Dou Dou kept his head down, searching for that “destined little grass,” his eyes nearly going cross-eyed, and he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings. As a result, he unknowingly walked further and further away. This wasn’t a big deal, as there were no visible dangers. However, while he was walking just fine, he suddenly bumped into something, hitting it hard and falling backward like a sack of potatoes, causing a large bump to swell on his forehead.
The others rushed over. Li Wenjun reached out a hand and pulled Dou Dou up. Dou Dou covered his forehead, his nose stinging with pain, nearly bringing him to tears.
Strangely, they didn’t see anything in front of Dou Dou, and he couldn’t explain it either. Xin Meng cautiously took two steps forward and reached out to touch, only to find a transparent wall.
“There’s a wall?!” The others were taken aback.
Xin Meng followed the wall and felt around, going around in a full circle, and finally discovered that they were surrounded by a total of four invisible walls!
Or rather, they were actually in a small room, and the scenery around them was an illusion.
“Are we trapped?” Dou Dou had never seen such a scene, his jaw nearly dropping to the ground. “Invisible walls… Damn! This is terrifying! This is so unscientific!”
“You being here is already unscientific,” Xin Meng replied, still feeling the wall, which was smooth and devoid of anything resembling a doorknob.
“Knock,” You Yi said.
Xin Meng curled his fingers and knocked on the wall. Sure enough, a dull sound echoed back, indicating it was quite thick.
He continued to knock around the sides. The others saw this, and aside from You Yi and Li Wenjun, who were closely following him like guardians, the others spread out, each knocking on a different wall. Finally, Luo Yingying knocked on the lower right corner of the wall in front of her and produced a different sound.
“Dong dong.”
“This place seems empty!” Luo Yingying shouted.
Everyone gathered around, squinting to see clearly, but they could only see a stretch of air…
Li Wenjun pounded on that spot, and it indeed produced a hollow sound. “Maybe the exit is here.”
“But we have no tools, how do we break the wall?” Dou Dou frowned.
Li Wenjun stood up, took two steps back, and kicked it hard. His strength was considerable; even Xin Meng, who was lightly supporting the wall, felt a strong vibration. However, it still didn’t cause any damage.
The others were at a loss. Xin Meng hesitated for a moment, glanced at You Yi, and showed a look of inquiry, to which You Yi nodded in response.
Qi Xiaokui, seeing this scene, was puzzled about what they were playing at, when Xin Meng walked over and hesitantly said, “How about… I give it a try?”
“You?” Li Wenjun looked him up and down, moved his lips but said nothing.
It wasn’t that he looked down on Xin Meng; it was just that Xin Meng was thin and frail, lacking muscle, and his footsteps were heavy. It was clear he wasn’t a fighter. If Li Wenjun couldn’t kick the wall down, how could Xin Meng have the strength?
But saying it out loud would hurt the other’s pride, and since it was their first time teaming up and they weren’t familiar yet, Li Wenjun didn’t want to start off on a bad note, so he silently stepped aside.
Xin Meng took a deep breath in front of the wall, then suddenly shouted loudly, leaping up and kicking the wall with his toes. There was a loud bang, as if something had shattered, and that originally empty space revealed a black hole!
Except for You Yi, everyone else’s jaws dropped to the ground.
“You, you…” Qi Xiaokui stammered in shock, “Are you still the Xin Meng I know… Did you take a strength potion or something…”
She suddenly remembered something and exclaimed, “Is it the ability from the last game?”
Xin Meng nodded, “I feel incredibly strong now.”
The other three newcomers clearly had no idea what they were talking about and only realized after hearing the explanation from the two.
Luo Yingying first congratulated Xin Meng, then said enviously, “Why haven’t we encountered such a scenario? If I had that ability, I wouldn’t be dragging my husband down.”
Xin Meng didn’t go into too much detail about the conditions of the Demon King’s inheritance or how You Yi sacrificed himself for him. One reason was that he didn’t want to bring up sad topics again, and the other was to be cautious, as they had just met and it wasn’t good to share too much.
Only Dou Dou seemed a bit speechless, “In novels, the Demon King is always depicted as omnipotent, the ultimate super boss. You inherited the Demon King’s power, and it turns out you’re just incredibly strong?”
He then looked regretful.
Xin Meng: “…Do you particularly love reading novels?”
Dou Dou didn’t notice that the other’s tone was a statement rather than a question, and he nodded excitedly, “Yeah, yeah! Everyone in our dorm loves reading. How did you know?”
Xin Meng smiled helplessly, “There’s a gap between novels and reality… But actually, it’s not just incredible strength; there’s also a special ability.”
Qi Xiaokui asked curiously, “What is it?”
