Chapter 33: Ileena’s Surprise

Sun Fei felt a shock in his heart.

He swung his big axe repeatedly horizontally, cutting down the monsters in front of him, then quickly turned around to look. He found that the Mercenary Beauty didn’t seem attacked at all. She was just standing still in the dim light of the far cave, her whole body stiff. The hand holding the Longbow shook non-stop, tears fell uncontrollably drop by drop, her face was pale, and she stared straight at a dark, blurry thing on the ground.

Sun Fei felt puzzled and hurried over.

When he got closer, he saw that the dark thing lying on the ground was actually the broken corpse of a female Rogue, covered in blood and wounds. The body was dressed in the rough leather armor most common among female rogues, with long red hair too. Her face was pretty, and she seemed a bit younger than Ileena, maybe only seventeen or eighteen years old. She had clearly suffered horrible torture from demons before death. Her breasts were ripped to shreds by demon claws, her heart was dug out, her soft thighs were covered with scary scratches, her private area was turned into a terrible bloody hole, the flesh on her right leg was eaten away by something, revealing white bone fragments full of teeth marks…

“Oh God… no… she… she’s Nina. She was with us a month ago when we went to Blood Moor to look for food, but she vanished… Never thought she would…”

Ileena knelt on the ground, crying so hard she could barely speak: “She was only seventeen. That mission was her first time leaving the camp… And she volunteered… Nina trained so hard, no matter how tough, she always wore a bright smile on her face, like a happy little angel who encouraged us and made us laugh. Never thought… wuwuwu… All these cruel demons should be in Hell!”

Listening to the Mercenary Beauty’s broken sobs, Sun Fei understood a little. Clearly, this tortured female body was a companion Ileena knew. About a month ago, the female rogues went out to the wilderness for a task, and Nina was taken by demons. But no one knew why she died so miserably in this cave.

Seventeen years old was the age for a girl to be innocent and cheerful, yet she faced such a sad fate. Even though Sun Fei didn’t know this girl named Nina, he couldn’t help but feel deep sadness.

Until now, even though the World of Diablo felt very real to Sun Fei, even pain when hurt seemed real, even the NPCs had thoughts, and Sun Fei himself felt tired, thirsty, hungry, and exhausted… deep down, he still saw it as just a game. But right then, seeing the shocking corpse before him, hearing Ileena cry while telling about this girl’s life, and watching Ileena get so upset she lost herself in tears, Sun Fei suddenly realized he might be wrong. The World of Diablo was a living world too, where people not only had minds but also real feelings.

“Ileena, stop crying, stand up! Let’s go kill all the monsters here, to get revenge for Nina!”

Sun Fei didn’t know how to console this tear-soaked beauty. He reached out his hand to lift the crying female mercenary. This deadly archer, who spared no life with her arrows earlier, now seemed as soft as a normal little girl needing protection. It showed the weak side under her calm, strong look. Maybe this was her true self coming out. No matter how strong she was, or how cool she acted with monsters, Ileena was just a young woman barely twenty years old. In Sun Fei’s past life, a pretty girl like her should have been full of youth and life on a college campus. But in this World of Diablo, she had to train hard to stay alive, fight violent monsters, see young sisters like flowers die around her, and cry helplessly.

Sun Fei used his big axe to dig a large hole in the hard cave floor and buried poor Nina inside.

While moving Nina’s body, as he guessed and recalled scenes from his past life game, Sun Fei found something—not Gold Coins or gear, but a small cloth bag of plant seeds. Clearly, this strong little girl, out to find food for the camp, still left behind hope she had found, even in such a place, with her flower-like life.

Ileena treated this bag of seeds as a treasure, putting it carefully in her chest.

After burying Nina’s body, the two set off again.

Ileena, stirred up, radiated fierce intent all over. Her Ice Arrows whooshed like shooting stars, taking a demon’s life with every shot without mercy. Sun Fei barely needed to move; the flying Ice Arrows quickly wiped out all monsters in sight.

