C7 Protect You!

"Don't waste your effort; those two are probably dead by now, taken out by my other self."

Xie Yu charged into the blazing inferno around the corner without uttering a single word. He had entrusted the girl to Equinox, and with Hibernation Awakening at his side, the odds didn't look good.

His strategy was to divide and conquer, isolating them to pick them off one by one. If he fell here and Equinox perished at the hands of his doppelganger, only Jing Zhe would remain. As a combat-focused player, she'd be virtually helpless in a dungeon that demanded puzzle-solving skills.

It was a smart move—separating the strategist from the brawler. Overpower one, then use the dungeon's puzzle elements to ensnare Hibernation Awakening. The intelligence of the dungeon's boss was not to be underestimated.

Xie Yu couldn't afford to pause. He needed to get back to Jing Zhe immediately. They couldn't afford to lose either of them, or the dungeon run was doomed.

As for the fate of that little troublemaker Equinox... he'd leave that to chance.

When the Ring Blade parried a strike from the young girl, Xie Yu's arm throbbed with pain, nearly breaking. He harnessed that momentum to pivot and dive deeper into the fiery hell. Upon entry, he saw Jing Zhe, gripping her slender sword with a trembling tip as fine as a beam of light, her face contorted with fury.

Equinox was gone, and a chill settled in Xie Yu's heart—sure enough, the kid had fallen to the boss.

Players slain in the Instance Dungeon would be teleported back to the living room with two options: continue watching their teammates or disconnect and wait for rewards to be mailed after the dungeon's conclusion. Given that Equinox and Jing Zhe were siblings, they'd surely opt to watch.

The blood-soaked girl followed him, her footsteps crunching on the gravel. Two identical girls, one ahead and one behind, trapped Jing Zhe and Xie Yu between them.

"Something's off. We're not even at Sun Square yet. Why is the boss showing up now?"

Xie Yu abandoned all pretense of stealth. Clutching the Ring Blade, his entire demeanor shifted.

If he had seemed like a carefree thug wielding a kitchen knife moments ago, now he was the picture of a collected master.

There was a resemblance to Jing Zhe, the Hibernation Awakening.

Jing Zhe was taken aback, glancing at the Ring Blade in Xie Yu's grip before his gaze returned to the little girl before him.

As Xie Yu had just departed, Jing Zhe was scouring the ruins for any other survivors when a dull thud echoed. Whirling around, she saw a hand jutting from Equinox's back—a hand that had pierced her chest and heart in a lethal strike.

Equinox vanished into white light without even a chance to glance at her sister, dissipating with a "poof."

Equinox was dead.

Jing Zhe realized in an instant that the person she had rescued was no survivor; it was all an act staged by a boss!

This realization made her think of Xie Yu. Alone and only Level 3, he was in danger while searching for supplies.

She was ready to confront the boss to save him when, unexpectedly, he returned unharmed. Jing Zhe finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It appeared that their system pairing was no coincidence.

Equinox had been killed by the very person Jing Zhe had rescued. She owed an apology once outside, but if Xie Yu, an unrelated bystander, had died, causing the mission to fail, she wouldn't know how to atone.

It was only a game, yet she couldn't bear the thought of her actions harming others.

For years, she had been meticulous, infallible, self-reliant—the rock everyone leaned on, the sister her brother admired.

In the game, she was a high-level player known for conquering dungeons. In life, she was a top student.

This identity was ingrained in her, driving her to instinctively protect Xie Yu, the Level 3 newcomer.

She couldn't let others suffer or strangers pay for her mistakes.

Her rapier lashed out suddenly, its silver brilliance slicing through the air as a powerful gust dispersed the lunging boss. Xie Yu felt a hand snatch his sleeve, gripping it firmly before its owner whisked him away with a swift leap.

"Stay alert, I'll guide you through the level."

His waist-length black hair fluttered in the air, a dazzling spectacle. Flecks of sunlight filtered through his awakening strands, casting a luminous hue over his long white robe. Xie Yu was momentarily transfixed.

The person before him bore an uncanny resemblance to someone from his memories.

For a fleeting second, he was transported back to bygone days, to a world not yet overtaken by digitalization, tenderly holding the hand of his beloved, strolling down the street, able to laugh off a dropped ice cream onto the flowerbeds.

The sound of a massive rock crashing jolted him back to reality. The two identical girls seemed to be cut off by the boulder behind them. Xie Yu looked up sharply and declared with authority,

"We should head to Sun Square first. According to the instance's backstory, this place is split into four hells, and we've only encountered two so far. We won't gather all the clues if we just stay here."

Jing Zhe was oblivious to his expression, her focus entirely on the two identical little girls, with their matching faces, white dresses, and identical stains of blood and ash.

They were one and the same!

Xie Yu had noticed as well and murmured, "This little girl must have been injured before she split into two. I suspect that among them, only one is the original, the other, a mirror image."

Jing Zhe nodded in agreement, their thoughts aligned.

They had first materialized in the Hell of the Mirror, later committing suicide to escape it, only to find themselves in the Collapsing Hell. Now, with both hells manifesting in the real world without overlapping, the question remained—where exactly was the Hell of the Mirror?

Xie Yu halted, gazing upward. The blue sky was dotted with clouds, one shaped like a spoon drifting slowly before vanishing.

The scene struck a chord of familiarity.

"The sky... it's an illusion. We're still trapped in the Hell of the Mirror, never having left."

Xie Yu stopped, pulling Jing Zhe to a halt. They had never truly escaped the Hell of the Mirror; running seemed futile now.

The path of fiery hell led straight to Sun Square, and they had already covered some ground, drawing near to their destination.

Xie Yu's hand tightened around the Ring Blade. He hadn't anticipated needing it so soon in their first instance dungeon. His meticulously prepared kitchen knife had served its brief half-hour tenure and was now honorably retired.

He glanced at Thunder Sting beside him, his long black hair cascading over his shoulder, draping along his arm, and finally resting on his wrist.

In Thunder Sting, he could always glimpse shadows of bygone days.

The familiarity was overwhelming, almost frightening in its intensity.

It felt like an aged bottle of liquor—spicy, sweet, with a flavor steeped in time.

The hardest scenes to forget are those of parting, amidst the smoke and bustle of life.

Ahead of them, a little girl in the same white dress tread across the carpet of ashes, effortlessly cleaving through boulders as she made her way forward.

Her face, her blood-stained dress, her icy gaze—all identical.

The Ring Blade was silent, while Xie Yu positioned himself protectively before Thunder Sting.

His voice was a mere whisper, indistinctly meant for himself or for Thunder Sting.

"Before... I failed to protect you all. Now, let me take over."

He wouldn't back down again, not even in the face of a mere shadow.

Thunder Sting stood behind him, a flicker of doubt surfacing in his usually impassive eyes.