Hearing footsteps behind him, Zhang Cheng immediately became alert. Now, he valued his life greatly; dying even once would cost him 5% of his current experience. At his current leveling speed, dying once would mean all the spiders he just farmed would be for nothing.
Under Zhang Cheng’s wary gaze, a black-haired, cat-eared girl appeared at the bend of the cave. Her fluffy orange cat ears twitched atop her head as she hopped along. She wore tight leather armor with a black coat draped over it, and a dagger could be glimpsed at her waist. Both hands were stuffed into her pockets as she hummed a cheerful little tune.
But none of this caught Zhang Cheng’s eye. What he noticed first was the nickname above her head: Spicy Rabbit Head.
The girl across from him froze for a moment when she saw Zhang Cheng. Then, as if snapping back to her senses, she turned and bolted.
“Stop right there!” Zhang Cheng gave up on the spiders in front of him and chased after her with his longsword dragging behind.
The girl ran incredibly fast. Judging by her odd, mismatched outfit, Zhang Cheng guessed she was an agility-based class: a Thief.
As the distance between them grew, Zhang Cheng realized he’d definitely lose her at this rate. With a roar, he stopped, gritted his teeth, and hurled his Greatsword straight at the cat-eared girl ahead.
The girl heard the angry shout and the sound of something slicing through the air behind her. She turned just in time to see a massive sword flying her way and, startled, dove to the side.
Bang! The Greatsword spun past her body, crashing into the stone wall ahead. As she lay prone on the ground and looked up at the sword, her heart had just settled—only to leap up again.
She was now sprawled on the ground, unable to move, and could only watch helplessly as the Greatsword bounced off the wall and smashed down onto her.
“Ah!” A shrill scream echoed through the cave. In reality, the system had already reduced pain to 10%, so getting hit didn’t hurt much, but her instinctive reaction still made her cry out.
Zhang Cheng approached, face dark, picked up the Greatsword lying beside the girl, and looked down at her from above.
Honestly, Zhang Cheng hadn’t expected much when he threw the Greatsword; he knew his own skill level. But to his surprise, the sword flew right at the girl, and even more unexpectedly, after dodging, she was hit by the rebounding sword.
‘Could that ring actually be working? No, it must be a coincidence. Just this once isn’t enough to prove anything.’ Zhang Cheng pondered the effects of the Lucky Ring. When he finished thinking, he noticed the girl was still lying there motionless, so he spoke first.
“Why did you push me yesterday? What were you trying to do?” Zhang Cheng frowned. Was she just playing dead? She wasn’t responding at all.
He didn’t want to waste words. He hefted the Greatsword and stabbed it downward. The “corpse” at his feet saw her health bar drop a sizable chunk.
“Ah! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Don’t kill me!” The cat-eared girl screamed again, hurriedly apologizing and pitifully scrambling to her feet.
Zhang Cheng sneered, “Speak. Why did you push me yesterday? What was your goal?”
“Um…” Seeing the girl’s eyes darting around, Zhang Cheng slowly raised his Greatsword, stepped forward, and took an aggressive stance.
Frightened, the girl shrank back, cornered against the cave wall. “I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you! Yesterday I saw them struggling to fight the boss, and I wanted to… steal some equipment from them… No, no, I wanted to help them, and then I saw you coming, and I was just about to…”
While Zhang Cheng was distracted listening to her nonsense, the cat-eared girl suddenly flung a handful of sand into his eyes and darted away.
Zhang Cheng didn’t know what skills Thieves had, so he was somewhat on guard, but he still fell for it. This sand-throwing, blinding skill was pretty effective; even though he tried to cover his eyes, all he could see was sandy brown. It seemed to be a forced-blindness skill.
After a second or two, his vision cleared, but the Thief had already run far away. Zhang Cheng hurried after her. Next time he caught her, he’d send her home first!
Luckily, this part of the cave was basically a straight line, so he didn’t lose sight of her. The girl ahead realized she couldn’t shake him in this environment, so with a flash of white light, she exited the Dungeon.
Zhang Cheng cursed under his breath and followed her out. He could only hope this was her first time entering this Dungeon too, so they’d both appear at the entrance.
After a brief bout of dizziness, the girl’s figure appeared in front of him—but something seemed off.
Why were they surrounded? Who were these burly men? Wait, he recognized these people. Wasn’t the leader the priest who’d commanded the raid at dawn?
Damn, what a coincidence!
“Well, well! What are you lovebirds up to? Off on your honeymoon?” The leading priest sneered as he saw Zhang Cheng following the catgirl Thief out of the Dungeon.
Zhang Cheng was stunned, then quickly explained, “I’m not with her. I was settling a score with her, just chased her out.”
The priest chuckled and beckoned to his teammates. “I don’t care if you’re together or not. You two stole our stuff, so get ready to be hunted down and lose some levels.”
Seeing there was no room for negotiation and knowing he was in the wrong, Zhang Cheng sighed and readied himself for battle. But then he saw the nickname above the cat-eared girl’s head vanish—she had already logged off.
