Chapter 18: My Father Is Dying

As for her daughter, she would ask what she wanted to play when the time came. Wind, fire, thunder, lightning, metal, wood, water, earth—surely one of these would suit her. Thinking of the abundant spiritual materials densely packed in her own dimension, Yu Yan felt completely at ease. For now, though, the priority was to find her daughter’s best friend; otherwise, her daughter would have no mind for playing with supernatural abilities.

Yu Yan searched both of the large craters left by the explosions. The bottom of the pits was piled high with the severed limbs and remains of blue-tailed giant scorpions, but Yu Yan showed no distaste, collecting them all into her Plant Spirit World. Any intact scorpion tails or scorpion blood crystals she came across, she stored in her personal space. Even though they were only first or second grade, they were still spiritual materials, were they not?

Later, she could ask an artificer to casually forge them into a set of disposable hidden weapons—just for fun. The instance world was boundless in its expanse. The last time, the Gu Eagle’s nest had seemed small, but in truth, Yu Yan had only explored a single cave. That was why, even when she was exhausted to the point of collapse, she insisted on leaving the instance before finding a place to rest. Though the cave walls separated the tunnels, who knew if some reckless or eccentric Gu Eagle might amuse itself by ramming through the walls? If by chance she broke into another eagle’s nest and happened to be in a deep sleep, survival would be all but impossible.

The same was true for “Eagle’s Sorrow Ravine.” Yu Yan and her daughter searched for three whole days, harvesting countless mid- and low-grade spiritual materials. The herb she wanted, Blessing Grass, now filled tens of thousands of stalks in her personal space. She even made a point of picking the best specimens to plant a small patch in her Plant Spirit World.

But there was still no trace of Tang Siqi. Not only was there no living Tang Siqi, there wasn’t even a scrap of her clothing to be found.

Yun Duo’er was terribly upset. “Mom, do you think Siqi could have...”

“No, we haven’t found her body, have we?” Yu Yan bent down, looking Yun Duo’er in the eye. “If she were dead, the monsters wouldn’t have eaten even her clothes. In just a few days, fibers and fabric wouldn’t decompose so quickly in the earth. So she must still be alive.”

“Mom, let’s leave the instance,” Yun Duo’er said.

She knew her mother had lingered here just to comfort her, just to spare her feelings. Deep down, Mom must be even more eager to go look for Grandma. She had already wasted three of her mother’s days—she couldn’t keep being so childish.

“All right. We’ll search one last day. If we still don’t find her, we’ll leave the instance.” Yu Yan couldn’t guarantee they would find Tang Siqi inside “Eagle’s Sorrow Ravine,” and she couldn’t spend a lifetime here with her daughter. In the end, she could only settle for a compromise.

Another day passed, and Tang Siqi was still missing.

“Mom, let’s go?” Yun Duo’er’s tone was listless, as if she had come to accept her friend’s death as fact.

Yu Yan’s heart ached for her, but there was nothing more she could do.

Just as she was about to lead her daughter out of the instance, the sound of rustling came from nearby. Yu Yan turned to look—how odd, there was nothing there. They were standing by a mountain brook, clear as crystal, just over a meter wide. Across from them rose a sheer cliff, from which countless vines hung down, their overlapping leaves weaving deep shadows.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Yu Yan replied, shaking her head. She assumed it was just some instance creature making noise.

Over the past four days, she had gathered all the usable materials from Eagle’s Sorrow Ravine; there was no reason to linger for more. As for making trouble just for the sake of it, Yu Yan had no interest—she’d rather spend her time refining a new supernatural ability.

Strictly speaking, neither she nor Yun Duo’er were combat-type Plant Spirit Enhancers. She couldn’t rely on high-grade materials in her space to solve every crisis. No matter how many she had, one day they’d run out. Each of them needed at least one offensive supernatural ability.

“Leave instance,” Yu Yan silently intoned.

A voice sounded in her mind: “Your team has met the conditions for leaving the instance. Please choose: leave alone, or leave as a team.”

Leaving alone meant Yu Yan would exit by herself. Team departure, as the name suggested, meant she and her daughter would leave together. The instance would automatically group together anyone entering the same entry point within three minutes as a team. Sometimes, this led to an amusing situation—she’d entered alone, yet at departure, she’d be offered a “team leave” option.

“Team...”

“Mom, wait!” Yun Duo’er tugged anxiously at Yu Yan’s sleeve. “I think I just heard Siqi’s voice.”

You must have misheard, Yu Yan thought instinctively. But not wanting to discourage her daughter, and since it would only take a little more time, she said, “Let’s search once more.”

“Siqi... Siqi? Are you nearby?” Yun Duo’er called softly as she searched along the cliff wall, which was draped with vines and, conceivably, might hide someone behind.

“Yun... Yun Duo’er?”

A timid, almost incredulous voice responded.

“It’s me!” Yun Duo’er exclaimed with joy, parting the thick curtain of vines to reveal a hidden cave. The cave was small, just enough for two adults to squeeze in, its entrance half-blocked by earth and branches of unknown origin.

Tang Siqi’s tear-streaked face appeared at the opening. Her hair was a tangled mess, clearly unkempt for days. “Yun... Yun Duo’er? Wuwu... Yun Duo’er, my father is dying!”

“It’s all my fault... Wuwu, if I hadn’t made that noise and attracted all those scorpions, my father wouldn’t be dying. Yun Duo’er, I’m so sad... It’s all my fault!”

Perhaps out of empathy—remembering how she herself had caused her mother so many injuries and so much blood these past days—Yun Duo’er’s eyes reddened, her tears falling in heavy drops.

Yu Yan cleared away the earth and branches from the cave entrance, and Yun Duo’er rushed forward to embrace Tang Siqi. Tang Siqi wailed, her sobs heart-wrenching and earth-shattering; the past few days had truly terrified her. Especially after her father was injured and fell unconscious, unable to comfort her in his gentle voice.

When Yun Duo’er had not yet arrived, she had managed to stay strong for her father’s sake. The moment she saw someone familiar, she could no longer hold back.

Yu Yan could only sigh. Thank goodness this was a C-rank instance, and its full power wasn’t unleashed. Otherwise, the fate awaiting her and her daughter would have been dire. Still, she didn’t blame the little girl for her lack of composure. After all, she was just twelve years old; it was already remarkable that she’d stayed with her unconscious father for so long.

Even many adults, faced with such a sudden onslaught of hardship, might not have shown such resilience.

Yu Yan sprinkled a ring of Fire Crystal powder around the cave entrance. Fire Crystal was a unique mineral from the double-S-rank instance “Lava River,” its grades ranging from one to nine. Rich in fire energy, its effect at repelling snakes, insects, rats, and ants was not quite as strong as the powder of realgar fruit, but still quite good.

What’s more, the powder Yu Yan used came from her excavation of sixth-grade Fire Crystal. It was more than enough to deter any fourth-grade or lower rock snakes and blue-tailed giant scorpions.

As for the only flying creature in this place—the white-headed eagle, which wasn’t particularly afraid of fire—they disliked dark, damp caves. Even if one did decide to come in, a solitary white-headed eagle, used to fighting alone, would simply be delivering itself into Yu Yan’s hands.

She would be most pleased to welcome it!