Chapter 8: Reward Settlement

The chat erupted in frenzy.

• Did I hear that right? Those two voices are exactly alike!

• It sounds like both are old ladies speaking.

• The real and fake Sun Wukong... The real and fake grandma?

• According to the original story of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf disguises as the grandmother. So, does that mean one of these is the real grandma and the other is the boss?

• How can we tell them apart?

• Maybe that photo from earlier, with Little Red Riding Hood and her real grandmother. There aren't any other clues.

• But there was no wolf in that photo!

• Typical of a 3S level instance, utterly diabolical.

• Look at Ethan, he seems unfazed.

• Does Ethan even understand what's going on? He looks half asleep, I'm so anxious.

Ethan's eyelids drooped, not quite spirited.

It wasn't that he was sleepy; it was just that he had cleared this final level over a thousand times. Even the most patient person would grow weary.

He was simply waiting for a specific familial bonding scene to unfold.

He had suggested numerous times to the developers behind the scenes to include a 'skip scene' button for players like him who replayed levels repeatedly.

As the affectionate scene between Grandma and Little Red Riding Hood concluded, the other grandma, who had been in the bedroom, merely a voice till now, stepped out.

Little Red Riding Hood was astonished.

"How come there are two grandmas?"

The two grandmothers, identical in appearance and stature, were indistinguishable even to Ethan, despite his thousand playthroughs.

Judging by appearances wouldn't solve the level.

Ethan was acutely aware of this.

Each old lady insisted she was Little Red Riding Hood's real grandmother.

Little Red Riding Hood had a few more lines.

"Both of you claim to be my grandma, then tell me my favorite color."

In unison, they answered red.

"My favorite food?"

The grandmothers' replies remained perfectly aligned.

"Um... tell me about my childhood."

This time, it was even more absurd. Both grandmothers chose the same memory to recount, word for word identical.

Little Red Riding Hood looked troubled, her small hand clutching the hem of Ethan's shirt.

"Brother, please help. I can't tell which one is my real grandma."

Ethan bent down, his hand gently cradling the back of the little girl's head.

"It's okay, Red. I'll help you."

With a crisp slap, Ethan smacked Little Red Riding Hood's head.

• Damn! Bullying a child!

• What's the point of this action??

• I get it. Little Red Riding Hood's real grandma would instinctively check if the child was hurt!

• That's it!

As the chat had guessed, Ethan used this tactic to distinguish the real from the fake. He believed in the unchanging nature of familial bonds, whether in life or death, and he had never been wrong.

Indeed, the right-side grandma, despite her rigid expression, unconsciously moved her toes towards Little Red Riding Hood. Ethan acted swiftly, swinging his arm and delivering a heavy blow to the left-side grandma!

"You're the wolf."

The fake grandma howled and fell dead, reverting to her true form – Little Red Riding Hood's ferocious father.

Little Red Riding Hood screamed in terror, hiding behind Ethan.

It was unclear if she was more afraid of the dead man or simply her father.

• The boss was in human form?

• This story's background is more complex than it seems. Clues were hidden in the little girl's nursery rhyme; her father is the main culprit.

• Is the instance over now? The final boss has been defeated.

• Why isn't Ethan moving?

• Something's off. Look at how eerily the real grandma is smiling!

Ethan turned to face the remaining true grandma, reaching out to remove her scarf.

A deep wound was revealed on her neck.

"Grandma, you too, are already dead."

No sooner had Ethan spoken than the seemingly kind old woman's face twisted grotesquely, her skin turning a sickly grey-green, eyes bloodshot and glaring at him.

"Strangers must be expelled!"

Her voice rang out like a damaged bell, reverberating through the entire stairwell, audible even to Oliver Wright and the others below.

"What's happening?" Emma Thompson focused intently on the screen.

Grace Evans and Oliver Wright shook their heads.

"Probably a boss voice line?"

Emily guessed.

Ethan, too, was puzzled. In his thousand previous attempts, he had never heard this line.

Was it an update?

His momentary distraction allowed the grandma to sinisterly smile, her withered hands suddenly transforming into vines, swiftly attacking Ethan!

• Holy shit!

• Watch out, Ethan!

Ethan pressed down on the vines, his body agilely flipping through the air, switching his inflatable hammer to a heavier mode, and slamming it down on the grandma's head.

• Thank goodness.

's a good thing Ethan reacted quickly.

• Wait! Little Red Riding Hood!

• Look at the little girl's face!

The camera focused on Little Red Riding Hood's face just in time to capture a horrific transformation. Beneath her hood, what was once an innocent visage suddenly split. A red fissure appeared from her forehead to her nose, and another vertically across her cheeks. Four lines of blood divided her smooth face into quadrants, peeling apart like the skin of a fruit!

• My eyes!

• What a mind pollution!

• I need to check my sanity levels...

• The NPC turned into a boss?!

The door was suddenly yanked open, revealing a blood-soaked figure.

It was Max Turner.

Max had exerted all his strength. He had luckily found a water tank to hide in, narrowly escaping the Hanging Woman, and made his way to the fourth floor. Tearing open the door, he was greeted by the terrifying face of Little Red Riding Hood!

"What—"

Seeing a new target, Little Red Riding Hood seemed to intuitively sense that Ethan was not to be trifled with, shifting her gaze and pouncing on Max like a wild beast!

