Chapter 5: Exposed Movements
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“Cold Moon has eyes but no jewels, not knowing that the Great King is the notorious Great Demon causing a stir in the human realm lately. I beg for your forgiveness for any offense I may have caused.”
Cold Moon lowered her head, looking as respectful as a dog begging for its favorite bone.
Lin Nan instantly caught on. She probably had some contact with those humans looking for Cold Moon Witch’s hiding spot, thus clued in on the truth.
Little Drill Wind, noticing Lin Nan hadn’t spoken for a while, thought she was mad at Second Great King for discovering her identity. He rushed to kneel on the ground and exclaimed, “Great King, Second Great King didn’t mean to pry into your secret!”
Old Drill Wind immediately jumped in, glaring defiantly, “Hey, Little Drill Wind, are you conspiring with Second Great King to rebel? Hmph! I’ve had my eye on you two all along!”
Little Drill Wind was so furious that the tentacles on his chin were practically doing the jitterbug. “Great King, let me speak!”
Lin Nan shot a glare at Old Drill Wind, who immediately felt a wave of pressure and ducked behind her like a turtle retreating into its shell.
[Cold Value +10]
“In the last few days, strange human adventurers have suddenly appeared near Cold Wind Cave, a place that’s usually as empty as my love life! Seeing that you were busy resting, I reported it to Second Great King. So, Second Great King took me along to investigate. To figure out why they came to Chaos Forest, she disguised herself as a human girl and talked to them, which is how we learned about their purpose.”
Lin Nan nodded, “I already knew all that. I suspect they’re trying to trace my whereabouts and send assassins from Thousand Bird City after me.”
Cold Moon lifted her head, her big, watery eyes full of admiration.
“Who would have thought the Great King, living in seclusion, would know everything happening in the world? I’m impressed.”
Is she turning into Cold Moon Witch’s little fangirl? With that serious expression, she might just be totally sincere.
“Get up, all of you. Where are those human adventurers now?” Lin Nan asked.
Little Drill Wind stood up and replied, “Thank you, Great King. After Second Great King investigated, she quietly returned, not alarmingly them for the time being.”
Lin Nan nodded, “Very well. Starting today, we’ll lock down the cave. No one is to go out so that humans won’t discover us.”
“But we did capture a stray human and were planning to interrogate him slowly in the cave.”
Lin Nan slightly furrowed her brow, “Where is he?”
d*mn it, little demons have no idea that all these players can easily stream live and share information on forums. If just one person found her hiding spot, countless others would come flooding in.
[Cold Value -10]
She took a deep breath to steady her emotions.
At this point, how could she blame the clueless NPCs?
When that human was brought before Lin Nan, she couldn’t help but sigh in relief. The guy had his hands tightly bound behind his back, and his eyes were covered with a blindfold. Not a glimmer of light could get through.
She glanced at Cold Moon, who whispered, “I was worried this guy had some special artifact that could expose our location, so I acted this way.”
Great! Having an overly cautious subordinate can actually be a good thing.
“Okay, take him to the dungeon and interrogate him thoroughly. But don’t k*ll him, got it?”
“Yes, Great King,” replied Little Drill Wind.
The human had looked a bit dazed until he suddenly perked up, turning his head this way and that as if he was trying to track down her voice.
“You’re the Cold Moon Witch, right? I’ve heard your voice in videos hundreds of times, haha, I’m betting it’s you. Wait, where am I? Ah, right, Chaos Forest.”
In an instant, Lin Nan whipped out her longsword and without a shred of mercy, sliced across his neck.
The unremarkable player crumpled to the ground, turning into a wisp of blue smoke.
Cold Moon and the others stood there, dumbfounded and breaking into icy sweats.
Old Drill Wind screamed, “Is he human or ghost?!”
Cold Moon’s heart sank. She had never seen a human corpse vanish before. Surely, this must be a new human spell! She felt a chill run down her spine, realizing she had fallen into a human trap. She hurriedly kneeled and said, “I’m guilty, I exposed your location, Great King.”
Little Drill Wind smacked Old Drill Wind aside and kneeled too, “I wanted to catch him alive; it’s not Second Great King’s fault!”
Lin Nan shook her head, “Get up. Most humans that appear in the forest are just puppets from the human realm, which can be revived upon d*ath. In the future, if you encounter such prattling and clumsy beings, just k*ll them; no need to leave any alive. Besides, ignorance isn’t a crime; you’ve done well enough.”
But Cold Moon still looked remorseful, kneeling without budging.
“Great King, please don’t blame your subordinates. Making such a serious mistake just once is enough to bring disaster to the entire tribe! I thought I was careful enough, but I didn’t expect… boohoo…”
Lin Nan comforted her, “It’s not as bad as you think. At least he’s been blindfolded this whole time and doesn’t know our exact location. We just need to lock down the cave and rest for a few days, and we’ll probably get over this crisis.”
