Chapter 41
Chapter 41
Although Qin Lan could see the location of the instance entrance directly, his determination to keep a low profile led him to wander aimlessly around the area with Luo Yue for a while.
Only then did they “coincidentally” enter the instance.
Before going in, Qin Lan saw that the message he sent had been marked as read.
That removed his final concern.
With Lu Xingshan’s strength, traveling here from the Safe Zone would likely take less than a minute.
Back in Terror Subway, when Xue Chuan produced that 4-Star cursed artifact, less than a dozen seconds had passed between Lu Xingshan seeing the surveillance feed and arriving to suppress the anomaly.
“I gave him proper notice. If anything happens, no one can blame me…”
Qin Lan muttered inwardly and glanced at the excited Luo Yue beside him.
What exactly was her relationship with Lu Xingshan?
Looking back, Lu Xingshan must have learned about the assignment as soon as Qin Lan accepted it. That was why he had contacted Qin Lan specifically, terrified that Luo Yue might suffer the slightest accident.
“His lover? It wouldn’t be unusual for a high-star Anomaly Hunter to marry a young woman… But with Lu Xingshan’s authority, he could arrange a safer position with better treatment for her. Probably not.”
“An illegitimate daughter?”
“That doesn’t feel right either.”
Qin Lan racked his brain but found no answer.
By then, the instance information had entered his mind.
——————–
[Fairytale Town]
Difficulty: 3-Star
Cursed Artifact Present: Yes
Description: A sudden blizzard blocks the path of two young travelers, forcing them to rest in a town at the foot of the mountain… Little do they know, an unimaginably terrifying journey awaits them…
Rule 1: Do not speak to anyone other than the town’s residents.
Rule 2: On this cold winter night, you must help one unfortunate resident sell all the goods that can provide warmth.
Rule 3: The prince’s ball has ended. Help him find his missing beloved.
Rule 4: Help the genie fulfill three wishes.
Rule 5: Earn the approval of any one town resident to clear the instance.
——————–
“Fairytale Town?”
Qin Lan instinctively hummed an off-key melody about a rainbow river winding through a fairytale town, dividing dreams from reality before meeting again at a mountain pass.
Luo Yue could not help interrupting.
“How strange… The melody sounds as though it should be beautiful, so why does it become so painful when you hum it?”
“Where did you learn that song?”
Qin Lan yawned.
“I forgot. It was a very long time ago. I vaguely remember it being popular on short-video platforms for quite a while…”
“Unfortunately, the singer behind the most famous version made some foolish remarks and was banned…”
Luo Yue only half understood.
The two currently stood on a steep mountain road with a bottomless cliff beside it.
Night was approaching. Wind howled around them, driving snow into their faces and turning the world into a disorienting expanse of white.
In the distance, however, the end of the mountain road appeared to lead toward a cluster of lights. That was presumably the town mentioned in the description.
Entering a 3-Star instance again felt entirely different to Qin Lan.
During his first trip into Terror Subway, any random security guard could beat him half to death and leave him helpless. To clear the instance, he had needed to die repeatedly in search of an opening.
Now…
Qin Lan felt as relaxed as if he were taking a leisurely stroll.
“Do these rules give you any ideas?” Luo Yue seemed to lack experience with instances. After studying them for some time, she looked expectantly at Qin Lan.
He strolled through the snow and answered casually.
“For an instance based on fairy tales, the references are fairly obvious…”
“The first should be that unlucky little girl selling matches in the snow.”
“The second is Cinderella’s Glass Slipper–though I suppose some other unlucky prince might also have met a girl at a ball only for her to run away.”
“The third… Uh, probably Aladdin’s lamp.”
Qin Lan hesitated.
“But that seems strange. Why are we helping the genie fulfill three wishes?”
“Isn’t the genie supposed to grant our wishes?”
He shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.
“I suppose they had to change something. Otherwise, it would be outright plagiarism.”
“Plagiarism is shameful.”
An ordinary person who entered this blizzard by accident would probably die of hypothermia before covering half the route.
The snow underfoot was deep, and each step required considerable strength. But Qin Lan’s physique was approaching superhuman levels, so it did not affect him at all.
Luo Yue could still walk normally, but the prolonged effort gradually began to wear on her.
Her breathing quickened. Snow clung to her fine lashes, and an unhealthy flush spread across her cheeks.
One glance at her condition told Qin Lan that her Curse Codex also focused on enhancing her Talent.
