The cave was dark and empty, with uneven rock walls. Only a few scattered fluorescent lights on the cave ceiling emitted a faint light.
There are gusts of cool breeze mixed with water vapor, and if you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of waves hitting the gravel on the shore.
When Lu Cai woke up, she could hear a series of crashing sounds. She was still a little dazed, and when she opened her eyes, everything was dark, with only the vaguest glimpse of damp gravel.
She moved her arms and legs, only to find herself lying facedown on the bank, her thighs submerged in the icy water. Her red cape was also soaked, sticking to her back and legs.
I staggered to my feet and finally saw where I was.
It was a large cave, two-thirds filled with water, the rest a shallow, gravelly beach. Lu Cai looked up and saw that this cave bore some resemblance to where Lao Ke lived.
She put away her red cloak, clenched her fists, and stretched them, her supernatural energy filling her meridians. After confirming that she was alright, she was finally able to think properly.
What did she do before?
lightning!
She remembered being struck by Gu Xici's lightning, and then the giant scorpions in the lake were also awakened. She took a deep breath underwater and almost drowned.
When she was dying, she saw the data of lightning!
Then what happened?
She just didn't remember... When she tried to recall it again, not only did she forget what happened, she even forgot the lightning data.
What is this place? The last time I entered Lao Ke’s cave, I dived into the pond.
Could this be a secret space hidden at the bottom of the lake?
Lu Cai looked back at the water. She had landed right on the bank, clearly washed up. So, under this pool was a passage leading to the outside?
Looking at the only entrance to the cave, she hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked towards the pool.
If she stepped into the doorway, it was still unknown whether she could return here. Lu Cai didn't want to take the risk. Even if this pool didn't lead to the outside world, she had to explore the environment here clearly before leaving with peace of mind.
In the dim light, the pool water looked dark, as if it contained an evil spirit or water monster. She held her breath and submerged herself in the water. As expected, she became drowsy and could not see clearly.
She released a small red ball of light to illuminate the surrounding environment, but she did not dare to go too far away from the water surface, for fear that something unexpected would happen and she would not have time to escape.
She swam for a long time within a certain distance below the water surface and found that the pool was not deep. The ball of light floated down for a while and then saw the bottom.
There was also a pile of rocks at the bottom of the water, and a layer of fine dust.
He went up to breathe and searched several times below to make sure there was nothing unusual before Lu Cai climbed ashore.
Looking at the entrance of the passage, we can only continue to go deeper.
After shaking off the water, she could feel the cool breeze rushing through the stone cave through her wet clothes. It wasn't just the cool breeze and moisture; as she walked along the passage, a rotten smell filled her nostrils.
He frowned tightly, and the fluorescent light above his head gradually became sparse and the light became dimmer.
Lu Cai was alert to the movements coming from all around him. He didn't know how long he had been walking, but the road ahead was still a winding corridor with no end in sight.
He took another step forward and heard a sharp cry from the front. The sound echoed in the passage.
She immediately stopped and tried to distinguish what was going on. Another voice followed closely behind.
"What are you howling for!" It was a girl's voice. It was a soft and delicate voice, but at this moment it was full of anger.
Lu Cai's tightly furrowed brows relaxed immediately, and she ran out quickly, following the sound.
"Aren't you afraid? You cover the rear!" The screaming voice was also a girl. Even though she was scared, she did not forget to fight back.
The angry girl was still furious: "If you hadn't been so impatient and rummaged through things, would we have gotten separated?"
The screaming girl was also angry: "If you weren't so incompetent and pretending to be so powerful, we could take a boat down the lake!"
"You..." The angry girl must have been very angry, "It's obviously you..."
"Me? What did I do?" the screaming girl said confidently, "It was you who wanted to come to Nanshan! It was you who wanted to enter the mountain! It was you who finally decided to take the boat!"
When Lu Cai ran closer, he didn't hear any other unusual sounds except the sound of two girls arguing, so he slowed down his pace.
