“Well, whatever you fear most is sure to come,” Lin Mo chuckled self-deprecatingly.
Having listened to Apas's description of the Newcomer's Rules, she could be one hundred and ten percent certain that this was an infinite flow world.
She just didn't know which wire had crossed in this so-called Main God's head to make him choose fairy tales as instances.
Might as well make the best of it now that I'm here.
Things had reached this point; going back was impossible in the short term.
She had to make sure she could survive first. Looking at her empty left eye reflected in the lake, Lin Mo frowned.
Were the fairy tales here truly the fairy tales she knew?
Just as she had that thought, a colorful prize wheel materialized out of thin air before her eyes.
The wheel had twelve slots in total, corresponding to twelve colors, with a large question mark marked on each slot.
“If I'm not mistaken, newcomers draw their abilities from this,” Lin Mo murmured. She stepped forward and pressed the button right in the center.
The wheel spun at high speed. It didn't slowly decelerate before coming to a halt; rather, after ten seconds, it stopped abruptly, its pointer indicating a white slot.
“Congratulations to the invader for obtaining the ability—Save (Load).”
A mechanical voice suddenly rang out, and a blue panel appeared before Lin Mo. On the left was a model of herself, bearing an eerie smile, and on the right was a string of white characters.
Name: Leona
Age: ?
Height: 154.9 cm
Weight: 32.9 kg
Strength: 4 (Normal adult male attribute is 10)
Agility: 5 (Normal adult male attribute is 10)
Spirit: 22 (Normal adult male attribute is 10)
Status: Weakened
Ability: Save (Load)
Effect: You can save at any time and any place in the story, and you may choose to load upon death—provided you have enough loads remaining, of course. With each instance entered, your number of saves and loads will both increase by 2. (Current saves: 2, current loads: 2)
Evaluation: Poor child, you possess beauty rarely matched by ordinary people, yet carry a frail, sickly body. But fret not—in a pinch, you can always sell your charms; someone will surely dote on you.
“A pretty good ability.” Lin Mo automatically skimmed past the evaluation, feeling fortunate as she looked at her ability.
She decisively triggered a save. If she saved it for later and ended up stuck in a death loop, the loss would outweigh the gain.
She liked this ability; at least she had room for trial and error.
However, with such a frail body, no matter how many uses she had, it would all be for naught if she didn't use the ability well.
“Now I have an ability, but what about the items?”
Just as her voice fell, the wheel actually opened a huge mouth, spat out a woven bamboo basket, and immediately vanished.
As expected of a fairy tale—any bizarre thing could happen.
Lin Mo mused inwardly, stepping forward to pick up the basket.
It was a bit different from the plot in her memory. Inside, some butter cakes and a bottle of wine were packed just like in the story.
In addition, there was a roll of bandages and a fruit knife.
White text likewise appeared above them, gradually fading until it vanished as she read silently to herself.
Butter Cake: You're very lucky. Food is a rare sight here. Not only can it satisfy your taste buds, but it can also help you recover a portion of your stamina.
Wine: Wine of tonight brings tonight's drunken delight. Chug this bottle of wine and your Strength will permanently increase by 2. It must be downed in one gulp, or else it is void.
Miraculous Bandage: Perhaps it can stop the pain brought on by losing an eye.
Ordinary Fruit Knife: Don't bother looking; it's just an ordinary fruit knife.
Lin Mo took the fruit knife and tucked it into her waist, concealing it with her cloak.
Even though it was an ordinary fruit knife, it was still a weapon after all. If she didn't want to live anymore, it might come in handy.
Next, she reached for the bandage in the basket and did a simple dressing on her left eye.
The effect was surprisingly good; the pain vanished instantly.
She looked at the frail body reflected on the lake's surface, recalling what Apas had called her and the name on her personal panel.
“Leona... Is that Little Red Riding Hood's name? Or did I transmigrate into Leona's body first before entering the Fairy Tale World?” Lin Mo wondered.
In any case, this name completely matched her current appearance.
“Whatever. Before getting out of this damned place, I'll let Lin Mo rest a bit. From now on, my name is Leona.”
Lin Mo—no, Leona—reached out and wrapped another layer of bandage around her left eye, covering the dried blood around her eye socket.
“Ding! You have obtained Leona's approval; Leona has bestowed a blessing upon you. You will possess one more ability than other invaders. This ability will constantly change as instances change.”
“The current instance is ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’ Your extra ability this time is: Heavenly Eye.”
A sweet, delicate female voice suddenly chimed, and an extra ability appeared on Leona's panel.
Heavenly Eye: Upon death, you will transform into a Heavenly Eye, granting you one minute to observe this world.
Leona had originally been secretly pleased with her wise decision to change her name, but the moment she learned the effect of the extra ability, she completely lost her composure.
Usually it was the murderer who revisited their crime scene, but this ability gave the victim that chance instead.
“It must just be bad luck in this instance. The random abilities in other instances can't possibly be this useless,” Leona comforted herself inwardly, while simultaneously popping the cork of the wine bottle with her teeth.
There was no need to save something that gave permanent stats.
She raised the bottle toward the bright moon hanging high in the sky, her expression wistful.
“This bottle is to my departed brother.”
With that, she clamped her lips around the mouth of the bottle, tilted her head back, and forced the wine down.
A sharp pain stabbed at her throat from time to time, but Leona endured it. Compared to death, what was this bit of pain?
After finishing the wine, she grabbed a piece of butter cake and stuffed it into her mouth to recover her stamina.
Her status changed from Weakened to Poor, and her Strength increased by two points.
“My body is heating up... Is this the change brought on by getting stronger?”
Leona clenched her fist, a faint blush hanging on her face.
She guessed wrong. This was not a change brought on by getting stronger.
Rather, she was tipsy.
“Kill Grandma? The Main God's twisted sense of humor? Is his goal to destroy fairy tales or something?”
After making all her preparations, Leona shifted her attention to clearing the instance.
In her memory, Grandma was a positive character. If Grandma died, it would undoubtedly be a Bad Ending.
In addition, the second clearing method seemed to partially contradict the third clearing method.
The lowest clearing method was to kill everyone related to the story's plot except oneself.
If one completed the third clearing method, wouldn't the condition of killing Grandma also be met? Which method would the final tally be based on then?
Or was Grandma unrelated to the plot?
At that thought, she soon shook her head.
She remembered it clear as day. Counting the mother who was only mentioned in passing, there were only five characters in ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ in total: the mother, Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, the hunter, and Grandma.
She could barely believe that the mother was unrelated to the plot, but Grandma was definitely an indispensable character.
Right then, she suddenly noticed a diary underneath where the wine had originally been placed.
Because there had been no text prompt, she had overlooked it at first.
Opening it to look, a quill pen was tucked inside, and several lines of text appeared on the first page, the ink not yet dry.
Please keep the following firmly in mind:
One: This is a land forsaken by the Main God; therefore, there is only night and no day here.
Two: The Big Bad Wolf has two forms in total. During the day, it reverts to human form, and only transforms into a wild wolf at night.
Three: You can completely trust the hunter within this story.
Four: The darkness will continually erode an invader's willpower. Do not take off your cloak; it can protect you from this erosion.
Five: Follow the river. The white tiles are a path, and the red tiles are a main road. Both roads lead to Grandma's house.
Six: The story's plot may differ, but the characters of this story definitely exist.
Lastly, welcome home, Leona.
Rate on N.U.
