The man beside her suddenly leaned in to speak softly. Jiang Yu E instinctively tilted her body to step back, still hadn't gotten angry when the unfamiliar voice said something familiar. Jiang Yu E paused, surprised—under the darkness, the smooth, sweet face suddenly brightened with delight, her tired eyes gleaming. "Yuan... Yuanzi?" She tilted her head, staring intently at the young man's face, as if unable to believe her ears. "It's me," Zhang Yuanqing said softly. "I came to save you—but due to special circumstances, my body cannot enter this realm. I can only manifest my consciousness and take form within this young man." Before he finished speaking, Jiang Yu E burst out in joyful excitement and rushed toward him. "I knew you'd come to save me. You're a member of the Dragon Team, right? You definitely would." She was as cheerful as a little girl. Dragon Team member—more and more, the more she heard, the more she found it cliché. If only she had thought of a more elegant name. Well, after all, her aunt didn't really understand either. Zhang Yuanqing reached out and gently rested his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from falling "Stay calm, I have some questions for you." Jiang Yu E huffed, then suddenly winced in pain, biting her lips with a tearful, plaintive tone. "Yuanzi, why did you come so late? Auntie's leg is injured—will it leave a scar?" As she spoke, a steady stream of tears gathered in her eyes, and she looked utterly distressed. Where was your calmness and strength just now? Zhang Yuanqing softly reassured, "Don't worry. I'll take you out and find a way to treat your injury—definitely no scar." For a spiritual realm traveler, this kind of wound would have healed on its own, even for a delicate swordmaster. But for an ordinary person, it was indeed serious—there was a real chance of developing tetanus. "What are you two talking about? I can't understand at all," a sturdy woman said, stepping forward cautiously. The four others nearby turned to look. Zhang Yuanqing first patted his aunt's hand, signaling for her to be quiet, then turned to the five of them, speaking with steady resolve. "I'm a member of the Songhai Special Operations Team, and I've come to rescue all of you." As he spoke, he brushed his hand across his face, and instantly a golden lacquer glowed at the center of his brow, spreading rapidly to cover his entire face, forming a majestic facial design with a golden background, featuring black and red accents in the eye sockets, forehead, and lips. The face was dignified and imposing, commanding the presence of all who witnessed it. He had neither time, energy, nor patience to explain this to these ordinary people—he simply used the visual spectacle as a means of immediate impact, which was the most cost-effective approach. In an instant, several of the ordinary villagers in the wooden house felt an indescribable sense of awe; the man across from them seemed like a deity, a sovereign above them all. Submission became their only emotion—any doubt, dissatisfaction, or fear vanished completely. Zhang Yuanqing scanned the crowd with a solemn gaze, observing their bowed heads and their humble posture, as well as his aunt, who stood in stunned admiration, her eyes filled with reverence. A sudden sense of satisfaction stirred within him—not the usual superiority of a transcendent being over ordinary people, but the exhilaration of manifesting his divine presence before his aunt, which made him feel truly at ease. "Tell me everything that has happened since you arrived here," Zhang Yuanqing said, his tone low and authoritative. No one dared to dissent, and immediately began speaking in a flurry, recounting in full detail their experiences since entering this world. After being swept into this realm, they had been relentlessly pursued by a terrifying creature—a wolf-like being standing three to four meters tall, upright and predatory, killing anyone it encountered. Older individuals, those with weaker constitutions, and even the younger ones had all been caught and devoured. The seven of them had fled continuously, eventually finding a wooden cottage and taking shelter there. When the creature reached the cottage, it could not break through the door and was forced to retreat, thus saving their lives. "The creature comes roughly once every hour," said a sturdy middle-aged man, his face filled with fear. "It mimics the sound of a baby crying to lure us into opening the door. When that fails, it begins pounding on the door—so hard that the entire cottage is nearly coming apart. Yet it still cannot get inside." How could a wolf standing three to four meters tall possibly break through a solid wooden door? Unless this wooden door has something unusual about it, this indeed aligns with the sealing characteristics of the Evernight profession. Yet the Evernight profession should not involve elements like werewolves... After listening carefully, Zhang Yuanqing suddenly felt as though something was missing. After a moment's reflection, he recalled: "Where is that little girl wearing a triangular red hat?" The fireplace connected to the chimney, with a large iron pot resting at the top. Zhang Yuanqing lifted the lid, and a pungent sour odor rushed over him. Inside the pot were rotten beans. The tableware consisted of wooden bowls, wooden spoons, and half a dark, hard piece of bread. Various details in the wooden cottage indicated that the inhabitants were foreigners, specifically medieval ones. Zhang Yuanqing circled the fireplace and the dining table, finding no valuable items, and then walked toward the wooden bed. Jiang Yuyi closely followed behind her nephew. Zhang Yuanqing had to support her, carefully navigating around obstacles to avoid bumping into her wounds and worsening them. "Yuzi, could you quietly tell me which evil antagonist is responsible this time—the octopus doctor or the science oddity on a skateboard?" With her nephew at her side, Jiang Yuyi felt no fear and displayed a strong curiosity about supernatural occurrences. "This is a sudden incident," Zhang Yuanqing replied, half-serious and half-honest, "and I still don't fully understand what the enemy is." "Is this mask your superpower? Your superpower isn't invisibility, is it? Can you please put it away? I'm a bit afraid." She said it with curiosity and a gentle, hesitant tone. "No." Zhang Yuanqing declined. "Why?" Because if I put the mask away, it means I'm stopping to use it—and then I'd have to pay the price of a dramatic transformation. You wouldn't want to see me giving you a sweet little hug just moments ago, and then suddenly turning cold and tossing you a big, sharp rebuke, would you? Zhang