It wasn't the scent of perfume.
It was more like the smoky, charred scent of burning wood, layered with a hint of warm sandalwood.
It smelled like someone had lit incense in an old temple on a cold, damp night.
Cen Yao froze for a moment.
Once she regained her footing, she quickly set the person down.
The person she had saved was a young girl.
Her long black hair was fine and soft, and her complexion was somewhat pale from a lack of sunlight, yet her features were delicate.
Her clothes leaned toward a vintage style, and a mask hung from her waist.
She also had cat ears on her head and a tail behind her, but combined with the scent of temple incense on her, there was surprisingly little sense of discord.
After the girl stood firm, she lowered her head and meticulously smoothed her sleeves.
Just as Cen Yao was about to ask if she was alright, her peripheral vision caught a disheveled figure not far away.
Pei Tinglan.
Cen Yao: “...”
If she said she didn't do it on purpose, would he believe her?
Probably.
After all, she really hadn't done it on purpose.
She was just desperate to save someone and happened to forget that wheelchairs also had their limits.
Whatever.
Deal with the trouble first.
The pack of cat-headed employees behind had already closed the distance.
Seeing Cen Yao stop, their voices instantly warped with excitement.
“Caught you!”
“The little cat isn't running anymore!”
“Chop them up!”
“Chop them all up!”
Axes scraped against the ground, stun batons crackled, and hooks gleamed coldly in the dark.
Cen Yao took two steps forward.
Her deep purple Witch's robe billowed wildly in the night wind.
She raised her left hand.
Magic condensed in her palm. It started as a tiny gold-red spark before suddenly exploding outward, transforming into a magnificent, blazing fire phoenix. The phoenix unfurled its wings, its tail feathers flowing with near-liquid crimson-gold fire. Every single feather looked as if it were forged from a combination of flame and gemstones. It circled Cen Yao's left side. As it flapped its wings, the surrounding damp, chilly air warped from the heat.
The night was torn open by a bright rift of fire. Reflected in the phoenix's light, the leaves and branches of the coffee trees looked like scraps of dark red paper about to burn to ash.
At the same time, Cen Yao raised her right hand.
Ice-blue magic spread from her fingertips, and the cold condensed into delicate frost flowers in the air. A crystal-clear frost dragon slowly raised its head from the frosty mist.
Its scales were like frozen moonlight from the deep sea, or countless sharp ice crystals pieced together. With long horns and spreading wings, it sent a wave of bone-chilling cold blasting outward. Frost rapidly covered the ground. A thin layer of ice formed on the edges of the coffee leaves, causing even the wildly pursuing cat-headed employees to pause in their tracks.
Cen Yao stood between the fire phoenix and the frost dragon.
The red and blue lights reflected on her face.
Looking at the cat-headed employees rushing toward her, her eyes were shockingly cold.
“Having fun chasing us?”
In the next second, she waved both hands at the same time.
The fire phoenix let out a silent, long cry. A crimson-gold sea of fire, like a torn sunset, swept aggressively toward the cat-headed employees on the left.
Meanwhile, the frost dragon conjured a blizzard of icy mist. Its wings whipped up an ice-blue storm as it dived toward the right.
Boom—
Flames devoured half of the darkness. Before those cat-headed employees could even let out a full scream, their bodies charred and crumbled in the intense heat, turning into flying ash.
The other half of the cat-headed employees, struck by the frost dragon, still had excited, sinister expressions frozen on their faces as their bodies were instantly encased in ice. The frost climbed from their claws to the tops of their heads, so transparent that the terror frozen inside them was clearly visible.
Then, a cold wind blew.
Crack.
Crack, crack.
The ice statues shattered into countless glittering shards, raining down onto the ground. They couldn't even be pieced back together.
In the night, firelight and ice mist intertwined.
One half was scorching hot, as if to burn away all filth.
The other half was biting cold, as if to freeze all evil.
The sounds of the chase came to an abrupt halt.
The coffee forest finally fell silent.
