As I was getting ready to return to bed, I felt cold, so I went back for my coat.
I thought to myself, “Auntie Ngo is in poor health. I can’t help her even if I want to. Good intentions are one thing, but I don’t have the strength for it. Keeping myself alive is what matters most.”
After thinking it over, I finally leaned against her. That way, we’d both be a little warmer.
“Good morning.”
Xiao Zhang’s voice rang out. “The sun’s already high in the sky, Auntie Ngo. Time to get up.”
I mumbled groggily, “Why am I not in bed...?”
Only after I said it did I realize I was actually in bed.
I patted my head. Could I have lost my memory last night? I didn’t have a history of sleepwalking, either, so how had I ended up in bed?
Xiao Zhang said, “Auntie Ngo, you should lose some weight. You’re so heavy! It took me a lot of effort to drag you into bed.”
I looked at her and opened my mouth.
She said, “Don’t make up excuses. The players have figured out that I’m the ritual goddess. They’ll probably start paying close attention to us soon. Auntie Ngo, you have to stay on your guard.”
I nodded, realizing all too well that being a BOSS wasn’t easy, either. You had to constantly outwit and outfight the players.
That made sense. If a BOSS could just kill anyone they didn’t like, the game would be unplayable.
As the sun climbed high, a few more players appeared in the distance. They pretended to chat, but their eyes were always on us.
I asked, “What should we do next?”
Xiao Zhang smiled. “Let’s go out for a stroll and visit a few places that have nothing to do with the plot, so they can’t guess what we’re up to.”
Out on the plains, Xiao Zhang let the sheep and horses graze. At the market, she took me shopping. The players tailing us kept switching off, changing at every stretch of road. It wasn’t like the ridiculous surveillance in TV shows, where one person follows you from start to finish.
If we were NPCs created by the game, they’d never notice anything unusual.
Xiao Zhang glanced at her watch. “It’s time. Let’s head to the temple.”
Inside the temple, a cloth covered a round statue on the altar.
She whispered, “Auntie Ngo, don’t turn around. Just pretend to pray with me for a bit.”
I pretended to bow a few times, then left the temple with Xiao Zhang.
Looking toward the players standing in the distance, she said, “Turning the altar’s mechanism the right way opens the first path. It’s how they can leave within the first three days. But once the Blood Moon appears, that path becomes a trap that turns players into monsters.”
I turned to look at her. “So it’s a trap, plain and simple?”
She nodded. “That’s right.”
I shuddered. “Are you sure you can guarantee a 10 to 30 percent completion rate?”
Why did I feel like I’d died hundreds of times already?
Xiao Zhang looked at me. “Auntie Ngo, please don’t compare your intelligence to the players’. They get fooled more times than you’ve eaten hot pot.”
“I feel insulted, both about my intelligence and about the hot pot.”
As I watched the moon slowly climb higher, I asked, “What do we do next?”
Xiao Zhang walked ahead. “Obviously, we go to bed.”
Late that night, she asked, “Auntie Ngo, do you know what the world looks like to a fly?”
7.
“The world as a fly sees it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
She lay on the bed, gazing through the window at the bright moon. “I didn’t know before, either. Not until I became a monster. A fly’s world is very blurry, like it’s been cut into little pieces, then covered with a hazy film.”
She turned to look at me. “Auntie Ngo, you know what? I can’t see your face clearly. When you entered the game, I suddenly felt so scared. I was afraid that if I just turned around, I’d lose track of you. I can’t fool around as freely as I used to. Players are scarier than you think. If they can clear the level, they’re willing to do anything.”
I clasped her hand tightly. “Don’t be afraid. Auntie Ngo can protect herself.”
I could feel her anxiety and fear through the vibrations.
She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Go to sleep, Auntie Ngo. Everything will be all right. The Blood Moon is only one day away. It’ll all be over soon.”
That night, I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t hear any snoring, either.
The Blood Moon.
The sky, black as ink, was dyed blood red.
Drums sounded across the plains.
Brightly colored scraps of cloth whipped through the air. Xiao Zhang’s face was solemn, and her clothes looked both ceremonial and strange.
She said, “Auntie Ngo, I have to go up to the ritual platform. Be careful. If anything happens, call for me.”
I nodded and watched her take one step after another up to the ritual platform.
The gong player shouted, “The goddess ascends the platform! The ritual begins!”
A long, wailing horn sounded like the lament of an ancient being, and the whole village knelt and bowed their heads.
Following Xiao Zhang’s instructions, I knelt too. When I stood up, I realized the surroundings had changed.
The feeling was familiar, like coming home from work.
“Boss?”
I looked up, but all I saw were a few unfamiliar faces. They were players!
The woman with the nose ring asked, “What boss? Is that even a setting in this game?”
The tall, thin man replied, “Don’t get hung up on the details. We used a high-level item to ask about the exit.”
The burly man looked at me. “Tell us how to get out during the Blood Moon, and we’ll let you go.”
I panicked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t know?”
He roared in my ear, “You live with the goddess every day. There’s no way you don’t know where the exit is. If you don’t tell us... we’ll kill you!”
