"Ah, Black Whirlwind is here. Come, come, hurry, sit down and rest a bit. Freshly picked fruit, taste it and see if it's sweet."
An obviously elderly fox smiled with great enthusiasm, directly ushering the Invincible Black Whirlwind into the thatched cottage, and then casually handed the hoe in her hand to Taotao.
"I'll chat with Black Whirlwind. That patch of land of mine hasn't been hoed yet, Taotao, help Grandma out."
Taotao obediently did not follow them inside, but gave Qi Xu a somewhat worried glance, leaning in close to whisper in her ear, "If it's too difficult, don't agree to it."
"Don't worry."
Qi Xu suddenly had a very awkward thought: she felt exactly like a reckless young man coming to the door to ask for the hand of a wealthy family's precious daughter... tricking the young lady into defying her family's orders just to marry him...
Qi Xu shook her head vigorously, tossing the messy thoughts aside, as Grandma Fox began to speak.
"Every monster race has their own exclusive Memory Crystal. Possessing a Memory Crystal means they won't be arbitrarily erased or eliminated. This is of vital importance to all monsters on the Survival Highway.
We received news that our fox clan's monster crystal is located within the Realm of Myriad Mirrors. I wonder, resolute, brave, and powerful human player, Invincible Black Whirlwind, would you be able to help us retrieve our Memory Crystal?"
A very standard piece of NPC dialogue.
Qi Xu nodded righteously. "Rest assured, Grandma, I will definitely do my best to bring the Memory Crystal back!"
After speaking, she even raised her hand and pulled her fist down to show her determination, her eyes as resolute as could be.
After saying that, the two of them suddenly laughed at the same time.
Qi Xu scratched her head. "These lines are awfully embarrassing."
Grandma Fox nodded in agreement. "It can't be helped, it's all just a formality."
"You've aged a lot." Qi Xu didn't know why she suddenly blurted out such a baseless sentence out of nowhere.
But Grandma Fox's eyes were already warm with flowing tears.
Then came a long, wordless silence. "Go on. I don't have anything good to eat here for lunch, so I won't keep you for a meal. I hope you can successfully retrieve the Memory Crystal. I can give you 20 amphibious performance tires and a Sea God's Treasure Map.
My abilities are limited, I can't help you much more. You'll have to rely on yourself for the rest. Although this journey will be very difficult, but... you can do it."
"What? I came all this way and you won't even cover my lunch!" Qi Xu asked back with an exaggerated tone, instantly making Grandma Fox laugh.
Enough had been said today. If they said anything more, it would be inappropriate.
At noon, Qi Xu managed to scrounge a meal after all, successfully squeezing her way onto the fox family's dining table.
But... looking at a table full of bloody chickens and fresh vegetable leaves covered in dirt with absolutely no signs of being cooked or processed, she suddenly felt she wasn't that hungry.
She simply took out a whole table's worth of gourmet food from her backpack, originally intending to interact with everyone and have a good chat.
Unexpectedly, everyone was frantically stuffing food into their mouths, not even bothering to lift their heads.
After the meal, Qi Xu arrived at the wooden sign for Fox Immortal Valley. The moment she gently placed her hand on it, she felt a powerful suction force.
Subsequently, she was teleported to a new, special space.
When she could faintly see things before her eyes, she discovered a dense swarm of monster silhouettes in front of her... Frightened, she immediately pulled out her twin blades, preparing for battle.
When she could finally see clearly, she realized there wasn't a single monster; they were all reflections of herself in mirrors.
Truly worthy of the name Realm of Myriad Mirrors. In any given space in all directions, wherever the eye could see, there was nothing but mirrors.
The mirrors in every direction folded and bounced the light back and forth. Even though it was clearly the same space, it forcibly reflected thousands of intersecting times and spaces.
Qi Xu reached out to touch the nearest mirror. Just as the icy sensation reached her fingertips, she felt an intense palpitation. It came so unexpectedly, as if an invisible hand had gripped her heart and suddenly squeezed tight.
Her breathing instantly stagnated, and her ears buzzed. The mirrors in all directions seemed to come alive. All the shadows in the mirrors stopped moving at this moment, turning their heads in unison, staring intently at Qi Xu with eyes that seemed to have no pupils.
Qi Xu forcefully closed her eyes, using her mental power to sever everything she was seeing. When she opened her eyes again, everything returned to normal, as if the terrifying and exaggerated scene from just now had never happened.
Qi Xu raised her right hand and touched the mirror with the tip of her blade, but no visions occurred anymore.
Observing carefully, she found that there was still a way out, even featuring quite a few branching paths. Standing at the starting point, she took a deep breath, using her memory and mental power in tandem to memorize the route as she continuously moved forward...
There was no way to keep time here, and it was very difficult to accurately calculate whether she was just walking in circles.
The route was in her mind, but the branches were numerous and long. At first, she could calculate them rationally, but gradually, her brain capacity could no longer handle it...
She could only make a rough guess, trying her best to take new paths. However, all the spaces were exactly identical, so she had no idea where to find the Memory Crystal.
After walking continuously for nearly a day, Qi Xu sighed. She had thought about it all wrong. Why treat this place as a maze? In a scenario with no rules, I am the rule.
Immediately, she stopped thinking about finding a way out and directly raised her twin blades to wildly slash at the surrounding mirrors. That soul-gripping palpitation struck again.
In layer upon layer of mirrors, although they all showed Qi Xu's figure, their expressions and demeanors were all different.
In some mirrors, Qi Xu's clothes fluttered as she sprinted in a certain direction, her face covered in scars but faintly carrying a smile. The crushed stones under her feet were clear enough to count their edges, projecting a determination to face death without turning back.
In others, she was in battle. Although the enemy couldn't be clearly seen, it had to be a very formidable opponent. She was kicked to the ground time and time again, her body dyed so thoroughly with blood that her original skin color couldn't be seen, yet she still endlessly swung her twin blades, refusing to retreat a single step.
There were even some where she was half-kneeling on the ground, roaring and crying frantically...
Qi Xu had always considered herself a very emotionally restrained person. Whether happy or sad, she habitually paid attention to her image, putting on a bit of a front.
She couldn't even believe she could be as heartbroken as she looked in the mirrors. These mirrors seemed to be dissecting Qi Xu's heart, laying out all the versions of herself she had hidden within her restrained shell!
Qi Xu stood bewildered and somewhat helpless in the center of the numerous mirrors, seemingly completely crushed by these scenes one after another. She even squatted down with a headache, burying her face in her knees, not daring to look up again.
..........
