T/N: There was an author’s note on this chapter basically explaining that they rewrote the arc (only those 7 chapters) as they were having problems with the setting, although there are some similar aspects.
As soon as Xia Nuo opened his eyes, he heard the notification sound from the game system: “The player’s current location is 180 degrees latitude, the outermost edge of the maze, and the exploration progress: 0%.”
The entrance is a series of walls covered with murals. They form a corridor extending in all directions, and each corridor leads in a different direction, so the player’s initial choice is very important.
The condition for clearing the game this time is to get out of the maze, other than that, the system did not give any hints.
Before Xia Nuo now were three choices.
Left? Right? Or in the middle?
On the middle road, at the entrance, the mural showed a pure white and flawless angel lowering her eyes, smiling holy and compassionately, but in the reflection in the mirror behind her, the grey-black wings are indistinguishable.
The mural on the left depicts a mermaid floating in the sea. She is affectionately sticking her lover’s head to the side of her face, with a greedy and satiated expression on her face.
On the mural on the right is a tree man with light green skin, with a bright and enthusiastic smile, but there are many white bones under his feet.
Xia Nuo: “…”
What are these murals trying to reveal? Under the hypocritical appearance is the real cruelty?
After hesitating for a moment, he walked into the passage in the middle.
On the one hand, he is more inclined to trust his intuition in this situation without any prompt; on the other hand, he always feels that the mirror behind the angel seems to have a special attraction to him.
——Like a road sign, guiding him to make a choice.
Xia Nuo was walking in the passage. The walls on both sides were so tall that they almost went straight into the sky. He tried to raise his head, but he couldn’t see their tops.
Such a wall can effectively prevent players with flying props from cheating.
While thinking this way, Shano began to examine his props.
Although he has experienced two worlds and is out of the novice category, his props are still relatively small.
However, although the number is small, the level is very high.
Two S-level props, ‘Raven’s Eye’ and ‘Manor Lord’s Invitation Letter’, two A-level props, ‘Blessing of the Sacred Tree’, ‘Heart of the Sacred Tree’, and one B-level prop ‘Hourglass’.
The ‘Manor Owner’s Invitation Letter’ doesn’t seem to have any effect at the moment, and as for the ‘Eye of the Raven’, it seems that it has no use for it now– at least Xia Nuo, who still doesn’t understand the mechanism of the labyrinth, thinks so.
As for ‘Blessing of the Holy Tree’ and ‘Heart of the Holy Tree’, they are all auxiliary props.
Use the ‘Blessing of the Holy Tree’ to get the affinity bonus and luck bonus of plants, and the ‘Heart of the Holy Tree’ is a healing item.
‘It can heal all wounds caused by physical and magical attacks, and it is an excellent energy storage item.’ This is how it is explained in the introduction.
It sounds very practical. Although it can only be used three times a day, it is a good life-saving tool if used well.
Xia Nuo’s eyes turned to the final B-level prop ‘Hourglass’.
To be honest, he couldn’t remember how he obtained this item.
The spindle-shaped hourglass stands quietly in the independent space grid, and the golden sand grains flow downward continuously, and even the subtle sound of the sand grains flowing can be clearly heard in the quiet space.
“Chang An.” He heard a male voice calling.
Xia Nuo didn’t know where he was for a moment, he closed his eyes, his consciousness was drowsy.
The voice seems to be far away in the sky, but also seems to be close at hand, ethereal and clear.
“The day has finally come.”
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve arranged everything and I’ll find you soon.”
“Chang An, Chang An”
——The voice called this name, as gently as a whisper between lovers.
“Hahaha–“
A burst of wild laughter suddenly awakened Xia Nuo, who was stuck in an unknown memory, he took a step back subconsciously and followed the sound.
On the mural on his right side, a black demon shrouded in smoke and a half protruding body appeared at some unknown time.
Xia Nuo’s glance coincided with the demon’s gaze, and the demon’s green eyes rolled around maliciously, and he grinned at him, revealing a mocking smile——
“It’s been a long time since I saw a newcomer coming! I wonder if your soul smells so delicious?”
Its level is not very high, so it finds a unique way to wait for new players here. At this time, the players have just arrived and have not yet improved their strength, which happens to be soft persimmons in the eyes of labyrinth creatures.
Even so, the probability of the devil succeeding is not very high.
Because most players may not be very powerful, but generally they also have a few life-saving props at the bottom of the box. Sometimes when encountering experienced players, the props in their hands can even cause damage to them.
However, Xia Nuo obviously does not belong to this ‘most’.
After finishing the last game, and returning to the system space, what awaited him was a dead silence. He didn’t know where the system had gone. Before entering the game, Xia Nuo hadn’t seen its shadow.
