Seizing the King (2) Part 1
“Baa?!” Chen Li was startled by the sound he made, stepping backward and slipping right onto the clothes.
The fluffy little lamb on the ground looked completely confused, making it hard to resist wanting to scoop it up, kiss it, and comfort it.
Even the system, which had originally planned to mock his clumsiness, couldn’t bring itself to laugh anymore.
After falling, Chen Li’s first instinct was to get up, but his new body wasn’t cooperating. His four little hooves each flipped awkwardly, and he ended up landing on his back.
Blinking his dark, grape-like eyes, he finally realized the seriousness of the situation: “Baa baa baa???”
Why did I turn into a little lamb?
System 001, trying to offer some explanation: [Sometimes these kinds of discrepancies happen… Maybe the game detected that this species suits you better.]
That explanation was utterly useless.
Chen Li was a bit upset: “Baa!”
Not only had he turned into a vampire, but his true form was a little lamb. Meanwhile, every other vampire turned into bats.
He paused for a moment, then couldn’t help but think about what it would be like if he had turned into a bat. All dark and resembling a mouse… maybe being a little lamb wasn’t so bad after all.
The lamb in the coffin drooped his head for a while before quickly rallying and attempting to climb out of the coffin.
The longer he stayed in the coffin, the chillier he felt.
But for a little lamb the size of a small dog, trying to escape from the coffin was no easy feat.
Chen Li hummed and baa-ed for a while, finally tumbling out of the coffin in a roll. He ended up sitting on the floor, his little hooves splayed out, looking dazed.
[System, when will I be able to change back?]
Chen Li bleated pitifully.
System 001 scanned him and replied regretfully: [It will take at least one night.]
Chen Li thought for a moment and settled for a lesser request: [System, I’m hungry.]
The lingering scent of blood in the room only made the emptiness in his stomach feel worse.
System 001: [Oh, you can’t eat human food. In your current form, you can only drink blood.]
Chen Li’s eyes slowly widened in shock: [Only drink blood?]
System 001 mercilessly crushed his last hope: [Correct.]
Chen Li wagged his short little tail, unwilling to give up: “Baa…”
He wanted to eat sweet cake and ice cream.
The sight of the poor little lamb was too much. After some thought, System 001 gave in and exchanged a slice of strawberry cake for him.
The sweet strawberry scent made Chen Li’s eyes sparkle. He opened his mouth and took a big bite of the strawberry on top—then immediately gagged.
What spread through his mouth wasn’t the taste of strawberry, but a wave of nauseating disgust.
Still unconvinced, he licked some cream. Again—gag.
And so, in that room, there wasn’t just a sad little lamb anymore—there was a sad little lamb going to sleep with an empty stomach.
. . . . .
The next day, when Chen Li woke up in the corner of the room, he was pleasantly surprised to find himself back in human form. Suppressing his fear, he quickly took some clothes from the coffin and put them on, once again appearing as the mysterious and unpredictable vampire prince.
At least, that’s what he liked to think.
System 001 sighed: [If you go meet the players like this and end up running into Gu Fu, what then? Because of the special nature of this game, players can’t meet each other at the start. Your main task is to guide them toward a meeting. To protect your identity, you’ll need to put on a new disguise.]
Chen Li nodded, half-understanding: [Then can I exchange for a mask in the system shop?]
He remembered the mask Fu Moyang had worn in the last instance.
System 001: [Of course.]
With that, System 001 opened the system shop and navigated to the masks section.
There were countless masks, including some that looked exactly like human skin. According to the descriptions, they were made by “Skin-Painting Ghosts” and could completely change a person’s face once applied.
Chen Li looked at his horror points—after deducting the entrance fee for this instance, he had 300 left. He spent ten minutes browsing and finally picked a reasonably priced, not-too-flashy mask.
Though it only covered half his face, it allowed others to automatically overlook his appearance. Anyone who saw him would find his face completely forgettable. Even close acquaintances wouldn’t recognize him once he put on the mask, and his voice would also be distorted.
Satisfied, Chen Li put on the black-and-gold mask and walked out of the room.
Luckily, vampires are nocturnal creatures. Even though it was already afternoon, he didn’t encounter any subordinates and walked out wearing his mask without issue.
Vampires hate sunlight, but the higher their rank, the less it affects them.
As a prince, Chen Li only felt a mild discomfort on his skin in the sunlight. It didn’t hinder his movements.
He arrived at the dwarves’ territory and saw the village they had built.
Yes—a village.
As one of the seven major races, the dwarves were the simplest and most down-to-earth. They didn’t reproduce much, dedicating nearly all their lives to their innate talent for forging. Compared to the other races constantly fighting for territory, this village was pitifully small.
System 001: [You can’t just walk in like that. Vampires are a hated race—you’re too conspicuous. You’ll be captured as an enemy.]
Chen Li: […So I’m not just a vampire, I’m a disliked vampire.]
As expected of a guide NPC—his roles were always terrible.
System 001 tried to console him: [The undead are treated as a common enemy too. Your two races actually get along quite well!]
Chen Li did not feel consoled. He circled around the village until he finally found the “entry point” System 001 had mentioned—a dog hole.
Speechless, he still crawled through it.
Dusting off the bits of grass on his clothes, he made his way to the place he had agreed to meet the player, Al.
It was a massive steelworks.
