Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 28: Role Playing

“I only know one Rebecca.”

Mr. Rizzi looked at Nol with an expression of surprise and confusion. “I have a sister named Rebecca. She went missing nearby when she was five… but that was over thirty years ago. Have you met her? Everyone says we look very alike.”

Yes, you two do resemble each other.

Nol’s lips moved slightly, and he finally said, “No, sir, we haven’t met her… I’m looking for someone else, sorry.”

Mr. Rizzi hummed in response without showing much disappointment. “No worries, I understand. This place is strange; people disappear from time to time. You should be careful.”

“How so?” Nol tried to sound relaxed.

“For instance, the Great Dragon Mountains in the north, where there’s only one moon at night… it’s quite eerie.”

Mr. Rizzi shuddered as he continued, “People say that those who go missing near there never return.”

“That sounds ominous,” Teest remarked, seizing the opportunity to change the subject. “Sir, dinner is approaching. Would you like to try some mutton?”

He knew the answer. Caravan owners often travel with private chefs and wouldn’t be interested in crudely prepared boiled meat in saltwater. But the question served as a good way to steer the conversation elsewhere.

As expected, Mr. Rizzi politely declined and quickly left.

……

Afterward, Teest observed a series of the lich’s daydreaming moments.

Nol furrowed his brows, lost in thought. He was so engrossed that occasionally he’d freeze, as if turned to stone.

Like now, Teest exhaled loudly, impatiently nudging Nol’s hand. Nol held a spoon full of soup, which had cooled down as he’d been lost in thought for two minutes.

“The information is scattered; there are too many possibilities,” Nol said after returning to his senses, sipping the now cold soup. “I have some theories, but…”

“Eat your food,” Teest interrupted. “No one’s rushing you. Find more clues before pondering. Isn’t that witch placing surveillance puppets everywhere? She’ll find new clues sooner or later.”

“True,” Nol replied, biting his spoon, making his voice muffled.

The security of Mr. Rizzi’s caravan was commendable. Over a week passed and the journey remained relatively peaceful. Nol’s daily routine was wake, work, eat, sleep, and occasionally experiment with spells for entertainment. He even started to feel like he was in a regular job.

After a few tries, Nol grasped the pattern of the [Fallen Death].

If the corpse he consumed was weaker than a lich, his attributes would barely increase, or not at all. Nol longed for the Dragon Tomb Garden. Perhaps once the black candle awakens, he could use the “Acquaintance Portal” to get some takeout from the neighbors there.

Yet the black candle remained dormant, leaving him wondering how long it might sleep.

Today, the caravan entered a vast forest. The birds were chirping, the flowers were fragrant, and the grass was as thick as a carpet. The frequent passage of caravans had formed a flat dirt road, making the carriage ride smoother.

Nol, engrossed in a history book, didn’t mind as Teest moved from across him to his side, leaning on his shoulder to nap. Teest’s silvery hair draped over Nol’s shoulder, looking quite picturesque.

Suddenly, Teest frowned, opening his eyes. “There’s a large creature nearby.”

Used to such occurrences, Nol casually cast an invisibility spell on him, saying, “Go ahead.”

Five minutes later, Teest returned with a small piece of fresh meat. “Here, meat from the Poisonous Monitor Lizard.”

Nol pondered for a moment and closed his book. “That’s the fourth time. Even for a forest, the density of large monsters seems unnatural.”

“It’s just a probe,” Teest nonchalantly replied. “The Eternal Church is probably looking for us. They’re not the type to sit still after losing something.”

Nol looked at him in resignation. “You knew and still went after the monsters?”

“Why refuse when they come to us? Besides, you can consume them.” Teest wrapped the meat casually, yawned, and leaned back on Nol’s shoulder. “They’ve likely used divination to pinpoint the Rizzi caravan. Ignoring these monsters won’t change the fact that they’ll eventually attack. Engaging them here would expose us even more.”

