“You actually enjoy playing with that? You really don’t mind getting dirty, do you.”
Huaxin stepped forward and pulled Yun Miao up, who was still squatting there poking away with a twig, then turned to Granny Hua.
“Granny, since these spiderlings grow up to be so dangerous, why don’t we just burn them all at once?”
“Alright.”
Granny Hua had the others stand back, then swept her Fire Knife in an arc, sending two blazing flames crashing down beside the corpse.
In an instant, a Fire Circle formed on the grass, burning the corpse and the spiderlings with crackling pops, and a Protein Burnt Smell spread through the air.
Then she strode forward, plunging her Fire Knife into the pitch-black hole at the base of the tree, igniting the thick roots below with a burst of crimson flame.
Whoosh!
The flames at the old roots suddenly surged upward as if alive, spiraling up the massive tree trunk, firelight shooting straight into the sky.
From inside the tree hollow came frantic rustling—the spiderlings inside couldn’t stand the heat and scrambled to escape, but the leaping flames burned them to charcoal the instant they emerged.
Burning white cocoons thudded to the ground. As the spider silk outside was incinerated, the corpses inside gradually became visible, only to be swallowed up by the raging fire moments later.
The blaze roared, thick smoke billowed, and scorched leaves kept falling as fiery sparks, but the small, frail old woman stood motionless in the inferno, hand on her knife hilt, letting the ashen embers drift onto her shoulders.
The black-faced man and the tall, thin one stood aside, eyes full of longing. This was exactly why they had braved mountains and rivers, traveling thousands of miles to knock on the Immortal Gate!
When the fire finally died down, the old tree had been reduced to charcoal. Ash floated down like snow, and Yun Miao looked up at this ‘snowfall,’ marveling at how real this game world felt.
“So beautiful.”
Huaxin:
“That’s bone ash!”
With the Ruined Temple gone, there was no way to look for another place to stay in the dark of night, so everyone could only light a campfire in the woods and make do for the night under the open sky.
While the others gathered firewood, Yun Miao crawled around nearby, sharp-eyed as she searched for supplies.
But after searching for a while, all she found was……………..
【Wild Grass】
【Ant】
【Wild Grass】
【Withered Wild Grass】
【Snail】
【Ant】
Good news: the player suddenly learned to walk upright while crawling around. It was a small step for her, but a giant leap for crawling players!
Bad news: all she found was a bunch of junk, nothing worth picking up.
Damn, this Beginner Map is way too barren! Not even a single wildflower?
The noble player sat cross-legged on the ground, finally willing to put her precious brain to work.
According to typical game logic, since killed monster corpses would have a glowing prompt, collectible items should also have a glowing prompt.
This led to an interesting phenomenon—players in these games always chase after the light.
Realizing this, Yun Miao gloomily glanced around the dim woods, but suddenly caught a flash of bright red out of the corner of her eye.
She hurried over and saw two Red Mushrooms, shaped like little Rain Capes, growing at the roots of a small tree—the caps bright red, the stems tender white.
Although there was no glowing prompt, they looked beautiful.
Yun Miao silently admired them for a second, then a wild idea popped into her head………………
***
Huaxin was carrying a set of clothes, searching everywhere for that strange girl.
Turning her head, she saw Yun Miao squatting under a tree, the moonlight making her tangled black hair shimmer with silvery light, giving her a fuzzy look.
Huaxin’s lips curled into a smile. Even though this girl was strong, her behavior was so childish—far less mature and steady than herself. In this, Huaxin felt she had the upper hand.
She quickened her pace to see what the odd girl was up to. Just a moment ago, she’d seen her poking snails and ants with a twig—who knew which poor little bug had fallen into her hands now.
But as she approached, she saw Yun Miao wasn’t poking snails or ants, but was instead raising a bright red mushroom to her mouth.
Huaxin was startled. “Hey, you can’t eat that!”
Upon hearing the warning, the girl didn’t stop—instead, she shoved the ominous-looking Poison Mushroom into her mouth even faster, cheeks bulging as she swallowed it down.
Her hand speed rivaled that of a toddler who’d just learned to crawl, stuffing dirt into their mouth!
Huaxin:
She quickly grabbed the girl’s wrist to check her pulse. Finding it strong, she reluctantly said, “That’s a Poison Mushroom, you can’t… Never mind, how does it taste?”
“I ate too fast just now, didn’t taste anything. Let me try again.”
Yun Miao picked the last Poison Mushroom from the roots and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing.
【You have been poisoned, HP -5】
【Poison Resistance +0.01】
Yun Miao’s expression turned serious. “No taste. Not good.”
Not only was it tasteless and gross, it wasted 10 HP—what a rip-off!
Huaxin: …If it’s so bad, why did you eat it so earnestly? Such a childish temperament.
She helplessly pulled the girl’s dirty little hand. “Come on.”
Yun Miao obediently followed for a few steps before asking, “Where are we going?”
Huaxin raised the clothes in her hand.
