Chapter 31.1 – Protagonist: Hold me then sit on it.
Xiu handed over the two passes to the demon gatekeeper. The demon examined the passes to confirm they were genuine before he looked at Xiu, Du Ze, and the two demon sisters: “Only two people can go through.”
Pointing to himself and Du Ze, Xiu said: “Just me and him.”
“Chirp!” The small Phoenix on top of Du Ze’s head tweeted, calling attention to its existence.
The gatekeeper stared at the trembling yellow hairball: “What is this? Chicken?”
If I say this is a Phoenix, would you believe it?
Du Ze’s face expressed melancholy. Ever since he woke up, he found that the little chick had made itself home on his head. Although the small Phoenix was still shivering, it seems to have become accustomed to it and just trembled while gathering Du Ze’s black hair in its claws. After finding a satisfactory spot, it settled down there. Whenever Du Ze tried to get it down from his head, the little Phoenix would bite Du Ze’s hair and stubbornly refuse to let go.
The demon guarding the gate glanced disinterestedly at the little Phoenix, put the passes away, then rang a bell. The heavy gates of the fortress slowly rose and a black swamp appeared in front of them. A thin mist hung over the swamp. The smell of decay was strong. This is the Death Swamp, the battlefield of the angels and demons and later, the gnomes and undead. Those who want to enter the Lost Land must first cross the Death Swamp.
Xiu did not hesitate and immediately pulled Du Ze with him to enter the gate. Du Ze looked back at the demon sisters. Though she had known that they would be parting today, Violet was still crying. Alice, who was gently holding her sister, noticed Du Ze’s eyes on them. The red-clothed girl smiled and said: “Bon Voyage, Lord Xiu, Mr. Du Ze. We will be your most faithful servants at any time.”
The heavy door of the fortress closed again, and the girl’s smile and voice were cut off.
After walking into the Death Swamp, the rotten smell irritated their noses. The baby Phoenix sneezed a dozen times. Fire spurted from its mouth and burnt some of Du Ze’s hair.
Du Ze: …
Xiu stopped and softly chanted a few syllables. A gentle breeze with a fresh scent enveloped the group. This was a very useful wind-type magic spell that can, at the very least, save some stupid person’s hair.
“Tread carefully.”
Wherever they walked, their feet sank down into the black sludge of the swamp. Xiu and Du Ze walked for a while before suddenly, a black shadow half-hidden by the fog appeared in front of them. They stopped walking but the shadowy figure still seemed to notice them. The dark figure was about three meters high. When it turned around, there were two blue lights in the mist.
Xiu stood in front of Du Ze, chanting a few words. A gust of wind tore the thin mist apart, revealing the shadowy figure. It was a tall robot with long, big hands carrying chains. A star was engraved on its left breast. Its body was a metallic iron-gray, and its eyes were simply blue lights.
Du Ze instantly felt as though he had been transported into a sci-fi world though he knew that the robot was a mechanical puppet, one of the gnome race’s best-known creations in “Mixed Blood.”
The blue light set in the eyes of the mechanical puppet scanned Xiu and Du Ze. It spoke in an electronic-synthesized tone: “Beep – lifeforms discovered, analyzing race. Beep – non-gnome, analyzing faction. Beep – unrecognized faction, analysis complete. Beep – activate the enemy program X, expel the lifeforms.”
