The No. 1 Hunfen King in the Entire Server [Interstellar] Chapter 60

Lin Jing jumped off the carriage in a hurry. Time was tight, so he didn’t even bother changing clothes. Lifting the hem of his skirt, he ran straight to the entrance of the Black Forest.

Luckily, because of the Rose Heart, many people had come to Eberon—there were plenty of female knights and all kinds of eccentric adventurers. His presence didn’t draw much attention.

The rat peeked out from his shoulder. “There are so many people! I bet at least 30% of them are players.”

Lin Jing whispered a warning. “Keep quiet. We have something incredibly valuable on us. We can’t attract attention.”

The rat immediately covered his mouth with both paws.

Lin Jing handed over the golden leaf to the inspector.

The inspector examined it before stepping aside. “Go ahead.”

Lin Jing let out a silent breath of relief.

The Black Forest was vast.

Beyond the long, thorny passageway lay countless paths leading into its depths.

The forest floor was covered in thick snow, and the tall pine trees reached toward the sky, blocking out the sunlight.

“Miss, would you like to join us?”

At the entrance, a hunter called out to him. He was middle-aged, wearing a hat, with a gun strapped to his waist.

Lin Jing frowned slightly at the voice. “Thank you, but I might just take a look around outside the forest and head back.”

The hunter raised an eyebrow. “Take a look? Are you a noble from Eberon?”

Lin Jing replied softly, “Mm, I just came to see the sights.”

The hunter nodded knowingly, assuming she was just a wealthy young lady here for the novelty, and paid no further attention to the delicate-looking girl.

Their conversation drew the attention of others, with several people casting sidelong glances at him.

Lin Jing waited until the crowd had entered the forest before exhaling softly. He pulled the hood of his cloak up and stepped inside.

The forest was blanketed in silver, a world of white. Leaves were coated in a thin layer of ice, sparkling like crystals, and the snow-covered ground was marked with fallen branches and tracks of various animals.

The wind howled, snow danced in the air, and the sunlight filtered through, making everything look dreamlike.

Making sure no one was around, Lin Jing leaned against a tree and took out the parchment map of the forest.

Spreading it open, he aligned it with landmarks and memorized the route.

“Once you reach this point, head north without stopping.”

On the map, a small wooden house was marked with a black triangle.

Lin Jing tightened the drawstrings of his cloak and continued trudging through the snow.

The journey was a breathtaking spectacle of ice and snow. A squirrel peeked out from a tree hollow, curiously observing the unexpected visitor. A deer left a neat trail of hoofprints in the snow. Rivers lay frozen beneath the weight of winter. As the sky darkened, faint traces of the northern lights shimmered above.

The rat shivered. “It’s getting dark. How much further to the cabin?”

Lin Jing, unfazed by the cold, replied, “Almost there.”

By the time night had fully fallen, Lin Jing lit the lantern he had prepared in advance. Moonlight bathed the landscape, and the snow reflected a faint, scattered glow.

Lifting the lantern to illuminate the path ahead, The rat’s eyes instantly lit up. He flailed excitedly. “Look, look! Lin Jing, we made it! There’s a cabin!”

Not far ahead, perched atop a small slope, a wooden cabin glowed warmly with orange light.

Anyone who had trekked through the snow all day, exhausted, would feel an overwhelming sense of relief and warmth at the sight.

Lin Jing was no exception. He pulled back his hood and let out a soft sigh. “It’s already dark. Let’s stay in the cabin for the night and hope our luck isn’t too bad.” Hopefully, they wouldn’t run into anything strange.

To reach the slope, he had to pass through a small pine grove. As he drew closer, the full structure of the cabin came into view. It was a two-story building, perched on the edge of a cliff, its architecture old and weathered. The large windows cast flickering firelight from within.

Lin Jing knocked on the door. It quickly opened, revealing a small, wrinkled woman wrapped in a black cloak.

Her hair was wild and unkempt, her gray eyes scrutinizing him warily.

“Elsa, who’s outside?”

A gentle voice drifted from inside the cabin.

The old woman called Elsa spoke in a raspy tone, “A girl who entered the forest with us.”

The woman inside chuckled. “Then bring her in quickly. It’s freezing outside. She must be frozen stiff.”

Elsa stepped aside, opening the door for him.

Lin Jing, his face pale from the cold, spoke softly, “Thank you.”

Inside, it was a world apart from the bitter cold outside.

The fireplace crackled with burning wood, filling the room with warmth.

Three people sat inside—two men and a woman. The woman was also dressed in a black robe, while one man was a noble knight, and the other, by coincidence, was the hunter who had invited him earlier.

The hunter looked at him in surprise.

But before he could speak, the black-robed woman by the fireplace smiled and beckoned him over. “Poor girl, come sit by the fire.”

