"Tsk..."
Lurking in world chat, Nana Toki clicked her tongue, a dry spark in the dark.
So the dev team had already thrown her coordinates to the wind?
No wonder she got ambushed at the mass graveyard; the “officials” had moved early, aiming to take her head.
Should she duck back into the Lost Cave for a while?
The Lost Cave sat off the map tiles. In there, Nana Toki didn’t have to fear a coordinate leak.
But.
How did she break this ice-locked stalemate?
She couldn’t hide forever. She had zero interest in spending a lifetime on a plane without Nesting Phoenix.
And if she didn’t clear the main quest, she couldn’t switch planes.
In every sense, she was hard-stuck, like a door jammed on its hinge.
Fuck.
Was there really no plane where she could just coast in peace, like a cat in the sun?
One day she’d unscrew the idiot head that designed a plane this cursed.
"Youzi..."
As she weighed asking the System to port her and Nan Jin back to the Lost Cave, Nan Jin—who’d been running behind her all this way—tugged her sleeve and whispered.
"What is it?" Nana Toki turned. "Did you remember something important?"
"No." Nan Jin shook her small head. "They’re hunting me. So why is Youzi running too? That’s not how Youzi is."
Well now. Who knew this dumb ghost had a sense of loyalty.
Nana Toki arched a brow, stepped closer, took in the cute lines of Nan Jin’s face, then said slowly, "Because I want to. Whether I run is none of your business."
"..."
"Then if I die one day, will Youzi be sad?"
Head down, Nan Jin gripped her black dagger tight and asked in a careful voice.
"Why would I be sad?"
Nana Toki lifted Nan Jin’s chin, forcing her to meet her gaze. "You’re not anyone important to me. Your life or death has nothing to do with me. Honestly, if you dropped dead right now, I wouldn’t feel much of anything. And you’re still breathing just fine."
"..."
She hadn’t expected that much cold water. With her jaw in Nana Toki’s fingers, Nan Jin suddenly didn’t know what to say.
"But—"
"No buts. You open your mouth and it’s death this, death that. What melodrama are you rehearsing?"
Her patience frayed. Nana Toki let go, turned away, and snapped, "As long as you don’t go looking for death and you stick with me, no one can kill you."
And even if death insisted, it could wait until after she cleared her main and side quests.
For now, you live. That’s the rule.
"What are you standing there for? Waiting for that pack of idiots to come finish you? Move."
She waved Nan Jin to fall in behind her. With coordinates refreshing every five minutes, Nana Toki wasn’t that worried about players locking onto her in one go.
Nan Jin’s pings veered south, then north. Every time players sprinted to the official coordinates, they came up empty, chasing smoke.
In the end, they stopped checking the official posts and started combing the map on “feel.”
[World] The Dev’s My Bro: "Damn! That Shadow Clan boss is too crafty. Been searching half an hour. Not even a shadow."
[World] Crushing on the Village Belle for 100 Days: "Same. Every time the officials ping a point, I’m first there. Still no sight. I’m starting to think the devs are in bed with that Shadow Clan descendant."
[World] Miseries on Miseries: "Sigh. Ever since this spooky event started, our wife hasn’t spoken in world chat. It’s lonely."
[World] World’s Cutest: "Yeah! I miss getting scolded by wife!"
[World] Dutch Piggy: "No way, sir. Do masochists actually exist in this day and age?"
[World] Freebie Swordsman Reporting: "Anyone got a live coordinate on the Shadow Clan descendant? I’ll pay fifty gold!"
[World] Treasure Imp: "Coords 192,842. Get here. Pay up."
[World] The Dev’s My Bro: "?"
[World] Crushing on the Village Belle for 100 Days: "?"
Holy crap. Did Treasure Imp fall into a money pit?
Staring at Nana Toki’s sudden post, the world chat froze a beat.
Then it erupted like oil on a hot pan.
[World] Cool Handsome Pigeon: "Wife, flame me!"
[World] Captain Pity-Pulls Only: "Whoa, 192,842? That’s near me!"
[World] Abyss Dungeon Zero Drops: "Move move move! 192,842, rally!"
[World] Passing Mahou Shoujo: "Treasure wife, you want money or your life? You really posting coords?"