“To the Small Creek over there. I’ll watch over you—go wash up, and wash those dirty clothes too. This set is my old clothes, but they’re very clean. If you don’t mind, you can…”
NPC giving out free clothes?
“I don’t mind! I don’t mind!”
Yun Miao didn’t wait for Huaxin to finish before reaching for them.
Huaxin quickly dodged her grubby hands. “Your hands are all muddy. Wash them first.”
Yun Miao replied sweetly, “Okay.”
A short while later, the two arrived at a Small Creek. The moonlight made the winding water shimmer with silvery ripples.
“There, this is the place.” Huaxin stopped, then suddenly thought of something. “By the way… you do know how to wash yourself, right?”
Yun Miao was shocked. “I’m not stupid, of course I know how to bathe!”
She realized her legs felt much more nimble today, so she showed off her upright-walking skills to the NPC.
“Look, I can walk, I can run, I can even jump!”
She was a student at a top university, her eyes shining with intelligence—add some fur and she’d be even smarter than a monkey!
Huaxin:
She hadn’t suspected the girl was an idiot before, but now… she was starting to have doubts.
But Huaxin was considerate enough not to say so, just quietly changed the subject.
“We’ve been through life and death together now, but I still don’t know your name. My surname’s Huo, given name Xin. The ‘Xin’ from ‘huanxin gugu’—joy and delight.”
Yun Miao:
“My surname is Yun, given name Miao. The ‘Miao’ from ‘xu wu piao miao’—ethereal and fleeting!”
For the rest of the time, nothing unexpected happened—except Yun Miao, while bathing in the creek, suddenly raised a finger pinched by a tiny crab and excitedly called to Huaxin on the shore to show off her catch.
When Huaxin and Yun Miao returned, the black-faced man and the tall, thin one were sitting by the campfire, discussing the night watch with Granny Hua.
The two men felt they couldn’t keep taking advantage as the only men, so they decided one would take the first half of the night, the other the second, while the elderly and children could rest.
Huaxin quickly stepped forward. “Let me take the night watch instead.”
Wearing her new clothes, Yun Miao’s affection for Huaxin soared, and she immediately patted her chest, volunteering to stand guard too.
But Granny Hua just shook her head, sitting cross-legged by the fire like a steady Old Pine.
“When you get old, your mind fills with too many things, and it gets hard to sleep. You all go rest. I’ll just sit here and enjoy the moon.”
Black-faced man: “But…”
Granny Hua:
“No need to push yourselves. You all have a long road ahead—plenty of times you’ll have to be strong whether you want to or not.”
“For now, rest while you can. Get a good night’s sleep—we have to head to Black Jiao Ridge early tomorrow.”
As she spoke, Granny Hua gazed up at the night sky, her raspy voice soft and slow, as if lost in thought.
Huaxin, who’d wanted to say more, fell silent, her face darkening. She touched her right arm beneath her sleeve, then walked coldly to the tree by the fire and lay down without undressing.
The black-faced man and the tall, thin one exchanged a glance, then quietly found spots to lie down and sleep in their clothes.
Yun Miao opened her System panel and checked the real time—it was already 11 p.m.
So, like a lord surveying her territory, she looked around both sides of the campfire, then decisively lay down next to Huaxin and closed her eyes to log off.
The rare warmth of another human made Huaxin’s body tense. She opened her eyes, sleep nowhere to be found, and silently watched the stars twinkle in the night sky, sleepless till dawn.
***
In reality, Yun Miao took off her Full-immersion Helmet on the sofa, washed up briefly, and went to bed.
She fell asleep quickly that night, her consciousness soon sinking into sweet dreams—a massive Bronze Armillary Sphere spun and spun in her dreams……………
The next morning, a red sun slowly rose from the depths of the mountains, gradually dispelling the mist.
At the break of dawn, everyone was already making their way along the steep Mountain Ridge.
Towering trees blocked out the sky, the ground was covered with vines, shrubs, and fallen deadwood, and beneath the rotting leaves, the black soil was rich and damp.
Huaxin held Yun Miao’s hand, following behind Granny Hua to keep the troublemaker from running off.
They were at a high altitude now—a single misstep could send someone tumbling down with a ‘splat’ into a meat pie.
But Yun Miao still hadn’t found any glowing collectibles along the way, so she resigned herself to following the story.
Still, a player’s patience was a mystery—she could fake death a dozen times for a few points of Poison Resistance, but wouldn’t spend a moment enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery.
Every now and then, she’d shout,
“Old Guan, how much farther?!”
After last night, Yun Miao had learned the other two NPCs’ names—the black-faced man was Guan Dahai, and the tall, thin one was Gao Zhu.
Guan Dahai always answered in a booming voice, “Almost there, almost there!”
Yun Miao:
“How much farther?!”
Guan Dahai:
“Almost there!”
An hour later.
Yun Miao yelled even louder, “Old Guan, how much farther, how much farther, how much farther~”
Guan Dahai bellowed back, “Really almost there, almost there, almost there~”
Their voices echoed through the mountains, startling several birds into flight.
Yun Miao: …