[Welcome to Skeleton Kingdom]

[Mission: Break the curse of the undead skeletons or survive for seven days]

[Number of Players: 20]

A dimly lit, silent forest, the trees blocking out the sky, not even a sliver of light penetrating.

The ground was covered in fallen leaves, layer upon layer. Stepping on them produced a rustling sound, soft, yet with a strange texture, hard to describe.

“1, 2, 3, 4…” A male player was counting heads, frowning when he reached himself, “5.”

Including him, there were only five people.

These five people, three men and two women, were all between 20 and 25 years old, very young.

This player counting heads, named Zhou Lu, finished counting, and his expression turned serious, saying, “Strange, didn’t it say there were twenty people? How come there are only five of us?”

Another female player, with ear-length bobbed hair, said, “Maybe we were teleported in batches?”

Zhou Lu: “We were probably teleported to different locations. 20 people, probably in groups of 5.”

This player named Zhou Lu was an experienced player, and also a member of one of the two major guilds, the Deep Sea Guild.

He looked at the other players’ confused and bewildered expressions, knowing that these four players were all newbies.

Just entering the instance, the situation was unclear, and the group didn’t know each other, so there wasn’t much to say.

Everyone silently continued walking forward.

But none of them noticed that, behind them, there was a forgotten little dumpling.

Gu Lin tilted his little head, counting on his fingers, counting twice.

Huh? It wasn’t five, it was six.

How come they were so big, yet they couldn’t count!

The little cub sighed like a little adult, shaking his head, instantly feeling proud of himself for knowing ten numbers.

Upon entering the game, Su Qiao and Song Ran were gone. Gu Lin saw several strangers, not knowing anyone, and remained quietly to the side, not making a sound.

Seeing those five players walking ahead, Gu Lin clutched the straps of his Ultraman backpack, spread his short little legs, and stumbled along behind them.

The aunties in the livestream chat had been waiting for a long time, and now they were all about to split their sides laughing.

[Hahahahahahahaha, help, how come every time he enters an instance, no one notices the cub?]

[Hahahahahahaha, the cub is too small. When players first enter an instance, they don’t dare to look around randomly. They didn’t even notice that there was a little dumpling at their feet]

[Laughing to death, the cub even counted on his fingers. Cub, it’s not that they can’t count, it’s that they have bad eyesight]

[Ahhhhhhhh, cub, auntie is going crazy for you, family, get the cub’s battle cry ready!! [Reward Points x100]]

[Cub, fly bravely, auntie will always be with you! [Reward Points x100]]

[Reward Points x100]

–

It was dim, and visibility was poor, only able to see blurry tree shadows.

They walked for ten minutes, still not out of this dense forest. They could only hear the sound of feet stepping on fallen leaves.

The several players’ hearts were beating fast, their nerves tightly strung. Fear slowly accumulated, not daring to look around randomly.

The girl with the bobbed hair earlier, seemingly very outgoing and talkative, poked Zhou Lu, who was walking in front, again and said, “Hey, handsome, our instance is called Skeleton Kingdom, right? How come we ended up in a primeval forest?”

This place really did look like a primeval forest, with a depressing, deathly atmosphere, making people’s hearts race.

But no matter how you looked at it, it had nothing to do with skeletons or kingdoms.

Zhou Lu turned his head to look at her. He was about to answer when his expression suddenly changed. He slowly lowered his head and saw a skull lying at his feet.

Seeing this skull, Zhou Lu was first startled, then quickly realized that it was just an ordinary skull, lying quietly among the dead leaves, more than half submerged in them.

Zhou Lu’s expression relaxed slightly. He took a breath, pointed at his feet, and said, “Look, isn’t this a skeleton!”

The other four players all looked down and indeed saw the skull at Zhou Lu’s feet. Their expressions all changed.

They were all newbie players after all.

Zhou Lu smiled inwardly.

Not knowing whether he wanted to play the hero or show off, Zhou Lu raised his foot, wanting to kick this skull like a ball, preferably with a perfect shot, kicking it into that tree.