Xin Meng extended his hand, and to everyone’s astonishment, his backpack appeared out of thin air. As they widened their eyes in disbelief, he flipped his hand, and the backpack disappeared again.
“Inventory.”
When he first entered this game, his backpack had already been removed from him and placed directly into the skill bar. He could check it anytime he wanted and take items out at will.
It was also because of this that Xin Meng finally understood where You Yi’s endless strange items in the last game came from.
You Yi confirmed this guess. Once he became an NPC, he had an inventory, and most of the items he used later were from there. In fact, there were many other things available for him to choose from flexibly.
“This is really great!” Dou Dou was very excited. “Just like playing a game! So convenient!”
However, the other veteran players exchanged glances, tacitly understanding the practicality of this thing—
One, there was usually nothing worth taking in the game, and two, even if they did take something, they couldn’t bring it into the next game. Aside from not having to carry a backpack and saving some effort, what else was it good for? Besides, the backpack wasn’t heavy…
However, the others maintained a decent level of quality and didn’t rain on Xin Meng’s parade.
Xin Meng and You Yi exchanged a glance, without any verbal communication, but one was the current ability holder, and the other was a former ability holder, both had a clear understanding of the inventory situation.
Led by Li Wenjun, followed closely by Luo Yingying, then Qi Xiaokui, Dou Dou, Xin Meng, and finally You Yi bringing up the rear, the group bent down and crawled out through the dark hole.
When they stepped out of the exit, the few of them thought they had encountered a ghost wall, as the scenery outside was almost identical to the place they had just been!
What quickly dispelled this possibility was the tree that had appeared on the grassland.
The enormous tree crown resembled a swollen mushroom, with a neat and beautiful shape, and more importantly, it was strikingly out of place.
The group quickly walked to the tree. Dou Dou reached out to touch the trunk, just about to marvel at how real it looked when the tree crown suddenly swayed without wind, revealing four large red glowing characters at the top: Save Successful.
“It really is a save point!” Dou Dou exclaimed joyfully, almost laughing with his hands on his hips and looking up at the sky.
Suddenly, a violent tremor came from beneath their feet. Luo Yingying and Qi Xiaokui lost their balance and nearly fell, but fortunately, Li Wenjun caught one in each hand just in time. Just when everyone thought there was an earthquake, the shaking immediately stopped.
“What on earth is this…” Luo Yingying was about to ask when her gaze fixed on one direction, where the ground had inexplicably bulged up with several mounds, and those mounds seemed to be breathing, rising and falling. Soon, the tops were punctured, and something began to emerge from the mounds…
Black, shadowy children crawled out, using their hands and feet, standing on the ground and looking at them. Counting them, there were exactly ten!
These children looked strange, with extremely thin limbs, frog-like bulging bellies, and furry faces!
“Heavens!” Luo Yingying seemed very frightened, covering her mouth and taking a step back, immediately being shielded by Li Wenjun, yet still unable to believe, “These, these are children?!”
The others remembered she was a kindergarten teacher and probably felt even more sensitive to these child-like monsters.
The ten strange black children stood together, and they suddenly began to sing in unison, their voices like nails scraping against glass, painfully grating on the ears, the tune eerie, with lyrics from a bizarre nursery rhyme: “Ten little black children, running to find food; if one dies, there’s no way to save, only nine left…”
As they sang, they suddenly started to run!
Not towards the crowd in a threatening manner, but all at once in another direction, leaving the group momentarily stunned and unable to react.
“Are they not monsters?” Dou Dou wondered, “Why are they running away before we even attacked?”
Xin Meng frowned and thought for a moment, then said, “Let’s chase and see!”
So they started running, following behind those black creatures. Not knowing the reason, they didn’t dare to get too close, maintaining a certain distance, neither too far nor too near.
The black creatures didn’t look back, as if unaware they were being followed, or like clockwork puppets, only knowing to keep running forward, tightly huddled together, moving like a rolling giant black coal ball.
The two groups raced across the grassland, gradually, the unchanging scenery around them finally began to change. The dense wild grass became sparser, revealing the deep yellow earth beneath. After running for a while, they could even see a city wall appearing in the distance!
There was a town ahead!
When they reached the city wall, the group’s footsteps unconsciously slowed down a bit. However, those ten black little monsters showed no signs of stopping, rushing straight into the wide city gate.
Xin Meng and the others had no choice but to follow.
Once they entered the city gate, they could see the scene inside. It seemed to be a small town, with many single-story houses, but the architectural style was very Western, and most doorways were adorned with various flowering plants, giving a warm and comfortable feeling.
However, there was no one around. The streets and alleys, every house, were empty.
