Chapter 1135: Chapter 104: Glimmer
Small, flickering specks of light wandered in the Gloomy Forest.
Slow yet resolute.
A migrating team from afar discovered the firefly-like glow in the distance, watching it drift into the depths of the Forest of Terror.
[Uttun Cabin]
Every cabin in the woods has its own name, and this wooden house, sitting on the edge of the north-south passage, is no exception.
The name originates from its builders, either being a part of their name or chosen randomly.
The glow fell into the cabin in the woods, during a brief rest, recalling the names and scratch marks on the saplings.
It’s called Annie, once belonging to an estate in Himfast. The trunk scratches were left by a little girl from the estate’s nobility during her childhood. Later it was moved to Seaview Cliff, and then settled at the Heart of Agate Lake Island in the Land of Light.
Throughout, as if there was always a shadowy figure erased from memory by its side.
She must be important, otherwise why would even the Cursed Title’s projection relate to her?
Leaving the cabin in the woods, Lu Li headed towards the further edge of the north-south passage, moving towards a cabin marked [a wooden house].
Here, Lu Li met a figure curled up in a corner of the wooden house, shivering while holding a musket.
Lu Li thought of Kaiser, who also held a faded musket; perhaps they came from the same small town.
Lu Li calmly faced the figure’s fear and vigilance: "Do you know Kaiser?"
"Who... are you...?" The figure in the shadows lifted his head hidden in darkness, as naive as Kaiser, then screamed when Lu Li picked up the oil lamp on the table: "No... don’t light it!"
Lu Li stopped his action, watching the figure desperately curling into the corner, trying to hide from the light.
He feared being in the light—photophobia is one symptom of low Sanity Value syndrome.
"I am Lu Li."
This name required no further introduction.
The curled-up figure became as excited as everyone meeting Lu Li, clutching at a life-saving straw: "Are you here to rescue me!"
"Sort of."
An unvisited cabin in the woods lay along the edge of the north-south passage four miles away; Lu Li could take him there to wait for other players to pass by.
"Thank you... I know you, right? You are the Exorcist..."
He rambled incoherently, clutching the musket tightly, supporting himself on the wall as he gradually stood up.
Lu Li didn’t sort out his memories, because everything about "Anna" hadn’t surfaced yet, and he turned to leave.
"You know Kaiser, right... Exorcist... Lu Li..."
His hesitant voice came from behind, and as Lu Li stepped out of the wooden house, with Annie’s projection appearing, the faint glow revealed his stress-induced grimace: "No... don’t think... don’t think... you can trick me out!!!"
Bang!
The cabin in the woods trembled with the roar, acrid smoke spraying from the muzzle flames—along with the figure lunging forward.
Scattered pellets pierced through the projection, tearing clothes, penetrating flesh; the shadows high above were startled by the noise, descending on the soil with a screech that ripped the air, ignored the sprinkling glow, wrapped the bloody, broken body, and rose into the shadow that obscured the sky.
"They are here... they are here!"
The terrified figure dropped the musket, mind and heart filled with fear as he shrunk back into the cabin, curled in the corner holding his head, shivering.
Darkness and solitude engulfed the place once again as the smoke gradually dissipated.
...
Thick layers of shadow entwined around Lu Li like a coarse serpent body, the surging shadow engulfing him, destination unknown.
Even when obscured, the sapling glow still shone on the broken body, delaying Lu Li’s death from blood loss-induced unconsciousness.
In his death throes, Lu Li’s chest faintly radiated warmth, his consciousness rising from the shell, approaching an unknown realm.
Murmurs of conversation sounded faintly from a distant near place.
"He got another piece, only a little way from the final piece..."
"Should we return it to him..."
"Not yet... puppet on a string... proceed according to plan..."
"And complete our... final piece of the plan..."
"He is almost there... he is almost there..."
The voices faded, the warmth in his chest vanished, and the surroundings gradually became dark and cold, plummeting into a dead silent and icy abyss.
The last of his consciousness prompted Lu Li to imbue humanity into the sapling projection.
No one has ever done so, or those who did have paid the price—life and humanity hold equal importance.
Some mysterious transformation was underway, Lu Li’s consciousness seemed to abandon the old broken shell, enter a new body, time acting on the sapling, its body crystal clear like agate, the trunk growing, branches extending, buds clustering into leaves, forming a lush canopy.
The surging vitality reciprocated back to Lu Li, fading the scars of restraint, expelling the pellets from his flesh, the torn wounds closing like eyes, quickly healing, the rapidly cooling body warmed once more—
His consciousness returned, scorching blood flowed through his body, melting the ice that had unknowingly frozen.
"Return my memories..."
The faint whisper buried amidst the rustling sound.
I want to know her thoughts, her memories, her pain, I want to know everything about her...
The shadows entwining his body retreated due to the moonlight-like glow, becoming sparse, revealing the cabin below.
But it was no longer the wooden house where Lu Li was attacked. The forest shadows, chasing the uninvited visitor, had carried Lu Li above another cabin in the Gloomy Forest.
The figures beneath, within the wooden house on the ground, perceived the change, emerging from the edges of doors and windows, gazing up towards the glow from deep within the layers of intertwined shadows above.
As the shadows receded from the sapling, no longer entangling Lu Li, the only result left for him was to fall from the air, ending as pulp.
Lu Li raised his palm, pinched a piece of soil with a sapling sprouting from the collar, and treated it like the sapling projection, imbuing humanity into it.
His consciousness extended onto the sapling like a vine, Lu Li felt he could control its life and death, its fate, everything—
Until this moment, the meaning of the Cursed Title information "their king accompanies them, like a guardian of the King’s Court" became clear.
Then Lu Li released his palm, letting the soil with the sapling fall, using the last of his strength to thread his sleeve through the shadow.
As the last of the shadows faded, only a sleeve remained to suspend Lu Li.
Rip—
The fiber, hard to bear the weight, began to tear.
At the same time, the sapling, harmonious with the light, silently fell into the soil.
The soil in front of the cabin suddenly erupted with a surging green sea, roots plunging deeply into the ground, vines growing unchecked, thickly extending upward, awaiting their teetering king.
With the last of the shadows gathered, the taut fabric tore apart, Lu Li plummeting—
A brief weightlessness, Lu Li landing amidst the rising giant twisted vine beneath him.
Within mere seconds, the vine erupted with all its life potential to fulfill its duty, withering rapidly as it had grown, collapsing back to the ground, withered and hunched.
In the dazed gaze of the people inside the cabin, hazy white moonlight scattered along with the descending figure.