The Empress and Her Servants (6)
The next few days were much the same as the previous ones. The servants worked tirelessly, while the ladies had to restrain themselves from doing any work.
The ladies-in-waiting would be punished if they accidentally spilled water or went to the toilet by themselves.
Professor Pan is punished every night for failing to bathe his wife. Of course, he is also punished if he actually does bathe her.
Every night, after everyone has fallen asleep, some kind of crisis occurs. It might be that a large number of locusts suddenly enter, or that a fire suddenly breaks out in the room, and so on.
In short, I have to go through a lot of trouble every night.
Fortunately, the players managed to escape these crises by relying on their special abilities, items, and intelligence.
However, everyone's items and pills are being consumed faster and faster.
In the following days, some players ran out of healing pills and resurrection pills, so they borrowed some from Jian Tanxi.
By the ninth night, Jian Tanxi only had 2 healing pills and 3 resurrection pills left, and her healing ability only had 2 uses remaining. Fortunately, tomorrow was the last day; hopefully, nothing bad would happen.
Jian Tanxi was serving Xu Yunhong when she asked, "Your Majesty, do you think your body can hold out until tomorrow?"
Xu Yunhong was too weak to speak, and simply nodded slightly.
Jian Tanxi then visited the other concubines and found that their physical conditions were all similar. However, they all said that they should be able to hold on until tomorrow without much trouble.
On the ninth night, they encountered no danger and the night was peaceful.
On the tenth day, when Jian Tanxi woke up, she found Xu Yunhong covered in vines. The vines wrapped around her body tightly, like a cocoon.
Jian Tanxi was startled and quickly said to Xu Yunhong, "Your Majesty...Your Majesty..."
Xu Yunhong opened her eyes and looked around blankly.
Jian Tanxi breathed a sigh of relief; she had almost thought Xu Yunhong was dead.
Jian Tanxi had no idea where these vines came from. They might have appeared out of thin air.
Xu Yunhong was pale and barely breathing when she said, "How...am I entangled..."
"This servant doesn't know either, this servant will help you untie it."
Jian Tanxi took out the interstellar triangular pyramid and slashed at the vine. To her surprise, the vine didn't budge an inch, not even a crack appeared.
This is the third thing Jian Tanxi has encountered that a triangular pyramid cannot cut.
At this moment, a mechanical voice announced: "Game time is up. Players can leave through the northeast gate of the palace. Failure to exit through the northeast gate within thirty minutes will be considered a forfeiture of the opportunity to leave."
Jian Tanxi said anxiously, "How can Your Highness leave when you're bound like this by vines?"
"It is not said that all players have to leave, and players who are free to move around have no obligation to help other players."
"..."
Jian Tanxi understood. The mechanical voice was a signal for the servants to run away, abandoning the "Ladies".
The other ladies-in-waiting were probably just like Xu Yunhong, entangled in vines and unable to move at all.
For ordinary players, the ladies would definitely torment the servants in the first few days. Then, on the last day, the servants would surely abandon the ladies and run away.
Jian Tanxi's team is quite special; none of them have a penchant for tormenting others, and they've been helping each other out for the past few days. Although the ladies wield considerable power, they've never treated the other players like servants.
Jian Tanxi was determined to save the ladies, but she didn't know what the other unfamiliar players thought.
Cassia and Ouyang Ling only met after entering the instance. Although fitness coach Zhong Xiaoying had known Jian Tanxi and others for many days, they were still practically strangers. Xu Yunhong had only participated in one round of the game with Jian Tanxi and Professor Pan before, so their relationship wasn't particularly good.
Therefore, Jian Tanxi needed to quickly ascertain everyone's attitude. Ideally, all eight of them should be of one mind and want to go out together. Otherwise, it would be troublesome.
Jian Tanxi didn't want to see anyone die right in front of her.
Therefore, Jian Tanxi decided to visit the other three palaces.
Xu Yunhong cried out anxiously, "Jian Tanxi, don't abandon me... Get me out of here, and I'll give you powerful tools... or money..."
Jian Tanxi said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will definitely save you. I just want to see what's going on in the other three palaces."
"No, no, I'm afraid you'll just run away... There are only thirty minutes left, I'm so worried..."
Jian Tanxi felt that she could find a way to rescue Xu Yunhong first.
Jian Tanxi rummaged through her bag and pulled out a conversion talisman. This talisman was obtained from the "Beloved Heiress Darkened Version" dungeon; it could convert one item into another and could be used once.
Jian Tanxi had an idea.
She affixed the transformation talisman to the vines and said, "I want to transform the vines that are tightly binding Xu Yunhong into broken vines."
As soon as she finished speaking, the vines binding Xu Yunhong split open. She was no longer restrained and happily took a few deep breaths.
The transmutation symbol had used up its last number of uses and burned to ashes in the air.
However, Xu Yunhong's happiness lasted only a few seconds before she discovered that she was completely unable to move.
She said nervously, "Jian Tanxi, I feel like I have no strength left... I can't move..."
Jian Tanxi said, "Then I'll carry you on my back... You look lighter than me, I should be able to carry you."
Just as Jian Tanxi was about to carry Xu Yunhong on her back, a mechanical voice sounded: "The ladies cannot move all day. If you choose to rescue them, you will have to carry them on your back. There are three dangerous checkpoints waiting for you after you leave the palace. It will be almost impossible to pass through them while carrying one person."