The footsteps became lighter. The two girls were arguing with each other, their faces flushed, and they didn't notice anyone approaching.
"You have no ability! And you blame others!" The screaming girl didn't even give the other person a chance to speak.
Lu Cai sneered: "They are the ones who want to go into the mountains and take the boat, so why are you here?"
The screaming girl suddenly heard a voice and shuddered in fear. Lu Cai looked over in the fluorescent light and saw that it was the flower girl he had just met when he left Stonewall Town. The girl standing opposite the flower girl was wearing a simple Taoist robe.
"Lu Cai!" Yue Xiaoyan's originally angry expression disappeared in an instant, and she ran towards Lu Cai, "You really have to be here!"
When the flower girl saw Lu Cai, her face turned pale and her eyes were full of vigilance.
"Since you despise us for our incompetence, let's go our separate ways now." Lu Cai's face was full of disdain. He looked away and gestured to Yue Xiaoyan, "Let's go our separate ways."
The flower girl was anxious: "She brought me down here! She has to take me out!"
Lu Cai's face instantly turned cold: "Take her out? I can kill you here and no one will say anything." She approached the flower girl step by step, her steps very slowly, each step was on gravel, rustling and frightening.
The flower girl backed away, looking at the approaching Lu Cai, becoming increasingly flustered: "You can't do this! I'm a player!"
"Player?" Lu Cai seemed to have heard a joke. "In KB games, players' lives are worthless—" She lowered her eyes and snorted coldly, full of ridicule.
"You're just an NPC!" The flower girl seemed to have found confidence, "How dare you want to hurt the players?"
Lu Cai quickened his pace and approached her. The flower girl panicked, stepped on gravel, tripped, and fell to the ground.
Looking at the girl's panicked eyes, Lu Cai sneered and stopped beside the flower girl. She slowly squatted down and looked down at the other person's face. "What's wrong with the NPC? Killing a piece of trash like you doesn't take much effort. An NPC can do it too."
The flower girl was angry and scared. She looked up at Lu Cai's mocking smile and trembled even more violently.
"If you don't have the ability, then stop being so rude." Lu Cai lowered his voice, cold and eerie, as if whispering to a devil, "Otherwise, you'll die young."
After Lu Cai finished speaking, he stood up, greeted Yue Xiaoyan, and the two walked away side by side.
As soon as they left, the passage became quiet and the light seemed to dim. The flower girl got up in panic and ran after them.
Suddenly, a streak of red light flashed through the air and transformed into a barrier. The flower girl collided with the barrier and fell to the ground again.
Lu Cai stopped and said without looking back: "Get lost." She was not a philanthropist or a volunteer, and had no interest in helping such a selfish person.
Yue Xiaoyan, who was standing aside, didn't dare to speak. She noticed that Lu Cai was in a bad mood, and she couldn't help but cast her eyes on the flower girl not far behind him.
Did Lu Cai have a grudge against her? Yue Xiaoyan didn't dare to ask.
The flower girl gritted her teeth and looked at Lu Cai's back with resentment, as if Lu Cai was the devil who had killed her entire family.
People are like this. Instead of hating the villain who really harmed you, they hate a passerby who has nothing to do with you.
It was clearly the KB game that pushed her into a desperate situation, and it was clearly because she was too weak that she was at the mercy of others, but she felt that the stranger who had no obligation to save her was the culprit who harmed her.
Lu Cai sneered and continued walking forward.
Yue Xiaoyan followed Lu Cai until the flower girl disappeared from her sight.
"Do you think I'm a little scary?" Lu Cai glanced at Yue Xiaoyan, who looked at a loss, and asked calmly.
Yue Xiaoyan was startled and quickly shook her head. Her chubby face was full of determination: "You are not her parents, and you don't owe her anything. It's your choice whether to take her with you or not."
Seeing that she didn't seem to be lying to please her, Lu Cai retracted his gaze and sneered, "That kind of person is selfish. They won't remember that you helped them, nor will they consider you their former companion. They will only ask you to die for them when they need them."
