Chapter 3

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Chapter 3:

Waiting for Li Chunzhou in the small courtyard, Qi Leyuan experienced one of the longest moments he had ever had in Dungeon World in recent years. At first, the tall servant girl grabbed his wings expressionlessly and with a frighteningly strong grip. Qi Leyuan couldn’t break free, so he decided to play dead.

Fortunately, the servant girl eventually seemed to remember her job and let go of Qi Leyuan to start working.

There was only her cleaning up the entire courtyard, which made Qi Leyuan belatedly wonder. Other than this servant girl, was there no other servant for the young girl who seemed to be highly regarded by the madam?

The surroundings were extremely quiet, as if even the sound of the wind blowing could be heard. Not sure if it was an illusion, Qi Leyuan felt like the world in front of him was gradually losing its color, and a gloomy and oppressive atmosphere was spreading.

"This is truly a world of strange tales," Qi Leyuan thought. Actually, he was more familiar with this kind of gloomy and dark environment. Or rather, this dangerous and eerie feeling was more similar to the Dungeons he had experienced before.

The sunny environment at the beginning seemed more like a deceptive illusion.

As Qi Leyuan lifted his head, he suddenly noticed that the servant girl had silently squatted in front of him at some point! The distance between them was very close, and her strange, pitch-black eyes were staring at him without blinking, as if curious yet probing.

The sky turned dark and still, as if all the air had been sucked away, making it eerily quiet.

Without realizing it, Qi Leyuan held his breath, feeling a sudden chill and his heart racing. His survival instinct screamed at him as he almost locked eyes with the maid, but he quickly looked away.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl for Qi Leyuan, each minute feeling like an eternity.

Whenever the maid looked in his direction, Qi Leyuan shut his eyes tightly, avoiding eye contact and desperately trying to think of an escape plan.

Even though he had memorized all the rules, Qi Leyuan couldn’t relax until he knew who "He" in the rules really was.

…

"I’m back!"

Li Chunzhou entered the courtyard with a vibrant greeting, her fiery red presence lighting up the surroundings.

As if she had brought a burst of color to the scenery, Qi Leyuan felt the environment shift once again. The maid stood up to welcome Li Chunzhou, and the tension eased.

As soon as he let out a sigh, he felt something strange in his buttocks – the vent relaxed and tightened again, and a small round egg dropped to the ground, with some blood on it.

"Crack."

The sound of the egg hitting the ground was particularly clear, and the atmosphere in the room fell silent again, with the eyes of two people and a chicken fixed on the spot by Qi Leyuan’s feet.

Li Chunzhou walked over, squatted down to look, then turned her head and shouted behind her, "Chihong, the little chicken laid an egg."

She called a maid to come over and look, then propped her chin and asked, "Can we eat this egg? Why is there blood on it?"

"It’s not clean, we can’t eat it." The maid stopped Li Chunzhou’s restless thoughts, picked up the egg in front of Li Chunzhou, and prepared to take it away.

Qi Leyuan was completely dumbfounded, his mental state was beyond description, having finally accepted the fact that he had turned into a chicken, a new blow hit him – he had turned into a hen!

If this got out, he would be laughed at for who knows how long. As a man of honor, his lifelong reputation would be ruined in this Dungeon!

Qi Leyuan’s heart sank, even the bright red comb drooped down, his eyes blankly staring ahead, starting to contemplate life… as a chicken.

Li Chunzhou wasn’t afraid of getting dirty. She took the egg from the maid and happily said, "Can we hatch a baby chick now, Chihong? Chickens lay eggs, chicks hatch from eggs, and then more chicks hatch. We will have plenty of eggs to eat!"

"We can’t hatch it," the maid coldly shattered her fantasy, "These are unfertilized eggs and cannot hatch into chicks."

She pointed to the blood vessels on the egg, "This must be its first time laying eggs, and these eggs are not good to eat."

"Oh," after hearing this, Li Chunzhou obediently returned the egg to the maid, "Let’s save them for later."

Thinking about making a diaper for the baby chicken, she casually waved to the maid and said, "I’m done here, go ahead and do your work."

Chihong glanced at the dejected mother hen in the corner, nodded, and then left the room.

Li Chunzhou wasn’t very skilled in sewing and lacked patience. She worked on the diaper on and off for an hour. When the diaper started to take shape, Chihong had already come in and out a few times, lighting up the room.

Li Chunzhou picked up the unmoving mother hen from the corner and tried the diaper she made. It looked good, and Li Chunzhou nodded proudly, very satisfied with her work, muttering, "I’m so good at this, I should open a shop!"

She hadn’t really thought if anyone would actually buy these diapers for birds.

Li Chunzhou thought to herself, "Let’s give you a name… What should we call you?" With a smile, she suggested, "Let’s name you Li Li!"

Even though Qi Leyuan was unhappy, he couldn’t bring himself to say "no" to the chicken.

Luckily, Qi Leyuan had explored many dungeons before, so he quickly recovered from feeling overwhelmed. He sighed and decided to distract himself by checking the chat channel in the dungeon to see what other players were talking about.