Nol suspected that Teest didn’t really care about staying hidden and probably wanted the church members to confront them. Regardless, considering his limited knowledge about this cult, Nol welcomed their eventual confrontation.

Perhaps this was the thrill of fishing. He calmly reopened his book, immersing himself in history once more.

In the dense forest in the distance, the burly Jack showed a smile.

Sure enough, something was suspicious about the Rizzi Caravan. If it was just an ordinary mercenary, it would be impossible to silently take down those monsters. He had been staking out for over a week and hadn’t even seen the opponent’s face.

Jack had no plans to contact Crimson.

The last time they faced those two, Crimson got nothing but beatings, and he himself had to bear the injuries. They were close to “that place”; he could act alone and cleverly use others to achieve his goal.

Perhaps when he got the candle back, Crimson would be the one assisting him.

Thinking of this, Jack pulled out a blank envelope. He scribbled something on it and lit it directly.

With a flash, the envelope dropped in front of Teest.

[Coordinates: 104, 32, 15; Help, hurry!]

Nol picked up the envelope. It was a special area request letter for players, which could be sent to other players within a kilometer.

He frowned at this, wondering who would waste such an item in a deserted forest area. Either there was a desperate player nearby or it was the work of the Eternal Church.

However, if this really was the work of the Eternal Church…

“It looks like those two attackers were probably players,” Teest said, seemingly unsurprised. “They treat the world as a game, have great power and immortality… You have to admit, it sounds like ‘demons’.”

Nol hummed in agreement. While the Temple of Life was eagerly looking for players, there was no reason for the Eternal Church to just watch. Last time, he and Teest’s performances were exceptional. Those two probably sensed the players in them and thus made their move.

“Let’s go together. Some save people, some animals catch animals.” Nol took out “The Complete Recipe Book”.

Teest laughed. “I like that idea.”

……

“When that guy shows up, I have to thank him.”

Arriving at the coordinates, Nol raised his eyebrows at the mushroom ring below him. “I was wondering how to find this copy, and he found it for us first.”

The circle of mushrooms glowed a strange ice blue, hidden deep in the grass, barely noticeable unless you looked closely.

An entrance to a hidden sub-dungeon, or a trap.

Nol smiled at Teest and stepped on it. Under Teest’s curious gaze, he raised his right hand, bending each finger back into his palm—

“Three, two…” The surrounding scene quickly twisted and distorted, as if an old oil painting was thrown into a washing machine. A fog rose, accompanied by a rumbling sound as if the world was collapsing; the warm air of the forest disappeared, and the surroundings became icy cold.

“…One.”

The fog dispersed, and the two stood in a snowy forest in deep winter.

The vibrant colors of late summer faded, and the broad-leaved trees around them turned into dense deciduous pines and firs, with an endless expanse of gray in between. Cold wind howled, snowflakes fluttered, and the snow swallowed their calves.

[You have entered a hidden area.]

[You have triggered a hidden dungeon quest: Night of the Hunt.]

[Achievement Conditions: Kill the white wolf or survive for fourteen days.]

[Task Reward: Given by NPC “Hunter”, specific reward depends on the Hunter’s favorability.]

[Failure Penalty: Cannot accept this quest again within 180 days.]

[※The number of people for this quest is limited to 1~4 players; there is no team requirement.]

“Ah-choo!” Teest’s nose and ears quickly turned red, and he hurriedly pulled a coat out of his old waist bag. Nature was very fair—no matter how high one stack their stats, humans would still freeze.

“This task is quite rare. It will randomly appear in this forest. We’re quite lucky.” Nol remained pale, and there was no white steam coming from his breath. “Let’s find the hunter’s cabin first. You need to warm up.”

On the way, Nol explained the basics of the quest to Teest.

The quest wasn’t complicated.

