Chapter 57 Blood Moon

Her breathing became heavier, her steps heavier, her face numb from the cold from the snow, she lifted her feet mechanically and struggled forward in the snow.

But my heart is as gloomy as dead ashes.

The foul breath of the strange beast behind her seemed to be blowing right beside her red earlobe.

I'll die here.

Death was so close, but her reaction was unusually calm.

No matter how hard she prayed, that scene could never happen again. She then realized that after that day, she seemed to be waiting for her own death.

Tears fell unconsciously to the ground, the hair on her cheeks was already a mess, the snow was getting thicker and thicker, she seemed to have no strength left, and the strange beast that was as tall as two stories had already caught up with her.

Sticky saliva dripped, and the sharp claws were only half a meter away from her fragile neck.

However, I still want to...

The next moment.

The imagined stinging pain and blood did not appear, but instead there was a loud bang.

"Bang!"

The snowy wind blew off the hat she was wearing to keep warm, and her black hair fluttered in the wind, partially blocking her vision.

She turned around slowly in shock, subconsciously covering her lips with her hands as she screamed.

The strange beast, which was almost as tall as the nearby pine tree, was instantly cut in half. Its body was still warm, and the dark green monster's blood was splattered everywhere.

The man who killed the strange beast was standing calmly under a tree five meters away from her. He was tall and wore a thin black hooded sweatshirt. The hood covered most of his face, leaving only a small section of his thin chin.

At this moment, he was looking at the pure white folding fan in his hand that was stained with a little green blood, and his slender fingers were stroking the fan bones.

Noticing her gaze, he raised his head.

Showing slender peach blossom eyes and a straight nose.

The weather was cold, and the tip of his nose and both cheeks were tinged with pink, but his skin was cold and white, so the red made him look less fierce and more gentle.

He met her gaze and raised his eyebrows somewhat coldly: "Hello."

She opened her eyes wide, her pupils suddenly shrank, and she couldn't help but exclaimed: "Be careful——"

Behind him, another stronger beast attacked him, and its sharp fangs were about to bite off his head.

“Crack!”

He frowned slowly, and his hand seemed to be gently pressing on the face of the strange beast. Then he exerted force with his fingertips slightly, and the sound of bones breaking rang out one after another like lit firecrackers. Afterwards, the snow-white folding fan flew in his hand. He twisted his wrist slightly, and the folding fan drew an arc in the air.

By the time he put away his folding fan, the bodies of the two strange beasts had been shattered into millions of finely cut pieces of stone.

He walked over slowly, fan swaying. "Okay, the danger is over. I hope I didn't scare you."

Yao Yuntao stood there in a daze, seeing his soft black hair dancing lightly in the snow wind. He seemed to have candy in his mouth and there was a bulge on one side of his cheek. He seemed too leisurely and ruffian in such a tense environment.

The sunlight in the snowy forest was cut into pieces, and just in time a cluster of it fell on one of his earlobe, making the tip of his ear glow a transparent pink.

This kind of light suddenly reminded her of that afternoon six years ago.

At that time, everyone was trapped in an unbreakable room, the blood of the dead soaked the carpet, and desperate begging cries were heard everywhere.

"This door can't be opened at all! Once you come in, everything will be over!"

"What can I do? Unless I solve this mystery, but the clue is outside the door. Who else is nearby..."

"There's only a semi-novice who has just completed two or three dungeons in the next room, but what can he do? Just be thankful that he doesn't die outside the door..."

"Bang!"

Just then he suddenly broke in.

He was playing with the snow-white folding fan in his hands and yawned sleepily. The sunlight outside the door just happened to fall on the side of his face, making it seem as if there was a soft light there.

"Oh, sorry, I was looking for something just now. Am I not late?" He raised one eyebrow and waved his fan gently, and the iron door was instantly cut in half. "Although violence cannot solve all problems, it is useful to use violence to break this legendary unopenable door."

"Why are you still standing there?" He narrowed his eyes and smiled at the stunned people in the room, "Just get out when the door is open. What? Have you never seen a savior as kind-hearted as me?"

"You...you are..." someone in the crowd exclaimed.

"Me?" His peach blossom eyes curved into lovely crescents, and his gaze fell on someone in a casual manner. "I'm a half-novice who has only played two or three dungeons. I can't do much. Thank God I didn't die outside."

Someone's face turned pale in an instant, but he sighed helplessly: "If I was angry that you said bad things about me behind my back, I would have killed you long ago. How could I let you look so pale? Have I done anything bad? Why are you so afraid of me?"

She didn't know why the others were in a daze. She just felt her heart beating fast at the time, and there was nothing else in her eyes except his figure.

The golden light just fell on him, making him...like a god.

Just like now.

These six years left no other traces on him except making him more gloomy.

At some point, Yao Yuntao's eyes had turned red, and the name slipped out of her mouth unconsciously: "...Li Ziyue...you..."

The man's steps suddenly stopped, and his eyes, which were originally smiling, instantly turned cold.

"I am not him."

Yao Yuntao was stunned.

"Then why did you save..."

Before she could finish her words, she saw a paper crane lying steadily in Li Ziyue's palm.

Yao Yuntao's tears fell uncontrollably.

The man had told her that if she saw a crane, it meant he was dead.

"What on earth is this..."

[Li Ziyue] lowered his eyes and looked at her, his tone still very cold: "I don't want to come to save you, I just promised to give me the Thousand Paper Cranes.

