Chapter 192 - The Nest

Cheng Xiu walked through the barely lit pathway, her phoenix eyes glazed as her thoughts were on the various clues that she had found throughout the dungeon.

"What I want to know is," San Zhe said to her, "Why animated utensils?"

"Why not?"

San Zhe blinked. "That is also true."

Cheng Xiu shook her head with a smile. "I was just trying to troll you. I think you are right. We should question that storyline. In fact, I do have a bit of a guess…but we will see if it is right or not."

San Zhe tilted his head. "What is it?"

Cheng Xiu smiled and whispered to him.

San Zhe stared at her for a few moments and then nodded in a daze. "That makes sense…but…does this mean we have to find a rose or something?"

Cheng Xiu shrugged. "We will see. I am sure that where we are going right now will show us the right direction."

They soon reached a dead end. Or to be more clear, a large wooden door that blocked their path.

San Zhe raised his trident, ready to burst open the door.

Thinking of something, Cheng Xiu stopped him. "Wait."

San Zhe stepped back, curious about what she had figured out or planned on doing.

Cheng Xiu placed her hand on the corner of the door and sent out a small burst of Qi.

The door flashed blue, and creeped open.

San Zhe blinked. He looked at Cheng Xiu in confusion. "How did you know to do that?"

"Isn't this the method that the system gave out to us when we wanted to open the second Iron door?"

San Zhe thought some and nodded.

Cheng Xiu was about to step in when Yaksha walked in front of her and blocked her path.

Cheng Xiu looked up at him. "Brother Yaksha?"

"I need to go in first."

"Why?"

Yaksha pulled out a dim lit talisman. "The device I used to suppress my Level in the dungeon is running out."

Cheng Xiu cast him a worried look. "What will happen if it fails now?"

"We will have to face a horde of dead Rat souls," he said in a light voice, as though what he said was not a scary thing at all.

Cheng Xiu shivered. "So…souls?...as in Gho-ghosts? Why?"

Yaksha stared at her with deep black eyes. "Because of my identity in the game."

Cheng Xiu frowned. She wanted him to explain more but at that moment, they had little time as the talisman was dying.

"How will you going into the room help in this situation?" she asked him.

"It is the Nest," he said to her in a tone that said she should know about it.

She didn't.

San Zhe gasped. "Nests? Why are there nests in this dungeon?"

Yaksha looked at him briefly. "Random Encounter."

"Huh?" San Zhe blinked. "You mean this dungeon's Random Encounters have nests?"

"What the hell are nests?" Cheng Xiu asked in a low tone.

San Zhe blinked. "It is like the system store but they are owned by the NPCs. The store would have all kinds of things in it that is common throughout all the system stores and also those that are specialties and are only available at this dungeon's Nest. They are always owned by Witch NPCs."

Cheng Xiu was surprised by that. She had not realised that there were even such things…but then again. It made sense. This was a game after all, and dungeons are the places that people are most likely to need more weapons, supplements, guides, and other necessities. They might also buy things that are suitable for the environment of the dungeon, or upgrade their entire equipments.

But that brought her another question.

"Why are you so surprised by its presence then?" She asked San Zhe. "Isn't it more weird if there are none here?"

San Zhe shook his head. "Nests are only available to those dungeons that are extremely difficult to clear. The fact that it appeared here…"

"Why did the Wooden torch and the Fork and Spoon couple run to the Nest then?" Cheng Xiu asked.

San Zhe shrugged. He was not that talented in game logics.

Cheng Xiu's eyes started to sparkle. "I am sure that the Nest is very interesting!"

San Zhe sweatdropped. Sure enough, genius or not, girls are always obsessed about going shopping.

Cheng Xiu saw the look in San Zhe's eyes and controlled her expression. She calmed herself down and looked Yaksha again. "But that does not explain why you have to be the first person to enter."

Yaksha pointed towards a rat head carved into the space at a small corner of the doorframe. "That is called a Witch mark. It records the people who go into the store. If the first person to go in is a Level 10, then only those who are 5 levels below or above that person can go in. So if you go in, only players upto level 8 can go in. I will be forbidden."

Cheng Xiu raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Why is it a rule like that?"

"To protect the people who come in," Yaksha said. "But there are always loop holes. Like the first person who comes in might not be a weak person. Like what I am doing. I am at level 70, so anyone at or below Level 70 would be able to enter the store."

"Um…that…" Cheng Xiu just stared at him. "Have you done this before?"

"Yes," he said to her, his eyes steady.

"The system allowed it? And there was no patchwork after that to make sure that it did not happen again?"

Yaksha shrugged. "I don't know."

Cheng Xiu was annoyed at those words. "You don't know…then why are you still going in?"

"What if it is the same? I need to update my talisman."

Cheng Xiu sighed. "Fine. Lets try it then. We also need to finish this Quest before all the Rats upgrade to S rank."

Yaksha nodded and went in, and San Zhe and Cheng Xiu followed after him.

A tinkling of bell rang as each of them crossed the threshold of the door and the rat head symbol flashed each time.

The room inside was made of boulders, lit in an ambient red light.

There were claws and all kinds of body parts floating from the ceiling. There were flaoting wooden torches all around the room, their flame a deep blood red.

Curious about the lights, and wondering if any of them was the Wooden Torch that led her and the others here, Cheng Xiu moved towards the one near the doorframe and was the closest to them to get a better veiw.

She was not that surprised to find that the flames of the torches did not emit light. Though she wanted to know if it would burn or have some other consequences, Cheng Xiu forced herself to not do anything stupid like acutally try to touch it.

She stretched out her neck and look a little peek into the torch holder.

She stepped back in agitation.

The fuel that made the torches burn was a kind of red liquid. She could guess what those liquids were.

Cheng Xiu was still curious though, and her hand stretched to hold the wooden part of the torch instead of the flame.

She frowned as she saw a rat head carved onto the wooden handle. If she touched the handle, there might be some kind of a reaction like the one in the doorframe, or there would be other consequences.

She pulled back her hand.

There was a disappointed sigh behind her and then a groan.

"I thought she would touch it!" a small voice said in a low whisper.

Cheng Xiu forced herself not to turn around even though the voice sounded like the Fork when it had accused Yaksha of being a bully.

"She did not," another voice said. Their position was near each other as their voices came from the same direction and distance.

"I guess I can only hope that she trips and falls so that she can touch the torch, and then I can leave this place," another squeaky voice said.

Though she was not familiar with this voice, she was sure it was the wooden torch.

Cheng Xiu then realised something. San Zhe had not said a word since they can into the room!

She turned around in worry, only to find that she was placed inside some kind of a glass dome and that San Zhe was searching for her inside the room. He clearly could not see her who was right in front of him.

Yaksha was staring at a talisman in his hand and talking to the Shop keeper. Like he had forgotten about both her and San Zhe's existence and that he could not see either of them.

San Zhe might not be able to see either her nor Yaksha then. Or else he would have realised that something was wrong with Yaksha.

Why was she able to see and know these things then? Why was she being given this opportunity to know about the dome and the situation of her teammates?

"I really hope she does too," Little Spoon's voice reached her ears.

Cheng Xiu looked to the right and was surprised by the sight in front of her.