Unable to contact Wen Wen, Tao Qingqing could only try her best to survive in this space.
This place was relatively quiet during the day, with very few demons or monsters appearing. Only some seemingly normal people could be seen.
After catching one and questioning them, Tao Qingqing learned that most of those who appeared during the day were outsiders like herself who stayed overnight in the Mùyuán District. Some had been here for ten or eight years.
During the day, the Mùyuán community would replicate the outside world, even recreating the produce in the markets and the meals cooked by some households. Therefore, these people wouldn't starve.
However, after understanding the situation, Tao Qingqing stopped engaging with them. Although they were ordinary people when they entered, their minds had long since become distorted from staying here for so long. If Tao Qingqing hadn't used force, she wouldn't have been able to get any information.
She ventured to the edge of the town during the day and discovered that the original wall had vanished into nothingness. Even with all her strength, she couldn't break through this void to reach the outside.
As night fell, the place became dangerous. The residents who disappeared during the day reappeared.
However, these residents were not humans, but ferocious, bloodthirsty specters!
These specters were not strong; Tao Qingqing could fight ten or twenty of them. But how many specters were there in the entire city? It was far more than ten or twenty.
What's more, some special beings among these community residents possessed strength similar to, or even greater than, Tao Qingqing's!
For example, the community director, the community security officer, and the owner of the community supermarket...
These original townspeople weren't actually that dangerous. After all, although they were specters, they also understood how to weigh pros and cons. As long as Tao Qingqing didn't provoke them, they wouldn't attack her.
But there were some special specters in this community. These evil spirits were more powerful than ordinary townspeople, and every night they hunted those who could walk during the day, including Tao Qingqing.
However, these specters responsible for hunting her were not the greatest danger here.
Tao Qingqing had heard strange beast roars and the sound of giant metal blocks grinding against the ground at night.
All the specters near those sounds fled in panic, and when the sounds appeared, she also tried her best to stay far away, with no intention of seeing what was there.
The roaring alone filled her with fear. If she saw it, she might be instantly annihilated. She wouldn't risk it. Su Dan Novel Network
Additionally, she had seen from afar giants, five meters tall with long limbs and pale faces, walking or crawling slowly between buildings. Although these creatures didn't attack her, the fear they instilled in her was no less than those strange beast roars.
And this was only what she had observed. No one knew what terrifying existences were hidden in this small Mùyuán community.
Compared to those things, Oudenait, whom she had seen that day, couldn't be called a small fry, but at most, he was an intermediate character.
She had tried all the survival methods she could find, but there was no way to get out of here.
Now, the only glimmer of hope was for Wen Wen to rescue her. The situation in the Qingji Plateau had ended before she arrived, and Wen Wen could return at any moment.
But she was nominally Wen Wen's assistant, and in reality, she was just a prisoner. Her status was not much higher than San Zai'er. Would Wen Wen really come to save her?
Tao Qingqing was doubtful about this, yet she desperately hoped Wen Wen would appear immediately.
That was why she was anxiously pulling at the pathetic cactus. However, everything here was replicated from the outside, and the cactus would return to its original state the next day.
As she was sighing, Tao Qingqing felt goosebumps rise on her arm, and her eyes flickered with a hint of blood.
She heard footsteps. These footsteps were not the Wen Wen's she expected, but from something else.
...Ghosts!
For the past two days, ghosts had been chasing her, but those before were at most a few fierce spirits or one evil spirit.
But the footsteps outside the door at this moment came from three evil spirits, meaning three disaster-level monsters!
Based on the power comparison, the situation might be dire, but Tao Qingqing wouldn't just wait to die. So, she immediately jumped out of the window and stood on the street.
Most ghost monsters had the ability to phase through objects, so fighting specters in an open area was the wise choice.
The moment she landed, she saw a spiral stream of water pass through where she had been, flying tens of meters before losing its momentum and falling to the ground.
If Tao Qingqing's movement had been a second slower, she would have been hit by that stream of water, and the consequences would likely not have been pleasant.
Without any pause after landing, she lunged forward, rolled a few times, and stopped. A pair of scissors sharp enough to sever a head sliced through her previous position, and pursued her a few more times but didn't touch her at all.
Tao Qingqing stood firm, looking at the two evil spirits that had appeared with a solemn expression.
One evil spirit stood at the window. Its body was pale and swollen, with the flesh around its eyelids dug out so that its vision wouldn't be obscured by the bulging flesh. Around it floated murky water whirlpools with the smell of shampoo. The spiral stream of water just now had been released from its hand.
The other evil spirit stood where Tao Qingqing had landed. It was emaciated, but its head was covered with black, shiny cow dung-like hair. Its right hand was broken at the wrist, and attached to it was a large, rusty pair of scissors. Its left hand held a giant iron comb.
Tao Qingqing bared her teeth at the two evil spirits to show her threat, while simultaneously manifesting blood-colored energy into a pair of bat wings. Countless small bats flew around her chaotically, making it impossible for the pursuing ghosts to see her clearly.
She did not relax her vigilance at all. The ones hunting her this time were not just these two in front of her; the footsteps she heard earlier numbered three!
"Hey, you've caused trouble for me again."
A hand patted Tao Qingqing's shoulder. Startled, Tao Qingqing's scalp tingled, and she instinctively clawed behind her, but her hand was easily caught.
The person who caught her hand was Wen Wen.
From those small eyes and that fawning expression, which was so wretched that it could be used to play an ugly character in a TV drama, she could confirm that the person in front of her was indeed Wen Wen.
Wen Wen said with a playful grin, "Even if we haven't seen each other for a few days, you don't have to miss me that much, do you?"
Tao Qingqing froze for two seconds, then blinked rapidly, holding back tears. Just now, she had truly believed she would die here.
"I really, very..."
She wore a smile on her face, like a blooming flower, and leaned forward, wanting to throw herself into Wen Wen's arms.
Unfortunately, her感动 (gǎndòng - emotion, moved) lasted only a second before it vanished.
Wen Wen, holding her hand with one hand, delivered more than twenty not-too-light, not-too-heavy chops to her head with his other hand. He said menacingly,
"Your actions this time were practically suicidal. I'm going to punish you properly. When there's no one around, you'll have your hands full, and no one will come to save you even if you scream your lungs out."
Tao Qingqing's smiling face immediately disappeared. His ability to ruin the mood was undoubtedly master-level.
But immediately, she chuckled again. If Wen Wen were to become a considerate, warm man, it would be abnormal...