Inside the cellar, time seemed to freeze again.
The gray-white Little Flame, which had been so excited and crying out that it wanted to find "Daddy," seemed to have been grabbed by the throat. All its emotional fluctuations abruptly stopped, and its light froze in midair.
It seemed... to have been completely dumbfounded by this suddenly appearing, hands-on-hips, street-cursing... little beetle...?
Ling Ye, Su Wanqing, and even the bib all stared wide-eyed at this surreal scene.
A bug?
It had crawled out of an edible stone...?
And was... cursing that terrifying Little Flame?!
It even wanted it to pay?!
Had this cellar somehow connected to some dimension's comedy channel?!
Ling Xiaoye stopped crying too. With his tear-filled eyes wide open, he watched the aggressively posturing little black bug with curiosity.
After freezing for several seconds, Little Flame finally seemed to react.
A wave of offended [----] fury, like a volcano about to erupt, began gathering in its tiny flame core! It was part of an existence even that madam feared! And it had actually been cursed at by a bug?!
However, just as Little Flame was about to erupt and annihilate this reckless bug along with the remaining breadstone—
The little black bug seemed to sense the danger. Not only did it refuse to retreat, it grew even angrier!
It suddenly vibrated its wings—though it failed to take flight—and let out sharper, more urgent "zzz" sounds. At the same time, as its tiny mouthparts opened and closed, it actually... spat out... a thread... an extremely faint golden filament imbued with some kind of... ancient power of [contract] and [rules]?!
The golden thread seemed alive. It flashed through the air and instantly sank into Little Flame's core!
Little Flame shuddered violently!
Its gathered fury was doused as if by icy water, replaced by something... unbelievable...[----] and...[wariness]?!
It seemed... to have sensed from that golden thread... the binding force of a supreme [rule] that it had to obey?!
[Zzz zzz zzz! (Translation: What are you looking at?! Pay your debts! It's only right and proper! It's stipulated in Chapter N, Article N of the [Void Industrial and Commercial Management Regulations]! Do you want to defy the [Origin Contract]?!)] The little beetle stood with its hands on its hips, its presence even more imposing.
Little Flame's radiance flickered violently, conveying an intensely [aggrieved], [furious], yet [helpless] mixture of emotions. Had it really been intimidated by that so-called [Origin Contract] and [Void Industrial and Commercial Management Regulations]?!
Ling Ye's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as he watched from the side.
The Origin Contract? The Void Industrial and Commercial Management Regulations?!
What did any of this even mean?!
What exactly was this bug's background?! It could actually use rules to restrain this damned ancestral pendant?!
Just as Ling Ye thought this farce would end with Little Flame suffering defeat—
In its extreme frustration, Little Flame's tip abruptly... pointed at Ling Ye again!
A powerful, [----] intent slammed into him:
[His!]
[Thing!]
[It's his!]
[The smell!]
[You!]
[Pay!]
[Find him! Pay!]
Well, after going around in a circle, the ball had been kicked right back to Ling Ye! And the spearhead was pointed straight at the possible "Daddy" behind him!
Ling Ye nearly spat out a mouthful of blood! What did this have to do with him?! He was just a scavenger!
Hearing Little Flame's words, the little black bug moved its antennae, as if only now noticing Ling Ye beside it.
Its tiny eyes—if it had eyes—looked Ling Ye over. Then it sniffed the air—possibly—and...
It actually revealed an extremely humanlike expression of...[disdain]?!
[Zzz? (That's it?)] The little black bug's thoughts were full of contempt. [Zzz zzz zzz! (What a penniless pauper! There isn't even a trace of [Void Coins] on him! He isn't even worth as much as this old man's bread! You want him to pay? Pay my ass!)]
Ling Ye: "..." He had actually been looked down on as poor by a bug?!
But in the next second, the little black bug's attention was abruptly drawn to the cracked, mottled beast-fang pendant around Ling Ye's neck!
Its antennae instantly stood rigid! Its tiny body even began to tremble slightly!
