Part of it came from the perception granted by his high-level mental power.
And part of it came from his refusal to overlook even the smallest possible clue.
Shu Bai froze again.
“Dong Li…”
Just then, the half-closed door to the back room was nudged open.
Hearing its owner’s name, the little golden fox curiously poked its head out.
“Mm?”
Lufiel’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Rongrong!”
Author’s Note:
Rongrong: Who’s looking for me?
