Chapter 210: All Hail the Copper Coin! |
“System, my head hurts a little.”
The system hurriedly ran its diagnostic checks and huffed out sarcastically.
“Oh, is that so? If only somebody told you to ‘watch out’ and ‘cover your head,’ but too bad, you didn’t!”
“I was just trying to protect the baby.”
Looking down, the system could see the baby being cradled in her arms. The baby was completely oblivious to the situation, grabbing at her clothes with a pair of weak hands.
For young people, raising a baby should be troublesome, but it was nothing to Gu Qianqian.
With her proficiency in any task, taking care of any job is easy.
And yes, being a babysitter is also one of her many odd jobs.
If she had never encountered the system, she would be a hard-working, diligent, independent young woman.
The system silently observed the Witch for a while and came to a decision.
“Gu Qianqian-”
“Omigosh, look at you; you’re so thin! You haven’t had enough to eat for a long time, did you?” she cooed.
“Gu Qian-”
“Tell you what? I’ll buy some milk powder once we get out of here. No, maybe I’ll raise a cow. No, I can’t afford a cow. Maybe goat’s milk?”
“Gu Qianqian!”
“What are you being so loud for? You’re gonna scare the baby!”
“We need to complete our mission!” the system reminded. “The Witch is vulnerable now; go, take your bat, slam it down on her head, and the world is saved!”
“But…” she hesitated. “Are you sure it’s that easy?”
Gu Qianqian made sense. The Witch did cast three spells in quick succession.
“System, I have a plan.”
“And what extraordinary plans can the great Gu Qianqian make? I think you should leave it to your system.
“Why don’t we take her with us?”
“What?”
“We’ll use her as protection, and we’ll throw her as bait if we encounter something like the monster just now!”
The system was shocked at what she was saying. Has Gu Qianqian finally matured?
It didn’t hate this development at all.
[You have triggered a secret mission! Pick up the item (The Unusual Witch)!
Reward: 500 points and an unknown alchemy potion]
“System, I came up with this plan; I didn’t mean to.”
“Complete this task as soon as possible. There is a punishment if you don’t complete it within the time limit.”
The system thought she would be elated to complete tasks, and it begged her to hurry up before the Witch turned back to normal. No matter what, she will feel hungry after casting three powerful spells in quick succession.
Gu Qianqian huffed in anger, “You’re plagiarising my ideas! I’m done with you!”
She strolled towards Yibei, who was still running in place with empty eyes. She took off her scarf, wrapped it around Yibei’s armpits, and carried her on her back.
Yibei didn’t seem to resist her, but her legs still continued to run in place.
The system breathed a sigh of relief: “Let’s go. There are weak energy fluctuations up ahead, so let’s go take a look.”
In the darkness, her back looked like a humanoid monster with many, many strange limbs.
Following the system, Gu Qianqian ventured deep into the cave. The faint light radiating from her spread out but could not illuminate the ends of the cave walls.
As if she had stepped into the palace of an ancient god, the darkness slowly lifted its veil, revealing its contents to her.
Although the world outside the pit is barren land, there is dense vegetation and strange villagers who live there. However, this place had no traces of life at all.
As the wind blew, the surroundings were strangely quiet, as if they were venturing into another unknown realm.
The air was damp and cold, but she swore she could smell a faint scent of blood.
Under the dim light radiating from her, she could see many corpses scattered around. Their limbs were in a position that suggested that they were in pain, struggling to escape.
A black, shiny substance adhered to their bodies, flowing like molten wax.
She walked forward, but more skeletons appeared in front of her, piled together like an ancient catacomb.
And they were also wrapped in that strange black goo.
Her faint light swept over them, forcing the black goo to wriggle deeper within the crevices of the bones.
A faint sound of chewing came from an unknown place.
Oh, no. Is it that monster that the Witch couldn’t kill?
Gu Qianqian suddenly became nervous.
“I feel it—Gu Qianqian, the ancestral hall is up ahead!”
“System…”
Her muscles instinctively tightened as she prepared herself for battle.
It was quiet, and she could hear her own heartbeat. In the darkness ahead, she suddenly felt a strong wind passing by the stone ceiling above her.
The baby who was sleeping in her arms woke up and cried in fear, and the strong wind above her instantly struck down.
She moved based on instinct, ducking forward to avoid the blow.
Boom!
There was a loud noise, and in her dim light, a huge tentacle was embedded into the stone floor. It swung past her like a whip, hitting the stone wall hard.
The entire cave shook, and small rocks fell down upon them.
A shrill scream suddenly sounded behind her, and she screamed wildly.
She could see black goo pouring out of the endless caves, and they were covered with eyes that glowed with an evil, green light. Their ephemeral limbs twitched and squirmed as they clawed towards her.
“Now! Gu Qianqian, throw the Witch at them!”
She hurriedly untied Yibei from her back, and she threw her petite body like a javelin onto the greasy ground.
Her legs were still running in place as she plopped upright on the floor, and she ran forward like a racing car with new batteries installed inside of it.
“…system? I feel guilty.”