Lin Jing’s cloak and hair were dusted with snow. His already fair complexion appeared even more delicate and fragile in the cold.

Feigning hesitation for a moment, he walked over.

The black-robed woman had a gentle, reassuring smile as she took his hands. “Poor child, did you get lost in the forest alone?”

Lin Jing unfastened his cloak, his eyes slightly reddened as if he had suffered greatly. Then, he followed the role he was playing, spinning his story—an innocent, curious noble girl who had come for the fun of it but was led astray by a deer and forgot her way back. Only when night fell did she spot the cabin’s light and find her way here.

The hunter’s frown deepened as he listened. The noble knight remained silent.

Elsa stood behind the woman, watching darkly.

Only the black-robed woman, holding his hands, showed an expression of sympathy and kindness.

The hunter spoke in a deep voice, “The snow won’t stop anytime soon, and we all need to find the witch. No one can take you back. What will you do tomorrow?”

Lin Jing’s eyes were clear and innocent, like a frightened, lost fawn.

The black-robed woman sighed softly and comforted him. “Don’t be afraid, child. I can have the animals in the forest guide you out.”

The rat stirred excitedly inside his pocket.

Lin Jing’s heart tensed, but he quickly masked his wariness, feigning shock. “A-animals?”

The black-robed woman nodded warmly and introduced herself. “My name is Evelyn, and this is my servant, Elsa. We come from Pars and are both witches.”

“I’m Christine,” Lin Jing introduced himself in return, then widened his eyes. “A witch? Do you know magic?”

Evelyn smiled. “That depends on you. Christine, do you believe in the existence of magic in this world?”

Lin Jing had no choice but to keep playing his part. “I believe. After all, wasn’t the princess put into an enchanted sleep by a witch?”

The fire crackled softly.

Evelyn nodded. “Yes, the princess was cursed with a sleeping spell. But don’t think of magic as something purely frightening. It is, in fact, a wondrous language, a gift bestowed upon us by the divine. It allows animals to speak, makes flowers bloom before your eyes, wards off the cold of winter, and accomplishes unimaginable feats… even restoring lost memories of a loved one.”

Restoring lost memories of a loved one.

Lin Jing: “The River of Memories?”

Evelyn let out an “Ah” and smiled. “Yes, that’s the beautiful legend about witchcraft.”

Christine and Evelyn seemed to hit it off right away, chatting enthusiastically.

The other two, however, grew restless. After a long day of exhaustion, the hunter and knight chose to retire to their rooms for sleep.

Evelyn warmly invited, “Tonight, why don’t you sleep with me?”

Lin Jing smiled. “It would be my honor.”

As a witch, Evelyn was meticulous about her lifestyle. Even in these circumstances, she insisted on bathing.

Elsa had already prepared hot water for her in another room.

Evelyn led Lin Jing to the place they would be sleeping that night and said gently, “Dear, if you’re tired, you can rest first.”

“Alright.”

As Evelyn left, Elsa, who was following behind her, suddenly turned her head to glance at Lin Jing. The shadows in her black cloak made her face look especially sinister—her gaze was eerily like that of a ghost.

The door closed.

Immediately, the rat poked his head out. “I have a bad feeling about that woman.”

Lin Jing muttered, “Isn’t that obvious?” Nothing comes without a price—if someone is being overly kind for no reason, they’re either a thief or a scoundrel.

He walked forward and scanned the room. Since it was an old wooden house, many parts were already decaying. Under the bed, there was even a small hole.

After staring at the hole for a long while, Lin Jing grabbed the rat by the tail and pulled him out. “Rat, I have a mission for you. This will be the peak of your life as a rodent.”

A question mark slowly appeared above the rat’s head. “?”

Then, as realization dawned, his fur bristled, and he shrieked, “You want me to spy on her while she bathes?!”

Lin Jing began reasoning. “Don’t make it sound so perverted. We’re just gathering intelligence on our enemy to expose her true nature.”

The rat: “……”

Well, they were in this together now. Enduring humiliation for the greater cause, The rat gritted his teeth and slipped out.

Lin Jing hung his cloak on the rack and started wandering around the room.

He examined every corner thoroughly but found nothing unusual. So, he stepped out.

The fireplace was still crackling. The first floor had four small rooms, spaced far apart.

One of them led to the staircase going up to the second floor, which was completely dark.

Lin Jing looked up but was suddenly called back by Elsa.

“Miss Christine, you are not allowed upstairs.”

Lin Jing turned around. Elsa was standing there, staring at him like a lurking ghost.

The flickering candlelight stretched her shadow long and dark against the floor.

Lin Jing asked innocently, “Why?”

Elsa’s voice was harsh and urgent, her expression fierce. “You just can’t.”