As for what information you want to get from it, it is even more impossible. He didn’t even know the name of the game world he was about to enter until the last day, and the system didn’t show up at that time, instead, the black book representing the game world popped out of the bookshelf automatically when the time came.
Xia Nuo had never seen other systems, so he didn’t know if they were as irresponsible as this one. Anyway, his perception of the system had gotten worse.
It was also because of the irresponsibility of the system that Xia Nuo couldn’t even exchange items. He had some money but nowhere to spend it, but what he said was probably only him.
Xia Nuo backed away slowly, thinking about countermeasures in his mind, he knew that he was no match for that demon, but it was impossible for him to sit still and wait for death.
The attack and defence abilities of ‘Raven’s Eye’ can come in handy at this time.
‘Attack: Follow the master’s command to launch an attack, and the damage to the spirit body will be increased.
Guard: There is a 50% chance to protect the master when the master is attacked.’
Although I don’t know what its attack power is, S-level props are not too weak, right?
The devil watched Xia Nuo retreat step by step to the wall on the right side with cold eyes and did not stop him. To it, this small distance was nothing.
“Want to run away?” It ‘he-he’ giggled, “Flee as you please, human cowardice is my favourite wine to accompany the table. Likewise, the desperation of human beings, when they find themselves with no escape, is, for me, the most delicious appetiser.”
Speaking of it, as if recalling something, he greedily licked his lips with his long scarlet tongue.
“Are all demons as talkative as you?”
While the demon was speaking, Xia Nuo was already ready to release the ‘Eye of the Raven’. Looking at the demon who didn’t know anything about it and looked full of complacency, he couldn’t help but complain.
“Human? What do you mean? This is the only kindness you can get before you die. You don’t know how to cherish it?”
The devil stared viciously at the ‘ignorant’ young man in front of him, and after he finished speaking, he made a gesture to pounce on him, and Xia Nuo also began to count silently in his heart.
One, two, three!
Just as the pitch-black crow flew out of his hand, Xia Nuo heard a terrified scream.
“You, your back!”
Xia Nuo suspected at first that it was trying to divert his attention, after all, whether it is or in the movie, cunning is the innate nature of demons.
So he didn’t look back, and because of this, he witnessed an extremely strange scene.
The demon who taunted him and regarded him as prey seemed to have seen something extremely terrifying, turned around and wanted to escape, but its movement was a step slower – a jet of black flame suddenly fell from its head, the flames surrounded the demon, and it howled and struggled in the flames.
“Ahhh——I know I was wrong! I shouldn’t snatch the prey you fancy! Lord Demon King——!!!”
Before the words fell, it had been burned to a mass of ashes.
“一”
At the same time, the low counting sound was covered by the demon’s sharp howling before it died and was not heard by Xia Nuo.
At this time, Xia Nuo was also full of bewilderment. The crow hovered around and found that the enemy was dead, so it folded its wings and fell back onto the boy’s shoulder.
“What happened?”
Xia Nuo glanced at the crow on his shoulder, and the crow shook his head, indicating that it didn’t do it.
He recalled the performance of the demon before he died, and couldn’t help turning his head.
――Is there really something behind him?
However, what faced him was a dark wall with nothing on it.
“No, I remember that there was a mural before this,” Xia Nuo muttered to himself in confusion.
Probably only the dead demon would know—at that moment, a man with black hair and blue eyes suddenly appeared behind the boy, he stared at the young man in front of him with a protective and possessive attitude, and then raised his iconic snake-shaped staff towards it.
Only then did it realise it had provoked an extraordinary person, but it was too late.
By the way, before the devil died, didn’t he call the devil king? What else is there to say that you shouldn’t snatch the prey you fancy? Could it be that he was being targeted by a more powerful demon?
Xia Nuo shivered involuntarily, determined to leave this place of right and wrong quickly.
However, I don’t know what kind of bad luck he had today. Just as he took a step, he heard a clear and clear child’s voice shouting behind him:
“Ahhhhhh, little big brother, help me!!!”
He looked back and saw an eleven or twelve-year-old girl in overalls running towards him with all her might. Behind her, there were countless monsters with ferocious animal heads. As the monsters ran, smoke and dust billowed on the ground, enough to show the size of the formation.
Xia Nuo: “…”
If it is said that the crow can deal with the previous demons, Xia Nuo is still somewhat sure, but to let it deal with such a large number of monsters?
Xia Nuo shook his head, throwing away this unrealistic fantasy.
(T/N: with how Xia Nuo is referred to, ‘little big brother’, although slightly confusing (and made me think of Little Big Planet), the original is ‘小哥哥’ and it uses ‘小’ (xiǎo) which means small/little and ‘哥哥’ (gēgē) which means big brother (instead of ‘弟弟’ (Dìdì) which means younger brother) but the phrase itself is seemingly used online to refer to pretty boys, but since Xia Nuo is both little and pretty, I am going to use it interchangeably.)
