Even drunk, Qing Tian remained well-behaved, though her reactions seemed much slower. She looked completely relaxed and happy, hugging her glass and giggling foolishly.
As for the room full of four-leaf clovers… she had clearly subconsciously used her ability to make them grow. Fortunately, these were just ordinary clovers with no aggressive tendencies; they merely swayed their leaves gently in tune with Qing Tian's good mood. If these had been the vines of a Green Vine Demon… the bar's roof would probably have been torn off already.
They quickly took the glass away and replaced it with a bottle of mineral water in Qing Tian's hands. Qing Tian stared blankly at the object in her hands, not seeming to find anything amiss. After a brief moment of hesitation, she simply hugged the water bottle and continued her silly grinning.
"I'll look after her," He Guxia said. Since she didn't drink anyway, watching over Qing Tian while listening to the others' gossip sounded just fine.
"Who knew a four-leaf clover spirit would be like this when drunk," Ye Jingmeng remarked with feeling. "So docile, no drunken antics at all."
"Do these clovers come with a luck buff?" Mu Anqi poked one of the larger clovers and asked curiously.
"Maybe? When Qing Tian sobers up, you can ask her for a few if you want. You could even take them back to plant."
The night of revelry passed peacefully just like that. By the end, everyone was feeling sleepy. Ji Huaichu and He Guxia took watch for the night, while the others simply rested by sleeping and lying on the bar counter for a while.
There was no daytime here. When they woke up, it was still night.
After simply eating some canned food and bread, and using the water in the bar to clean up, they set off again, ready to clear this "game."
The moment they stepped out of the bar, Mu Anqi and the others saw the ground littered with corpses. Clearly, these were uninvited guests who had approached while they were resting. Most of these monsters were killed with a single sword strike, though a few still had vines entwined around them.
"These monsters might be numerous, but they aren't very strong," He Guxia commented. With the white fog gone and their vision unobstructed, these monsters posed no threat to them at all.
"C-corpses…" Qing Tian, who had groggily sobered up, stammered, her voice trembling. The next instant, tendrils of white mist began to materialize, enveloping them.
Ye Jingmeng raised a hand and used a leaf to cover Qing Tian's eyes. "Wu Sansheng?"
Wu Sansheng sighed in resignation. She tried to free her hand from Bai Yulai's grip, but Bai Yulai's expression remained impassive as she held on even tighter. "I'm scared too, is that not allowed?"
"…It's allowed." Holding Bai Yulai's hand, Wu Sansheng walked over and took Qing Tian's hand again, drawing away her turbulent emotions. Seizing the moment the white fog dissipated, they quickly left the street. Once they were away, Wu Sansheng released Qing Tian's hand and handed her over to Ye Jingmeng's care.
The fox's large white tail occasionally and deliberately brushed against Wu Sansheng's arm. Yet, every time Wu Sansheng glanced over at Bai Yulai, the fox spirit wore an utterly innocent expression. "You seem to have changed somewhat?"
"A fox spirit's nature is inherently changeable," Bai Yulai said. "How do you know this isn't my true form?" As she spoke, a hint of grievance crept into her tone. In the past, no matter how alluring she acted, Wu Sansheng remained completely unmoved. But during this trip, Wu Sansheng was so attentive towards others… Yet when Bai Yulai adopted a colder demeanor, Wu Sansheng suddenly became remarkably accommodating.
"Are you really that afraid of me? You agreed to my recruitment back then, and I've always treated you well. But you're always so distant and dismissive towards me!" Bai Yulai's emotions began to flare as she spoke, but this agitation lasted less than a second before it was suddenly siphoned away.
"Calm down. Why would you feel wronged?" Wu Sansheng had used her skill, and she was somewhat surprised when she sensed Bai Yulai's emotions. "I'm not some scholar; the stuff in storybooks is all fake. Besides, you've recruited plenty of other players."
"But they're all just left to their own devices! You're clearly different!" Bai Yulai fumed, this anger tinged with a hint of grievance. But before it could last even a second, it was siphoned away again. Bai Yulai pressed her lips together. Forced into this state of "calm rationality" and "serene detachment," she felt her entire fox spirit self was on the verge of splitting in two. Her emotions weren't allowed any continuity! "Could you please not use your skill?"
"But you seem very agitated," Wu Sansheng said. "Communication is more effective when conducted rationally."
Bai Yulai: "…"
"Are you jealous of Qing Tian? But in my eyes, she's just a child who needs looking after," Wu Sansheng continued. "Besides, I currently have no interest in romance."
"Players like you are also children in the eyes of us monsters," Bai Yulai retorted, then immediately felt her words were inappropriate. After a moment's thought, she added, "…I'm purely referring to age."
"I have the ability to protect myself now. Even if you were to die of old age, I wouldn't necessarily die in the game," Wu Sansheng analyzed in a completely calm tone. "Even by my pre-death age, I am not a child."
Bai Yulai: "…"
She knew it! She just knew that no matter how she approached this topic with Wu Sansheng, she'd end up being the only one driven mad! There wasn't a shred of ambiguous atmosphere, she couldn't even stay properly angry! The entire conversation had to be conducted under forced "calm," "rationality," and "complete emotional detachment"—
Bai Yulai: "I have a mating season." [T/N: HAAAHA!!! My stomach! Lol]
"…" Wu Sansheng was stunned. "Huh?"