This strange world was originally a B-tier Dungeon, but because no player had successfully completed it from start to finish, it was upgraded all the way to an S-tier. There were a total of thirty players, both new and old, who entered this time.

Apart from a few new players asking frantic questions in the chat, there wasn’t much useful information being shared.

The most talked-about event of the day was when the Third Young Master of the Chen family was publicly whipped by the Second Prince’s guard on the street.

Many veteran players were speculating if this event might be a clue to the main quest of the Dungeon adventure.

Qi Leyuan had been transformed into a chicken and couldn’t type, but luckily, the chat channel was linked to the players’ thoughts. He could still convey his thoughts to others silently.

Someone asked about a clue mentioned in the rules called "Oiran," but no one responded. Each player had different information and nobody had died yet, so there was no sense of urgency among the players to share their knowledge.

After all, Dungeon rewards are distributed based on the completion of main quests.

While Qi Leyuan was busy browsing information, a thick black shadow silently cast upon the window outside the house, as if observing the people inside. The shadow did not enter the house, just stood motionless at the door for a long time.

What made Qi Leyuan aware of this approaching thing was a strong sense of being watched. He looked cautiously and could tell from the blurry figure that the person outside the door was not the maid from before.

It was definitely a man, whether friend or foe was still uncertain, as Qi Leyuan knew nothing about this Dungeon World.

But inside the house, there was only Li Chunzhou, a powerless young girl, and him – a chicken.

Qi Leyuan had participated in an A-level dungeon before. They were separated in different rooms of a villa, single rooms with door locks that couldn’t be broken by brute force. He still remembered that one night, he also saw such a mysterious black shadow by the window, and uncontrollably fell asleep, only to find the next day a photo of himself asleep taken by someone else on his phone.

Fortunately, before the second night fell, they successfully completed the dungeon. They managed to expose the monster who peeled off human skin and disguised as a human among their teammates.

Qi Leyuan’s sixth sense always managed to save his life in critical moments. At this moment, he felt that familiar sense of fear.

The room was too quiet, which made it even more eerie. Li Chunzhou’s sleeping quarters were not in the Spring Flowers Tower, but in the backyard because she found the nighttime noise at the Spring Flowers Tower bothersome. The madam arranged a separate living space for her.

So, the sounds of laughter and clinking glasses from upstairs were far away from here. Only the flickering lights were swaying in the distance, giving off a suspicious calmness.

In other words, if someone wanted to kill them here, or kill them and take on Li Chunzhou’s identity, no one would know.

Qi Leyuan’s hair stood on end as he suddenly realized he couldn’t hear the "person" outside breathing. All his senses had been enhanced in the Main God room, so if it was a living person, there’s no way there would be no sound at all.

Is it really a monster…? Is it "Him"? Did he really have such bad luck to run into the boss on the first night?

The dark figure moved towards the direction of the door. A chilling sensation swept over Qi Leyuan’s spine, causing his yellow-brown feathers to ruffle. Qi Leyuan stared intensely at the position of the door, wondering what was behind it…

"Crack!"

"Cackle cackle!!!" A sudden sound made Qi Leyuan scream involuntarily and flap his wings, causing a few feathers to fall.

Li Chunzhou hopped off the raised bed. The "crack" sound just now was her wooden clogs hitting the floor. She wasn’t scared at all, instead happily went to open the door and pull the person outside in, cheerfully saying, "A’xuan, you’re back?"

It wasn’t until the "person" was brought by Li Chunzhou into the light that Qi Leyuan realized he wasn’t a monster – just a handsome young man.

This person looks about seventeen or eighteen years old, with black hair and black eyes, almost two heads taller than Li Chunzhou. When Li Chunzhou stands beside him, she barely reaches his shoulders.

The young man first looked at her face, then nodded slowly after listening to Li Chunzhou’s words.

Qi Leyuan felt like the young man’s gaze slid past him, strange and unsettling. His gaze was light but sharp, not like feathers as Qi Leyuan first thought. When Qi Leyuan’s eyes met his, he felt like he was falling into a dark sea, as if sticky seawater was seeping into every pore, making it hard for him to breathe or think.

This feeling went away quickly, and Qi Leyuan remembered the rule about not staring at people, so he immediately looked away.

As they got closer, Qi Leyuan could hear the young man’s breathing, but his heartbeat remained faint. Qi Leyuan wondered if a person’s heartbeat could be quieter than their breathing.

Almost as soon as he had that thought, the young man’s heartbeat suddenly became louder than his breathing, making Qi Leyuan doubt if he had imagined everything.

The handsome young man’s dark eyes showed no emotion, as he kept his gaze fixed on Li Chunzhou.

He was found by Li Chunzhou by the roadside and given the surname Li, with a name randomly picked by Li Chunzhou.

Li Zhexuan lowered his head, the candlelight casting shadows on his brow and nose, hiding the details of his expression. He said, "Lady Chun… I’m hungry."

