“Khả Ái, you went into the instance without me! I’m your lucky charm. No wonder you had such a rough time this round!” It was Đoan Mộc Thanh’s Kongming lantern.
“Idol, you’re always the one saving me. Now it’s finally my turn to save you!” It was Trương Tam.
“Little Khả Ái, whatever you do, don’t die! I’ll make you some sweet cherry blossom cakes to eat when you get back!” It was Xuân Nhật Anh.
After that, Bách Lý Thanh Phong, Bách Lý Hạo Nguyệt, Nguyễn Hiểu Ngữ, ông Tống, Đông Phương Nhiên, Tần Chỉ Ý, Phượng Ngọc Sầm, Vương Trung Thu, Báo Tiền… so many familiar players came to help!
But the evil god merely raised an eyebrow. “That’s all? You’re not getting away.”
The void continued to roil, and darkness swept toward me!
The comments filled with worried messages:
[With so many top players coming to help, she still can’t escape?]
[Count me in too!]
[Me too!]
[Aaaah, we’ve been trash-talking Little White Flower for so long. It’s time we did something for her!]
[Count me in!]
[Me, me!]
[You guys haven’t been trash-talking her as long as I have. I’m a Đường fan—I’ve been at it since “Class 253”! I’m coming to help too!]
[I’m weak, but I still want to do what little I can. Ái Thần, don’t turn me away!]
[Ái Thần, I’ve watched your livestream so many times. I went from feeling nothing to loving you in a single moment. I don’t want you to die! Count me in!]
[I just kicked my sleeping boyfriend awake. Count him in too!]
[I’m calling everyone I know with supernatural abilities—Beijing, Hangzhou, the Northeast, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Hong Kong!]
[Ái Thần, I’m from a tiny, unknown town. You can count the people here with supernatural abilities on one hand, but we’re all coming! I hope you don’t mind!]
[Wow, people are coming from all over the country!]
[People from Korea are coming too!]
[Huh? Isn’t Korea part of China?]
[Oh, they’re international students!]
[@Lam San San: Khả Ái, I’m coming too! You have to survive and take our Đường Đường with you. Đường’s fans can’t lose him! And I can’t lose you either!]
[@Vương Nguyên Tiêu: Sweetie, my Hua Tuo Hands can save Tạ Đường! My roommate and I will be waiting for you at the game hall!]
The darkness swept toward me madly! Closer! Closer!
Just as the void was about to swallow me, Kongming lantern after Kongming lantern rose into the sky, crowding it like stars. I looked up. Their lights gathered into a flowing river of stars! The river of stars condensed into a gleaming sword that ripped open the sky!
I ran. My aged skin grew smooth and pale, my hunched back straightened, and my dry white hair turned back into a cascade of black. I ran faster and faster!
I swept out my hand and summoned it. “Hoả Phượng Hoàng!”
At a clear, ringing cry, a colossal, dazzling phoenix appeared. I clutched the jade bottle, mounted the phoenix, and flew toward the brilliant crack in the sky!
“Thank you, everyone!”
Escape successful!
#Extra Story 1
Game Hall.
[Ding!!!]
[The “Joy” instance has been successfully cleared. Players who cleared it: 5. Your game reward of 200,000 gold coins has been issued. Please check.]
After the public announcement, my personal notification arrived too.
[Ding!!!]
[Congratulations, player Lý Khả Ái, on drawing the five-star item Thanh Minh Độ!]
A week after we cleared the instance, I finally learned why Thư Du Nhiên hadn’t come to consummate the marriage with me that night. The fake Lý Khả Ái had detained her, and she had nearly died at that woman’s hands! Luckily, Thư Du Nhiên had spotted the danger early and fought back, striking the fake Lý Khả Ái a fatal blow.
Thư Du Nhiên wasn’t good at fighting, so she had little chance of succeeding. But somehow, the young waiter Cóc Tinh from Longmen Inn had rushed out and helped her tremendously.
The waiter said, “Giày Thêu told me to come help. She said she didn’t want something filthy impersonating Lý Khả Ái and taking her place. If you make it out alive, tell Lý Khả Ái that the next time she visits Đăng Lung, Giày Thêu and I won’t be her friends anymore. Giày Thêu’s always wanted to eat her, and she’s already figured out how to cook her!”
I understood. In Giày Thêu’s heart, it was fine if I died, but she didn’t want me to end up like her, with someone else taking over my life. She’d endured the rain and didn’t want me to suffer the same, though she was perfectly willing to let me take a sulfuric acid bath.
After escaping, Thư Du Nhiên went straight to Đào Hoa Residence to look for me. When I wasn’t there, she opened the brocade pouch and learned I was in Hư Vô Hall. She activated her skill and asked the system for a second clue, learning what Hư Vô Hall was and what kind of predicament I’d fallen into. But she had no idea how to help me.
The Lord of the Void was an 8S-level evil god, on par with Diêm La Đề Đăng and far more terrifying than the Honglian Immortal Venerable!
Back then, I’d only managed to fight Diêm La Đề Đăng thanks to a max-level Kunshan jade skill, combined with Nuwa stones that strengthened my Heart Moon Fox. That was how I escaped.
