Chereads / "Eryndor: The Shattered Connection" / Chapter 20 - Chapter 20: The Sleeping Lady and the Mystery of the Cabin.

Chapter 20 - Chapter 20: The Sleeping Lady and the Mystery of the Cabin.

Su Bai walked toward the village chief, sensing the tension in the air. The village chief, visibly anxious, almost snatched the items from his hands before handing him the reward. Her face bore a mix of worry and urgency that Su Bai couldn't quite understand. Before he could ask anything, she was already hurrying back to her cabin.

Determined to discover the source of her anxiety, Su Bai moved with agility, avoiding eye contact with the few villagers nearby. The silence around him heightened his alertness, but his instincts told him that a major mission lay within that cabin. As he crouched beneath the window, his heart pounded, anticipating whatever might be unfolding inside.

A bright, intense light filtered through the window, casting long shadows across the ground. Su Bai's heart skipped a beat. "This isn't normal," he thought, narrowing his eyes. It was becoming clear that the village chief was involved in something far more significant than a mere level B mission.

While keeping an eye on the cabin, Su Bai noticed something strange in his inventory. The ring he had stored there began to vibrate and emit a soft glow. "What the...?" he murmured, observing it more closely. Something inside the cabin was triggering the ring's reaction, and that only fueled his curiosity.

As the light inside the cabin dimmed, the ring in his inventory suddenly stopped vibrating. The shift in energy was notable, and the atmosphere around Su Bai seemed to return to normal—though not for the village chief, who came rushing out, her face more troubled than before. Su Bai couldn't help but wonder what could be causing such agitation.

"I can't wait any longer," Su Bai thought, watching her disappear into the distance, a new thought taking shape in his mind: there was no time to lose. A small window flashed on his interface, confirming that the glitch was ready for use. Without hesitation, he focused on the glitch. "Enter the cabin," he thought, and immediately felt the familiar vibration beneath his skin.

The moment he activated the glitch, Su Bai felt a vibration in his inventory. To his amazement, he watched as the ring he had stored began to glow, slipping free from its digital space to materialize in front of him.

He stared in disbelief, watching as the ring was surrounded by a faint blue light. "What is it doing?" he murmured, fascinated by the ring's behavior, which now hovered just in front of the cabin.

As Su Bai tried to make sense of what he was witnessing, and before he could fully process what was happening, the ring shone even brighter, and a thin thread of light extended from it to the cabin wall. The light pulsed, as if searching for something inside. "This has to be part of the glitch," he thought, intrigued by the ring's unexpected behavior.

At the touch of the light thread, the cabin wall began to tremble gently, and before Su Bai's astonished eyes, its solidity faded away. In its place, a luminous oval slowly formed, spinning as if inviting him to pass through.

"A portal?" Su Bai wondered, watching as reality itself seemed to break before him.

Cautiously, he approached, eyes locked on the luminous oval. "Is this really a portal?" he asked quietly, still taking in the sight. He had suspected that the glitch might manipulate game mechanics, but this seemed far beyond anything he'd imagined. The glitch had created something well beyond his expectations, and though he knew it was risky, curiosity consumed him.

Without further thought, Su Bai stepped forward, feeling a mix of excitement and fear as he passed through the glowing oval. "Let's go," he muttered, but the instant he crossed over, his feet touched the cabin floor. The portal vanished behind him, leaving only the dim interior light of the cabin.

Barely inside, the ring, without warning, dropped directly into Su Bai's hand as if it had completed its task. Su Bai closed his fingers around it, feeling its familiar weight and wondering what other secrets this mysterious object might hold.

Before he could take another step, Su Bai felt a vibration. Though the ring was already in his hand, a latent energy began to radiate from it. The blue light now shone brighter, reflecting off the cabin walls as if it were responding to something within.

As he moved further inside, Su Bai's eyes fell on a jade bed that appeared to float at the center of the room. On it, an unmoving figure lay, wrapped in a mysterious aura that he couldn't decipher. "Who is she?" he wondered, but before he could investigate further, the ring in his hand vibrated again, drawing all his attention.

The colors within the ring swirled as if alive, pulsing with a force that Su Bai couldn't ignore. "This is more than just a simple reaction," he thought as he watched the colors blend together.

For a few moments, the ring's glow and vibration left him dazed. His mind struggled to make sense of what was happening, but the vibration in his hand pulled him back. "Now's not the time to stand idle," he thought as his body instinctively moved closer to the jade bed.

The figure on the jade bed looked like a sleeping goddess. Her skin was like porcelain, pale and smooth, except for the intense blush coloring her cheeks, as if she were under some kind of pressure. Her dark, shiny hair fell in perfect curls down to her shoulders, and her lips, a natural shade of pink, trembled slightly as though she were about to awaken. The dress she wore, adorned with green and gold embroidery, clung to her slender figure. The energy radiating from her was undeniable, and the ring in Su Bai's hand vibrated as if responding to her presence.

As Su Bai moved closer to the jade bed, he noticed several snake bile sacs carefully piled to one side. His heart skipped a beat as he recognized them as the same bile sacs he had collected with such effort. "So this is where they ended up..." he murmured to himself. This discovery only heightened his curiosity about the woman lying there.

Su Bai reached out to touch the jade bed's surface, expecting to feel the cold hardness its glossy appearance suggested. But instead of cold, he felt a subtle warmth, almost comforting. The bed seemed to pulse with latent energy, and that same energy seemed to resonate with the ring in his hand, causing both to emit a soft light in unison.

He decided to investigate further.

[???]

[Grade: ???]

[Quality: ???]

[Category: ???]

[Attributes: ???]

[Details: ???]

No surprise here; everything was marked by question marks.

As Su Bai moved closer, the connection between the jade bed, the ring, and the woman became more evident. His gaze fixed on her face, where the blush on her cheeks had grown even deeper, as if she were fighting against an unknown force.

Su Bai also scanned the woman on the jade bed.

[???]

The same result: just question marks. There weren't even any indications of "level" or "attributes."

Suddenly, a whisper—barely a moan—escaped the woman, snapping Su Bai out of his concentration.

Startled by the woman's sudden moan, Su Bai took a step back. He tried to steady his mind, but before he could process what had happened, something else caught his attention: the snake bile sacs, which had previously seemed intact, were now rapidly drying up, as though the energy they once held was being absorbed by the woman.

Su Bai watched with growing concern as the blush on the woman's cheeks visibly intensified. Her breathing, once calm, was now irregular, and her body began to move slightly as if struggling against something. "This doesn't make sense..." he thought, observing with a mix of curiosity and alarm.