Wu Hen felt sick. He said nothing, clutching Yuan You's hand tightly.
"Do you think that if you stay quiet, I won't be able to do anything to you? I rule this place. You're nothing but my boring little playthings. I made that rule about not making a sound just for fun." The Symbiotic Girl's voice changed again, turning into that of a rebellious, lovesick young girl.
Wu Hen furrowed his brow. It was impossible not to feel uneasy. Ever since he had entered this place, everything he sensed had told him one thing: this was definitely no ordinary Virtual Game!
It was all too real. Every sense in his body had been heightened to a clearer, more vivid, more intense level!
"Still refusing to speak? Then all you'll be able to do next is scream in helpless agony!" The Symbiotic Girl's voice turned into that of a frigid, fully grown woman. Not a trace of human emotion remained in it.
Roots crept out from beneath her skirt. Wu Hen could now clearly see the fine rows of sucking teeth at their tips. If one of those things pierced his body, it would probably suck his marrow dry!
Wu Hen clenched his teeth and still didn't say a word!
"Eee-yah!!!!"
Just then, a terrifying shriek rang out!
Backlit by the black lightning, Wu Hen saw a hulking, grotesque silhouette racing toward the square. Its scythe-like, shears-shaped claws slashed at the root tipped with sucking teeth reaching for him!
The Symbiotic Evil Girl reacted quickly, immediately pulling the root back.
Then the Symbiotic Evil Girl glared at the ugly Head-Severing Demon!
"Looks like you still don't understand your place!" The Symbiotic Evil Girl spoke in a cold, mature voice. "I did agree that you could make sounds and I could speak. But since I'm the one who makes the rules, I can change them whenever I want!"
"Eee-yah!!!!"
The Head-Severing Demon was clearly unhappy. It shrieked a warning at the Symbiotic Evil Girl.
They were turning on each other!
Wu Hen secretly rejoiced.
Just as he'd guessed, the Symbiotic Evil Girl and the Head-Severing Demon weren't nearly as close as they seemed!
When he glanced at the Head-Severing Demon again, it even looked like it still had its charms!
While they fought among themselves, Wu Hen used the frequent crashes of lightning to inch backward.
Behind him was a sheer cliff. He hadn't had a chance to see what lay below, but cliffs like this usually overlooked a fast-flowing river gorge...
A cliff, a river gorge—weren't those classic escape routes?
Please, let there be a river down there!!
"Fine. Now that you're here, I can replace my partner. He seems clever, and he'd make a much better Human Skin Living Chair than you!" The Symbiotic Evil Girl sneered, then attacked the Head-Severing Demon!
Wu Hen couldn't help staring in shock at those words!
The Head-Severing Demon had once been human???
Was this evil woman responsible for that??
Was she going to turn him into that ugly, deformed demon, then ride on his back??
What a freak!
Why don't you both just die already!
"Swish! Swish! Swish!!!!!!!"
The Head-Severing Demon swung the scissor-like blades in its hands, trying to sever the Symbiotic Evil Girl's roots.
But as the roots writhed, they moved like soft octopus tentacles; when they attacked, they were as hard as steel pipes. Even the Head-Severing Demon, with all its strength, couldn't cut through them!
Two hands couldn't fend off eight arms. The Symbiotic Evil Girl could send all the roots beneath her skirt flying at once. Four slapped at the Head-Severing Demon's upper body, while another four bound its legs!
Soon, its lower body was tightly restrained, and its blade-sharp arms could barely fend off the tough roots whipping at it!
"Eee-yah!!!!"
The Head-Severing Demon roared and hacked wildly. At last, it managed to cut off several of the Symbiotic Evil Girl's roots!!
Green blood sprayed everywhere. The Symbiotic Evil Girl's face turned pale and twisted with rage, and she let out a sharp, furious shriek. She left only two roots to support herself and sent all the others flying!
The roots that joined the fight quickly bound the Head-Severing Demon's arms, leaving it unable to move at all!
"Shnk! Shnk! Shnk!!"
One root after another unleashed terrifying piercing force, stabbing viciously into the Head-Severing Demon's body. One even pierced its skull and plunged into its brain!
Several roots writhed at once, greedily sucking the demon's marrow!
Even as this happened, the Head-Severing Demon kept struggling. In its death throes, it managed to hack off more than half the roots!
Green liquid covered the ground. It seemed that if the Head-Severing Demon had just a little more time, it really might have severed every one of the Symbiotic Evil Girl's roots...
But at last, the Head-Severing Demon's body shriveled. Its head was drained dry in a matter of moments!
The Head-Severing Demon was dead.
Wu Hen had already retreated to the cliff's edge. He was only a few steps away from taking a leap of faith.
But the Symbiotic Evil Girl's other two roots hadn't been idle. At some point, they had crept beneath Wu Hen's feet and tightly coiled around his calves!
"Trying to run?" The Symbiotic Evil Girl slowly turned her head. Because of her severe injuries, green blood streamed from all five of her facial orifices. "It's dead. You'll take over its job from now on."
