The comments went wild.
: Did I hear that right? Those two voices really were exactly the same!
: They both sounded like an old woman talking.
: The real and fake Sun Wukong... the real and fake grandma?
: In the original Little Red Riding Hood story, the wolf disguised itself as Grandma. So one of these two is the real grandma, and the other is the boss?
: How are they supposed to tell them apart?!
: That photo from earlier. Didn't it have Little Red Riding Hood and the real grandma in it? There aren't any other clues.
: But there wasn't a wolf in that photo!
: As expected of a 3S instance. It's seriously twisted.
: Look at Zheng Xun. He doesn't seem worried at all.
: Does Erchui even understand what's going on? He looks like he hasn't woken up yet. He's driving me crazy!
Zheng Xun's eyelids were half lowered, and he really didn't look very alert.
He wasn't sleepy. It was just that he'd cleared this final stage a thousand times. No matter how patient someone was, they'd get sick of it.
There was a short scene of a grandmother and granddaughter doting on each other here, and Zheng Xun was waiting for it to play out.
How many times did he have to say it? Couldn't the developers behind this put in a button to skip the story? It was really unfriendly to people like him who had played through it countless times.
Once the heartwarming scene between Grandma and Little Red Riding Hood was over, the grandma who had been lying in the bedroom and only speaking also came out.
Little Red Riding Hood was surprised.
"Why are there two grandmas?"
The two grandmas looked almost identical in appearance and build. Even after a thousand runs, Zheng Xun still couldn't tell what the difference between them was.
Judging by appearances wouldn't get anyone through this stage.
Zheng Xun knew that well.
Each old woman claimed to be Little Red Riding Hood's real grandma.
Little Red Riding Hood had a few more lines here.
"You both say you're my grandma, so tell me what my favorite color is."
"Red," they answered in unison.
"My favorite food."
The grandmas' answers were still identical.
"Um... then tell me something about when I was little."
This time was even more ridiculous. Both grandmas chose to recall the same incident, and even their wording was identical.
Little Red Riding Hood looked troubled and clutched the hem of Zheng Xun's clothes with her little hand.
"Big brother, help me. I can't tell which one is my real grandma."
Zheng Xun lowered his head, put a hand on the back of the little girl's head, and stroked it a couple of times.
"It's okay, Sister Red. Big brother will help you."
Smack! Zheng Xun gave Little Red Riding Hood a hard slap on the head.
: Damn! He's bullying a kid!
: What's the point of that??
: I get it. Little Red Riding Hood's real grandma cares about her, so she'll instinctively check whether the girl is hurt!
: So that's it!
Just as the comments had guessed, Zheng Xun was using this trick to tell the real grandma from the fake one.
Whether alive or dead, the bond of family wouldn't change. Zheng Xun was certain of that, which was why he'd never chosen wrong.
Sure enough, although the grandma on the right had a stiff expression, her toes moved unconsciously toward Little Red Riding Hood. Zheng Xun moved swiftly, swinging his arm in a wide arc and bringing his hammer down hard on the grandma on the left!
"You're the wolf."
The fake grandma let out a howl, fell to the ground, and died, revealing the "wolf's" true form.
It was Little Red Riding Hood's vicious father.
Little Red Riding Hood screamed in fright and kept trying to hide behind Zheng Xun.
It wasn't clear whether she was afraid of the dead man or simply afraid of her father.
: The boss was actually human?
: Looks like the story behind this isn't simple. There were clues hidden in the nursery rhyme the little girl sang. Her dad was the culprit.
: The instance is over now, right? The final boss has been taken out.
: Why isn't Zheng Xun moving?
: Something's wrong. Look at that real grandma's smile. It's really creepy too!
Zheng Xun turned to the remaining real grandma and reached out to pull off her scarf.
It revealed a deep wound on the side of her neck.
"Grandma, you're already dead too."
As soon as Zheng Xun finished speaking, the once-kindly old woman's face suddenly twisted. The skin all over her body turned gray-green, and her eyes grew bloodshot as she glared fixedly at him.
"Outsiders! Must be driven out!"
Her voice was like a broken bell, making the entire corridor ring. Even Zhong Yu and the others downstairs heard it.
