RIIDMDR chapter 42

 

Nan Xu’s heart tightened as he finally realized the danger of the formation.

He had been inside for so long, seemingly safe. Yet, this danger had always been there, lurking in the shadows, unnoticed.

It was sapping the intruder’s mental strength. Here, the intruder was like a health bar that only diminished and never increased. Whether it was stamina or satiety, it was being drained bit by bit and wouldn’t be replenished by eating two pancakes or taking a short rest.

Nan Xu sat on the ground, supporting Zhi Xing with one hand. The system said Zhi Xing only had 24 hours left, so he couldn’t stay still.

Now, however, he’d clearly reached a dead end. He had been walking for so long, yet it hadn’t even dawned yet. It was as if the inside and outside of the formation were completely different. If he moved, he’d exhaust himself, but if he didn’t move, he’d never find the hot spring.

“What should I do? What should I do?” Nan Xu muttered to himself.

He recalled what he had seen and heard along the way. Aside from the lack of wind, it had been a normal mountain trail. He hadn’t seen any repeating scenes, so he knew he hadn’t entered a looping maze. But this seemingly endless path was strange.

If there was no chance of finding the hot spring, could it be because it wasn’t actually inside the formation?

As soon as this thought popped into his mind, Nan Xu dismissed it. Tingchuan knew what he was looking for; there was no way he’d get lost.

Nan Xu sat on the ground, picked up a branch, propped his chin with one hand, and unconsciously scribbled on the ground with the other. Slowly, his gaze shifted to his wrist.

The hands on his watch wouldn’t move. Was something in the formation preventing it from moving, or was the time in the formation not moving at all?

Nan Xu hurriedly opened the system, remembering that he had a cheat code that could reveal the answer.

[Side Quest 4, Countdown: 20:19:22]

The countdown seemed frozen. Nan Xu estimated that they had been hiking the mountain trail for over three hours, meaning the countdown must have stopped when he joined the formation.

As expected, time within the formation hadn’t moved.

This also meant that his nearly five hours of climbing the mountain trail might have been in vain.

Knowing this, Nan Xu didn’t rush to find the hot spring. He needed to think carefully about how to get out of his current predicament.

The branch in his hand scratched the ground, leaving mark after mark. Whether from hunger or exhaustion, Nan Xu felt as if his mind wasn’t working properly. He had no idea what was happening; he even felt a little sleepy.

This was too disappointing. Nan Xu struggled to think of a solution while fighting off sleep.

After about ten minutes, his head churned like a chick pecking at rice. After a few moments, his arms slowly drooped and his head fell forward. He jolted awake.

No, no, no! Nan Xu hurriedly stood up. Why was he feeling sleepy without moving?

He opened the system and saw that the side quest countdown had changed.

[20:15:57]

Over three minutes had slipped by since he had fallen asleep.

This gave him a chill. He glanced at Zhixing, who was still leaning against a stone by the roadside. The boy’s eyes were closed; his long, thick eyelashes drooped like two small fans. He looked quite docile. If not for the paleness of his lips, one might have thought he was just asleep. Even in his most lifeless moments, the corners of his lips were slightly raised. Nanxu stared at him, his mind wandering for a second or two.

He shook his head, bent down, and pulled Zhixing back onto his back. He couldn’t be defenseless again. Even if it meant wasting energy, he couldn’t rest. Otherwise, Zhixing’s life would slip away while he slept.

The Bai couple were still waiting for them outside. Nanxu had promised to escort Zhixing out safely.

Nan Xu picked up a wooden stick to use as a crutch and continued up the only mountain path. He knew this path would never lead to the hot springs, so he slowed his pace. His mind raced with thoughts of how to break the formation. After four or five hours, the tinderbox in his hand went out again. His stomach growled with hunger, and his legs felt heavy, as if filled with lead.

Rest? Just for a while, just a few minutes.

His instincts urged him to stop, but he forced those thoughts out of his mind, remembering his purpose for coming here.

Nan Xu gritted his teeth and tested the path ahead with his stick as he walked. In the long, dark night, his eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and he began to make out his surroundings.

His eyes were reddening as he lost track of time. He was so hungry! Once he got out, he was going to eat fried chicken, burgers, cake, barbecue, and hot pot—all the things he had been reluctant to eat before. Tingchuan’s chickens weren’t big yet, but they would be delicious in another half month as young chickens. Even if those two pigs weren’t savage yet, they’d still be good to eat. Lamb skewers would be perfect.

Nan Xu thought about every animal in the house and started to lick Tingchuan’s tail.

He couldn’t die in formation. He hadn’t even seen the nine-tailed fox demon’s tail yet. Once he got to the underworld, he wouldn’t have anything to brag about.

He was smacking his lips when his footing slipped, causing his ankle to twist. His hands instinctively grabbed Zhixing behind him, preventing him from falling. He fell to his knees, his knees and ankles aching with sharp, piercing pain.

