Chapter 124
Lu Qi’s voice was cold and mechanical, but Xing Nuo still sensed the underlying sadness.
“Xing Nuo forgot? In amusement park…we blew up Doctor’s lab. My arms and legs…gone.”
Xing Nuo, his memory of that event completely blank, shook his head, his eyes wide with surprise.
“Blew up lab? So cool! But your arms and legs…hurt!”
Lu Qi hummed, then, afraid of scaring Xing Nuo, forced a smile.
“It was dangerous. Had to blow up lab…to escape. And that monster Doctor…later told me…Xing Nuo dragged me out…otherwise I would have…burned.”
Xing Nuo’s face had been covered in soot, his head ringing from the explosion.
Fortunately, the female player had used a high-level prop to protect them, preventing any serious injuries.
A few fragmented images flickered in his mind, and he hummed, then asked:
“Then what?”
Lu Qi lifted his mechanical arms and legs, their metallic surfaces gleaming coldly, lifeless.
“When I woke up…monster Doctor gave me…new arms and legs. See? I’m stronger now. No more bleeding feet…after running.”
He had never liked his human body, its limitations making it difficult to travel and find Xing Nuo.
“Now…I can run from City B to here…in half an hour!”
Faster than most monsters, the strength of his metal body far surpassing his previous human form.
His eyes, flickering with blue light, he thought, Now I can protect Xing Nuo, even without my full power!
Xing Nuo reached out and touched Lu Qi’s metal arm.
It was cold, a slight electrical current making him quickly pull his hand back.
“Your arm shocked me.”
Lu Qi’s eyes flickered, and he tilted his head, explaining:
“Metal body connected to my brain. My head also metal…makes small electric current.”
Xing Nuo hummed. “That’s why…youw head so hard!”
Lu Qi, taking this as a compliment, the blue light in his eyes intensifying, nodded eagerly.
“Yes! What about Xing Nuo? Why are you here?”
Xing Nuo, glancing at the players, who were discussing how to lure out the monster, hesitated, then asked softly:
“Xiao Qi, this place…different from real world? Another world?”
He had been pondering this ever since entering the woods.
Seeing Lu Qi, the familiarity he felt, the lack of any corresponding memories, had intensified his unease.
Lu Qi, never lying to Xing Nuo, nodded.
“Yes. We in different worlds.”
Xing Nuo sighed in relief, patting his chest.
“I knew it. This not my school auditorium.”
Someone was trying to trick him!
Lu Qi glanced at the auditorium hidden in the woods, his eyes flickering with blue light.
“This a B-rank dungeon – The Burning Auditorium. Xing Nuo…pulled in again?”
Xing Nuo tilted his head, puzzled.
“What’s ‘again’? I been here many times?”
Lu Qi didn’t know how to explain, but Xing Nuo didn’t seem to need an explanation.
He leaned closer to Lu Qi and whispered:
“Lu Qi, can you find out…what’s happening in this world? Be careful…don’t tell anyone.”
Lu Qi nodded, patting his chest.
“Don’t worry. I’m good at finding information! And I only on Xing Nuo’s side. Won’t tell anyone.”
Xing Nuo, looking at the dependable Lu Qi, felt a warmth spread through him.
“Xiao Qi, good thing you here.”
Lu Qi’s eyes sparkled, and a faint blush seemed to appear on his pale skin.
“It’s nothing. Helping you…what I’m supposed to do.”
Xing Nuo was about to ask Lu Qi about the memories he was missing when the players called out to them.
“Kids, stay back. We’re going to fight the monster.”
Having been attacked by the monster multiple times in the backstage area, the players knew it was sensitive to fire.
They planned to lure it out with fire and kill it!
Xing Nuo, knowing he was too weak to fight, hid behind a rock with Lu Qi.
The shadow monster was cautious, and despite the players’ repeated attempts, it didn’t appear. Xing Nuo’s legs were starting to cramp from crouching.
Finally, they heard a rustling sound.
Lu Qi’s cold eyes narrowed, focusing on a specific spot, and he pointed.
“It’s there.”
Xing Nuo nodded, his gaze fixed on the spot where the shadow monster was about to appear.
The moment it materialized, the players attacked, their props and abilities trapping it in a chain.
The shadow monster roared in fury and, seeing the approaching players, leaped, its shadowy legs kicking out.
The players, caught off guard, were injured as the monster escaped again.
“Chase it! If we let it escape now, we’ll never find it again!”
