Chapter 53: The Little Vampire in the Old Castle 26

Standing in the center of the magic circle, Yu Deng felt a little more at ease upon hearing the Vampire Prince's guarantee.

"You must keep your word."

There was no reason for Ronald not to agree. While coaxing the little vampire, he attempted to step into the magic circle.

Yet, unfortunately, even though he was the most powerful, the very key to the preservation of the ancient castle, he seemed to be repelled and cast outside.

At that moment, the vampire butler and the werewolf chieftain both rushed over—the barrier on the top floor had been destroyed by the violent force, and half the wall had collapsed, so it naturally could not stop them.

The moment Wen Luo flew in and caught sight of Yu Deng's illusory figure, his pupils constricted: "Young Master!"

Andelers was also frantic, shoving aside the annoying vampire and rushing eagerly to Yu Deng's side, his tail drooping: "Baby, where are you going?"

Yu Deng looked at Wen Luo, who had helped him resolve his fever problem the night before, and his prey Andelers, oh, and his guide.

Why were they acting as though they were being torn apart in a life-and-death parting...

Yu Deng lifted his chin and tossed his previous question to these two fellows as well: "If it were the previous versions of you who met me, would you protect me?"

Wen Luo and Andelers did not understand the meaning behind the question, but both nodded with absolute certainty.

Having received three guarantees, the panic Yu Deng felt when facing the unknown diminished just a little bit.

A dazzling flash of light swept past, and Yu Deng completely vanished from before their eyes.

The exquisite little crown Yu Deng had been wearing dropped with a clatter and rolled across the ground a few times.

Silent, Ronald picked up the crown.

"You locked the baby away so we couldn't see him, and now look, you've still let him disappear." The werewolf stared at the empty ground with a sense of loss and let out a cold snort toward the vampire.

Ronald said nothing.

Regardless of what had caused the accident, he truly had failed to protect his fledgling.

Terrifying energy continued to ripple outward, and the several bad dogs present who had lost their master were all in a terrible mood.

The hellhound arrived a step late, and upon discovering that Yu Deng was gone, it let out anxious yelps, wishing it could immediately dash down to the underworld to drag back some underworld companions to help search.

If the Main System possessed a brain, its head would undoubtedly be buzzing with noise.

The Vampire Prince sensed the lingering traces for a moment, then said coldly: "It turns out to be the Retrocession Array."

With that, the Vampire Prince headed to the adjacent study to peruse ancient tomes, while the other two simply chose to regard what they could not see as clean, each seeking a way to bring the little vampire back.

...

On the other side, Yu Deng had already passed through the magic circle and arrived at the so-called Phantom of the Past.

One had to admit, the transportation method of the magical world was intensely dizzying; Yu Deng felt as though he had been stuffed into a washing machine on the spin cycle.

Those past few minutes had genuinely been a very long and dark period in his life.

Upon landing, Yu Deng bent over with a pale little face, feeling uncomfortably nauseous as a layer of mist welled up in his eyes.

"Wuwu..."

System 01 silently applied a bottle of motion sickness medicine for its host.

After taking quite a while to recover from the discomfort of the magic circle, Yu Deng finally had the leisure to observe the changes in his surrounding environment.

He was standing inside a massive forest. This forest appeared to be the very same dark forest he had seen when he first arrived at the instance. Every single tree was exceptionally tall and lush with foliage, blocking out the sky and completely obscuring the path ahead.

Standing within the gloomy woods, Yu Deng shivered slightly, spooked by the quiet, eerie, and unfamiliar environment.

Wuwu, it's so dark and I'm so scared.

He tentatively took two steps forward and stepped on a dead branch, producing a crisp cracking sound.

Yu Deng shuddered violently: "Tongtong..."

[I am here, Host, do not be afraid.]

Yu Deng's brain felt numb from fright, and it took him a long while to remember that he didn't need to walk—he could simply fly up.

Eh, wait??

Yu Deng tried flapping his small wings with increasing familiarity, but there was no movement whatsoever behind him. He widened his eyes, reacting a beat too late to the realization that he didn't seem to be a vampire right now...?

That was right, he had no vampire fangs, no bat wings, and there was an indistinct, uncomfortable sensation all over his body.

His physical form was even semi-transparent.

"Tongtong, where is this... I, I feel a bit uncomfortable..." Yu Deng opened and closed his fingers, watching the light pass right through his palms in utter bewilderment. "Why am I not solid?"

System 01 was utterly charmed by its host's description, experiencing a feeling akin to its health bar being completely depleted. After pausing for a few seconds, the system spoke: [You have now arrived at the timeline of the instance's past. Subject to the constraints of causality, you are temporarily in a semi-transparent state, and ordinary people cannot see you.]

[Your physical condition is currently being scanned.]

Yu Deng uttered an "oh" to indicate he understood. Standing in place for a few seconds, he opened the live broadcast room's comment display.

[The screen has been black for a whole day!! Roars with anger! Not being able to see my wife is going to make me shed little pearls!]

[Very good, very good, the baby's classic operation—whenever there's no one around, he opens the comments... Why is the baby so scared his eyes are red? This tool-person is sending fierce kisses.]

[Baby, think about it yourself, how long has it been since you paid attention to us audience lords.]

[However, baby, what's going on with you right now? We can't see your current task.]

"I've come to the Phantom of the Past," Yu Deng scratched his cheek. "It should belong to a past timeline?"

