Chapter 31: “Please, Meieruita, Is That Okay?”

Night fell, and the lower layer of the Wizard Tower darkened.

The already poor lighting made the gray stone walls even more somber.

Every few paces along the walls, torches burned, but they provided only limited illumination.

Walking down the long corridor, the echoes of their footsteps reverberated through the empty hallway. In the bluish-green firelight, An Luo inexplicably felt like he was walking inside some strange creature.

It had a distinctly terrifying vibe.

There weren’t many people in the hall either. Meieruita led An Luo around a few corners to the entrance to the underground layer.

It was called an entrance, but it was really just a variant of an elevator—similar to a modern keycard elevator for a single household. All one had to do was place the Wizard Apprentice Credential in front of the sensor, and the elevator would take them to the corresponding floor for their task.

But since it was written in a novel, it couldn’t just be called an elevator. An Luo had given it a special name: the Space Witch Array.

He had even made up some nonsense about it being the effect of a space-based Witch Array inside the Wizard Tower.

In the blink of an eye, the doors opened and closed, and they arrived at the underground first layer.

An Luo felt no sense of weightlessness like in a starting elevator.

It really had become a “Space Witch Array.”

An Luo’s task this time was to pick Man-Eating Flower Fruits.

Although this was one type of low-level task, just looking at “Man-Eating Flower” made it clear that even low-level tasks weren’t the kind that could be completed casually.

Low-level tasks had a death rate too.

Meieruita had come to the underground layer many times and knew the way well. He led An Luo toward the location of the Man-Eating Flowers.

Soon, An Luo saw a row of purple Man-Eating Flowers.

Their appearance wasn’t all that different from the ones in Plants vs. Zombies—at least, they looked exactly the same.

There was no helping it; when An Luo thought of Man-Eating Flowers, the first image that came to mind was that one.

He just hadn’t expected the cartoonish image to look so ferocious once turned into a real, existing Man-Eating Flower.

The purple exterior was covered in mucus, and the two rows of sharp, reflective teeth still bore traces of blood.

Especially now, with the dim lighting and only clusters of green fire floating in midair providing illumination.

They looked even more horrifying.

Uncontrollably, the following scene flashed through his mind:

An Luo holding up a picture of the cartoon Man-Eating Flower and demanding, “Is this you in the photo?”

Man-Eating Flower: “That’s me. Back then, I was still cute.”

Picture for reference only; please refer to the real thing for accuracy.

An Luo: “…”

“What are you thinking about?”

After nightfall, the danger of tasks greatly increased. No Wizard Apprentice would choose to complete a task during this time—it was purely asking for hardship. So, aside from An Luo and Meieruita, there was no one else here now.

An Luo didn’t need to disguise his voice anymore.

“I’m thinking that the real thing is very different from what I imagined.”

The Man-Eating Flowers in the game still had some cuteness to them, but these were purely terrifying.

“Are you dissatisfied with them?”

“I wouldn’t say that. I’m just a bit surprised.”

It was something he’d written offhand anyway; there wasn’t much to be satisfied or dissatisfied about.

Meieruita noticed his attitude and silently looked toward the slightly swaying cluster of Man-Eating Flowers.

For a split second, Meieruita even wanted to ask:

What about me? Am I very different from what you imagined?

Are you… satisfied with me?

But Meieruita quickly reined himself in. He didn’t want An Luo to discover the influence he had over him.

Once a person realized they held some kind of power over someone else, they couldn’t help but want to use it—like learning a new skill and itching to show it off.

Meieruita absolutely did not want An Luo to realize he had such influence over him.

Because once An Luo started wielding that power, Meieruita didn’t know how to respond.

Would he act like an obedient child toward his father, toward the Creator, complying with every word?

The moment that thought emerged, Meieruita envisioned his childhood, when he had no power and could only cower under others’ authority.

He absolutely refused to fall back into being a powerless weakling who could only obey.

So he absolutely could not let An Luo notice his own weakness.

An Luo had no idea what Meieruita was thinking. All his attention was now on those Man-Eating Flowers.

The Man-Eating Flower Fruits they needed to pick grew near the roots of the Man-Eating Flowers. Occasionally, one could spot a small red sphere—that was a Man-Eating Flower Fruit.

An Luo’s task required picking five.

He stopped in his tracks.

They were now very close to the Man-Eating Flowers. An Luo lowered his head and strained to look, trying to find red fruits in the gaps between the dense green leaves on the ground.

Red against green should have been starkly contrasting and easy to spot, but it was night, the light was poor, and the leaves layered thickly. An Luo searched for a while before finding one.

Reaching out directly to grab it was definitely not an option—try it and you’d die.

He needed to prepare in advance by spraying something with a strong scent on himself to mask his human smell.

Man-Eating Flowers were carnivores, so the best choice was to cover oneself in other smells, making oneself reek like a noxious plant. Then the Man-Eating Flowers wouldn’t be interested.

At that point, one could go in and pick.

It seemed feasible, but caution was needed: if the scent wasn’t strong enough, or if one got scratched by the Man-Eating Flower’s sharp leaves while searching for fruits and blood seeped out, those horrifying steel teeth would bite down in an instant.