Xu Yunhong became frightened again, but Jian Tanxi had already carried her on his back.
Jian Tanxi said, "Your Majesty, don't be afraid. Let's go to the Northeast Gate together first. If the checkpoint is too difficult, I can leave you behind then."
Xu Yunhong didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said, "Anyway, thank you... Now that you don't call me Your Majesty, everything should be alright."
Jian Tanxi tried calling Xu Yunhong's name and, as expected, did not receive any punishment.
It seems the game between the empress and her servants is over.
Jian Tanxi felt that carrying someone on her back was indeed a bit difficult, after all, the players' physical condition had now returned to the level of ordinary people.
Jian Tanxi saw the black tiger on the paving stones and decided to ride it again.
She used her two-dimensional grasping ability to pull the black tiger out of the floor tiles.
Black Tiger walked to Jian Tanxi's side and carried Jian Tanxi and Xu Yunhong together.
Xu Yunhong felt weak all over, so Jian Tanxi held her tightly.
Under Jian Tanxi's command, Black Tiger ran towards Qin Man's palace and arrived in no time.
Jian Tanxi jumped off the black tiger's back, then helped Xu Yunhong down, letting her lean against a tree and half-lie down.
Then, Jian Tanxi quickly went to Qu Chen's room.
These days, Qu Chen has been lying in his room due to his serious injuries and does not need to come out.
His injuries have healed somewhat, and he can now open his eyes and look around, but he can't move much. He must be in a lot of pain, but he doesn't have the strength to cry out, so he can only remain silent, looking very aggrieved.
Jian Tanxi felt a pang of heartache upon seeing this.
She tried to feed Qu Chen a healing pill, but Qu Chen refused to open his mouth, so Jian Tanxi had no choice but to use her healing ability to treat Qu Chen.
After Qu Chen was cured, he happily got up, grabbed Jian Tanxi's hand, and ran to his mother Qin Man's room.
Qin Man was also completely wrapped in vines, but Jian Tanxi had run out of transformation talismans and didn't know how to help Qin Man escape for the time being.
Qu Chen ran over and said to Qin Man, "Mom... let's go..."
At this moment, the vines binding Qin Man's feet suddenly came off, and Qin Man had the strength to stand up.
She tried taking a few steps forward, and there were no problems.
However, her body was still tightly bound by vines, but it did not affect her movement for the time being.
It seems that Qu Chen's Word of Power has a high priority. When he tells Qin Man to walk, the vines on Qin Man's feet must also automatically untie themselves so as not to affect her walking.
Qin Man was overjoyed and followed Jian Tanxi and Qu Chen outside.
Qin Man stepped through the door of the room and found that there was no longer an invisible barrier. She walked smoothly into the courtyard.
Jian Tanxi brought Qu Chen to Xu Yunhong and said to Qu Chen, "Xiao Chen, you should also say 'go' to this auntie."
However, Qu Chen simply bent down, picked a leaf, and started running around.
Jian Tanxi knew that this matter could not be forced. Qu Chen could not say it, and forcing him to say it would be useless and would only cause Qu Chen to have an emotional breakdown.
Qin Man tried to use her supernatural abilities to remove the vines from her body. However, she discovered that her abilities suddenly stopped working.
It was working fine yesterday...
Qin Man asked Xu Yunhong, "Xu Yunhong, can you use supernatural abilities?"
Xu Yunhong tried it, then shook her head.
Qin Man said, "It seems that all the ladies are useless today. Not only can they not move, but they can't use their special abilities either... It's understandable that the servants abandoned us and ran away. Fortunately, our group of players is special, so we shouldn't abandon each other."
Jian Tanxi also said, "Yes, we'll go together. Don't worry, Sister Qin Man and Xu Yunhong."
Jian Tanxi tried to get the black tiger to grab the vines on Qin Man and Xu Yunhong, but although the black tiger's claws were sharp, it couldn't break the vines, and the vines weren't even damaged.
It seems these vines cannot be removed using conventional methods.
Jian Tanxi said to Qin Man and Xu Yunhong, "I'll go check on the other two palaces first. You wait here for me, I'll be right back."
When Jian Tanxi arrived at Ouyang Ling's palace, she found Professor Pan carrying Ouyang Ling, who was covered in vines, and walking out.
Jian Tanxi asked, "Professor Pan, you can't get rid of these vines either?"
Professor Pan said, "No... I've tried all sorts of methods, even using my Talker ability to communicate with the vines, but the vines won't tell me how to untie them."
"It seems these vines are no ordinary objects; we can treat them as enemies."
"Hmm. Anyway, I can carry Ouyang Ling without any problems."
"You should go to Qinman Palace first; Xu Yunhong and Qu Chen are there too."
"Um."
Ouyang Ling said gratefully, "Thank you for not abandoning me..."
Jian Tanxi said, "Don't worry, of course we won't abandon our companions. If we're going to clear the level, we'll clear it together."
Ouyang Ling: "Hmm... It's a pity I can't be of any help to you today..."
"I'm very strong, it's okay if you can't help me, haha..."
Seeing that Jian Tanxi could still joke, Ouyang Ling was very touched and relieved.
Jian Tanxi rode the black tiger towards Cassia's palace.
After a while, Jian Tanxi saw Zhong Xiaoying running out with Cassia on her back.
Strangely, Cassia, who is a "princess," has no vines on her body; however, Zhong Xiaoying, who is a servant, has vines wrapped around her head.
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