Cold Moon continued shaking her head, refusing to get up, clearly very unhappy about the series of failures over the last couple of days.
Seeing her stubbornness, Lin Nan stopped insisting.
However, she sensed that the forest above her head, filled with lakes of all sizes, wouldn’t be peaceful for quite a while.
As for Dark Feather Crane, let it hide far away for now.
After all, so many players had seen that video, Dark Feather Crane had practically become her identity badge. If it showed up here, it would be like waving a flag to signal her location. Better to keep it at a distance; who knows, it might even mislead the players.
Once Dark Feather Crane became her mount, a small icon appeared in the system interface. Lin Nan didn’t need to talk face-to-face with it; she could control it through the system, which was quite convenient.
Just as Lin Nan was organizing the follow-up matters, the player she had just beheaded returned to the spawn point in Thousand Bird City, jumping up in excitement.
What could be more thrilling than discovering the whereabouts of the Cold Moon Witch?
He dashed to the Immortal Gate office located under the Thousand Bird Floating City, eager to snag the coveted second Inner Door Disciples slot after “Upgrade Maniac.”
“I know where the Cold Moon Witch is!” he shouted as soon as he entered.
Today’s desk duty was being handled by Inner Door Disciple Luo Xiu, who shot the player a irritated look. “Spill it. Where is she?”
The player glanced around, ensuring no one was eavesdropping, and quietly said, “She’s in Chaos Forest! I heard her voice with my own ears. I’m absolutely certain it’s her.”
“Got any proof?” Luo Xiu glared at him.
Screenshots and recordings are merely a form of spellcasting to cultivators, so NPCs are all too familiar with players snapping pics for evidence.
The player immediately froze. Since he had been tied up, he had been staring into darkness; although his livestream had technically been active, the content it displayed relied entirely on his vision. With a blindfold on, he couldn’t show anything.
He stammered, “Does audio work?”
Luo Xiu clapped his hands, “Someone, throw him out!”
“Yes, sir!”
A few brawny NPC Outer Door Disciples appeared on the spot and unceremoniously tossed the poor player outside.
“d*mn it, are cats and dogs all trying to con me? Do I look that gullible?” Luo Xiu spat at the player’s retreating back.
The player crashed to the ground, utterly disheartened.
Darn it, he risked losing half his level to send a message to Thousand Bird City and ended up treated like this.
Forget you, Thousand Bird City! He had intended to stay here long-term, but the toll to float up to the city was just too high, and he hadn’t had a chance to overlook the land from above.
Wait, he might have found a money-making opportunity.
Basic A-level quest players had no clue about Cold Moon Witch’s whereabouts, so their searches were mostly random, purely based on luck.
He went to investigate Chaos Forest for the same reason, but if he sold this info…
Two minutes later, a post appeared on the forum.
“Breaking! Cold Moon Witch has leaked her location. If you want to know more, come in and find out…”
Players clicked the post, and a message popped up, “Please pay 1 Spirit Coin to continue.”
1 Spirit Coin was pocket change for most players, even many fresh off the boat from new villages had hundreds of Spirit Coins. So, most made the decision to pay without a second thought.
Soon, a recording video showed up on their screens.
The initial part was filled with chaotic footsteps, and after a halt, voices could be heard.
There were clearly two female voices in conversation; however, due to the recording distance, some portions were hard to hear.
But then came a phrase that piqued their interest.
“I already know all this. I suspect they’re trying to trace my whereabouts and send Thousand Bird City to hunt me down.”
Isn’t that just the Cold Moon Witch’s voice?
After the player revealed Cold Moon Witch’s identity, he was immediately stabbed by her in a shocking act, causing a scream that was gut-wrenching.
Such a cold-blooded act only solidified that the voice belonged to the Cold Moon Witch for sure.
And this was probably an audio grab from the livestream, impossible to fake.
Players’ excitement shot through the roof.
“After hearing this, aren’t you all itching and unable to hold yourselves back? Let me tell you, the Cold Moon Witch is in Chaos Forest! Go, my warriors!”
In just one day, the player who posted the audio raked in tens of thousands of Spirit Coins, equivalent to four to five hundred thousand in real-world currency.
He skyrocketed to being the richest player in Thousand Bird City, making many online users green with envy.
Spirit Coins can’t be directly bought with real money; they can only be earned through completing tasks, working, or trading, which speaks volumes about their value.
Thank you, Cold Moon Witch! You’ve turned my life around; you’re my savior!
The player was moved to tears.
Forget you, Thousand Bird City! If I ever have anything to do with you guys again, I’m livestreaming my demise!
