The Game Heroine's Cannon Fodder Leopard Cub - Chapter 8

Nora’s expression hardened as she grabbed Yi’an by the neck with one hand.

Yi’an frantically tried to recall the game’s lore, but there seemed to be no information about Phantom Beetles.

According to the original storyline, the resurrected Demon God Baal had never transformed the Phantom Beetles into his vassals.

But if the Phantom Beetles had severed their vassalage with the Demon God, it was highly unlikely that these insectile creatures would abandon the comfortable highlands of Morong and trek all the way to the low-lying city of Penny.

And their direct attack on the two of them, who were preparing to investigate traces of the Demon God in Morong, suggested a clear and deliberate purpose.

Something was off.

Yi’an lifted her head and patted Nora’s leg with her paw.

Meow meow meow meow meow meow (This might be related to Baal.)

“Little Leopard, what are you meowing? I can’t understand a word.”

Meow?

Yi’an tilted her head. She tried meowing a few more times, but the telepathic connection she usually shared with Nora seemed to have vanished, leaving Nora with only a blank stare.

No way, could this just be a limited-time newbie gift pack?

Yi’an felt a wave of disappointment. If even Nora couldn’t understand her words, her thoughts and feelings were utterly trapped.

Wait, that doesn’t make sense. This defies all logic.

Nora had always understood her leopard-speak, likely due to their deep connection as characters Yi’an had created. Moreover, no system had ever mentioned a “newbie trial card.”

The only possible explanation was the Phantom Dream Realm they had just escaped. But the realm had vanished, and Nora had already dealt with the Phantom Beetle.

Her gaze involuntarily drifted to the corpse of the Phantom Beetle.

Yi’an leaped off the sofa and crept over to the beetle’s body. She lowered her head and sniffed gently, detecting no scent whatsoever.

After a moment’s hesitation, she made up her mind. With a sudden snap, she bit down on the beetle’s back.

The instant her teeth sank in, the corpse—along with the dagger embedded in it—began to fade, then shattered into countless tiny fragments.

Nora withdrew her hand, which had been reaching out to stop her.

They were still trapped within the Phantom Dream Realm.

The Phantom Dream Realm wasn’t created by the Phantom Beetle before them; rather, the beetle itself was merely one of the illusions conjured within it.

The true mastermind lurked elsewhere.

She realized that this layer of the Phantom Dream Realm was intimately connected to her own thoughts, using them to distort their perception. In other words, everything that seemed real right now might be nothing more than a fabrication.

Seeing Little Leopard’s familiar, furry form, Nora made a rash decision.

She crouched down, stroked Yi’an’s small head, and asked:

“Little Leopard, do you trust me?”

Yi’an met Nora’s gaze and instantly understood her plan. Without hesitation, she nodded firmly.

The moment Yi’an nodded, a fruit knife pierced her abdomen.

Nora covered Yi’an’s eyes, her own eyes shimmering with tears. “Even if all this is fake, I…”

Yi’an woke up.

She was still lying face down on the bedroom bed. The tavern downstairs was still noisy, and the window was wide open, letting in wisps of the night breeze.

She turned her head and saw Nora staring at her, unblinking.

Meow? Is this real now?

Nora’s eyes seemed to glisten with tears. She reached out and gently stroked the Little Leopard’s soft, furry belly, feeling the warmth against her palm. Smiling, she said, “It’s real. We’re back.”

Meow!

Yi’an was overjoyed and excitedly leaped into Nora’s arms.

Two days later, a swift horse galloped through verdant forests and grassy plains, heading straight for the northern desert.

Yi’an nestled in the cloth bag Nora wore slung across her chest, clinging tightly to the straps with all four paws to avoid being thrown off by the horse’s rapid pace. Nora gripped the reins firmly, urging the horse onward with relentless kicks.

Bags of luggage hung on either side of the saddle, significantly lighter than when they had set out. These were the bare necessities Nora had carefully selected to lighten their load.

At each relay station, she took only a brief rest before switching horses and continuing her journey.

After passing the third relay station, the landscape visibly transformed. Low red sand dunes and sagebrush replaced the lush green grass, with occasional barren hills rising from the desert floor.

“We must be getting close to Morong,” Nora said, reining in the horse and patting Yi’an.

Yi’an poked her head out of the bag and gazed at the endless expanse of weedy desert and gravelly slopes stretching to the horizon. Even the distant skyline shimmered with heat haze.

Do we have to cross this desert to reach the Morong Highlands?

Nora glanced at the focused little creature, pulled out her water bottle, unscrewed the cap, and poured some water into it, holding it to Yi’an’s mouth.

“North of this desert lies the Morong Highlands,” Nora said, patting Yi’an’s head to encourage her to keep drinking. “We’ll stop at the oasis town to resupply and ask Chief Green about any recent activity in Morong.”

“But first,” Nora tightened the water bottle and stowed it away, then pulled up her hood. “The desert sun is brutal. We need to protect ourselves. Once we set off, you’ll stay in the cloth bag and not come out.”

Yi’an nodded. Having visited the Mu Us Desert before her transmigration, she knew firsthand the intensity of the UV radiation. As soon as Nora finished preparing, she immediately burrowed back into the cloth bag.

Settling into the bag, Yi’an didn’t waste time. She meticulously reviewed the events of the past two days, hoping to find some clue.

After breaking free from the Phantom Dream Realm, Nora had searched every corner of the inn but found no trace of anything suspicious. Yet, the very perfection of the scene made it all the more suspicious.

After a meow-filled discussion between the woman and her leopard-cat companion, they decided to waste no more time. The sooner they reached their destination, the better. They dismissed the coachman and rented a fast horse instead.

Even so, in just two days, they had encountered another Phantom Dream Realm. Though they managed to escape its illusions, the ordeal was fraught with peril. Yi’an nearly lost her head—literally—ultimately paying the price with half her fur shaved off. This left her unwilling to venture out for even a brief rest at the waystation.

Too ugly.

“It’s awfully quiet here,” Nora’s voice drifted down, interrupting Yi’an’s thoughts.

Meow?

Nora scanned their surroundings. “A little too quiet.”

She lowered her head and patted the cloth bundle. “Little Leopard, let’s be careful.”

Yi’an’s ears immediately perked up.

Even relying on her heightened animal hearing, Yi’an couldn’t detect the faintest sound—not even the rustling of ants. She immediately scrambled out of the bundle and meowed loudly at Nora.

Nora’s expression hardened. With one swift motion, she grabbed Yi’an by the scruff of her neck and flipped off the horse.

In that instant, a vine as thick as a baby’s arm erupted from the ground, piercing straight through the horse’s belly.

Before shock could register, Nora seized the opportunity. While the vine was still impaling the horse, she flung Little Leopard aside, drew her short sword, and slashed at the vine, severing its trunk in a flash.

But almost immediately, the vine began to regrow rapidly from the severed end, quickly regaining its original thickness and size.

Nora’s pupils dilated in shock. This was beyond the realm of normal plant behavior.

No use hacking at it again, she realized. But if I don’t attack, we’ll end up like that horse.

Yi’an hadn’t missed the anomaly either, but she had no time for shock. She twitched her ears.

I didn’t mishear that.

A large creature was approaching rapidly from the distance.