Chapter 43 Countdown: 71 hours left until the next instance opens...
Cecia had heard a lot of rumors about herself, and seeing the maid's trembling body, she probably understood what she was thinking.
But she wasn't going to explain.
This is good. Being feared means less trouble. At least no one dares to disobey her now.
After relaxing her whole body, she returned to the bedroom, lay lazily on the bed, and took a nap.
When she woke up again, the dirty skins had been cleaned and neatly stacked on the round table next to her.
"She's quite efficient," she chuckled. "Maybe we can ask Catherine to give her two days off? It's hard for the child to be so scared..."
As she spoke, she picked up the leather bag and put it into the system backpack. Just as she was about to close the game interface, a flash of red light caught her attention.
A string of bright red numbers kept jumping on the screen, like a death spell.
【71:52:03】
【71:51:45】
【71:51:13】
【……】
The numbers are decreasing, like some kind of countdown.
Confused, she reached out and touched the string of numbers, and the system prompt sounded suddenly -
[Dear players, there are 71 hours, 49 minutes and 36 seconds left before the next instance opens. ]
Countdown to entering the dungeon?
This time the system was kind enough to give her three days' notice, unlike last time, when it only gave her five seconds to prepare.
Cecia complained inwardly, and after poking for a long time without getting any new information, she closed the interface.
Since Wilbert was pulled into the dungeon, it means that other people in this world may also be able to enter.
She had to figure out what the conditions were for letting other people enter the copy.
The next day, Cecilia went to visit the two new humans and first went to the records room.
Before she came, Yu Xiaoxiao was already in the room, seeming to be calming Lu Lu's emotions.
Seeing Cecia suddenly appear in the room, she was startled at first, and then she spoke first: "Yesterday, Miss Chen gave us a detailed explanation, and I have completely understood the current situation."
"Besides, I remembered everything after I woke up - on the way to the exam, I had a heart attack and couldn't be saved... I have died once."
Without waiting for Cecia to answer, she continued, "Your Highness! Don't worry, I will do my best to help you!"
Yu Xiaoxiao imitated the maid's way of addressing Cecia, but perhaps because she was not used to it, she spoke a little awkwardly.
It can be seen that she tried very hard to survive and to be a useful person.
Kind of cute...
Cecia patted the other person's head and said gently, "Really? Then I have to thank you."
On the side, Lu Ji sat on the bed with a gloomy face.
After Yu Xiaoxiao's reminder, his lips trembled and his voice became hoarse: "Your Highness, I can do anything you want."
Then he kept silent and just looked ahead in a trance.
"He…he didn't mean to be disrespectful to you."
Yu Xiaoxiao leaned close to Cecia and whispered, "In the original world, Ji Lu was also dead, but he was accidentally killed by someone who came to collect debts... He still had a wife and children."
Glancing at the man's lost look, she continued, "He was very worried about his wife's condition, but he had no idea what to do. He was anxious all night, and it ended up like this."
"Even so, if Your Highness assigns him something to do, I will supervise him and he will definitely not make any mistakes!"
This little guy is quite positive.
Cecilia couldn't help but rubbed Yu Xiaoxiao's hair again.
"Come with me, I'll show you the most important work."
As usual, Cecia led the two to the border of the demon clan and let them touch the boundary marker, and the pollution at the border retreated two meters.
After proving that their touch could also purify pollution, Cecilia brought the two back and handed them over to Catherine for full management.
“…Your Highness, I don’t mind if you pick up trash, but I have no obligation to pick it up.”
Hearing Cecilia's arrangement, Catherine frowned and was very dissatisfied with her behavior.
"You are really old and confused."
Sitting at the desk, Cecia pinched a wisp of wind magic and kept spinning the chair, not looking like she was working properly at all.
"Catherine, did you really not notice? The three of them are human beings... I brought back something so important, so it's not too much to give me a three-year vacation, right?"
Right after coming out of the dungeon, she had to face the mountain of official business again. These past two days were a headache for her. While dealing with things, she watched the countdown for the jump, wishing it would go faster, and it would be best if it would be reset to zero right now.
After all, the copy is much more interesting than these official duties.
"Your Highness, please stop joking."
Catherine said in a deep voice, totally disbelieving what Cecia said.
"When I was born, humans had already become extinct. If humans still existed now, the demon race would not have declined to this extent."
"What about you looking at this?"
Cecia spun her chair and threw a crystal ball to the other person.
She had known that this old-fashioned person would not believe it, so she used video magic to record the situation when humans touched the boundary marker.
"this……"
Looking at the images on the video, Catherine's voice trembled with excitement.
