Chapter 108: Let the Fish Swim for a While

After quite some time...

The massive tree inside the tree cage had ceased its frantic growth. The live broadcast was now filled with a dense canopy of leaves, and no one knew where Young Master Long Qi had gone.

Could it be that he was dead?

What a pity...

No one got to see the spectacle of his grand failure.

Yet, when the live broadcast finally ended...

All the monsters stared dumbfounded at the screen.

This was just too damn...

Child’s play.

Above the tree cage, there was no enclosure of those wildly growing trees.

It was like a birdcage sealed tightly on all sides, but the owner had left the top wide open.

And repeatedly warned the birds inside, “I’m giving you an opening, but you better behave and not fly out.”

Ha.

Who wouldn’t fly? Save themselves for the New Year?

“The innkeeper, what happened to the Five Elements Trial? Where’s the promised Demon-Slaying Golden Blade?”

“So all these trial setups are just for show?”

Lin Dandan pushed up his glasses incredulously, questioning the innkeeper.

How could such a shoddy design exist?

“Haha, Lin Dandan, sometimes life is just like this — full of surprises. You never know what will happen next...” The innkeeper, Bai Lianhua, tried to mask her embarrassment with a smile.

“Innkeeper, you don’t know how to explain this, do you?” Lin Dandan showed no intention of letting Bai Lianhua off the hook.

“Hehe, Dandan, that’s not important. What’s important is...” Bai Lianhua’s smile faded gradually.

Her expression turned grave. That exquisitely beautiful face now carried a chilling aura.

Lin Dandan noticed Bai Lianhua’s unease and dared not say a word.

Could it be that something uncontrollable had occurred?

The innkeeper wearing such an expression was rare indeed.

Had the plan changed?

Or was there an unexpected emergency?

If so, what would be the best course of action next?

Lin Dandan pondered Bai Lianhua’s expression quietly, trying to glean more information from her subtle changes.

Finally, unable to hold back, he pushed up his glasses and timidly asked, “Innkeeper, has something changed?”

Bai Lianhua’s face was grim. She stared silently at the large screen, not uttering a word.

Surely, the situation was not as expected…

Indeed, things had become serious.

“I…” After a long pause, Bai Lianhua finally forced out a word with difficulty.

“Innkeeper, don’t worry. I have already devised eleven strategies...” Lin Dandan pushed up his glasses confidently and said to Bai Lianhua.

“My waist hurts from standing too long...” Bai Lianhua bit her lip, gently massaging her back. Her complexion eased a bit.

“Go bring me a stool,” Bai Lianhua ordered Lin Dandan, then curiously asked, “Eleven strategies? You can think of so many even with a sore back? Wouldn’t it be better to just be a simple elementary school kid?”

“N-no, nothing.” Lin Dandan’s face twitched with anger as he cursed inwardly at his own dramatic innkeeper persona. Couldn’t he stop giving off such hints?

Still, he hurried to fetch a stool for Bai Lianhua to sit.

“Innkeeper, should we check if the fish have taken the bait yet?” Lin Dandan tested.

“No rush. Let the fish swim a while longer.” Bai Lianhua smiled faintly as she sat.

The large screen in the tavern switched again...

The scene shifted to a desert, swirling with sandstorms under a blood-red sky. In the vast expanse of the Noda Desert stood a solitary earthen hill city, desolate and forlorn.

The monsters in the tavern didn’t understand how the live broadcast worked...

Was it a drone?

Or a monster reporting live from the scene?

Just as the screen prepared to zoom in on the city atop the sand dune, static suddenly appeared...

It was as if some magnetic field near the dune city was interfering with the broadcast.

“Game over. Devil’s City is a place that swallows people whole...” one monster said.

“Swallows people whole? That has nothing to do with us monsters, right?”

“...”

“Legend has it that Devil’s City is inhabited by wicked demons, cruel, bloodthirsty, inhuman, with grotesque faces...”

“That’s odd. If the demons are so powerful, why live in such a godforsaken place? Shouldn’t they be out here tormenting us?”

“...”

“I’ve heard that Devil’s City is a forbidden zone. Every being inside is a demon — children, elders, even the animals…”

“If it were truly forbidden, why isn’t there a warning sign? So it’s not really forbidden.”

“...”

In the monster tavern, the crowd watching the live stream animatedly built up the suspense, yet a certain monster wearing a big red flower on his head kept interrupting.

“Can you shut up?”

“Are you blind? Don’t you see I’m the Contrarian Monster? That’s my role. Don’t like it? Say it to my face.”

Bastard. Devil’s City is so terrifying, and you’re already doomed. And you’re still trying to steal clothes?

But...

Now that no one steals my clothes anymore, it does feel a bit strange.

The Contrarian Monster chuckled like a pig’s snort, even as a bamboo rat monster was poking him. He was still happy.

“Hey, Bamboo Rat buddy, why do you sell one for three yuan, three for ten yuan? And why don’t you give change for one yuan? Is that a handling fee?”

“Damn it, shut up.”

The live broadcast tried several times to enter Devil’s City, but each time the signal cut off as soon as the screen approached.

Finally, after several failed attempts, the scene switched to a swamp...

In the swamp, a monster with the head of a crocodile and the body of a man was fiercely kicking something beneath its feet...

But the wild boar monster was nowhere to be seen.

When everyone realized what the crocodile monster was kicking, they burst out laughing — tears streaming.

The thing the crocodile monster kicked looked like a mud-covered wooden stake from afar...

Yet on that mud-caked wooden stake, a pair of blood-red eyes blinked repeatedly.

The wild boar monster was stiff as a board, manipulated by the crocodile monster...

Being tossed around like a rag doll.

Why was it doing that? Because when it tried to break free and escape, the crocodile monster relentlessly pursued it.

The two monsters rolled and fought in the muddy water endlessly, with no victor.

Helplessly, the crocodile monster was like a perpetual motion machine, endlessly using the EWQE combo, while the wild boar was nearly exhausted.

Until it found a note in the swamp, which read: "A wooden stake."

So, without thinking, the wild boar monster assumed this was a hint...

A hint to become a wooden stake.

Hence, it lay perfectly still on the ground, allowing the crocodile to play with it...

Ramming furiously, hunting coldly, tyrannical strikes...