Chapter 17: The Ambush

“It’s nothing. I’ll go back to sleep,” Ou Xiaolu said, casting a quick glance around Room 301 before turning to leave.

Karissa was still trying to recall how she usually entered the room. She hadn’t even finished her act, and Ou Xiaolu was already about to walk out. Who was she supposed to perform for—Charles in 302 next door?

“Wait. You haven’t told me what you found here.”

“It’s nothing,” Ou Xiaolu waved her off. “This is just a safehouse, set up against those strange things you encountered. It has limited effect on other mysterious forces. There’s nothing much to see.”

“You just took one look and didn’t check anything?” Karissa’s expression was full of disbelief.

Ou Xiaolu considered this. “If you don’t believe me, you can investigate who was staying in this room the day Mad Caesar died. I believe that in the three days before and after his death, whoever stayed here must have been the person he cared about most.”

“What do you mean by that?” Karissa shouted.

But Ou Xiaolu didn’t answer. Instead, he left Room 301 and, after a moment’s hesitation in the hallway, opened the door to 303. To Charles, who was still cleaning up the corridor, he said, “If you don’t feel like going back, you can stay in 302. Karissa has already reserved the whole floor.”

Without waiting for Charles’s response, Ou Xiaolu stepped inside, collapsed onto the bed, and prepared to sleep.

Yet as he hit the mattress, he remembered he’d done the same thing yesterday—collapsed into bed without a second thought. He hadn’t showered in two days.

The thought made him feel sticky and uncomfortable, so he quickly darted into the bathroom to wash up.

Halfway through his shower, a sudden chill crept up his back, as if something had materialized behind him. Without hesitation, he forced himself into time-stop mode and looked up into the bathroom mirror.

In the reflection, a translucent figure was slowly rising from the water behind him.

Ou Xiaolu’s heart skipped—was this a companion of the shadow from earlier, or had someone else set their sights on him?

Fortunately, he’d noticed early enough; the transparent figure had only risen to half its normal height, so Ou Xiaolu still had a chance to counterattack. Running through the cards in his mind, he immediately summoned [Minion: Giant Octopus]. At the same time, his right hand opened slightly, preparing [Skill: Frenzied Shark Bite] for attack.

As soon as time resumed, the giant octopus fell from above, instantly wrapping itself around the transparent figure. Ou Xiaolu spun around and unleashed the frenzied shark bite—a water-formed shark materialized out of thin air and began ripping apart both the octopus and the immobilized figure.

The transparent figure, taken completely off guard by Ou Xiaolu’s swift reaction, had no chance to escape. The giant shark’s first bite tore the figure in two, and it continued to savage and devour the remains.

The figure opened its mouth in a silent scream, but its body, made of water, had no vocal cords. It tried to resist, but the relentless assault of the shark gave it no opportunity to retaliate.

In the blink of an eye, the transparent figure was torn into palm-sized fragments, which then dissolved into the stream and were washed away.

The whole episode left Ou Xiaolu shaken. He couldn’t be sure if the assailant was truly eliminated—or what if it came back to attack again in the night?

With this thought, he quickly dried himself off and was about to get dressed and check outside when he noticed his interface was flashing incessantly.

This surprised him. He’d already explored both world cards; there hadn’t been any new worlds lately, so why was there a notification for experience gained?

Checking the interface, he realized he’d missed several messages. He’d earned 15 experience points for killing the shadow earlier, and another 25 for dispatching the transparent figure just now.

Though neither kill had yielded enough for a reward, Ou Xiaolu felt a rush, as if he were reaping windfalls from chaos. It took 500 experience points to level up from 1 to 2, and he’d just made a tenth of that in one go. A few more like this, and he’d reach level two in no time.

Now that he was certain the attacker was gone, he felt somewhat at ease. He was curious about who had targeted him, but this was hardly the right time to investigate.

Rushing out into the night would be fruitless—and could easily land him right in the enemy’s trap. It was better to wait for daylight.

With this in mind, he threw himself onto the bed and closed his eyes, turning his thoughts to Room 301.

He’d only taken a glance, but he’d seen clearly: the pattern of green threads was identical to the route he’d shown earlier that day while searching for graffiti.

If the graffiti artist had nothing to do with this, Ou Xiaolu would gladly hand over his head for a game of kickball.

But there was still so much he didn’t understand—was the artist acting willingly, or was someone manipulating them? Why lay out so much graffiti—what was the purpose? And how had the spiritual vein fragment become involved in all this?

Turning these questions over in his mind, Ou Xiaolu finally drifted into a deep sleep.

While he slept, Booth had already boarded a plane eastward. He’d settled all his paperwork and looked every bit the part of a tourist from the Lighthouse Country headed for the ancient lands of the East—relaxed, carrying nothing but cash and not even a suitcase.

His destination was not the second-tier city where Ou Xiaolu had grown up. Any foreigner targeting such an obscure, non-tourist city would arouse suspicion.

So Booth chose instead to head for the Magic City, planning to stay there a few days before finding another way into the city of Ou Xiaolu’s upbringing to look for clues.

Whether that would waste too much time didn’t concern him. As Ou Xiaolu’s avatar, Booth knew that Ou Xiaolu had no medium or larger worlds at hand—micro and small worlds didn’t need his intervention—so he had plenty of time to complete his mission at a leisurely pace.

As for not finding the enemy, that was impossible. As Ou Xiaolu’s avatar, Booth had a special resonance with his counterpart’s body. As long as he opened his mind, he’d sense exactly where Ou Xiaolu’s left hand was.

While Booth was making plans, someone else refused to let him rest. A white man next to him, who had slept nearly the whole journey, finally woke up, turned to Booth, and asked, “Are you going to the auction, too?”

Booth blinked. Auction? What’s going on? Uh, yes, I’m going to the auction too.