Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

Miya crouched behind the earthen slope, her mind racing with wicked ideas.

Her original plan was to crouch on the path leading to the quest marker, wait for the witch player who had accepted the same quest to walk by, pounce on her from behind when she wasn't paying attention, reach her tentacles into her clothes to bind her hands and feet, and then silently eliminate her with the Empty Lice.

Clean and neat, take it all with you.

She did the same thing during the martial arts competition; Xiaoye, Asase, and Bodhidharma—she tied them all up.

The plan stalled at the very first step.

She forgot one thing: every witch has a sense of magic.

Miya watched through the cracks in the earthen slope as the small, fluttering figure flew rapidly closer. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her.

The little witch dragging the large scythe had clearly already used her magical senses to locate her position, and her flight path was perfectly straight, without the slightest hesitation.

Mi Ye looked down at her panel. Her magic capacity was just over two hundred. Although it was probably at the very bottom among players, when magic perception swept over her, she was like a lantern in the dark, impossible to hide.

This is awkward.

Miya squatted in place, her hands supporting her chin, her face flushed red beneath the fox mask.

She appeared to be daydreaming and admiring the scenery, but in reality, she had already mentally reviewed all the possible routes ahead.

If she tries to fight head-on, her opponent will fly away; she already learned that lesson the hard way in her last battle with Corona Borealis.

Moreover, that sickle looks really heavy; it would definitely hurt a lot if you got hit by it.

She's good at feigning weakness first and then turning the tables.

The problem is that the other party is flying high up, and her tentacles can't reach that far.

We need to lure them down to the ground.

She was trying to figure out how to act cute and coax the person down when the little witch flying in mid-air spoke first.

"Hey, are you a player?"

Fran's small wings fluttered lightly behind her, and her scythe hung down towards the ground.

She waited for the other person's reply, thinking that the short, black-haired man squatting on the ground with his hands supporting his chin didn't look like a player doing a quest at all.

What serious monster hunter would just stand around in a monster-infested area?

What's even more suspicious is that when she scanned the area with her magic senses just now, the magic point only showed a little over two hundred units of energy. A magic capacity of just over two hundred is less than one-tenth of hers.

Fran tilted her head slightly and lowered the scythe a little further.

"Are you an NPC?"

Upon hearing this, Miya's eyes lit up, and a perfect plan suddenly popped into her head!

So she nodded, her short black hair bouncing up and down twice with the movement, and combined with her squatting on the ground and curled up in a ball, she did look very much like a lost little NPC.

Fran responded with an "oh," and most of her doubts dissipated.

That makes sense; which player's mana capacity is as low as just over two hundred?

The game company probably placed some low-combat-power NPCs in the wild for players to interact with or rescue in exchange for rewards in order to increase immersion. She had encountered this kind of scenario many times when playing games before.

However, Fran remained cautious.

She didn't come down in mid-air, nor did she put away her scythe; she just tilted her head and looked at Miya.

"What are you doing here? Are you lost?"

Miya paused for a moment, then stood up, brushed the grass clippings off her knees, and lowered her head to adjust her expression to appear obedient and harmless.

Her lips were pursed, her eyes were slightly wide open, and with her face half-covered by the fox mask, she looked incredibly endearing.

Then she stretched out her hand, pointed towards the outside of the ancestral hall, and then towards the mountain path in the distance, making a gesture to guide the way.

At the same time, she secretly activated [Inducement].

Miya raised her head, her eyes meeting Fran's gaze through the eye holes of the fox mask.

"Can you come with me?"

After she finished speaking, she turned and walked towards the path in the backyard of the ancestral hall, her steps as insincere as possible. The hem of her pink ancient costume swept lightly through the weeds, and the small flowers embroidered on her belt were faintly visible in the moonlight.

Fran blinked, and before she could even form a rebuttal, her body had already started flying downwards on its own.

When her toes touched the ground, she vaguely felt that something was not quite right.

Wait a minute, why is she listening to a complete stranger NPC?

She has just finished killing all five spirits in the ancestral hall; she should be going back to complete the mission now.

But the little NPC's figure had already walked several meters ahead, her footsteps soft on the bluestone slabs, as if she wasn't worried at all that she wouldn't catch up.

Forget it, why think so much? What if it's a hidden quest? I might even get more rewards.

Fran folded her small wings behind her back and followed Miya, dragging her scythe.

As the two walked up the mountain path one after the other, system notifications popped up simultaneously.

[Mission Update: Clear out the source of the miasma in the mountain path]

[The ancestral hall mission has been completed. The next phase of the mission is now being announced.]

[Enter the mountains to defeat B-rank monsters. Mission reward: 200 points. First completion grants an additional 150 display views.]

[Recommendation: B-rank monsters are quite strong, it is recommended to go in a team of three or more]

The moment Miya saw the task list, she could no longer hold back her smile.

The trees on both sides of the mountain road grew denser, and the moonlight was cut into fragments by the branches and leaves, scattering onto the dirt road.

She walked ahead, already plotting her next wicked scheme.

This is a big deal.

She knew the game rules by heart: defeating other players would allow her to take away a portion of their current points.

As for the exact amount, according to what's said on the forum, it's roughly between 70% and 80%.

And this little flying witch has just cleared the entire shrine, and has at least fifty points.

