CHAPTER 263: CHAPTER 263: CONGRATULATIONS, HOST! YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY REACHED LEVEL 20!

The first house they tried was a disaster.

The moment Xu Kai pushed the door open, a putrid wave of rot hit them in the face. Liora gagged, covering her nose with her sleeve.

A dark, wet trail seeped from one corner of the room, leaking through cracked floor tiles. The source? Unclear—and neither of them wanted to find out.

"Next," Xu Kai said simply, already backing out.

The second house was worse.

The air was thick with humidity and something else... sharp, acidic. Muted skittering echoed inside. Liora stepped through the broken threshold only to freeze mid-step.

A swarm of glossy black rats scattered beneath a broken couch—and just beyond that, something long and slick slithered into view.

A centipede the size of a forearm.

Its antennae twitched. It clicked its pincers and began crawling straight toward her.

Liora didn’t scream—she shrieked.

"Xu Kai, get me out! Get me out! I am not staying in here—I swear I will burn this whole street down!"

He didn’t argue. She was already halfway out the door by the time he reached for her wrist and hauled her back into the open.

The third house wasn’t much better.

Nor was the fourth.

One of them had webs thicker than a mattress, stretching across an entire kitchen space, and the bloated body of a mutated spider twitching in a corner like it was dreaming.

Eventually, Liora had enough.

"No more houses," she declared flatly, brushing dust and something suspiciously sticky off her boots. "Open sky is better than walls that smell like insect vomit and... whatever that juice was."

"Not going to argue," Xu Kai said, eyeing the trail of centipede slime on his boot with a look of sheer betrayal.

They returned to a relatively clear area—a cracked parking lot beside what once was a children’s park. The air was clearer here. Her shadows were still out, sweeping and slaughtering anything that dared approach.

And finally—finally—Liora took a deep breath.

"Enough filth," she muttered.

Then, with a casual flick of her wrist, she summoned the items from her space.

A big wood table appeared before her. Two matching folding chairs followed.

Xu Kai blinked. "What in the—"

She didn’t stop.

Next came a small steel kettle—already filled with warm water from her internal heat storage flask. She pulled out two sealed cups of instant noodles, set them on the table, and sat down with all the grace of a lady on a Sunday outing.

"What?" she said, seeing his face. "I’ve almost everything in my space, no need to look at me like this."

"I noticed," Xu Kai muttered, lowering himself into the chair across from her. "Do you have a chandelier in there too?"

"Not yet," she said with a straight face. But I am planning to rob from some grand mansion.

Xu Kai chuckled, accepting the cup she slid toward him.

They poured in the water, steam rising in gentle curls, and sat there in relative silence while the scent of artificial chicken flavor wafted in the air.

Around them, Liora’s shadows still danced like predators—black whips and claws shredding through wave after wave of mutated insects with a merciless precision. None got close.

It was, bizarrely, peaceful.

"So this is our apocalypse picnic," Xu Kai said, poking at the noodles with his chopstick. "Romantic."

Liora rolled her eyes, slurping loudly in response.

"This is survival," she said through a mouthful of broth. "You want romance? Find a rooftop with fairy lights."

He smirked. "You have those, don’t you?"

"...Maybe."

They ate in companionable silence after that, sitting side-by-side in a cracked parking lot surrounded by death and decay, guarded by monstrous shadows that made even the boldest insects hesitate.

Hours passed.

The sun had begun to tilt low in the sky, throwing long shadows across the cracked pavement where Liora and Xu Kai still sat. At some point, with the warmth of the noodles and the quiet hum of her shadows standing sentry around them, Liora drifted into sleep.

Her head rested lightly against her folded arms, posture soft, breath steady. Xu Kai didn’t disturb her. He remained nearby, occasionally glancing at her slumbering form.

Then—

Ding!

A gentle chime echoed through her mind, soft but bright.

"Congratulations, Host! You have successfully reached Level 20!"

Liora stirred in her sleep.

She didn’t open her eyes—not immediately. Just cracked them open slightly, lashes fluttering. Her gaze flicked sideways to confirm: yes, Xu Kai was still there, still beside her.

Only then did she allow her system interface to bloom quietly into view.

The congratulatory banner flashed, cheerful and celebratory.

Her heart thudded in her chest. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t nervous. She breathed slowly, steadying herself before opening the Rewards section.

A list unfurled in front of her—attribute boosts, resource packs, and a rare blueprint of a house. But she ignored all of it. Her attention jumped straight to the bottom of the screen:

Bonus Drop: Memories Unlocked (100%)

And just then, the system chimed again, the voice softer this time.

"Would the host like to begin memory integration now?"

Liora’s fingers twitched.

"No," she whispered.

Not here. Not now.

Last time she’d been shoved out of those locked memories, all she had carried back was fear. A deep, cold fear that felt older than her own body.

She had no idea what she would see inside them.

But she had a feeling it would change everything.

"I need to go back," she murmured aloud. "Somewhere peaceful. Somewhere safe."

"Host is correct," the system replied, unusually quiet now. Liora finally opened her eyes fully and sat up, face composed but pale.

"Let’s go back to our little hut," she said suddenly, voice steady but low.

Xu Kai, who had been casually looking at the distance, looked up. His eyes lingered on her face, reading more than her words.

He didn’t question her.

He never did.

If she said "south," he would go with her. If she said "back," he followed.

He nodded, rising. "Okay."

He reached for his teleportation ball once more.

Liora stood, recalling her shadows one by one like returning soldiers, each melting into the darkness around her boots. The battlefield quieted.

She didn’t forget to sweep her table and chairs back into her space. Soon, with a soft swish of light, both of them vanished.

They reappeared in the forest clearing just outside of the hut.

The little wooden hut stood untouched, hidden beneath the trees, bathed in golden light as the sun began to dip beyond the canopy.

Liora stepped inside immediately, her pace quickening.

She summoned a large, comfortable bed from her storage and set it down without ceremony. Blankets tumbled across the mattress, soft and deep. Her every movement spoke urgency—not panic, but need.

Xu Kai stood in the doorway, watching her.

Something was different.

His gaze was quiet, questioning—wordless. His brows furrowed slightly, as if asking, What’s wrong? What are you about to do?

And Liora turned her head toward him, heart racing.

Then she reached up and gently touched his jaw, leaning forward to press a quick, soft kiss to his lips.

"Wait for me," she whispered. "I’ll answer everything. Just... don’t leave my side when I fall asleep. Okay?"

Xu Kai didn’t speak.

He just nodded once, eyes dark and intense with something unspoken—trust, maybe. Or fear of losing her.

She laid back on the bed, curling slightly on her side, facing him.

"System," she whispered in her mind. "Start memory integration."

"Beginning process..."

And the world began to fade.

Not the outside world. But her world. And within it, the darkness of forgotten things slowly began to open—waiting for her to step back inside.