"Before my next mating season arrives… may I pursue you?"
"…" For the first time, Wu Sansheng was at a loss for how to respond. However, Bai Yulai clearly didn't expect an answer. Seeing the rare, dumbfounded expression on Wu Sansheng's face, Bai Yulai let out a supremely haughty "Hmph!" She pulled her hand back and stuffed a handful of fox fur into Wu Sansheng's arms. "A gift for you!"
In the next instant, the clump of fox fur transformed into a multitude of tiny foxes. Wu Sansheng, unable to hold them all, dropped several. The little foxes tumbled down, landing at her feet and rolling onto their backs in a blatant attempt to play cute.
"…" Wu Sansheng felt utterly helpless. She really wasn't Mu Anqi; she had quite a resistance to these fluffy creatures.
If this was Bai Yulai's idea of pursuing someone… then Wu Sansheng could probably understand why the fox spirit had failed to find a scholar companion for so long.
Walking at the rear of the group with a large cluster of yipping little foxes, Wu Sansheng even felt like she was herding ducks. The Ghost King and Monster Kings ahead were considerate enough not to look back, but the players weren't as friendly. With an expressionless face, Wu Sansheng saw Zhao Guogu bend over laughing, and Mu Anqi frequently glancing back with curiosity. Of course, her companions were still quite thoughtful—after all, they didn't start teasing her outright.
What a mess this was.
…
"Is this… a square?" A large statue stood in the center of a dried-up fountain. It was made of black stone, identical in appearance to the small statue Qing Tian had found earlier, but merely gazing at it gave one a sense of foreboding.
As Mu Anqi approached the statue, she noticed the tiles at the bottom of the fountain were stained with blotches of blood. Perhaps this hadn't been a water fountain at all, but one filled with some kind of blood? That would fit the setting of this Black Mirror Vortex perfectly.
"Is this the center of the Black Mirror Vortex?" He Guxia asked, her soul sword in hand. "Do we dismantle it?"
"This Black Mirror Vortex isn't very suitable for tourism. Next time, I'll choose the travel destination," Ye Jingmeng said with a smile, scattering a large handful of seeds as she spoke. Judging by her expression, she seemed to find this large-scale "tour" (and the accompanying one-sided battles) quite entertaining.
"It's getting hot…" Qing Tian murmured softly, taking the small statue from her backpack.
The black mist statue was glowing faintly red. Qing Tian touched it and was burned, losing her grip. Immediately, one of Ye Jingmeng's vines shot out and caught it. But within seconds, that vine withered away, followed by a second, then a third. Ye Jingmeng had scattered plenty of seeds and had no shortage of vines. As soon as one withered, another replaced it, steadily binding and lifting the statue. "How is it used? These two look identical. Should we place it on the big one?"
"Perhaps it needs some blood?" Mu Anqi speculated, thinking of the previous blood pool, the later formation, and the dried bloodstains in this fountain. "But if we use our blood, will it curse us?"
"Use the blood of the phantom ghosts," Ji Huaichu interjected, stopping her. She used her ability to summon phantom ghosts. The color on the phantoms was already very faint, but by squeezing them, a little blood could still be gathered. She controlled a phantom to approach the small statue, making the entire ghost dissipate upon it. The remaining blood seeped into the statue.
—Click
A faint sound?
Suddenly, the ground of the entire city trembled! The small statue, now stained with blood, instantly shattered, transforming into a cloud of black mist that surged towards the colossal humanoid black mist statue in the fountain's center, gradually merging into it. In that instant, two points of red light, resembling beastly pupils, ignited in the head of the humanoid mist! The city quaked, the ground split, and the humanoid black mist slowly turned its head, surveying its surroundings, before taking a heavy step that crushed the fountain—
"Tremble! Submit!"
A hoarse, grating voice echoed in everyone's minds. The black mist figure didn't seem to speak; no one knew how it accomplished this. It didn't look like a ghost or monster. The black mist composing its body was in constant flux, and those glowing red beast-eyes looked utterly sinister. Wu Sansheng merely made eye contact with it once and immediately activated a group-wide mental immunity skill.
Shout after shout exploded in their minds. They couldn't understand the language, but they could mysteriously comprehend the meaning the black mist intended to convey:
"Fear."
It wasn't a command like "Feel fear!" or a declaration like "I am the God of Fear!" It seemed to be simply calling out that single word?
The Fear Fortress's walls began to crumble. The black mist outside the walls surged inward, sweeping over and devouring everything in its path.
"What kind of strange ritual is this?" Ye Jingmeng was puzzled, but clearly no one present could provide an answer. The countless seeds she had casually scattered rapidly sprouted into seedlings, which then shot up from the ground, lashing out towards the black mist.
He Guxia soared into the air on her sword. With a pointing gesture, a massive sword aura sliced through the air, cleaving the humanoid black mist directly in half! But… the dispersed mist simply billowed softly like clouds, quickly coalescing back together and restoring its original form.
The vines met the same fate. They tried to bind the black mist figure but passed right through empty air. The large hand of the black mist figure reached out, grabbing a whole cluster of vines. It seemed to directly absorb their vitality, and the vines rapidly withered.
"It can control its form!"