chapter 39

Oh lord, he was going to die.

QiLeren finally realised why there was a bloody gown floating down the river, but the realisation came too late. Scrambling away, his mind ran a mile a minute.

What could he do? This was not something he could escape easily- but no, it was too early to give up. The skills and items and skills he had on hand – S/L card, rations, dagger and miniature bombs bought from Eventide – were sufficient for this dilemma.

Cave Tower was denoted to be adjacent to the giant’s camp, so entrance into the camp was a must for access to the tower. He needed to lose, no, kill the wolves and giant.

The giant sent branches splintering in half in its pursuit, wooden stick clearing what obstacles remained in its path. Every thundering step brought with it an upsurge of fear as it barrelled through the forest like a prehistoric beast. Inevitably, QiLeren’s female form proved to be a hinderance to his speed, with the giant’s stick missing his back by a hair’s breadth multiple times before falling away.

There was no more room for hesitation, not when even a second’s delay could mean death!

Shoving all doubts to the back of his mind, QiLeren steeled himself for the deaths that were to come and cast three handfuls of rations to the incoming wolves, who turned head immediately. The giant, however, was unswayed. It brought its stick down with a mighty roar, glancing QiLeren as he hastily rolled to the side to avoid certain death.

File saved!

Here it comes – miniature bomb gripped in the palm of one hand and vision obscured, QiLeren rushed towards the giant. The only thing that remained in his mind was that he couldn’t fail, couldn’t die, not here. He needed to survive, even if he had to risk everything!

Taken off guard by QiLeren’s abrupt change in direction, the giant paused for a second before thinking to raise its stick again. This gave QiLeren time to dart into the giant’s muscled leg and, gritting his teeth against the overwhelming stench, activated the bomb.

With the giant as ground zero, everything within a three metre radius was reduced to charred cinder in the following explosion. QiLeren lost consciousness at the moment of the explosion, before blinking into awareness at the save location and being thrown onto his back by remnant shockwaves.

A flash in the system, followed by a message:

[Player QiLeren has met upgrade prerequisites for skill card [Law of S/L]. Allows the holder to create a save file at the position in which this skill is activated. If the holder experiences a fatal wound or death within a time limit of 30 seconds, they will be returned to a specific location and state as per the save file and a subsequent countdown will triggered immediately. Save files will expire after 30 seconds if unused. A maximum of three save files can be created per use, after which the skill will be subject to a cooldown of 1 hour. Sometimes death is the only way to survive. (Current use is subject to upgraded conditions)]

The upgrade could not have come at more opportune time. Before QiLeren could get too ecstatic, in his peripheral vision emerged the wolves, having finished their fight for rations, less than twenty metres away and fast approaching.

Thirty seconds was enough. He wasn’t going to run away again – this time, he was going to resolve the problem for once and for all!

The first wolf lunged for its prey and sunk its teeth into QiLeren’s arm. The pain that flared up his wrist was nearly enough to make him drop the dagger as he mustered up all the strength in his body to plunge the blade into the wolf’s back instead. With a pained howl the wolf began tearing into his flesh, to which QiLeren responded in kind, taking particular care to protect his neck. When both parties were sufficiently wounded, he slit his throat and reverted a save.

Blinking awake, QiLeren could see the wolf that had bitten him lying on the ground, seconds from death. The other two hesitated at the perimeter, cowed by his earlier burst of mania, wasting time that QiLeren didn’t have. He ran at them with a guttural cry that sent the wolves fleeing into the forest.

QiLeren collapsed heavily onto the ground. Reading two save files had sapped all the strength out of his body, to the point where he wasn’t sure if he could muster the same power if he had to do it again.

But no matter – he had won, and with one remaining bomb to boot. He could only afford to buy three, making any saved a valuable resource.

Pushing himself up on trembling legs, QiLeren wiped a hand over his face and made his way over to ground zero. What remained of the giant’s body was now no more than charcoal, mere rubble beneath a floating treasure box identical to the one that appeared when they killed the murderer in the tutorial. Seems that the game also granted rewards for defeating mini-bosses.

