chapter30：Fantasy Test

Amy lifted her eyes and gazed out of the window at the snow - covered world. After a moment of reflection, she nodded and responded, "Sure, let's go for a stroll." Then, she turned her head to look at Lucy and said softly, "Lucy, let's go out together." Lucy's eyes immediately brightened, and she replied merrily, "Great! It will surely be very interesting!" Just as they were about to get up and go out, the butler hurried over. With a solemn look, he cautioned, "You can go out, but don't go too far. Especially, don't go to the area near the back - mountain river. There are some dangerous areas there. Do remember."

The three of them walked out of the villa and into the pristine world of snow. Everything around seemed to be painstakingly painted by nature, the wonderful painter, with white as the base color. Each scene exuded a quiet and mysterious atmosphere.

...Not far away, Amy seemed to be suddenly immobilized by an invisible force. She suddenly stopped in her tracks. Her eyes instantly widened like copper bells, and her face was filled with shock. What was presented before her eyes was an almost unbelievable scene. Snow White lay quietly in the arms of the seven dwarfs, her eyes tightly closed. She looked as if she had been hit by some powerful magic and had fallen into a deep coma. Her body was limp and lifeless, relying on the dwarfs.

Immediately after, a false prince emerged like a phantom. There was a chilling greed and fierceness in his eyes. His gaze was like tangible arrows that could pierce straight into one's heart. Without hesitation, he reached out and drew the sword from his waist. With a forceful swing of his arm, the sword, with a biting cold gleam, stabbed fiercely at the real prince. The real prince's eyes widened instantly, full of unwillingness and despair, as if he wanted to shout but his throat was choked. Then his body slowly fell, like a felled tree, crashing heavily to the ground.

After that, the false prince calmly took out a bulging pouch of gold coins from his bosom and handed it to the witch standing beside him. The witch immediately broke into an evil grin, her mouth almost splitting to her ears. In her hand, she tightly held a poisoned apple that emitted a faint, eerie glow. She walked with a strange gait slowly towards the direction where Snow White was. It turned out that behind all this was a carefully - planned conspiracy by the false prince in order to ascend to the throne, which symbolized supreme power.

Amy was completely at a loss in the face of this sudden scene, like a deer targeted by a hunter, standing numbly in place. Jack and Lucy were also filled with horror. Their faces turned ashen, and their eyes were filled with fear and confusion.

At this moment, the surrounding environment seemed to be stirred by an invisible hand and began to change quietly. A thin layer of mist rose slowly like a gossamer curtain. This mist seemed to be alive, spreading rapidly. Soon, it tightly enveloped the three of them.

The mist, like a marvellous magician casting a spell, gradually transformed into an extremely strange virtual formation. In the formation, all kinds of bizarre scenes and challenges began to appear one by one.

The first thing that came into view was a narrow stone bridge that could only allow one person to pass through. Beneath the bridge was a surging river. The river water was like a roaring beast, constantly crashing against the piers of the stone bridge, making a deafening roar. On the stone bridge, an old man was walking unsteadily. His body was like a candle in the wind, on the verge of falling at any time.

Amy and Jack almost simultaneously saw this scene. Without hesitation, they rushed towards the old man. There was only one thought in their minds, which was to support the old man and prevent him from falling into the river.

However, when they were just a few steps away from the old man, an astonishing change occurred. The old man, who had seemed frail and feeble, suddenly turned into a hideous and menacing monster. Its body was huge and ugly, spewing out a noxious smell from its mouth and waving its spiky - armed limbs towards them.

Lucy screamed in horror from behind, "Ah! What is this thing?"

Although Amy was frightened in her heart, she still forced herself to be calm and shouted to Jack, "Jack, be careful! We need to cooperate with each other."

Jack nodded, his eyes fixed on the monster, and said, "Amy, let's first find a place to hide and observe its actions."

They quickly utilized the surrounding environment to hide behind a huge boulder. The monster rampaged around, attempting to find them.

