But in Liu Yang's head, another voice was laughing.
Liu Yang's brain deadpanned inside.
"Oh my god. The great Wall of Loyalty is shaking in her panties at a dog with big teeth."
His lips curled slowly, and mean smile.
"Perfect. I'm dragging her anyway."
—Flashback—
He had been standing at the quest board earlier, eyes scanning fast across the mess of quest papers, his finger sliding from one to the next.
"No, no… lost cat? Not worth it.
Fetch water? Boring." His lips had twisted, ready to just grab the easiest thing he could find—until his eyes stopped, and there it was.
The dire wolf hunt. Something sparked in him, and without thinking twice, his hand snatched the paper straight off the board.
"Wait… why pick easy?" His eyes slide to the side, at her. Level 100. Calm smile.
Zero sweat after all that running. "I got myself a walking cheat code. She can wipe anything out. And me? I just sit back and collect the exp."
His grin grew big in his memory. His finger stabbed the paper, the one with dire wolves. "Yes… this one. Farming time. Exp… here I come."
Back in the present, Liu Yang chuckled under his breath, the quest still in her hands.
"Go on then. Lead the way, my wall-chan."
They started running, their feet kicking the dirt, the forest slowly opening up into a wider path. The village was a few kilometres away, not far, but far enough to make him sigh inside.
Liu Yang frowned. The paper only had the village's name written on it. No map, no arrow, nothing. Just a name like everyone in the world should know where it is.
He didn't know the way at all. But she… she ran ahead without even stopping to think, her steps was quick and uneven, more like someone trying to flee than someone confidently guiding the road.
Of course she knew. She'd been in this world far longer than him, always hiding, always dodging, surviving by running first and thinking later.
She scared easy, shook whenever danger showed up, but somehow that same fear knows every road, every shortcut, into her memory.
Her showing the path to village wasn't normal guide.
Even though the path was straight, she dashed like someone was chasing her with a knife.
Left, right, zigzag, sometimes even stopping to peek around a tree like an enemy was waiting there.
Then she'd shoot forward again, hair flying all over, skirt bouncing, her feet pounding too fast, then suddenly too slow, then fast again.
Sometimes she even ducked down low behind a bush for no reason, only to pop back up and keep running the same way.
Liu Yang dragged his legs behind her, veins on his forehead throbbing.
"Yeah, amazing. I'm supposed to be following a guide, but she's running like she's escaping a murder scene."
He gritted his teeth as she swerved again, sharp, almost smacking into a tree before hopping back to the middle of the path.
"Left, right, fast, slow… lady, it's a straight damn road! Just go forward!"
But she didn't stop, didn't care. Her fear was in her body, and her body only knew one thing: flee first, think later.
Liu Yang sighed, his voice low. "I swear, she's not leading me to the village. She's leading me to a headache."
Liu Yang frowned, sweat rolling down his chin as he stared at the paper.
The stupid quest sheet had nothing on it except the name of the village. No map. No arrow. Not even a tiny doodle.
Just one damn name written there, like the whole world was magically supposed to know where it was.
Liu Yang pulled the quest paper out again, the edges already soft and crumpled from his sweaty grip.
He squinted at the messy scribble on it, trying to make sense of the words while still running full speed.
"Qingmu Village…" he read out loud.
He stared at it, blank. His lips twitched.
"Wow, great. Just a name. Like by reading a name suddenly the road will appear in front of me. What am I supposed to do, sniff the air like a dog and find it?"
His eyes stayed on the paper a second too long—his foot smacked a rock and he almost went flying.
He stumbled forward, waving his arms like an idiot, the paper shaking in his hand, arms flailing, nearly kissing the dirt again.
"Wha—?!" he shouted, barely catching himself. "Where the hell are all these rocks coming from?!"
His face twisted, his voice cracked louder.
"At least back home I had… you know… maps! A little dot, a little arrow, 'turn left here, idiot.' But here? Nothing. Just a word. A bloody word!"
Then the System screen flickered.
[Reminder: Host, System does have map function.]
[But map only shows places you have already visited.]
Liu Yang's eyes almost rolled out of his skull.
"What the hell—so basically you're telling me I got a map of nowhere?!"
[Correct, Host.]
[Currently your map looks like a newborn baby's memory—blank.]
His jaw twitched, his fists clenched. "Oh thanks. Thanks for nothing. Why don't you just call it Blank Paper Function instead of map?!"
[Good idea, Host. I'll consider renaming it.]
"Don't you dare…" he growled, while she ran ahead, not even noticing his soul dying behind her.
Liu Yang's legs were burning, his chest bouncing painfully with every uneven step.
Up ahead, she was running like her life depended on it—had him almost yell out loud instead of just thinking:
"Oi! Lady, the road is straight! STRAIGHT! This isn't a maze!"
She'd sprint, stop, turn around for no reason, then dart off again. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes even hiding behind a tree when the road was completely straight.
"System, I swear, if you print this out, my map's gonna look like crossword puzzle made by drunk kid with crayons."
His teeth ground so hard it hurt. He rolled his eyes up at the sky, grumbling in his head,
He almost tripped when she suddenly darted sideways again.
"Yeah, perfect. At this rate, even if I had a map, it'd just say 'Lost Idiot Currently Here.'"