Chapter 439: Little Red Riding Hood

The last time Zhinü named Hei Yu An Quan Qu in an announcement, wasn't that exactly when Cheng Shuili was publicly announced server-wide for owing Game Coins?

Owing Game Coins and being announced server-wide was already outrageous enough, but at the time Zhinü also reminded everyone in the announcement not to go to crowded places, specifically naming Hei Yu and saying not to enter the Newborn Safe Zone.

Out of kindness?

Cheng Shuili didn't believe that for a second.

Using public office to settle personal scores was more like it.

If Zhinü could abuse her authority for personal reasons back then, then now, because of everyone's cursing in the regional channel, she might not explain the Instance's hint…

Cheng Shuili's train of thought stopped abruptly here.

In the last Instance, Zhinü did provide a hint, but that hint was just to fool the players!

Or perhaps the hint was correct in the partition Instance, but when the Instance's difficulty was raised to Hell-grade, or even the highest level of Hell-grade, all information obtained before entering the Instance would no longer be reliable, and could even become a fatal misdirection.

If that were the case, whether this hint affected her or not didn't matter much.

It was the players who had to participate in the partition Instance who would suffer.

Cheng Shuili stopped thinking about these irrelevant things. The Instance details were already out now, and the most urgent priority was to first find teammates to participate in the Instance together.

But that wasn't all that important either.

Cheng Shuili could make it out of the Instance even if she brought along a dog, though she couldn't guarantee the dog would make it out.

Of course, that was just a figure of speech.

She didn't have a dog by her side, nor was she treating anyone as a dog.

Cheng Shuili rubbed the space between her brows, thinking about who would be suitable to go with.

Just as she was thinking about this, a private message suddenly arrived.

【Qing Qing's Kiss】: Wuya Lao Da, want to team up? It's just me here.

Her?

Cheng Shuili had originally thought she was a fixed teammate with Gu Lu Gu Lu Mao Pao, Chuan Tang Feng, and the rest, but on reflection it made sense—after all, the Long Guo region had only just merged together, and these four Gu Lang wouldn't all come from the same partition.

Even though she understood, she still asked, "Little Gu Lu Gu Lu isn't following you?"

【Qing Qing's Kiss】: She has fixed teammates and isn't with me. Besides, I feel like if I can follow Wuya Lao Da, my survival odds would be higher no matter how I think about it, right?

Very direct, and very convincing.

Cheng Shuili liked dealing with smart people.

【Wu Ya Zuo Fei Ji】: Fine, but after entering the Instance, you follow my orders.

Cheng Shuili was easygoing about it—if the other party disagreed, then forget it. As said before, Cheng Shuili could team up with anyone; she just needed a team to enter the server-wide Instance.

The other party replied with a question.

【Qing Qing's Kiss】: Is that the condition for following Wuya Lao Da?

Cheng Shuili was concise: "Yes."

She didn't need trouble, nor did she need other opinions.

At this point, Cheng Shuili felt the matter was probably dead, but to her surprise, Qing Qing's Kiss agreed again.

【Qing Qing's Kiss】: No problem, I guarantee I'll fully follow Wuya Lao Da's command.

Cheng Shuili was a bit surprised, but didn't ask further.

【Wu Ya Zuo Fei Ji】: Good.

With her teammate settled, Cheng Shuili closed her private messages. She opened the regional channel, which was still filled with dissatisfaction toward Zhinü.

Coupled with the so-called "cheering" and "betting" features still not being online, Zhinü's credibility as the system, in the players' eyes, had instantly dropped to rock bottom.

There were many messages of insults and attacks, everyone frantically venting their emotions, with only a scattered few discussing the Instance's description.

But these valuable pieces of information had barely surfaced before they were drowned out by more meaningless content.

Cheng Shuili glanced through it and found it nothing but noise.

She closed the regional channel and opened the trading channel to claim the ticket for this Instance.

【Misty Corridor Invitation】 (Server-wide Instance admission ticket)

Price: 1000 Game Coins (free for the top 500 players on the leaderboard)

Status: Claimable (You are ranked 1st on the regional leaderboard and may claim it for free.)

This time the invitation was overall silver-gray, with hidden teardrop-shaped and mist-textured patterns concealed within the paper, looking quite exquisite.

If this weren't an invitation to an Instance but a ticket to an opera, Cheng Shuili would have sincerely praised the organizer's attention to detail.

She stored the invitation into the Abyssal Ring and took the opportunity to check the things she should bring.

