Chapter 165
Chapter 165 Must Leave Some Kindness
As for why she took such risks to save Lilia… she really couldn’t say.
In her past life, she never uncovered the truth of the “Realm of Divine Presence.” Many things were ambiguous, and people could only grasp at reasonable assumptions to explain the unknown, propelled by the game toward the worst outcomes.
Xia Xinyan felt the same way.
Among the issues that troubled her—and most players—was this one question:
Are those dungeons merely created by the game to enhance their power?
Or are they perhaps other worlds, just like Earth?
This was the fundamental disconnect between her current self and players at this stage.
At this point in the “Realm of Divine Presence,” NPCs in certain dungeons still presented as NPCs, and their actions wouldn’t lead players to overthink—after all, in a game, it’s rare for anyone to regard NPCs equally.
Moreover, this type of dungeon had never appeared before, allowing players to suddenly fail a mission during an enjoyable moment, supposedly marking their first end to a dungeon without a death scenario.
Lacking experience to handle it, it seemed normal that not many could discern what was happening.
After all, before this, players simply followed tasks—using the phrase—it was as if they thought, “I don’t know who I am, I don’t know where I am, I just know I want to go on a killing spree.”
This was the game creed for most players, including many who eventually ranked high on the leaderboard.
If it weren’t for Tianji’s hints, Xia Xinyan might not have recognized the essence of this dungeon.
Although she’d encountered similar dungeons in her past life, she never expected such a type to show up so early in the game.
However… now that she faced the dungeon’s outcome, her thoughts diverged from the others.
Including Ling Mo, everyone else seemed to view these characters purely as NPCs, beings that would vanish after leaving the dungeon.
But Xia Xinyan found it hard to regard them as NPCs anymore.
In her last life, she had gone through countless dungeons. Initially, she too viewed non-player characters as mere NPCs until they gradually started displaying greater realism—they had their own feelings, dreams, stories, and lives.
They felt like real humans.
In this environment, her mindset gradually shifted.
Even now, despite lacking evidence to prove these dungeons weren’t mere dungeons, she could no longer see these people as NPCs.
Whether they called her kind or naive, she just… didn’t want to leave a mess behind in these dungeon worlds. Even though it was merely a brief stay, if a better ending could be achieved, there was no need to create chaos.
As a person, one must leave some kindness behind.
She wasn’t a police officer; she couldn’t judge whether the witch should die or not, but she thought that if the witch died, the real Lilia would also be destroyed—swapping bodies with the witch meant she had lost her original identity, and ‘inheriting the Witch’s Castle’ or leaving with a new identity surely wasn’t a good choice for a pure girl.
So, if she could help them both return fully, the witch would surely agree to swap bodies back, right?
After a moment’s wait, the witch gradually awakened.
Confusion crossed her face for a moment, then her initial daze returned: “Am I still alive?”
“Xinyan saved you,” Ling Mo said with a rather unfriendly tone.
The witch then turned her gaze to Xia Xinyan, “You saved me? You wanted to kill me before; why save me now?”
“I want you to swap bodies back,” Xia Xinyan said, pulling the fully restored Lilia over, “Your body is back to normal, and you can leave here to see the outside world now.”
The witch paused.
“So, is there a way to swap back?” Xia Xinyan quietly asked.
The witch thought for a moment, then nodded: “Yes, she has inherited the witch’s power; she can swap our bodies.”
At this, Lilia immediately became excited: “What do we need to do?!”
“Return to the castle, my magic circle isn’t destroyed yet,” the witch replied indifferently.
Mentioning the castle, Lilia showed a bit of resistance.
She no longer wanted to go back there; it was the nightmare of her life.
Noticing her fear, the witch asked with confusion: “What are you worried about? You’re the castle’s owner; the castle won’t harm us. Besides, you were trying to get the castle to kill me before; I thought you had already mastered it.”
“I didn’t!” Lilia immediately retorted, “I just wanted to stop you from leaving! If my dad sees you, he’ll definitely notice you aren’t me! He would be very upset!”
The witch fell silent.
Xia Xinyan sighed and gently said, “Let’s go back to the castle; as long as we can swap back, everything will be over.”
But Ling Mo suddenly held her back: “Wait, what if after swapping back, she wants to kill and silence us?”
He still didn’t believe the witch was a good person.
They didn’t really care about dying, but if Lilia died, wouldn’t all their efforts be wasted?
“I have no need to do that,” the witch shook her head, “I don’t want to harm those who mean me no harm.”
“Then why did the castle attack us earlier?”
“At that time, the castle had already lost my control.”
Xia Xinyan suddenly asked, “So, why did you build this castle?”
Upon hearing this, the witch was silent for a few seconds, then quietly said: “Because I wanted to live.”
“To live?”
“Ever since I was born, I had a strange power; the villagers called me a witch. They feared me and sought to kill me. So I fled the village and built the castle; as long as villagers tried to invade and kill me, the castle would help me eliminate them. But I was severely injured before I could escape inside, and I couldn’t heal myself, leaving me to wait slowly for death in the castle.”
After a pause, the witch glanced at Lilia and added: “It’s been a long time since anyone entered the castle; you’re the first person who came in without any malice toward me.”
Xia Xinyan frowned, pondered for a moment, and suddenly asked: “Is the outside world particularly hostile to witches?”
“No,” Lilia shook her head with confusion, “I only heard my dad say there is a legendary witch’s castle deep in the forest, but no one has ever found it. I accidentally got lost before coming here…”
“Legend?” Ling Mo raised an eyebrow, looking at the witch, “So… how long have you lived here?”
“Eight hundred seventy-one years.”
“……”
