Chapter 390: The Beginning

0404 Chapter Name Is a Wonderful Number 0404 Chapter Name Is a Wonderful Number→: mayiwsk

Sure.

After poking his head out from the reed thicket and looking at the expanse of pale reeds before him, Hearing Li Ang couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

Although the view wasn't as good as flying up directly, it was already decent—at the very least, there wasn't much of a problem when it came to observing the surroundings.

"Stand up straight!"

After patting the Snow Woman's head and absentmindedly running a hand through her cool, slick hair, Hearing Li Ang spoke up and ordered:

"Stop wobbling! Steady yourself! Also… turn half a circle to the left, let me see what's over there!"

Detestable human!

Hearing the command from above, the Snow Woman's face flushed red with anger. She could only grip Hearing Li Ang's two mud-caked thighs and, with some difficulty, turn half a circle to the left.

To actually ride on my head… damn pervert! I curse you to fall and break your neck the moment you climb down from me!

Having abandoned the superfluous reed sandals and found a far more useful new mount, Hearing Li Ang sat on the gritting Snow Woman's shoulders and began using his naked eye to observe the situation in the Withered Reed Lands.

In this boundless, desolate swamp, apart from the pitch-black mud and the pale reed grass, there was no third color to be found. The occasional small pools of water were likewise tinted in the purest black and white.

Still can't see a thing…

After directing the Snow Woman beneath him to spin a full circle and still failing to find anything unusual, Hearing Li Ang's brow couldn't help but furrow once more.

It seemed the scope of this black-and-white swamp was far larger than he'd anticipated. Forget finding Director Scorpio—merely pinpointing his location was an extremely difficult task… What was he to do?

Just as Hearing Li Ang was at his wits' end, a damp, chilling wind from the Withered Reed Lands, carrying the scent of earth and drifting reed catkins, swept swiftly and lightly over the reed thicket and past him.

As if sensing something a little off, Hearing Li Ang's nose twitched slightly, and he immediately drew in a deep breath.

This gust of wind… its smell somehow seemed a bit off?

Relying on the senses—far sharper than an ordinary human's—that came with his 8 points of Taint Value, Li Ang detected the anomaly in the wind. He then reached over his sleeve and called Youha out from the Mirror World.

"You are at least a dog, right?"

"Woof?"

"Come on, use your dog nose to sniff this wind, then tell me what's in it."

"Woof…"

After giving a small nod of her puppy head, Youha—lifted up by Li Ang—wiggled her tiny pink nose and sniffed hard into the wind. Then, choked by the catkins carried on the breeze, she let out several babyish little sneezes.

"Wang Wang! Wang Wang Wang!"

A scorched smell? And a very faint trace of blood?

Relying on the Pet Owner Badge to decipher the meaning of Youha's barks, Li Ang couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly. After determining the direction the wind was blowing from, he spoke to the Snow Woman beneath him:

"Head to your right. There seems to be something over there."

To the right…

Following Hearing Li Ang's instructions and turning to the right with a bellyful of grievances, the Snow Woman, drenched in fragrant sweat and utterly exhausted, couldn't help but pant as she asked:

"Altogether… how far do we have to go?"

"At this wind speed, the scent can't carry too far… so… roughly two or three kilometers?"

What? Two or three kilometers?!

First dragged out of her snowy nightmare by Hearing Li Ang, then having her nightmare core crushed, the Snow Woman—stripped of her double buff—was now even frailer than an ordinary human. If Hearing Li Ang hadn't been so slight, she might not even have been able to carry him.

Hearing that she still had to lug him two or three kilometers like this, the Snow Woman—who'd been expelled from the dream realm by the Bogey King and had switched jobs to mount—felt her legs go weak and nearly collapsed on the spot.

Please, just kill me already! You damned pervert! If I keep living, who knows what other tortures you'll put me through!

It did seem a bit inappropriate… she was walking too slowly!

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After taking in the Snow Woman's rather dainty stride and her stability—three wobbles with every step—Hearing Li Ang deliberated briefly, then slipped down from her slender shoulders. Under the Snow Woman's stunned gaze, he reached out and grabbed the hem of her skirt.

"You! What are you doing?!"

"Nothing."

Despite the Snow Woman's frantic resistance, Hearing Li Ang tore two strips of cloth from the hem of her white dress, then wrapped them around his own shoes and tried stepping on the swamp beneath him.

He didn't sink.

As expected—just as he'd thought—Snow Women in stories always wear white, so this dress of hers should count as part of the "Nightmare Messenger," and likewise possess the ability to resist the Nightmare World's rules.

Confirming his guess was viable, Hearing Li Ang immediately turned around, crouched slightly, and with his back to the panicked Snow Woman—who was backing away—issued a direct command:

"Get up here!"

"Hurry up! Stop dawdling! I'm in a rush!"

Bastard human!

First rides my neck! Then tears my skirt! And now he's snapping at me! Absolutely inhuman!

After cursing him out in her head with the most vicious swear words she knew, the Snow Woman—who'd secretly breathed a small sigh of relief—cold-faced, her fair cheeks smudged with a bit of black mud, climbed onto Hearing Li Ang's back as instructed. Her two smooth, pale little legs wrapped viciously around his waist.

I'll strangle you to death!

"Climb up a bit higher!"

After shifting the Snow Woman on his back higher and settling her into a position that wouldn't hinder his running, Li Ang bent his spine slightly and broke into a long stride toward the direction Youha had sniffed out.

The situation afterward turned out far better than Hearing Li Ang had expected. Before the man and his mount had run even eight hundred meters, a massive, bottomless tunnel emerged from behind the tall reed thicket, slanting straight down into the depths of the swamp.

This looks like… something a giant creature burrowed out?

After examining the scale-like scrape marks on the tunnel's "floor," Hearing Li Ang's eyes narrowed slightly. He knew this must be the trail left by the Marsh King Serpent as it burrowed through the mud.

Right—if it's a giant serpent, the swamp certainly can't bear its weight, so most of the Marsh King Serpent's activity range should be underground. If Director Scorpio had clashed with it, the battle should have been underground too.

Standing beside the tunnel, Hearing Li Ang inspected the walls—partially crystallized by intense heat, still faintly warm even now—and sniffed the still relatively "fresh" scent of blood, then immediately reached a conclusion.

Director Scorpio should have been here not long ago, fighting a fierce battle against the Marsh King Serpent underground.

But since he couldn't hear any sounds of fighting now, and the Marsh King Serpent—being the "landlord"—hadn't come out even after he'd "invaded" the Withered Reed Lands, they had most likely already left here for another dream.

"I'm asking you."

After giving the Snow Woman's taut thigh a pat, Hearing Li Ang began to question her:

"How are these six layers of dreams arranged? Stacked from top to bottom, then connected end to end?"

"Hmph!"

"If I hear you hum one more time, then come down and let me ride you instead!"

Detestable human!

Faced with the terrifying threat of once again becoming a human's mount, the Snow Woman couldn't help but grit her teeth hard, then had no choice but to tighten her delicate face and reply with an icy expression:

"Yes! And the person you're looking for has most likely already killed the Marsh King Serpent and gone to the dream layer below!"

Already gone down?

After hearing the Snow Woman's answer, Hearing Li Ang pondered briefly, then gave an order:

"Alright then, we'll go up! Take me to the dream layer above!"

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