Lin Jing flinched, as if frightened. “O-Okay.”

Then Evelyn’s voice called from a distant room. “Elsa, bring me something.”

Elsa shot Lin Jing one last chilling glare before leaving.

Once she was gone, Lin Jing dropped his innocent act and raised an eyebrow with a smirk—defiant, almost playful.

The last time someone told him not to go upstairs, their name was Village, surname Chief.

Drawing his dagger, Lin Jing lifted the lamp and headed straight for the dark second floor.

In his mind, this wooden house was nothing but an illusion, and Evelyn’s mystical way of speaking made it nearly certain—she was the wicked witch hiding deep in the forest.

Who knew what she was really doing under the guise of “bathing”? Of course, defeating a witch couldn’t be done recklessly. He needed more information.

Step by step, he climbed upward. The air grew heavy with an aged, musty scent. It felt as though he was entering a long-abandoned forbidden zone.

There was no door. Entering, he first saw a stack of firewood for the winter. The air was thick and dusty, and the floor was bare.

Holding up his lamp, he scanned the area for a long time but saw nothing out of place. It truly looked like a simple storage room.

Until he looked down.

Red, winding marks streaked across the floor.

Blood?

Lin Jing tensed instantly. He crouched to examine it more closely—only to realize that it wasn’t blood…

The lines crisscrossed, interwoven in a complex pattern. Standing up, he took a broader view—

It was a magic circle.

And he was standing at its very center.

In the middle of the formation, golden powder had been carefully arranged into the shape of a rose.

There was no time to analyze further. He had to move fast.

Lin Jing hurriedly left the lamp upstairs and rushed back down, making it to his room just in time before Elsa came out.

Sure enough, the first thing Elsa did after delivering the item was barge into his room to check if he was there.

Lin Jing sat by the bed, smiling warmly. “Sister Elsa, do you need something from me?”

Elsa scowled, then slammed the door shut and left.

Outside, the snowfall seemed to have intensified.

The matchsticks burned low. The light grew dim.

“Lin Jing! Lin Jing!”

Suddenly, The rat’s terrified voice came from the small hole.

Lin Jing tensed instantly and crouched down.

The rat bolted toward him at top speed, reeking of thick blood. Panicked, he gasped, “Run! We have to run!”

Lin Jing: “Calm down! What did you see?”

The rat’s tiny black eyes were filled with sheer terror and despair. “Blood—it’s everywhere! She butchered the knight! She drained his blood into a barrel!”

Lin Jing’s breath caught in his throat.

The rat continued frantically, “I heard them talking! This entire snowy forest—it’s all the witch’s illusion! To find her, they need blood to activate the magic circle and dispel the illusion!”

The rat’s voice sped up. “Evelyn—she’s a player too!”

Just as the rat finished speaking—

Bang!

The door burst open.

The crimson firelight illuminated Evelyn, drenched in blood.

She stood in the doorway, cloaked in black, like a demon crawling out of h*ll.

Her eyes gleamed with malice, her lips curled in a wicked smile.

“As expected, anyone who found this place couldn’t be ordinary. You must be hiding something I never anticipated.”

Evelyn barked a command. “Elsa! Kill him!”

Elsa was just an NPC who followed orders.

With a menacing expression, Elsa dragged a massive blade nearly as tall as her lower body and charged straight at him.

“D*mn.” Lin Jing felt his heart sink.

Couldn’t she at least give him a moment to react?

He quickly bent down to dodge Elsa’s deadly strike, scooped up the rat, and sprinted toward the door.

The rat leaped at Evelyn’s face, clawing wildly, giving Lin Jing the chance to hike up his skirt and dash straight upstairs.

Evelyn screamed in rage, “D*mn it! Elsa! Catch him!”

At first, Lin Jing considered fighting back, but after dodging just one of Elsa’s swings, he knew—there was no way he could win. He had to run.

Evelyn wasn’t scary—Elsa was. This NPC was definitely a combat specialist, someone with overwhelming strength in this fairy-tale world. There was no way Evelyn would have ventured into the forest alone without her.

The rat, small and nimble, evaded Elsa’s attacks and followed Lin Jing up the stairs. “Hey, Lin Hun! Wait for me!”

Lin Jing had good night vision and an excellent memory. Having been to the second floor once, he already had a mental map of the place.

The rat caught up with him.

Behind them, Elsa, now looking completely unhinged, stormed up the stairs with her bloodstained blade.

The rat muttered nervously, “What now? Elsa’s like a walking bug.”

Lin Jing grabbed a handful of round logs and hurled them down the stairs, blocking Elsa’s path.

“We just need to kill Evelyn.”

Elsa was under Evelyn’s control. Kill the master, and the puppet would fall.

