Chapter 134
Shen Wen stood by the window, the falling snow a white blur behind him.
His bright, golden hair caught Wen Xingxue’s eye, a vibrant splash of color in the otherwise monochrome world, and for a moment, Wen Xingxue couldn’t look away.
He asked a stupid question:
“So, your monster ability…is charm?”
Shen Wen smiled, his beautiful eyes crinkling at the corners.
“What do you think?”
Wen Xingxue looked down, and after a long silence, said:
“Monster or not…we have a child together.”
He was a traditional man and didn’t believe in divorce lightly.
Divorced men, in his mind, were failures.
Shen Wen, taken aback by his words, frowned, his light-colored eyes blinking in confusion.
“So, you want to continue like this? I don’t.”
Wen Xingxue, at a loss for words, unsure how to communicate with the monster Shen Wen, stood up, glanced at the time, and asked:
“What do you…eat for breakfast, as a monster? So I can prepare it.”
Hopefully, not human flesh.
Shen Wen, seeing through his thoughts, his eye twitching, said coldly:
“Get lost.”
They glared at each other, then looked away.
An hour later, dawn broke, the world outside covered in a thick blanket of snow.
Xing Nuo, bundled up in warm clothes, ran out of the hotel, his hand in his dad’s, and gasped, seeing the snow.
“All snow!”
He smiled, his eyes crinkling, rubbed his hands together, and jumped down the steps.
But the steps were covered in a thick layer of snow, and he sank into it, his legs disappearing.
“Help! Daddy! Daddy! Help me!”
He flailed his arms, trying to free himself, calling out to Shen Wen, who was watching him from the top of the steps, a smile playing on his lips.
Shen Wen, enjoying the scene, said playfully:
“Xing Nuo fell in snow. What to do?”
Xing Nuo nodded, playing along.
“Yes, yes, Xing Nuo in snow. Daddy, help!”
Shen Wen, having had his fun, walked over, his feet sinking into the snow, and pulled Xing Nuo out, like pulling a radish from the ground.
Xing Nuo, holding his breath, his face red with effort, pretended he had been working hard to get out.
Shen Wen, unable to contain himself any longer, burst out laughing, loosening his grip, and Xing Nuo plopped back into the snow.
“Daddy no help! Made me fall again!”
Now his face and eyelashes were covered in snow, his cheeks flushed with a mixture of cold and anger, his expression both cute and indignant.
Wen Xingxue, who had been standing by the hotel entrance, watching them, a faint smile on his face,
finally walked over as Xing Nuo started to get genuinely upset. He and Shen Wen each took one of Xing Nuo’s arms and pulled him out of the snow.
Xing Nuo, refusing to walk by himself now, clung to Wen Xingxue like a little koala, his arms and legs wrapped around him, looking at the deep snow with a fearful expression.
“So scary! So much snow!”
The snow, although deep enough to bury Xing Nuo, only reached Wen Xingxue’s calves.
Wen Xingxue, struggling to carry Xing Nuo, walked towards their destroyed apartment building.
The ruins were covered in a thick layer of snow.
The ashes and the fire from yesterday seemed like a distant dream, buried beneath the snow.
Shen Wen, standing beside them, clicked his tongue.
“It really was fake. No one came to help, even after such a big fire.”
The complex, perhaps because of the snow, was deserted, the usual lively atmosphere gone.
Wen Xingxue had been planning to look for clues,
but it seemed pointless now. The snow had covered everything.
He sniffed the air, then looked in a certain direction.
“I smell sulfur.”
Shen Wen, turning to him, puzzled, said:
“That’s normal, isn’t it? The building just collapsed yesterday.”
Wen Xingxue, his face serious, his gaze fixed on the nearby buildings that hadn’t been affected by the fire, said in a low voice:
“What if those players…decide to blow up the other buildings too?”
Xing Nuo, listening to them, not understanding what they were talking about, his eyes wide with confusion, chimed in:
“Doggies no jump over walls…Yiyi has big doggie…can’t even jump over fence.”
He looked at his daddies, who were both smiling now, and, his eyes crinkling, smiled too.
“You take Xing Nuo…stay here. I go check.”
Shen Wen took a couple of steps forward, his light brown trench coat seemingly offering little protection against the cold, but he didn’t seem to feel it, and, waving at Wen Xingxue, said:
“They’re probably looking for me. I’ll go meet them.”
And, more importantly, he wanted to find out the truth about this world.