Yuanqing couldn't explain it clearly, so she simply remained silent. She guided her aunt around the wooden bed, with no immediate results—yet, on the table by the window, she discovered a piece of parchment. The paper was written in a foreign language, and under the moonlight, the two cousins bent down to read it together. "That little brat will surely come after me. She will—she's a lowly one, born from the union of her mother and the monster. Therefore, she is also a monster." "Those foolish people only killed her mother but didn't kill her. Now that she's grown up, she'll come back and kill me in revenge. Father has set up a barrier in my house—she can't enter. Yet I always have to leave the cottage, because I need help. There's an old hunter in this forest; he used to like me when he was young." "Damn it, that old fool promised to protect me, but he insists on sleeping in the cottage every night. I hate the smell of him—he never bathes. Still, I have to yield, because his hunting rifle can kill that young girl." "I told him that if he knocks on the door four times each night outside the house, the barrier will vanish and he'll be able to enter. Oh, how I detest him for never bathing!" That's all the content so far. Something feels off—I have this strange sense of entering a quest scenario. According to the notes on the parchment, the owner of the cottage has a rival. She was certain her enemy would come to exact revenge, pointing out that the incident involving the death of the "small lowly woman's" mother was deeply connected to the woodhouse owner. "So the woodhouse has a protective barrier, which explains why the monster couldn't enter—Yuanzi, now it makes sense: that very werewolf must be the little red-hat girl?" Aunt Jiang whispered softly, her head close to Yuanzi's. As she spoke, her breath was fragrant, and a delicate aroma wafted from her. "How do you know that?" Zhang Yuanqing asked. "Didn't she say earlier that the little red-hat girl was born from the union between her mother and the monster? Since we've arrived here, we've only seen the monster and never seen the little red-hat girl," Jiang Yuebi replied, her thoughts clear and logical. "No, I think the monster is actually the hunter," Zhang Yuanqing said. "The hunter?" Jiang Yuebi gasped, her eyes wide with surprise, "Isn't the hunter supposed to protect the woodhouse owner? How could he become a monster?" "I don't know, but just now I heard those people say that the monster knocks once every hour. You've been missing for nearly three hours, and it's knocked three times, right? The monster is just one more knock away from entering." Zhang Yuanqing said. "The monster knows how to get into the cottage... Why are you hiding from me?" Jiang Yubi looked dismissive. "You've got a bad breath, haven't you? Did you forget to brush your teeth?" ...Zhang Yuanqing growled, "With your life nearly gone, are you still fussing about breath? Besides, this isn't even my body. Do you think I'm going to stay here?" Jiang Yubi was flexible. "Master Yuan is still quite fragrant, but your analysis is too rigid. What if the little girl actually caught the hunter and pressured him to reveal the method of entering the cottage?" "That's certainly possible," Zhang Yuanqing nodded. Jiang Yu er tilted her head, seriously contemplating for a moment before saying, "Yuanzi, I have a strange feeling that I've seen this before—the little girl wearing a red hat, the owner of the wooden cottage, and the writing on the top... it feels familiar, though I can't quite put my finger on it." Familiar? Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself—how could a mere mortal possibly feel familiar with the tools used by the spiritual travelers of the realm? Yet, upon hearing his aunt's words, Zhang Yuanqing reflected carefully and found that there truly was a strong sense of déjà vu. Setting aside the bizarre and terrifying realities of their current situation, if one only focused on the key elements—red-hat girl, forest, hunter, wooden cottage, werewolf—these components seemed to have appeared somewhere before. "Well, let's set that aside for now. I'm certain the owner of the wooden cottage has already been killed by the red-hat girl, and the hunter she summoned has likely also perished." Zhang Yuanqing glanced again at the parchment, gradually piecing together the entire narrative in his mind. The mother of the red-haired girl was born from the union of a human and a monster, and upon learning of this, the owner of the cottage gathered the villagers to burn her mother to death—yet the young girl escaped unharmed. The grandmother knew the girl was a half-human, half-wolf creature and feared she would grow up to exact revenge, so she retreated into the cottage that had been blessed by the priest. But even this wasn't safe enough—so the grandmother struck a deal with the forest hunters: each night, the hunters could stay and sleep in the cottage, on condition that they help her kill the wolf-child. What kind of dark tale is this? And why does a single artifact embody such a rich space and such a layered narrative? Isn't this already a full-fledged quest realm? Could it be that these elements are, in fact, part of the realm itself? The foreign spiritual travelers who have completed this quest realm and subdued a certain artifact have, in doing so, separated it from the main realm? The space they entered is both the space formed by the eternal night profession's artifact and at one time, a part of the quest realm itself? That's why it feels so vividly like a dungeon run. Right now, it doesn't matter—once they get that item, everything will make sense. Zhang Yuanqing murmured to himself. "Uncle, when was the last time the monster knocked on the door?" "Long ago," Jiang Yuebi replied. "How long ago?" "I'll have to ask," Jiang Yuebi said, calling softly to her companions huddled by the fireplace. "Li姐, what time is it now?" The sturdy middle-aged woman produced her phone, glanced at it, and replied softly, "It's ten thirty." A phone? Oh right—almost forgot. This isn't a dungeon, and they brought their phones in. That's why they can clearly track the monster knocking once every hour. Zhang Yuanqing had been momentarily stunned upon seeing the phone, then remembered they were in the item space. "Yuanzi," Jiang Yuebi said, her face growing increasingly anxious, "exactly four hours." She entered here at six thirty in the afternoon. Now it's ten thirty at night—exactly four hours. The monster knocks once every hour, and the fourth knock has just arrived. At this moment, heavy footsteps echo outside the wooden house, and in the night, something large and monstrous is approaching.