Thud—

With a loud noise, Little Red Riding Hood's body, as if drained of strength, collapsed to the floor.

A panting Max and Ethan faced each other from a distance.

Ethan chuckled, retracting his pink, squeaky hammer onto his shoulder.

"Not bad, you've got some skill. That thing wasn't easy to deal with."

Max owed his life to Ethan's intervention. Had Ethan not acted, Max, standing there in a daze, would have been devoured by Little Red Riding Hood, leaving no trace.

But he was too stubborn to thank him outright.

"Mutual," he said.

With the wolf, grandma, and Little Red Riding Hood dealt with, Ethan's shoulders relaxed.

The surroundings began to disintegrate into virtual blocks, signaling their imminent exit from the instance.

Only the surviving players could leave.

As the perilous SSS-level instance came to an end, the chat also breathed a sigh of relief.

• It's over.

• Now it's just the rewards tally, right?

• Good thing Ethan was quick. That Little Red Riding Hood caught us off guard.

• Did only Max survive the Hanging Woman?

• Did Ethan mention "that thing"? Does he know something?

• Probably on purpose. Max's miserable state suggests he faced some formidable monster.

I wonder what the rewards are.

• Rewards for a 3S level must be substantial: weapons, items, special cards...

• Last time in a 3S level, wasn't the reward a free pass to the instance?

• The Wan Shi Guild now owns everything in the instance, including NPCs and monsters.

I wonder what the reward will be this time...

As the instance scenery faded away, darkness enveloped them, leaving only the players glowing faintly in white light.

Without the floors separating them, Ethan saw the other survivors.

"Ethan!"

"Bro!"

Emily and Oliver Wright were the first to run towards Ethan, brimming with excitement. Emma Thompson and Grace Evans stood still, but relief washed over their faces seeing Ethan unharmed.

"Ethan, are you hurt?"

Emily asked with concern.

Ethan shook his head truthfully; he was completely unscathed.

With all the surviving players gathered, the reward calculation began.

In front of each player, a square gift box appeared.

Except for Max and Ethan, the other four players' boxes were of similar size and appearance.

"Is this the reward?"

Emily curiously picked up her box, about the size of her two palms.

Max's gift box was significantly larger, big enough to fit two basketballs.

Ethan's box was even larger, nearly half his height.

"Should we open it?" Emily asked.

Grace pushed up her glasses, reminding, "The rewards are different for everyone. You can choose to open them in private. In case there's something special, others might see it—"

Rip...

The sound of tearing packaging suddenly interrupted her.

Grace sighed, turning to see Ethan already unwrapping his gift.

"What is this, so big..."

Ethan's curiosity was understandable. In his previous thousand attempts, the bosses dropped nothing for him, always leaving him empty-handed.

Not just Ethan, but the livestream audience was also curious.

• Is Ethan going to open it now?

• Does he not know that he can open it privately?

• Should someone tell him... Nah, he won't stop.

• Don't tell him, let's see what he gets.

• Hurry, I'm dying of curiosity!

Ethan cleaned off the outer packaging and tore open the tape. Everyone's eyes were fixed on him.

"Could there be something dangerous?" Emily murmured.

"Possibly," Ethan realized. "Stand back."

"It's not going to be a backstab in the reward phase, right!" Oliver peered over curiously.

Ethan didn't respond, focusing on pulling out the contents.

The first reward was the pink inflatable hammer.

• An inflatable hammer?

• Seems a bit perfunctory for a reward.

• Not necessarily, a weapon from a 3S instance is likely of 3S level.

• Ethan's pretty good with it, and it's quite lethal.

• Just the color scheme is questionable.

Ethan was satisfied with his first reward; the hammer was convenient, and taking it to the next instance would be ideal.

Holding the hammer, he wondered if he could stow it away.

"Can I store this?" he asked.

"You can buy a player bracelet. Rewards from instances can be stored as data in it," Grace explained.

"Oh, that's convenient."

Ethan continued unpacking the box.

"What's this?"

He pulled out two metal cards.

The cards bore strange symbols, one with an infinity sign, the other an hourglass.

Grace's eyes lit up.

"These are skill cards."

• A resurrection card and a time-stop card!

• Wow, purple cards!

• Ethan's got good luck!

"A resurrection card gives you an extra life in an instance, and a time-stop card lets you pause time during a battle with monsters, helping you win."

Though consumable, these cards were akin to life savers in high-difficulty instances, ensuring survival.

Weapons, items, and medicines were common in the White Tower instances, but skill cards were rare.

They could be sold for a substantial sum in the market.

Ethan nodded, somewhat understanding, and pocketed the cards.

At the bottom of the box was another layer, sealed with white foam. Ethan reached in, feeling something soft, like fabric.

Shaking off the foam balls sticking to his hand, he looked puzzled and was about to reach in again when the thing in the box sprang out.

"Brother, come play with me."

"What the—"

Ethan instinctively swung the hammer, stopping inches from the thing. He finally saw its face.

It was his old acquaintance, Red.

• Isn't that the NPC?

• Little Red Riding Hood?

• She's resurrected?

• The game's over, the boss can't attack players now, right?

• This must be a White Tower NPC bound by a contract with the player.

The well-informed Grace also explained to Ethan.

"It's part of the reward. NPCs for instance can form contracts with players, becoming their subordinates. You can take her with you in the next instance for battle."