"What happened?" Chen Zicheng stared intently at the screen.
Gu Yuanheng and Zhong Yu both shook their heads.
"Maybe it was a boss voice line?"
Xu Li guessed.
Zheng Xun also found it strange. In his previous thousand runs, he had never heard that line.
Had it been updated?
While he was distracted, Grandma smiled sinisterly. Her withered hands suddenly turned into vines and shot toward Zheng Xun!
: Holy shit!
: God Zheng, look out!
Zheng Xun caught the vines with one hand and nimbly flipped into the air. Switching the mode on his inflatable hammer, he smashed it down hard on Grandma's head.
: Thank goodness.
: Good thing Erchui reacted quickly.
: Wait! Little Red Riding Hood!
: That little girl's face!
The camera happened to be pointed at Little Red Riding Hood's face. Beneath her hood, her once-innocent appearance suddenly changed.
A red slit appeared from her forehead to the bridge of her nose, and another appeared vertically across the middle of her cheeks.
Four bloody lines divided Little Red Riding Hood's smooth face into four sections, which peeled open in different directions like the skin of a fruit!
: Damn! My eyes!
: What kind of mental pollution is this?!
: I need to check my sanity...
: This NPC really did turn into a boss?!
The door was suddenly yanked open with great force, and a figure covered in blood appeared outside.
It was Meng Chuang.
Meng Chuang had gone to great lengths. He had luckily found the water jar that could hide one person, escaped the pursuit of the hanging woman, and finally made it to the fourth floor.
He pulled the door open, only to find Little Red Riding Hood's terrifying face staring back at him!
"What-"
Little Red Riding Hood spotted a new target. She seemed to sense keenly that Zheng Xun was difficult to deal with, so she shifted her gaze and charged at Meng Chuang like a beast!
Bang-
With a loud crash, Little Red Riding Hood collapsed to the ground as though all her strength had been drained away.
Gasping for breath, Meng Chuang faced Zheng Xun across the distance.
Zheng Xun chuckled, pulled back his pink squeaky hammer, and slung it over his shoulder.
"You've got some skills. That thing isn't easy to deal with."
Zheng Xun had essentially saved Meng Chuang's life. If Zheng Xun hadn't stepped in, Meng Chuang would have been swallowed in one bite while he stood there in a daze, without even a scrap of bone left.
But he was awkward about it. Asking him to say thank you was practically asking for his life.
"Same to you."
He said.
With the wolf, Grandma, and Little Red Riding Hood dealt with in turn, Zheng Xun's shoulders relaxed.
The surrounding scene began to break into virtual blocks and dissipate. Soon, they would be able to leave the instance.
Only the surviving players could leave.
The perilous SSS-rank instance had finally ended, and the commenters breathed a sigh of relief too.
: It's over.
: All that's left is the reward settlement, right?
: Good thing Zheng Xun reacted quickly. That Little Red Riding Hood really caught everyone off guard.
: Was Meng Chuang the only one who survived the hanging woman's stage?
: Speaking of which, didn't Zheng Xun say "that thing"? Does he know something?
: He probably said it on purpose. One look at the state Meng Chuang was in, and you could tell he'd fought some powerful monster.
: I wonder what the rewards are.
: The rewards for a 3S stage must be really generous. Weapons, items, special cards...
: The last 3S stage, I remember they gave away the instance for free?
: The Eternal Guild got it. Everything in the instance, including the NPCs and monsters, belongs to their guild now.
: I wonder what will happen this time...
As the instance scene disappeared, the surroundings gradually turned pitch-black.
Only a faint white glow surrounded each player.
With no floors separating them anymore, Zheng Xun saw the others.
"Brother Xun!"
"Brother!"
Xu Li and Zhong Yu were the first to run over to Zheng Xun, both excited. Chen Zicheng and Gu Yuanheng stayed where they were, looking relieved when they saw that Zheng Xun was all right.
"Brother Xun, are you hurt?"
Xu Li asked with concern.
Zheng Xun shook his head truthfully. He was completely unharmed.
Once the surviving players had all gathered, the reward settlement began.
A square gift box appeared in front of each person.
Apart from Meng Chuang and Zheng Xun, the other four had boxes of similar size and identical wrapping.
