What did I think?
With two powerhouse fighters at his side, Chen Xu wanted nothing more than to steamroll all of Velen.
"First, we can't expose our goal, or even show hostility. Otherwise, the old crones could kill their hostage at any moment.
"My suggestion is diplomacy first, force second.
"Negotiate first. Anna is just an ordinary person. We have plenty of bargaining chips to trade for her."
Geralt agreed with the approach, but remained silent, still sulking. Getting him to acknowledge Chen Xu now was impossible.
But he was indeed curious about where this young commoner had gained such insight.
"Hah, men." Fringilla sneered. She had had enough of dealing with these brutal, lecherous, yet weak men:
"What if the price is more than we can afford? What if they demand a life for a life? The Empire is the absolute ruler of this continent, not these false gods!"
"Then we can use our bargaining chips to lure them out, and use your favorite method-force-to make them give up," Chen Xu patiently explained.
"Come on, doesn't the Empire allow kings who surrender willingly to keep their thrones?"
The sorceress was finally persuaded. "I never said I liked force."
With the sun high in the sky, three fine horses rode out of the inner keep.
The four Chosen led by Randall blocked the gate. After failing to trigger a quest, they actually tried to follow on foot.
"Get lost!" Fringilla snapped. A squad of Nilfgaardian soldiers immediately surrounded them with hostile looks.
The baron's Sergeant hurried over to get his men out of trouble, ordering the others to keep the Chosen under guard:
"What the fuck are you sticking your noses in for? Don't cause trouble for me!"
Randall was ready to explode with frustration, the fury in his eyes threatening to swallow Chen Xu's retreating figure.
He had made up his mind. If Chen Xu dared come back, he would kill him, whatever the cost!
At worst, he would give up this bullshit [Soldier] identity!
As they passed the Crow's Perch cemetery between the inner and outer keeps, Geralt suddenly covered the wolf's-head medallion hanging against his chest and asked, "Are you using magic?"
When the sorceress shook her head in bewilderment, his expression grew grave:
"My medallion is vibrating!"
A witcher's medallion was a silver amulet, fashioned into different shapes according to the school.
It was sensitive to all forms of magic, including spells, curses, charms, and more;
It could detect magical items, constructs, and even invisible magical creatures, warning the witcher by vibrating and tugging sharply on the chain from which it hung.
This degree of vibration...
The three cautiously slipped into the cemetery, which was overgrown with weeds and untended.
The Bloody Baron had taken over someone else's nest. Most of those buried here were friends and relatives of the previous lord.
In a corner by the wall, the three discovered a solitary grave that had been dug open from within. The hole inside was deep and narrow, and a powerful stench of decay wafted out.
Ordinary people could not see clearly, but Chen Xu and Geralt focused their energy into their eyes and saw the monster sleeping inside:
A half-rotted fetus covered in pus and blood, its undeveloped muscles twisted by hatred, fear, and pure evil.
"The child that died in Anna's womb." Chen Xu naturally knew what was inside.
Overwhelmed by grief and panic, the baron had merely given the miscarried fetus a hasty burial.
In this world, the bodies of abandoned infants or those denied a proper burial would be afflicted by a curse and transformed into monsters called Botchlings.
These monsters would leave their lairs at night, lurking beside sleeping pregnant women's beds to drain the life force of mother and child.
From the looks of it, a little more time to develop would give it the ability to actively harm people.
"We need to deal with it." Geralt drew the silver sword from his back.
As expected of the protagonist. His moral compass was sound, and he was worried it would become a menace.
"Wait. Don't you think the baron, as its father, has a right to know?" Chen Xu held the witcher's arm.
It was not just that he had his eye on the quest. Chen Xu could not snatch this job away; the baron would certainly trust the witcher more in this matter.
Besides, he did not understand the complicated rituals involved. There was no need to pretend otherwise.
The Botchling should have been properly dealt with. Using the correct method could even lift its curse, turning it from a monster into a protective Luboshkin.
In the original story, Geralt had found a lead through the blood tie between the Botchling and Anna.
But because he had directly revealed Anna's location, this quest had not proceeded normally.
