“The rules of this instance?” Leona murmured.
As a veteran novel fan, she knew clearly that in this kind of world, every instance should have hints like rules to help players clear it.
Yet why hadn't Apas read out the instance rules along with the Newcomer's Rules, choosing instead to hide them in a diary in such an unnecessary, roundabout way?
Besides, the way she had been addressed was also strange.
Invader? She had entered this world passively, yet was called an invader. How absurd.
However, these trivial matters weren't very important to her right now; rather, it was the contents of the rules that gave her a headache.
According to the second rule, the Big Bad Wolf had two forms during the day and night, but following the first rule's statement, there was only night here—which was tantamount to the Big Bad Wolf having only its wild wolf form.
In that case, the phrasing of the rules was clearly redundant; there had to be important information hidden within it.
“Whatever, I'll take it one step at a time.” Leona closed the diary, put it back in the woven basket, and took out another piece of butter cake to restore her stamina to peak condition.
In an unfamiliar forest, she had to face whatever came in her best state.
God only knew if some beast or another would suddenly jump out in a place like this.
According to the fairy tale's plot, the mother warned Little Red Riding Hood to stick obediently to the main road and not talk to strangers along the way, but Little Red Riding Hood was tricked by the Big Bad Wolf into revealing Grandma's address and became distracted by flowers in the woods, allowing the Big Bad Wolf to reach Grandma's house ahead of her and eat Grandma.
If that were truly the case, she could completely wait for the Big Bad Wolf to eat Grandma to complete the Main God's quest and clear the instance.
However, the quest stated to kill Grandma. Did an indirect kill count as a kill? Or did she have to do it with her own hands?
Secondly, was this story truly the one she was familiar with?
The story certainly never mentioned that Little Red Riding Hood was blind in one eye, and there were many other discrepancies as well.
Leona walked upstream along the lakeside, her small leather shoes clicking against the pebbles with tapping sounds as she deliberately lightened her footsteps.
Along the way, things felt increasingly off.
There was no birdsong, no chirping of cicadas; she didn't even see a single ant.
If there was only night here, the absence of living creatures was normal, because only having night meant having no sun.
Yet the surrounding towering trees grew more lush than any trees Leona had ever seen.
[This is a land forsaken by the Main God.]
For some reason, Leona suddenly recalled this line from the diary.
She continued walking forward while pondering.
There was a faint glimmer around the lakeshore, while everywhere else was pitch-black.
After walking for who knew how long, Leona finally caught sight of an open, brightly lit path paved neatly with white pebbles, looking from afar like a seamless, perfectly finished walkway.
Beams of light from an unknown source shone down on it like streetlamps, casting a dazzling white glow.
Leona paid it no mind; this place couldn't be viewed through common sense anyway.
Recalling the story of “Little Red Riding Hood,” it only ever mentioned one road, which posed a dilemma for Leona.
Should she continue along the lake to look for the main road, or follow this path all the way to Grandma's house?
Just as she was pondering, a strong, powerful hand suddenly rested on her shoulder.
Her nerves tightened instantly. Instinctively pulling her body away, she drew the fruit knife from her waist, spun around, and aimed it at this unannounced, uninvited guest.
Yet the moment she faced the newcomer, Leona's vigilance dropped by a fraction.
It was a middle-aged man with a robust build and a neatly trimmed beard. Most importantly, a hunting rifle was slung across his back, and he was currently raising both hands toward Leona.
The hunter?
The word popped into Leona's head, and she realized completely that this fairy tale was not the one she knew.
According to the plot, the first major character she encountered should have been the Big Bad Wolf.
It was nighttime right now, and the Big Bad Wolf couldn't maintain human form, so this middle-aged man definitely couldn't be the Big Bad Wolf in disguise.
It was rather comical.
The middle-aged man stood a full 1.8 meters tall; even with Leona holding a fruit knife, any onlooker would see this as a contest with a foregone conclusion.