Inside were all sorts of machines Chen Li had never seen before—clearly the product of dwarven ingenuity.
When he saw Al, Chen Li was genuinely a little surprised.
The guy really was only about 1.2 meters tall—Chen Li had to look down to speak with him.
System 001: [The game is fair. It doesn’t just modify your body—each player will change according to their race.]
Chen Li suddenly felt grateful for the 20-point mask he had exchanged earlier—it helped him stay composed when facing a dwarfed player.
He recited the lines from his mission panel word for word: “Mr. Al, you undoubtedly have the potential to become the king of the dwarves. I am willing to support you, so long as—once you succeed—the dwarves will no longer interfere with the vampires’ hunting.”
The player named Al was visibly excited. It was his first time meeting another player so early in the game, and though he’d felt a little panicked at first, thankfully this guide NPC had come to him and even issued a mission.
It seemed that the condition for them to clear the instance this time was “to become the king of their own race.”
Al wasn’t a newbie, though. After calming down, he asked the most crucial question: “Have you approached anyone else besides me?”
He was eager to meet the other players.
Since that wasn’t covered on the mission panel, Chen Li had to improvise: “Yes. I’ll arrange for you all to meet tomorrow.”
Satisfied, Al nodded: “I’m willing to work with you—and I hope you won’t disappoint me, sir.”
Chen Li maintained an air of mystery, flicked his sleeve, and handed him a small note.
Written on it were the time and location of tomorrow’s meeting.
Al accepted it.
“Then I’ll take my leave for now.”
He couldn’t let anyone of his own race find out that he was secretly communicating with a vampire.
In this world, traitors who are caught attempting to usurp power are killed on the spot—this is one of the most difficult challenges the players must face.
He was a bit curious how Chen Li managed to come and go so freely from this dwarf village, which was like a fortress of copper and stone. Then he remembered—Chen Li was a guide NPC, of course he had his own special methods—so he left without giving it more thought.
Unbeknownst to Chen Li, the player had once again added a new label to him thanks to his overactive imagination. All Chen Li could do was pitifully crawl back out through the dog hole.
. . . . .
Meeting with the featherfolk wasn’t as easy as meeting the dwarves—their territory was high up in the clouds.
System 001: [If you were a bat, you could just fly up there.]
Flying to the clouds was no trouble for a vampire.
But for a little lamb that only knew how to bleat, it was a real challenge.
In the end, he had to spend points to exchange for a teleportation array to get up there. His previously decent horror points immediately became tight again.
As System 001 continued to nag him about collecting more points, Chen Li finally met the second player.
When those flawless, pure white wings unfurled, Chen Li froze.
The newcomer was exactly the person they had been discussing before setting out—Gu Fu.
Even though he knew he was wearing a mask and wouldn’t be recognized, he still nervously fidgeted with his fingers and instinctively straightened his back.
He watched helplessly as his old friend casually walked up to him. For some reason, the bright and sunny face he remembered now seemed clouded with a trace of darkness.
Folding his wings behind him, Gu Fu spoke: “So, you’re the one trying to stir up internal conflict within the featherfolk?”
His gaze was lofty, tinged with an unspoken sarcasm.
Chen Li had never seen this side of Gu Fu. In his memory, Gu Fu had always been gentle and kind. For a moment, he didn’t even know how to respond.
Until System 001 reminded him: [He’s trying to bait you!]
No wonder he was ranked second on the leaderboard—he immediately tried to seize control of the conversation.
Still, facing a guide NPC, Gu Fu held back and didn’t say anything truly out of line.
Chen Li did his best to suppress the strange feeling rising in his heart: “Yes. If Mr. K thinks we can work together, then please come to the meeting tomorrow.”
He handed a slip of paper to Gu Fu.
Gu Fu took it thoughtfully, the massive wings on his back nearly as tall as a person: “Will other defectors from different races be there as well?”
Chen Li immediately understood what he meant.
He wanted to see himself.
More precisely, he wanted to meet the player version of him, and the completely made-up “teammate.”
But Chen Li hadn’t met with Fu Moyang yet. He had no idea if the guy would be willing to help him keep up the lie.
Chen Li gritted his teeth: “Yes, but not all of them.”
There were still some races he hadn’t successfully persuaded.
However, in that moment of discomfort, Gu Fu immediately sensed it. He stepped forward, frowning, his massive white wings spreading open, almost encircling Chen Li as he said softly: “What’s wrong, dear traitor?”
He lowered his head, his hawk-like eyes razor-sharp, as if dissecting him inch by inch, trying to strip him bare.
That was pure, unmistakable hostility.
Chen Li almost instinctively wanted to bristle.
The player in front of him, with his overly aggressive and oppressive attitude, was completely different from the gentle childhood friend he remembered.
Chen Li had no choice but to pull out his strongest trump card: “Your people are coming.”
As expected, being a player on the verge of betrayal, just hearing the words “your people” made his expression shift slightly.
Like the dwarf players, they were all afraid of their secrets being exposed.
Chen Li took two steps back, moving out of the shadow cast by his wings: “You should go back.”
Gu Fu’s gaze lingered on him for a moment, and this time, without hesitation, he turned and walked away.
Chen Li was almost unsettled by that glance: [System, did he notice something?]
System 001 thought for a moment: [Maybe he noticed you’re weak.]
Chen Li: “…”