Chapter 75
Roses in the castle don’t eat people?
That’s hilarious!
The sunflowers, hearing Xing Nuo’s words, bent their giant heads forward, as if doubled over with laughter.
“Hee hee hee! You’re so naive!”
“Roses don’t eat children! Hahahaha!”
The sunflower carrying Xing Nuo’s three friends shook its head and leaves, making the children bounce.
Qingqing, not understanding, giggled, enjoying the ride.
“Little boy, who told you roses don’t eat children?”
Xing Nuo, also puzzled, blinked his innocent eyes.
“Daddy’s woses…no eat children!”
Then, sensing the sunflowers’ fear of roses, he quickly added:
“I picked woses in garden before…woses never ate me!”
The sunflowers’ laughter abruptly stopped, their heads swaying as they whispered among themselves, their voices inaudible to the children.
“This child knows the roses?”
“He mentioned the castle, and that his daddy planted the roses. Could he be the castle master’s son?!”
“But what if he’s lying?”
The sunflowers hesitated. After a long moment, one of them spoke.
“The castle master is not to be trifled with. I wouldn’t dare offend anyone related to him.”
The other sunflowers agreed. They were terrified of even the small patch of blood roses in the castle garden.
“But it’s been so long since any humans came to our dungeon. If we miss these children, we don’t know when the next ones will arrive.”
The Sunflower Garden was only a D-level dungeon, its rewards meager, and few players bothered with it anymore.
Without fresh blood and energy, the sunflowers were slowly withering.
Once the last sunflower withered, the dungeon would be permanently closed.
The sunflowers, torn, looked at Xing Nuo, who still hadn’t taken the offered leaf, and one of them suggested:
“Why don’t we just sell them?”
“Yes! That Shen Group dungeon has expanded. I heard they’re building an amusement park. We can sell them to the amusement park!”
“We can even use some props to lure a few players or monsters into our dungeon. Then we’ll have fresh energy!”
The sunflowers’ leaves rustled excitedly.
Xing Nuo, standing below, his palms sweating, felt a growing sense of unease, watching the sunflowers.
As they waited for an answer, his three friends climbed around on the leaves.
Little Fatty, restless, tugged on a sunflower’s leaf, trying to jump to another one.
The sunflower shook, startling him, and he fell back onto the leaf.
“Little boy, guess if we sunflowers eat children or not?”
The sunflower, dropping its pretense, revealed its true, withered and grotesque form.
The bright sunlight vanished, the sky turning dark and gloomy, the surroundings a desolate wasteland.
The once vibrant, green sunflowers were now dry and yellow, their stems thin and spindly, their heads drooping.
The bleak scene terrified the three children.
Yiyi screamed and fainted.
Xing Nuo’s round, cat-like eyes widened, reflecting the withered sunflower head. He clenched his fists and rammed into the sunflower’s stem.
“Let my fwiends go!”
The sunflower swayed, but it was a D-level monster, after all.
The largest sunflower cackled, shaking its head and leaves, its seeds raining down on Xing Nuo.
Xing Nuo, his head pelted by the black seeds, covered his head and crouched down, curling up like a small mushroom.
Qingqing and Little Fatty screamed, but they were also quickly knocked unconscious by the sunflowers.
The brooch on Xing Nuo’s chest activated.
The small brooch, which he didn’t even remember putting on, glowed faintly, melting the sunflower seeds before they could reach him.
The sunflower, its stem injured, recoiled with a yelp.
“He has a prop!”
“An S+ level prop! We’ve never had such a high-level prop in our dungeon!”
“Forget about him! Let’s sell these three children to the amusement park!”
Xing Nuo, hearing their words, tried to grab their stems, but a sudden gust of wind swept through the field.
The dry earth turned into a swirling dust cloud, and Xing Nuo was swept away.
He landed on the ground, coughing, his clothes and hair covered in dust, his eyes stinging from the sand, tears streaming down his face.
He rubbed his eyes, smearing the dirt and tears, making himself even dirtier.
As the wind subsided, his vision cleared.
The sunflowers and his friends were gone. He stood in a barren wasteland, stretching as far as the eye could see.
The sky was a dusty yellow, and Xing Nuo coughed, calling out his friends’ names.
“Qingqing! Little Fatty! Yiyi!”
He called and called, his voice growing hoarse, but there was no response.
Only the cracked earth surrounded him.
The wind died down, and Xing Nuo’s face, red from coughing, was now streaked with dirt, two bright spots of color on his pale cheeks.
He patted his chest, took a few deep breaths, and started walking.
He had to find those sunflowers and rescue his friends!
His small, five-head-tall figure looked like a tiny ant against the vast, yellow landscape.
He walked and walked, from dawn till dusk.
As if time had skipped forward, he looked up and saw the dark night sky.
He held up his small hand, barely able to see his fingers in the darkness.
Even the strongest person would feel a moment of despair in such darkness.
But Xing Nuo, as if having experienced this many times before, although he couldn’t remember, his instincts took over.
He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and reassured himself:
“It’s okay. Zaizai walk…find them soon!”
Before the dust storm had blinded him, he had remembered the sun setting in the west, behind the sunflowers.
He took a couple of steps and tripped over a vine.
In the darkness, the vine wrapped tightly around his ankle, then started creeping up his leg.
Before he could pull it off, the sound of something sharp slicing through the air reached his ears.
A cold, mechanical voice sounded above him:
“Xing Nuo!”
Lu Qi, holding a small knife, cut the vine, his stiff, mechanical face attempting a smile.
“Found you!”
Xing Nuo, exhausted, his head spinning, lost consciousness.
When he woke up, he was in a dimly lit space.
He remembered something and sat up, calling out:
“Qingqing? Little Fatty? Is that you?”
The zipper of a small tent opened, and a boy, about seven or eight years old, walked in.
He wore oversized clothes, his eyes seemingly devoid of emotion, cold and distant, like a little robot from Xing Nuo’s cartoons.
But as his gaze met Xing Nuo’s, a spark seemed to ignite within them.
His stiff lips curved into a smile, and he said:
“Xing Nuo!”
Xing Nuo, not recognizing him, shook his head, puzzled.
“Who you?”
Lu Qi’s expression turned even more confused.
He crouched down in front of Xing Nuo, his eyes wide and unblinking, and after a long moment, mumbled:
“I’m Lu Qi.”
Not understanding why Xing Nuo had forgotten him again, he forced a smile, his small, white teeth showing.
“You don’t wemember me?”
They had met several times!
Xing Nuo, clearly not remembering, climbed out of the tent, his usually sweet voice hoarse from the dust storm.
“Lu Qi, you see my fwiends?”
Lu Qi continued to crouch there, looking up at Xing Nuo like a puppy.
“Your friends? Aren’t I your friend?”
He then grinned, declaring:
“Xing Nuo’s best fwiend, Lu Qi!”