His breathing was heavy, and he gasped a few times. Every movement of his leg was painful, so he sat down. Without the light of the fire, he groped around with his hands. He could smell the faint scent of blood and thought his knee was bruised, but the bones underneath were fine.

Nan Xu found another cake and ate it. Although it didn’t feel warm or full after entering his stomach, it was good for relieving his gluttony.

Before he had even finished the pancake, his eyelids began to droop again, despite his iron will. He pinched his ankle mercilessly and groaned in pain.

Seizing the brief moment of lucidity, he quickly asked 006, “Can you set an alarm for me?”

He’d thought it through. After walking for so long on the mountain road and not noticing anything unusual, he decided to get some sleep. Maybe the connecting flight could wait until morning.

006 responded quickly: [Fifty silver coins. Thank you for your business.]

Distressed, Nan Xu grabbed a nearby blade of grass, but he knew that if he didn’t pay, he’d really fall asleep again. He quickly clicked OK and set the alarm to wake him in an hour.

The second he set it, Nan Xu fell asleep.

…

“These dark clouds are almost covering the entire sky. Who pissed off Little Qinglong today?”

“They say they’re fighting the Golden Crow from the north. I heard the Golden Crow is a minor tyrant, and they’re evenly matched. Won’t this fight last another ten days and ten nights?”

“Hurry up, hurry up! If you get caught up, you’ll be dead.”

Nan Xu stood on a flat piece of land, surrounded by the sounds of conversation. A group of people in plain clothes whispered to each other, occasionally looking up and pointing at the sky. Nan Xu looked up in their direction and was startled by the dark clouds overhead. The endless black clouds blocked out all light. No wonder he felt it was as dark as dawn.

The clouds continued to thicken, and the area suddenly felt much smaller. Looking around, he saw rabbits, deer, and other animals running wildly. A few people clung to a boulder nearby, watching the commotion.

A loud crash came from above the clouds, nearly piercing Nan Xu’s eardrums. The noise made Nan Xu’s head ache and made him feel increasingly upset. He inexplicably wanted to sit down. At 5’8″, he hoped the sky wouldn’t fall on him first.

As soon as he sat down, he felt uneasy. What if it rained with such thick clouds? If it rained, he’d get soaked. If there was thunder, he’d be struck directly.

With this thought, Nan Xu climbed to his feet. Before he could steady himself, a sudden gust of wind blew toward him, causing him to stumble. Then, he heard a shrill howl, the sound fading with the wind. He struggled to steady himself and slowly stood up.

Looking around, he saw nothing. The gossipers had vanished, and the rabbits and roe deer that had been running around were gone. Even the uniquely shaped boulder had disappeared.

“What a fast walk!” Nan Xu exclaimed. “Even when running, they didn’t forget to take the landscape stone with them.”

Another deafening roar followed, and a thunderbolt struck the small lake a hundred meters away, draining it.

This startling scene shook Nan Xu’s heart, and he finally realized how severe the situation was—it could kill someone!

Run!

He started to run, but after a few steps, a strong wind blew up and blew the grass away. He lost his footing, sat down on the ground, and rolled over, grimacing.

The two lumps of flesh on his buttocks were about to be crushed. Nan Xu felt that he had started off badly. Why did he keep falling today?

Huh? Did he fall again? Where?

He couldn’t recall, but he didn’t have time to think about it because another bolt of lightning struck right where he’d just stood. It created a pit 30 to 40 meters deep. Dust showered Nan Xu’s face, causing him to sneeze several times.

This place is so unsafe! To those in the know, it looks like two brawling kids. To outsiders, it looks like some kind of launch pad.

Accompanied by a raging wind, every step Nan Xu took was arduous. Fortunately, after half an hour, he finally escaped that dangerous place. He smiled with joy, but the next second, as if electrified, he fell into a deep pit and landed flat on his face.

Nan Xu touched his blown-out hair and realized he had been struck. Even if he had survived, he couldn’t bear it any longer. He rolled over and shouted at the sky, “Can’t you two in the sky be more accurate in your fight? Do you know what’s going on? I’m going to die!”

His voice was so loud and resounding that it startled him, especially since he was sitting in a deep pit where the earthen walls echoed.

At that moment, a ray of sunlight shone down, revealing a crack in the dark clouds overhead like a drawn curtain. A grotesque head peeked out from behind it. After searching for a moment, he finally caught sight of Nan Xu in the deep pit, his hair blown to pieces.

As they stared at each other, Nan Xu was stunned. That head was enormous.

What kind of creature is he? He looked like he had scales, and he had horns on his head.

The person in the cloud was also stunned. “He was struck by the lightning I caused, and he’s fine?!”

At that moment, another head pried through the cracks in the clouds and searched everywhere. After locking onto Nan Xu, it exclaimed, “How come there’s still one that wasn’t blown away?!”

Nan Xu: …

What kind of creature is this with a bird-like head and a tuft of red hair on top?