T/N: There was an author’s note on this chapter basically explaining that they rewrote the arc (only those 7 chapters) as they were having problems with the setting, although there are some similar aspects.
As soon as Xia Nuo opened his eyes, he heard the notification sound from the game system: “The player’s current location is 180 degrees latitude, the outermost edge of the maze, and the exploration progress: 0%.”
The entrance is a series of walls covered with murals. They form a corridor extending in all directions, and each corridor leads in a different direction, so the player’s initial choice is very important.
The condition for clearing the game this time is to get out of the maze, other than that, the system did not give any hints.
Before Xia Nuo now were three choices.
Left? Right? Or in the middle?
On the middle road, at the entrance, the mural showed a pure white and flawless angel lowering her eyes, smiling holy and compassionately, but in the reflection in the mirror behind her, the grey-black wings are indistinguishable.
The mural on the left depicts a mermaid floating in the sea. She is affectionately sticking her lover’s head to the side of her face, with a greedy and satiated expression on her face.
On the mural on the right is a tree man with light green skin, with a bright and enthusiastic smile, but there are many white bones under his feet.
Xia Nuo: “…”
What are these murals trying to reveal? Under the hypocritical appearance is the real cruelty?
After hesitating for a moment, he walked into the passage in the middle.
On the one hand, he is more inclined to trust his intuition in this situation without any prompt; on the other hand, he always feels that the mirror behind the angel seems to have a special attraction to him.
——Like a road sign, guiding him to make a choice.
Xia Nuo was walking in the passage. The walls on both sides were so tall that they almost went straight into the sky. He tried to raise his head, but he couldn’t see their tops.
Such a wall can effectively prevent players with flying props from cheating.
While thinking this way, Shano began to examine his props.
Although he has experienced two worlds and is out of the novice category, his props are still relatively small.
However, although the number is small, the level is very high.
Two S-level props, ‘Raven’s Eye’ and ‘Manor Lord’s Invitation Letter’, two A-level props, ‘Blessing of the Sacred Tree’, ‘Heart of the Sacred Tree’, and one B-level prop ‘Hourglass’.
The ‘Manor Owner’s Invitation Letter’ doesn’t seem to have any effect at the moment, and as for the ‘Eye of the Raven’, it seems that it has no use for it now– at least Xia Nuo, who still doesn’t understand the mechanism of the labyrinth, thinks so.
As for ‘Blessing of the Holy Tree’ and ‘Heart of the Holy Tree’, they are all auxiliary props.
Use the ‘Blessing of the Holy Tree’ to get the affinity bonus and luck bonus of plants, and the ‘Heart of the Holy Tree’ is a healing item.
‘It can heal all wounds caused by physical and magical attacks, and it is an excellent energy storage item.’ This is how it is explained in the introduction.
It sounds very practical. Although it can only be used three times a day, it is a good life-saving tool if used well.
Xia Nuo’s eyes turned to the final B-level prop ‘Hourglass’.
To be honest, he couldn’t remember how he obtained this item.
The spindle-shaped hourglass stands quietly in the independent space grid, and the golden sand grains flow downward continuously, and even the subtle sound of the sand grains flowing can be clearly heard in the quiet space.
“Chang An.” He heard a male voice calling.
Xia Nuo didn’t know where he was for a moment, he closed his eyes, his consciousness was drowsy.
The voice seems to be far away in the sky, but also seems to be close at hand, ethereal and clear.
“The day has finally come.”
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve arranged everything and I’ll find you soon.”
“Chang An, Chang An”
——The voice called this name, as gently as a whisper between lovers.
“Hahaha–“
A burst of wild laughter suddenly awakened Xia Nuo, who was stuck in an unknown memory, he took a step back subconsciously and followed the sound.
On the mural on his right side, a black demon shrouded in smoke and a half protruding body appeared at some unknown time.
Xia Nuo’s glance coincided with the demon’s gaze, and the demon’s green eyes rolled around maliciously, and he grinned at him, revealing a mocking smile——
“It’s been a long time since I saw a newcomer coming! I wonder if your soul smells so delicious?”
Its level is not very high, so it finds a unique way to wait for new players here. At this time, the players have just arrived and have not yet improved their strength, which happens to be soft persimmons in the eyes of labyrinth creatures.
Even so, the probability of the devil succeeding is not very high.
Because most players may not be very powerful, but generally they also have a few life-saving props at the bottom of the box. Sometimes when encountering experienced players, the props in their hands can even cause damage to them.
However, Xia Nuo obviously does not belong to this ‘most’.
After finishing the last game, and returning to the system space, what awaited him was a dead silence. He didn’t know where the system had gone. Before entering the game, Xia Nuo hadn’t seen its shadow.
