Adair shivered, hidden within an inconspicuous trench. He had never imagined Baron Quentin would literally transform into a different species.
At this rate, he wouldn’t last much longer. This corpulent worm clearly didn’t perceive things through sight or sound; it possessed no ears or eyes, yet it could precisely pinpoint the location of every living creature.
Adair dared not make any significant movements. The creature was currently targeting anyone who moved too much.
While lying there wasn’t a solution, he would buy himself as much time as possible.
The screams from outside gradually thinned, suggesting few were left alive.
Adair sensed the tremors in the ground, realizing the epicenter was drawing closer.
He swallowed hard, understanding the grim implication.
Taking a deep breath, he abruptly stood and sprinted in the opposite direction from the tremors.
If he didn’t struggle now, he wouldn’t get another chance.
The corpulent worm, Quentin’s transformed state, leaped, landing directly in Adair’s path, its blood-red maw gaping open.
Adair looked at the creature with disgust. He decided he couldn’t wait for death; he would gamble everything, if only to satisfy his urge to speak his mind.
“Ye Xi! Your husband is about to be eaten! If you don’t come out now, you’ll be a widow!”
As these words burst forth, the entire mining site became a massive amplifier, echoing throughout the mountain.
Adair instantly felt refreshed, his fear completely gone. With renewed boldness, he shouted, “We promised to have a few little monkeys together, to explore new positions! I still need to…”
Adair had completely let loose, speaking as crudely as possible.
The corpulent worm ignored Adair’s nonsensical babbling. It had already decided the fate of this two-legged lamb before it, and its blood-red maw drew closer to Adair.
At this critical moment, Adair was still preparing to continue his verbal assault when he suddenly felt his world turn upside down. His head was slammed into the ground, his gaping mouth unable to utter a sound, instead filling with a mouthful of dirt.
A familiar voice reached Adair’s ears.
“Say another word, and I’ll cut off what’s between your legs and shove it in your mouth!”
Adair struggled to pull himself free, spitting out the bitter mine dust. He gazed at the somewhat embarrassed and enraged Ye Xi before him with a cheeky grin. He wasn’t surprised by her arrival; Yuzu must have already informed Ye Xi of his predicament.
There was no reason for Ye Xi to be slower than the armed transport troops, but her prolonged inaction had made Adair’s scalp tingle. Connecting it to the ‘protection plan’ Ye Xi had proposed earlier, Adair had deliberately provoked her.
Adair dusted himself off, chuckling, “I thought you wouldn’t mind.”
Ye Xi took a long, steady breath. “While I usually accommodate your shamelessness and perversion with my broad-mindedness, that is no excuse for you to push your luck. It’s not that I don’t care, but rather that I can endure such vulgar words and mitigate their negative linguistic impact. However, whether or not I choose to tolerate them depends entirely on my mood.”
Adair suddenly understood. “You mean I can tell a few dirty jokes when you’re in a good mood to foster our relationship and see if it can deepen? I’ll dodge!”
Adair abruptly threw himself backward. A dagger now impaled the ground between his legs; had he not moved that half-step, he would no longer possess the means to propagate his lineage.
“Uh, I should check on that corpulent worm.”
Adair immediately abandoned the topic that had threatened his physical integrity, pretending not to notice Ye Xi’s icy expression and fiery gaze. He circled behind her to inspect the now prone corpulent worm.
Quentin, in his corpulent worm form, had been bisected by Ye Xi, and corrosive green fluid oozed from the wound, hissing as it spread.
It appeared Ye Xi had delivered a fatal blow. The corpulent worm still had its sharp fangs bared, as if poised to devour Adair, showing no reaction to Ye Xi’s attack.
“Is it completely dead?” Adair inquired.
Ye Xi composed herself, filing away her anger for later, and calmly replied, “It should be, but I’ve never encountered a creature like this before, so I can’t be certain.”
“From the looks of it, it’s at least incapacitated.” Adair stretched, surveying the surroundings. The abandoned mine had transformed into a scene of utter hell, the visual impact sickening.
Adair turned to Ye Xi. “Still angry?”
“Hmph!” Ye Xi folded her arms and turned her head away, her actions clearly indicating her extreme displeasure and the severe consequences to follow.
Adair shrugged. “I was desperate. You should have arrived much earlier, but you kept watching from the sidelines without showing yourself. My heart felt hollow, utterly without confidence. So I thought I’d provoke you a little. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t actually go through with it.”
“???” Ye Xi found Adair increasingly shameless. He made it sound as if she were a maid specifically for his nightly service, and whether or not they ‘did it’ was his decision.
“Indeed, nothing but filth comes from a dog’s mouth. Your mouth must be solely for expelling internal waste, isn’t it?”
As Ye Xi’s venomous words struck, she simultaneously delivered a punch to Adair’s stomach, sending him crouching in pain to reflect.
Just then, Ye Xi keenly noticed a faint tremor from the worm lying ‘dead’ on the ground.
“Ow ow ow.”
A cute little creature also scampered out of a small cave in the mine at this subtle moment. Since Yuzu had been clinging to Ye Xi, she had no choice but to bring it along.
The instant Yuzu darted out, it realized its position was perfectly set for a divine assist.
Directly in front was Adair, doubled over, clutching his stomach in pain. A little further ahead, Ye Xi’s attention was captivated by something unknown.
Yuzu recalled Adair’s promise, and for the sake of extra meat patties, it decided to give Adair a boost.
Fierce Wolf Charge!
Yuzu slammed into Adair’s back with full force. At that moment, Yuzu felt its head collide with what felt like a three-meter-thick diamond-hard rock. The wolf hung suspended in the air before plummeting directly to the ground, a fist-sized lump instantly rising on its head. It tilted its head, tongue lolling out, and fainted.
Yuzu had miscalculated one thing: Adair, currently wearing a full set of weighted gear, was not suitable for a head-on push.
However, Yuzu’s sacrifice was not in vain. The full-force impact created a propulsion that caused Adair to lose his balance and tumble forward.
And not far directly in front of where Adair fell was Ye Xi, whose attention was completely focused on the corpulent worm.
Then, under Ye Xi’s astonished and bewildered gaze, she was directly pushed over by Adair.
At that moment, Adair activated the chain skill ‘Divine Fall,’ and his two hands landed on Ye Xi’s two mounds of ‘justice.’ The scene instantly fell silent.
Adair was utterly dumbfounded. The bliss had come so suddenly, and yet… so terrifying!
His brain was now incapable of appreciating the intoxicating sensation and alluring scent. Ye Xi’s killing intent, almost solidified, rendered him immobile.
Ye Xi didn’t even bother to pry Adair’s ‘wolf hands’ off. Instead, she gently embraced him, pressing her face against his, and whispered intimately into his ear, “Enjoy it while it lasts. I’ll turn you into a human stick in a moment.”
Adair’s sweat glands utterly failed, and he was instantly drenched, as if caught in a torrential downpour. This ‘benefit’ was literally life-threatening!
All this time, he had only dared to speak his mind, precisely because he feared this outcome.
Perhaps Adair had exhausted a lifetime’s worth of luck today. Just as he was on the verge of becoming a cripple, the corpulent worm, Quentin, reappeared, once again diverting Ye Xi’s attention.
Its penetrating wound had almost healed. It stood up, let out a sky-shattering roar, and angrily lunged at the couple shamelessly displaying affection in front of it.
“Tch!” Ye Xi flung Adair off her, simultaneously flashing to the side. Carrying the fury of being taken advantage of by Adair, she delivered a direct strike to the corpulent worm with her blade.
Although Ye Xi wielded a small dagger, amplified by her internal energy, it easily pierced the corpulent worm’s skin.
Then, Ye Xi used her energy to extend the dagger’s attack range, cleaving the dead, corpulent worm, which had aided and abetted Adair, cleanly in half horizontally.
Seeing the corpulent worm ‘play dead’ once more, Ye Xi ignored it. This time, she had split it from head to tail; it should be truly dead.
With the accomplice dealt with, it was time to punish the main culprit.
Ye Xi scanned her surroundings, pinpointing Adair’s location.
He was hiding behind a rock, and although it obscured his view, his rapid breathing was like a searchlight in the darkness to Ye Xi.
Ye Xi sneered, a flick of her dagger sending an energy blade that split the rock Adair was leaning against.
Feeling his cover destroyed, Adair stiffly looked at Ye Xi. “That was just a delightful misunderstanding.”
Adair lifted Yuzu, who he had apparently picked up, and declared, “Yuzu suddenly attacked me! I’m innocent.”
“A scoundrel who blames a puppy. Whether it was a misunderstanding or not no longer matters. What matters is that I am very angry right now.” Ye Xi paused, then spoke chillingly, “Was that very satisfying earlier? Now it’s time to collect the rent.”
Adair wanted to cry, appealing to heaven and earth. He had never, at this stage, intended for things to escalate so wildly. How had it come to this?
Suddenly, Adair’s eyes narrowed, and he shouted, “Ye Xi, behind you!”
Adair’s warning and the sense of danger from behind made Ye Xi instantly leap into the air, dodging two streams of corrosive acid.
Ye Xi looked back, discovering that the corpulent worm, which had been cut in half, had actually regenerated into two creatures, each only half its original size.
‘Slashing damage can’t be fatal to it?’
Ye Xi frowned slightly. The strength of these two worms wasn’t terrifying, but their persistent, ghostly presence and the unknown method of killing them were irritating.
‘Let’s try blunt force damage.’
This division must have a limit. Ye Xi didn’t believe it could survive if she smashed it to smithereens with blunt attacks.
However, Ye Xi sighed inwardly, watching the corpulent worm flung away by her attack. This corpulent worm’s resilience and elasticity were too good; ordinary blunt attacks would only bounce it away.
Boom! Boom!
The other corpulent worm curled its body and began to roll across the ground, hurtling towards Ye Xi with unstoppable momentum.
Ye Xi glanced at it, tightening her grip on her dagger. Energy extended from her palm to the dagger, then beyond the dagger, forming a war hammer made of pure energy.
With a small sidestep, Ye Xi evaded the rolling corpulent worm, then swung her war hammer down.
For a moment, Adair felt the earth shake, sending clouds of dust billowing into the air, while colossal thudding sounds echoed throughout the mine.
Adair looked at the corpulent worm, Quentin, which was gradually losing its worm-like shape, with a profound sense of gratitude. *Brother, thank you!*