Wen Xingxue started to follow, then stopped, frowning as he watched Shen Wen walk away.
Xing Nuo, pointing in the direction his dad had gone, tugged on Wen Xingxue’s arm.
“Other Daddy, Daddy gone! Let’s go!”
Wen Xingxue knew what Shen Wen was planning. His presence would only be a hindrance, especially with Xing Nuo to protect.
“It’s okay. Daddy will be back soon. I’ll take Xing Nuo back to the hotel.”
Xing Nuo shook his head, pointing in the direction Shen Wen had gone.
“Find Daddy!”
He wanted his family to be together, no matter what!
Even if it was dangerous!
He squirmed in Wen Xingxue’s arms, trying to get down.
Wen Xingxue, afraid of hurting him, his grip loosening, could barely hold him, and he sighed, following Shen Wen.
On the rooftop.
Shen Wen walked up the stairs, the door to the rooftop, which should have been locked, now open, and stepped outside.
“Waiting for me?” His voice was calm and elegant.
Several players were there, setting up explosives, a remote detonator in hand. Seeing Shen Wen, they smiled coldly.
“Where’s Wen Xingxue? Didn’t come with you?”
Armed with explosives, they seemed much more confident than last night.
“A small C-level monster, making us search for days. No wonder we couldn’t find it. It was hiding with Wen Xingxue.”
They had gone straight for the core monster after entering the dungeon.
But after searching and testing, finding nothing, they had decided to use explosives to force it out.
“So, Wen Xingxue is in the same dungeon as us. He’s just been fooled by this core monster, can’t even tell which side he’s on.”
They had discussed the situation last night and believed they had the advantage.
This monster’s main ability must be some kind of charm or illusion, confusing Wen Xingxue, making him forget his mission.
“Wen Xingxue is slipping. Being controlled by a small C-level monster.”
Their leader, a cigarette dangling from his lips, looked at Shen Wen, his eyes glinting sinisterly.
“Enough talk. Let’s get this over with and go back to Central City! Double points for this dungeon!”
They lunged at Shen Wen, their props and abilities unleashed, but Shen Wen easily dodged them.
He appeared behind them, knocked one of them unconscious with a swift blow, and jumped onto a raised platform on the edge of the rooftop.
“You’re so weak. You can only handle low-level dungeons like this.”
The players, surprised that they couldn’t even defeat him together, their faces red with anger, yelled:
“You bastard!”
Shen Wen, watching them jump and shout like clowns, suddenly bored, jumped back down and asked:
“How did you even find this dungeon?”
Although his memories hadn’t fully returned, he wasn’t stupid. He had pieced together the story from the available clues.
He and Wen Xingxue must have had some kind of unresolved conflict in the real world, which was why they had been pulled into this new dungeon.
He must have hated Wen Xingxue intensely to want to kill him in a dungeon!
But he probably hadn’t expected his hatred to lessen after spending so much time with him.
But Shen Wen was sure this dungeon was meant for Wen Xingxue and that no ordinary players should have been able to find it.
“Someone told you about this dungeon? And you used fire and explosives, trying to destroy my home. Were you trying to kill me, or Wen Xingxue?!”
The players, struggling against Shen Wen’s overwhelming power, their faces bruised and bleeding, retreated to the edge of the rooftop, panting.
“What’s going on?! This is supposed to be a C-level dungeon! Why can’t I defeat him?!”
Their leader, a B-rank player, had never been so easily overpowered in a B-rank dungeon before.
Shen Wen, like a ghost, suddenly appeared behind him and grabbed his throat, his expression cold.
“Tell me, who told you about this dungeon?”
The leader, his face turning red, gasping for air, struggling against Shen Wen’s grip, yelled:
“I’ll tell you! It was Guild Zero One! We were just trying to get some easy points!”
Shen Wen, his smile cold and menacing, said:
“That guild is well-informed. They knew about my dungeon the moment I created it?”
As Shen Wen pondered this, the leader, seizing the opportunity, used a teleportation prop and escaped, rejoining his teammates, who were huddled by the edge of the rooftop.
“Use the high-level props! I don’t believe he can survive an explosion!”
They clutched their teleportation props, their eyes fixed on Shen Wen, their breathing ragged in the cold, snowy air.
Shen Wen was about to speak when two figures, one large, one small, ran onto the rooftop.
Xing Nuo jumped down from Wen Xingxue’s arms and ran to his dad, standing protectively in front of him.
“Bad men! No bully Daddy!”