“Child, don't be nervous. I mean no harm. My name is Lu En, and I'm a liehu around here,” Lu En said in a soothing tone, showing no anger at Leona pointing a knife at him.
In terms of looks, Lu En had nothing to do with handsome, but he gave off a very kind, genial impression.
Hearing the word liehu, Leona slowly slid the knife back into her waist and clasped her hands together in feigned panic.
“I-I'm so sorry, Mr. Hunter. I thought you were a bad person, which is why I pointed my knife at you,” Leona said with a trembling voice, like a child who had done something wrong.
She began recalling the agony she had just experienced, forcing a few tears out of her only eye.
“I'm just so scared all by myself here... I really... really don't know what to do. Could you please help me, Mr. Hunter?”
“Look at you, what a poor child. Walking alone so late in this man-eating forest—something must have happened.”
Lu En said distressed, reaching out to wipe the tears from Leona's face.
Leona suddenly froze for an instant; the hunter's hand was very smooth, completely devoid of any roughness.
Could an ordinary person who hunted for a living have no calluses on his hands?
Besides, the man had referred to himself as a liehu. There was a major difference between a liehu and a hunter.
Liehu was a term of Chinese origin, referring to an occupation in ancient agrarian society. Little Red Riding Hood, however, should have had a Western setting—how could a character in it use such a word?
Still, this story was already different from the one in her memories; God only knew how this so-called Main God had designed this world.
What puzzled Leona most were a few words Lu En had said—“so late.”
It was far too bizarre. The diary explicitly stated that there was only night here, yet Lu En could utter words denoting concepts of time. Even if there were a way to tell time here, he shouldn't have said those words in this context.
After all, in an eternal night, danger had nothing to do with time.
In that case, there were only two possibilities.
First, the contents of the diary were fake; Apas not reading out the instance rules during the Newcomer's Rules announcement was a suspicious point in itself.
However, Leona leaned more toward the second possibility, because an instance with zero hints would be far too difficult, not to mention she was merely a newcomer.
This second possibility was that the hunter before her was also an invader, and he might possess different information than she did—for instance, he might not know the rule that there was only night here.
“To be honest with you, Mr. Hunter, my father kicked me out of the house. Left with no choice, I had to head for Grandma's place alone, hoping to find a place to stay.”
Leona kept her voice as low as possible. Instead of revealing her identity as an invader, she began constructing a fragile, helpless persona.
On one hand, she planned to seek the hunter's help. Whether he was an invader or a local, he possessed a hunting rifle yet hadn't attacked her, so he presumably harbored no ill will toward her—at least for now.
On the other hand, it would lower the hunter's guard. If push came to shove, she might choose the third method to clear the instance.
“Child, I'm sorry to hear that. Forgive my bluntness, but your father is truly a bastard. Leaving him might not be an entirely bad thing for you,” Lu En said after a long silence.
“He's practically a demon,” Leona said with a sob in her voice, clutching her bandaged eye with one hand while her shoulders trembled faintly. “My eye... he was the one who blinded it.”
Hearing this, the hunter shuddered, a glimmer of pity showing in his eyes—yet something else seemed hidden beneath it.
Seeing that the atmosphere was primed, Leona slowly lowered her hand and looked at Lu En with pleading eyes.
“But right now, I've run into trouble. On my own, I don't think I can make it to Grandma's house. Mr. Hunter, could you help take me to Grandma's house? That's all I'm asking for.”
“Afterward, I will repay you to the best of my ability. Would that be all right?” Leona gazed at Lu En with eager anticipation, giving herself goosebumps with her own words.
She swore that this would be her first and last time playing the victim—sworn in the name of Leona.
Lu En did not disappoint Leona either. Patting his chest, he declared with righteous conviction:
“Of course. If I could remain indifferent in the face of such a pitiful little girl, God would surely punish me.”
God?
Leona couldn't shake the feeling that she had missed something. Even though the diary told her she could completely trust the hunter, a touch of vigilance still arose within her involuntarily.
Rate on N.U.
