Chapter 45: The Never-Sleeping Imperial City 7

"Snap!"

Suddenly, Xia Qi was forcefully pressed to the ground by the Night Emperor, his back hitting the floor with a thud.

Fortunately, the Night Emperor had one arm around his back, significantly reducing the impact, preventing Xia Qi from being hurt.

Since their faces were extremely close due to their overlapping positions, the Night Emperor's hot breath blew onto Xia Qi's face, causing him to instinctively turn his head away to avoid contact.

After Xia Qi turned his head, the Night Emperor's breath landed on his neck, making him feel an unusual burning sensation on the skin where it touched.

Xia Qi uncomfortably wriggled again, trying to focus and look in the direction where the arrow had fallen.

He saw that the arrow hadn't embedded itself into a pillar but had instead landed on the ground. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the arrow lacked an iron tip; instead, a yellow talisman was tied to its point.

Seeing the traces of cinnabar on the yellow talisman, Xia Qi's eyes twitched. He pushed the chest of the person on top of him, cleared his throat, and said, "Are they after you?"

Initially, Xia Qi thought the arrow was aimed at him, but it turned out they were targeting the Night Emperor.

The Sky Seers were indeed bold and skilled players, daring to challenge the dungeon's boss.

"Mmm..." The Night Emperor responded softly, then lowered his head and chuckled lightly by Xia Qi's ear, "My Moon God, are you worried about me?"

His voice was deep and pleasant, naturally hoarse, making it very soothing to the ears.

Xia Qi expressionlessly thought, "No, I'm not. Don't make things up."

Seeing the red mark on Xia Qi's neck, the Night Emperor narrowed his eyes, pretending not to notice, and then got up seriously.

As soon as the Night Emperor sat up, another yellow talisman arrow arrived. With a swift wave of his right sleeve, he swept it away.

"My Moon God, were you frightened?" After disposing of the yellow talisman arrow, the Night Emperor extended his hand to help Xia Qi up.

Xia Qi steadied himself and was about to stand when another yellow talisman arrow shot in, nearly hitting his head.

Seeing these endless yellow talisman arrows, the Night Emperor grew furious.

"Looking for death!"

These insignificant outsiders dared to disrupt his ritual repeatedly. What did they want?!

The Night Emperor slipped his hand through Xia Qi's waist, lifting him up before Xia Qi could refuse.

Xia Qi, still holding the Moon God lamp, was suddenly lifted off the ground, making him lose his balance. Then, the Night Emperor's other hand slid under his knees, and Xia Qi barely managed to utter an "Ah" before being carried into the air.

The Night Emperor moved swiftly, flying off the dragon boat. Fearing he might fall, Xia Qi held the Moon God lamp with one hand and clung to the Night Emperor's neck with the other.

Due to the attack on the dragon boat, chaos had erupted along the riverbank, with soldiers rushing around searching for the assailants.

"Outsiders, come out and die!" The Night Emperor floated high in the sky, his voice deep and powerful, roaring down below.

Noticing something amiss in his voice, Xia Qi looked up at him.

The Night Emperor's eyes, dark like lacquer, had become even darker, his lips redder than before. Strange patterns appeared on his cheeks, extending down his neck and disappearing beneath his clothes.

Simultaneously, a heavy oppressive aura surrounded the Night Emperor, different from ordinary anger; it instilled a sense of awe, making one involuntarily shudder.

Sensing Xia Qi's gaze, the Night Emperor suddenly lowered his head, rubbing his chin against Xia Qi's forehead, looking incredibly doting. "Don't be afraid, I'll kill them for you."

Xia Qi: "..."

Their peculiar floating posture and the Night Emperor's possessive words made Xia Qi feel a chill down his spine, as if he had become a seductive concubine or a national disaster.

However, the Night Emperor didn't find anything wrong. He looked serious, carefully observing the crowd below.

Soon, the Night Emperor identified his target.

A gust of wind rushed past Xia Qi's ears, and when he opened his eyes again, they were perched on the eaves of a tall building.

In front of them, three people were squatting, each holding a bow and arrow, with a basket of yellow talisman arrows on their backs—clearly the ones who had been shooting at them.

Two of them had familiar, sneaky-looking backs.

The three people squatting in front of them were completely unaware of anything amiss, discussing how to continue their ambush.

"Did we hit them?"

"Should have hit them; the arrows flew in..."

Without hesitation, the Night Emperor stepped forward, his right hand forming a claw, and with lightning speed, he reached into the back of the middle person's heart.

"Ahh!" The person only managed a scream before collapsing, convulsing and going limp.

The Night Emperor sneered, pulling his bloody hand out of the person's chest, holding a bloody heart.

Compared to the methods of the Earl, who swung a large sword to decapitate, and the Sea King, who stabbed throats with a trident, the Night Emperor's technique was undoubtedly the fastest and most direct, killing the player in an instant without warning.

Seeing the still-beating heart in the Night Emperor's hand, Xia Qi was deeply shocked.

"It's the BOSS!" After one Sky Seer was killed, the remaining two quickly turned around. Seeing the Night Emperor and Xia Qi, Cha Gong exclaimed in horror, "Xia Qi?"

Cha Gong couldn't believe it. Hadn't Xia Qi just been on the dragon boat? How did he suddenly appear behind them with the BOSS?!

Cha Gong's mind was in turmoil. At that moment, the scar-faced man pushed him toward the ground, shouting, "Watch this!"

"Be careful!"

As the scar-faced man raised his hand, Xia Qi sensed danger and pushed the Night Emperor aside. Due to the recoil, he fell off the roof in another direction.