"Are these the rewards?"
Xu Li curiously picked up her box. It was only the size of her two palms.
Meng Chuang's gift box was much larger, big enough to hold two basketballs.
Zheng Xun's gift box was even bigger, nearly half a person's height.
"Should we open them and see?" Xu Li asked.
Gu Yuanheng pushed up his glasses and reminded them, "The reward inside each person's box is different. You can choose to open it in private. If you get some special reward and someone sees it, then-"
Riiip...
The sound of wrapping being torn open suddenly rang out.
Looking helpless, Gu Yuanheng turned his head. Sure enough, Zheng Xun was tearing off the wrapping paper.
"What is it? It's so big..."
It was no wonder Zheng Xun was curious. In his previous thousand runs, the boss hadn't dropped anything for him. Every time, he'd returned to the respawn point empty-handed.
Zheng Xun wasn't the only one interested in what was inside. The livestream viewers were too.
: Is God Zheng really opening it just like that?
: Does he not know he can open it by himself in private?
: Can someone warn him... Never mind, he won't stop anyway.
: Don't tell him, don't tell him. Let everyone see what he gets.
: I'm dying here! Can he open it faster? Faster!
The gift box opened from the top. After clearing away the outer wrapping, Zheng Xun tore off the tape.
The players all focused their eyes on him.
"Could there be something dangerous in there...?" Xu Li murmured.
"Possibly." Zheng Xun realized it too. "You should stand farther back."
"They wouldn't launch another attack during the reward phase, would they?!" Zhong Yu craned his neck to look.
Zheng Xun said no more and focused on taking out what was inside.
The first reward was the pink inflatable hammer.
: The inflatable hammer?
: Isn't that reward a bit perfunctory?
: Not necessarily. A weapon brought out of a 3S instance is basically 3S-rank too.
: Zheng Xun handles that thing well, and it packs quite a punch.
: The color scheme is the one thing worth complaining about.
Zheng Xun was very satisfied with the first reward. The inflatable hammer was convenient for him to use, and if he could take it into the next instance, that would be even better.
Zheng Xun held the inflatable hammer and suddenly felt that it was a little cumbersome.
"Can I put it away?" he asked.
"Buy a player bracelet. Then all the rewards you get from dungeons can be stored in it as data."
Gu Yuanheng explained it to him.
"Oh, that's convenient."
Zheng Xun continued rummaging through the gift box.
"What's this?"
He took out two metal cards.
Strange designs were engraved on the cards: one bore the symbol for infinity, and the other an hourglass.
Gu Yuanheng's eyes lit up.
"Those are two skill cards."
: A Resurrection Card and a Time Stop Card!
: Holy shit, they're purple cards!
: Erchui's luck is pretty good!
"The Resurrection Card gives you one chance to revive in a dungeon. The Time Stop Card gives you a chance to stop time when you're fighting a monster, which can help you win."
Although the cards were consumables, they were effectively lifesavers. When facing an extremely difficult dungeon, they could at least keep him alive.
All kinds of weapons, items, and medicines commonly dropped in White Tower dungeons, but skill cards were almost always rare.
They could fetch a hefty sum if traded for money in the inner market.
Zheng Xun nodded as though he half understood and tucked the cards away.
There was another compartment at the bottom of the gift box.
The compartment was sealed with a large amount of white foam. Zheng Xun reached in and rummaged around, touching something soft.
It felt like some kind of fabric.
He shook the foam balls stuck to his hand, a puzzled look on his face, and was about to reach in again.
But the thing in the box popped right out.
"Big brother, come play with me."
"What the-"
Zheng Xun swung the inflatable hammer on instinct. When it was ten centimeters from the thing, he finally saw its face clearly.
It was his old acquaintance, Sister Red.
: Isn't that an NPC?
: Little Red Riding Hood?
: No way, this thing can revive too?
: The game's over, so the boss shouldn't be able to attack the player anymore, right?
: That's a subordinate, a White Tower NPC who's signed a contract with a player.
The well-informed Gu Yuanheng also explained it to Zheng Xun.
"She's part of the reward. Once an NPC in a dungeon forms a contract with a player, they become that player's subordinate. You can take her into battle with you in your next dungeon."