[Zzz?! Zzz zzz zzz?! (This... this smell?! It's [That One's]... tooth?! How did it get here with you?! And it's cracked?!)] The little black bug's voice was filled with extreme [shock] and [fear]. It even instinctively retreated two steps, nearly falling off the breadstone!
It seemed to recognize the pendant's origins?! And it was extremely afraid?!
Seeing this, Little Flame immediately fanned the flames, [----]ly: [It! Broke it! Find him and make him pay!]
The little black bug abruptly raised its head and looked at Ling Ye again. Its expression—if one could even discern its expression—had completely changed. Its disdain had become a complex emotion mixed with [fear], [curiosity], and [utter disbelief].
It cautiously and tentatively crawled one small step forward. Facing Ling Ye, it let out faint "zzz" sounds, and its thoughts became much more polite—even slightly ingratiating:
[Zzz... zzz zzz? (Sir... may I ask your honored name? You... what is your relationship with Lord [Tooth Ancestor]...?)]
Ling Ye was completely dumbfounded.
Tooth Ancestor? What kind of title was that? It sounded even more terrifying than "Daddy"!
How should he answer? Say he had picked it up? Would this bug immediately annihilate him as a thief?
As Ling Ye's mind raced, trying to fabricate a reasonable identity—
Ling Xiaoye, in his arms, seemed to find the little black bug interesting. He stretched out his chubby little hand and babbled as he... reached for the little beetle!
"Wow... bug..."
The little beetle was fully focused on Ling Ye and had no defense against a baby's "demonic claw"!
Smack!
Ling Xiaoye's little hand accurately... caught the little black bug... in his palm!
"Zzz—!!!" A shrill, utterly terrified scream came from between his fingers!
Everyone was stunned!
"Let go quickly!" Ling Ye was scared out of his wits and hurriedly tried to pry his son's hand open!
The bug's origins were unknown. If it were accidentally crushed to death, heaven knew what consequences that might cause!
However, it was already too late!
Ling Xiaoye felt the "toy" moving in his palm and found it even more fun. Not only did he refuse to let go, he giggled and squeezed even tighter!
"Zzz—!!!" The bug's scream weakened, filled with despair!
Just as Ling Ye was about to pry open his son's fingers—
Another change occurred!
The little black bug trapped in Ling Xiaoye's hand suddenly burst into a dazzling... black radiance under the extreme fear and pressure!
A terrifying power unlike Little Flame's, carrying the laws of [Absolute Concealment] and [Void Travel], exploded like a spring compressed to its limit!
Hummm—!!!
The space throughout the cellar... twisted violently... for a moment!
As if someone had tied it into a "knot"!
Then...
The black radiance suddenly contracted!
Along with the bug, Ling Xiaoye's little hand, and Ling Ye's fingers as he pried them apart...
Together...
In an instant...
They vanished without a trace!!!
All that remained in their place was...
A dumbfounded Little Flame,
A terrified bib,
A wide-eyed Su Wanqing,
Half an unfinished breadstone,
And...
Ling Ye, whose arm remained extended, but whose embrace and hand were both missing partway—
Completely petrified.
Inside the cellar.
A deathly silence.
Ling Ye slowly, extremely slowly... lowered his head...
He looked at his completely empty arms...
And...
At his right hand, which had vanished cleanly at the wrist, the cut surface smooth as a mirror, yet without shedding a single drop of blood...
He blinked.
Then blinked again.
As if he could not understand what had happened before his eyes.
A few seconds later.
An indescribable terror, powerful enough to tear the primordial wilderness apart...
Extreme fear...
And...
Fury that surged to the heavens...
Like billions of volcanoes...
Within his body...
Exploded...
With a thunderous roar!!!!
"My--------------so--------------n--------------!!!!!!"
A shriek so distorted and inhuman that it resembled the wail of an injured primordial fiend beast suddenly erupted from the depths of the cellar. It shot into the sky, shaking the entire earth with a faint tremor!
(End of Chapter Fifty)
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