Both sides were stunned. Zhang Cheng glanced at the girl thoughtfully, then logged off as well.
“CNMD!” The priest smacked his forehead, glaring at the two now-unselectable, unattackable characters in front of him. “Let’s go level up first. We’ll settle this score later. This grudge will not be forgotten!”
After logging off, Zhang Cheng enjoyed a nice hot shower before logging back in. As expected, the other team was nowhere to be seen.
It was still early in the game. Everyone was racing against the clock to make progress, especially strategy teams like the one he’d just encountered. Their thirst for levels was far above that of ordinary players. Since there wasn’t any deep-seated hatred between them, the other side likely wouldn’t go out of their way to camp him.
That Thief was gone too—she must have logged in earlier than him. Zhang Cheng decided to let it go for now. Next time he ran into her, he’d kill her once to settle the score. For now, there was no need to go looking for trouble; the main quest was more important!
He found a new leveling Dungeon and spent the whole night grinding, leaving himself three hours for sleep. Once rested, he hurried off to work.
*****
Lu Qiuchen had been circling over the Southern Continent for half a lap. Dawn was already breaking, but she hadn’t found a single player. Sighing, she looked at the three locations in her quest log and decided to head to the nearest one: the Holy Nation.
The Holy Nation, also known as the Papal State, was a country founded by the Pope of the Church, located at the very center of the Southern Continent. Though not large in area, its military power was formidable; even the epic-level forces it openly displayed numbered in the hundreds.
The bells of the Saint Cathedral rang, heralding the sunrise and the start of a new day.
At that moment, Pope Peter was leading the faithful in prayer. After finishing, he saw a Red-Robed Cardinal standing outside the chapel, palms pressed together in greeting.
The Pope exited the chapel, and the Red-Robed Cardinal stepped forward. “Your Holiness, we have received word from the High Priest: the Disaster Dragon is heading for the Cathedral.”
The Pope’s expression was unreadable. He nodded slightly. “She dares come here even after being wanted? Ask her what she wants. If she shows any hostility, don’t hold back. Go handle it.”
After receiving his orders, the Red-Robed Cardinal departed. The Pope remained where he was, looking up at the azure sky, eyes narrowed as he murmured, “It’s about to begin…”
As Lu Qiuchen flew toward the Holy Nation, she sensed something was off below, as if many people were watching her. But when she looked down, she couldn’t see anything unusual. Still, she had a feeling something big was about to happen.
Just as Lu Qiuchen entered the Holy Nation’s borders, she was intercepted midair.
Blocking her path was a Red-Robed Cardinal, floating effortlessly in the sky without using any visible power. This was a sign of a legendary-level expert!
Facing an opponent of equal rank, Lu Qiuchen dared not be careless. She stopped and politely asked, “May I ask why you are blocking my way, sir?”
The Red-Robed Cardinal’s expression was calm, giving away neither friendliness nor hostility. But his tone was stern: “Please leave at once. The Holy Nation does not welcome you!”
“Why is that?” Lu Qiuchen was puzzled. She didn’t recall having any grudge with the Church.
The other replied coldly, “You have been declared wanted by the Church across the entire continent. Please leave!”
Lu Qiuchen was dumbfounded. She transformed into human form, frowned, and asked, “Are you sure it’s me? I’m wanted by the Church? What’s going on?”
The Red-Robed Cardinal’s brows knitted tightly, his voice harsh: “It’s you! Cecilia! Half a year ago, you slaughtered the entire city of Druid, and now you don’t even dare admit it? Leave immediately, or I will arrest you on behalf of the Holy Nation!”
If not for the Pope’s orders, the Red-Robed Cardinal would have already apprehended the evil dragon before him! Once someone was on the Church’s wanted list, not capturing them at first sight was unheard of. To let them go with a warning—this was a first!
Lu Qiuchen was shocked by his words. She slaughtered the entire city of Druid? Why did she have no memory of that?
That period of her memory had mysteriously vanished, and the other party didn’t seem to be lying. This made her start to doubt herself.
Lu Qiuchen’s eyes widened in disbelief. Whether this world was real or a game, she had always treated it as a real world.
She had spent a long time among the people of Druid. She could swear on her heart that they were living, breathing beings. Yet now the Church’s Red-Robed Cardinal was telling her she had personally turned Druid into a ghost town.
‘Did I really kill everyone in the city?’
“No! That’s not true! That’s not true!” Lu Qiuchen didn’t know how many people lived in Druid, but it was definitely tens of thousands.
All of them might have perished by her hand.
Lu Qiuchen instinctively felt her body trembling. Deep down, she was starting to believe what the other said, and some vague memories seemed to surface.
“No!”
With a scream, Lu Qiuchen transformed into her dragon form and flew northeast. She had to see Druid with her own eyes!
The Red-Robed Cardinal watched her fly away, feeling both disappointed and relieved. If he really had to fight an adult dragon, he wasn’t sure he could win—no, he wasn’t sure he could even escape.
But if she had tried to force her way into the Holy Nation, he would have given his life for the faith.