The chest opened as QiLeren placed his finger on the lock to reveal a skill card. Elation flooded QiLeren upon reading the description:

[Rain-Day Laundry] (Non-Binding Skill Card): Passive skill. In the overcast of looming storm, housewives will often look to the sky in worry to estimate when the rain will arrive, and whether they will have time to retrieve the laundry. While skill is activated, players will sense the shadows cast before coming events – though, of course, this is not a given. Up to 3 threats may be detected within 24 hours. Remaining uses: 3/3.

An forecast type card, just like SuHe had suggested. The type he was looking for!

Though…

QiLeren considered the two card slots on his belt woefully. One was used for S/L, while the other one was for the bloodthirsty dagger, which could only be used when equipped as a card. Unfortunately, the cooldown timer for S/L would pause as soon as he took it out of the slot. After some deliberation, QiLeren decided to swap out the dagger and make do with a normal one.

As soon as he equipped the laundry skill, QiLeren could feel his senses sharpen – no, in fact, he felt like his current situation was extremely dangerous! The feeling was akin to standing alone in a void – somehow, despite the darkness, there lurked something just out of reach. It stalked its prey, eyes glinting with malice, ready to strike…

[Rain-Day Laundry] Remaining uses: 2/3.

It was here.

QiLeren whipped around to face the thin shrubbery, eyes catching on two pairs of glowing emerald orbs observing him silently.

The wolves came back?! With a start, he realised that S/L was still in cooldown.

What could he do? Run away, or…

Hold on, he still had his rations. Letting out a relieved sigh, QiLeren readied two handfuls; conserved items were of no use to a dead man, after all. Before he could throw them, two silver arrows flew past his head. There were twin sounds of dull impact as something fell to the ground, then silence.

Turning around, QiLeren could just barely make out the pattern of a sacrificial gown. A familiar black bird flew over and rested on his shoulder with a chorus of “yummy food, yummy food” without waiting for him to call out.

QiLeren swallowed down his inhibition and yielded a handful of rations to it. Watching the bird swallow it in one gulp, QiLeren consoled himself with the fact that he had, ultimately, saved the other handful.

“Hey,” he finally called, “I don’t even know your name.” She had saved him twice already, surely she could spare a name.

Unfortunately, his goddess turned away without a hint of anything on her face that might’ve indicated that she’d heard him at all and disappeared with a gentle disturbance of a nearby branch. Her bird nipped his ear as a playful endearment before following its master.

Ah, his goddess was so cold. QiLeren, feeling somewhat like an abandoned puppy, was forced to re-examine his tastes.

Damn it, he lived for this kind of aloof apathy.

Judging by the direction she left in, it wasn’t entirely impossible for her to also be heading to Cave Tower. Maybe they’d run into each other at the cave! He really had to get her name before leaving the instance though, he didn’t want to go ask ChenBaiqi. Was his goddess actually mute? Could her bird have been speaking the truth after all? She hadn’t uttered a single word since meeting him.

If so, then the heavens must have been jealous of her beauty. QiLeren spared a second of tender affection for his goddess. Did Eventide have a place that taught sign language? If it was for her, he was willing to learn to the best of his ability!

Maybe it was time to get back on track and head to Cave Tower.

QiLeren recollected himself and approached the wolves’ bodies. As expected, a silver arrow adorned the crown of each wolf. He chose one to pull out and – failed? He looked at his palms in disbelief, now red from gripping the arrow, before rubbing them together and trying again, to no avail.

Still puzzling over the pain, QiLeren wrapped the corner of his gown around his palm to produce more friction. This time he pushed the wolf’s head down with his foot as he pulled with his entire body, which sent him toppling to the ground when the arrow slipped through his hands. He hit the dirt in frustration – was this what girls felt like in the face of stubborn water bottles?

God, his goddess’ arm strength was incredible. Her bow was definitely too hard for normal people to pull back.

In the end, QiLeren was forced to sulkily pry the arrow out with his dagger, splattered in blood and extremely miserable. Giving up, he walked back to the stream to wash the arrow and reapply ointment to his wounds while bidding silent thanks to his goddess’ generosity.

Having finally taken care of pressing matters, QiLeren ate a light snack before making his way to the cave within the giant camp.

In the hazy dusk of twilight, the promise of a tower beckoned to him.