Chapter 154 – Vanilla Forest (Part 2)
by Salted FishThe difference between humans and animals isn’t that humans use tools or harness fire—it’s that humans can lie. Scammers, then, are the pinnacle of this skill among humans. They possess extraordinary composure and effortless calm, and even if caught red-handed attempting suicide by train, they can smile faintly and tell you they were just doing push-ups on the tracks.
Wandering Monk was clearly not a high-level scammer, hence his repeated denials, which even made 438 cringe on his behalf, reluctant to press further. Those two useless plants might as well be tossed aside to free up inventory space.
The scammer continued his feeble explanations in whispers, his lackluster excuses and clumsy rhetoric testing even the patient 438’s limits to the point where he almost clicked the mute button. But just as he moved his cursor, 438’s sharp eyes caught a glimmer of light in the distance!
It was a Demon Refiner’s innate intuition—like how Black Cat Detective1Chinese cartoon series. could always sniff out crime—that told him the fleeting glimmer in the bushes seven or eight meters away was definitely not a player… Spirit Valley! Suddenly, 438 grasped the hidden meaning behind the name: not just ordinary mobs, but spirits—sentient beings, which meant… pets!!
Without time to think, 438 dashed forward, practically teleporting into the bushes in the blink of an eye. By then, the creature had already fled several meters, but it still couldn’t escape the Bell Maiden’s attack range and was firmly immobilized midair.
438 didn’t even have time to see what the pet looked like before immediately chanting the Capture spell. After all, the Bell Maiden’s airborne attack dealt continuous damage—if the pet had low defense, it could be dead in seconds >_<
The first capture attempt failed, and the pet’s HP was already halved.
Sweating, 438 quickly began a second chant, resolving that if this didn’t work, he’d recall the Bell Maiden and try to win the pet over with sweet talk.
Chanting at 60%!
Chanting at 70%!
Chanting at 90%!
Chant interrupted!
Chant… interrupted?!
Not only was the chant interrupted, but the Bell Maiden was automatically recalled too!
Before 438 could even process what was happening, his screen abruptly turned black and white, followed by two lines of system text scrolling across—in calligraphy font, no less:
“Too much passion leaves naught but regret,
And this regret stretches endlessly on.”
438 suddenly realized—he was dead.
In Huaxia Online, death meant a black-and-white screen accompanied by poetic epitaphs. Normally, it was something like, “Laugh not at those drunk on the battlefield, for few return from war since ancient times.” But now, in the Lover’s Constellation expansion, even the death messages had shifted from heroic to melancholic.
But how had he died out of nowhere?
[Local] Moriarty: [Stag Beetle]. If I’d known it was this, I wouldn’t have bothered even if it was free.
The murderer emerged from the shadows, providing 438 with his answer.
[Local] Moriarty: But damn, you’re squishy. I only hit you once.
[Local] Moriarty: That pet of yours was kinda interesting, though. You died too fast—I didn’t get a good look. What was it?
[Local] Moriarty: Oh right, dead people can’t talk.
[Local] Moriarty: Hey, aren’t you gonna respawn? I’m a Demon Refiner—I can’t resurrect you.
A very chatty murderer, at that.
438 was furious, but more than that, he was shocked—because he hadn’t expected Spirit Valley to allow PvP!
This… this was just too toxic TAT
Rather than keep listening to the villain gloat, 438 would rather endure the scammer monk’s endless excuses about how scarce stamp resources were in Vanilla Forest.
Clicking respawn, the Junior Demon Refiner was back at the starting point in the blink of an eye.
Now he finally understood why so many weakened players were gathered here—he was living proof.
Sitting down to recover, 438 slowly restored his HP and MP bars until the Resurrection Sickness wore off and his stats were full. Taking a deep breath, he set off for Spirit Valley once more.
In Huaxia Online, PvP was typically only allowed in open-world maps because players needed to compete for world bosses. In other words, no rewards meant no conflict—no one ever brawled over who got to enter the Main City’s general store first. So if Spirit Valley allowed killing, that meant there had to be treasure here!
Of course, not everyone had the luck to stumble upon it—like how that Stag Beetle had terrible stats—but in a game where everything hinged on RNG… just thinking about it was thrilling, exciting, and completely exhilarating~\(≧▽≦)/~
Diving back into Spirit Valley without coordinates meant he could wander freely. Since everything looked the same, 438 had no idea if he was back where he’d been earlier, but Moriarty was gone, the Stag Beetle was gone, and in their place were clusters of wildflowers, patches of grass, tall trees, short shrubs, and the occasional passing player. With no pets to fight over, they all coexisted peacefully.
About ten minutes later, night fell over Spirit Valley—in-game time had turned to evening.
438 summoned the Bell Maiden, as if bringing her along would grant him an extra layer of security.
Under the starlit sky, Spirit Valley took on a different charm. The birds had quieted, but insects chirped tirelessly, their chorus rising and falling, making the surroundings feel even more still—so still that even the most cautious of spirits finally came out of hiding…
First, a few clusters of small flowers in an inconspicuous corner trembled slightly—a motion subtly different from the game’s wind effects. Then, like a game of telephone, the trembling spread eastward from the corner.
