“It's getting late, so let's set off quickly.” Lu En seemed in a great hurry, preparing to lead Leona away along the small path.
Leona, however, furrowed her brows and stopped him.
“Mr. Lu En, do you know the way to my Grandma's house?”
Lu En halted, hesitated for a moment, then slowly turned around and scratched his head with a laugh.
“There are only two paths in this place, and they both lead to the same destination. Following this path, we'll find it eventually.”
“Then why aren't we taking the main road?” Leona asked suspiciously.
“Wild wolves roam around the main road. Taking this path is safer,” Lu En explained, the fluster on his face gradually fading.
Leona nodded and forced a smile.
“Then I'll listen to you. Let's take the small path.”
To be honest, she was somewhat suspicious of Lu En now, but the rules stated that she could completely trust the hunter, and if he wanted to kill her, he could do so at any time—there was no need to act along with her.
She planned to follow Lu En for now. If things spiraled out of control, it would prove that the contents of the diary were wrong.
At worst, she would start over.
Rather than doing nothing, it was better to give it a try.
Along the way, Lu En remained completely silent, and Leona didn't strike up a conversation either.
According to what Apas had said, there were hidden rules and information that needed to be uncovered on one's own, so it was better to speak as little as possible.
If she accidentally violated some taboo, that would be disastrous.
The two walked for who knows how long. Nothing happened throughout the entire journey, which was terrifyingly tranquil.
Times like this were always the most nerve-wracking; Leona could have accepted even the slightest anomaly.
Yet right now, the absence of anomalies was the greatest anomaly of all.
Finally, the first irregularity appeared.
Partway through, Lu En's breathing suddenly grew slightly hurried.
Leona glanced sideways and saw him pull a wood-carved pipe from his chest, fish out a box of matches, light the bowl, bite down on the stem, and take a deep drag.
A violent coughing fit immediately followed, the corners of his eyes reddening slightly from the smoke, yet he still stubbornly clenched the pipe and took another drag.
Leona could now conclude with one hundred percent certainty that the hunter before her was an invader just like her.
She had seen this kind of pipe before; people who used pipes year-round typically tamped down the tobacco with their thumb first, but Lu En hadn't done that. His actions were more like those of an amateur.
Furthermore, after pulling out the match just now, he had subconsciously pinched it between his index and middle fingers before catching himself and adjusting his grip to strike it. This showed that he knew how to smoke, just not this kind of smoke.
Persistently using a pipe even without knowing how—was it merely because of a heavy addiction?
Leona recalled Rule Four: The darkness will continuously erode the invader's willpower. Do not take off your cloak; it can protect you from the erosion.
That pipe had to be an artifact as well—an artifact capable of resisting the erosion of darkness.
She looked at Lu En and gave a faint smile.
“Uncle Lu En, could you lend me your pipe to take a look? My grandfather once had one that was very similar to it. But now... I can never see him again.”
As she spoke, Leona lowered her head, looking utterly heartbroken.
Lu En did not indulge Leona as he had earlier; he hurriedly shoved the pipe back inside and said with a flustered look:
“N-Nothing worth seeing. We'd better hurry along so you can meet your Grandma sooner.”
With that, he quickened his pace.
Leona also sped up, myriad thoughts racing through her mind. Just a moment ago, she had caught a trace of fear on Lu En's face.
But what was he afraid of? Afraid that she would take the pipe away?
Not very likely.
Or was he afraid that she was an invader as well?
Yet the regulations clearly stated that invaders could not lend artifacts to one another.
Unless... he was afraid of her death.
Leona was in the middle of pondering this when she inadvertently bumped into Lu En.
Clutching her head, she was about to apologize to Lu En, only to find him standing frozen in place, staring intently not far ahead.
Following Lu En's gaze, at the intersection with the other road, an old windowless wooden cabin stood conspicuously.
“Is this your Grandma's house?” Lu En pointed at the cabin and asked.
Leona's mouth twitched involuntarily. How was she supposed to know? It was only her first day playing Little Red Riding Hood.
If this really was Grandma's house, wasn't the plot progressing a bit too fast?
Yet if it wasn't Grandma's house, how could one explain that this was the only intersection between the two paths?