After the quest starts, the shadow wolf symbolizing disaster would wake up. The strength of the shadow wolf would adjust according to the level of the players present and was basically unbeatable. It would hunt players day and night, and players could only do two things—

“Kill the white wolf, and the shadow wolf will fall asleep. That white wolf is just an ordinary wild beast but will be hard to catch,” Nol said. “Or persist for fourteen days without dying, and the task will end automatically.”

“No wonder it’s called ‘Night of the Hunt’.” Teest wrapped himself up. “Either the shadow wolf hunts us, or we hunt the white wolf.” He ignored the “run till the end” option.

“Kind of,” Nol said. “The Eternalist who lured us might also be here. With the shadow wolf chasing us, the opposition only needs to trip us up. We need to be cautious.”

Teest sniffed in agreement.

Since they knew the tricks, the hunter’s cabin wasn’t hard to find. Nol followed footprints, traces of logging, and the scent of burning wood, quickly locating the target.

It was a roughly built log house with half a meter of snow covering the roof. Gray smoke billowed from the chimney. Even in daylight, the lights from the windows were very noticeable.

Standing at the door, they could hear faint coughs from inside.

Nol and Teest exchanged glances.

“Hello, it’s so cold outside; can we stay here?” Teest stepped forward to knock, his nasal voice especially persuasive. “We’ll pay.”

The game’s setting dictated that the hunter would not refuse players, but considering the game rewards and relationship levels, they remained cautious.

The door cracked open, releasing a burst of warmth, and an elderly face illuminated by the firelight appeared.

The hunter looked to be around seventy, slightly chubby, with deep-set wrinkles. His wild gray hair reached his shoulders, and he sported a large, unkempt beard. He was clad in moose and bear skins, exuding an aroma of meaty broth and grease. Despite his age, his back was still straight, hinting at his once sturdy physique.

He looked indifferently at the two standing at the door. After about half a minute, he moved aside.

“Hunter,” he pointed at himself and introduced in a deep voice, his tongue clumsy as if he hadn’t spoken to anyone in a long time.

“Teest, Nol.” Teest briefly introduced himself and Nol, quickly surveying the room’s interior.

The cabin was simple, consisting of one spacious room. A pot of soup simmered on the fireplace, its white steam drifting past a deer skull mounted above. Next to the fireplace was a rough chair, with a round table a few steps away. Jars and bottles sat on wooden shelves, their crude pottery gleaming warmly in the firelight.

The hunter’s bed and a long table filled with miscellaneous items each occupied a corner. The clutter on the table hinted that the owner wasn’t fond of reading or writing.

Teest immediately spotted several advantageous corners for combat. He then looked at the hunter and smiled politely. “We’ll set up by the long table; we promise not to disturb you.”

The hunter grunted in response and moved to the fireplace. “Soup’s in the pot. Serve yourself. Just this once. I don’t want your money, and don’t expect me to cook for you.”

“Can we trade for your stuff?” Nol inquired without glancing at the soup. “Not with money. We have sugar and spices.”

“I don’t have anything valuable,” the hunter replied without looking up.

Nol approached the cluttered table, lifting a letter opener from an inconspicuous corner. “We left in a hurry and missed many small items. If you don’t mind…”

“Have not used that thing in fifty years; take it,” the old hunter said after a sideways glance. “Salt or sugar, your choice.”

Teest packed some of both and left them on the shelf next to the fireplace. He then quickly returned to Nol’s side to inspect the letter opener.

With a deep brown handle and a slim, brass blade, it had a graceful curve but was tarnished and stained.

[Bad News: A worn-out letter opener that only reveals bad outcomes. When the user injures a target, it forcibly severs all system links between the user and the target. ※ Durable, but handle with care.]

Teest realized, “Could this be…”

[Exactly what you’re thinking of,] Nol responded mentally. [We can use it for a swift divorce.]

Instead of “Bad News,” he preferred calling it the “Blacklist.”

[I thought we’d face challenging quests to get the reward. Is it this easy?] Teest was amazed.