However, Ileena’s attitude toward Sun Fei changed a lot. Though they still didn’t talk, still silently moving fast through the pitch-dark cave, and though this Mercenary, lovely as a Valkyrie, stayed quiet like a lonely orchid, Sun Fei felt a little that her eyes behind him, when looking at him, were much softer…

On the way, they met some more slaughtered female Rogue corpses. Luckily, Ileena didn’t know any of them, so it saved trouble. Sun Fei, out of kindness, still buried those poor women.

Guided by his past life memories, Sun Fei cleverly picked the path. He didn’t go into the second floor of the underground passage but soon found the entrance to Dark Forest on the first floor. Following it, they arrived at Dark Forest.

Suddenly, things brightened.

Dark Forest wasn’t all dark; the plants were thicker than earlier in Blood Moor and Cold Plains, though it didn’t really look like a forest.

A light rain fell from the sky.

Looking out, groups of demons and monsters were everywhere. What stood out was that the monsters here seemed fiercer; as soon as they saw people come out of the entrance, they howled and charged over.

Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh!

Ice Arrows shot out heavily.

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!

The big axe with both hands carved trails of death in the air.

Under this mad couple’s killing, the demons rushed in fast but died even quicker. They fell over each other like cut wheat. Their painful cries echoed through the wilderness. Soon, stepping over bloody monster bodies, they came to a giant dead tree at least fifty meters tall.

This was the legendary Elder Tree.

Rotting corpses piled up around the huge tree, swarms of black flies buzzing about. Even the tree branches had broken bodies with black pus and rotten white skeletons hanging, letting out a sickening smell. The whole scene was like Hell itself, dark and scary.

Sun Fei pinched his nose as he moved closer, barely touching the tree trunk.

Snap!

A white parchment Scroll shot down from the tree right away.

“Damn, looks mean as sin, but actually it’s some easy flirt. Barely got touched by me, and it climaxes and spurts…” Sun Fei thought wickedly.

He reached down to pick up the parchment Scroll from the ground. Unfolding it in his hands, he saw a big circle drawn with some blood-like dark red color. Inside it was a star, all filled with odd symbols like messy spells made by Taoist priests with cinnabar from his past life. Sun Fei understood none of it.

“No choice, I guess I have to bring it back for Nun Auntie to translate.”

Sun Fei put away the Scroll carefully. Then he picked up some valuable gear the demons had dropped, adding them to his backpack. Next, he used one Town Portal Scroll to open a portal. With a low hum, a blue Portal over two meters tall appeared beside him.

After doing all this, Sun Fei turned to Ileena, who’d been on guard nearby, signaling for her to follow him through the Portal. Yet he noticed that seeing the Portal shocked her, surprise showing on her handsome, brave face.

“Is this… a Town Portal Scroll?”

She asked, her voice quivering as if finding it hard to believe.

At that moment, the beautiful Mercenary couldn’t help but think silently: if only her sisters had been able to use such a magical Scroll while fighting monsters in the wild before, how many lives could’ve been saved? Maybe many girls like Nina wouldn’t have died…

“Yeah, it exactly is a Town Portal Scroll.”

Sun Fei caught Ileena’s weird look but didn’t dwell on it. What was so special about a mere Town Portal Scroll worth just eighty Gold Coins? He was pressed for time; his next plan needed lots of it. Giving a quick reply, he stepped through the Portal.

…

In Rogue Encampment,

Sun Fei headed straight to Nun Auntie Acarra to translate the Elder Tree Scroll.

Meanwhile, the Mercenary Beauty Ileena, who’d come right after him from the Portal, stood watch carefully by the Portal. This was her first time ever going through a Portal to camp, leaving her filled with shock and curiosity. She thought about seeing the sisters to tell them Nina was dead, but she hesitated then dropped the idea, recalling her current job and task.

Two or three minutes later, Sun Fei rushed back fast holding the parchment Scroll.

“What, didn’t go have a chat with your little sisters?”