Something was running through there!
438 turned off the background music and cranked up the sound effects, but all he could hear was the insects.
The rustling suddenly stopped.
East of the flower patch was an open grassy field, but no creature appeared there. That left only one possibility—whatever it was had stopped at the edge of the flowers, lying in wait, observing, hesitating about whether to step into the exposed clearing.
438 carefully adjusted his mouse, not daring to move too abruptly, as if even the slightest real-world noise might startle the wary little creature.
Finally, the cursor reached the edge of the flower patch. Though nothing was visible on-screen, the outline of the creature was clearly highlighted under the cursor. From the shape, it looked like a squirrel—with an unusually large tail, nearly twice the size of its body.
438 clicked left-click, and the system confirmed the target was selected—attack range: 8 meters.
Letting out a quiet breath, 438 didn’t hesitate any longer and decisively began summoning…
[Local] Moriarty: Truly, what a small world, huh? Haha.
Goddammit, this was not who he wanted to summon!!!
Before the Bell Maiden could even appear, the burly, imposing figure of Aladdin’s Genie took precedence, startling the forest’s sleeping crows into flight—and Moriarty made his grand entrance among the flurry of wings.
The squirrel?
Long gone, vanished without a trace.
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Are you insane?! Why are you following me?! And even if you are, why do you keep ruining things for me?! GIVE ME BACK MY SQUIRREL GIVE ME BACK MY SQUIRREL GIVE ME BACK MY SQUIRREL SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Moriarty was the first person in history to reduce 438 to a flailing, wailing mess. If the Ghost Server Legion saw this, they’d absolutely form a mob—shirtless, cleavers at their waists—to hunt down the perpetrator. Bullying a softie was one thing, but squeezing the peeled pulp of a persimmon? That was just cruel!
Moriarty was stunned by the outburst.
He’d expected to be cursed out for his earlier ambush, but instead, when he’d approached with sincerity and remorse, he’d been met with an explosive tirade. What kind of world was this?! Couldn’t they just play the game normally anymore TAT
[Local] Moriarty: Who’s following you?! It’s a coincidence, got it?! A coincidence!
[Local] Moriarty: And stop screeching! If I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead!
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: You want to kill me?! How could you be so evil?!
[Local] Moriarty: Holy shit, did a gym teacher teach you language arts?!
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: When I was little, my dad was always away on business and didn’t care about me. My mom was teaching in a remote mountain village, so she left me with my grandma in the countryside. The school there was underfunded, so the same teacher taught both language arts and P.E. I loved him—how dare you insult him?! That was the most precious time of my life… TAT
[Local] Moriarty: I wasn’t insulting him!!!
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: You were!
[Local] Moriarty: I wasn’t!
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: You totally were!
[Local] Moriarty: Let’s… let’s just talk about the squirrel…
Forgetfulness was one of 438’s most valuable traits. Like how he’d forget he was fighting a boss the moment he spotted rare materials, or how he’d forget his pet satchel was full when he saw an epic pet. And now, with the topic shifted, he’d forgotten all his grievances.
After much back-and-forth, Moriarty finally understood—he had kind of deserved the scolding for interrupting the pet capture. Though he still maintained his stance on the gym-teacher thing =_=
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: You killed me, stole my Stag Beetle, and now you scared off my Squirrel.
[Local] Moriarty: Guilty as charged.
[Local] Moriarty: If I’d known you were catching a pet, I wouldn’t have said anything.
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: So you admit you were wrong?
[Local] Moriarty: And then I’d have killed you after you immobilized the pet and taken it for myself.
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: ……
Commander, is this your long-lost brother?!
Moriarty wasn’t joking. If he’d known there was a pet in those bushes, he absolutely would’ve gone for a second ambush—every man for himself, survival of the fittest. But this time, he’d screwed someone over without benefiting himself, which was just awkward—even his rock-bottom moral standards were cringing. And besides… if you bully someone, they’re supposed to fight back so you can bully them again—that’s how the fun works! Just blinking teary eyes and whining about it was cheating! And then patiently explaining why you were whining? Was this the class monitor tutoring a struggling student?!
[Local] Moriarty: It’s just a squirrel—I’ll help you catch it back!
No, that wasn’t what he meant to say…
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: You think you can just catch it like that? Do you even know what it looks like or where it’ll show up?
[Local] Moriarty: If I see it, I will bring it back to you!
He must’ve been possessed by something…
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Finding pets is all about luck. You won’t see it.
[Local] Moriarty: Well, you have good luck, so I’ll just follow you, okay?
The thing possessing him was called the Spirit of Lei Feng TAT
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: You can only help me catch it—no stealing!
[Local] Moriarty: If I wanted to steal it, I would’ve said so upfront! Why are you so wordy?!
[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: High five to seal the deal! Give me five!
[Local] Moriarty: …Yay!
0 Comments