"Whoosh!"

The scarred man threw something that looked like a chalk brush, and it, wrapped in thick smoke, floated over Xia Qi's head.

Xia Qi's eye twitched. He had seen this chalk brush before—in the Rose Earl instance dungeon, Cha Gong had used it to knock him out through the cripple.

"Run!" The scarred man shouted again.

Although they didn't land a hit on the boss, Xia Qi pushing Night Emperor away bought the scarred man and Cha Gong time to escape.

The two of them jumped off the roof and ran in the opposite direction.

"Intruders!"

After being pushed down by Xia Qi, Night Emperor floated back up.

In fact, if Xia Qi hadn't pushed him, he would have killed both intruders. To him, that strange smoking brush had no effect on him at all.

Unfortunately, his Moon God was worried about him getting hurt, which led to his actions.

Although Night Emperor was angry about the intruders, he felt warm inside because of Xia Qi's protective behavior just now.

"My Moon God, are you alright?"

Originally, Night Emperor planned to chase after the intruders, but remembering that Xia Qi had also fallen, he had to abandon the pursuit and began searching for Xia Qi on and under the roof.

He searched for a while but couldn't find any trace of Xia Qi.

Where did he go?

Night Emperor descended from the high roof to the spot where Xia Qi had fallen.

He searched some more but still found nothing.

Night Emperor frowned. He clearly saw Xia Qi fall from the roof; how could he suddenly disappear?

Just as he was puzzled, he noticed a black cloud-patterned shoe lying in the corner.

After escaping from Night Emperor, Xia Qi, ignoring the task of lighting the Moon God lamp, sneaked along the wall, heading back.

Earlier, due to his hurried escape, he had even lost one of his shoes.

He still held the Moon God lamp, but now he had taken off his outer robe and draped it over the lamp, temporarily covering most of its light.

Navigating through narrow alleys, Xia Qi followed the river back to the outskirts of Nightless City.

It was already late at night, yet the financial guy was still selling watermelons at his stall. His voice was hoarse, sounding almost desperate: "Fellow villagers, don't miss out! Blessed by the Moon God, these watermelons are worth having!"

Xia Qi: "..."

Not bad timing.

Xia Qi carefully searched the crowd and finally spotted Sister Hong on another street.

"Sister Hong!"

Hiding behind a stack of baskets, Xia Qi called out to Sister Hong and Xiao Yu's backs.

Sister Hong, surprised that Xia Qi had returned, quickly pulled Xiao Yu to where Xia Qi was hiding.

"What happened?" She felt embarrassed that they had gotten separated earlier.

Xia Qi quickly recounted what had happened, and Sister Hong's face changed: "The Sky Seers are actually so bold?!"

They dared to kill a boss—were they courting death?

"There's something odd about this yellow talisman; it might be able to harm ghosts," Xia Qi frowned, recalling the events. "This bow and arrow and the yellow talisman seem to be standard equipment for all Sky Seers. Why don't we have them? Could it be... that the system specifically provided them?"

What was even more bizarre was that Cha Gong and the other two were wearing Taoist robes. Xia Qi didn't think they would buy Taoist robes in the central space and bring them in here.

Sister Hong thought carefully and confirmed Xia Qi's suspicion: "In different games, the difficulty of tasks for various factions can vary. Sometimes, to maintain balance, the game will provide exclusive items to different factions."

Could it really be like that?!

Xia Qi was shocked to realize that their factions had different tasks and starting items.

"Could these exclusive items be related to other ways of passing the level?" Xia Qi asked.

Sister Hong nodded: "You're right. Besides killing the boss, there is usually a normal way to pass the level."

Therefore, the yellow talismans in the Sky Seers' hands might have other uses and could even be key items for passing the level.

"We need to be careful." Sister Hong said with concern. "From the current situation, they might be the attackers, and we are the defenders. I've participated in similar games before."

After discussing for a while, they found no further clues.

"I'll head back first." Sister Hong sighed, looking helplessly at the little zombie she was holding. "Xiao Yu is tired."

In this role-playing game, she was completely tied down by Xiao Yu, leaving her no time to help Xia Qi track the Sky Seers.

Sister Hong planned to put Xiao Yu to sleep and sneak out later to gather clues.

After all the commotion, Xia Qi felt exhausted and decided to go home with Sister Hong.

Upon returning home, Xia Qi found that Grandma Meng was already asleep, so he quietly went into the next room and slept soundly through the night.

The next day, while still deeply asleep, he was awakened by loud knocking on the door.

Rubbing his temples, he slowly got out of bed and went to open the door.

During the day, Grandma Meng had turned back into a zombie. Although her face had lost its color, her expression remained exaggerated and very happy.

She looked at Xia Qi with a smile and said in a very gossipy tone, "Baby Qi, did you know? Last night at the Moon God Lantern Festival, His Majesty met his Moon God. But later, the Moon God got lost and only left behind a shoe."

Xia Qi rubbed his eyes and looked at Grandma Meng in confusion, gesturing for her to continue.

Seeing that Xia Qi was listening attentively, Grandma Meng cleared her throat and continued, "Today, the guards will go door to door to find the right person of the right age. Whoever can fit into that cloth shoe will be His Majesty's Moon God!"

After saying this, Grandma Meng clenched her fists excitedly and cheered Xia Qi on, "I bet it's a small woman's shoe, but don't worry, my Baby Qi, you still have a chance!"

Xia Qi: "…"

That wasn't a small woman's shoe; it was a size 42 man's shoe.