Wu Hen said nothing, but raised his gleaming middle finger.
The Symbiotic Evil Girl was furious, yet she still let out a shrill laugh.
Dragging her mangled lower body, she slowly walked toward Wu Hen, right to the edge of the cliff!
"You'll enjoy the transformation more than it did. You're more perfect, after all, and I like you better. Oh, right—we can achieve eternal symbiosis, become one, and stay together forever and ever!" The Symbiotic Girl spoke again in her sweet, childish voice!
As soon as she finished, another slender root appeared beneath the Symbiotic Girl's blood-red skirt. It was clearly different from the others: delicate and weak as a flower's stamen, and glowing with a beautiful, dusky red light!
"Don't be afraid. This is my umbilical cord. It's very gentle." The Symbiotic Girl's voice changed again, becoming that of a loving older sister, brimming with maternal warmth.
Wu Hen's pupils dilated. He realized that this girl's true core was the Crimson Umbilical Stamen. It was very possible that severing it would kill the Symbiotic Girl for good!
But he had no weapon in his hands, and the roots around his calves were already crawling up his body. He had no way to fight back!
This fear, rising from the depths of his soul, felt wrong...
It felt as if he really would die here!
Something was wrong!!
This Virtual Otherworld was definitely wrong!!!
A powerful premonition of death sent his blood surging through his body. Instead of making him more afraid, it fixed his gaze on the Crimson Umbilical Stamen inches away!
His only weapon was the wisp of Yuan You in his hand!
Wu Hen raised Yuan You and deliberately waited for a moment. Then he summoned all his strength and smashed it down at the Crimson Umbilical Stamen!!
At the very instant he risked everything, a thin streak of black lightning struck down from above the cliff without warning, branching out above Wu Hen...
This thin black lightning was just as bizarre. In the corner of his eye, Wu Hen even saw it branch into a mysterious black Shaman Dragon. It opened its jaws and swallowed the Yuan You in his hand!
That Foster Father lightning was a predator too?????
Wu Hen was utterly shocked.
But he didn't stop moving. He was already swinging Yuan You at the Crimson Umbilical Stamen!
"Rumble!!!!!"
The town sank into the Black Void. The lightning's blinding backlight outlined three silhouettes on the cliff!
The Symbiotic Umbilical Stamen,
Wu Hen's arm,
The lightning Death Dragon!
The next moment, those three silhouettes miraculously merged in the backlight. Wu Hen, holding Yuan You, froze in place, his hand raised as though he were gripping lightning!!
Then came a bizarre sight: the black lightning was only the tip of the iceberg. Above the mist shrouding Jue Town, countless bolts of black lightning veiled the sky. They all poured from a Death Sword-like Substance thrust into the heavens...
As if some kind of link had formed, the Symbiotic Girl's Crimson Umbilical Stamen passed through Wu Hen and raced along the foraging lightning Shaman Dragon, striking back toward the heavens. Like a red kite string, it connected to the Death Sword-like Substance!!
As if it had sensed the corrosion, the Death Sword-like Substance lodged in the sky erupted with even more terrifying Black Celestial Thunder.
The Celestial Thunder fell like a storm, crashing down on Jue Town.
Every building was flattened in an instant, and every living thing was reduced to ash!!
The Symbiotic Evil Girl on the cliff didn't escape either!!
It stared at the sky in disbelief, gazing at it as if it were a divine miracle, both terrified and awestruck!
But nothing could change its fate. The Black Celestial Thunder blasted it into flying cinders.
Nothing remained of it but that wisp of Crimson Umbilical Stamen!
The Symbiotic Umbilical Stamen broke away from its body, then, like a parasitic worm, quickly coiled around Wu Hen's arm!
Wu Hen held Yuan You, Yuan You hooked the black Shaman Dragon, and the other end of the lightning Shaman Dragon was connected to the Death Sword-like Substance. In the end, the Symbiotic Stamen Thread wound them all together!
The Black Celestial Thunder annihilated everything. Only Wu Hen survived.
For a moment, Wu Hen felt his soul leave his body and rise to the heavens, merging with the Death Sword-like Substance. After catching a dazzling glimpse of the entire horizon, it quickly returned to his body...
Silence!
Jue Town, the rainforest, and the heavens were utterly silent!
After losing his senses for a while, Wu Hen slowly began to recover them.
Sight, hearing, smell, touch—even taste, as he accidentally breathed the flavor of ash into his mouth!
But the strongest sensation came from his right hand. A burning pain spread from his palm to his wrist, then from his wrist to his elbow, creeping up his arm before shockingly burrowing into his left chest and reaching his heart!!
His heart burned!!!
As though flames were roasting it!
His heart pounded violently, far beyond a normal person's rate, soaring to a thousand beats a second!
Wu Hen's whole body turned the red of agate. The dense network of blood vessels throughout him underwent a blazing purification as his heart became a furnace of fire!
Recommended new book by the great urban-fiction author Lao Shi:
Before you continue