Looking at Lu Cai's profile, she could sense the chill gradually growing in her gaze. Yue Xiaoyan hesitated: "Have you ever encountered a player like this before?"
Lu Cai didn't say anything, and Yue Xiaoyan didn't ask any more questions. She was even a little worried that she had said too much.
"The player who gave me weapons and medicine was used by his companions and died in the dungeon side quest." Lu Cai's voice suddenly sounded. Yue Xiaoyan was stunned for a moment before she realized what she had heard.
Yue Xiaoyan opened her mouth, but didn't know how to comfort her.
Lu Cai added, "But later, the companion who killed him also died in the side story." His tone was laughing, which made people feel chilled.
"Oh." Yue Xiaoyan responded hesitantly.
The two walked a few steps, but the road seemed to have no end.
"You are not in Shiqiang Town, why did you come to Nanshan?" Lu Cai changed the subject and asked Yue Xiaoyan.
Yue Xiaoyan suddenly emerged from her awkward silence and said, "The emperor is dead! It was the Marquis who did it."
After the Marquis was kicked by Lu Cai, his injury never healed, and everyone thought he would not survive. But he suddenly asked to see His Majesty, and the Emperor, not being on guard against him, met him.
"When he was caught by the guards, he kept laughing, saying, 'It wasn't as hard as I thought.'" Yue Xiaoyan recalled carefully, "He said that before he died, he did something he absolutely shouldn't do, so he had no regrets..."
Something you absolutely cannot do.
Lu Cai lowered his head. Was his character setting restricting him? Could he only be the emperor's hidden sword?
"Shiqiang Town has been cleaned up, and now everyone is convinced of Zhaohe, so we discussed coming to look for you." Yue Xiaoyan said, "Shi Rukui estimated the time and said that you should be leaving Yingshan. Taking into account the time we have to travel, we finally decided to rush to Nanshan."
As she was speaking, Yue Xiaoyan remembered something: "Oh, right, when we left Stonewall Town, Wang Shu came to us and asked some strange questions."
After the assassination of the Marquis, Wang Shu recalled many old memories.
For example, when I was a child, I picked up a little turtle, but the little turtle disappeared not long after.
For example, in order to please his father, he once said that he gave food to the beggar at the door, but Wang Yan heard it and ridiculed him, and even scolded the beggar at the door.
For example, Wang Yan came to her before she married the Marquis and asked her not to tell him the truth about making the flamboyant tree amber...
She thought about it for a long time, and just as Yue Xiaoyan and the others were about to leave, she asked, "If Instructor Lu succeeds, will we no longer have to suffer from the scorpion monster's invasion?"
Yue Xiaoyan gave her an affirmative answer, but she couldn't help but think that if they passed the level, this copy would be reset. This was just a cycle. They had no future, only torture again and again.
——
Outside Stonewall Town, in the middle of the dense forest.
A man in a dark blue robe picked up the ring on the ground. He sighed, looked at the white scorpion following at his feet, and then looked down at the big turtle in his arms.
"You're the only ones willing to follow me—" His tone was very sad, and his beautiful phoenix eyes didn't show any joy at all. "We have to move again. Let's go to a modern city next time. There's not even a supermarket here. It's really hard for you."
It held up its claws vigorously and made a "do-do-do" sound with its mouth, without any sadness at all.
"You're still happy! Once they find out that I've enabled a cheat in this copy, our good days will be over!" Lao Ke was so angry at Dali's naive look that the big turtle in his arms quickly retracted its head and limbs into its shell.
"You're still hiding! It's all your fault! Running around in the streets! Otherwise, would I have modified other people's data to repay you?" Lao Ke aimed his gunfire at the turtle, "Every one of them is a debt collector!"
As he cursed, he squatted down and stretched out his arm towards Dali. Dali quickly climbed up his arm and onto his shoulder.
The man walked away with a ring, a turtle, and a heartless white scorpion.
The author has something to say:
I wanted to write more in the new year, but ended up writing nothing and an hour late. I’m guilty (/face the wall to reflect)
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