Chapter 4 - Is It Wrong to Take Shortcuts and Visit the Game's Secret Heroine First?
Kneeling and picking up the mask, Fu Tong bitterly laughed and patted the dirt away. He turned around and cupped his fist, bowing deeply toward the dark forest.
"Thank you, Lord Deity."
No voice replied, but the soft wind blew as though the mysterious forest deity acknowledged it.
Fu Tong smiled and was about to put on the mask. However, his brain summoned an ancient memory about a famous anime, where a villain put on a vampire mask and threw away his humanity, becoming a legendary meme.
'Ugh, if I equip this, can I shout to protagonists "A monkey like you can never surpass me" and beat the hell out of them in muda-muda style?'
This was his first time equipping a ghost artifact for the first time. In the game, the mask item offered a great status boost, concealment passive ability, and a protective charm against Celestial Foxes and fox-type monsters. However, it also cursed the owner with a massive debuff.
The item owner would lose both eyes. Players would only gain a new pair of eyes after they left the Celestial Fox City. In addition, if the item wielder offended a local fox, their eyes would never heal.
Fu Tong never minded the item's effects before, but equipping it in real life was another story. He gulped, afraid of the painful process.
While Fu Tong was in deep thought, the mask glowed in crimson light and equipped itself to his face. Two spikes extended from the mask's eye area, piercing through Fu Tong's eyes.
He tried to scream, but another extending needle shot out from the mask and pierced his tongue. The tip of the needle expanded while it was inside his flesh, locking the tongue with the mask.
Instantly, his ragged clothes dissipated into dust. Fu Tong's dirty hair and mud-soaked skin were cleansed as though he had come out from a one-hour-long thorough bath.
A new stream of energy entered his body through his mouth and eyes, washing away impurity in his system. A second later, black fluid gushed out from his ears. The foul liquid evaporated into nothingness as soon as it was exposed to the air.
After cleansing Tong's body, the mask produced white cloth threads around him, forming white robes. A new pair of leather shoes replaced Fu Tong's hay sandals.
A thread of Qi from the mask entered his brain. While Fu Tong was confused with the transformation, a new sensation came to him. Even though his physical eyes were gone, he could see everything through the mask. Moreover, his vision was clearer. The visual range and scope were also deeper and wider.
Fu Tong adjusted his posture and looked around. He noticed a pack of 5-meter-tall dire wolves 500 meters away to the east, staring in his direction. 400 meters to the north, a transparent grizzly bear with a scorpion tail stood on two legs, crossing its arms and observing Fu Tong. South, 700 meters from Fu Tong's location, a blue-horned python disguised itself as a pine tree and flickered its tongue, smirking at the crowd of monsters around him.
Realizing how dangerous the forest was, Fu Tong swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva. He let out a long sigh through his nostrils and turned to the Torii gate.
Before Fu Tong wore the mask, he saw nothing but the pine forest beyond the gate. But now, he could see a spiral staircase, leading to the sky.
Fu Tong stepped onto the stairs, following the path. As soon as he crossed the gate to the other side, his appearance vanished. All the monsters nearby lost sight of him.
The spiral staircase kept on going up. After climbing for an hour, Fu Tong gazed at the sky and witnessed the sunset. He stopped and admired the view, taking a short break.
'I guess this is my new reality.'
A nostalgic memory, yearning sensation, excitement, and bitter regret stirred the depth of his soul. The scenery reminded him that he was no longer on Earth but the game that he loved.
While taking in a moment of peace, the spiral staircase trembled. The stairs moved up as though it functioned as an escalator.
Fu Tong chuckled. He didn't know that the stairs had this function. In the game, he simply held a controller stick and waited for the game character to reach the top.
The spiral escalator also ascended as the stairs brought Fu Tong into a mass of white clouds. Upon entering, a mysterious force pulled Fu Tong out of the staircase. His body floated east, shooting through the cloud mass.
Flying over the clouds, a surreal view unfolded before him. On a massive cloud plateau, a crimson city attracted his eyes. Everything was decorated with red paper lamps, red talismans, red mud ceiling tiles, and red wooden buildings, which were so unique that they hurt Fu Tong's new vision senses.
Fortunately, all the local population wore white clothes and a fox mask like him. When the mysterious force released him, Fu Tong already safely landed at the city's entrance. He looked at his feet.
He was standing on the clouds, yet the ground was as sturdy as a cemented floor.
Taking a deep breath, Tong advanced, approaching the gate.
Standing at the side of the gate were two giant foxes with two tails. They glared at Fu Tong, giving him a meaningful look. As Tong got closer, they shifted their gazes and looked away.
Fu Tong let out a long sigh of relief. These two celestial foxes were immortal, far stronger than the cultivators below. If they wanted to, they could have killed him with a snort.
Although Fu Tong could have passed through the gate unhindered, he stopped by the giant foxes and put a gold coin in front of them—one per person. After paying the tribute, he bowed three times to each fox and entered the gate.
As Fu Tong passed them, a voice entered his mind.
Hearing the voice, Fu Tong couldn't help but enjoy their speech pattern. He replied honestly.
"I'm visiting Hu Li Travel Agency. Do you know where it is?"
'Meet not the gaze of female. Keep thy head low. Walk on the azure path until no fox doth stand before thee.'
Fu Tong took the advice to heart. He smiled, but he didn't look back nor questioned further. Proceeding forward, he lowered his head and followed a blue line, which guided him to a sidewalk.