Who knew, at this moment, just as Zhou Lu’s foot was about to make contact, he let out an “Ow—” his face contorted in pain.

The other players were startled.

They saw that the skull wasn’t a dead object, but still alive. It opened its mouth, aiming at Zhou Lu’s kicking foot, and bit down.

Zhou Lu screamed in pain, his screams echoing through the dense forest.

The skull’s teeth sank into the back of Zhou Lu’s foot. The skull rolled its eyes, letting out a puzzled: “…Hmm?”

The skull opened its mouth again. Most of its teeth were embedded in the back of Zhou Lu’s foot, but inside the skull’s empty mouth, new teeth instantly grew, this time sharper and longer.

The skull aimed at Zhou Lu’s foot, bit down again, using even more force, seeming like it wanted to bite off this daring player’s foot.

Zhou Lu, no longer as calm as before, let out a shrill scream, forcefully pulling at his foot.

But the skull’s bite force was very strong, and he couldn’t pull it free.

He could pull his leg back, but his foot was a goner, it would have to be bitten off.

Zhou Lu reached out to the others: “Help me, help me…”

The other players were so frightened by this sudden turn of events that their faces changed drastically, backing away repeatedly.

They had thought it was just a dead object, but it could actually bite?

Someone was so frightened they cried, crying out: “What do we do, what do we do? Think of something!”

“Oh my god, oh my god, this skeleton is alive!”

The other players were all first-timers in the game, panicked, and didn’t know what to do. However, at this moment, a small hand patted the skull’s bare head, accompanied by a childish voice, sounding from ground level: “Feet stink, don’t eat feet.”

Skull: “…”

Zhou Lu: “…”

Players: “…”

Holy crap, where did this child come from?!

Suddenly seeing a child appear, and a living, breathing, talking child at that, the other four players, except for Zhou Lu, were more frightened than seeing the skeleton.

They looked at this child, who looked like a porcelain doll, but whose skin was fair and tender, more like a ghost doll, and were so frightened that their faces turned pale, retreating two meters back.

Gu Lin was wearing overalls and carrying his Ultraman backpack, a tiny thing, squatting next to the skull. His little hand was fleshy, with cute dimples. Seeing a skull that could bite, he wasn’t afraid, and even dared to pat its head.

Before he even stepped on it, his foot was almost bitten off. This little hand had patted the other guy’s head, could it still be saved?

Zhou Lu, seeing Gu Lin, so small, immediately reacted. This was the little player who was popular on the forum.

But now, he clearly couldn’t care about little players.

The moment Gu Lin patted the skull’s head, it loosened its bite.

Zhou Lu quickly pulled back his foot.

Having saved his foot, Zhou Lu retreated far away, already scared out of his wits.

Five players…no, six players, four newbies, a little dumpling who had only been in one instance and was less than two years old, and he, this experienced old player who prided himself on his experience, was actually the first to get hurt.

If it weren’t for this little player, his foot would have been ruined!

Zhou Lu immediately exchanged a healing spray from the system store and sprayed it all over his dangling injured foot.

The system store’s items were miraculously effective, taking effect quickly. The foot that had just been connected by only tendons, healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Zhou Lu was still in shock, trying to calm himself down. Seeing the other four players hiding far away, he understood their thoughts.

Zhou Lu: “Don’t be afraid, this is a little player in the game, not a ghost doll.”

Seeing that he had been mistaken for a ghost doll again, Gu Lin squatted on the ground, a little lump, a little aggrieved.

He explained softly, “Cub is not a ghost doll, cub is…”

He couldn’t say that he was an auspicious beast cub, so he learned from Zhou Lu, “little player.”

Other players: “…”

There was a player this small in the game?

One of the players looked at Gu Lin carefully and exclaimed sincerely: “Damn, he’s so cute, holy crap!”

“…” Gu Lin was still squatting next to the skull, patting its head with his little hand.

The players’ moods were complex, and their faces were hard to describe.

