Chapter 1 Sherry

Sherry stared blankly at the scene before her, unsure how to react as if facing a bizarre nightmare.

Shieling slowly reached out her right hand to her. Sherry subconsciously moved forward, seemingly wanting to grasp her fingers. However, before she could touch Shieling, the elf girl's arm was completely covered in bark-like material—at the last second, Sherry only touched a rough, hard branch, and then this "branch" began to grow rapidly, reaching higher and higher into the sky...

Shieling's face gradually disappeared into the rapidly growing, lush branches. In the last moment before her complete transformation, her eyes widened slightly, as if she suddenly understood something, realized something. She looked at Sherry, as if to tell her something—and then, her expression froze at that instant, and she completely merged into the tree.

Now, she had transformed into a small tree with slender branches.

Sherry stared blankly at this unbelievable scene, subconsciously recalling the entire process of the other party transforming into a tree, and the last look in her eyes. For a long time, she stood there motionless.

What happened? Why did this happen? How could an elf... turn into a tree?

A faint sound of wind suddenly came from nearby, mixed with a gradually approaching malice. Sherry finally awoke from her astonishment. She suddenly looked up in the direction from which the malice came. In the dim dense forest, she saw faint dark red light and shadow-like mist vaguely appearing, then slowly disappearing.

A'gou instantly sensed this aura that made it uneasy—the aura of a Nether Demon.

"Annihilation Cultists! They're hiding in the shadows of these sun remnants!"

Hearing A'gou's loud shout, Sherry finally realized what was happening—

Shieling nodded, and just then, the elf girl "Sherry" next to her finally spoke, "Do they know each other?"

"Didn't he receive the evacuation order? Why is he still operating outside the Nengwo Wall?!"

"Yes, friend," Lu Keleixiya casually replied.

"...Probably," Shieling said, not quite sure, and a little puzzled, "Is there a problem with that?"

Shieling said slowly, "Where was Alice's head at noon yesterday?"

"Annihilation Cultists?" Lu Keleixiya frowned upon hearing this. "I didn't notice—did you run into them?"

This unexpected encounter surprised both of them instantly. Shieling, dragging A'gou, sized up the suddenly appearing "female witch," and then looked at the elf girl standing beside her. After a moment, she cautiously took half a step back. "Just to be safe—"

After figuring out what these "Sherrys" were all about, they needed to avoid any unpredictable changes as much as possible.

"Besides just Annihilation Cultists, I also ran into a bunch of sun scum," Shieling said regretfully. "Too bad, those Annihilation Cultists ran away in the end..."

However, her hesitation only lasted a second or two. After the smoke and mist in the dense forest completely disappeared from A'gou's perception, she gritted her teeth, spat to the side, and strode towards the dim depths.

"Did we lose them?" Shieling muttered a little unwillingly, "I thought I could finally catch one or two this time..."

"Lu Keleixiya... Big sister?"

Then, she slowly told Lu Keleixiya about her experiences, including the process of almost being contaminated by a sun remnant and the captain's flame appearing to resolve the crisis.

An elf girl wearing light hunting attire and carrying a strange long-handled battle axe walked out of the dense forest.

"Yeah," Shieling nodded. "They ran so fast, they didn't care about their 'allies' at all."

Just as she was stunned, Shieling heard a second set of footsteps appear behind the elf girl. She looked in the direction of the sound in surprise, and a strange figure wearing a white dress and holding a giant rabbit doll in her arms appeared in her sight.

"Their auras are gathering ahead, and disappearing very quickly," A'gou raised its head, its beautiful little head turning left and right in the air, the blood-colored light in its eye sockets flickering, "There must be a demon among them who is good at concealing auras, maybe a Deathbird... Tsk, very troublesome."

Ke Ye glanced at the dark dense forest, but hesitated slightly after taking a step. Her gaze swept across the surrounding open space, seeing the sun remnants killed by the spirit fire all curled up into distorted ashes, gradually dissipating into the air. A few remaining ghostly green flames were still burning feebly between these ash heaps, gradually fading and extinguishing.

Lu Keleixiya Yongya didn't answer her, but lowered her head and glanced at the rabbit doll sitting on the ground in a daze, "Labi, I know you're listening."

Lu Keleixiya also followed up, "Confirm identity."