Covered in dirt, Pei Tinglan leaned against a tree root. Looking up at the scene before him, the gloomy, cold light in his eyes flickered slightly.
The young girl Cen Yao had saved also stood in place, gazing up at the lingering embers of the fire phoenix and the falling frost of the shattered dragon. Her star-like eyes reflected the shifting red and blue light, and she remained dazed for a long moment.
Inside the System Space, the orb proudly puffed out its chest.
See that? That's my Host. So cool, right!
Cen Yao withdrew her hands, the last traces of ice and fire magic slowly dissipating from her fingertips.
After confirming that no new cat-headed employees were coming for now, she turned and walked toward Pei Tinglan.
She planned to help him up.
And while she was at it, compensate him with a new wheelchair.
After all, she was indeed responsible for his wheelchair falling apart. Even though he was also at fault—who told him to have such a toxic mouth? But one thing was separate from another.
Just as Cen Yao reached Pei Tinglan and before she could speak, she heard him sneer.
“Heh.”
“Finally remembered your former idol?”
Cen Yao paused.
Pei Tinglan sat on the ground, his clothes covered in dirt, with a trace of blood still on his lip from where he had bitten it earlier. Despite being in such a pathetic state, his face remained aggressively handsome.
He looked up at her, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Aren't you going to check on the 'beauty' you just heroically saved?”
“When I rolled out of my wheelchair, you were holding her.”
“While I was eating dirt on the ground, you were still spinning around with her in your arms.”
“It really isn't easy to get a busy person like you to remember me even once.”
Cen Yao closed her eyes.
She knew it.
The moment this guy opened his mouth, nothing good ever came out. His brief silence earlier had almost made her think his toxicity had toned down. It seemed she had been too naive.
Cen Yao decided to pretend she hadn't heard him.
She raised her hand and cast a Levitation Spell on him.
Because she gave absolutely no warning, Pei Tinglan's body suddenly tilted backward. Fortunately, his core strength was excellent, and he managed to steady himself. Otherwise, he really would have flipped over on the spot.
Pei Tinglan's gaze was cold enough to kill.
Cen Yao casually looked away.
She used a Vine Spell to weave a simple wheelchair.
Thick vines sprouted from the ground, intertwining to quickly form a seat and armrests, while thinner vines coiled into two wheel-like structures. Although it didn't look as refined as a real wheelchair, it was at least usable and mobile.
Cen Yao used the Levitation Spell to place Pei Tinglan onto it.
Her movements were actually quite careful.
However, once he was settled, she had the self-awareness to take two steps back to maintain a safe distance. She was afraid Pei Tinglan might lash out at her.
Pei Tinglan clearly saw through her thoughts, his lips curling slightly.
“Don't worry, I don't hit fans.”
Cen Yao: “...”
Cen Yao offered a sincere reminder: “Former fan.”
Pei Tinglan sneered, “Then you deserve to be hit.”
Cen Yao: “...”
She didn't want to keep bickering with this toxic former idol, so she turned to look at the young girl she had just saved.
The girl was still standing obediently in place.
She wasn't very tall, a full head shorter than Cen Yao, looking quite small and petite. Her soft black hair hung down her back, her cat ears twitched slightly on her head, and her tail hung quietly behind her.
Her eyes were exceptionally bright, focused intently on Cen Yao like stars.
Cen Yao's heart practically melted at the sight.
This was just too adorable.
If she hadn't known that there were no minors under the age of eighteen in the Horror Game, Cen Yao really would have thought the girl in front of her was underage.
She walked over to the girl, her voice softening unconsciously.
“Little sister, what's your name? How old are you?”
“Why were you walking toward the monsters just now?”
The girl looked at her.
After a long pause, she spoke slowly.
“My name is Zhu Lingxi. I'm nineteen years old.”
She spoke at a leisurely pace, her voice soft, carrying a very earnest calmness.
“I was lost. I didn't know there were monsters there.”
The eighteen-year-old Cen Yao: “...”
Rate on N.U.