Zhou Lu remembered that he hadn’t thanked Gu Lin. He didn’t dare to get too close to the skull, so he thanked Gu Lin from a distance: “Thank you for saving me just now.”

Gu Lin tilted his head in confusion: “When did I save you?”

Zhou Lu: “…”

Could it be… that this little cub was just being literal, saying his feet stank, and not wanting the skeleton to bite his foot?

Zhou Lu: “…………”

At this time, a cold wind blew, and the fallen leaves on the ground were blown away. And underneath the fallen leaves, there were actually all skulls.

Players: “…………”

So they had been walking on skulls all this time?!

Everyone’s expressions worsened. Before they had time to panic, the skeleton that had bitten someone’s foot suddenly rose from the ground.

Bones made a series of “creak, creak” sounds. In the blink of an eye, it became a complete skeleton.

The players were stunned. This scene was both terrifying and cool, like special effects in a movie. Seeing it with their own eyes made their goosebumps rise.

Until that childish voice sounded: “Transformer!”

With a “crack,” the skeleton’s old waist gave out.

Skeleton: “…………”

Players: “…………”

[Hahahahaha, holy crap, cub, you’re amazing!!]

[Hahahaha, his waist gave out, that’s hilarious]

[Patting the skull’s head, that’s so cute. This skeleton NPC was also rendered speechless by the cub, hahaha]

[As expected of auntie’s good cub, auntie kisses you! [Reward Points x100]]

This skeleton, after having its waist broken by Gu Lin’s one sentence, quickly grew back.

It lowered its head, its slender finger bones pointing at the little dumpling in front of him, opening its mouth in a smile, actually making the normal sound of a human voice: “What are you? How can you be so small?”

This was a horror game, so it wasn’t strange for a skeleton to speak.

But hearing it speak, the several players still changed their expressions, feeling a chill on their exposed necks and arms.

This skeleton’s speaking voice was very old, feeling like he was very old.

Gu Lin wasn’t afraid, though. He tilted his head and looked at the skeleton: “I’m a child.”

The skeleton stiffly turned its head and said, “Child?”

Gu Lin nodded, curiously looking at the skeleton in front of him.

He had seen it in picture books before, knowing that this was called a skeleton.

The skeleton let out an “Ah,” carefully looking at Gu Lin, only then realizing that this really was a child.

The skeleton: “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a child. The last time I saw a child…”

It thought for a long time. It was too long ago, he really couldn’t remember. “It was the last time.”

Players: “…”

Damn, you really know your nonsense literature!

The skeleton swept its gaze over the other five players, then looked back at this little cub, and then said, “I can help you lead the way, since it was you who dug me out of the skeleton mound.”

Players: “…”

Skeleton mound?

Was this dense forest a skeleton’s grave?

But had they dug it up? No!

The several players were full of doubts.

And this skeleton had already turned around, leading the way in front.

Gu Lin’s legs were short, and he couldn’t walk fast, so he could only run to keep up with the main group.

After walking for a while, the skeleton leading the way stopped.

The players behind him also stopped.

The skeleton turned around, looked at the cub who had fallen behind, and said, “Little baby, your legs are too short, you walk too slowly. You should sit on my arm.”

Other players: “?”

Was this something you could sit on?!

Gu Lin, hearing this, nodded furiously, immediately dadada running over.

Looking at the skeleton’s bone frame, after Gu Lin ran over, he hugged the skeleton’s leg bone, climbing up like climbing a tree, wanting to climb up.

Skeleton: “…”

The skeleton was stunned for a moment, then stretched out a long finger bone, picked up this cub, like picking up a little kitten, and easily lifted him onto his arm.

The skeleton’s arm was horizontal, steadily carrying Gu Lin, continuing to walk forward.

The other players took a deep breath, and immediately followed.

Along the way, there were skulls everywhere, and wherever that skeleton went, the skulls in front would automatically roll to the sides, leaving a small path just wide enough for one person to pass.

The players were terrified, following closely behind, afraid of falling behind.