He made no dramatic offer to carry her. Since Luo Yue herself said nothing, neither did he. Her independence deserved respect.
Fortunately, the road was not long. After roughly ten minutes, they reached the entrance to the town at the foot of the mountain.
The town was small, with old-fashioned European architecture that made it resemble the setting of an open-world fantasy game.
Yet a tiny palace had been built conspicuously in the middle of it, looking completely out of place.
It was like finding a Maserati parked beside a row of shared bicycles.
Who would build a royal palace in a remote village beside a snowy mountain?
Qin Lan could not understand it.
The moment they reached the outskirts, a thin, frail figure stumbled toward them.
It was a little girl wearing a windbreaker.
Her clothes were covered in worn patches, and thin cloth shoes protected her feet. She trembled from the cold, with frostbite covering her exposed calves and arms.
“Kind travelers… Please… Please help me…”
Her voice shook. The blizzard forced her to pause every few words as icy wind rushed into her mouth and nose.
“The Little Match Girl?”
Luo Yue recognized an outfit almost identical to the one from the fairy tale.
“We have to earn a town resident’s approval to clear the instance… Does that mean completing one of the tasks described in the rules?”
“In other words, we need to help her sell all her matches.”
Luo Yue considered the matter, then approached with a gentle voice.
“Little girl, is there anything we can do to help?”
The girl raised her head, revealing a young, innocent face and reddened eyes.
“Please, miss. Save me…”
A notification entered Qin Lan and Luo Yue’s minds simultaneously.
[You have angered the town resident: (Matchstick Bro).]
[You can no longer obtain (Matchstick Bro)’s approval.]
What?
Qin Lan thought he had seen the message incorrectly.
What the hell was Matchstick Bro supposed to be?
“I understand…” Qin Lan looked as though he had swallowed something foul. “She isn’t the Little Match Girl…”
“The story here is…”
“The Little Matchstick Who Sold Girls!”
The girl before them was not the “town resident” they had assumed. She was the “goods” mentioned in the rule.
By speaking to someone other than a resident, they had triggered an attack and earned the hatred of the true resident, Matchstick Bro.
Qin Lan pressed a hand to his forehead, wondering what kind of deranged mind had designed this instance.
He could clearly see a dazzling fire ignite inside one of the town’s houses.
Then an enormous matchstick figure strode out of the building, the combustible material atop his head burning fiercely.
“He looks furious… Is this what they mean by burning with rage?”
Only Qin Lan’s instinct to make jokes remained functional.
Matchstick Bro’s main body was a classic match–a wooden shaft topped with a lump of red solid fuel.
But facial features had grown across that fuel, making him rather ugly.
Even stranger, human arms and legs protruded from the wooden body, making the entire creature look grotesquely mismatched.
“You two outsiders intend to steal my merchandise?!”
Matchstick Bro’s rough voice sounded like a shovel scraping through coal cinders.
The flames atop his head burned even more fiercely. Despite the snowstorm, the heat stung their skin.
Snow on the surrounding ground rapidly melted, exposing wet earth.
Luo Yue pulled the little girl behind her and watched the humanoid match gravely. She lowered her voice.
“I’m sorry. I dragged you into this. I didn’t expect the story to develop this way…”
“We’ll have to fight now.”
Qin Lan’s expression nearly collapsed.
“It isn’t your fault. Who could possibly have predicted this…?”
When neither answered, Matchstick Bro grew even angrier.
“How rude, you wretched outsiders!”
“Taste the fury of a matchstick!”
Matchstick Bro inhaled, opened his mouth, and exhaled with force. A blazing fireball shot toward Qin Lan with searing heat.
“Come on, man. She asked the question, so why are you attacking me?”
Even now, Qin Lan continued complaining.
But he understood the reason.
[You possess an extraordinarily punchable face. The probability that anomalies will attack you is increased by 1,000%.]
Was his face truly that punchable?
Qin Lan gloomily touched it while watching the fireball rapidly expand before his eyes.
He made no attempt to dodge.
Boom!
The fireball struck him head-on. Flames swallowed his body and launched him backward like a cannonball, sending him crashing into the distant snow.
Luo Yue paled in shock.
“How could that happen?!”
That made no sense. Qin Lan should have been fast enough to dodge.
“Damn… I miscalculated…”
Badly burned and sizzling, Qin Lan struggled to his feet with a grimace.
“One attack from a 3-Star anomaly can’t even kill me. Looks like I’ll need to take two more…”