His chest hurt.
His head was throbbing.
There was a bloody body in front of him.
No... Familiar corpses were scattered all around him.
It was a living hell.
Why...
Why had this happened?
Everything was going well... right?
Where did he go wrong?
His whole entire body was in immense pain, but he couldn't stop.
He still had to save them.
- - - - -
"Are you sure this is the right way, FengFeng?"
"Don't worry Hua-er! I'm a hundred percent sure."
"But it feels ten times more dangerous here than the place where I battled those demonic wolves!"
"Senior Sister Shi, I believe in Senior Brother Liu's abilities, so I'm sure we'll be fine."
"Alright then! Oh, and no need to refer to me as Senior Sister, just call me Sister Shi and you can call FengFeng Brother Liu, okay?"
"Okay, Sister-in-law", he whispered.
"Hmm? Did you say something?"
"No, Sister Shi"
"Hua-er, XiSheng, there's someone ahead. Make sure to be on guard."
"Mmm" "Okay!"
The three of them slowly advanced forwards, expecting to face off with another pack of demonic beasts, but all they saw was a woman in a red dress instead.
Having spent most of his time on Earth, there was no way that Zero hadn't heard of one or two horror tales in his life. In fact, during the time when he worked in a haunted house, he'd always been bombarded with scary myths and legends by his co-workers.
Despite all that, his seniors had always liked to repeat one sentence over and over again in every story they told: If you see a suspicious person dressed in red, run without hesitation and don't look back.
The woman slowly opened her mouth and said in a hoarse voice, "Am I beautiful?"
???
A split mouthed woman rip-off?
"Beautiful, beautiful!", Shi Lanhua answered without hesitation. Her teacher had told her some ghost stories a few years back, so when she saw this woman in the red dress, her survival instincts told her to just comply with the other party, no matter what they say.
"Do you want to look like me?"
"Yes, yes! Wait what--"
Before Shi Lanhua could fully register what the hell was going on, she saw the woman slowly making her way over.
[Dangerous creature detected! An error occurred and the plot had been affected. Due to the unexpected change of events, there has been a last minute adjustment to host's main mission.
Main Mission:
- Protect this realm from the enemy
Side Missions, Liu Feng's Wishes:
- Find out about Liu Feng's greatest secret, the one that he never knew about when he was alive
- Protect Liu Feng's Older Sister from Harm]
'What? Such a thing can happen?'
[I don't know! This has never occurred in the history of task takers before! Hey, at least you found the villain you wanted..?]
Zero didn't know if he should laugh or cry at the moment. It had always been him who was complaining about wanting to throw the [Villain] title onto another person, but it looks like he got way more than what he asked for this time...
Just as the woman was about to reach out to touch Shi Lanhua, Zero kicked towards her and sent the other party flying across the maze.
"Don't touch my sister."
The woman was clearly enraged at being treated so roughly and no longer held back as she let out an ear deafening shriek and ran towards them.
Zero was prepared to decapitate her before a tall figure stood in front of him and pierced his sword through her chest.
The woman let out an agonizing scream and weakly fell to the ground.
"Y-you... how did you manage to hurt me?"
"I just stabbed you", Nan XiSheng replied.
"No..! Normal attacks cannot injure me! Who.. who are you?"
"Just someone protecting the one person nobody is allowed to harm."
Eh?
Zero was confused.
The protagonist wanted to protect him? But why? Didn't Nan XiSheng hate him for attempting to murder him?
A bunch of complicated feelings arose inside of Zero, but he quickly suppressed them and looked unfazed.
Now that he thought about it, the protagonist had never really shown him a look of pure hatred, as described in the original novel, and like 005 said, the hate bar was completely empty, but he had no idea why.
Even though he continued to torture the poor boy in the past, why didn't the latter hate him as much as he was supposed to?
He was able to sympathize with the pain he put the other through, as he had experienced it himself back on Earth, but why was Nan XiSheng's reaction the complete opposite of what he had expected?