Li Chunzhou gently patted Li Zhexuan’s back, like treating him as a child, but it felt strange seeing her with the tall man.

She tiptoed to ruffle Li Zhexuan’s messy black hair, whispered a few words, then kissed his face, their lips melting together.

Li Chunzhou kindly gave him a look, no words exchanged, Li Zhexuan lifted her with one hand, so Li Chunzhou didn’t have to strain her neck.

Qi Leyuan stared in disbelief, feeling awkward, even though he was still a virgin, he had seen some adult things.

Qi Leyuan was confident in watching movies, but he still felt uncomfortable with the scene in front of him.

What made Qi Leyuan uncomfortable was not the kissing itself, but the way they kissed – lacking any romantic touch, more like beasts feeding.

The boy’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, as if swallowing something, his face showed no delight, but the swallowing motion was urgent.

Greedy, clingy, disgusting…

If kissing could devour a person, Qi Leyuan seriously doubted that the black-haired guy would devour Li Chunzhou alive.

A strange feeling filled Qi Leyuan’s mind, and he couldn’t tell if it was just his imagination, but he felt like the candlelight in the room was dimming.

The kiss lasted for a long time, so long that Qi Leyuan felt like falling asleep, unable to resist the instinct of a sleepy chicken.

Suddenly, Li Chunzhou pushed away the young man who had been holding her tightly around the waist. Her messy black hair and slightly blushing face gave off a pink, moist aura from Qi Leyuan’s perspective. Her eyes were filled with moisture and seemed unfocused.

Qi Leyuan’s throat went dry as he couldn’t look away.

The black-haired young man’s breathing remained steady, but his throat was dry as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time. He forced out his words with a strange tone, "Lady Chun… so hungry."

Li Chunzhou wiped her mouth with her sleeve, remembering being kissed by the Second Prince in the afternoon. The anger that she had suppressed earlier rose again. She clenched her fist and angrily punched Li Zhexuan, "Still hungry? My lips almost sparked from all your kissing!"

The punch didn’t affect Li Zhexuan much, but it left Li Chunzhou’s hand hurting.

Rubbing her hand, Li Chunzhou became even angrier. Despite not being the first time Liang Changfeng had mocked her, Li Chunzhou felt more and more furious, gritting her teeth, "That old scoundrel, Liang Changfeng!"

Li Zhexuan stood quietly like a wooden puppet, showing no emotion or feeling, just staying by Li Chunzhou’s side quietly, his face looking submissive and dull, as if he belonged to Li Chunzhou.

Even though there was no one else in the room, Li Chunzhou kept her voice down when she scolded, because she knew that the Dark Guard arranged by the Second Prince was hiding nearby.

Li Chunzhou shooed the stunned Li Li out of the room through the window, telling it to sleep outside. As she took a big step, she felt her hair being tugged. When she turned around, she saw Li Zhexuan chewing on her hair slowly.

Li Chunzhou wrinkled her nose, tapped him twice, pried open Li Zhexuan’s mouth, and ordered, "No eating my hair!"

Li Zhexuan obediently let go, bowed his head, even though he was much taller than Li Chunzhou, he listened to her, but kept repeating, "Lady Chun, I’m so hungry…"

Li Chunzhou felt conflicted, her lips swollen, she didn’t want to feed him with her saliva again, but Li Zhexuan was so hungry he was chewing his own hair, and she couldn’t just ignore him.

Since the first reincarnation until now, Li Zhexuan was getting hungry faster, a hunger that seemed ingrained in his body, and there were few ways to alleviate it.

After some thought, Li Chunzhou tore open a slightly scabbed wound on her wrist and offered it to Li Zhexuan, commanding him, "Drink."

Even in the candlelight, Li Zhexuan’s dark eyes reflected no light, as if they swallowed all the brightness like an abyss.

He looked at the wound on Li Chunzhou’s wrist with those eyes, then after a moment of thought, he gently licked her wrist. Soon, the licked wound scabbed up again, and even seemed to heal slightly.

Li Chunzhou felt a cold and slippery sensation on her wrist when she looked into Li Zhexuan’s dull, emotionless eyes, she saw an intense darkness that would not dissipate.

Li Zhexuan said slowly, "Lady Chun hurts, I won’t eat."

Li Chunzhou locked eyes with Li Zhexuan’s deep, bottomless black eyes. After a while, she suddenly tilted her head and smiled, then she hugged Li Zhexuan’s head and softly said, "Then I’ll kiss A’xuan again… I’ll just drink more water if need be."

After another long kiss, Li Chunzhou made sure he was no longer hungry for the moment. She then picked up a sharp piece of jewelry from the rosewood-inlaid jade box by the bed and cut open the almost healed wound on her wrist.

Since the wound had been examined by the Second Prince and couldn’t just disappear inexplicably, she dabbed the blood from the jewelry onto her fingers, then fed it to Li Zhexuan.

Seeing the satisfied look on his face, Li Chunzhou smiled in relief. In the thick darkness of night, a strange maternal glow shone from her.