Fairy Tale Frontline

Amid a dizzying swirl, Luo gradually regained consciousness, but her mind was still foggy and she had no idea where she was. It took a long time before she managed to pull her thoughts together, and then she realized she was lying on an open patch of ground that looked like a small square.

Bright daylight, fresh air, and in her field of vision she could see many... strangely shaped houses. In the distance came the sound of wind and the noise of some construction site, while nearby there was only the chatter of voices.

Her head spun again, and then she saw two young children squatting beside her, looking down at her with curious wide eyes. There were also several little red-eyed dwarves (the clones of the evil dwarves) standing near her head, staring at her with frightening and wicked dead-fish eyes (or so Luo thought).

Luo shuddered and instantly snapped fully awake, springing to her feet: "Ah!"

The children around her let out a startled "Wow!" A few of them, who looked to be at most elementary school age, began clapping excitedly. A few older children came over, and among them was a girl with a cascade of golden hair that trailed all the way to the ground, who cheerfully shouted to the person next to her: "I told you we didn't need to splash cold water! Big Bro always throws in people who are tough-skinned..."

The person beside her replied, "You didn't need to? You just didn't get the chance! Don't think I didn't see you hide that water bottle in your hair just now..."

"Where am I?" Luo shook her head vigorously, looking around in utter confusion.

This was the first time she had seen such a bizarre human settlement. The ring of houses around the small square were so oddly shaped they looked like they belonged in an illustrated book. The treehouses, castles, magic cottages—those were understandable enough—but at the far edge stood a towering cat tower that reached the sky, and she truly could not figure out what central idea it was trying to express. Even stranger, in the distance she could vaguely make out a huge pyramid that looked like some kind of super-ancient relic—it looked simultaneously rustic, mystical, rough, and spectacular as hell. Around the pyramid were a row of toilets of various sizes, and she had no idea what that meant either...

Luo took another look into the distance and then saw a sky-scraping beanstalk pillar sticking up at the horizon—she had no idea what variety it was, but it could climb that high without support, apparently using the clouds as a scaffold.

And the view in another direction was even more absurd—it was a goddamn starport.

On the landing platform stood a main ship that was instantly recognizable as the style of the Holy Obscure Order—but its prow had been repainted, as if pretending to be on the side of justice.

...Was this the Border City?

Luo instinctively shrank back. For a moment, she couldn't tell if she had arrived at a safe zone or had been kidnapped to another den. Although the surrounding children all looked harmless, she still felt a sense of crisis seeping from her bones. The main source of the crisis was the chaotic aesthetic that was almost visually overwhelming.

Just then, a steady and friendly-looking girl finally stepped forward—a young woman in a red coat.

"This is 'Fairy Tale' Town. I'm in charge here. You can call me Little Red Riding Hood," the girl said, looking at the elf. "As for this valley... it's the base of the 'Traveler's Inn.' Did Yu Sheng send you over? He didn't notify us."

Luo blinked, feeling a bit more at ease—oh, so she really had been kidnapped to a new den.

"...My name is Luo," she said, patting her silver-white dress, which was wrinkled and dirty from all the commotion. Though she had no idea why there were so many human children around, considering the presence of a bunch of dangerous red-eyed dwarves, she maintained a very polite attitude. "I'm a scientific advisor who fought alongside Yu Sheng..."

Before she could finish, one of the mass-produced dolls nearest to Little Red Riding Hood suddenly blinked. Its dead-fish eyes rolled and lit up as Irene took over: "She's a Black Dot Warlord, but we caught her. She's helping out for now, so she counts as half an ally."

"Black Dot Warlord?!" Little Red Riding Hood's expression visibly changed, and the way she looked at Luo immediately filled with wariness. Luo quickly tried to explain, but before she could get a single word out, she found seven or eight snarling shadow wolves materializing around her.

Meanwhile, the golden-haired girl who had been cheerfully watching the fun instantly flicked her hand and conjured a golden scythe. Her eyes, which had seemed harmless a moment ago, were now filled with bloody menace. That killing intent was as if she had spent the last ten years tearing apart demons in some cursed land...

"I said she counts as half an ally!" Luo's hair stood on end, and her long pointed ears flattened against her scalp. "We already fought! We fought before I came here!"

Rapunzel paused, hefting her scythe as she looked at Little Red Riding Hood: "...Are Black Dot Warlords like this?"

Little Red Riding Hood: "I don't know. This is my first time seeing one."

"I told you, I'm a scientist!" Luo was starting to lose it. "Do none of you people from the Border City know how to listen?!"