As for the Lord of the Void… He didn’t need to pay us any attention at all. He could simply sneer, “Get lost, you ants!”
But for reasons I couldn’t fathom, he went berserk and became hell-bent on killing Tạ Đường and me.
Luckily, the mysterious demonic monk Thần Ẩn appeared just then. He used the spell “Thousand Lanterns Guide” to connect the instance world with reality, allowing players outside the instance to help me too! The spell took a huge toll. I have no idea if he’s all right; I’ve lost contact with him, and I’m so worried!
As for how the players cleared this round… it went like this! When I became myself again, I was no longer the ghost bride, and the fake Lý Khả Ái could no longer take my place. She returned to her true form—and, of course, by then she was dead. To be precise, her corpse returned to its true form.
So the ghost bride died, and the players completed the system’s mission. All the players who were still alive cleared the instance.
So… clearing this round was mainly thanks to Thư Du Nhiên and the waiter from Longmen Inn, with a little luck thrown in.
#Extra Story 2
In the hospital room, the smell of disinfectant was reassuring. Tạ Đường lay on the bed, fast asleep.
Vương Nguyên Tiêu, from a family of traditional healers in Hanzhong, had saved him. Her supernatural ability, “Hua Tuo’s Hands,” truly was a gift from heaven!
I kept watch by the bed as the moonlight streamed down. The sleeping young man was clearer than the moonlight, gentler and purer. Anyone would fall for him if they looked at him long enough, wouldn’t they?
His face was so pale it seemed almost unreal. In sleep, his whole body was like mist drenched in moonlight. I couldn’t help lightly touching his chest. There, his heart beat strong and steady. Thank goodness! He was alive.
I pulled my hand back and gazed at him quietly. This guy was so handsome! Too bad that when he was awake, he was always cold and distant, radiating an arrogance that seemed to reach the heavens. So many people were crazy about him. Whenever he appeared, fans would swarm him, and he couldn’t get away.
I couldn’t help wondering: did he really like me? Or was that just wishful thinking from the CP fans? The Tạ Đường who liked Lý Khả Ái in the game was fake—it had all been the evil god’s act. So what did the real Tạ Đường think?
I… kept guessing, growing a little nervous. The more I thought about it, the faster my heart beat.
Creak!
The hospital room door suddenly opened. Phượng Ngọc Sầm walked in carrying a bouquet of tulips. He was a little surprised to see me, then nodded slightly in greeting.
He was Asia’s third-ranked player, Tạ Đường’s friend, and an overbearing CEO. The livestream audience desperately wanted to see him act out a scene where he grabbed someone by the waist, eyes red, and vowed to give his life for them. But he had severe mysophobia; even top celebrities couldn’t get close to him. He thought everyone was filthy—including me. He couldn’t stand the sight of me, either.
It was eight in the evening, and I wanted to stay with Tạ Đường for another hour. Phượng Ngọc Sầm had just arrived and showed no sign of leaving. After putting the flowers in a vase, he sat down. We weren’t close, and silence gradually settled over the room. I wanted to break it, but couldn’t think of anything to say. We just looked at each other as the air seemed to congeal.
After a long while, the CEO hit on an idea and spoke first. “Tạ Đường has had a crush on Xuân Nhật Anh for a long time. Did you know?”
I was stunned. “R-really?”
CEO Phượng nodded, looking as though he knew everything. “Yeah. It’s been a long time.”
So that was it!
It suddenly dawned on me: I’d just been overthinking!
Good thing I’d stopped myself in time, before I got too carried away.
Phượng Ngọc Sầm had arrived at just the right moment, clearing up a misunderstanding in time.
#Extra Story 3
In Đăng Lung, all the players had left. With nothing to do, the waiter from Longmen Inn picked up a basket of beans and went to chat with Cát Kim Nha at the lantern shop.
As he picked through the beans, the waiter said, “Lý Khả Ái and Tạ Đường came by during the last round, too.”
Cát Kim Nha flicked the abacus beads. “Is that so? It’s been three years, and they came without even visiting me. I’m so hurt.”
The waiter sighed. “Three years for us might be only three days for them. They keep traveling back and forth between worlds—how could they remember us~”
Cát Kim Nha glared. “I sold them so much information, and they pass through Đăng Lung without visiting me! I’m so hurt!”
The waiter: “...Are you done?”
Then he quickly changed the subject. “Where’s your son?”
At the mention of his son, Cát Kim Nha’s eyes lit up. “Heh heh, taking a nap. Keep your voice down; don’t wake him.”
The waiter: “Time flies. In the blink of an eye, he’s already three.”
Cát Kim Nha: “When he turns twelve, I’ll take him to Thục Sơn to cultivate immortality. He’ll definitely be better than Lý Khả Ái, Tạ Đường, and Thần Ẩn!”
The waiter yawned. “What big ambitions.”
After they chatted for a while, rain began to fall. A light drizzle gathered on the flowers. Through the hazy veil of rain, Đăng Lung welcomed a new group of players.
-THE END-