"You're not kidding about this, are you?"
Since the reputation of a certain demon king has always been negative, Catherine remains skeptical and worries that the image is fake.
"Whether it's a joke or not, you'll know once you check."
After adjusting her posture on the seat for a long time, she felt uncomfortable no matter how she sat, so she simply used magic to change the shape of the seat, turning it into a recliner, and lay down comfortably.
Seeing this, Catherine believed it for the most part and said seriously, "If the three of them are really human, they will be the most distinguished guests of the demon clan... I will give them the best treatment and arrange guards to watch over them all day."
"Guard? You are guarding to prevent people from running away..."
Cecia muttered softly.
"As for the three-year vacation... forget it. As a demon king, protecting your people and expanding the demon clan's territory are what you should do."
Catherine had a serious look on her face and would never give anyone a chance to slack off.
"What if I can get more humans?"
Cecia pulled a nasty smile at the corner of her mouth and threatened quietly: "You won't even give me a few days of vacation. Whoever wants to do it can do it."
"Given how rare humans are, it's going to be difficult to get them. I'm already tired from handling official duties, so how can I have that much time..."
Listening to the other party's nagging complaints, Catherine's forehead veins bulged. She wanted to turn around and leave. She began to regret why she was so stupid as to choose this scoundrel as the devil king.
"Three days."
She still made a concession.
"I will give you a maximum of three days off. For every human you find, I will give you one more day off."
The three-year vacation was cut into three days... As expected of the former Demon King, he was too cruel.
Cecia forced a smile through gritted teeth and tried to bargain.
"One day is too little, it should be at least one month, right?"
"one day."
"So... a week?"
"long time."
The other party's offer was decreasing instead of increasing. Cecia's smile froze, and she quickly said, "Okay, okay, one day is one day, it's settled!"
"From now on, I'm going to go on vacation. Don't bother me before three days."
After the two sides reached an agreement, Cecilia immediately rushed out of the meeting room, leaving Catherine alone, sighing at the pile of official business.
Before Cecia, Catherine had been the Demon King for two hundred years. After finally finding an excellent successor, she thought she could put down her burden and have a good rest.
As a result, this heir is really not reassuring.
The other party was trying to evade his duties every other day, and she, the former demon king, was forced to continue doing her old job.
Retired, but not fully retired.
…
Meanwhile, Cecilia is planning how to spend her vacation.
After the three-day holiday is over, I can enter the dungeon. It can be considered a short holiday, so I should be able to have a good time.
She thought leisurely that she felt her body became a lot more relaxed without having to deal with those annoying documents.
Lying on the beautiful grass, her thoughts began to drift into the dungeon:
When humans die in other worlds, they will be pulled into the dungeon, and if she clears the dungeon, she can bring the humans back to her own world.
But Wilbert, why can he also enter the copy?
Could it be because he was beside him at the time and was accidentally pulled in?
If that's the case...
Cecia had a great idea.
Three days later, she dragged the leader of the giant tribe to the demon tribe on the pretext of discussing official business.
"What exactly do you want to discuss with me?"
A soft voice sounded.
The owner of the voice has a baby face and looks like a gentle young boy, but he has an extremely strong body.
The taut muscles bulged like mountains, with a sense of power that could not be ignored, and it felt like the head was pressing on the wrong body.
"Kai, I asked you to come here because I had something good to share."
There were only ten minutes left in the countdown, and Cecilia was talking nonsense just to delay time.
"When have you ever been so kind?"
The giants called "Kai" looked suspicious. They knew each other when they were young, but they were often deceived by Cecia. Kai, who was originally honest and kind, was forced to be more cautious.
Kai's intuition was correct, she wanted to drag the other party into the water.
The giants are born with supernatural powers. In their normal state, their bodies are only slightly larger than those of other races, but if they use their abilities, they can instantly grow to five meters in height.
Their abilities are innate and do not require reliance on magic, so they should be usable in dungeons as well.
She deliberately called Kai over because she wanted him to go into the dungeon with her. With Kai's ability, they could basically move sideways, and she could play in the dungeon for a few more days.
After all, judging from the situation in the first two copies, the number of humans was not large. Even if she brought everyone back, she would not be able to take a few days off.
As for the question of human belonging...
Kai has always been simple and gullible, and there is a high probability that he will not be able to recognize humans. Then, she can take it all for herself.
She was making all the plans she could think of, but the other party was getting impatient.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on? If not, I'm leaving."
Having said that, Kai stood up and was about to walk out.
"Wait, tell me now..."
[Dear players, a new copy will be loaded for you soon. Countdown is five seconds. Five, four, three...]
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