He had also gone to a past illusion in his previous instance. However, that was merely an illusion, and he could not alter the events that had befallen the Cheng family. As for this one... if he had truly traveled back to the past, wouldn't that mean he could make some changes?

Yu Deng shook his head and decided to wait and see when the time came.

Accompanied by the noisy audience in the live broadcast room, Yu Deng's courage grew a bit, and he could barely manage to use his brain to think.

Since he didn't know precisely what he could do upon arriving in the past, he would simply find the ancient castle first. Um, the props he had purchased were only defensive and healing ones, none for pathfinding... Contemplating for a few seconds, Yu Deng used the paper dolls Little Red and Little Green that he had acquired in the mansion instance.

With a rustle, the two little paper figures were released. They looked curiously at their semi-transparent master and boldly floated over to press closely against him.

"Little Red, Little Green." Yu Deng supported a little paper doll in each hand and greeted them.

The two little paper figures had thought they would finally get to flex their muscles, never expecting to wait nearly a week without being put to use.

Now finally summoned by their master, Little Green nodded with moderate composure, while Little Red's eyes were already brimming with hot tears.

After shedding tears for two seconds, Little Red remembered that it was a paper doll afraid of water and hurriedly stopped crying, waiting for its master's instructions.

"Little Red, Little Green, I can't find the way. Can you go scout ahead for me? I want to go to the ancient castle." Yu Deng instructed the two paper dolls, "Oh, right, if you encounter any suspicious people along the way, let me know too."

Drifting away on the wind, the two little paper figures joyfully set off to execute their master's task, while Yu Deng waited in place, taking the opportunity to sort through the instance's plot.

Mm, in the past timeline, he should finally be able to find out what the banquet at the ancient castle was truly all about.

Before long, Little Red and Little Green drifted back, gesturing wildly at Yu Deng.

Yu Deng carefully observed and tried to interpret, but came up empty: "?" Oh no, the paper dolls' body language was a bit too abstract; he couldn't understand it.

He stared wide-eyed at the paper dolls for a few seconds before Little Red simply grabbed Yu Deng's sleeve and led him to walk in a certain direction.

The light in the forest was dim. Yu Deng walked forward cautiously, still tripping over the intertwined tree roots on the ground a few times.

After walking for about five hundred meters or so, Yu Deng finally heard some commotion—not far away, a team composed of three men and one woman was discussing something.

Yu Deng cautiously moved in that direction, crept behind a large tree near the group, and peeked out stealthily, preparing to eavesdrop on what these people were up to.

"Those non-humans are nothing more than contaminated, filthy creatures! Werewolves and vampires, running around with tails and wings—they're no different from beasts."

"Shh, keep your voice down."

"Alright, alright, cut the chatter. Listen up, this operation is extremely important and concerns the safety of everyone." The leader handed out potions to the others. "You must use the holy artifact to seal that terrifying vampire."

The group drank the potions, and non-human characteristics began to appear on their bodies to varying degrees. The captain continued.

"Jack, your ability is special. Keep the holy artifact safe until the operation begins."

"Understood!"

Jack?

Hearing this somewhat familiar name, Yu Deng looked toward the handsome blonde young man standing on the very edge. He remembered now—wasn't Jack the name of that skeleton?

Then the timeline he was in right now must be the time when Jack infiltrated the ancient castle.

Yu Deng sorted through the plot in a daze, his peripheral vision catching sight of a small crow entangled in the vines of the large tree, staring right at him with wide eyes.

Without feeling any fear, Yu Deng naturally and smoothly untangled the vines wrapped around its legs and even stroked its sleek black feathers.

The crow looked at Yu Deng in confusion, tilted its head to nudge him, and flew off with a flutter of its wings.

Ahead, the captain of the knight squad finished giving instructions, and the group set off toward the ancient castle. Seeing this, Yu Deng hurriedly followed.

The physical stamina and energy of these people were on an entirely different level from Yu Deng's; he practically had to jog to keep up with their pace.

Walking so fast, Yu Deng couldn't pay attention to every detail, and accidentally snapped several dead branches along the way—a sound that was exceptionally conspicuous in the quiet forest.

"Who's there?!" The knights abruptly turned around.

Yu Deng froze in place, frantically brainstorming countermeasures, only to realize that these people were looking all around, seemingly completely unable to see him standing right in front of them.

Eh? These people couldn't see him?

The leading captain pulled out a magical artifact, and after scanning the area, waved his hand for the group to continue moving forward.

Jack, the knight in the group, lagged behind by a few steps, turned his head, and looked at Yu Deng. Unlike the others, he was clearly able to see Yu Deng.

Yu Deng froze for a few seconds, then hastily raised his index finger to press against his lips, trying hard to signal Jack not to speak.

The young knight was stunned for a moment, yet still followed his heart, obeying the instructions of this suddenly appearing, beautiful youth and letting him trail behind the squad.

Anyway, someone this good-looking probably didn't have any malicious intentions, right? Jack convinced himself internally.

...

The process of traversing the dark forest was extremely tedious. Only when Yu Deng was so tired he could barely walk did he finally catch sight of the outline of the ancient castle.

[Apologies for the long wait, Host. Your physical condition scan report is ready.] System 01's voice carried a hint of solemnity. [The power of retrocession inflicts severe damage to the body. Under the past mode, you will enter a weakened state, which will continue to stack.]

Wasn't this just a continuous debuff of weakness? No wonder he was so exhausted...

Yu Deng clutched his hem in agitation and asked somewhat helplessly: "Then, what should I do... Tongtong, I'm not going to die, am I?"