Nol smiled. [Ordinary people can normally dissolve teams or divorce. They generally don’t need such a niche item. Its value isn’t that high.]

Teest pretended not to hear.

Nol put the letter opener in his bag. Considering the Eternalist might be lurking nearby, he didn’t want to sever his ties with Teest just yet.

……

The night passed without incident.

The only “anomaly” was Teest’s efforts to keep his distance from Nol during the night. In summer, they’d comfortably sleep side by side. However, as temperatures dropped, Teest would flinch every time he touched the cold-bodied Nol.

Resigned, Nol got up in the latter half of the night to study new magic.

Throughout this, the old hunter was quite cold towards them. Treating them “like air” would be a polite way to put it. Even when Nol and Teest asked questions politely, he’d respond only once or twice out of ten times, mumbling incoherently.

Did the game system have to generate NPCs with such nasty temperaments? Nol wondered.

At dawn, the two were swiftly ushered out of the cabin by the old hunter.

“Get a deer, or at the very least, four pheasants or ducks. Get out of here,” the hunter said. The door slammed shut in front of Teest, blowing his long hair into disarray.

“Wow,” Teest exclaimed. “I thought my personality was bad, but there’s always someone worse.”

“Let’s go and explore the surroundings,” Nol suggested. “If we can hunt some big game, you might be able to make a fur scarf.”

“Do the Eternalist count as big game?” Teest muttered as he followed.

Nol looked up at the sky, avoiding that dreadful topic.

The snow was coming down as if it wouldn’t stop until the end of the world. Although the hunter was grumpy, he had lent them snow boots. With Teest’s wilderness survival experience and Nol’s [Listening] and [Smelling] abilities, their sturdy and lightweight boots quickly led them to prey. But they decided to go further to explore more areas…

“It seems there are no other people nearby,” Teest said as he roasted wild chicken over the fire at the entrance of a cave, the flames reflecting golden-red against his hair.

The pheasant was plump. Golden fat dripped onto the flames, causing it to crackle and pop. Teest simply sprinkled some salt and crushed herbs on it and roasted a few sweet potatoes, creating a perfect meal.

While eating too many sweet potatoes could be cloying, Nol preferred the white bread supplied by the Rizzi Caravan. Regrettably, while Teest had packed bottles and cans into his old waist bag, he hadn’t taken any bread.

“Unless something unexpected happens, there shouldn’t be any other people around here. Think about it, if there was a village nearby and the shadow wolf appeared, the villagers would be in big trouble,” Nol said, carefully biting into a chicken leg, trying not to get grease on himself.

Teest took a sharp breath. “So the hunter lives here all by himself?”

“That seems to be the case…” While games were games, reality was different. Hearing Teest’s words, Nol also felt a bit uneasy.

Suddenly, both of them froze. Teest drew his small hunting knife, and Nol grabbed his “The Complete Recipe Book”.

Behind a nearby rock, a head appeared.

It belonged to a beautiful and cute young boy. His golden short hair shone brightly, his eyes were astonishingly blue, and his long, pointed ears made him look like a forest elf from a fairytale, completely out of place in this snowy landscape.

His hand was grasping a stone, and the longing in his eyes was about to overflow.

Nol remained vigilant—despite the cute appearance, this creature was a “dwarf elf”, a kind of humanoid monster. Dwarf elves were innate magicians, slippery and cunning, and tricky to handle.

“It seems you’ve found me,” the elf said, his voice slightly muffled by his saliva. “Sirs, my wife and I haven’t eaten for two days. Please share some meat. I can perform healing magic. We can trade!”

Nol: “…” No, the elf’s had a strangely familiar tone.

Nol: “Earthstar?”

The elf gasped. “Nin-year compulsory education?”

“City A?” Nol continued.

The dwarf elf wiped his drool. “Copper pot mutton hotpot?”

“Yunshang Joy Garden?”

