Chapter 12 - Reptile Carts

San Zhu opened his inventory and pulled out an assortment of weapons: bow and arrows, daggers, a sword, and a staff. He laid the items before her.

"Choose, sister Cheng!"

Cheng Xiu knelt down to look at the items. "I already have a system issued weapon though. And I don't have the skills necessary to use any of these."

San Zhu scoffed. "Those rusty things? They are meant for F Ranked Quests, not D ranked ones like the Rats. You should know this. And the weapons themselves have improvement enhancements in them, so you should be able to use them for now."

Cheng Xiu looked at the weapons in surprise. Wouldn't that mean anyone could use these?

" So that's how the game makes money!" Cheng Xiu exclaimed."It sells these items to low level players!"

San Zhu nodded. "And the rich in the game collect the rare items in the market. Now select one!"

She took the bow and arrows and the sword. She would try to kill the things from afar three times and only if that doesn't work would she use the sword. "Thank you, brother San, for your generosity."

San Zhu beamed at her. "You're welcome, sister Cheng. Now come on, I'll inform you about the Rats Quest on the way. We have to return to the village in 10 hours or so."

"Why?"

"I have a term project to work on in the real world and considering it's Ms Bo's work…"

"Oh. Her. Yeah, then we should."

San Zhu observed Cheng Xiu. He wanted to ask how Ms Bo had offended her but knowing Ms Bo, the woman must have not liked to have someone as talented as Cheng Xiu being a Qiless.

They walked out of the Quest Hall and made their way to the front door. The Guild had become desolate again as the Adventurers left to do their Quests.

Cheng Xiu flitted her eyes around. There wasn't that much of a difference between when she came in at first and now, three days later.

There were new cracks on the walls though. One in perticular looked like the body of a man was embedded into it.

Uncle Dian had duped another poor soul to take the Madman's Prophesy.

San Zhu placed his ID on a blue box in one corner. It flashed red. He opened the lid and pulled out a blue stone that had 2 etched on it.

Cheng Xiu looked at it curiously.

San Zhu smiled. "This is our ride."

She tilted her head. "This? How? Do you throw it on the ground and it turn into a vehicle or something."

He laughed. "Nothing that crazy. We will be taking a Reptile Cart. Come on!"

He walked out the road.

Her eyes widened. Reptile Carts.

She ran up to him. The stench of the village assaulted her nose once again and the sun blazing hot did not help it. But there were more important things to worry about.

"Reptile Carts? Are you talking about the Reptile Carts that Kai Shane used to ride in the Book 'Masters of the Western Dragons'?"

San Zhu nodded with a grin. His junior was looking at him with the awe and gratitude that he wished she would show from the start. The attitude he was trying to get her to feel since meeting her. Because in the end, it would be kind of cool to have the best of their college fawning over him.

Her eyes shone with excitement.

San Zhu wasn't delusional. He knew this awe was for the information he gave and that was all he wanted from her. To be appreciated as someone valuable.

"The Reptile Carts from Master WenLu's debut novel? that Reptile Carts?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Apparently, the GM of The Other World decided that it would be an interesting addition. I think so too, though I haven't really read Si WenLu's works so I can't be sure. I only have time to read comics most days. But yeah, Reptile Carts are cool."

Cheng Xiu looked scandalized. They were entering a menagerie of some kind but Cheng Xiu only looked around superficially. Seeing that the Reptile Carts were not in sight, she lost interest quickly.

"Do you even know what the history of Reptile Carts are?" she asked in a squeaky voice.

San Zhu sweated and shook his head. He felt like he was in front of a dragon who was ready to breath fire on him if he so much as thought to make a wrong move.

Where did his cute junior sister go?

"The Reptiles are actually dragons!"

San Zhu froze in shock. What?

"Um…sister Cheng, The Other World doesn't have dragons. At least not yet."

Cheng Xiu shook her head. "They are dragons. More specifically, they are the runts of the litter who should have died but Witches and Wizards saved them and used them for their own purposes. The MC of that story created a Dragon revolution to release the Runts from being misused and in turn gets many fortunate encounters because she had a Dragon's Blessing!"

San Zhu backed away from her unconsciously as her entire deposition shined.

"So you like WenLu?" a voice teased from behind her.

Cheng Xiu nodded and turned towards the voice in excitement. Was it another WenLu fan?

Her smile froze and disappeared.

"You!" she hissed.

"Me!" WenXian said with a smile. His red eyes sparkled.

"Wen-Wen-Wen-Xian?" San Zhu felt delirious. What kind of broken luck was this? Was fate smiling on him today because it beat him up so badly?

WenXian turned to him. "One Went is enough. Do not add more. I can hear you very well."

"An honor, sir," San Zhu said and bowed before him.

WenXian raised an eyebrow.