The Annihilation Cultists had attracted those "sun remnants" here earlier, possibly in cooperation, or simply exploitation. They wanted to use the hands of these sun remnants to get rid of her and Sherry, but the situation developed beyond their expectations. When a sun remnant tried to invade her consciousness, the captain's flame was alarmed and counterattacked, killing all the attackers—previously, the strong presence of the sun remnants covered up the auras of these Annihilation Cultists. Now that the latter realized they had been exposed, they decisively chose to run.

"Shieling?" Lu Keleixiya walked out of the forest. When she saw the familiar figure at the fork in the road ahead, the "sea witch" couldn't help but show a surprised expression, "I didn't expect..."

Shieling opened her mouth, as if countless words suddenly wanted to pour out of her stomach, but she couldn't organize a single word when the words came to her lips. She looked strangely at the "Sherry" who appeared in front of her again. Instinctively, she wanted to say hello, but she quickly realized that the other party didn't know her at all—this was no longer the "Sherry" who had taken her to the Noisy Wall before.

"Mm, passed," Lu Keleixiya Yongya seemed relieved as well. She slightly lowered the "baton" she was holding tightly in her hand, and casually placed the rabbit doll she was holding in her arms on the ground, "This dream is very strange, it's always good to be more cautious."

Shieling was very clear that this "failure" had little to do with her, and she had even less confidence in whether the flame would appear again if she encountered danger next time. Maybe... the "mark" left by the captain on her could only take effect once?

Lu Keleixiya raised her head, looking thoughtfully at the forest scenery that seemed almost the same no matter which direction she looked in. After a moment of thought, she suddenly said, "They shouldn't have run too far... You mentioned just now that they ran away after seeing the spirit fire kill those sun remnants?"

But she didn't mention the "Sherry" who was with her, let alone the unbelievable scene when that "Sherry" finally turned into a tree.

"In the pot," Lu Keleixiya answered without hesitation, and then immediately asked, "What is your father's greatest hobby now?"

She ran past the tree that Ke Ye had transformed into. The slender branches of the treetop drooped down, brushing against Ke Ye's shoulder. The slender branches and leaves swayed, making a soft rustling sound.

Shieling couldn't help but glance at the elf's strange face next to her with a somewhat complicated expression. Immediately afterwards, she looked at Lu Keleixiya and slowly said, "Did you notice any traces of those Annihilation Cultists when you came over?"

Shieling's tense posture stiffened instantly. She looked in shock at the elf girl walking out of the forest, at her familiar face. Even though she knew that she was in a strange "dream," she still felt a sense of absurdity quietly emerging from the bottom of her heart. Then, she heard the elf girl say to her with a hint of surprise—

Because another elf girl named "Ke Ye" was standing next to her, listening curiously to the exchange between her and Lu Keleixiya.

The rabbit doll slowly shook its body, making a small complaint, "Labi doesn't like cultists, their minds are smelly, and they have very disgusting things..."

The rabbit doll immediately stood up, patting the dirt off its body while muttering non-stop, "Okay, okay, Labi knows, Labi is going to find them... You must remember to bring Labi back!"

Without running for who knows how long in the dense forest, Shieling and A'gou gradually slowed their pace.

The captain's flame had disappeared—that was not a power she could control.

"A'gou and I chased all the way here, and were about to catch up, but they still managed to escape," After finishing her story, Shieling couldn't help but shake her head with regret, "There's a 'Deathbird' among them. They are demons who are good at concealing auras and confusing perceptions. A'gou is not good at dealing with that stuff."

However, just then, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from a certain direction in the forest, interrupting her and Shieling's actions.

"Fishing, walking the dog, feeding the pigeons—passed."

Lu Keleixiya didn't speak, but silently raised the baton in her hand.

The rabbit doll "oh-ed", and then, in front of Shieling's eyes, it exploded with a bang. A cloud of white smoke, as if hand-drawn, with smooth lines, poured out from its body and rose and spread, instantly shrouding its ridiculous and horrifying figure—as the smoke dissipated, the rabbit doll's figure also disappeared from Shieling's sight.

"Go... while their fear lingers."

Rushing up rashly, if they really fought and found out they couldn't win, that would be a big joke.

A'gou shook its head, and didn't say anything. It just tried again to distinguish the true direction in which those auras were disappearing.