For the first time, I felt how terrifying players could be.
But Xiao Zhang wasn’t nearby, and I couldn’t even figure out where I was.
The woman with the nose ring stared at me. “Don’t think anyone’s going to save you. Tell us, quick. It’s in everyone’s interest.”
I blurted out, “The exit is at the temple.”
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
The big man shouted in my ear, “I’m asking about the exit during the Blood Moon!”
The tall, thin man stepped closer and took out a set of knives: large and small, grooved and hooked.
“Let me handle this,” he said. “It’ll be a hassle if the BOSS shows up once the ritual ends.”
He took out a small knife. “First, let’s cut off one of her ears and see if that makes her talk!”
My face was full of terror. “Don’t! I’ll tell you. The exit is in the goddess’s thatched hut.”
They looked at each other. “Come on. Bring her along. We’ll go look.”
They pulled a burlap sack over me, stuffed a piece of rough cloth into my mouth, and tied my hands with rope.
I broke out in a cold sweat. How would I know where the exit was? I’d only made it up to buy time.
Now that they had me tied up like this, Xiao Zhang probably wouldn’t be able to find me.
This is it! I’m done for!
8.
When we arrived, they yanked open the sack and pressed a knife to my throat. “Where is it in the hut?”
I said, “Under the bed.”
At the same time, my eyes unconsciously darted outside.
“Don’t try anything!” The tall, thin man pressed the knife a little farther into my neck, drawing a little blood.
I felt my heart beating much faster.
Watching the burly man flip the bed over, I wondered, Am I really going to die here?
Would my boss still deposit my pay into my account?
My mom knows my bank card PIN, so it should be fine, right?
If I died here, they probably wouldn’t even leave a body behind, huh?
If I “disappeared,” they’d probably be really worried, right?
No one would take out the trash for Xiao Li anymore. I wonder if it would cry.
In that brief moment, I thought about so many things.
The bed was flipped over, but the floor beneath it was perfectly flat. The burly man and the tall, thin man exchanged a look.
“You’re not being honest!” The tall, thin man swung his knife toward my ear!
Instinctively, I squeezed my eyes shut and heard a whistle through the air. “You dared hurt Auntie Ngo? None of you are getting out alive!”
Thousands of eyes sprouted across Xiao Zhang’s body. Like a monster out of mythology, she unleashed her full power inside the hut.
A hole was punched through the hut.
She landed beside me and caught the tall, thin man’s descending knife.
All three players immediately shut their eyes.
The burly man said, “Don’t look at her! If you look at her, you’ll be transformed!”
The woman with the nose ring said, “In this situation, we should split up and run! We can’t hold out much longer with our eyes closed.”
The tall, thin man said, “Agreed!”
Almost immediately, the three of them dashed out of the hut.
Xiao Zhang’s many-pupiled eyes spun around. “I told you, none of you are getting away!”
The players’ eyes suddenly burst open, and a swarm of flies poured out, engulfing them.
They screamed in pain and collapsed.
Xiao Zhang’s eyes gradually disappeared. She looked at me anxiously. “Auntie Ngo, are you all right?”
I was still trembling as I said, “I’m fine.”
“Thank goodness!”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Luckily, I set up an alert in the hut a few days ago. Thank goodness!”
She suddenly hugged me tight and sobbed. “Auntie Ngo, you suddenly disappeared just now. I was terrified.”
I stroked her hair, not knowing whether I was comforting her or myself. “It’s all right now. Everything’s okay. Thank you, Xiao Zhang.”
We hugged for a long time, then Xiao Zhang said, “Auntie Ngo, wait here for a moment.”
She flew away and was gone for a long time.
When she returned, the dungeon suddenly ended.
The blood moon disappeared, the NPCs vanished for a while, and the players disappeared too.
Could it be… she’d killed all the players?
She said, “Auntie Ngo, it’s all over. You should hurry and get out.”
I was still in shock as I walked out the door. My boss said, “Xiao Zhang revealed the way to survive to all the players, so the dungeon completion rate has exceeded the maximum limit. She’ll be punished now.”
I said in alarm, “Boss, don’t punish her. If someone has to be punished, punish me. It’s all my fault.”
He shook his head. “There are many rules I can’t change just because I want to. Besides, this wasn’t your fault. Something interfered and caused the dungeon to open abnormally. I suspect it was the former boss. After I wounded him badly, he vanished without a trace. He may still be hiding in some dungeon.”
(Next episode preview)
My boss told me that all the dungeons I could see had been carefully selected by him as safe dungeons.
Among the countless dungeons, there were still places even he couldn’t control.
He took out ten keys. “If the former boss is still around, he can only be in one of these ten ultimate dungeons.”
He took out another bunch of keys. “I hope you can deliver my orders to these SSS-rank dungeons for me. If you find the former boss, report it immediately.”
“I’ll have Black Cat and White Cat go with you.”
I was surprised to discover that Black Cat could travel between dungeons too.
It looked at me and said, “I’ll protect you.”
-THE END-