His voice echoed in the silent warden's cell, when a sudden gaze fell upon Li Mo, radiating alertness.
Li Mo slowly turned his head. In the dimly lit doorway of the warden's cell, a jet-black cat was crouching.
It appeared there silently, its purple eyes fixed on Li Mo, and it squatted by the door wagging its tail.
Li Mo gazed at it and smiled, "Don't be nervous, I won't force my way out for now."
"Now... even if I don't go to him, he will come in to see me."
The black cat showed no reaction to his pleasure, simply crouching there warily.
There was a silent silence between the two sides until the instance ended with a beep, at which point the entire instance was closed and cleaned up.
Back in the town, Yin Xiu woke up in a chair in his room. It was dusk outside the window, and the setting sun cast a soft glow on the sky, making the scene peaceful and beautiful.
He squinted and gazed out the window. The bustling sounds of the small town drifted over from afar, a stark contrast to the quiet and desolate atmosphere inside the house.
Having just finished a dungeon, Yin Xiu wasn't physically tired, but he was mentally exhausted. He leaned back in his chair and rested for a while, not getting up for a long time.
Until two footsteps sounded from the alley outside the door.
Someone strolled over slowly, greeting people as they went, and then stopped in front of Yin Xiu's door and knocked.
"Are you back, Brother Xiu?"
The voice outside the door was Ye Tianxuan's. It was very familiar. He was too lazy to pay attention to it at first, but he was startled by the strange address.
"What?" Yin Xiu asked with a stern face as he opened the door.
Ye Tianxuan stood smiling at the doorway filled with potted flowers and greeted Yin Xiu, "Just finished a dungeon, came to see if you came out alive."
Yin Xiu stared silently at the potted flowers that had appeared at the doorway at some unknown time, lost in thought.
"Another tribute?"
"I don't know. It seems they bought the flowers at a shop in town. They need to be watered regularly to keep them fresh." Ye Tianxuan said, picking up the watering can from the ground and spraying it on the petals. "Remember to take good care of these gifts and don't let them wither."
"After all, dungeon assets are earned by risking one's life in the dungeon. Who would use them to buy flowers, which wither very quickly?"
Yin Xiu stared silently at the potted flowers displayed on both sides of the doorway, then sighed helplessly, "I understand."
Fishing and gardening, he seems to be increasingly retiring in the small town.
"Oh, right." Ye Tianxuan suddenly remembered something, and waved to the side with a smile, "Come on, come over and say hello to your brother Xiu."
Yin Xiu looked up and saw a familiar face standing a few steps away.
The tall, honest-looking young man, standing at 1.8 meters, waved shyly at Yin Xiu, "Big Brother Yin Xiu..."
It's Zhong Mu, the newbie who came with me in the first instance.
Yin Xiu nodded slowly, "You've come."
Zhong Mu immediately walked over quickly, his face full of enthusiasm, "I was supposed to pack my things and come over very quickly, but on the day I arrived, you went into the dungeon, so I didn't have time to say hello to you."
His eyes shone brightly, exceptionally fervent. "I've finished reading your dungeon. As expected of the great Yin Xiu! You even cleared the special dungeon! You're amazing! I'm so lucky to have been guided out of the beginner dungeon by you!"
Yin Xiu nodded, while Zhong Mu continued to chatter on, "After arriving in this town, I realized how wonderful the environment is. As soon as I arrived, many powerful figures welcomed me, arranged a room for me, replenished my daily necessities, and gave me a lot of dungeon clearing records to look at."
He scratched his head, looking quite embarrassed. "Everyone says I'm a promising talent and treats me very well. This place feels completely different from my old town."
"Hmm." Yin Xiu responded calmly, and seeing that it was getting dark, he turned around and went to the refrigerator to prepare offerings for Lady Ye.
When he last went out of the dungeon, he bought a lot and piled it up in the refrigerator, enough for Lady Night to eat for a while.
When Zhong Mu saw Yin Xiu enter the house, she was still enthusiastically following behind him, talking about the differences she had discovered since arriving, "They stayed up all night to help me watch walkthrough videos and even customized a weapon for me, a really high-end axe, saying it's perfect for me! I've never been taken care of like this in my old town, I'm so touched!"
"Luckily, I managed to get through that dungeon safely with Boss Yin Xiu!"
"Mmm." Yin Xiu nodded and put the meat into the iron bowl by the door.
"Anyway, I'm here to thank you, Brother Yin Xiu, for helping me through the first dungeon. I didn't really help you much; you were the only one busy enough to clear the dungeon and even brought me to this town. Thank you so much." Zhong Mu looked at Yin Xiu with particularly sincere eyes, "Thank you, Brother Xiu!"
Yin Xiu felt uncomfortable being addressed like that, so he waved his hand dismissively and said, "I know, good luck."
"I also want to work hard to become a big shot! And do something for Brother Xiu in the future!" Zhong Mu clenched his fist with great determination, showing a clear goal.
"Mmm." Yin Xiu nodded perfunctorily. "It's good that you're alive."
"Okay! I'll go back to study right away!" After saying goodbye, Zhong Mu waved and ran back, full of energy.
"You've brought back a promising talent. I've never seen anyone so eager to learn and with such potential." Ye Tianxuan nodded with a smile. "He doesn't flinch when he sees something scary, has a good memory, and is decisive when it's time to act. The person who took him to the dungeon praised him highly."
"Hmm." Yin Xiu nodded. He could tell from the fact that Zhong Mu could stay by his side without being afraid of Li Mo that he was a good prospect. As for bringing him to the town, it was really just a matter of convenience.
"Let's take a stroll by the lake while it's still dark." After chatting for a while, Ye Tianxuan leaned against the door frame and invited with a smile, "I just finished a special dungeon. I only have one more dungeon to finish before I can go to the final dungeon. If you don't chat with me for a bit, I'm going to leave here."
Yin Xiu stared straight at him, "Just do your best in the last dungeon, don't bring anyone else. We can always do it again."
Ye Tianxuan narrowed his eyes, his face bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, and said leisurely, "Bringing people is not something I can control just by saying I won't bring them. Watching someone's breath grow thinner in front of me is more painful than my own death."
Yin Xiu frowned in annoyance, "Do you even know how much of your life you have left?"
"There's still plenty left." Ye Tianxuan chuckled and counted on his fingers. "In the last dungeon, I had the vendors on each floor calculate my lifespan. I still have a lot of life left, so passing the final dungeon won't be a problem at all. Don't worry about it."
Yin Xiu clutched the note in his pocket, staring coldly at him. "You'd better be."
Ye Tianxuan's face showed a fleeting embarrassment, then he smiled and waved his hand, "Let's go, let's go fishing by the lake. You see, when I went to the store with them to buy flowers, I also bought something nice."
Yin Xiu silently closed the door and followed Ye Tianxuan along the alley toward the lake.
"What good stuff?"
"this."
Ye Tianxuan took out a small bottle of bubble solution from his pocket, unscrewed it, and held it up to the sky, blowing a series of bubbles with the wind.
Light and dreamy bubbles shimmered brilliantly in the sunset, swaying and floating throughout the narrow alley.
This is something rarely seen in a dangerous town, or perhaps no one has the leisure to blow bubbles.
Everyone's attention was drawn to the bubbles, watching as a series of colorful bubbles swirled around Ye Tianxuan before suddenly bursting.