Sure enough, the witcher hesitantly put away his silver sword.
Though he was usually stern and unsmiling, and ignorant people often called him an "unfeeling monster," he was actually someone with genuine humanity.
"Mensadish-nano!"
Fringilla rolled her eyes and chanted an incantation under her breath. Spreading her fingers, she poured a mass of searing flame into the hole!
But the oxygen in the hole was quickly exhausted, and the spell's power seemed to weaken.
The Botchling was not quite dead and let out an extraordinarily shrill cry. Caught off guard, Chen Xu instantly clamped his hands over his ears in distress.
The world darkened. Countless Wraiths and corpse monsters sensed the cursed child's cries and surged toward them like a tide!
Black clouds gathered out of nowhere, blotting out the daylight.
As the people of Chihuang would put it, resentment reached the heavens.
Wishes! Injustice! Resentment!
Heaven forsook it and denied it birth; earth forsook it and denied it sustenance; humanity forsook it and denied it care!
But the Mother of Darkness did not forsake it, and awakened it through a curse:
You forsook it, so this is my child. Now you harm my child. Be utterly exterminated.
Adopted by the dark side of the world, the Botchling's cries awakened the wrath of the rules. Incorporeal Wraiths carrying lanterns and swords traversed space, arriving first!
Their entire spirit bodies were shrouded in tattered cloaks, glowing an eerie green in the light of their lanterns.
"Look what the fuck you've done!" Geralt was not one to complain, but even he could not help cursing now.
His silver sword left its sheath, and he began contending with the Wraiths.
It had happened so suddenly that he had made no preparations;
A plain silver sword did little damage to incorporeal Wraiths. Normally, he would prepare Specter Oil beforehand and coat his blade with it.
Chen Xu's Gram followed it out of its sheath. His first thought was not to slash a Wraith, but to chop up that bastard Fringilla!
Fortunately, he restrained himself and switched to his silver sword, Moonblade, taking over the burden of fighting the Wraith from the White Wolf:
"I'll hold it off. Get your potions and sword oil ready!"
Geralt had yet to see Chen Xu truly fight, but now he could only choose to trust him.
The Wraith floated above the ground, weightless and swift as the wind. Often, just before the silver sword struck, it could instantly turn insubstantial and traverse space.
It would wait until its enemy lowered their guard, then suddenly materialize beside them for a sneak attack. Its ancient, rusted blade was also highly intimidating-a tetanus blade with a chance of an instant kill.
The monsters in the God-Chosen Battlefield had far more flexible and complicated attack patterns than in the original. Chen Xu could only keep dodging at high speed in completely random patterns, giving the Wraith no chance to predict his movements.
That way, the moment it struck would be his chance to counterattack!
[Assassination: Weakness Insight]
As his energy gathered, the Wraith's seemingly unified spirit body peeled apart layer by layer like an onion in Chen Xu's eyes. Moonblade pierced the weakness hidden in its lantern with a single thrust!
"Ah-"
A ghostly wail rang out. Smoky, flame-like light burned up from the bottom of the Wraith's ragged cloak, and its entire spirit body dissolved into nothingness.
A handful of crystalline green dust drifted down.
[You have killed a Mortal Tier High Stage Wraith. Experience +30!]
Geralt had only just finished applying his sword oil. He looked at Chen Xu in astonishment:
You little shit! Of all the times to finish, you had to pick the moment I finished applying my sword oil. All that effort for nothing.
As he stood there in a daze, a rusted longsword glowing green suddenly thrust out of the void behind him!
His reaction stat of a full 17 points saved his life. His silver sword, coated in Specter Oil, slashed the Wraith and sent it shrieking back into the void.
A third Wraith soon appeared in the air, then a fourth...
Dense tremors came from the ground. Using its sharp claws, a Ghoul was the first to climb through the breach in the wall blasted open by the "great inventor," Zhaotian Zhi.
In the cemetery and the mass graves outside the keep, countless scavenging monsters went berserk, rushing over as fast as they could.
"Finish off that Botchling! It's summoning these monsters!" By now, Geralt could no longer afford to consider humanity!
"Hurry-"