Chapter 20
After his epic battle with the monster, fine beads of sweat dotted Xing Nuo’s forehead.
He patted some dirt off the tip of his little wooden sword, but it wouldn’t come off. He frowned, letting out a soft gasp.
His sword was dirty.
Xing Nuo, clutching his little wooden sword, forgot all about the toy town and ran to the bathroom.
Standing at the specially modified child-sized sink, he meticulously washed his sword from tip to hilt.
Humming a nursery rhyme he had learned at kindergarten, he accidentally got the sink covered in white, foamy soap.
“Oops!”
He wiggled his feet and noticed soap on his shoes. He quickly tried to wipe it off.
But the more he wiped, the more it spread. Some of the light foam, disturbed by his small hand, floated around the bathroom.
Xing Nuo, unable to clean his shoes, looked up and saw the foam everywhere, his brows furrowing.
“Bubble monster!”
He had just defeated a lizard monster that ate toy people, and now there was a bubble monster!
Zaizai knew his path to becoming a little knight wouldn’t be easy!
Xing Nuo puffed out his cheeks and poked at the floating bubbles, trying to force the bubble monster to reveal its true form.
“Zaizai…not afraid!”
Xing Nuo battled the bubble monster in the bathroom for what felt like an eternity.
Meanwhile, outside the door, the third-floor resident, also known as the Rongcheng Special Incidents Office team leader, anxiously prepared to kick down the door.
He couldn’t wait any longer!
If he waited any longer, his adorable little neighbor upstairs might be swallowed whole by the monster!
Just as he raised his foot, Shen Yan’s cold, emotionless voice echoed from behind.
“What are you doing?”
The third-floor resident quickly lowered his foot, almost twisting his back, and stumbled back, regaining his balance.
He couldn’t explain the real reason why he was about to kick down the door. To ordinary people, special incidents were still a distant concept.
To avoid causing public panic, all information related to anomalous incidents was kept secret by the authorities.
The third-floor resident’s eyes flickered as he quickly changed the subject:
“Who are you? I was bringing a toy car for Xing Nuo. I knocked, but no one answered, so I was worried something might have happened.”
Shen Yan raised an eyebrow, glanced at the muscular man in front of him, and looked away, seemingly unconvinced.
“Xing Nuo is my younger brother.”
The third-floor resident’s eyes widened in surprise. “Younger brother?”
“Biological?” he couldn’t help but ask.
Shen Yan didn’t respond. Carrying the takeout dinner he had bought downstairs, he unlocked the door with a series of beeps.
The moment the door opened, he saw Xing Nuo backing out of the bathroom, holding his little wooden sword.
Xing Nuo’s face was serious, his fluffy head covered in white foam, his clothes and shoes also dotted with it, even the tip of his wooden sword had a small clump of foam.
He looked exhausted from battle, but his bright eyes were still fixed on something as he held up his little sword.
“Monster…come out!!!”
The third-floor resident, following behind Shen Yan, his heart leaping into his throat, rushed past Shen Yan and strode towards Xing Nuo, his expression anxious.
“Where’s the monster?! Xing Nuo, don’t be afraid, I’m a professional.”
The third-floor resident shielded Xing Nuo, his face serious, his heart pounding, his gaze fixed on the foam-filled bathroom.
Unbeknownst to Xing Nuo, he had already activated his ability, ready to fight to the death.
He frowned, trying to figure out the monster’s form.
Wasn’t it supposed to appear as a toy town?
Could the monster somehow hide within the foam?
Although he was the team leader, the third-floor resident had limited experience fighting monsters. His knowledge of anomalous incidents was only slightly better than the average person’s.
Why were these anomalies occurring? What were the “players” some monsters talked about? Could they contact these “players”? These questions remained unanswered.
The authorities even suspected that the sudden disappearances of people in the real world were related to these anomalous incidents!
As the third-floor resident was frantically strategizing, Xing Nuo, the little knight he was protecting, stepped forward.
Xing Nuo raised his little wooden sword, took a step back, positioned himself, and shouted “Hya!”
“Bubble monster…here I come!”
He charged forward, disappearing into the foam.
The third-floor resident’s eyes widened. He quickly followed, pushing his way into the bathroom.
“Ouch!” Xing Nuo’s childish voice echoed.
The third-floor resident searched for Zaizai in the foam. “What’s wrong? Where’s the monster?!”
