Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Despite the little child’s persistent pleas for help, the three figures lying on the ground remained unresponsive. Were it not for the faint rise and fall of their chests with each breath, they would have appeared lifeless.

Seeing that his three "brothers" on the ground wouldn't stir, Su Ximu turned his gaze towards the tin shack's door, a timid expression on his face.

He was too young to comprehend what had truly befallen him.

All he remembered was crying incessantly last night before bed, missing his parents. Then, his father had suddenly returned home.

To soothe his tears, his father bought him a brown teddy bear, and he had fallen asleep clutching it.

But upon waking the next day, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar place.

There, too, was a brown bear, much like his toy, but this one was enormous, terrifying, and could speak.

The giant bear, in a chilling voice, declared it wanted to play hide-and-seek, outlining rules and threatening to devour him if he broke them or was found.

Within the fantastical castle, everything was gargantuan. Without his grandmother or parents by his side, his cries went uncomforted.

Fearing the giant bear would indeed eat him, he bravely stifled his sobs, reaching for the hide-and-seek rules the bear offered, hoping to decipher them.

Yet, many of the words were beyond his recognition.

The bear, indifferent to his literacy, covered its eyes and began counting the moment he took the paper.

He could only clutch the rules and walk away from the bear. When exhaustion set in, he burrowed into a pile of plush toys to hide.

He hadn't been hidden long—perhaps not even a hundred counts—when the bear's voice suddenly boomed, "Little friend, I found you!"

Then, the plush toy above his head was lifted away by the bear.

But before the bear could truly devour him, a loud commotion erupted outside. The bear, seemingly enraged, forgot all about him, turning to rush out and fight.

Its adversary was a big gray wolf wearing a little red hood.

From that moment, Su Ximu understood: his grandmother's stories were true. Disobedient children really were snatched away and eaten.

Perhaps by a toy bear, or perhaps by a wolf disguised as a grandmother.

He had cried last night, he had been disobedient, and so he was taken.

The castle had no windows, and the fighting bear and wolf blocked the entrance.

Finally, the little one, having struggled out of the plush toy pile, saw the bear at the door, its arm torn off by the wolf, revealing white stuffing.

Then, the bear's head was also ripped off.

The bear's toy castle suddenly shook violently, tossing him into the air.

In a blink, the entire castle vanished. He was flung into a gray, hazy expanse.

Everything was gray and misty, like the fog his grandmother had taught him to identify.

The gray fog was thick and stretched far. He walked through it for a very long time until he finally found a somewhat firm edge, through which he squeezed with effort.

He thought he had found his way home, but instead, he tumbled into yet another unfamiliar place.

He remembered clearly falling from a great height, yet the impact hadn't hurt much.

He had fallen from the terrifying bear's toy castle into a cluster of small houses.

Then, he fell directly from the roof of one small house into the room below.

The room was occupied by three brothers. He wanted to ask them for help, but all morning, they had ignored him.

Realizing this, the little one immediately stopped crying. He began to sniffle and apologize to the brothers who were pretending to sleep.

"I'm sorry," he said, his eyes and nose red from crying, his voice slightly hoarse, but his apology was earnest. "I, brothers, I... I didn't mean to fall through your roof."

"I looked carefully—the roof isn't broken."

"There are so many little houses outside. I don't know... *sob*... I don't know how to get around..."

"Brothers, if you take me home, I'll share all my candy with you, okay?"

When he squeezed through the gray fog and fell, he saw a vast expanse of small houses. Even from high up, he couldn't see where the cluster of houses ended.

So, after falling, he didn't dare to go out on his own.

Although the three brothers in the room ignored him, they didn't hit him or drive him out.

Having once witnessed kidnappers being tied up and beaten, the little one, in such a situation, trusted these three not-much-older brothers more than any adult.

As for how he determined they were pretending to sleep—it was simply one of Su Ximu’s innate skills.

He just knew that although the three brothers appeared to be breathing steadily and lying motionless as if dead asleep, not one of them was actually asleep.

Finally, he saw the brother lying in the middle open his eyes a slit.

