CH 35

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QiLeren packed up his things among the fine mist that enveloped the woods at dawn. Before leaving, he crouched by the creek to splash his face with some water. The face of a loli stared back at him. Thinking back to how he met his goddess with this exact face, QiLeren sighed.

To be completely honest, this gender-swapped face of his wasn’t bad, considering his mother’s genes and her status as an A-list actor before retirement – though her marriage with her non-famous childhood friend baffled many fans. It was his father’s downward-slanting eyes that transformed him into a loli.

Could his goddess have saved him only because he looked like a loli? Had he fallen to the point of relying on his face to ride on girls’ coattails and be carried through the battlefield?

There was no point thinking about it, QiLeren decided, snapping himself out of his reverie. Finishing the quest in one piece and earning lifespan was more important.

Steeling himself for the journey, he continued towards Swamp Tower.

The morning air in the woods was cold, a chilly breeze brushing past his neck and leaving goosebumps in its wake. The strange feeling of being watched nagged at the back of his mind as he halted in his steps multiple times to survey his surroundings. There was nothing out of place, only the crisp calls of birds that filled the woods with quiet serenity.

Berating himself for overthinking things, QiLeren dismissed the thought.

As the soil beneath his feet slowly transitioned into mud, the air he breathed became colder. By noon the woods he walked among had all but disappeared, giving way to a wide open plane of low shrubs and shallow patches of water, broken up into gurgling streams by strange trees whose roots grew exposed to the air.

Was this the swamp?

QiLeren took a deep breath, the rancid air of decomposition filling his lungs as he warily eyed the soft vegetation.

Maybe continuing like this was not the best idea, just in case he finds himself sinking into the swamp. Dying like that would really be the biggest black mark on his life.

A gaunt-looking crow rasped a caw from its perch on a dead tree. Breaking off a branch, QiLeren tapped it against the ground ahead of him and carefully picked his way across the winding roots; it was a harder path, but at least this way he wouldn’t sink into the mud.

The sky seemed to darken with every step. There was a dense layer of fog that QiLeren didn’t remember being there before, laden with a putrid smell that made him dizzy. The further in he walked, the more wary he became; it almost felt as if there was something lurking in the fog around him, ready to strike in the next moment.

Just as QiLeren was starting to wonder if he had in fact gone down the wrong direction, the scenery before him changed. Hoisting himself up the roots of a dead tree with some difficulty, QiLeren could just make out the foggy shape of a black tower deep within the swampland.

There it was! With the destination now clear, it took no time at all for him to arrive at the foot of the tower.

The sealed tower before him was an imposing black structure of some seven or eight metres tall and about two arm spans around. Its base seemed to be carved from smooth marble, yet emitted a cold mysterious light that dimly illuminated a vaguely religious emblem engraved onto the surface. QiLeren examined the emblem on his hand; it was somewhat similar.

Perhaps it was some sort of evil demonic religion, QiLeren mused to himself as he reached out a hand. As his fingertips brushed against the tower, a line of text appeared within his mind:

[Player QiLeren has discovered Swamp Tower. Current status: Sealed. To unseal tower, place the body of one young girl as sacrifice at the foot of the tower. Removal of seal will grant Lucky Draw x1.]

A chill ran down QiLeren’s spine. The system message seemed fine on the surface but carried with it a sinister undertone. There were four sealed towers here, so to open them would require four deaths…not to mention that this was just stage one. Who knew what awaits them within the palace?

QiLeren took a step back, deep in thought.

The first thing to consider was his S/L skill. If he saved a file then killed himself at the foot of the tower, would the tower acknowledge his death? His body disappears immediately after dying and reappears at the save file though, so maybe not.

Maybe he should give it a try, QiLeren deliberated.

“Ahh, I can’t watch this anymore. I wouldn’t be stupidly standing out in the open like that if I were you,” a crisp female voice sighed from behind him.

QiLeren jumped away, dagger gripped in hand.

The girl, who definitely hadn’t been standing there before, shrugged to show her good will. “Look, you left yourself open. I could’ve killed you ten times over on the way here if I really wanted to.”

Dressed the same sacrificial robes as him, her hair was bound into two pigtails. She was definitely cute, but the expression on her face was somewhat…sleazy.

Sure enough, the girl flitted her eyelashes and asked coyly, “So what’s your name, cutie pie?”

This was the sleaziest girl he had ever met! “Why should I tell you?” he huffed.

Her flirty expression disappeared in an instant. “What? How could you not answer my question?!” she accused, taking a step back.

QiLeren levelled her a baffled look. Why did he have to respond?

The cute girl crossed her arms. “No female can refuse to answer my questions,” she announced valiantly. “That leaves only one possibility – you are not female!”

This person was more likely than not mentally deranged and unfit for human conversation, QiLeren promptly decided.

“I’m being serious. You’re a male player, aren’t you?” The cute girl sized him up, unhurried. “No doubt. I’m one hundred percent certain that my card’s in its slot, so the only reason you could avoid answering my question earlier must be that you don’t fit its requirements. You’re…crossdressing?” She tilted her head to one side in consideration.

QiLeren finally understood the situation – the girl before him probably had some sort of skill card that compels female players to answer truthfully. Unfortunately for her, he was a guy.

“I’ve been following you this entire time. You’re a bit clumsy, but I’ll be gracious enough to overlook that and hope you come in handy. Anyway, my name is LuYouxin and I’m a lesbian who loves other lesbians, which doesn’t include you so you can rest easy. How about it?” She extended a hand, embellished with the same emblem as QiLeren’s.

“…QiLeren,” he offered somewhat reluctantly. To be honest, this zany character was not his first choice of an ally.

“You know the exact location of the towers, yes?” LuYouxin asked with a quirk of her lips. Without the frivolous expression, all that was left was the sharpness of an experienced veteran.

“I know a bit,” QiLeren deflected, unable to meet her eyes.

LuYouxin smirked. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t kill you for outliving your usefulness even if you only knew the location of this one tower.”

In QiLeren’s resounding silence, she placed her hand on the tower, mulled over the system message and finally turned with a sweet smile. “Looks like we still need a sacrifice.”

QiLeren immediately tensed at the implication, ready to save at the slightest provocation.

“Let’s go get an NPC to sacrifice,” LuYouxin suggested easily. “I don’t like having to kill each other.”

An NPC, huh. QiLeren thought back to Anna and Elle on the carriage. They were NPCs, but to sacrifice them would be no different to killing a normal human, something he was by no means ready for.

“Someone’s coming!” LuYouxin seized QiLeren by the wrist and bodily dragged him behind a tree, putting a mess of tangled roots and shrubs between them and the newcomer.

Illuminated by the dim lighting, a shapely woman approached from the distance with a corpse slung over her shoulder, long hair swaying with every step.