Chapter 227
Chapter 227
“Is the theme this time fairy tales?” Qin Nan phrased it as a question, though the situation was already perfectly obvious.
Jian Fan was Snow White, Qin Nan was the Evil Queen, and Yellow Hair was a Dwarf; the three of them belonged to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Yang Zhen was Little Red Riding Hood, while Xia Zeqin was presumably the Big Bad Wolf who ate her; the two came from Little Red Riding Hood. Qin Weiyi was from The Little Mermaid, Lu Jing from The Emperor’s New Clothes, Mu Xin was Thumbelina, Zhou Jingying was The Little Match Girl, and Fang Kang was presumably The Frog Prince.
That left only Shi Chen and Lin Junruo.
“My card says Cinderella,” Lin Junruo said. As she spoke, she extended one foot to show everyone her Glass Slippers.
Shi Chen struggled to keep his eyes open, looking as though he had just awakened. “Sleeping Beauty. I’m so sleepy.” He yawned as soon as he finished.
Everyone: “…”
“Isn’t Sleeping Beauty supposed to be asleep? It never said she was sleepy all the time,” Yellow Hair said in confusion.
Shi Chen yawned again. “Yeah. I was asleep the entire time. The moment I changed clothes, I passed out. Luckily, my mind was still awake.” He yawned once more, then continued, “I exchanged for an item that barely lets me keep moving.”
Without the item, Shi Chen would have remained asleep in his room and missed the ball. Everyone already knew what the consequences of failing to attend would be.
He had no choice but to exchange for it. Otherwise, he would inevitably be erased.
Hearing this, Qin Weiyi asked, “How many Points do you have?”
Shi Chen looked surprised. “Does this have something to do with Points?”
“Probably,” Qin Weiyi answered vaguely.
Shi Chen saw no reason to conceal it and replied outright, “Around seven thousand.”
Good. So the two of them were brothers in misfortune.
“I had a fishtail before,” Qin Weiyi said.
Lin Junruo and Mu Xin immediately turned to look at him. A fishtail? They were rather curious.
“I started dehydrating immediately. I had to exchange for an item to get my legs back, and it cost me seven hundred Points,” Qin Weiyi explained.
Shi Chen was so shocked that even his drowsiness seemed to recede. Soon, however, he began yawning again. “Then I had it a little better. I only spent five hundred Points.”
Qin Weiyi had spent more, but his condition was now relatively normal. Shi Chen had spent a little less, yet he was clearly still suffering lingering effects.
Qin Weiyi looked at Shi Chen, then turned a worried gaze toward Lu Jing.
The situation was obvious now. Just as Jian Fan had said, the Players with more Points were being maliciously targeted by the Realm of Death.
People like Qin Nan and Jian Fan had, at worst, merely been dressed as women without suffering any other adverse effects. Qin Weiyi had many Points, so he had nearly died from dehydration at the very beginning and had been forced to spend Points to save his life. Shi Chen was in much the same situation. Mu Xin also had a relatively high total; although her life was not in immediate danger, her circumstances were clearly far from ideal.
She had become so tiny. Even if she could fly, she would plainly be more vulnerable than the others if a conflict actually broke out. Fang Kang was probably in a similar position.
That left Lu Jing, who had a decent number of Points but had not yet encountered any threat to his life. Qin Weiyi could not help worrying.
Lu Jing was still completely lost. When he suddenly noticed Qin Weiyi staring at him, he foolishly asked, “Xiao Qin, what’s wrong?”
Qin Weiyi gave him an indescribable look. “Nothing.”
“All our identities are tied to fairy tales this time, and there’s a ball too. What exactly is this world trying to make us do?” Qin Nan was unsurprised by the connection to Points. He cared only about their current predicament.
Then he muttered, “They’re all fairy tales, sure, but some are from Andersen’s Fairy Tales and others are from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Can they really coexist in the same world?”
“Holy crap, don’t tell me we’re going to be split into factions?” Yellow Hair exclaimed at once.
He quickly calmed down, however. He might not know which tale belonged to which collection, but he could be certain he was on the same side as Jian Fan and Qin Nan. The three of them came from the same story, after all.
“Um… do any of you know which fairy tale belongs to which collection?” Lin Junruo asked hesitantly.
That question…
Wonderful. Everyone fell silent.
They had heard plenty of fairy tales growing up and all knew of Andersen’s Fairy Tales and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. But ask them which collection a particular story came from, and that was another matter entirely. They chose silence.
“If I remember correctly, The Little Mermaid and Thumbelina are from Andersen’s Fairy Tales,” Qin Nan said. After thinking a moment, he added, “Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White should be from Grimm’s Fairy Tales.”
“What about Cinderella?” Lin Junruo asked.
Qin Nan searched his memory. “Grimm?”
Lin Junruo choked.
Hearing the uncertainty in his voice, she chose to remain silent.
As they spoke, the group arrived at the ballroom.
The Steward stood at the entrance welcoming all manner of guests. When he saw Jian Fan’s group approaching, he immediately came forward with a smile and bowed. “Honored guests, welcome to the ball. This way, please.”
Xia Zeqin stepped forward first.
The Steward led them to the ballroom entrance, and the group filed inside. But just as Qin Weiyi and Lu Jing were about to proceed, the Steward suddenly extended an arm to stop them.
“Oh, heavens! Guest, how could you possess such dreadful taste? Your formal attire is far too ugly. You will offend the eyes of our honored guests. My apologies, but you cannot enter dressed like that.” The Steward spoke in an exaggerated tone, punctuating every word with theatrical gestures.
It would have looked ridiculous under other circumstances, but everyone’s gaze now settled on Lu Jing.
Wrapped in two curtains, how could he possibly look good?
Only then did Qin Weiyi remember the Steward’s earlier instruction: wear appropriate formal attire.
Given Lu Jing’s role, The Emperor’s New Clothes meant wearing nothing at all, and there had been no other clothing in his room. In other words, whether he wrapped himself in curtains or not, he would be denied entry.
And if he could not enter the ball, the chance of being erased was 99.99 percent.
The Realm of Death’s trap might arrive late, but it always arrived.
“Xiao Qin, what do I do?” Lu Jing looked pleadingly at Qin Weiyi.
What could Qin Weiyi do?
Every member of their group only had the outfit currently on their own body. They had no way to find Lu Jing another set of clothes. In the end, entering the ball would still require the Points Mall.
There might indeed be another solution, but the Points Mall was the simplest option right now. Besides, Qin Weiyi had already decided that Lu Jing ought to spend some of his Points.
Otherwise, in his present state, Lu Jing might get separated from the group one day and die without even knowing how.
Qin Weiyi opened the Points Mall and began searching through its items.
Before he could find anything, Jian Fan spoke from beside him. “Emperor’s Wardrobe.”
As the words left his mouth, Qin Weiyi found the item Jian Fan had named.