The Truth

The sharp edge of the greatsword pierced her skin, and a warm bead of blood slid down her neck. Xiaotian's body trembled uncontrollably. The docile look on her face instantly faded, leaving only panic and struggle.

She tightly shut her eyes as her tears smashed into the muddy ground. Her voice choked with intermittent sobs:

"I will tell you... I will tell you! Just stop pointing the sword at me..."

The greatsword in Ye Chuan's hand paused. He did not thrust it any further, only stating coldly:

"Do not lie."

"I am not a Player, and I am not my mother's biological daughter..." Xiaotian sniffled. When she opened her eyes, they were filled with panic and earnest plea.

"I am a child she picked up. After she saved me, she kept taking me around the kingdom to hide from the Corruption. She indeed... indeed met with an accident, but I didn't see her die with my own eyes. I just can't find her anymore."

"Picked up?" Ye Chuan raised an eyebrow, and his grip on the greatsword loosened a bit.

He suddenly seemed to realize something.

"She died in this instance?"

"Yes. One day, the Corruption appeared in the kingdom. It was a strange disease..." Xiaotian's voice gradually steadied. Her gaze swept over the entrance of the secret passage, carrying a trace of fear.

"The Corruption causes people's bodies to melt and their minds to twist, turning them into that sludge."

"Mother claimed to be a Player and that she could cure the Corruption. There were other Players who went to cure the Corruption together with her. But later, the Corruption grew stronger and stronger. To cover our escape, she fought a particularly powerful anomaly and then disappeared."

"I came to this town with other survivors. From that day on, the black rain also began to fall. It rained for a whole year, and the entire kingdom ceased to exist."

"This sword was also left to me by her before she disappeared..."

Xiaotian's tone became urgent.

"Only by leaving the town can I find the places she might have gone to. But I don't dare to go by myself. The area around this church is full of immortal anomalies. It's not just the bandage monsters you saw earlier; there are even more powerful things. They can't be killed, and I couldn't even get close to the passage entrance."

Xiaotian looked down at the spirit sword in her hand. "I groped my way through the black rain for a long time, and during that period, I also saw Players a few times. When I saw you this time, I didn't expect you to actually know my mother... I thought you must have a way to take me to find her."

Ye Chuan was speechless.

So, this little girl in front of him was the child Gua Xiaotian took in within this instance world?

"If she really died in this instance, I still have a chance to bring her back and resurrect her," Ye Chuan muttered. His gaze fell upon Xiaogua once more.

"You aren't lying to me, right? Since you knew all this, why did you hide it from me in the beginning?"

"I, I didn't quite trust you, so I chose to hide a part of it... But later, when I wanted to explain, I felt too embarrassed to speak up," Xiaotian said.

"Mother said that Players are not to be trusted."

"Forget it, I'll accept your excuse." Ye Chuan looked at the Xiaogua in front of him. Since she was the child that person took in here, this young girl was an NPC of this instance world.

At first, when Xiaotian claimed to be a Player, Ye Chuan didn't notice any flaws. But when he heard her stammering and failing to explain things clearly, he sensed something was wrong.

"So," Ye Chuan glanced at the end of the passage, "we can leave the town from here, right? Why not travel over land?"

"We can't. There are too many monsters... The bodies of the dead townspeople are piled up there, all turned to sludge... There is no place to step." Xiaotian shook her head.

If it weren't for the fact that Ye Chuan's strength gave her hope, Xiaotian wouldn't have wanted to take this risk to leave the town and search for her mother.

"Alright then, looking for mom, is it?" Ye Chuan crossed his arms.

"Taking Xiaogua to find Tian Xiaotian... Hmm... We've gathered quite a bit of information about the instance, at least."

But why was the goddess statue destroyed?

Was it done by those sludge monsters?

Ye Chuan originally wanted to ask Xiaogua, but seeing her current state, her focus was entirely on how to leave this place. Moreover, as it stood, finding Tian Xiaotian was indeed the priority.

But after so long, she was probably dead for good.

"Forget it." Ye Chuan rubbed his temples. It was better to just leave the town first.

The secret passage remained pitch black, so dark one could not see their own fingers. Only the flashlight in Ye Chuan's hand emitted a strong beam, barely illuminating the narrow path ahead.

The dark green mold spots on the walls grew denser the deeper they went. Tiny water droplets constantly dripped from the slippery mud walls, smashing into the dark purple slime on the ground. The foul smell of rotting blood mixed with the damp scent of mold, making one choke and instinctively frown.

Xiaotian tightly gripped the corner of Ye Chuan's clothes, keeping her head buried low, not daring to look at the shadows on the surrounding walls.

Along the way just now, things vaguely moved in the shadows. Although they hadn't encountered any immortal anomalies like the bandage monsters again, the occasional small sludge monsters darting out were enough to terrify her.

"It looks like we've reached the end."

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Chuan's voice broke the silence. The beam of the flashlight swept forward, revealing a dilapidated stone door. The door was completely black and covered in filth. There were several deep scratch marks on the door panels, as if clawed by some monster, and the sound of rain could faintly be heard from outside.

Ye Chuan stepped up and delivered a kick.

Boom!

The door was instantly smashed to pieces, and the sound of the rain became clear, rustling incessantly.

Ye Chuan held up the flashlight and shone it outside the door. Before them lay a muddy mountain road, full of potholes and dark brown sludge. A single step would sink one up to the ankle.

The trees on both sides of the mountain road had long withered, their bare branches twisting and reaching towards the pitch-black sky like countless shriveled hands.

The distant mountains were hidden behind the curtain of black rain, leaving only blurry outlines visible. The entire world was shrouded in an oppressive darkness, making it impossible to tell whether it was day or night.

Occasional puddles of squirming sludge and scattered bone fragments could be seen on the ground. Evidently, these were people who had previously tried to leave the town and ended up like this.

"Let's go. Don't just stand there."

Ye Chuan took out an iron door from his backpack space and held it over himself. The black rain was completely blocked by the door panel. He turned to look at Xiaotian, who was still standing at the entrance of the secret passage.

"Keep up, step carefully, and don't fall into the mud pits."

Xiaotian nodded hastily, walking quickly to Ye Chuan's side. She carefully stepped into his footprints as she moved forward, afraid of sinking into the sludge by accident.

The mountain road was exceptionally difficult to traverse. The two trudged along unevenly. Occasionally, a few tiny sludge monsters would pop out of the mud, only to be casually flicked away by Ye Chuan's greatsword, turning into a puddle of black water that seeped back into the mud.

After walking for about ten minutes, Ye Chuan stopped and looked back at Xiaotian, his tone casual:

"Speak up, which way do we go next? We can't just wander around blindly, can we?"

Xiaotian raised her head, gazing up at the pitch-black sky. Then she turned to look at the surrounding mountains, frowning as she carefully identified the terrain. She pointed towards a blurry outline in the distance:

"Brother Cai Kun, that way is the direction of the Royal City! Mother disappeared in the Royal City..."