The rat spun in circles, panicking. “How do we kill her? She knows magic!”

Lin Jing scoffed. “You actually believe that nonsense?”

If Evelyn could use magic, why would she go through all this trouble? If she really had powers, she and Elsa could’ve just taken everyone down together from the start.

The knight was already dead. That just left the hunter.

Wait—the hunter.

Lin Jing frowned. They had made a ton of noise. How was it possible that the hunter hadn’t woken up?

Just as he was puzzling over it, a hoarse male voice came from behind a pile of firewood.

“Christine.”

Lin Jing froze. He turned his head and saw the hunter slumped against the woodpile, his breath unsteady and his face pale as death.

Lin Jing opened his mouth to speak, but the hunter weakly shook his head and whispered, “Evelyn poisoned our water before you arrived. The effects only kicked in at night. When I heard the knight being attacked in the next room, I ran and hid here.”

With labored breaths, the hunter pulled out a gun and handed it to Lin Jing. “You’re the only one who has a chance to escape.”

He had already resigned himself to death.

Lin Jing stood frozen, gripping the hunter’s gun. A strange sense of unreality washed over him.

He knew the hunter wasn’t a player—he was just another part of this game world, his life and death nothing more than fleeting data. But still, this was his one and only lifetime.

And in that moment, Lin Jing finally understood—Survivor was never a romance game. Love could never be calculated by algorithms.

“No,” Lin Jing said, forcing a smile. “We’ll all make it out alive.”

The rat perched on his shoulder. “You sure about that?”

Lin Jing smirked. “What kind of man would I be if I said no?”

He turned.

The pure white hem of his dress swept over the bloodstained ritual circle.

The logs were running out, and Elsa, panting heavily, finally emerged at the second-floor doorway. Her hunched figure, blood-red eyes, and trembling rage made her look like a true monster.

Behind her, Evelyn sneered triumphantly. “Poor little Christine, you really are unlucky to have run into me.”

Lin Jing raised the gun, cocked it, and aimed directly at Evelyn. In the dim, cramped space, his dark hair and brown eyes glowed against his pale skin. His smile was calm, his tone relaxed yet ice-cold.

“Unlucky? Let’s see who’s really unlucky.”

Evelyn’s smug expression crumbled. She stumbled backward, gritting her teeth. “Elsa! Take his gun!”

But Lin Jing had already pulled the trigger.

The instant Elsa lunged at him, the bullet shot clean through Evelyn’s forehead.

Fast, precise, merciless—he had even anticipated Evelyn’s attempt to dodge.

As blood sprayed through the air, Evelyn’s eyes widened in disbelief.

At the same time, Elsa’s massive blade came crashing down toward Lin Jing’s skull.

Without hesitation, Lin Jing raised the gun again. Another shot rang out—this time hitting Elsa’s wrist.

Elsa let out an animalistic roar. The blade, almost as heavy as she was, wrenched from her grip and plunged downward—straight onto her own foot.

She howled in agony, struggling to rise. But the blade, now embedded in the floor, tilted ominously—

And with a sickening lurch, it swung downward.

Right at her.

A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the second floor.

Thick, dark blood spread across the wooden planks.

The rat buried its head, unable to look.

Lin Jing remained calm, lowering the gun. He was about to speak when suddenly—

A sinister red glow flared beneath him.

Elsa and Evelyn’s blood, drawn by an unseen force, seeped into the ritual markings on the floor.

The moment the blood activated the circle, golden-red light exploded upward.

Lin Jing stood at the very center, right where the black rose symbol lay.

The light was blinding, its pull immense—as if something was trying to drag them into another realm. But something was off. His feet had already stepped beyond the illusion, yet his soul was still bound by unseen vines.

The rat shrieked, “The blood triggered the ritual!”

The very ritual Evelyn had discovered—the one meant to lead them to the witch.

Lin Jing didn’t need him to explain.

He already knew.

Something was wrong with the ritual.

A gust of wind surged upward from the vortex at its center, making his clothes billow wildly.

“D*mn it! Is their blood too filthy for the witch’s requirements?”

Just then, the hunter whispered, “Gold.”

Lin Jing’s head snapped toward him. “What?”

The hunter, pale and breathless, forced out the last thing he had learned from Evelyn.

“You need a gold object as a medium.”

Gold? Gold?

Lin Jing frantically rummaged through his pockets. Among the pile of random things he carried, only the crown and the brooch were made of gold. Could he throw away the crown? Of course not!

Without hesitation, Lin Jing tossed the rose brooch into the center of the formation.

Using gold as a medium seemed to be the correct choice. The formation activated, and dazzling golden light illuminated the wooden house, even lighting up the entire night. The vines that had been binding them finally disappeared.

Lin Jing and The rat were swept into the vortex together.