Zero thought back to the events that occurred throughout the past years from when they first made eye contact on the master-disciple selection stage until now. How he had persistently chased after the protagonist to bully him every day, how he would secretly sneak out to deliver some food during nighttime, how his heart felt like it was being ripped to shreds whenever he saw the splitting image of himself every time Nan XiSheng was left there, helpless to retaliate.
Had it already been so long?
He had subconsciously considered himself a part of this realm, but maybe there was a part of him that still felt like he was in a dream and that when he woke up, he'd be back on Earth.
Memories of the events that took place within the past 17 years surfaced and perhaps it was at this moment, he truly woke up from his delusion.
Everything was real. Hua-er was real, 005 was real, everything happening now was real and... Nan XiSheng couldn't be more real.
Once again, Zero lifted his eyes to stare at the figure in front of him, only to find that the other party was also looking back.
It was probably the first time that he had actually taken a clear look at the person in front of him.
He wasn't just another crucial part of his missions.
He was Nan XiSheng.
Maybe it was because his stare was too intense, the other person looked away and broke Zero out of his stupor.
Ah! That was embarrassing! He didn't want XiSheng to think that he was some weirdo!
What Zero didn't notice was that after he turned away, Nan XiSheng's face turned beet red as he wondered why his darling was staring at him so much.
[Host... 005 wants to tell you this for your own sake, but please don't get too attached to the residents of this plane. After all, you're most likely never coming back here again and...]
'I know, but human emotions are things that can't be controlled sometimes. The years of affection won't just disappear because I want them to, so I'll just try to make the best out of my life during my time here. Once I become a stronger and more capable host, I'll definitely find a way to come back again.'
[Y-you.. Good luck, then. I'll always be here if you ever need me.]
'I know I'll always be able to count on you, 005'
[Eek! Don't say such cheezy things!]
'... Why can't you not be such a tsundere for once?'
[Who's the tsundere! You're the tsundere! You're whole family are tsunderes!]
'But you're part of my family?'
[Oh...]
By the time 005 and Zero had stopped bickering, Nan XiSheng had already finished off the woman, who was currently reduced to a pile of dismembered limbs.
[Host! I feel some world power from her dress! Please remove her dress and give it to me!]
'World power...?'
[It's power from the source of this world! You know that huge crystal in the middle of the secret realm? Yeah, that thing contains a lot of the world's power. But obviously, if I absorb that power, this whole entire realm would collapse, so we can forget about that idea. I don't know why this woman also has some of it, but it's definitely good news for us!]
'Sure, I'll just go take it off and give it to you!'
Zero walked towards the pitiful woman on the floor, who was pretty much dead by now, and started stripping her.
?!?
Both Shi Lanhua and Nan XiSheng were alarmed by his actions and rushed over.
"FengFeng, I never knew you had such... unique tastes!"
Only then did Zero realize how wrong his current actions turned out to be. But he was really innocent! All he wanted to do was finish a task that his system issued.
Feeling wronged, he internally sent 005 a glare...
Only to find that his system was pretending to be dead.
"N-no! Hua-er, this is a misunderstanding! You see, her clothes carry a familiar power that I've felt before when I was near that huge crystal in the secret realm, so I wanted to examine them!"
"Oh, then say so sooner!", Shi Lanhua said as both she and Nan XiSheng sighed in relief.
When Zero finally managed to get the woman's clothes off, he gave them to 005. In the eyes of the other two, the red dress that he was holding just disappeared into thin air. They were confused, but decided not to pry too much into it. After all, everyone had their own secrets that they'd rather not share.
When 005 received the dress, he was ecstatic! Without waiting for another second, it directly "absorbed" the power from the clothes. Zero could visibly see how the red from the dress was quickly being seeped into his system. After a few minutes, the originally bloody red dress turned into a pure white, whereas 005 let out a satisfied burp.
Similarly, Zero felt himself getting a little stronger. No, it was more like the shackles placed on his got a little lighter.
Wait, shackles?
Since when did he have those?
Zero had a vague feeling that he didn't fully understand himself as much as he thought he did, but decided to slowly uncover those secrets later on.