The other players, alerted, used their speed-boosting props and gave chase.
Lu Qi, pulling Xing Nuo’s hand, followed closely behind.
Xing Nuo, his chest burning, his bumblebee antennae twitching, his fluffy costume swaying, ran as fast as his little legs could carry him.
Clutching his wooden sword, he ran onto a wide road.
The road surface wasn’t the usual yellow dirt, but charred black, as if burned.
Black ash hung in the air, making him cough.
He covered his nose and slowed down.
He and Lu Qi caught up to the players just as a much larger shadow monster appeared.
It stepped on the smaller shadow monster, crushing it into dust.
The players, running too fast to stop, almost collided with the massive, mountain-like monster.
The black monster, seemingly irritated, unleashed a wave of black smoke, sending the players flying.
They crashed into a broken wall, rolling and tumbling, unable to get up.
Xing Nuo quickly stopped, panting, and pulled Lu Qi back.
The black monster wasn’t completely black. Its body was covered in a fine, almost invisible, layer of fur.
Its two eyes, embedded in the fur, were a cold, steely gray, filled with murderous intent.
It looked down at Xing Nuo, its coldness momentarily replaced by surprise and confusion.
It took a step back, as if trying to get away.
The players, clutching their stomachs, slowly got up.
“We’re doomed! It’s going to attack us!”
“An SSS+ level monster! What’s it doing here?!”
“We’re dead! We’re all going to die!”
Lu Qi’s blue eyes were fixed on the monster. He was about to say something to Xing Nuo when Xing Nuo, waving his little wooden sword, stepped forward.
“You can’t hurt my fwiends!”
Looking at the injured players, bleeding and groaning, then at Lu Qi, whose arms and legs had been damaged in the explosion, Xing Nuo clenched his sword and stood protectively in front of them, his lips pressed into a thin line.
He was the only one who could fight now.
He wouldn’t let these people, who had been kind to him, die.
He raised his little wooden sword, his voice small but firm.
“I vewy stwong! My widdle sword…defeat you!”
Xing Nuo still had an overinflated sense of his own abilities.
Besides being a bit slow, he thought he could defeat any monster.
The scarred player, coughing up blood, yelled:
“Kid, don’t be reckless! Run! You’re no match for it!”
Xing Nuo, standing in front of the massive monster, looked like a tiny bee facing a fully armed human.
The monster could crush him with a single swipe of its hand.
Xing Nuo shook his head, holding his sword in a fighting stance.
“No! If I go…you die!”
He pushed Lu Qi, who was trying to pull him back, behind him, his face serious.
“Lu Qi, hide behind me. Youw legs hurt.”
His legs, replaced with sparking, electrical prosthetics, must be malfunctioning.
Lu Qi, tilting his head, his blue eyes filled with confusion, didn’t understand.
Xing Nuo added, “After we leave…I find doctor…get you new legs…pwetty…no spawks.”
Lu Qi wanted to say he didn’t need new legs, that his current ones were fine.
But Xing Nuo, with a flick of his cape and a yell of “Hiya!”, charged towards the monster.
The players, their eyes widening in horror, scrambled to their feet, trying to stop him.
“No! You can’t defeat that monster!”
“That’s an SSS+ level monster! You’re going to die!”
As they watched, Xing Nuo reached the monster and poked it with his little wooden sword.
The female player screamed, covering her eyes, ready for the inevitable carnage.
But there was no scream from the child. After a few seconds, a heavy thud echoed through the air.
She slowly lowered her hand, her lips trembling, and saw Xing Nuo, still in his bumblebee costume, his wooden sword raised.
And the massive monster lay motionless on the ground.
No way!!!
It…it just collapsed?!
The players, stunned into silence, stared in disbelief.
The monster, its gray eyes seemingly filled with a strange gentleness, groaned in pain.
Xing Nuo, putting his sword away, looked at the monster’s eyes, which seemed familiar, and took a couple of steps back.
“Monster, you go now. I vewy stwong. If we keep fighting…you die.”
For some reason, he wanted to let the monster go.
The monster, as if agreeing, slowly got up and nodded.
“Okay.”
Its voice was low and rumbling, like a drum.
It looked at Xing Nuo, in his little bumblebee costume and red cape, and slowly walked away.
Xing Nuo, seeing the monster leave, sighed in relief.
He turned and saw the players staring at him, their mouths agape.
“How…how did you do that?!”