If you can wait until she and the B-rank monster are both severely injured and then secretly finish them off, you can not only get the points for killing the monster, but also steal the points from her as well.

This sales figure, converted into impressions, is enough for Little Ghost to sing several rounds on the radio.

Miya grew more and more excited as she thought about it, and her pace quickened unconsciously.

She had already gone through the entire plan in her mind, from the positioning to the order of the moves.

First, let the flying little witch fight the B-rank monster head-on, while you hide behind a tree and wait for the right opportunity.

Once both sides are low on health, use the tentacles to launch a sneak attack, followed by a combo. Hehehehe~

Suddenly, his foot stepped on a loose pebble.

Beneath the gravel paving the mountain path lay a layer of slippery moss; it had just rained lightly, and the soil hadn't completely dried.

The moment Miya stepped on the stone with her left foot, it slid to the side, the moss layer seemed to be coated with oil, and her center of gravity shifted directly to the side.

She fell face-first into the muddy ground by the roadside with a thud. The front of her pink ancient costume was covered in a large patch of grayish-brown mud, and even her mask was tilted half an inch, revealing a small section of her fair nose.

Logically speaking, falling down shouldn't be a big deal; you can just dust yourself off and get up. But Mi Ye suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

"puff--"

The blood was spilled on the ground, gleaming a dark reddish-brown in the moonlight.

Fran followed behind absentmindedly, her little wings opening and closing listlessly.

She was still wondering where this NPC was taking her when the little dwarf in front of her suddenly fell face-first into the mud and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Fran jumped back, her little wings trembling violently in fright.

"Holy crap—!"

She stared wide-eyed at the NPC lying on the ground, still spitting out small amounts of blood, then immediately looked around, holding her scythe in front of her and scanning the area with all her senses.

There were no ambushes in the trees, no magical reactions in the grass, and the stones by the roadside were just ordinary stones, without even a moving shadow.

Nothing happened; the NPC just tripped and fell, and then coughed up blood.

"What...what's wrong with you?!"

Fran squatted down, somewhat clumsily planting the scythe in the ground, and reached out to support Miya's shoulders.

When she turned the little dwarf over, Mi Ye's face was covered in mud, a bloodstain hung from the corner of her mouth, and the fox mask was tilted to the side of her nose, revealing a pair of watery eyes underneath.

Miya was breathing weakly, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve. After wiping, a little more blood seeped out from the corner of her mouth. In short, she looked as miserable as could be.

In reality, the moment Fran knelt down to help her up, she had secretly stuck a wisp of an empty louse onto the back of Fran's neck.

Several translucent, empty lice silently burrowed under Fran's collar, clinging tightly to the skin on the back of her neck.

Fran was completely unaware that she was still using her sleeve to wipe the mud off Miya's face.

When she was halfway through wiping, her eyes met Mi Ye's.

The fox mask was tilted to one side, revealing almost the entire face. The fair skin had been smudged with gray marks from the rolling around, and a small drop of blood was still seeping from the cut on the inside of the lips where the teeth had broken it, staining the lower lip a bright red.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and then a few tears slid from the corners of her eyes, mixing with the dirt on her face and drawing two faint tear tracks on her cheeks.

Fran's head suddenly turned white.

What the hell is this?

The NPC's modeling is top-notch; it would be considered amazing even among top idols.

She subconsciously swallowed, realizing she had been staring at the other person for a long time before snapping out of it and coughing to cover her embarrassment.

"Um... um... are you still able to walk?"

Miya looked at Fran, nodded, then shook her head, and finally just looked up at her pitifully.

crit.

Why design NPCs to be so cute?!

Fran really couldn't refuse, so she could only sigh helplessly.

She turned around and squatted down, turning her back to Mi Ye. She folded her small wings to the sides to make room. Her tone was fierce, but her voice was so soft that it had no intimidating power whatsoever.

"Come on, I'll carry you."

"Seriously, who made these NPCs...?"

Miya nodded obediently, put her hands on Fran's shoulders, and leaned against her back.

Fran swayed slightly as she stood up, thinking to herself, "Why is it so heavy!" But she quickly regained her balance, then placed the sickle back across her hands and began walking uphill along the mountain path.

Miya lay on Fran's back, burying her face between Fran's shoulders and the base of her wings, hiding her barely suppressed smile.

After finally calming down, he whispered something to Fran's nape.

"……Thank you."

The voice was soft and gentle, so sincere that even Miya herself almost believed it.

Fran snorted, not turning around, but unconsciously lightened her steps, as if afraid of bumping the girl on her back.

The little wings unconsciously folded inward, blocking the cold wind blowing in from the mountain pass.

Can I ship them? Oh my god!

[I'm totally smitten!]

[I want an NPC this cute too! Ugh, why won't I get a spot?!]

The comments section was already exploding, but Fran didn't have time to watch.

She carried Miya on her back along the mountain path strewn with moonlight and pebbles, and was in an unexpectedly good mood.

Although I didn't get a stage and was assigned the hard work of fighting monsters, at least I found a cute NPC, and maybe I can even trigger a hidden storyline!

But she was completely unaware that her life force was steadily and gradually decreasing.

Meanwhile, the little witch on his back was already thinking about how much she could earn on this trip.