The system scoffed. Wasn’t she the one who suggested using her as bait?
“Don’t worry. She is the World Ender after all. I don’t think she will die that easily.”
But as long as she can be crippled, it will be a guaranteed victory in the future.
The system floated out of Gu Qianqian’s mind and looked into the cave: “Gu Qianqian, head towards the ancestral hall; we must find the things we need before the second night falls, or we won’t be able to leave. Do you want to stay here for another year?”
Gu Qianqian glanced at Yibei running towards the mass of goo and nodded, hugging the baby tightly in her arms before running deeper into the cave.
When Yibei woke up, she felt like she was in another dimension. She felt a little confused, but she was even more confused when she found out she was running straight towards an indescribable monster in front of her.
What the fuck? Where the fuck am I?
She immediately braked and stopped, staggering right in front of the monster. A terrifying sense of oppression washed over her, and her forehead was suddenly covered with beads of sweat.
The moment it noticed her, the claws and tentacles of the goo twisted and squirmed towards her. Their cracks-like mouths muttered broken words, and a scream echoed in the cave.
And the scream held fear within.
I’m the one who’s supposed to be scared! You, as a monster, have no right to be scared!
Is it afraid of her spell earlier?
She cleared her throat and waved at the creature before her: “Hello, nice to meet you.”
As soon as she spoke, a shrill scream echoed through the cave, and the giant mass of goo began to retreat to the surrounding caves.
They are acting like I’m an evil god.
The surroundings suddenly shook violently, and immediately, a huge snake head smashed open the rock wall on her left, roaring and opening its huge maw. Its maw caught the fleeing goo, dragged it out of the cave, and started to fight with it.
Yibei watched many films of two monsters fighting, but those movies were far from as shocking as the scene before her.
Their blows were like thunder, echoing through the cave system violently.
Heavy rain seemed to fall from the void, mixed with broken stone pillars that hung from the cave’s ceiling.
The snake’s fangs were like a sword, tearing apart the goo’s body with each terrifying bite.
The goo was separated into weird limbs, like imitations of humans or evil spirits clawing their way out of hell. They tore and bit at the snake, leaving behind hideous scars wherever they struck.
The two behemoths fought each other tirelessly, making the already endless cave system feel cramped.
And there were even more terrifying psychic fluctuations that she couldn’t see with her naked eye—the long-forgotten worship and the evil beliefs of the villagers, fighting for a single victor.
Under the protection of the serpent god, Yibei watched helplessly. Her eyes burnt from witnessing a fight between them.
In an instant, she saw countless, dazzling rays of light hitting her body and heard the murmurs of tens of thousands of people whispering.
It was confusing and illogical. One moment, she could hear voices praising the great rivers and the mountains; the next, complaining about the unpalatable food in the military camp; the next, crying in despair.
In the chaotic light and shadow, she saw a group of old people wandering like lonely ghosts. Taking advantage of the night and the dim light of their lanterns, they came to the sleeping mountains, where the serpent resides.
They had planned this out for a long time; they used various methods to gather as many dying lives as possible so they could corrupt a god.
Their spear, made from alchemy, pierced the serpent’s body, spreading blood all over its scales and casting a cruel curse to imprison it for future generations.
Perhaps they were trying to make their own god.
Under the scarlet night, the serpent roared in anger.
Dark clouds gathered under its command, and rain poured down as thunderbolts fell from the sky.
The columns of lightning stretched for thousands of miles, spreading their tentacle of destruction towards the world. Then, the earth caved in on itself, and a large pit opened itself up beneath the serpent.
And all was silent.
She opened her eyes unknowingly, unaware that she had closed them. The darkness soon receded like a tide, and her vision became clear. A much smaller, black Serpent then slithered towards her.
Although much smaller, it was still almost as tall as Yibei.
On the Serpent’s head, its scales were seemingly torn off, revealing flesh and blood and, beyond that, bone.
“O’ Succesor of the Great Witch, the World Ender who brings about Drought and Disaster, it is an honour to see you again,” the Serpent spoke directly into her mind. “It seems that you have heard my call.”
“Thank you for weakening the slime’s power so that I was able to defend myself,” the Serpent continued. “I have but one last request. Should you aid me, I will grant you all the knowledge that I know.”
All the knowledge? She thought. “What is it?”
Boom!
The Serpent suddenly stood upright, revealing its abdomen to her. On its abdomen, countless, human-like tumours stacked together, tightly grasping the Serpent’s body.
“Remove this seal and kill me. Let me return to the Heavens and the Earth, and I will grant you knowledge.”
“H-how?”
The golden slits of the Serpent pulsed with excitement: “Touch it and pour your energy into it. I will deal with the rest.”
Sounds simple, but something’s weird…
She felt something shake gently in the pocket of her robe. When she reached out to touch it, she felt a cold object rubbing the back of her hand and leaping out of her pocket, landing on the cold, hard ground.
Ding!
Professor Ma’s copper coin!
She bent down to pick it up, but when she saw the coin, her pupils shrunk slightly.
Heads?
Damn it, something truly is wrong with this Serpent!
