CHAPTER 35: SIRI’S WALKING CATASTROPHE PHYSIQUE PART 1

"Ji ji ji."

That ji ji ji noise was music to her ears. Li Chunhua looked at her right thigh, which was the favorite spot the cute ginseng always clung to, but she didn’t find it, and instead there was an unfamiliar green bracelet weaved from grasses on her right wrist.

And this bracelet was slightly shaking and creating faint sobbing sounds: "Ji ji ji." Each ji syllable was filled with intense emotions, just like how she called Mantou’s name a few seconds ago.

"Little Ginseng, is that you?" Li Chunhua raised her hand and pressed the bracelet on her left ear as she asked the question carefully. Her heart was brimming with doubt.

The little ginseng that had just turned into a grass bracelet responded with a louder, heartbreaking sob. "Ji ji ji." (Master, I’ve become ugly.)

It’s really the ginseng spirit!

Why didn’t it retain its original appearance?

She made seals with her left hand, with qi wrapping around her fingers, to see if it could free the little ginseng spirit. "Unseal."

Strange runes appeared in the air and shot towards the grass bracelet, enveloping it with qi.

However, the little ginseng spirit stayed the same—a grass bracelet. Her spell of unsealing didn’t work, and the system issued a prompt addressing the problem instead.

[Your summon has surpassed the level of development of this secret realm. Until you complete your assigned mission, your summons will be unable to morph back. Summon stats and skills will not be adjusted.]

[Reminding Player that the Mission has a deadline of three days. Otherwise, Player will remain in the Secret Realm forever.]

Forever?

Stay here forever?

Li Chunhua momentarily swept her eyes on the surroundings.

Surprisingly, the development of this world didn’t differ from the original owner’s previous world.

It’s just that...

They were in the middle of a devastated street that appeared to be abandoned, judging from the fact that there were unmanned cars messily parked everywhere, blocking the way. There were mottled, dried blood marks on the road, on the cars, and on the buildings.

The smell of blood, decay, and dust intermixed in the air, drifting into her nostrils, disturbing and nauseating.

And those three thin figures are almost like a stick. They should be adults around the age of late 20s due to their bone structures, but they looked like children due to malnutrition.

Plus, that monster just now and the noises of snarling, growling, and rushed footsteps resounding in her ears at the moment just implied that there was not only one monster and there were many more.

She may not have seen it all, but the brief deductions made her gulp. She definitely will not stay in this place.

Ruin city + monsters + thin survivors = no delicious food = not a good life.

This was the statement that kept spinning in her head.

"Ji ji ji." The miserable little ginseng kept spouting ji ji ji, complaining to its master. (I want my beautiful leaves back.)

Li Chunhua immediately calmed it down while walking towards the three thin figures, that were casting her looks of both fear and admiration.

When she was a meter from them, the three warily took a step back.

Li Chunhua stopped and waved her hands, trying to sound as friendly as possible. "Hi. I don’t mean any harm. I just wanted to ask something."

The three of them, realizing they were rude to someone who had just saved them, quickly adjusted their expressions before placing a finger over their mouths to signal her to lower her voice.

They were quite astonished because she don’t seem to be a survivor belonging from the outer area due to her clean and healthy appearance, and the strength she displayed was definitely not something an ordinary ability user was capable of.

Why is she in this place? Shouldn’t she be in that big base?

However, it was not the appropriate time for that.

"If you have something to ask, this is not the right place. Follow us before they come." One of them beckoned her over before the three started running to a particular direction.

They must have been referring to that creature earlier.

Li Chunhua heard and smelled them too.

Considering they were the only people she met and they didn’t possess a bloodthirsty aura, she decided to follow them in the meantime.

The three thin men started walking briskly while observing the surroundings, alleys, and corners very carefully.

Li Chunhua also looked around before lifting her steps and following behind them.

After they were gone from the particular spot where she killed the monster, a dozen more swayed and limped with their incomplete body parts while sniffing the air for traces of prey.

The three thin people crossed several streets, narrowly avoiding the sense of smell and sight of some rotten monsters. As they traveled away from the more developed part of the city and to what seemed like a rundown neighborhood with colorful graffiti on the walls, Li Chunhua finally realized the gravity of the situation.

She didn’t detect the breaths of the other living people on the way.

It wasn’t until that they spent another ten minutes on the road until they saw a four-meter-tall gate made of metal railings, and the building inside was a four-story apartment building. On the windows of some rooms, there were people eyeing their group, particularly her. Their expressions were mixed, making it hard for her to discern.

"Brother, please open the door." One of them whispered and knocked lightly three times, while looking around anxiously.

Soon after, the main steel door of the apartment building slowly opened, revealing two men—slightly had more healthy palllor than the three people she was with. The two were checking her out from head to toe before striding towards the gate.

"Yow, Pipsqueak, where are the food?" One of them asked the the wounded people she came with.

"Brother Ding, we weren’t able to find any. Can Brother Ding let us in first?" One of the three pleaded when he noticed there were shadows of those creatures slowly coming towards them from the end of this street and the corridors.

Brother Ding spat on the ground with disgust before turning around walking back towards the steel door without conscience, "No food, no entry."

"Wait, Brother Ding!"

Brother Ding didn’t glance back and just walked ahead.

The three kept calling the man but to no avail the man called Brother Ding never responded. Their faces distorted into desperation.

The people watching them from the windows didn’t speak out for them which made the three more helpless.

Their calls grew louder.

Due to the noises, it attracted those creatures to rush towards the people stuck outside.

Oh no...

Li Chunhua’s eyes widened. She immediately grabbed the handle of the gate and gave it a kick, planning to destroy just the locks it but is resulted to more than that.

Bang-

Li Chunhua dazedly looked at metal gates that had collapsed on the ground with its metal hinges loosened and screws had popped.

On her hand was the broken metal handle.

(⁠✿⁠☉⁠｡⁠☉⁠)

"I’m sorry. Your gate seems very old." Li Chunhua apologized sincerely.

The people: (⁠゜⁠o⁠゜⁠;

Meanwhile, Siri and Little Mantou were currently escaping the chase of more than a dozen of monsters.

There were so many fork roads ahead and they were both unfamiliar to this world. It was hard to choose which way to go.

Little Mantou tossed the decision making to Siri which proved to be a very bad choice.

"This way!" The Elf pointed and they run towards that direction and the result was...

+12 monsters

"Ah!" Mantou cried.

"That way!" Siri once again choose the path and...

+14 monsters

"Ah!" More tears streamed down Mantou’s face.

"I don’t believe we’re still unlucky! The middle path!" Siri gritted his teeth.

The two darted towards the middle road and at the end of it they saw...

25 monsters that were grinning at them with bloody smiles.

Mantou and Siri: (⁠〒⁠﹏⁠〒⁠)

Why are they everywhere?

(Little Baozi: The internet signal just came back. ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ)