Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Got Goldie?” Stripey asked belatedly.
Goldie was puzzled. “It’s God Goldie! Not Got Goldie!” It was furious. Stripey’s tone is so problematic.
“Oh.” Stripey patted its buttocks.
The Earthlord Serpent beneath its butt grew giddy from being rubbed. Stripey took a deep breath. The disastrous black clouds floating overhead suddenly started flowing in reverse and fell into the crack in Stripey’s back like waterfalls that were trying to wash something away.
However, these waterfalls weren’t made of water. Instead, the mass of concentrated black clouds had resulted in the formation of scorching black clouds that could burn a large area into magma.
Light flickered inside the crevices on the surface of Stripey’s body as the boiling heat seeped inside. Stripey’s body temperature rose unyieldingly.
The ground of the region in which Stripey was the center gradually grew dry and cracked. The color of the black soil grew lighter and lighter, like it was the earth crust expanding—densely-packed veins in the shape of a spiderweb continued to spread outwards. Vapor filled the entire sky, and with the white mist curling in the air, the place looked like paradise at first glance.
Gao Peng was overlooking this scene from the sky. The snake was like a hot water bottle, and the temperature in the pot it was in had already risen to an impossible level. Stripey was like a branded and powerful water heater, made exclusively to cook monsters. Beneath Stripey were non-stop slamming sounds, as well as the Earthlord Serpent’s pitiful cries of struggle.
Even though these cries were very distressing, Gao Peng remained indifferent. There were consequences to everything, so he couldn’t soften his heart when it came to his enemies.
This wasn’t the first monster that was being steamed in this manner by Stripey. Six months earlier, an Overlord-tier Blue-Heart Devil Ray in the Black Fog World had been cooked alive by Stripey as well, and in the end, it had become… Well, its meat had been soft and chewy.
Half an hour later, the Earthlord Serpent’s strength started to decline. If it had been a monster from another tier, it would have died long ago. However, even though the Earthlord Serpent had suffered grievous injuries and close to 90 percent of its body had been cooked, it hadn’t given up its desire to remain alive.
The only problem was that its strength was growing weaker, and it had basically already become a Chinese dish.
The moment Da Zi appeared, the entire sky became filled with the sound of thunder and bolts of lightning. All eighteen pairs of its wings were stretched out comfortably. These huge wings caused infinite lightning to cover the sky, and the proximity to an Electric-type monster enabled a thunderstorm to break out.
The densely packed lightning bolts that were born from the void were instantly attracted to the top of Da Zi’s head. Suddenly, the sky was rife with lightning flashes and thunder rolls, and the climate underwent an abrupt change.
If the lightning bolts summoned by the Jiuli Tiger could be described as a pool, the ones summoned by Da Zi could have been a lake.
Da Zi, presently at Level 75, was two levels lower than the Jiuli Tiger. However, the degree of Da Zi’s control over lightning was higher than that of the latter. Based on its grade alone, Da Zi could have flung it two streets away.
Da Zi picked up the fragrance in the air the moment it was summoned. Its eyes lit up. “Ah, Gao Peng, you lived up to my expectations after all by summoning me when there was something delicious!”
“Stripey, shift your buttocks to the side.” Da Zi couldn’t help rushing Stripey.
“This little earthworm isn’t dead yet,” Stripey told Da Zi.
“I know it’s not dead, but your movements are too slow. Let me provide some extra help,” Da Zi replied.
Stripey shifted its butt away. The Earthlord Serpent, which hadn’t given up and was still trying its best to struggle, suddenly felt a gust of cool wind brush its head. It opened its eyes groggily, thinking… Am I being rescued? Indeed, never give up hope, even in times of desperation. As long as there is hope, there is life…
The lightning waterfall instantly fell upon the Earthlord Serpent and drowned it.
“Hm! How fragrant! It’s a little more tender than that fish last time.” A group of familiars had gathered and were eating it scrumptiously.
…
Three hours ago, the people guarding the base had remained silent as they watched Gao Peng disappear into the Spatial Rift. Afterward, they started cleaning up the battle scene in an orderly fashion under the command of the team leader.
“He’s manly, but he’s too impulsive…” Team Leader Chen Min shook his head. Despite that, he admired people like Gao Peng from the bottom of his heart.
Two hours later, three big trucks came rolling in slowly from the mountain road. The rear compartments of the army-green trucks were wrapped beneath dark green cloth. It was impossible to tell what they contained from the outside.
The military track stopped in the parking lot in front of the Spatial Rift. An unshaven man in a black coat took a long drag on his cigarette, inhaling everything into his lungs.
“Settle this by yourselves, I’m going to smoke.” The man walked over to the bushes by the side and squatted down there. He stared at the messy grass on the ground and went into a daze. Even though this wasn’t the first time, he would still panic every time something like this happened.
Someone patted his shoulder. When the man in the black coat turned around and saw Team Leader Chen Min, who was in charge of this place, he hurriedly stood up and handed over his cigarette.
“That’s not necessary. Send this batch of girls back to wherever they came from.” Perhaps it was because he had been moved by Gao Peng’s behavior, or perhaps he had been condemned by his conscience, but when Chen Min opened the car door and met the eyes of the girls inside, he shut it again silently.
“Ah?” Zhang Tao was overcome by surprise first before he shook his head frantically. “No, that can’t be done, we’ll all die if that happens.”
Chen Min frowned. However, he was well aware of what Zhang Tao feared. “Don’t worry, I’ll cover you and say that we were attacked by monsters halfway through the route.”
“No, no way.” Zhang Tao resolutely opposed it. The volume of his voice was even louder now. He thought… What you’re doing now is pushing me into a fire pit.
He had felt a bit guilty about transporting these girls over here at the start, but at that moment, his feelings of guilt had disappeared without a trace. “It’s their problem that they were chosen. Why should I become a scapegoat for them?” Zhang Tao clenched his fists tightly.
The sympathy that he had formerly felt was just a form of pity from the perspective of a bystander, but when he transitioned from a bystander into a participant, all his compassion vanished into thin air. All that remained was anger when his own interests were violated.
Chen Min’s expression remained the same. He pulled a pistol out of his trousers, lifted his hand, and fired at Zhang Tao.
Bang!
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell everyone that you died in the line of duty,” Chen Min said.
A fiery red barrier suddenly appeared before Zhang Tao’s eyes. A lustrous and metallic bullet was lodged in the barrier. He looked at Chen Min, then hurriedly escaped into the woods behind him.
The sounds of battle rang out from where the trucks were. Immediately after that, a fiery red ape had its head bitten off and was killed on the spot. The red barrier floating around Zhang Tao suddenly vanished, and an expressionless Chen Min pulled the trigger.
Bang! A flower of blood bloomed.
“Team Leader, someone is emerging from the Spatial Rift,” a soldier yelled.
Chen Min’s expression changed, but he didn’t lose control. He ordered his familiar to swallow the corpses of Chen Min and his familiar while taking large strides over.
His intentions were changing, and he had already figured out an excuse, but when his gaze landed on the girls who had emerged from the Spatial Rift, the excuses in Chen Min’s mind vanished instantly. All that was left was a long moment of horror…
