Chapter 1131: Chapter 100: Forest Cabin
[Welcome to the Third Challenge]
[Your task is to evade the invasion of the Mysterious Dense Forest, and to avoid people from the same place as you—eliminating other players to gain points is still in effect]
[Then, migrate northwards; the exit is there. You have three days to escape this prison. If time runs out without leaving... you will be trapped here forever]
At the bottom of the note is a hand-drawn crude map, the location of a small house marked with a cross, surrounded by symbols representing dozens of forest cabins, along with an arrow pointing to the left.
"The Third Challenge?"
"We don’t know, that’s just how the note is written," replied the shadow conversing with Lu Li.
Compare the crude map with the complete map brought by the merchant. Forest cabins are distributed from south to north in the Mysterious Dense Forest, but sparse on the east and west sides, making them appear like a path through the forest.
Lu Li found the location of the cabin in front of him on the complete map. After comparison, the placement of forest cabins on the hand-drawn map is almost accurate: beneath him is the center of the Mysterious Dense Forest, not too close or too far from the northern exit, at least better than players appearing in the southern end of the forest.
With doubt about the note mentioning the Third Challenge, Lu Li returned it to the Blood Crow.
With its beak slightly open, holding both the note and a white flower, it spread its decaying, blood-stained wings and flew back to the cabin.
A shadow descended silently on the gloomy sky, noiselessly strangling the flying Blood Crow.
The note fell from its loosened beak, dropping in an open space dozens of meters from the cabin, with the blood-stained flower drifting down afterwards.
The cabin stirred briefly, and a figure holding a torch dashed out.
Lu Li noticed how quickly that torch extinguished, a change not related to the wind, but more like a sudden depletion.
And the overwhelming hatred surrounding the figure that charged out.
Lu Li had not experienced this—even when kindling a campfire at the start.
The figure grabbed the note, and the torch that should have burned for many minutes extinguished in seconds with a "poof."
Fortunately, the figure managed to escape back to the cabin before the chilling terror above descended.
Soon, the conversing figure reappeared at the cabin door: "Your Excellency Lulian, do you need to rest in the cabin?"
Lu Li declined his invitation.
Even though standing outside constantly consumed humanity, the cabin nearby was obviously cleaned, unrelated to familiar factions, and not suitable for Lu Li to join.
Stepping past knee-high lush grass and blooming wildflowers, Lu Li headed to the closest cabin to the north.
The people inside the cabin watched Lu Li leave, their gazes lingering on the ground where he had paused—a patch of vibrant grass seemed to shimmer, and even the silence of the Gloomy Forest transformed into tranquility, gradually soothing their minds.
...
[Perceive the Mysterious Dense Forest as a harsh winter, the dark invasion as a snowstorm. Seek refuge in the wind-sheltered cabin to warm yourself before being frozen by the biting cold]
The description in the book about the Mysterious Dense Forest was metaphorically real enough but didn’t apply to Lu Li.
For him, the dangers of the Mysterious Dense Forest resembled a dark calamity. Though equally deadly, there was a time buffer—
Lu Li’s [Speaker of the Trees] identity came from the Ancestral Spirits, the common mother of all trees.
She made Lu Li part of the tree kin in human form, a friend to the trees. But for beings with consciousness, [Speaker of the Trees] was merely an identity, a perception.
But there are always children with diverging opinions from the mother.
Like a Plant Habitat. Many plants there possessed self-awareness, choosing to interact kindly with Lu Li after believing in the Ancestral Spirits. Such kindness was further nuanced into gratitude and affection and more—
But in the Mysterious Dense Forest, its attitude, influenced by [Speaker of the Trees], changed. This meant that Lu Li wouldn’t be hated by the Mysterious Dense Forest like others. Nor would he be treated as friendly as in a Plant Habitat.
More akin to indifference.
Thus, Lu Li could remain like a traveler holding a box of matches caught in a desolate, silent darkness. Using the brief illumination of burning matches amidst enduring darkness, he walked towards the distant bright light, amid shocking terror.
Behind him lay patches of seedlings like footprints, with colossal trees standing quietly around, the scale between the human and the towering trees making Lu Li appear like a flickering firefly in the Gloomy Forest.
After twenty minutes, having walked three to four miles in the Mysterious Dense Forest, Lu Li discovered a cabin marked on the map.
It sat small beneath the trunk of a giant tree dozens of meters away, its outline barely visible in the dusk, with no light from its windows, suggesting it had not yet been visited by other players.
Checking himself, the journey took nearly one unit of humanity.
After the consumption capable of dragging the Curse Title Master into the abyss, Lu Li still had 33 units of humanity remaining.
Maintaining a firefly-like flickering frequency, Lu Li advanced towards the cabin that seemed assimilated by the forest. But as he approached, he saw the cabin’s wooden door was ajar, with a few breaths inside.
A short time ago, three players converged on the cabin and were confronting each other.
Their eyes simultaneously fell on the new arrival.
Upon recognizing the newcomer as the famed Exorcist, a knight wearing the Eternal Knights’ emblem showed excitement, while the Conspiracy Web Deity Sect player slightly relaxed. Only the Alien from the old sewer front bore a grim expression, cursing in an incomprehensible language, and abruptly smashed through the window to flee.
They were unaware that just three to four miles away, the old sewer front player and the Conspiracy Web Deity Sect player had formed an alliance.
The knight gestured with a salute to Lu Li, gazing at the remaining Conspiracy Web Deity Sect player.
"Your Excellency Lulian, your stories have been etched in my memory since childhood." The Conspiracy Web Deity Sect player, with sickly pale cheeks, awkwardly attempted a smile.
Peace descended on the cabin with Lu Li’s arrival.
The Conspiracy Web Deity Sect player even lighted the fireplace, exposing his back to indicate he meant no harm.
The soft yellow flames gradually dispelled the cabin’s dimness, revealing the true nature of things lurking in the shadows.
A wooden table, a single bed, leftover cans, useless clothes, and discarded notes lay in the corner, and an old deer head specimen hung on the wooden walls—resembling a typical hunter’s cabin.
The warming light of the fireplace slowly melted away the hostile atmosphere born from the standoff.
At this moment, they heard the returning footsteps approaching outside the cabin.
The old sewer front player reappeared, ablaze as he charged, but his self-destructive act of setting himself on fire only delayed by a few seconds—
The lingering flames unnaturally extinguished, a shadow descended from the air, its charred outline still some distance from the cabin—
Slight luminescence descended, and the shadow retreated.
The figure, which should have been strangled at a despairingly close distance from the cabin, stumbled into the cabin.