242 felt a drop of water fall on his arm.

In this world, water was an extremely precious resource.

Only at the beginning of each month could each resident receive a small bucket of water. Normally, all residents had to rely on the paste from the feeding tube to fill their stomachs and supplement their moisture.

For the rest of the time, city residents had almost no chance to encounter water—unless the inspectors came for their annual routine inspection.

Before each inspection, all residents were herded by the managers under a large water cannon. The gushing water would wash away all the accumulated grime.

At such times, many residents couldn’t help but try to open their mouths to drink, but they couldn’t. Before that, they were already fitted with steel mouthpieces.

To present a clean and tidy city image to the inspectors, the managers of each district preferred to use water to wash the residents and let the dirty water seep into the sandy ground, rather than allow them to drink even a single sip against their will.

Their severely dehydrated bodies were drenched with water, yet their mouths couldn’t open even a crack.

From birth until now, 242 had never pondered anything, but instinctively, he remembered that trapped, desperate craving.

Now, a drop of water had appeared out of nowhere on his arm.

242, now fully awake, raised his left arm to his mouth.

As he moved, the shackle on his left wrist clanked.

The sound caused the other two lying down to also open their eyes a slit.

The weight of a single drop of water was just enough to slightly moisten the tip of his tongue.

For the first time, a faint, almost imperceptible emotion akin to doubt arose in 242’s thoughts.

He wondered where this drop of water came from.

Then, he saw the child crouching nearby, his little face wet with tears.

The next second, the dungeon world stalled almost imperceptibly.

Su Xuanxiao looked down at the designated half-grown boy lying on the ground, numbered 241—so powerless, like the ubiquitous plankton in this world, living and dying within a day.

But he hesitated no longer. After casting one lingering look at Xiao Xi, he stopped resisting the dungeon world's pull. His entire form dissipated like black mist, merging entirely into the body of the shackled boy.

Su Juzi and the eldest brother arrived in the dungeon world in quick succession. He looked at Xiao Xi, whose memories had been temporarily suppressed by his dungeon world, even regressed to childhood, along with the eldest brother and Jiang Lou.

Many spirits have obsessions.

Su Juzi knew he had obsessions too.

But before today, he had never imagined that, due to the third brother’s actions, his obsession would keep Xiao Xi from leaving this dungeon world in the quickest way. Nor had he ever thought that, in the years since Xiao Xi left, the dungeon he'd built would revolve around Xiao Xi as its core.

The moment Xiao Xi entered this dungeon world, he became its core, not just an ordinary player. There are feasible ways to pull regular players out of a dungeon ahead of time. But to safely extract the core of a dungeon, Su Juzi thought, he would need to practice on hundreds, even thousands, of dungeons with core components outside.

Looking at the little one whose eyelashes were still damp from crying, Su Juzi crouched down and held the child gently in a phantom embrace for a long while, his heart full of tenderness.

He also cast a somewhat disdainful glance at No. 242—his younger self.

He thought, "Sleep, sleep, sleep. Once you’re dead and become a spirit, you’ll have all the time in the world to sleep."

After a while, as the dungeon's frozen state was about to end, Su Juzi finally released the little one, gave one long, last look, turned around, and merged into the body of the half-grown boy numbered 242.

The next second, the dungeon continued.

242 reached out his hand, the chains clattering loudly again.

Seeing that this older brother had finally been roused and seemed to want to reach out and touch him, Su Ximu felt a twinge of fear and thought about backing away. But since the older brother showed no intention of hitting him, he stayed still obediently.

Because the little one didn’t move or resist, 242’s outstretched hand easily touched his cheek.

A few seconds later, after wiping the tears from the little one’s face, 242 withdrew his hand and looked at his palm—it was also wet.

242 lowered his head, just intending to lick it again.

But another head shot forward quicker than his.

242 immediately turned away, not giving his younger brother, No. 243, a chance to steal his water.

On the other side, the little one, who had thought the older brother just wanted to touch him but ended up having his face thoroughly wiped, stared blankly at the scene before him. Still puzzled, he let out another sob-hiccup.