Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox
Chapter 453 – Sewage System and Protagonist

The fall down was a long one, but the side walls were quite 'tilted', which should allow her to slide down, but...

'I don't want to get this goo on me. What if it's excrement?!' Aiko was now happy that she didn't fall into it. Although the grainy texture testing in the beginning was questionable, it was necessary so that she would understand what might happen to her.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed a group of Cultivators walking on the lower level towards where she was.

'What if I land on them...?' Aiko raised her eyebrow, but then she realised- 'What am I doing?! I can jump in the air!' She smacked her forehead and tested her double jump.

[Movement Abilities are sealed.]

Aiko almost crashed head first, but she was able to somehow stabilise herself.

'T-that was close! If I didn't test it, I would've been doomed!' Aiko wiped the non-existent sweat. She now understood why Moon Aiko liked her research and testing so much.

Aiko slowly nodded. She was waiting for the right time to jump down.

"Are you stuck in there?" Suddenly, the voice below her called her out.

'Huh? I thought I was well hidden...?' Aiko couldn't understand how he was able to find her. "Yeah, the fall is quite far..."

"Did you perhaps test your Movement Techniques? I would suggest that you won't try since, for some reason, they don't work." The male voice tried to help her for some reason, which made her unsettled.

"I already tried that!" Aiko shouted back.

"My condolences..." The male voice coughed awkwardly, and then there was an awkward silence.

"Nothing happened!" Aiko realised what that meant and tried to correct their misunderstanding.

"I understand." The male voice seemed to not understand anything.

"Why are you doing this? We already have a lot on our plate and she is our enemy in this place!" A whispering voice scolded the male. Of course Aiko could hear them since her oversensitive ears were that powerful.

"You wouldn't understand. We should help each other in this place." The male voice whispered back, but his tone was strange. 'Tsk. Why can nobody understand the glory of fluffy tails and ears? I would pet and smother those to my heart's content!'

"Tsk." It seemed like the girl who whispered to him was quite upset with him.

"You can jump down, and I will catch you." The male voice shouted up at her.

"No. I can't trust you. What if you can't catch me." Nightmare Aiko would play along for the time being. They were not that strong, so she would be able to deal with them.

Treasures might be an issue, but everything would be fine as long as she did things carefully.

"Believe me, I will catch you!" The male voice was adamant at that part.

"And if you don't catch me, then I will roll around in shit!" Aiko roared at him.

The male choked slightly. He didn't expect a girl to have such a foul mouth. "If that happens, I will roll around with you!" His patience was that of a sage when it came to monster girls...

"That doesn't help at all!" Aiko kept shouting at him 'angrily'.

The male chuckled. "I will definitely catch you, and if I can't do it. I will give you one of my Treasures." He proclaimed righteously.

"Okay, I'm going." Aiko's eyes lit up at the 'Treasure' part, and she jumped down.

"H-huh? W-wait! I'm not ready-" The male stuttered since he didn't think that the monster girl would jump down so willingly.

Crash

Aiko crashed into him, but unfortunately, he fulfilled his part.

'Dammit! My Treasure for free...' Aiko sniffled in her mind but stood up and away from his body. "I didn't think you would be able to do it." She said it with enough amazement to stroke his ego.

"Gehe... Nothing is impossible for me!" And it worked wonders on him! Even when he was slightly injured by her fall, he put up a tough front.

He stood up, half-covered in shit. "I'm Long Chen." Long Chen cupped his fists.

[You have encountered a Main Protagonist: Long Chen - Heaven's Favourite]

[You have to plunder 276,000 Providence before you can affect his Luck.]

[At your current stage, it's impossible to affect his destiny.]

Aiko choked at the ridiculous Providence that he had. She never imagined that she would encounter someone who had more Providence than Lin Fan.

Moreover, his entourage was even more impressive!

'Dragon girl, some kind of plant girl, pointy ears...' It was a much more impressive entourage than Lin Fan's!

'No wonder he has such a high Providence...' Aiko cupped her hands back. "You can call me Vicious Jade Fox." She used her nickname since she felt it would be strange to give it to someone who would go against her...

Long Chen tilted his head. "Vicious?"

Aiko coughed awkwardly and shyly responded. "I might've or might not punished a few Harem Leaders during my stay in the Village." She acted like this so that he wouldn't be suspicious of her.

Long Chen's lips twitched. 'It's good that I have protective Treasures and that I haven't done anything to her yet.'

"So, what's so good about you?" The Egoistical Dragon snorted at her disdainfully.

She was in her Human form, but her beauty couldn't compare to Aiko's.

"No need to be jealous. It's not like I'm aiming for him." Aiko rolled her eyes. "You will eventually become more beautiful." She chuckled.

Aiko already realised that, for some reason, Dragons could see through Illusions. Not every Dragon might see through everything, but Aiko's Treasures are not all that good. The Recognition Inhibition Bracelet was doing some heavy lifting, but it would be unable to protect her against Dragon's eyes.

"Ling Ling, you are the most beautiful out of everyone here." The Elf said spitefully. Usually, the Elves were the most beautiful, but thanks to this guy, he was even able to attract a Dragon to his side, and now she was second in the pecking order.