“Family—!” The elf eagerly opened his arms towards Nol but stopped just in time due to Teest’s threatening knife.

“I’m from Joy Garden. Both my wife and I are.” The dwarf elf scratched his head in embarrassment. “I’m Luo Ruilin, and my wife is Zhu Lijun… Do you remember?”

Nol was silent.

That memory was too profound.

This couple was famous in their community—Officer Luo, a policeman, and Doctor Zhu, a general surgeon. Known to be old classmates, they were famous for rarely being at home due to their professions. But for the same reasons, they had an excellent reputation in the community.

In Nol’s memory, Officer Luo was a tall man with a shaved head, standing at about 1.9 meters. Looking down at the dwarf elf, who was less than 1.6 meters tall, mixed feelings arose in his heart.

“Xu Yue. Building 7, Unit 1, Room 701,” he briefly introduced himself.

“Oh,” the dwarf elf recalled after a moment. “I remember Old Lady Meng in 501, who was quite a troublemaker.”

“She especially liked to curse people at the entrance of the building around four or five in the morning,” Nol added with a hint of nostalgia. “Teest, it’s okay. This guy is fine.”

The dwarf elf enthusiastically turned to Teest. “So, is he also—”

“No.” Nol shook his head. “He’s my friend, but he doesn’t live in Joy Garden.”

“Right, I’m his friend,” Teest said with a forced friendly tone. “We still have some chicken left. You can have it.”

“No, can I call my wife over? It would be better if we work together, right?” The dwarf elf’s eyes shone brightly. “Just be prepared; her appearance is a bit… abnormal.”

How could he describe his wife in such a way? Nol raised an eyebrow. But Officer Luo had always had a good reputation in the community, so maybe the situation was indeed special.

He turned to look at Teest, and Teest nodded. Only then did Nol say, “Let her come over. Let’s discuss the situation.”

“Honey!” The dwarf elf shouted loudly into the woods. “Honey, come over! We have our neighbors here—!”

Following his call, a shadow darted through the forest like the wind, moving so fast that it left only an afterimage. In just a few seconds, the shadow stopped in front of Nol and Teest.

Nol: “…………”

Teest took a deep breath, his movements a bit awkward. He almost instinctively drew his knife earlier—

The creature in front of them stood over two meters tall, with a massive wolf’s head, brown-yellow pupils, and sharp teeth. It was extremely muscular, its fur thick and dense, and its claws were as sharp as daggers.

Even in the icy and snowy conditions, it didn’t mind exposing its upper body. Underneath the fur, the contours of its eight-pack abs were notably prominent.

A wolfkin.

…More accurately, a male gray wolfkin.

‘Okay,’ Nol thought numbly. Mental preparation was indeed necessary.

“Which one of you is the neighbor?” The wolfkin spoke in a deep voice, looking quite at ease.

Before Nol could respond, the dwarf elf patted Nol. “This brother here.”

The wolfkin lowered her—his head to examine Nol. He was unsure what the creature was thinking, but its expression became serious after a moment.

“Your body temperature is off. Normal human temperature shouldn’t be this low… You’re a monster like us,” the wolfkin said. “Pardon my bluntness, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave.”

Nol’s heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve been here for over a month and found many clues. Simply put, this place traps all humans and humanoid monsters—the ‘Hunter’ is dying, and this place will pick a successor for him.”

“Even if someone is chosen, the others are backups. Once people come here, they can never leave again.”

The wolfkin sighed, showing off his sharp canine teeth.

“It seems this is like a role-playing game. It always needs a ‘Hunter’ to wait for the so-called ‘players’.”

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The author has something to say:

Don’t think Nol’s card drawing luck is bad. His luck in drawing people (?) is really not bad.

Dragon Nest trio is waiting to grow. Outside, the starting combo of a mechanical engineer + criminal policeman + general surgeon is truly a golden team…

Of course, the most epic moment was drawing Teest, the Super Collector’s Edition SSR (?

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