The trio kept on walking with Zero leading the way, because he was the only one who knew how to get out, but of course the other two didn't know that.
Along the way the three chatted a little and the connections between them seemed to have gotten closer, especially with Zero and Nan XiSheng.
Zero found the protagonist to be a more interesting person than he originally thought and the two kept on chatting, oblivious the smirking Shi Lanhua at the side.
If one was observing this from the side, they would've thought that they were taking a leisurely walk instead of going through a death trial!
After traveling for a few more hours, they arrived at a huge door with vines creeping around the edges.
Zero and Shi Lanhua stared at Nan XiSheng for a while, because they didn't know who should go open the door. After all, Zero and his sister came here in order to find a plant to cure her injury, but they have no idea what the protagonist was here for.
Of course, Nan XiSheng didn't give a crap about the so called "prize" and gestured for his darling--- *cough* I mean, Zero, to go ahead and push the door open.
After getting the other party's approval, he sent him a look of gratitude and proceeded to put a hand on the door.
'This is it', he thought as he gently pushed forward.
The door slowly opened and what they saw at the other end was a tree with a single, scarlet red fruit hanging from its branches.
But...
Where was Lady Liu? Wasn't she supposed to come and congratulate them, or something? Plus, how did she know that they were seeking the Heaven's Heart Fruit?
Whatever, none of that mattered anymore. As long as they had this 9th grade herb, Shi Lanhua would be cured.
Wasting no time at all, Zero ran to the tree and plucked it right off the tree. As if it lost its lifeline, the tree instantly withered and turned into ashes.
The three were surprised, but Zero quickly returned to his senses and brought out a humongous golden cauldron. He then sat down in front of it and threw the fruit in.
"Eh, FengFeng, since when did you know how to make pills? Wasn't your supporting occupation beast taming?"
"A-ah", Zero stuttered because he completely forgot about the fact that his sister and Nan XiSheng didn't know he could make pills, "I learned it in my free time! After all, I wanted know how to make a pill that can heal your injuries!"
"But my supporting occupation is pill refining, so I could've just made it myself?"
"Yeah, but then you'd have to use your fire to be able to make it and that would only make it worse."
She seemed to have accepted that explanation and didn't ponder on about the topic, much to Zero's relief.
Nan XiSheng asked Shi Lanhua was going on and she patiently explained her injury to him while Zero was busy trying to concoct the pill.
Of course, she left out the part about the war between phoenixes and dragons and just told him that she suffered a severe injury during a fight.
It only took Zero an hour to finish and when he opened the lid of the cauldron, a shiny silver pill floated out.
"Hua-er, here you go!", Zero said as he enthusiastically shoved the pill into her hands, worried that something unexpected might happen if she didn't eat it soon.
Shi Lanhua smiled and pat her little brother on the head, "FengFeng really grew up to be a capable man. I'm sure your future spouse would be very happy to have someone like you."
Zero blushed as he secretly lamented on the fact that that would never happen because of his task taker status. On the other hand, Shi Lanhua just looked at Nan XiSheng with eyes which expressed the fact that she'd kill him if he did anything to hurt her little brother. Nan XiSheng understood the underlying meaning and nodded to express his sincerity.
Only then did she smile and swallow the pill.
Her body was instantly shrouded with a shiny green luster and not long later, she opened her eyes.
Nothing could've expressed the pleasure she felt in those few minutes. It was like she was reborn and the chains that have restricted her for the past few years were lifted as she was set free.
"Let's leave this place, shall we?"
"Good idea, Hua-er. I was thinking to do that as well, but how do we get out?"
Right after Zero finished that sentence, a blinding white like covered them and wrapped around their bodies like a warm silk coat.
The trio felt as light as a feather for a few seconds then the light dissipated.
However...
The beautiful floating islands and flowery scenery was nowhere to be seen. In its place was a hellish place.
The blue skies were dyed blood red and there was a huge fire spreading everywhere.
"W-what's going on?!"
Thank you for the chapter
Still love this serie! Thank you for the chapter!!
Thank you for the chapter!