Picked up by the Protagonist of a Tormented! MC Novel Volume 3 Chapter 4

Translator: Piper Panda
Editor: Kleep
Zeno simply wanted to kneel down, he did not know what to say, but then he remembered one more thing. Since the protagonist is here, doesn't that mean the treasure should not be too far behind?
Were these two young foals the ones that emerged from the treasure house?
Zeno thought that everything finally made sense.
Zeno suddenly got excited, the protagonist’s road to adventure was about to begin! Soon those betrayers would start appearing one after the other.
Now it was time for the grass protector1 to step up, fighting!
Thinking about it make him a little giddy.
This part of the book was specially written for the protagonist. There were many treasures in it, and these two foals were the 'key' to obtaining them. At this time, he did not need to do anything, just wait for the plot to play out on its own.
On the fifth day of walking aimlessly, they ran into a swamp. Zeno's heart said, it's here!
It was this place that the author innocently described as such, "In the Nightmare Forest one could occasionally find a swamp, but this swamp was especially strange. The sky was filled with heavy miasma all the year long. The swamp was like a giant mouth that swallowed up all living things. It would snatch everything, intentionally or unintentionally, and shove them all in its belly. Not even the bones would be left behind."
It just so happened that a treasure house was hidden inside this very swamp.
At that point, the powerful force of the plot was revealed, even though the person who found the foals was still the protagonist. He was no longer a passerby. Besides the group of unlucky mercenaries who fought them at the beginning, no one had chased them during all this time. Yet in this swamp, they still came across an uninvited guest.
When these people appeared, they became the focus of everyone’s attention.
A young man with blue eyes and golden hair looked at them, and his eyes swept over them like a x-ray from top to bottom, “The two of you came at just the right time, I wonder if I can take you aside for a word?”
He seemed to have some kind of prestige, and the mercenaries who had bloody knives had no objection—let him grab hold of the 'key'.
Yes, Zeno knew exactly what this person was planning to do. The sky above the swamp was very suffocating, and it was difficult for mortals to cross, let alone try to treasure hunt. At this time, these two unicorn foals were needed to open the door to the treasure house. The 'keys'.
The person who had previously posted the task of finding the unicorn foals was trying to find the treasure house, but news was leaked, and now everyone was searching.
Even though he knew, Zeno pretended to be ignorant and nodded, indicating that he could talk to him. After all, it was no longer futile, and the people in front of him could not be compared to that last gang who attacked them.
So the three went to the side, and the young blond man said, “I am Nile, the son of the Duke of Merkel in the Violet Empire, and I can guarantee on my family honour that this will not be a loss for you two.”
Xi Wei directly asked, “You want these two foals?”
Zeno secretly despised Nile in his heart. This man was the first younger brother of the protagonist in The Curse. His true identity was not the son of the Duke, but the actual prince of the Violet Empire. In the future, he would become the emperor of a country.
As a stereotypical Qidian novel2, it was undoubtedly a good thing to accept a prince as a younger brother, and the readers really liked his hidden identity. However, who would have thought that this younger brother also had hidden motives.
Zeno was not thrilled to see him, but he could not say this. At least not now.
Nile cast a meaningful glance at his team members, when they sized up these two people, they knew who they were, and they told Xi Wei, “This swamp…”
Blah blah blah, he explained the situation clearly, there was no reason to deceive them anyway.
In the end, Nile made a concluding remark, “So, we need these two foals to open the path through the swamp. As a reward for helping, you can take whatever you want from the treasure house. I only need one thing inside.”
This was an exchange; Xi Wei provided the 'key', and Nile provided shelter.
It looked fair, but what Nile really wanted was the real key to the treasure house. It would allow a person to pass in and out of the treasure house without being obstructed by the miasma.
How many things could two mercenaries take out with just their hands? The rest could only end up belonging to Nile.
Unfortunately it was could only be wishful thinking, because he met the protagonist, Xi Wei.
~All of the World's Treasures belong to the MC~
Zeno stared at Nile with a pitiful look. Nile looked baffled, but he felt a chill down his spine. Was it a mistake, his plan was seamless, right? It must have been an illusion.
He comforted himself after thinking it over and over again, he confirmed that there were no gaps in his words. These two newcomers certainly could not have been so clear about this.
Nile put back on his smile which was like a upper-class citizen son, as gentle as a spring breeze.
Zeno had to admit that even though he knew his expression was faked, he was almost touched by the sincere looking smile. It was no wonder that in the original book he could have deceived the protagonist and gained his trust to sit firmly in the position of the first younger brother.
This time though, do not even talk about the title of first younger brother, not even the position of an ordinary younger brother would be given to him!
After discussing, the group of people were ready to go. Nile thoughtfully brought Zeno and Xi Wei to his side, so as not to be peeked at by those passers-by. For him, having firm control over everything was already something inscribed onto his bones.
The swamp emitted a rotten smell, and if possible, no one wanted to enter.
At that moment, a miraculous scene took place. When Xi Wei and Zeno walked towards the direction of the swamp with the two unicorn foals, the miasma in front of them retreated like it saw its natural enemy, leaving them with a one person wide passage through.