“It should... be,” Leona replied. Meeting Lu En's suspicious gaze, she immediately changed her tune, declaring with certainty:
“Yes, this is my Grandma's house.”
She walked slowly to the door, intending to treat a dead horse like a live one.
At worst, she just knocked on the wrong door; surely that wouldn't kill her.
She tapped lightly on the door three times, and a hoarse female voice immediately came from inside.
“Who's outside the door?”
“It's me, Little Red Riding Hood, your granddaughter. I've brought you cake and wine,” Leona said, mimicking the lines from the fairy tale while feigning composure.
The moment the words left her mouth, the door actually swung open on its own, and the hoarse female voice came again.
“Come in quickly, Little Red Riding Hood. Grandma has been waiting for you for so long.”
This line was tantamount to confirming that this was indeed Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother's house. However, Leona didn't step inside; she remained where she stood and turned her gaze toward Lu En.
“Uncle Lu En, thank you so much for walking me home. Please allow me to invite you inside for a cup of tea and some fresh cake to show my gratitude, okay?”
According to the fairy tale's plot, the one waiting inside for her might not be Grandma, but could very well be the Big Bad Wolf.
Right now, having a free pawn at her disposal and not using him, but instead rushing in to scout the way herself, would be utterly absurd.
Lu En seemed to ponder something before finally nodding, turning toward Leona with an amiable smile.
“Then pardon the intrusion.”
Leona made a welcoming gesture. Lu En nodded with a smile, stooped as he crossed the threshold, his hand instinctively reaching toward the hunting rifle on his back.
Leona pried a stone from the path and wedged it by the door to prevent it from shutting on its own.
Yet the moment she stepped inside, Lu En grabbed her hand and yanked her violently forward, sending her crashing down right beside a large bed.
Just as she scrambled to her feet to dash toward the doorway, she saw that the door had somehow closed again.
Yet this was clearly not Lu En's doing; at this moment, he too was furiously battering the door, trying to flee.
“My dear, sweet granddaughter, come quickly into Grandma's belly.”
Just then, the quilt on the bed was abruptly thrown aside, and a two-meter-tall gray wolf lunged toward Leona with jaws agape.
Fortunately, Leona had a petite build, instantly rolling under the bed and causing the gray wolf to miss its mark.
Upon landing, the Big Bad Wolf didn't spot Leona and turned to direct its focus onto Lu En.
It pounced on Lu En and cleanly tore his arm off in one bite.
Lying prone beneath the bed, Leona's mind went completely blank at the sight.
“What the hell? The hunter isn't on my side, nor is he on the wolf's side.”
She thought Lu En was about to be devoured, yet from somewhere he summoned a surge of strength that shoved the Big Bad Wolf directly over.
At this point, Lu En could have easily ended the Big Bad Wolf's life with a single gunshot, yet he instead charged in Leona's direction.
With one hand, he lifted the entire bed and tossed it aside, then grabbed Leona with that same hand and threw her back toward the Big Bad Wolf.
Gazing at the gaping, bloody maw before her, Leona finally realized what she had missed.
The Main God's quest.
Both of them were invaders, so both likely had their own Main God quests. Looking at it now, Lu En's quest was very probably to have the Big Bad Wolf devour her.
That was why he didn't dare hand the pipe over to her—he was afraid she was also an invader, and violating a taboo would cause her to die prematurely.
Yet why didn't he dare take her along the main road? Did Lu En's intention to kill her mean the rules in the diary were false?
On another level, Lu En and the Big Bad Wolf could be said to be in cahoots—both wanted her dead. Was such an immense disparity in strength fair to a newcomer?
Extremely unfair—unless having a helper of her own was what made it fair.
At this critical juncture of life and death, Leona's mind functioned with exceptional clarity.
No! She had overlooked the most crucial point.
What the rule stated was: You can completely trust the hunter of this story.
What if he wasn't the hunter of this story? The regulations stated that invaders would retain their first story role until the next instance.
After all, the story of Snow White also had a hunter!
Having figured this out, Leona took the initiative and shoved her own head into the Big Bad Wolf's mouth.
In her heart, she had already determined the true hunter's location; now the only character whose whereabouts were unknown was Grandma.
She wanted to see if Grandma was truly inside the Big Bad Wolf's belly or not.
Rate on N.U.