Cheng Xiu blushed. She had spent most of her time thinking of ways to bring the man harm that she had forgotten he was a famous person.

"What do you want?" Cheng Xiu asked politely.

WenXian smirked. "I heard WenLu and I had to see who it was. Who would have thought it was the masked woman who threw me to the wolves and ran away."

Cheng Xiu looked at him with sparkling eyes.

WenXian stepped back as she started to look like one of his rabid fan-girls.

"Are you a Master's fan as well?"

WenXian blinked. "Master?"

Cheng Xiu nodded. "Master WenLu."

"Don't call him Master!" WenXian said with a shiver. "That bastard has too much of an ego already. I won't be able to handle it if he hears you call him Master."

Cheng Xiu felt unbridled excitement rise in her. "You know the Master personally?"

WenXian started to sweat and shook his head vigorously. "No. I just know his kind of people."

Cheng Xiu raised an eyebrow. "You definitely know who the Master is."

San Zhu pulled her back, trying to get her to stop. They were getting curious glances from people.

Cheng Xiu shook his grip off. "I wasn't born yesterday, Mr Lu...wait...your name is Lu WenXian and Master's name is WenLu…"

WenXian ran away.

Cheng Xiu looked at the empty space in front of her in disbelief. "Brother San, does he not realize that by running away he just confirmed my thought process?"

San Zhu sweated. "You would have figured it out anyway. He probably did not want to be there to witness it. After all, he did not see or hear it happening so there is a plausible deniability. While you think of it, let me go get our ride."

San Zhu ran away too.

But Cheng Xiu was trying to figure the truth out and did not notice his words or movements.

Si WenLu. Lu WenXian. Lu. Wen. Si? No. It couldn't be that easy, could it?

"Brother San, is there someone-" she looked around her. "Brother San?"

She looked around. Did he go to pick up their ride?

She would ask him when he returned with the Reptile Cart then.

Cheng Xiu smiled. She was going to get a Reptile Cart! A cart pulled by an actual dragon!

The Other World was so beautiful.

She went to a corner and waited for brother San.

Her eyes fell onto a large Notice Board.

She walked up to it and started to read it. Some were political news, some were announcements of weddings and funerals. Some were wanted posters of NPCs and even some Players. Some were world informations that Cheng Xiu found useful.

Too useful.

A Reptile Cart was a means of transportation that the Adventurer's Guild provided for its beginner members who couldn't use the teleportation circle without combusting.

Cheng Xiu shivered. It was a good thing she was not one of those idiots who tried to teleport just to see what would happen.

There were many hidden rules and consequences to this game that people wouldn't really know about until they triggered it. The Other World was far more dangerous and unpredictable than most games.

'Maya,' she thought. 'Why is the game-style so disorderly?'

[Real life is not orderly or consistent.]

Cheng Xiu frowned. 'Why was this game made to be so disorderly then?'

[The Player does not have Authority to know about the goal of The Other World.]

Cheng Xiu stilled. The Other World…the AI always said The Other World. Not the Game. Maybe she was over thinking things and it might have been a simple word choice, but the fact that this game could actually make Qiless feel like they have Qi…there was something more going on in this.

Cheng Xiu shook her head. It wasn't any of her business what the game goal is as long as she was not dragged into it.

San Zhu returned.

Behind him was an old tattered cart and pulling that cart were two Western styled dragons. One's scale was blue tinted and the other was blue with an undertones of green.

San Zhu laughed at the dazed look Cheng Xiu was giving the dragons. "Come on, you weirdo. You can ogle the dragons on our way to the Viridian Forest."

Cheng Xiu giggled. Actually giggled and ran up to the dragons.

She stopped a feet away from it though. The Runts only obeyed those who held their rein and everyone else had to be casious.

Cheng Xiu got onto the Cart and San Zhu followed. Cheng Xiu looked at him curiously. "Who is driving then?"

"Just press your Guild ID to one of the runes etched on the reins. The dragons will move automatically."

Cheng Xiu grinned and did just that. In the books, this mechanics was called the Magician's Dream where the driver poured their magic into the runes of the reins and thought of where he or she wanted to go to. The runes instructed the dragons.

The runes in their cart lit up in a blue light and the dragons spread their wings and flew off into the clouds.

A/N: A magical chapter!

Thank you for the love and support that you all showed the work! Thank you! Thank you!

I hope the story will be able to make you all fall in love with it!

Author's Theater:

Cheng Xiu: I figured out who WenLu is!

Me: you haven't honey.

Cheng Xiu: yeah I have!

Me: Maya, you tell her.

Maya: [Host is on the right track.]

Me: I didn't tell you to reassure her!

Somewhere in the distant future.

WenXian is kneeling on the floor, holding someone's legs and sobbing.

WenXian: I'm sorry I revealed it! I revealed it! It was me!

Si WenLu: Well done.

WenXian: huh?