When they entered the swamp, they found out that the seemingly weird swamp was just an illusion. It was actually only a normal lake. The miasma just surrounded the lake. From the outside it seemed like there was miasma all over the place, but it was just a layer, there was no miasma in the air once they came in.
When they arrived at the lake, it looked as if everything was pre-arranged. They jumped through one after another, they kinda looked like dumplings. It looked quite spectacular3.
When they all got through, Nile politely said, “You two, go ahead.”
Zeno's heart groaned, Go ahead, your sister! If this is a pot of boiling oil, you want us to jump in first so we'd be the ones fried alive.
Yes, how could Nile share such amazing treasures with others, they would obviously have created a plot. The treasure house was left by the ancient Demon race. If you wanted to open it, you must be prepared to make sacrifices. The more sacrifices made, the more likely you were to enter the deepest part of the treasure house, and in the deepest layer was the real key.
That key was also the key to obtaining the Stone of Destiny, but what Nile did not know was that if you wanted to get the key from the Demon race, you naturally needed to own something of the Demon race. This thing was the ring Zeno's mother gave to Xi Wei.
Nile was extremely strong, and Zeno, who had lost his magic, and Xi Wei with his current power were not his opponents. Thus, they had to do as they were told. Granted, in order to obtain what they needed, Zeno was willing to do what they were required, even if it was a cheap method.
If Nile knew that he was destined to make a wedding dress only to marry off another in his place, his mood would not be so pleasant.
The lake water was only actually the top layer, and it was supported by magic. If one passed through this layer of water, they would see something like a stone door beneath.
Nile smiled, “Let's join forces to push the stone door open.”
Considering his noble status, in addition to Nile’s taking the initiative, the remaining mercenaries did not hesitate. Xi Wei did not want to do it, so the daring Zeno directly took hold of the protagonist's hand and pressed it on the stone door.
Xi Wei's face was still as water, not even a twitch. Even so, there was a hint of helplessness and indulgence in his eyes. It was the same look that appeared many times when Zeno was young. Unfortunately, Zeno did not see it, otherwise he would have understood that he had already been exposed.
After a while, the stone door opened, but then everyone, except Zeno, Xi Wei, and Nile, all felt like they had been electrocuted. They trembled and their mouths foamed, they all twitched about uncontrollably, and then collapsed.
The protagonist did not suffer because he had the protection of his ring. Zeno was part of the shadow clan, a branch of the Demon clan, and Nile relied on his own internal power to survive.
Despite being unaffected, Xi Wei, with his smarts, certainly refused to show his own anomalies, so he copied the actions of the other unlucky people, and his performance was extremely realistic. Zeno wanted to give him an Oscar Award for his amazing acting.
With some foaming and spitting, and Zeno followed his example and behaved in a similar manner. His imitation was a bit odd, but the treasure-seeking Nile did not care about this little detail and stepped into the stone gate.
When Nile vanished, Zeno rolled over and pushed himself up, then he pushed the protagonist awake, “Xi Wei, he's gone.”
Xi Wei opened his eyes, and Zeno could not see any expression through his face full of red blotches, nor could he see any expression. Xi Wei got up and was about to leave.
He was not interested in any treasures. If he could not beat Nile, then why should he even go?
Zeno looked anxious, how could this be? In the book, 'Curse', the protagonist's anomaly was discovered and he had to escape deep into the treasure room, but now he did not need to escape, so what now?
So Zeno grabbed the corner of Xi Wei’s clothes, with a pleading in his eyes, which reminded Xi Wei of that snowy night when he picked up that little baby more than eight years ago. The little baby had a high fever, and with its weak strength it grabbed his sleeve cuff, leaving him to carry a heavy burden.
With a small sigh Xi Wei said, “Let go.”
Zeno obediently let go, but still looked at him eagerly.
Xi Wei turned around and started walking towards the stone gate.
Zeno grinned for a while, and thought to himself that while the originally destructive protagonist had a sharp mouth, he was actually a soft-hearted person.
After entering the stone gate, there was a long passage and there were also many roads branching out in different directions. Every branching led to a stone room. Most of the stone room doors were open, and inside was shining with jewels, but Xi Wei turned a blind eye to all of these and went straight to the depths. He could feel that there was something calling for him there.
That was the key within the treasure house, and it was also the 'Heart of the Devil'.
Piper: Sorry for the long wait, this chapter was really painful, and i mostly guessed on a lot of it, so I would like to give a huge thanks Kleep and other Chinese speaking translators who helped with the hard parts. If any information from this chapter turns out to not make sense with information in later chapters then I'm sorry, there was a lot of vagueness in this one… Also midterms are coming up soon, so I will be spending quite a lot of time studying, but I should be able to get out a chapter in a week or two. Thanksgiving break is coming up next month and I hope to spend quite a lot of time translating then so look forward to it! See you next time!
Kleep: Yes.
PS – This is chapter 50…whoaaa
Flower protector = protector of women; Grass protector = protector of men, we think. Had to ask for help for this one . ↩the type of male-oriented writing that predominates Qidian, called ReadNovelFull in english speaking countries. Novels such as True Martial World, or Martial World, and Against the Gods, the usual Harem Xuahuan genre. ↩this one hurt, but I did my best, still 80% guessing, and yes it did say dumplings… ↩