Amy whispered to Jack, "This monster looks fierce, but I think it must have a weakness."

While avoiding the monster's attacks, Jack suddenly noticed some strange symbols on the ground. These symbols flickered with a faint light and looked mysterious. He said to Amy, "Amy, look at these symbols. I think they might be the key to unlocking this formation."

Amy leaned over to take a closer look and said, "You're right. We need to study them carefully."

So, they began to focus on studying these symbols, trying to decipher the mystery.

After a tense exploration and thinking, they found that these symbols had a subtle correspondence with the surrounding scenery. Just like hidden keys, perhaps by triggering these sceneries in a specific order, they could break the formation.

According to this discovered method, they began to act cautiously. First, Amy ran to the side of the stone bridge and touched a specific stone. Then, Jack pushed down a withered log beside it. With a series of operations, the formation trembled slightly, and then the light gradually dimmed. They successfully cracked the first scene.

Before they could catch their breath, the formation transformed into a new scene. It was a cave as dark as thick ink. A pungent smell filled the cave, a smell like a mixture of rotting corpses and strong sulphur, making people feel nauseous just by smelling it. The walls around flickered with a strange light, which was flickering on and off, as if countless pairs of peeping eyes were hidden.

From the depths of the cave came a miserable cry, like the wailing of an injured small animal.

Amy and Jack looked at each other and without hesitation walked carefully towards the direction of the sound. They knew that there must be something inside that needed their rescue.

However, the path leading to the depths was full of all kinds of dangerous traps. Sharp spikes were hidden beneath the ground. These spikes flickered with a cold light in the faint light, as if waiting for prey. From time to time, poisonous arrows would suddenly shoot out from the walls. The arrowheads of these poisonous arrows glowed with a faint blue light, clearly highly poisonous.

Amy whispered to Jack, "We must be careful. These traps are too dangerous."

Jack nodded in agreement. He carefully explored the way in front, and Amy followed closely behind. With every step, they had to carefully observe the movements of the ground and the walls.

When they were slowly approaching the small animal, suddenly, a huge spider dropped down from the cave ceiling. Its body almost occupied the entire passage. The spider was covered with spikes, which were like sharp daggers, flashing a terrifying light in the darkness. Its eyes were like two small green lamps, flashing a fierce light, staring fixedly at Amy and Jack.

Lucy shouted nervously from behind, "Amy, Jack, be careful!"

Amy took a deep breath and said to Jack, "Don't panic. Let's first observe its movement pattern."

They calmly stood in place, observing every move of the spider without blinking.

After a brief observation, they found that the spider would shake its front limbs before each attack.

Jack whispered, "When it shakes its front limbs next time, we will crawl under it."

When the spider shook its front limbs again, Amy and Jack quickly crawled under it, successfully avoiding the spider's attack, and continued walking towards the small animal. Eventually, they successfully rescued the small animal.

As the last scene was cracked, the surrounding mist seemed to be blown away by a strong wind and gradually dissipated. The doll - spirit Lily appeared in front of them.

Lily looked extremely cute. She was like a delicate porcelain doll emerging from a fairy - tale world. She was small in stature, as if a gentle breeze could blow her away. Her wings on her back were as transparent as gossamer, and the gossamer also flickered with a faint fluorescence. Her hair was like the finest golden silk, flowing smoothly and falling on both sides of her shoulders, flickering with a golden light in the faint light. Her eyes were like twinkling stars, shining with the light of wisdom, as if they could see through people's hearts.

Jack wiped the large beads of sweat on his forehead, let out a sigh of relief, and then looked at Lily with puzzlement and asked, "What on earth is going on? Why did you test us like this?"