After they walked past, the skulls that had rolled to the sides would roll back to their original positions and lie down.

–

With the skeleton leading the way, soon, everyone passed through the dense forest and arrived in front of a skeleton-shaped house.

The house was surrounded by skeleton flowers.

This house, as a whole, was in the shape of a skeleton, and the details that made up the house were also small skulls, densely packed together. Most of the skulls had their eyes closed, but some skulls’ eyes were rolling around.

There were even two skulls arguing.

One said, “Stop squeezing me, I’m being crushed!”

The other said, “I’m not squeezing you, you’re squeezing me. Don’t try to blame it on me!”

The previous one: “You are squeezing me. You’re framing me, I’ll bite you!”

The other said, “Come on, come on, like I don’t have a mouth! You’ll see if I don’t bite back!”

A nearby one, who had been woken up: “So noisy, so noisy, stop arguing, all of you shut up, I want to sleep!”

Players: ???

Are you guys serious?

Really, the forest is big, there are all kinds of skeletons.

At this time, many people came out of the skeleton house, a large group, all humans. Counting carefully, there were fourteen.

Adding their five people and one child, that was exactly twenty.

These should all be game players.

Seeing these people, the several players knew that this skeleton had led them the right way.

And the players who came out of the house, their gazes instantly fell on the human cub sitting openly on the skeleton’s arm, and they couldn’t help but be stunned.

How did he get on the skeleton’s arm? How did he do that?

They saw that cub, his two short little legs still swaying in the air, holding a colorful lollipop in his hand, taking a bite, eating with relish.

“…………” Awesome!

–

Song Ran and Su Qiao had arrived early, they came together.

Seeing Gu Lin, Su Qiao almost cried tears of joy: “Dumpling!”

As soon as he entered the instance, the two adults were fine, but the child was gone. Su Qiao was almost scared to death.

Seeing that Gu Lin was safe and sound, Song Ran also breathed a sigh of relief, his heart that had been hanging finally settling.

Gu Lin, hearing the sound, his little legs swayed even more: “Jiejie, Song Ran-shushu.”

Then, seeing something, his eyes lit up, and he waved his little hand at the person leaning lazily against the skeleton wall at the back of the crowd: “Hat-gege!”

Double-Cap Big Shot: “.”

The Double-Cap Big Shot was still in that outfit, a black hooded sweatshirt, the hood pulled over his head, and underneath the hood, a black baseball cap, his whole body exuding a half-dead vibe.

Although the Big Shot was very low-key, his aura was too strong, his presence too strong, making it impossible to ignore him.

As soon as Hat-gege was called out, the other players turned their heads to look at the Big Shot, and then quickly and fearfully withdrew their gazes.

The skeleton put this little cub down from his arm.

As soon as he landed, Gu Lin ran towards Su Qiao and them, his whole body radiating a happy aura.

This little cub’s childish and joyful temperament was hard to imitate, making it obvious at a glance that he was the real deal, not a ghost in disguise.

To be able to be this joyful in a horror game, this was the first one!

After the skeleton delivered the players, he turned and left.

After the skeleton left, the players all walked into the skeleton house.

Those few arguing skulls, seeing Gu Lin, stopped arguing. When Gu Lin passed by, they even said, “Fat baby, fat baby…”

These few skulls were pressed underneath, which was why they were arguing about being squeezed. Gu Lin’s height was just right to see them. He patted their heads with his little hand.

The several skulls were so happy they grinned, looking even more terrifying.

This action of his was seen by the other players, and they were all scared, their expressions changing.

This little cub… his courage was very fei^[1]T/N: Fei (肥) literally means “fat,” but in this context, it’s used as slang to mean “bold” or “audacious,” playing on the idea that a chubby kid has more … Continue reading!

He even dared to pat a skull with his bare hands?!

Of the 20 people, half were experienced players, and had all heard of Gu Lin’s great name, but at this moment, seeing him, they still gasped.

And those new players, needless to say, still hadn’t digested how there could be such a small player.