What she should bring and what she shouldn't, Cheng Shuili had brought them all.

The Abyssal Ring's space was quite large anyway, so there was no need to take things out.

Time passed in waiting.

The instant the countdown hit zero, a damp sensation wrapped around Cheng Shuili without any warning.

Her vision was swallowed by a thick, un-dissipating gray-white mist, and the natural ambient noise around her ears was instantly replaced by absolute silence.

This teleportation was more violent than all previous ones.

It didn't feel like something had carried her over, but rather as if Cheng Shuili had been directly shoved into another space.

A cold, viscous sensation pressed in from all directions, as if she had sunk into a bottomless cold pool.

Not just sight and hearing—even her breathing was forcibly stripped away for an instant, and a slight stinging sensation came from her lungs.

This was absolutely not a friendly teleportation experience.

A few seconds later, the pressure plummeted, the mist before her eyes thinned slightly, and she could barely make out the environment within a few meters around her.

Beneath her feet were moss-covered stone slabs, and on both sides towered dark stone walls reaching into the clouds, with dead vines clinging to them and viscous traces that looked like snail trails.

Cheng Shuili sniffed, then quickly held her breath.

What filled the air was a cloying fragrance so rich it made one nauseous.

As her eyes gradually adjusted to the environment, before Cheng Shuili was a corridor extending infinitely in both directions.

Most importantly, there was no one here besides herself.

This time the Instance had actually teleported her separately from her teammates.

Just as she was thinking, the Instance's prompt panel popped up:

【Server-wide Instance "Mist Corridor and Silent Theater" has opened.】

【Current Location: Mist Corridor】

【Current Objective: Find the correct path and head to the Theater!】

【Party Members (2/6): Wu Ya Zuo Fei Ji, Qing Qing De Yi Ge Wen.】

If not for that last line of text, Cheng Shuili would have doubted what kind of Instance she had even entered.

Cheng Shuili closed the prompt panel and didn't rush to act, but instead first opened the chat page to try contacting Qing Qing De Yi Ge Wen.

But unfortunately, the entire page was grayed out.

It seemed that in this Instance, or at least for now, communication methods were unavailable.

Cheng Shuili wasn't surprised. She closed all useless interfaces and focused her attention entirely on the present.

The surroundings were absolutely silent, so quiet she could hear her own steady heartbeat and the sound of blood flowing.

Gray-white dense mist flowed slowly, like a living creature, writhing between the walls and the floor.

Visibility was compressed within ten meters; anything farther was a blur of pale white.

The more Cheng Shuili looked at the environment before her, the more familiar it seemed.

The moss-covered floor, the towering high walls on both sides — these were all very much like the first Instance she had participated in after entering this world.

That maze-walking Instance called Mist.

The Instance difficulty back then was very low, and the penalty for failing was also very low; there were even players outside the Instance helping those who hadn't gotten out to cheat.

But now...

Even Cheng Shuili had to be cautious, as if walking on thin ice.

She took a deep breath, her gaze sweeping over the stone walls on both sides and the floor.

Walking and looking at the same time.

Since the objective was to find the correct path, then... there had to be clues.

Cheng Shuili's eyes weren't idle, and neither was her mind.

Her memory was excellent. The three rules mentioned in the description, she could recite without a single error.

From the description alone, Cheng Shuili could already conclude that this Instance was also a rule-based Instance.

As long as one violated the rules, one could be instantly sentenced to death.

Which meant that even Cheng Shuili had to watch her words and actions carefully here.

But compared to other players, she was still relatively at ease. Having walked for so long, boredom was inevitable. Cheng Shuili yawned and took out a perfectly ripe strawberry from the Abyssal Ring.

This had been picked yesterday, freshly washed and then placed into the Abyssal Ring.

Therefore, the freshness of this strawberry was, without question, extremely high.

Cheng Shuili sniffed, savoring the fresh fragrance of strawberry between her breaths, and finally felt a bit more comfortable.

A corridor is a corridor, a theater is a theater — why make it so fragrant?

This fragrance kept bullying her nose!

Just as Cheng Shuili was about to bring the strawberry to her mouth, her movement suddenly halted.

From deep within the mist ahead, the sound of tearing fabric suddenly rang out.

Immediately after came a "tap... tap... tap..." sound.

Like some hard shoe heels lightly striking the stone-paved path.

The sound drew nearer from afar, not fast, but clearly heading toward her.

