Cinderella's Troubles

In reality, Lilith had been unable to sit still since the day after Vivian left.

Although it was a dungeon run, there was usually a designated liaison responsible for communication.

Once a day, they would travel between the dungeon and the outside to report to her, the 'manager.'

But this time, the dungeon run didn't follow the normal procedure.

So, on the second day, she sent people back to the Desolate Bone Basin to check the situation.

However, searching such a vast area was undoubtedly a troublesome task, and as outsiders, the vampires couldn't easily mobilize their entire clan to search.

Moreover, since it was only the second day and things hadn't reached a critical point yet, Lilith hadn't taken any extreme measures.

But a week later, when rumors about the Witch of the High Tower started spreading recklessly on the world channel, she knew something was wrong.

After all, Vivian had told her the night before she left that she would be acting together with the leader of the Witch race.

Now that something had happened to the Witch of the High Tower, Vivian certainly wouldn't be faring any better.

From that point on, Lilith sent people to secretly infiltrate the Desolate Bone Basin to conduct a search.

The problem was that Vivian had only mentioned the region's name and not the specific dungeon's name when she left; otherwise, Lilith would have learned about the disappearance of the dungeon portal much sooner.

Unfortunately, Vivian hadn't specified it, so she only found out now, a month later.

To be honest, the entire Bathory family had been supported by Lilith during this period.

After Vivian's sudden disappearance—or rather, her imprisonment—the families that had originally been united began to show signs of instability.

After all, Vivian was the only 'True Ancestor' among the vampires and the only one with the legal authority to summon them.

Lilith, however, was only a Marquis and couldn't suppress the King-level clan leaders of other families at all.

In her view, if Vivian didn't appear soon, the disintegration of the newly gathered vampire race was only a matter of time.

If Lilith of the vampire race was so anxious, what about the Witch race?

On the Witch race's side... nothing was happening.

That's right.

Nothing was happening.

Although news that Lan Qingyou and the others were trapped in the dungeon had spread initially,

And managers like Diana had experienced a brief moment of chaos,

Once Ursula brought out the card and pointed out that Lan Qingyou's avatar was still active, everyone settled down and went back to their business.

As long as the avatar hadn't disappeared, it meant she wasn't dead.

So, no one was panicked at all.

Even though they didn't know Lan Qingyou was immortal, they still weren't worried.

It was the Clan Leader's business, after all, and she would always find a way. Their job was to properly guard the Abandoned Land and ensure that external rumors didn't affect their work, life, and studies.

...

Somewhere else, beneath a large tree on a hill, a witch dressed in a grey robe was being surrounded by a group of people.

Holding a book, she looked troubled and even slightly displeased.

They had come here for only one purpose: to invite two witches to run a dungeon.

Although the matter of Lan Qingyou was being heatedly discussed on the world channel, for most people, their daily lives were everything.

Most of the noise online came from people venting their emotions; if something actually required them to step up, they would vanish in an instant.

This was especially true after the Witch race secured the top three spots in the competition and received numerous benefits, making the witches major carries in the eyes of most Blue Star transmigrators.

However, most witches lived in the Abandoned Land, and only a few living outside could be found.

These few instantly became well-known 'major carries' for miles around.

Thus, this scene unfolded.

“Please, Cinderella, we really need you for this new dungeon.”

“Exactly, the team is all ready, we're just missing you.”

“You went to dungeons with us before, why won't you go now? Honestly...”

“We all came from so far away just because of you.”

A group of people dressed in cloth clothes or tattered leather armor, brandishing pitchforks, surrounded Cinderella and rambled on.

But no matter how they phrased it, the core message was just one thing—guilt-tripping.

After all, they had indeed come from a distant adventurer town to find Cinderella.

And now Cinderella was saying she wouldn't go?

How could that be allowed?

They had to talk her into it, otherwise, wouldn't their trip be in vain?

But why was Cinderella, who had been willing to run dungeons before, unwilling this time?

The answer was simple: because their Clan Leader, Lan Qingyou, was trapped in a dungeon.

It wasn't that she had some sort of persecution complex.

It was just that she personally felt the Clan Leader being trapped was very suspicious.

Although she couldn't put her finger on exactly what was suspicious, Cinderella trusted her sixth sense and felt it was better to act cautiously during this time.

So no matter what these people said, she just shook her head and expressed her refusal to go.

“Ugh... well... let's just wait until Snow White arrives before we talk about it,”

Cinderella, who wasn't very good at rejecting people, said to them with a bitter smile.

She smiled bitterly because she had said those words countless times already, but the result was that these guys weren't buying it, which was very annoying.

But Snow White was something else too. They had clearly agreed to have a tea party today, which was why Cinderella had come out of her shelter. Yet she had been here for ages, nearly pestered to death by these people, and Snow White still hadn't shown up.

This made Cinderella feel like she was being played. Pouting, she decided to give Snow White a piece of her mind when they finally met.

Of course,

That would be after she dealt with these annoying people. For now, she had to figure out how to handle the situation in front of her.

“Hey! What are you all doing!”

Just then, Snow White's voice came from outside. Cinderella's eyes lit up as if she had seen a savior, and she squeezed through a gap in the crowd.

“You finally showed up! They're saying they want to run a dungeon and you—”

Cinderella was originally very happy to have squeezed out of the crowd, but she froze when she saw the specks of red on Snow White's clothes.

“Snow White, you're...”

“It's nothing, just the blood of some trash,”

Snow White said emotionlessly, casually tossing her hair.

“Is... is that so?”

Cinderella's complexion faltered. She gave a slightly awkward, forced smile and continued walking away from the annoying people behind her.

The distance between the two grew shorter and shorter...

Until only half a meter remained, and then, they both simultaneously...

—“Crystal Slipper!”

—“Impact!”

They launched an attack at each other.