Where Did the Tiger Go?

The next day, early in the morning, Zhou Chu for people to inform all the people of the city, announcing his determination to eliminate the Three Harms of Yangxian. In short, he wanted to make the whole city aware of the matter. He believed that doing good deeds in secret and without seeking reward, like an anonymous hero, was noble but actually undesirable. It was like Zigong redeeming people, setting up a moral trap.

After the publicity was done, Zhou Chu and Lu Li, along with several servants and guards, as well as a few local hunters from South Mountain, went to South Mountain to hunt down the South Mountain Tiger. Zhou Chu was the main force, while the other servants, guards, and hunters were there to cheer him on and also to act as witnesses to prove that Zhou Chu had indeed eliminated the threat.

What Lu Li found strange was that the difficulty of this dungeon mission, as it stands, is not high. As long as he follows the current protagonist Zhou Chu, whether it is South Mountain Tiger or Yixing Flood Dragon, it will be relatively easy to pass the level by borrowing Zhou Chu's strength. Afterwards, whether he takes advantage of the two being injured to kill Zhou Chu and eliminate the third scourge, or educates Zhou Chu and makes him change his bad habits, it is relatively simple.

The sudden decrease in dungeon difficulty struck Lu Li as odd. From the very beginning, his dungeons had always been more challenging than others'. Not to mention, before this dungeon mission, Lu Li had completely destroyed an arena dungeon. Given the game's style of not explicitly punishing those who cause trouble but secretly increasing the difficulty, this dungeon's difficulty seemed rather low.

South Mountain is naturally located south of Yangxian. There are one or two villages at the foot of South Mountain. The main reason is that there are several good fields at the foot of the mountain. So, although tigers often come here to supplement their diet, given the living conditions at the time, these villagers had no choice but to live here. At least there were fields to cultivate and grain to harvest. As for danger, the villagers couldn't care less. It was a chaotic world, but life had to go on.

The group arrived at a small mountain village at the foot of South Mountain, intending to rest there for the night. After all, it was already noon when they arrived, and if they went up the mountain now, they might have to spend the night there. In this chaotic world of war, the night was never associated with peace.

The darkness of the night is filled with all sorts of ghosts and monsters. Without the protection of one's own door, those ghosts and monsters are deadly to ordinary people, let alone venturing into the mountains and forests, where not only ghosts and monsters, but also all sorts of strange poisonous insects and wild beasts can take the life of anyone who ventures in.

The village chief warmly welcomed Lu Li and his group, trembling with excitement. He cleared out several rooms specifically for Lu Li, and the residents prepared a meal for them with their treasured mountain produce. The village chief was a shrewd man; no matter how bad Zhou Chu's reputation was, he was currently using the pretext of eliminating a menace and going up the mountain to kill a tiger, so he had to be treated well no matter what.

That evening, the village chief tentatively asked if they needed anyone to accompany them, but Zhou Chu waved him off. They were there to rid the people of a scourge, not to play around under the guise of doing something harmless. In addition, he also planned to gradually control his temper, so although he felt that he had been seen through, he held back his anger.

The hunters accompanying him were all from the surrounding villages. Driven by the need to make a living, they risked their lives to hunt in the mountains. Every year, many went in and never returned. The mountains are full of demons and monsters, and these hunters also had their own tricks up their sleeves. Lu Li had asked Zhou Chu to pay him enough to buy his life, and he brought them along mainly to serve as witnesses.

Night quietly passed, and the red sun slowly rose from the east. The group officially set off. The moment Lu Li entered the mountains, he finally understood the difficulty of this instance.

The Dream of Delusion, or the Dreamlands, was something Lu Li encountered in his first instance. He tested the existence of Dream of Delusion in most of the subsequent instances in the real world. Just as the Dream of Delusion in the Thread-Pulling Lu Li Deception is a strange gathering place parallel to the entire world, the Dreamlands in Merfolk has been conquered by an unknown entity and locked behind a door.

Due to time constraints, Lu Li didn't specifically test the Mask Kingdom, but he vaguely sensed that the Dream of Delusion of the Mask World might be related to the Original Sin Ability. When he arrived in this world, Lu Li did test it. He didn't feel any Dream of Delusion at the time, but when he stepped into South Mountain, a feeling of about to enter Dream of Delusion appeared in his mind.

As Lu Li watched himself and Zhou Chu set off into the deep mountains, his own presence suddenly diminished many times over. Zhou Chu and the others had completely forgotten about Lu Li, and Lu Li's consciousness vanished from the spot, reappearing in a forest. He was still in the same place, but the rising sun had turned into a slow descent, and a constant stream of malice came from all directions.

"Is this special treatment?" Lu Li tilted his head. The Dream of Delusion in this instance were actually concentrated in one place, forming a special domain-like scene centered on South Mountain. In this place, those wild beasts might have become demons. Lu Li instantly went from the easy version to the hell difficulty, and all the native helpers from before were separated.

At this moment, the game's notification panel also refreshed the task:

[Phase 1: Eliminate the South Mountain Tiger.]

[Task Description: There is a tiger in South Mountain that often eats people, Tiger Ghost numerous. The legends about the tiger are deeply ingrained in people's minds and have been collected by South Mountain, causing the South Mountain Tiger to be elevated to a legendary phenomenon...]

[Mission Requirements: In this peculiar world, only by dispelling the rumors themselves can Zhou Chu truly kill the South Mountain Tiger.]

[Mission Hint: Perhaps absurdity is the truth?]

[Task Reward: You will either see yourself more clearly or lose yourself.]

The light in the distance gradually faded. Picking up some dry branches, a module appeared in Lu Li's hand. Holding the module, Lu Li inputted Shadow Magic into it, and saw an opening appear. Three masks floated out from inside and hovered beside Lu Li into the opening and pulled out a lighter. Lu Li tried it and found that it still worked.

That module was a special module/space given as a reward for the last mission. Lu Li could use it by inputting magic power alone. Although it was slow to activate and the space was small, it contained some useful small tools. Lu Li used these to make a torch. Although he had night vision, it was still better for the fire to burn.

Just as Lu Li making the torches and darkness fell, a children's rhyme gradually drifted from afar:

One, two, three, four, five, let's go up the mountain to fight the tiger.

The tiger isn't in the mountain; it's all squirrels.

How many squirrels are there? One, two, three, four, five.

One, two, three, four, five, the squirrel is looking for the tiger.

No tigers on the mountain, no squirrels at the foot of the mountain.

There are only a few squirrels left: one, two, three, four, five.