Twelfth Day
Morning light, soft as gauze, spilled over two intertwined figures.
Knock knock knock.
A knock came from outside the door.
“Mom, where’s my breakfast?” came the resentful voice of Li Ziyang from outside.
Li Ran opened his sleepy eyes. In front of him was the beautiful figure of a woman just waking up from her slumber, sunlight dancing across her flawless skin, as clear and delicate as polished jade. His devilish hand couldn’t help but start acting up again.
Su Bingyao opened her eyes. Seemingly realizing something, she smacked her forehead in frustration. “Crap, I forgot to make breakfast for my son.”
“Mommy’s tired. I’ll take you out to eat later,” Li Ran shouted out.
“Okay then,” Li Ziyang responded from outside.
Li Ran gently caressed the beauty in his arms, squinting his eyes with a mischievous grin. “The kid's up. Should we hypnotize him again?”
“Mmm… mmm,” Su Bingyao blushed furiously and buried her head in Li Ran’s sturdy chest, letting out a voice as soft as a mosquito’s.
...
Community Gathering Point
“Why was the gathering time suddenly changed to noon?”
Zhao Yingzhi and Lu Zhaohui looked at Li Ran with suspicion.
“Something came up,” Li Ran replied briefly.
Before coming here, he had made a special trip to the Happiness Supermarket to buy a bottle of “Golden Steed Elixir.” After last night and this morning, he felt drained and needed to recover.
That stuff really worked. One bottle, and the soreness in his waist and weakness in his legs vanished. He felt completely rejuvenated.
No wonder that punk Lu Zhaohui could maintain such potent and pure yang energy just by relying on that elixir.
“I’ve got important information.”
“So do I.”
“Same here.”
The three of them spoke almost simultaneously.
“You go first,” Li Ran said, looking at Lu Zhaohui.
“This year, the dragon lantern duty fell to Meng Ge’s family. I accidentally overheard her and her mom talking—something about how the black mist doesn’t dare get close to the dragon lantern,” Lu Zhaohui said.
Li Ran’s eyes instinctively widened at those words.
Lu Zhaohui’s clue was incredibly important.
Li Ran had been racking his brain about how to avoid the midnight virus infection, and now Lu Zhaohui had provided a possible solution.
“But the problem is, we can’t get close to the dragon lantern either. The outside is swarming with monsters,” Zhao Yingzhi said.
“If you become a lantern bearer, it’s not a problem,” Lu Zhaohui replied.
“Lantern bearer?” Li Ran frowned slightly, thinking aloud. “I saw something on the community bulletin board—something about the dragon lantern celebration consisting of 99 lanterns, divided into the dragon pearl, dragon head, dragon body, and dragon tail. Among them, the dragon body and tail require more lantern bearers. According to past customs, the celebration assigns one lantern bearer per family for a total of 99 families.”
Li Ran looked at Lu Zhaohui, eyes resolute. “So that means becoming a lantern bearer makes you immune to the virus!”
“Even if that’s true, how do we make sure other monsters don’t attack us?” Zhao Yingzhi posed a new problem.
Li Ran waved his hand. “If we can become lantern bearers, there’s nothing to worry about. The dragon lantern and dragon head direct everything. Without either, the celebration can’t proceed. The natives won’t break their traditional festival customs. Being a lantern bearer basically gives you protected status.”
“Alright,” Zhao Yingzhi agreed with the reasoning but raised another concern. “He can use Meng Ge to get in as a bearer, but what about us?”
Li Ran’s household wasn’t assigned any role in the celebration, so he couldn’t qualify as a bearer.
“You could go door-to-door and ask around. Since lantern bearing is physically demanding, families composed only of women might need male lantern bearers,” Lu Zhaohui suggested.
Li Ran nodded. “I’ll ask in the owners’ group chat later.”
Zhao Yingzhi rolled her eyes. “I’m a woman too.”
Lu Zhaohui’s information had given them a glimpse of hope in what had seemed like a hopeless night.
“My information is also crucial,” Zhao Yingzhi said seriously, looking at the two of them. “Wearing an item infused with dark power grants five hours of immunity from the virus.”
“Dark power?” That was welcome news to Li Ran.
“Yes. I’m not sure what exactly dark power is or where to find such an item, but I believe we can’t ignore any clue that might help us survive,” Zhao Yingzhi said.
She didn’t say where the information came from, but Li Ran could guess with his toes—she must’ve struck another deal with the soul inside her in exchange for this vital piece of intel. Plus, she looked noticeably off today—her mental state seemed weakened.
(She traded the skin from her left arm to obtain this information or power.)
After seeing this prompt, Li Ran instinctively looked at Zhao Yingzhi. She wore a red long-sleeved sweatshirt, but her left arm was clearly bent unnaturally, and she handled it with great care.
“This girl is seriously ruthless,” Li Ran thought, alarmed.
Naturally, he wouldn’t waste such valuable intel bought with Zhao Yingzhi’s own skin.
“I can provide the dark power items,” Li Ran said.
Zhao Yingzhi and Lu Zhaohui stared at him in shock.
The little demon baby’s skill [Toy] could, through psychic power, transform a target into a toy she liked—provided her eerie power exceeded the target’s.
Objects transformed into toys by her carried dark power.
The little demon baby’s source of power was dark energy—she could even manipulate the terrifying virus to a degree.
The information provided by both Zhao Yingzhi and Lu Zhaohui was invaluable.
Li Ran then told them the rules they needed to be aware of in the Dark Palace, the time the gate would open, and the vital artifact they needed to locate the gate—the Nether Lantern.
After hearing everything, both of them looked like they had lost all will to live.
“Just let it all end. I’m so done,” Lu Zhaohui said as he lay down on the ground, giving up all hope.
Zhao Yingzhi stared at Li Ran in shock. “You got all this in one night?!”
“It’s not enough. Still not enough!” Li Ran suddenly said.
“What’s not enough?” Lu Zhaohui asked.
“Time,” Zhao Yingzhi answered.
Lu Zhaohui was still confused.
“The dragon lantern parade won’t last long. According to traditional timing, it starts from the community’s front gate, circles around the neighborhood once, then returns inside. Including all the internal events, it can only last five hours at most.”
“Add five hours from the dark power items, and that gives us ten hours total!”
“But we need to survive for twenty-one hours. And in those twenty-one hours, we must obtain the Nether Lantern and find the gate.”
“In other words, we’ll still be exposed to the virus and monsters for eleven hours!”
Li Ran’s words instantly plunged the trio back into despair.
“I’ll just die here,” Lu Zhaohui said, gazing hopelessly at the sky.
Zhao Yingzhi’s expression also turned extremely grim. The difficulty of surviving was far beyond what she had expected, even with her worst-case assumptions.
“Maybe I can help solve half your problem.”
A sweet voice came from behind the three.
They turned around and were all dumbfounded by who they saw.
(End of chapter)