Chapter 00023: Coo Coo Coo
# Coo Coo Coo
Chapter 23
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 23: Coo Coo Coo
Li Chengxi's attention was drawn to the scene mainly because the little elf child seemed to be crying their eyes out.
In the game, crying was represented by two puddles of water on the ground, which suggested that the child had been sobbing for quite a while.
Naturally, Li Chengxi's eyes were then drawn to the pigeon perched above the elf child's head.
Zooming in a bit more, he vaguely noticed something tied to one of the pigeon’s legs—though due to the pixel style of the game, he still couldn’t see clearly.
However, this pigeon with its chibi-style feathers looked strangely familiar.
Then it hit him:
"This looks like that same pigeon that always sits on the chapel roof."
Every day, Li Chengxi would see Viola leading the Royal Guards to pray at the chapel.
It wasn’t strange at all that a pigeon who often perched on the chapel’s eaves would look familiar to him.
He right-clicked on the pigeon with his mouse, and to his surprise, even the pigeon had its own artwork.
Now he could clearly see that the pigeon had a necklace clutched in its claws—and the pendant on the necklace looked very much like the Holy Emblem of the Demon God.
He clicked on the pigeon’s “abilities” option to open the status panel.
On one side, its Devotion was listed as 10.
“No way, even pigeons can be believers?”
There were stories, after all, about how an old monk’s pet parrot died and, upon cremation, a sarira was found within the ashes.
Perhaps this is the concept of “all beings possess souls.”
This pigeon perching on the chapel’s eaves every day, watching Viola and the others pray—maybe little by little, it had become a follower too?
It was mentioned earlier that the fog of war on the map could only be dispelled if a follower of the Demon God physically went over.
If the pigeon was indeed a believer, that could explain why a Settlement Marker had appeared deep in the Distant Forest—because the pigeon had scouted it out.
As absurd as it sounded, it was the only logical explanation at the moment.
So Li Chengxi left-clicked on the pigeon to select it, then picked up his headset and spoke into the microphone:
“Can you hear me?”
A dialogue box popped up above the pigeon’s artwork.
It read: ‘Coo… coo coo…’
“……”
Well, it was still a pigeon after all.
———–———–——
Demon Lord Calendar Year 648.
April 6th, Morning.
Within Springlight Woodland deep in the Distant Forest, inside the largest treehouse, a crowd of Tree Elves had gathered.
Among them was Lia’s elder sister, Zhouya.
She could clearly hear her little sister crying at the foot of the tree and felt a powerful urge to rush down and comfort her.
But she couldn’t do that right now—not during a meeting that could determine the very survival of all Tree Elves in Springlight Woodland.
“We have to relocate. Every day more of us are dying—we can’t stay here any longer!”
“But we don’t have any supplies left.”
“Exactly. We’ve only just made it through the winter. The fruits and roots we survive on haven’t ripened yet.”
"And even if we want to move, where can we go? Over the Spine of the World mountains to the other side?”
“That’s suicide! We’d all die in a blizzard on the mountain!”
Voices clamored from all corners of the meeting.
The Tree Elves were deep in discussion, but progress was nonexistent.
“Zhouya, what are your thoughts?”
The elder's words brought Zhouya’s focus back from the sound of her sister's weeping outside the window.
She hesitated briefly before saying:
"Is there really no other way? I don’t think we should abandon the woodland. We should find a way to purify the contaminated water source.”
The Tree Elves looked around at each other, uncertain, then one by one, they shook their heads.
“The Plague Goddess’s virus is too strong. We have no way to fight it.”
A Tree Elf draped in wolfskin bowed their head and said:
“Ever since the spring was contaminated, I’ve no longer heard the voice of the Springwater Goddess.”
“Even if we could reach her, it wouldn’t help.”
The elder added:
“The Springwater Goddess can’t overcome the taint left by the Plague Goddess. If we could receive a reply from the Father of Nature, then perhaps there would be hope, but…”
Springlight Woodland had always been a veritable paradise.
Protected by druidic magic, it remained in perpetual spring.
Clear spring water, abundant fruit—nature’s gifts were endless.
But such riches had become a thorn in the side of malevolent deities.
About a month ago, a group of followers of the Plague Goddess discovered the woodland and launched a brutal attack.
The Tree Elves and local fairies fought courageously and eventually drove them back.
But the spring—the very heart of their sustenance—had been tainted by the Plague Goddess’s divine power.
The once crystal-clear water now carried a deadly toxin.
Plants, animals, even the soil itself, would slowly die upon contact.
Druids' magic and the forest’s herbs could only delay the inevitable.
The Tree Elves and fairies were on a slow but steady march toward death.
They had tried everything—performed countless rituals in hopes of contacting the gods of nature—but none succeeded.
The divine power of the Plague Goddess had veiled all communication, leaving the Tree Elves and the fairies completely isolated.
As one of the few Tree Elves who patrolled near the edge of the forest, Zhouya suddenly remembered something.
“Recently, a princess arrived at Leon Fortress. She seems to be under the protection of a true god. Could that mean that a god has turned their gaze toward this remote place?"
“I heard that rumor too, but elemental gods won’t help. They can’t overcome the power of the Plague Goddess.”
“I heard that when the princess arrived at Leon Fortress, she encountered a raid from mountain bandits. That god stepped in personally—wiping out thousands of bandits in a single blow.”
Upon hearing that, the Tree Elves around the room all looked up in shock.
“If that’s true, then it must be a god with extremely powerful divine strength. No—even a god of great power wouldn't so casually interfere with the mortal realm. Just who could it be?”
Zhouya shook her head.
She didn’t know the details—she had learned what she did from listening to the murmurs of trees and plants.
Tree Elves had a unique gift.
They could speak with vegetation.
That, more than anything, was what made them Tree Elves.
A god this powerful taking notice of the area… surely they could break the power of the Plague Goddess.
But the problem was, why would such a god help them?
They weren’t followers, nor did they have any ties to that deity.
Why would they spend their divine power to help a group of dying Tree Elves?
"We’ll have to send someone to Leon Fortress and make contact.”
Though that was the logical next step, silence once again took hold of the meeting chamber.
Tree Elves were a highly isolated race.
They distrusted all other races.
Only a rare few non-elves ever lived among them.
They had always lived in seclusion.
Suddenly needing to reach out to outsiders—it was like asking a tiger to eat grass.
Just the idea made them uncomfortable.
“I’ll go.”
Zhouya said,
“I’m willing to go to Leon Fortress to beg that powerful god for aid. If it means saving the woodland, I won’t hesitate to give my life.”
“Big sister, where are you going? I want to go too!”
Lia, her eyes swollen from all the crying, burst through the door at that exact moment.
She hurried over to throw her arms tightly around Zhouya.
She had already lost her best friend.
She wasn't about to lose her sister too.
“Big sister’s just going to the city. I’ll be back soon.”
“No! I want to go with you!”
Lia refused to let go, no matter what.
At that moment, the Tree Elves present took notice of a pigeon perched on Lia’s head.
“That pigeon—what’s that on its foot?”
A druid reached out gently, and the pigeon obediently hopped onto his hand.
Examining the pendant hanging from the necklace the bird carried, the druid exclaimed:
“This is a Holy Emblem! One I’ve never seen before!”
(End of Chapter)