As for what information you want to get from it, it is even more impossible. He didn’t even know the name of the game world he was about to enter until the last day, and the system didn’t show up at that time, instead, the black book representing the game world popped out of the bookshelf automatically when the time came.
Xia Nuo had never seen other systems, so he didn’t know if they were as irresponsible as this one. Anyway, his perception of the system had gotten worse.
It was also because of the irresponsibility of the system that Xia Nuo couldn’t even exchange items. He had some money but nowhere to spend it, but what he said was probably only him.
Xia Nuo backed away slowly, thinking about countermeasures in his mind, he knew that he was no match for that demon, but it was impossible for him to sit still and wait for death.
The attack and defence abilities of ‘Raven’s Eye’ can come in handy at this time.
‘Attack: Follow the master’s command to launch an attack, and the damage to the spirit body will be increased.
Guard: There is a 50% chance to protect the master when the master is attacked.’
Although I don’t know what its attack power is, S-level props are not too weak, right?
The devil watched Xia Nuo retreat step by step to the wall on the right side with cold eyes and did not stop him. To it, this small distance was nothing.
“Want to run away?” It ‘he-he’ giggled, “Flee as you please, human cowardice is my favourite wine to accompany the table. Likewise, the desperation of human beings, when they find themselves with no escape, is, for me, the most delicious appetiser.”
Speaking of it, as if recalling something, he greedily licked his lips with his long scarlet tongue.
“Are all demons as talkative as you?”
While the demon was speaking, Xia Nuo was already ready to release the ‘Eye of the Raven’. Looking at the demon who didn’t know anything about it and looked full of complacency, he couldn’t help but complain.
“Human? What do you mean? This is the only kindness you can get before you die. You don’t know how to cherish it?”
The devil stared viciously at the ‘ignorant’ young man in front of him, and after he finished speaking, he made a gesture to pounce on him, and Xia Nuo also began to count silently in his heart.
One, two, three!
Just as the pitch-black crow flew out of his hand, Xia Nuo heard a terrified scream.
“You, your back!”
Xia Nuo suspected at first that it was trying to divert his attention, after all, whether it is or in the movie, cunning is the innate nature of demons.
So he didn’t look back, and because of this, he witnessed an extremely strange scene.
The demon who taunted him and regarded him as prey seemed to have seen something extremely terrifying, turned around and wanted to escape, but its movement was a step slower – a jet of black flame suddenly fell from its head, the flames surrounded the demon, and it howled and struggled in the flames.
“Ahhh——I know I was wrong! I shouldn’t snatch the prey you fancy! Lord Demon King——!!!”
Before the words fell, it had been burned to a mass of ashes.
“一”
At the same time, the low counting sound was covered by the demon’s sharp howling before it died and was not heard by Xia Nuo.
At this time, Xia Nuo was also full of bewilderment. The crow hovered around and found that the enemy was dead, so it folded its wings and fell back onto the boy’s shoulder.
“What happened?”
Xia Nuo glanced at the crow on his shoulder, and the crow shook his head, indicating that it didn’t do it.
He recalled the performance of the demon before he died, and couldn’t help turning his head.
――Is there really something behind him?
However, what faced him was a dark wall with nothing on it.
“No, I remember that there was a mural before this,” Xia Nuo muttered to himself in confusion.
Probably only the dead demon would know—at that moment, a man with black hair and blue eyes suddenly appeared behind the boy, he stared at the young man in front of him with a protective and possessive attitude, and then raised his iconic snake-shaped staff towards it.
Only then did it realise it had provoked an extraordinary person, but it was too late.
By the way, before the devil died, didn’t he call the devil king? What else is there to say that you shouldn’t snatch the prey you fancy? Could it be that he was being targeted by a more powerful demon?
Xia Nuo shivered involuntarily, determined to leave this place of right and wrong quickly.
However, I don’t know what kind of bad luck he had today. Just as he took a step, he heard a clear and clear child’s voice shouting behind him:
“Ahhhhhh, little big brother, help me!!!”
He looked back and saw an eleven or twelve-year-old girl in overalls running towards him with all her might. Behind her, there were countless monsters with ferocious animal heads. As the monsters ran, smoke and dust billowed on the ground, enough to show the size of the formation.
Xia Nuo: “…”
If it is said that the crow can deal with the previous demons, Xia Nuo is still somewhat sure, but to let it deal with such a large number of monsters?
Xia Nuo shook his head, throwing away this unrealistic fantasy.
(T/N: with how Xia Nuo is referred to, ‘little big brother’, although slightly confusing (and made me think of Little Big Planet), the original is ‘小哥哥’ and it uses ‘小’ (xiǎo) which means small/little and ‘哥哥’ (gēgē) which means big brother (instead of ‘弟弟’ (Dìdì) which means younger brother) but the phrase itself is seemingly used online to refer to pretty boys, but since Xia Nuo is both little and pretty, I am going to use it interchangeably.)
