Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Wei Sen held the axe in one hand and a torch she had taken from the fireplace in the other as she cautiously went upstairs.
A fire burned in the center of the second floor. Suspended over the flames was a huge black cauldron, where a green medicinal brew churned and bubbled.
Countless iron cages filled the room. Inside were all kinds of snakes, insects, rats, and ants, giving off a foul, rotten stench.
An old wooden table was densely packed with medicine jars. None of the bottles had any labels, so there was no telling what any of them were for.
The reason the second floor looked pitch-black from outside was that every window had been covered with thick black curtains. Even in broad daylight, this room never saw the sun.
Wei Sen searched the place but found no new rules, nor any props she could use.
As for all those bottles and jars, she did not recognize a single one of them and did not dare touch them carelessly.
There was, however, a book on the table. It seemed to record how to refine various medicines, but the process was extremely complicated, and it was written in Eerie Entity characters she could not understand.
Wei Sen took the book and went downstairs.
The girl was still standing in the living room.
“Can you read?” Wei Sen asked.
The girl nodded slightly. “A little. My mother taught me when I was small.”
Wei Sen handed her the book she had found and said, “Maybe this book can help cure whatever is happening to your body.”
The girl said in surprise, “This is… the Book of Magic Potions!”
From the look of it, the book should be useful to the girl.
Since there was nothing here that could help her anymore, she needed to get to Little Red Riding Hood’s house as soon as possible.
She wondered whether Little Red Riding Hood, whom she had locked outside the grandmother’s house, had already been found by the Wolf. If that Little Red Riding Hood was dead, had a new Little Red Riding Hood appeared yet?
As she was thinking, the girl took the bracelet off her wrist and held it out. “Big sister, thank you. I don’t have anything to repay you with, so please take this.”
Wei Sen looked at the Red String Bracelet. It was woven from red cotton-linen cord.
“I’ve worn this since I was little. It can bring people hope. If you get lost, maybe it can guide you in the right direction.”
Wei Sen looked at the girl. Saving her had only been incidental. Everything Wei Sen did was ultimately for the sake of clearing this Instance.
But since this girl was also an NPC in this Dark Fairy Tale, then the thing she gave her might very well be a prop that could come in handy!
With that thought, Wei Sen gladly accepted it.
///Ding~ (Newbie Hint) Host’s current Plot Unlock Rate: 50%!///
Wei Sen looked at the Red String Bracelet in her hand. She had not expected this to be an important clue! Her Plot Unlock Rate had jumped by 25% all at once!
“Thank you. I have to go now,” Wei Sen said to the little girl.
“Be careful. The Big Bad Wolf is outside.” The girl looked toward the door warily.
Wei Sen lowered her gaze toward the front door, placed the Red String Bracelet into the bamboo basket, then gripped the axe and hid it behind her as she walked to the door.
She pulled the door open in one motion. At the entrance, the Old Witch stood hunched over, grinning.
“Kekekeke…”
At the Witch’s feet lay the corpse of another Witch with an identical appearance: the one who had just been shot dead.
“Heh heh heh. Your gun is out of bullets now, isn’t it?” the Witch at the door said in a chilling tone.
Wei Sen revealed the axe behind her and said expressionlessly, “You have two choices. One, take this corpse and leave. Two, find out how sharp my axe is.”
The Witch’s eyes glowed green. Its ears began to sharpen, and two razor-sharp fangs grew from its mouth. Its entire form shifted into something between human and beast.
“You dare threaten me?” Its voice was shrill and grating, nothing like a human’s.
“If I’m not wrong, you still can’t fully change back into your Wolf form. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to trick me out of my only bullet,” Wei Sen analyzed.
What strengthened her conviction was not only the Wolf’s clumsy lie, but also the fact that her bamboo basket already contained a pair of the Wolf’s eyes.
If the Wolf could freely change forms on the night of the Blood Moon, then it never would have died beneath Little Red Riding Hood’s axe!
At the doorway, the half-human Wolf took half a step back, disbelief flashing through his eyes.
Seeing this, Wei Sen became even more certain of her guess.
“I’m giving you three seconds. I’m not afraid to die, but what about you?”
“Three, two…”
Wei Sen began the countdown.
At the final second, the half-human figure gritted his teeth in fury, bent down, and grabbed one of the Witch’s legs. His eyes remained fixed on Wei Sen as he slowly backed away. Only after putting distance between himself and the wooden cabin did he turn around and drag the Old Witch’s corpse with him, vanishing into the night.
“Sister, you’re amazing.” The girl stood silently behind her. “I heard Granny say that on the night of the Blood Moon, the Wolf will turn into a human. The transformation is compulsory. Only when the moon returns to its original color will the Wolf return to his original form.”
“So that’s how it is.” Wei Sen lowered the axe and let out a breath of relief.
She wasn’t afraid to die, but she wanted to live even more!
She still had to return to the real world.
Someone had been waiting for her all this time.
“Sister, where are you going now?” the girl asked.
“To find the way home,” Wei Sen replied.
The girl said, “I’m so jealous of you, Sister. You can still search for the way home.”
“You can too.” Wei Sen looked at her.
The girl shook her head with a faint smile. “I’m going to stay here and use this Book of Magic Potions to cure myself. Then I’ll leave this place and search for… my home.”
“All right.”
After bidding the girl farewell, Wei Sen headed out of the Misty Forest. The instant she stepped out of the forest, even the wind that met her felt much fresher.
The moon in the sky had also returned to its normal color. The forest wind rustled through the trees, and in the distance came the sound of a Wolf’s howl.
But outside the forest, everything seemed so peaceful and beautiful: the lawn, the breeze, the chirping cicadas, and the Red House not far away.
That was Little Red Riding Hood’s home!
Wei Sen hid the gun and the axe inside the bamboo basket, then walked toward the Red House.
Candlelight glowed inside the Red House, but the curtains were tightly drawn, making it impossible to see what was going on inside.
Wei Sen stopped outside the fence gate of the Red House.
According to the Little Red Riding Hood Identity Rules, after returning home, she had to stand at the door and shout “I’m home” three times.
It seemed a little stupid, but Wei Sen decided to follow the rule anyway and see whether she could become the new Little Red Riding Hood.
“I’m home! I’m home! I’m home!”
A gentle breeze brushed past. A candlelight moved inside the Red House, and soon after came the sound of a door opening.
Standing inside the door was a blond-haired woman. She held a candlestick in her hand, her face numb and expressionless, her eyes staring straight at Wei Sen.
Wei Sen held her breath as she looked at the woman before her.
This was Little Red Riding Hood’s Mother. She looked to be only in her thirties, but her whole state was haggard and worn.
Her lips moved, like those of a doll long overdue for repair.
Her unblinking eyes stared at Wei Sen, while her pupils rolled separately to the left and right.
Wei Sen’s hand silently tightened around the axe.
This was absolutely not a movement a normal human could make!
The Mother before her was also an NPC-or rather, an Eerie Entity!
Although Article Eight of Little Red Riding Hood’s Identity Rules said she could trust Mother absolutely, the prerequisite was that she first had to become Little Red Riding Hood.
“Are you…” Mother spoke without expression, the corners of her mouth slowly stretching toward both sides as she asked in a hollow voice, “Little Red Riding Hood?”