"Thanks to a person who looks exactly like me, I have the same worries as him. If I don't fulfill my promise, I will feel uncomfortable as if I am being bitten by ants."

He had a sarcastic look on his face and impatience in his eyes.

"As for this," he looked at the paper crane, "as you thought, he is dead. He made a deal with me before he died, and rescuing you from this copy was the reward he asked me for."

The man who made a deal with Li Ziyue was none other than the sturdy man who had been imprisoned like a dog by Ji Mingyun before. Ji Mingyun didn't know until his death that the sturdy man had already formed an alliance with Li Ziyue when he was under his control.

Yao Yuntao held the paper crane in her hand, her tears flowing like a river bursting its banks, big drops of tears falling onto the snow. She cried so hard, but no sound could be heard.

[Li Ziyue] stood aside in silence for a few minutes before turning his head and saying, "Take it."

He handed over a few tissues. Yao Yuntao looked up and saw that the tips of his ears, which he had not yet hidden, were turning red.

I heard his words again in the snow and wind: "...if you want to cry out loud, then cry out loud. If another strange beast comes, I will take care of it."

Yao Yuntao cried for a while while holding a tissue. When she caught her breath, she saw him still sitting on the cold stone with his back to her. He put on his hoodie again, and the front of his hoodie pushed down his hair, just covering his eyes, leaving only his nose and lips blown red by the wind and snow.

He put down his hat only after hearing the crying fade away. "Do you have any side quests? Tell me and I'll help you do them. Also, tell me any main story information you have."

[Li Ziyue] narrowed his eyes slightly, and saw that the sunlight in the forest had dimmed a lot: "I will try to break the main line before dark. The night here is not easy, right?"

Yao Yuntao nodded while sobbing, and whispered, "...Thank you."

"Don't thank me," he replied quickly, his tone finally softening but now mixed with an inexplicable anger, "I only came to save you because..."

He suddenly stopped talking.

His annoyed words were suppressed in the wind.

"Sooner or later, I will be tortured to death by that person's worthless 'kindness' and 'guilt'."

Yao Yuntao pursed her lips, her eyes were still swollen from crying, but she smiled a little: "...Actually, I know you are Li Ziyue, and I also know what happened six years ago, but no matter what, you are still him...you both have a very good heart..."

Before she finished her words, she saw Li Ziyue, who was walking in front of her, suddenly stop.

He turned around slowly, lowered his head, and hid his face in obscurity: "Don't you understand what I said?"

Yao Yuntao shrank back.

But he seemed not to see it: "I told you, I am not Li Ziyue. I am much more cruel than him. I came to save you just because of a deal."

"I look like him, but I hate him more than anyone else. How can I be kind-hearted? Do you know how many people I have killed?"

The wind howled, blowing his hoodie up behind him.

For some reason, even though [Li Ziyue] was so angry, Yao Yuntao didn't feel scared: "But you still came... He... is already dead, right? It doesn't matter if you don't fulfill your deal with him, right? But you still came..."

[Li Ziyue] His movements froze.

"...Yes." He laughed sarcastically, "Why am I here?"

"I should be a complete bad guy. I am much more brutal than the real Li Ziyue. I kill people whenever I want. There is no moral threshold to restrain me..." [Li Ziyue] choked up, "But since you have awakened my murderous cruelty, why don't you deprive me of the kindness I stole from him."

"He put me in a painful struggle of wanting to hurt people but unable to help saving them. I hate him, but without him, there would be no me, and I know this very well."

Two lines of tears rolled down his cheeks.

"So...I hate him more than anyone else."

Yao Yuntao's breathing became very slow. She looked at the man in front of her who suddenly became emotional, somewhat helplessly: "No... Don't hate yourself like this... You..."

Hate...myself?

[Li Ziyue] stood there in a daze.

Which oneself.

Yao Yuntao's words suddenly got stuck in her throat. She fell down suddenly and pointed at the back of [Li Ziyue] with trembling fingers: "Little...be careful..."

[Li Ziyue] seemed to find it ridiculous. He raised his head and opened the folding fan in his palm. A silver light flashed and the mutant beast was killed in an instant before his eyes.

However, although the strange beast was dead, its flesh and blood were still twisting unconsciously. In just a breath, the strange beast's body that was split into two halves was resurrected into two small strange beasts.

"Alien..." [Li Ziyue] frowned, "This shouldn't be the case... How can this alien beast come alive... What are the higher-ups thinking? Do they want all the players to die?"

The fan quickly brushed past the ankles of the two strange beasts. After a few sounds of breaking bones, the strange beasts suddenly fell to the ground.

They were not killed directly, but their hands and feet were tied, making it impossible to separate into new exotic beasts.

[Li Ziyue] opened the system and reported the status of the strange beast: An abnormality occurred in the "Snowstorm Villa" copy.

Who would have thought, the next moment.

“Puff!”

The fangs pierced his chest, and blood instantly bloomed into a bloody and cruel flower on the white snow.

A streak of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. One of his legs suddenly became weak and he suddenly knelt down on one knee.

“Puff!”

A second spike pierced his abdomen.

The intense pain instantly overwhelmed him. Li Ziyue slowly turned his head, and when his eyes met that man's, Li Ziyue actually raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.

"It's you..."

The man looked down at him, as if he were a trapped animal that was unable to struggle.

Then.

The third spike.

The snowy wind blew, night fell, and the activated army of alien beasts hid in the dark, ready to make a move.

The dark clouds were blown away by the wind.

A bright blood-red full moon was revealed.