Lily had a gentle smile on her face and said in a voice as clear as a silver bell, "Hello, guests from afar. Lily has been waiting for my master here for many years, but my master has never come to pick me up. I'm so lonely all by myself. So, I wanted to test the passers - by through this mist - virtual formation. I want to see if you have kind hearts, brave qualities and intelligent minds. If they are villains, when facing these challenges, they will often stop at nothing for their own interests or be devoured by fear and finally be trapped in the formation. But if they are good people like you, not only can you break the formation, but also maintain kindness and courage during the test. Then I will send you out of this illusion and give you a precious gift."

...Amy took the golden bronze mirror delightedly, holding it with both hands, and examined it carefully without blinking. The bronze mirror in her hands emitted a soft golden light, as if it carried a mysterious power. She slowly raised her head, her eyes full of gratitude, "Lily, this gift is really precious. Thank you."

Jack was extremely curious and quickly leaned over. His eyes were fixed on the bronze mirror, and he couldn't stop marvelling, "This is really a magical thing. However, Lily, why have you been trapped here for so long? And who is your master?"

A trace of loneliness flashed in Lily's eyes. She sighed gently, and her voice was filled with endless longing and melancholy, "My master is a powerful magician. Many years ago, during an extremely dangerous magic experiment, he suddenly disappeared. Before he disappeared, he placed me here and told me that he would come back to pick me up soon. But who would have thought that this wait has been such a long time? I have been looking forward to his return day and night here."

Amy's eyes were filled with sympathy. She said softly, "You must miss him very much. Have you ever thought about leaving here to look for him?"

Lily slowly shook her head and said helplessly, "I can't leave. My master has set a prohibition here. If I leave, I may never see him again. Moreover, this illusion is the last connection between us. I must guard it."

At this time, a clear voice suddenly rang out, "Lily, is it really worth waiting like this?" It was Lucy who had appeared beside them at some point.

Lily looked firmly at Lucy, "It's worth it. He is my master. He is the most important person to me. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, I will not give up waiting."

Just then, the surrounding scenery began to fluctuate slightly, as if an invisible force was secretly stirring this space. Lily's expression immediately became tense, "No good. This illusion has become a bit unstable because of your cracking. You must leave quickly, or you may be caught in the space turbulence."

Jack widened his eyes nervously and quickly asked, "Then how can we leave?"

Lily gently waved her hands, and a door with a strange - light - flickering slowly appeared in front of them. She said earnestly, "This door will take you back to the place where you came from. Remember, in your world, there are also many hidden dangers. Use the golden bronze mirror with caution."

Amy and Jack bowed deeply and respectfully to Lily. Amy said sincerely, "Thank you, Lily. I hope you can wait for your master soon." After that, they walked into the door without hesitation.

After passing through the door, they found themselves back in a familiar forest. The sunlight shone through the gaps in the leaves, forming patches of light spots. These light spots on the ground were like small golden lakes.

They looked at each other, and they both saw a sense of relief after a narrow escape in each other's eyes.

"The things that just happened were like a dream," Amy sighed.

"But this golden bronze mirror reminds us that it was not a dream," Jack said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Just as they were about to leave the forest, suddenly a low growl came from the depths of the forest. Their bodies stiffened, and they warily looked towards the source of the sound.

A huge black shadow was seen shuttling among the trees. Every step it took made the ground tremble slightly, like the prelude to an earthquake.

Amy tightly grasped the golden bronze mirror in her hand and said nervously, "Sure enough, this world also hides dangers. I wonder if this golden bronze mirror can be of use."

Jack picked up a thick branch from the ground and held it tightly like a weapon. He said in a low voice, "Anyway, let's first find a place to hide and see what happens."

Lucy also clenched her fists, her eyes fixed on the direction of the black shadow, "We have to be careful. This sound doesn't sound friendly."

They carefully moved towards behind a big tree, their eyes fixed on the approaching black shadow.

Suddenly, a huge black wild wolf sprang out from the forest. Its eyes glowed with a fierce red light, like two burning flames. The fangs in its mouth flickered with a cold light, like sharp daggers.