Little Red Riding Hood frowned, but just as she was about to say something, the door standing in the square was activated again. A girl wearing crystal slippers and a magnificent court dress rushed in from outside, the elegant attire quickly fading back into her everyday clothes. She began reporting urgently to Little Red Riding Hood about the situation in the nearby streets:

"There's a big hole torn in the sky above the Old City District! That tower that came down from heaven ripped open the shields all the way from downtown to the old district! The area around the Old Orphanage is now full of thick fog and shadows—I saw in the sky that several groups of Spirit World Detectives have been trapped on Tai'an Road!"

Little Red Riding Hood's expression shifted at the news: "Tai'an Road? Is 'Belle' near there?"

"Yes, but don't worry. She only got a little hurt and was picked up by one of Dorothy's armored assault squads," Cinderella said quickly. "Dorothy set up a medical camp nearby. They've got a good pediatrician there..."

"Good. You rest for now. Snow White and I will go check it out." Little Red Riding Hood nodded, then abruptly turned her gaze to Luo.

It was only then that Luo belatedly noticed the tense atmosphere around her and the orderly flow of people coming and going near the "door."

This square, filled with teenagers, young girls, and half-grown children... was clearly a command headquarters for the rear of the battlefield.

"There's a battle going on outside," Little Red Riding Hood said, staring at the "dangerous extremist" before her. "Brother Yu is dealing with that tower. Irene asked us to help deal with the monsters that have flooded into the city until the incident is over. Now I'm heading out with a team, and you're coming with us."

Luo was stunned. When she realized that these kids, most of whom looked underage, were the combat force under the Traveler's Inn, she was completely baffled: "...A bunch of kids fighting in the city?! No, what is wrong with you people from the Border City... Isn't this a bit extreme?!"

Rapunzel stared wide-eyed: "Hey, aren't you Black Dots all extremists?"

"Not this extreme!" Luo said, shocked. "In human age terms, we have to be eighteen before we can mess with Dark Psionics..."

Now it was Rapunzel's turn to be shocked.

She had only heard rumors before, but it turned out there really were places in the world where they legally allowed people to mess with Dark Psionics.

How extreme...

But Little Red Riding Hood didn't give Luo and Rapunzel any more time to argue.

She quickly gave instructions on the scene, confirmed the situation at the Boundary Bridge with Irene, and then directly grabbed Luo by the arm and dragged her toward the door.

Luo felt as if she were being dragged by some giant beast. The strength on her wrist was like a vise, and her enhanced body (though not up to combatant standards, still far beyond ordinary humans) could barely resist the seemingly slender arm of the girl in red. Caught off guard, she stumbled several steps: "Wait... why?!"

"Irene said you're only half an ally. I wouldn't feel safe leaving you out of my sight," Little Red Riding Hood said without turning around. "Besides, I heard this whole mess is ultimately the work of you Black Dot Group. Since you made a mess, you have to clean it up."

Snow White, following beside them, chimed in: "Yeah, and since you're called a Black Dot Warlord, you must be pretty tough. I heard you Black Dot warriors are all elite, with piles of black tech. We're really short on fighting hands right now..."

"I've said it so many times, I'm just a scientist," Luo wailed. "I don't have their kind of power..."

But no one listened.

Her vision blurred, and she was dragged out through the door by Little Red Riding Hood—vast layers of thick fog rushed toward her.

The door in the Fairy Tale Town square connected to the "ruins" of the Old Orphanage, located deep in the Old City District. And right now, this area was clearly already affected by the Spirit Fox system. The Mist City had flipped over, replacing the original real space.

The ordinary people in the blocks were now unconscious under the effect of the Requiem system, hiding in various shelters and temporarily shunted into another dimension as the entire area "flipped." What remained here was only the thick fog and the invading monsters.

As she went out, Luo was still chattering: "Then aren't you afraid I'll run away if you bring me out here? It's chaotic everywhere, and if you get distracted for a second, I could—"

But before she could finish, a viscous shadow fell from the sky and exploded into countless twisted, mad phantoms within the fog. Eerie, scalp-crawling whispers and crawling sounds came from all directions, and throughout the fog as far as the eye could see, there were monsters.

Bigger, taller, and more WAAAGH than the things in the space station earlier.

She swallowed the rest of her words.

Little Red Riding Hood looked back: "Are you sure you want to run?"

Luo swallowed, looked around, then looked back at the door leading to the valley—a horde of evil red-eyed dwarves was guarding the other side.

"I will stand guard at your back to the death!"