"That's only because you can't see through her Illusions!" Ling glared at them.

Long Chen's eyes lit up, but he immediately concealed it. 'Since Ling Ling said that she is more beautiful than her, I should put in some work, but...' He already knew that Foxes were the weakest monster girls, but that didn't mean he wouldn't cherish her.

"It's fine. It's difficult for Foxes to survive like this, so it's obvious she would take protective measures." Long Chen immediately took her side, angering his existing harem, but since he was powerful and mysterious... they let it slip.

The same case was not for the Fox, a bit of tormenting would create a good hierarchy for everyone and she wouldn't act out of line.

Aiko ignored their sinister gazes and looked around.

'Let's see if I can find some kind of-' Aiko spotted a Rune on the wall.

'... Fuck.' Aiko immediately walked towards the right at her highest speed but without the danger of tripping. It would be bad if she bathed in the lure.

That's right, the thing that they stood on was not excrement but a lure for monsters that roamed inside this place!

"Wait!" Long Chen shouted and slid right next to her. "We should reorganise first."

"Reorganise my ass! I gotta hurry so that I don't become food for the Beast inside this place!" Aiko angrily shouted at him and didn't slow down her pace.

'Beast? Can she possibly read the Runes?' Long Chen was a smart guy. That's also how he attracted Ling Ling to his side! 'This is huge, I already love her!' He concealed his smirk and would do his best to appeal to this girl.

"Then we will hurry. Where are we going?" Long Chen immediately agreed with her, and his harem's animosity rose to the next level.

"How am I supposed to know?! Just follow the words!" Aiko clicked her tongue. She could read the Runes, but it's not like they told her exactly where to go.

'I gotta find a place to hide and organise my thoughts...' Aiko narrowed her eyes.

[You are under the influence of the Main Protagonist: Long Chen]

[You are now more likely to:

Find Treasures

Be a damsel in distress

Accidental lewd situations

...]

Aiko's face twitched viciously at that notification, but it was not like she would be able to shake him away.

She would be extra careful around him!

...

They ran through the huge sewage system as Aiko kept reading the messages on the wall.

"Right!"

"Left!"

Aiko glared at Long Chen for saying right because that was the dangerous path.

"But it says right..." Long Chen tried to play the vulnerable card, but...

"It says: Don't go right, you dumbass!" Aiko shot it down immediately.

He naturally loved the wild monster girls. His first meeting with Ling Ling was in a similar fashion, although she almost killed him at that time since he saw her bathing...

The natural love for this kind of beauty didn't lessen his courage to court her, like the others.

Aiko ignored him for the rest of the way until they arrived at an opening.

"Hmpf. I suppose you have something going for you." The Egoistical Dragon snorted.

The Elf didn't say anything since she was supposed to be the leading girl for this part, but a newcomer completely stole her limelight!

The Plant Girl kept quiet as she observed the Foxie. There was a familiar scent on her that she just couldn't forget.

'I think I know what it is, but I have to be sure of it.' That scent was much stronger on the Foxie than on Long Chen. It could be said that Long Chen was a single flower, while the Foxie was like a field of flowers. They couldn't be compared at all.

The only reason that the Flower Demon followed Long Chen was because of that scent. She didn't have any romantic feelings for him. She just wanted to grow into the most beautiful flower.

'That scent means he is able to nurture me, but when I compare it to the Foxies...' She narrowed her eyes. If she didn't choose the Foxie, she would be completely out of her mind!

"What now?" Aiko looked around. She was not as smart as Moon Aiko, but Moon Aiko was too defenceless when it came to lewd things, so she was not the best pick to use here.

"How about hiding there?" The ever-silent Flower Demon nudged the Foxie.

"Not a bad idea?" Aiko tilted her head. There were words 'hideout' written in Runes, so it might be possible that it's either a trap or a real hideout.

"Then let's go!" Long Chen took the lead as he realised that some of his Harem members finally started to accept the Fox girl.

'Good, good. It was troublesome when Ling Ling came to my side, but it seems like things are stabilising well.' Long Chen nodded to himself as he took the lead.

'If I lead them like this, the Fox girl will feel safer and will more likely come to my side...' That's what he thought would happen, but...

'Oh, he is sacrificing himself so that I don't have to? Cool~' Aiko was happy that she didn't need to subject herself to dangerous things and situations.

'There is a Ghost inside.' Suddenly, Lady Liu whispered to Aiko.

'H-huh?' Aiko was startled since that had never happened before, especially since her Lamp is stored safely inside her Tails Storage!

'It doesn't feel vicious, but you should still be careful.' Lady Liu was concerned about Aiko and only wished her the best so she would guide Aiko to safety if something happened!

'Thank you, but I don't know how to deal with them. Well, I can use my [Little Nightmare], but if they are too powerful, the situation would become troublesome...' Aiko narrowed her eyes.

'That Ghost does not harbour any evil intentions for the time being, so you will be fine. If something happens, just take out the Lamp, and I will stall it for a bit so that you can get out of its range.' Lady Liu said with authority, which made Aiko both happy and concerned.

'Sacrifices are not allowed!' Aiko shouted inside her mind.

Lady Liu giggled before going silent...