A Magma Encounter

“If you beg me, I might tell you.”

“Huh?”

She’s really taking advantage, isn’t she? he thought.

Qianwei took a deep breath. If it weren’t for the fact that even now, with Qiuyue Han severely injured, he still couldn’t beat her, he would have pounced and scratched that face.

She shot an “Are you serious?” look. After a moment of staring, she decisively caved.

“Pretty please, tell me.”

“You actually went for it? Haha~”

“Spill it! Or I’ll die along with the baby in my belly!!”

Qianwei angrily raised a tiny fist, putting on a death-defying expression to resist the white-haired big sister’s teasing, pretending to punch herself in the stomach. Unfortunately, Qiuyue Han remained calm and unfazed, not believing for a second that Qianwei would actually do it.

“Alright, stop messing around. Are you sure you want to keep meddling? Solving your dilemma is actually pretty easy. As a third party, you could force them into a contract, or just forcibly keep Hongye by your side and be done with it~”

“What’s with ‘forcibly keep by my side’… I don’t have those feelings for her.”

The second option sounded awfully jealous… Could she actually be jealous? he wondered. Qianwei couldn’t help but retort, then pressed further.

“Can you force them to sign a truce and cooperation contract?”

“It’s possible, provided you’re strong enough.”

“…”

Wasn’t that obvious… he grumbled internally. If I could use martial force to stop the fools from fighting and make them develop peacefully, why would I be agonizing over this?

Qiuyue Han looked at Qianwei’s speechless expression and the corner of her mouth lifted slightly. “Being strong isn’t just about martial force, you know~”

“Huh?”

So schemes and tricks work too… his eyes lit up as a feasible plan came to mind.

She then asked in detail about the prominent differences between the demon and human races, and got Qiuyue Han to estimate the plan’s chances of success. Finally, her mood improved considerably.

“You really won’t help me?~”

“No. My identity is too special; showing up would cause trouble.”

“Alright~”

She nodded regretfully. He had expected as much. But if the plan went smoothly, he wouldn’t need Qiuyue Han anyway~

Getting up to say goodbye, Qianwei intended to head to the Flame Serpent clan to demand the people. Just then, Qiuyue Han suddenly sighed and said emotionally, “Honestly, after you developed your psychic domination ability, I’ve been wanting to kill you even more.”

“What?”

“If only you weren’t a visitor from another world, I actually kind of like you. But you’re likely to become a threat to this world someday, forcing me to consider whether to make an early decision to kill you… In a way, you’re a lot like me. I’m afraid that the longer we spend together, the harder it’ll be to go through with it. I’m afraid my decision will be wrong, and I’m afraid of losing this only chance to leave behind offspring…”

“…”

Uh… She looks like she’s seeking an answer from me.

Qianwei didn’t know what to say for a moment. He couldn’t exactly say “Hurry up and kill me”—that would be suicide. From his own survival perspective, Qiuyue Han’s hesitation was a good thing. Thinking about the many reasons why otherworlders were hunted down by the natives, Qianwei hesitated briefly before casually saying, “You’re strong anyway. If problems come up, we’ll deal with them then~”

“…”

“I’m off now~”

Without waiting for a reply, she turned and pushed open the door, leaving. The room was now only Qiuyue Han, who took her eyes off the closed door and sighed again, lost in thought. In this world, the stronger an individual, the harder it was to leave progeny. With her own unique circumstances, the chance was even lower, so she didn’t want to give it up easily…

Seeing how much Qianwei resembled her past self only made it harder.

“Emotions… are truly superfluous.”

****

Outside the door, looking at the empty corridor, Qianwei scratched her head. She had been directly teleported here by Hongye, so he had no idea which area this was or how to get back.

By the way, since human communication methods don’t work here normally, how do they usually contact each other? Hmm~ Let’s wander around and ask someone for directions.

The first step of the plan was to retrieve Bai and Buqi from the Flame Serpent clan. Since Hongye said she’d release them in the afternoon, he had to stop that quickly. Choosing one side of the corridor, Qianwei walked while thinking about Qiuyue Han’s earlier demeanor. That conflicted look was kinda cute too.

After walking for several minutes and passing multiple forks, she still hadn’t seen a single Flame Serpent clan member.

“How huge is this place anyway…”

All the intersections sloped slightly downward, and the air was getting hotter. Qianwei regretted not choosing the other direction. According to what Hongye had said during their chat, this place was deep underground, built along a cavity in an earth-fire vein, so the air was much hotter than the cave at the World Gate. The room was only a few hundred meters from the underground molten lava eruptions.

“So hot…”

Yeah, I should definitely turn back!

Squeak~ Squeak~

“Huh?”

Just as she was about to turn, he heard some chattering in the distance—dense and chaotic, with hints of laughter mixed in. Qianwei’s eyes lit up. Finally found someone!

She could ask for directions, or have them contact Hongye to come pick her up~

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Qianwei quickened her pace toward the sound. Soon she saw bright light at the corner ahead, and the noise was very close, clearly just beyond that turn. When she got closer, she was stunned speechless by the scene.

A lake of magma, tens of meters in diameter, churned and bubbled, with dark red firelight blowing large bubbles on the surface. A swarm of small, flaming animals dashed across the magma. Behind them… two Flame Serpent children were swimming.

Squeak… Squeak!

Hiss~

They’re actually swimming in magma without trouble… And those rabbit-sized fiery little creatures bouncing around must be the Golden Flame Rats Hongye mentioned.

Qianwei blinked. He had a strange sense of déjà vu, like ducks swimming in a pond…

Just then, the two playing children noticed her standing at the cave’s edge, stunned. They exchanged puzzled looks and shouted, “Who are you? We’ve never seen you before…”

“Mmm~”

“Could she be the guest Sister Hongye mentioned?”

“Eh? A human? This is my first time seeing a human!”

Talking, they swam to the shore and climbed out of the magma. Despite their childish faces and skinny bodies, standing up, they were still quite a bit taller than Qianwei. For a moment, he doubted whether they were really children. If Hongye hadn’t said that adult Flame Serpents were very voluptuous, he would never have guessed these were kids.

“Uh… Hello there. I’m lost. Could you call Hongye for me?”

“No problem!”

The obviously livelier red-haired girl nodded immediately and tugged her companion’s hand. The other, clearly more steady, showed a doting expression, nodded, and then simply closed her eyes.

“It’s a bit far, so it won’t connect right away~ What’s your name, human big sister? I’m Hongxing! She’s Hongqing… Xiaoqing is really amazing—she’s been chosen to go live among humans.”

“Oh? You weren’t chosen?”

Ignoring the size, her personality was quite lively and cute? he thought. Qianwei looked up slightly and chuckled, replying absently with some confusion. The girl named Hongxing then said with a very innocent expression, “My cultivation talent is too poor, so I wasn’t chosen. I’ll probably be caught and kept for breeding~”

“…”

Qianwei was momentarily at a loss. After two seconds of silence, he couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know what being caught and kept for breeding means…”

“To have lots of babies?”