Players, Please Board the Train

Tao Chengxin had developed a shadow of fear towards the wooden puppet and instinctively moved further away, saying, ”You still dare to let it out? What if it starts wildly slashing with its knife again?”

As if responding to her words, the wooden puppet’s body shuddered, blades sprouting from its limbs, and its head rotated 180 degrees to face her.

Seeing that it was truly about to attack everyone indiscriminately, Xu Huo simply kicked it forward. The wooden puppet clattered noisily as it rolled several meters away before reassembling itself. It then discovered the humanoid root nearby, pulled two long blades from its body, and charged forward while brandishing them.

Tang Yuan, running ahead, casually threw a potion bottle onto the ground. Thick smoke billowed out, and both the humanoid root and the wooden puppet that charged into the smoke became stuck to the ground!

However, the wooden puppet’s body could disassemble. When it realized it couldn’t move, it abandoned its feet and leaped forward, chopping with a series of thuds at the root veins the humanoid root whipped towards it!

The puppet wasn’t human; it didn’t need to react to the direction of attacks. It just hacked away at everything in front of it. The humanoid root wasn’t very intelligent either. Although it managed to knock off some parts of the wooden puppet’s body with its root veins, upon discovering there were no blood vessels to infiltrate, it actually fought half-heartedly, lacking the excitement it showed when dealing with Tang Yuan.

The humanoid root’s movements gradually slowed, and the wooden puppet also slowly grew shorter. Eventually, only a head, half a shoulder, and half an arm remained. This remnant of the wooden puppet picked up the spherical root, stuffed it under its head to act as a body, and then hopped towards Xu Huo along the trail of its own scattered parts.

Once held by the wooden puppet, the humanoid root entered a dormant state. Just as Xu Huo was about to go retrieve the wooden puppet’s remaining body parts, Tang Yuan suddenly burst out of the thick smoke, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at him. ”That wooden puppet of yours belongs to me now!”

The moment Tang Yuan grasped his crimson sword, Xu Huo’s vision suddenly blurred. The next instant, he found himself back inside the small floral cottage from before.

He was now standing beside the dining table, with the wooden puppet sprawled at his feet. Tao Chengxin and Sun Jirou were on the other side of the table, while Tang Yuan was suddenly several meters away from him. Having abruptly lost his attack target, Tang Yuan fell to the ground.A heavy smell of blood wafted from behind. Xu Huo turned around and saw Granny Bai sitting in the seat she had occupied during the meal, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. Her clothes were completely soaked in blood; it was impossible to tell if it was someone else’s or her own.

For a moment, no one in the room dared to move or make a sound. Granny Bai placed her handkerchief on the table and looked up at Tang Yuan.

That single glance made Tang Yuan’s scalp crawl. He didn’t even entertain the thought of fighting; he simply turned and fled towards the cottage door. However, after taking only a few steps, just as he reached outside, his entire upper body suddenly vanished into the night.

*Creak...* As the wooden door swung shut, his legs took one more step forward before collapsing onto the garden path.

*Thud!* The door closed completely.

Tao Chengxin and Sun Jirou also witnessed this scene. They turned back, warily watching Granny Bai.

”Are you injured?” Xu Huo finally spoke. ”Did you deal with the people outside?”

Granny Bai’s face was so deeply wrinkled it was hard to discern her complexion. She opened her slit-like eyes and sighed with emotion. ”The Government Hall playing these kinds of tricks isn’t a first. Out of a hundred times, I still end up falling for it two or three times.”

As she spoke, she stood up and walked over to Xu Huo. She slapped the wooden puppet, which was attempting to attack, scattering its parts. Then she picked up the root and smacked it a couple of times on its rear. ”Wake up.”

The humanoid root’s limbs became active again, stretching like someone waking up, before opening its mouth wide towards Granny Bai.

Granny Bai reached her hand into its mouth, completely ignoring the root veins that were sucking her blood. She felt around inside and slowly pulled out a white block about half the size of a palm.

After retrieving the block, she pulled out the root veins that had embedded themselves into her arm, balled up the humanoid root, and placed it into a jar beside her. Then, smiling at Xu Huo, she said, ”After all these years, you’re the only one who brought back the real tooth.”

”Although there was an element of trickery involved, I’ll still count it as you completing the third task.”

As her words faded, Xu Huo heard the game notification sound:

[Congratulations to player Extra for successfully clearing the dungeon ”The Storytelling Woman.” You completed all three tasks of this dungeon ahead of schedule and gained the recognition of the Storytelling Woman. In addition to the standard dungeon rewards, you will receive an extra reward from the Storytelling Woman.]

[Below is the player task completion rating for this dungeon:]

[Player Extra: A Grade]

[Player Aging Gracefully: C Grade]

[Player Handsome Man Fishing for Frogs: C Grade]

Only three players survived this dungeon, making it clear who was who.

Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin looked at Xu Huo with a mixture of disbelief and admiration. Neither had expected that the ”tooth” Tang Yuan was searching for was the real item. The tooth, captured by the wooden puppet and returned to Granny Bai, not only earned an A-grade evaluation but also came with an extra reward.

”Thank you,” Xu Huo said calmly to Granny Bai. If she hadn’t acknowledged his completion, he would never have gotten the A-grade evaluation.

Granny Bai handed him the white block. ”Consider it repayment for that Golden Powder Purple flower.”

Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin’s expressions shifted slightly, but before they could say anything, Granny Bai waved her hand, and they were expelled from the floral cottage.

”Isn’t this item something necessary for you to protect Fairy Tale City?” Xu Huo asked in surprise. ”Is it really alright to just give it to me?”

Granny Bai gestured for him to sit down and brought over a fresh pot of tea. ”I no longer have any attachment to Fairy Tale City. After I die, I won’t care what happens here.”

Xu Huo fell silent for a moment before hearing her continue, ”There are actually sixteen Angel’s Teeth. These sixteen teeth represent sixteen independent small spaces. These spaces are distributed under the same wormhole point. If you leave E27 and go to other wormhole points, new independent small spaces will be generated.”

”However, the owner of the item doesn’t know where these sixteen places are; they can only travel back and forth between these sixteen spaces.”

Xu Huo paused. ”Aren’t all sixteen of those locations currently within Fairy Tale City now?”

”The use of an item is limited by the player. For low-level players, the range an item can affect might only be a single city or a small village. But high-level players can expand that range to cover an entire wormhole point.”

”I only kept six teeth in Fairy Tale City. The other teeth are still in other locations within E27.”

Xu Huo gripped the block in his hand and asked, ”How can one reach other wormhole points?”

Granny Bai, however, just smiled. ”That’s too far off for you right now. Keep the tooth; you’ll find a use for it later.”

”You said you’re from Zone 014,” she changed the subject, her tone meaningful. ”Young man, you haven’t been careful enough. Someone has their eye on you.”

*

In a station not far from Xu Huo’s departure point, a man with no eyebrows watched a colorful lizard sniffing around inside the station. After confirming the direction, he grinned, revealing a mouth of blackened teeth. ”Looks like he went to the Building Block Fairytale City Station.”