[World] Treasure Imp: "/contempt /contempt Pfft. You flock of weaklings think you can ‘farm’ this little imp?"
Right now, she and this dumb ghost Nan Jin were the ceiling for physical attack and agility. A crowd meant nothing. Even if every player on the server came, Nana Toki wouldn’t flinch.
Worst case, if they couldn’t win, they’d outrun the storm.
That was the swagger that let her strut in world chat.
[World] Salted Egg, Hold the Egg: "Hahaha! Our Treasure Wife is gloriously cocky!"
[World] Miseries on Miseries: "Wait for me, wife, I’m comiiing ||ヽ(*￣▽￣*)ノ I’ll protect you!"
[World] Freebie Swordsman Reporting: "Hold it right there, Treasure Imp. I’m coming to farm you."
[World] Treasure Imp: "Don’t forget the fifty gold. Business is business."
She hit send, then stayed put with Nan Jin, waiting for the hunters to arrive.
She’d figured it out. If she wanted to end this version event where Nan Jin was hunted, she’d have to use the players.
She wasn’t asking for much. First, kill every player who came for Nan Jin. When they lost, they’d report the dev team. The server would get forced into another maintenance sooner or later. Then, finally, she’d have breathing room to handle her damned main and side quests.
Freebie Swordsman Reporting, who’d been yelling about farming her, reached the posted coordinates fast. Nana Toki, hidden in the dark, glanced out. At her pinged spot, two to three hundred players had already pooled there, and more kept trickling in like ants.
[World] Freebie Swordsman Reporting: "Treasure Imp, where are you? Grandpa’s here. Come out and die!"
He typed his taunt at the spot Nana Toki had posted. His screen flickered black. When it blinked back, everything was already grayscale.
He hadn’t even seen the blade before he got one-shotted.
[World] Treasure Imp: "You’re here? Carry him off. Next!"
That one line poured oil on their aggro.
[World] Water Gun Sprayer: "Hahahaha, Treasure Wife 666!"
[World] Old Kenpachi No Sword: "That taunt is lethal!"
[World] That’s Exactly Right: "/serious /serious Next contestant, please! Hah-hah-hah-hah!"
[World] Just Hit Hard: "So this is the Freebie Swordsman. Too real!"
[World] Freebie Swordsman Reporting: "I wasn’t ready! Do it again if you dare!"
Watching the peanut gallery in world chat, Freebie Swordsman flushed red. He revived, scrambled to his feet, and before he could steady—another flicker.
Thud. Corpse, x2.
"..."
[World] Treasure Imp: "Were you not ready that time, too?"
[World] Ten Thousand Paths, No One: "666666. Treasure Wife is insane!"
[World] Beggar Sect Leader’s Bro: "Certified: taunts from an NPC!"
[World] Freebie Swordsman Reporting: "Sneak attacks don’t make you a real hero! Come out and duel!"
[World] Treasure Imp: "I’m a woman. Where would I get ‘balls’? And heroics? Useless rep to an NPC like me. Don’t blame your L on my ‘dishonor.’"
[World] Treasure Imp: "In esports, being bad is the original sin."
[World] One Yogurt a Day: "Hahaha, Treasure Wife gets cuter by the minute!"
While world chat boiled, Nana Toki slid a whisper to someone from Moonlit West River.
[Private] Treasure Imp: "Do me a favor. After, I’ll agree to any reasonable ask."
Never Give Up—who’d come to spectate near her posted spot—stared at the sudden PM, stunned for a beat.
He shook it off, stepped out of the crowd, and replied.
[Private] Never Give Up: "What do you need?"
[Private] Treasure Imp: "Didn’t you say you work at a police station? Can you check past case files for a Nan Jin, or a name containing the character ‘You’—as in Youzi? Do it, and I owe you a favor."
He didn’t even pause to think. Her message barely landed before he said yes.
[Private] Never Give Up: "Forget the favor. I still owe you one. Just tell me why an NPC needs those records."
Accessing case files required a proper reason.
And asking for real-world cases from an NPC had him scratching his head.
He couldn’t figure why a game NPC had drifted into real life.
[Private] Treasure Imp: "You might not believe this, but I might not be an AI."