Either unscathed, or dead.

It required care and patience.

An Luo took a deep breath and pulled out the Scent Agent he’d prepared earlier.

This was the most expensive Scent Agent he’d bought from Alden.

He began spraying it on himself.

The scent from the Scent Agent was an overpowering floral fragrance so thick it was choking. Even from a distance, the Man-Eating Flowers smelled it drifting over and humanely recoiled in unison, clearly repulsed by the odor.

If they could, they would have uprooted themselves and fled.

The Scent Agent seemed pretty good.

“You don’t need to do this,” Meieruita said. “Let me handle it.”

His meaning was clear: he wanted to complete the task for An Luo while An Luo stood by and did nothing.

“No need.” An Luo shook his head. “Thanks, but let me try it myself.”

Though An Luo knew Meieruita’s offer was safer, he still planned to do it himself.

It wasn’t out of curiosity; it was practical thinking.

Though reluctant, he had indeed been forced into this novel world he’d written himself. To maximize his chances of survival, he had to adapt to the environment here.

With Meieruita nearby now and not wanting to kill him in the short term, why not use this newbie protection period to do some tasks and gain experience? Should he wait until later, when he was alone with no backup, to gamble?

Besides, An Luo still planned to escape later.

If he let Meieruita spoil him completely, how would he escape?

Better to rely on himself than on heaven or earth. The more experiences he had, the calmer he’d be when facing difficulties later, instead of turning into a screaming mess on the spot.

“Why?” Meieruita drew closer to An Luo.

The white mask covered An Luo’s face, so Meieruita couldn’t guess his thoughts.

“I’m already very grateful that you’ve come to help me.” An Luo wasn’t foolish enough to voice his real thoughts; he said something nice. “If I let you do it all for me, that would be too much. I’ll do it myself.”

Meieruita frowned slightly.

He had no intention of letting An Luo complete the task.

Not out of any concern or worry.

Purely for efficiency.

Meieruita had completed many tasks before, even mid-level ones with ease. Not to mention this low-level task that just required care.

An Luo had never completed even one task, and his sense of danger was extremely faint. Meieruita had even noticed that whenever something stirred, An Luo’s first reaction was to look toward the source rather than immediately retreat.

He had lived in a paradise-like world.

Pampered like a newly hatched chick, naive and ignorant.

Meieruita didn’t want complications. Letting An Luo do it would only add trouble, and if danger arose, he’d have to save him.

Better for him to do it quickly and be done.

“However.” An Luo appropriately showed weakness. “These Man-Eating Flowers look so scary. If I mess up and something happens, you’ll protect me, right?”

He clasped his hands together. “Please, Meieruita, is that okay?”

Meieruita: “…Mm, okay.”

With Meieruita’s promise, An Luo relaxed a lot.

Meieruita was a very reliable protagonist type. Though he lied and broke promises at times, in the current situation, there was no reason for him to deceive An Luo.

As long as Meieruita didn’t want An Luo dead, An Luo wouldn’t die.

An Luo felt much more secure.

He first tentatively approached the Man-Eating Flowers.

The thick floral scent made them recoil in disgust, leaning back a bit more.

Good. Next step.

He carefully moved toward the fruit he’d spotted, light on his feet, movements as slow as possible to avoid being cut by the leaves.

But perhaps because his scent was so strong, wherever he approached, the Man-Eating Flowers disgustedly folded back their leaves, clearing a small patch of ground for him to move.

Safety level just went up.

An Luo smoothly reached the roots of one Man-Eating Flower, carefully squatted down, grasped the small red fruit, and gently tugged. It came off and landed in his palm.

Perfect.

An Luo took a deep breath, his heart pounding.

As he stood up, he suddenly noticed that all the red fruits previously hidden by leaves were now exposed.

One after another, plentiful like strawberries in harvest season.

Did my scent make them fold up their leaves, causing this?

Should I pick a few more?

An Luo stood there, hesitating for a moment.

“Come back.”

Suddenly, Meieruita’s voice rang out, tense.

An Luo immediately stopped hesitating and turned to head back.

On the way back, the Man-Eating Flowers’ leaves continued folding piece by piece, forming a small moving clearing that allowed An Luo a relatively safe return.

“What happened?” An Luo asked.

Things had looked great just now; he could have picked a few more.

But before he finished speaking, Meieruita suddenly pressed him to the ground.

He didn’t hit his head; Meieruita had cushioned his palm under it beforehand.

Still, it happened so abruptly that the world spun before An Luo’s eyes. He startled and instinctively cried out.

At that moment, the Man-Eating Flowers that had been leaning to the other side, looking docile and harmless, suddenly lunged toward them.

Even constrained by their roots and unable to move, they strained desperately to get closer.

Their massive heads thrashed wildly.

Sharp leaves whipped about, steel teeth grinding with a heart-chilling “creak,” saliva dripping from their gaping maws.

The scene turned chaotic in an instant.

An Luo fell silent, all questions gone, a wave of aftershock hitting him. “Thanks… thank you, Meieruita.”

Still a bit panicked, he panted softly.

Meieruita’s gray-green eyes looked somewhat inscrutable in the dim light. “You’re welcome.”