Cheng Shuili acted as if she had noticed nothing, lightly biting into the strawberry. Sweet juice burst in her mouth, forming a sharp contrast with the cloying, decaying fragrance all around.

Comfortable.

Her whole being felt much more comfortable.

Cheng Shuili stood in place, silently gripping her long blade, her sharp gaze fixed toward the direction the sound came from.

The mist churned, and a blurry silhouette slowly appeared.

It was a child.

She wore worn, dark-red dress whose originally gorgeous style could still be faintly discerned, the hem dragging across the wet, slippery floor. On her head was a wide-brimmed hat, and beneath the brim was a hollow face.

This creature had no facial features, only a patch of sickly pale skin.

Her hands hung at her sides, fingers slender, with visible stitch marks at the joints, like a crudely sewn doll.

And the tapping sound coming from beneath its feet came from a pair of equally worn dance shoes.

Cheng Shuili unhurriedly took another bite of the strawberry. A little juice ran down her fingertips, and she casually flicked it off.

The faceless doll-child stopped about five meters away, tilting its head, looking at Cheng Shuili.

More accurately, it should be said to be looking at the strawberry in her hand.

Though it had no eyes, that patch of sickly pale skin seemed to tremble slightly from the craving.

A voice carrying childlike innocence yet clearly hollow and twisted rang directly in Cheng Shuili's mind:

"So fragrant... so bright..."

"It's... the scent of fruit... it's... the scent of the outside world..."

"Guest... could you share some with Little Red Riding Hood? Little Red Riding Hood... hasn't tasted anything fresh in such a long time..."

The doll that calls itself Little Red Riding Hood shuffled forward a little step, its sewn fingers slightly curled, assuming a begging posture.

Its movements were stiff and eerie, like a marionette clumsily controlled.

Cheng Shuili swallowed the last strawberry and tossed the strawberry stem onto the wet, slippery moss at her feet.

That splash of bright red stem stood out sharply in the gray‑white mist.

Her gaze fell on the hat of Little Red Riding Hood; although the dress she wore was red, the hat itself looked more like straw in color, completely unrelated to red.

Faced with this suddenly appearing thing, Cheng Shuili naturally used Insight first.

【Insight activated!】

【Name: Lost Juchang Doll·Little Red Riding Hood (False)】

【Description: A doll with an exceptionally strong jealousy, yearning for everything that a living being possesses. It regards all fresh things as supreme treasures, and will beg or barter with lost travelers in a childlike innocent manner. Be sure to treat its requests with caution; granting or refusing may trigger unknown consequences.】

【Weakness: Fear of water, fear of fire, dreads everything a cotton doll should dread.】

Oh?

So it's a little cotton doll.

Cheng Shuili had previously treated it as a great enemy, thinking a terrifying character had arrived.

Since a weakness is displayed, that proves it can be killed.

Little Red Riding Hood shuffled forward another small step, tap, tap.

It tilted its head; the faceless visage seemed to convey an even greedier "gaze".

"Guest… Little Red Riding Hood, so well‑behaved…"

Cheng Shuili finally spoke, her voice clear and flat: "I have no strawberries left."

She was telling the truth.

The last strawberry had just entered her stomach, the stem still on the ground.

Little Red Riding Hood's stiff neck seemed to tilt at another angle.

"But…" Cheng Shuili's tone shifted, her hand reaching for the Abyssal Ring, "I have this."

A slice of watermelon materialized in her palm.

It was the one she had personally harvested yesterday, processed and placed into the Abyssal Ring.

Who wouldn't like a crisp, juicy piece of watermelon when bored?

But what attracted Little Red Riding Hood was certainly not that.

The preservation effect of the Abyssal Ring became especially important at this moment.

Fresh.

To Little Red Riding Hood, that was a deadly lure.

The watermelon's bright red flesh was moist, its juice abundant, exuding a refreshing sweet aroma; in this space dominated by a fragrant aura, it was like a tiny sun, emitting an unmistakable glow.

Little Red Riding Hood's body lunged forward suddenly, then halted abruptly; the sewn fingers opened then curled again, brimming with impatient yearning.

"Want…!"

Cheng Shuili held the box of watermelon but did not hand it over.

"I can give it to you, but you must answer me a question." Her voice remained steady, showing no emotion, "How do you discern the correct path?"

Little Red Riding Hood hadn't expected a player with such nerve; she almost completely froze.

It had always been her who responded according to the choices of these players. When would it be these players' turn to use fresh food as bait to ask her a question?

After the pause came a raging fury!

"You…!"