He waved his hands, dispersing some of the foam, revealing the situation inside the bathroom.
Xing Nuo was lying on the floor, his curls buried in the foam, flailing his little arms.
“Zaizai…can’t see!”
The third-floor resident’s lips twitched, a complicated expression on his face. He quickly picked up the little one who had slipped.
Shen Yan, who had disappeared for a moment, returned and turned on the exhaust fan.
The warm air quickly cleared the moisture and foam.
Within minutes, only a few remnants of foam remained on the floor and on Zaizai’s head, revealing the interior of the bathroom.
The third-floor resident, ready for a fight to the death, scanned the ordinary bathroom.
After searching for a while, a confused look appeared in his serious eyes.
Where was the monster?
Xing Nuo, putting away his little wooden sword, looked up and provided the answer:
“Monster…defeated…by brother and Zaizai!”
His cheeks puffed out proudly as he circled Shen Yan, chattering excitedly:
“Brother! You…so amazing! Bubble monster…gone!”
Shen Yan’s stern expression softened. He picked up the little cub and poked a bit of remaining foam on his head.
“Xing Nuo is amazing too, not afraid, bravely defeated the monster.”
Having defeated two monsters in one day, Xing Nuo was exhausted, his little legs wobbly, but his eyes still sparkled with excitement.
“Zaizai…amazing too.”
Xing Nuo never hesitated to praise himself, his bright eyes curving into crescents, filled with joy.
The third-floor resident, after carefully inspecting the bathroom and finding nothing unusual, his expression a mixture of disbelief and confusion.
Had it all been a misunderstanding?
But he had clearly sensed a monstrous aura outside!
Just as he was about to question Xing Nuo, he received a call from a member of his team.
“Team leader, the B-level Toy Town has appeared again! In the complex next door!”
The third-floor resident’s heart sank.
That monster was clever, using a diversion tactic!
It had deliberately misled him to buy time while it moved to the next complex!
Hanging up the phone, he hurriedly excused himself and sprinted towards the neighboring complex.
Xing Nuo, tired, was lying on the small sofa. Seeing the third-floor resident rush out, he tilted his head and asked:
“Uncle…gone?”
Shen Yan nodded, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.
“He must have something urgent to attend to.”
Luo Yuan hadn’t expected to wake up alive.
He had been trapped in this toy town for a whole month.
He had seen the toy town on the street corner, heard the chattering voices, and mumbled, “Who left their toy here?”
The next moment, he became a resident of the toy town.
When the sun rose in the town, Luo Yuan had to play his role, standing on the street.
Only when the moon appeared could he briefly regain control and communicate with other players.
Knowing he had been pulled into a horror instance, Luo Yuan was filled with despair, resigned to the possibility of dying at any moment.
But who would have thought that the toy town would target a child this time!
Luo Yuan and the others couldn’t see the child’s face, but after becoming residents of the toy town, they could vaguely sense some information about the next “customer” they were supposed to lure.
Luo Yuan assumed this was to help them target the human and induce a response.
He hid inside a building, not participating in the nightly attempts to trick the child into speaking.
Although he knew it was his only way out.
But the child was lucky, or perhaps too young to speak, because he hadn’t uttered a single word.
Luo Yuan felt relieved for the child.
Unfortunately, Luo Yuan’s own luck wasn’t so good.
Just before the town fell asleep, he felt a strong sense of danger.
He gritted his teeth and used his only life-saving prop. Just as the monster’s tongue was about to snatch him, he briefly regained consciousness and escaped into a nearby shop.
But the prop was only C-level. Luo Yuan’s moment of clarity was short-lived, and he fell unconscious again.
Before losing consciousness, he thought he was going to die.
But, unexpectedly, he survived.
Before he could process his surprise, he heard his companion’s excited voice, almost hysterical:
“Luo Yuan, there’s hope! The monster is unconscious at the foot of the mountain!”
Besides the methods mentioned in the instance rules, there was another default way to clear an instance –
Kill the core monster.
But this method was incredibly difficult. If successful, the entire instance would collapse. Except for a few exceptionally powerful players, no one considered this a viable option.
But now, things were different!
The lizard monster was half-dead!
There was still a B-level player alive in the town. They just had to wait for nightfall, when they could move freely, and then team up to kill the monster!
There was hope!
Luo Yuan’s eyes lit up with hope, his heart pounding, a manic excitement surging through him.
He wasn’t going to die!
