Sowing the Seeds of Friendship

Linley laughed heartily upon hearing this, feeling a sudden surge of emotion as he thought, "Brother Lei Lin and I are truly fated to meet!"

While laughing, Lei Lin kept his senses alert to his surroundings. Although he knew that given the gap in strength between him and Beirut, he would never detect the Main God even if Beirut were standing right beside him—provided Beirut didn't want to be found—he still subconsciously scanned the area.

He had no choice; in the early stages of his growth, having a powerhouse of Beirut's Main God level lurking nearby meant he couldn't afford to be careless. After all, humans don't pay attention to an ant on the side of the road, and one careless moment could lead to being crushed to death!

"I've been playing with Beibei for so long now without incident, which means either Beirut isn't paying attention to this place, or I'm simply not worth his notice."

"But that's normal, after all... he is a Main God!"

Linley, who had yet to fully experience the malice of the human heart, didn't hesitate to call him "Big Brother." Lei Lin, while eating roasted meat, asked, "Linley, tell me, what kind of magic beast is this little fellow Beibei? A Shadow Mouse?"

"But isn't his strength a bit too high?"

As he spoke, he handed a Magic Core to Beibei as a snack. Having already grown somewhat familiar with Lei Lin, Beibei swallowed it in one gulp without hesitation.

Beibei's true strength was one of Linley's current trump cards. Not knowing that Lei Lin was already aware of his secrets, Linley pondered for a moment before saying, "Beibei should be a mutated Shadow Mouse, so his speed is a bit faster than an ordinary Shadow Mouse, and his strength is a bit greater!"

Lei Lin stroked Beibei's soft fur and said, "Then your luck is truly excellent. Generally speaking, as long as a mutated magic beast can survive, even if its strength cannot transcend the limitations of its species, it will still be stronger than its kin."

"Raise him well; he will surely be a great help to you in the future!"

Linley nodded, handed a piece of oily roasted wolf leg to Beibei, and began to ask Lei Lin for advice on his training in the Magic Beast Mountain Range.

The two chatted back and forth until late into the night.

The next day.

Linley woke up, looked at the note on his body, and his mouth twitched.

The note clearly read, "The greatest taboo in the Magic Beast Mountain Range is to trust others too easily. If there is a next time, the bloodstain on your neck might not just be a scratch!"

Touching the unusual sensation on his neck and looking at the dark red liquid on his hand, Linley sighed internally, "Brother Lei Lin is truly a remarkable person!"

At the same time, Beibei's voice echoed in his mind, "Boss, that Lei Lin is still watching you make a fool of yourself!"

Linley was stunned, and he contacted Beibei in his heart, "Watching me make a fool of myself? What do you mean?"

Beibei climbed onto his shoulder, pointing a small claw at a large tree, "Lei Lin was hiding in that tree just now!"

Linley subconsciously looked toward the large tree, but saw nothing. At this moment, Delin emerged from the ring on his finger and said, "No need to look, he has already left."

"What an interesting little fellow!"

Linley rubbed his temples and asked, "Grandpa Delin, can you tell me what happened?"

Afterward, Linley learned through Delin and Beibei that after he and Lei Lin had chatted until they fell asleep last night, Lei Lin had merely been feigning sleep. He had kept watch until dawn, and only when he realized Linley was about to wake up did he place the note on him and use his finger dipped in wolf blood to draw a line across his neck.

"Hmm, very good. The plan is proceeding smoothly; a quite excellent start to building a connection. It's a pity that staying together for a long time doesn't fit my persona, otherwise I could have directly teamed up with Linley to grind the Magic Beast Mountain Range and quickly deepen our relationship."

"But a brief parting is also for the sake of a better reunion!"

"The seeds have been sown; now I just have to wait for Linley to be gutted by Nina, and for the seeds of friendship to sprout in Linley's heart!"

Several days later, at night.

A cold light flashed, and the young Controller Linley finally experienced the first life-and-death crisis of his life. However, what pained him most was not the physical injury, but the wound to his heart.

After all, he could never have imagined that human nature could be so vile. If Nina hadn't already had half her head bitten off by Beibei, he really would have wanted to ask Nina why she did this.

"Cough~, cough... cough~, as... expected, people like Brother Lei Lin are... truly a rare minority in this Magic Beast Mountain Range~"

Lei Lin, waiting in the shadows, kept his Electromagnetic Induction active without pause to observe the situation, thinking to himself, "Very good, Linley's fate of being gutted has not changed; it happened as expected."

"The backup plan with the risk of exposure won't be needed!"

"Stay calm. I can't appear directly yet, or it would be too 'coincidental.' Anyway, with Linley's physique, he won't die for a while; his tolerance is high, so I can afford to wait."

"I must wait until Beibei uses Dark Magic to stabilize Linley's injuries, and then wait a while longer before I make my entrance. That will be smooth enough."

"Stay calm~"

Half a quarter of an hour later.

Lei Lin, who had been hunting a Breeze Eagle, "happened" to encounter Linley and Beibei. Upon discovering Linley's severe injuries, he immediately abandoned his prey to help treat him.

After pouring five or six different magic potions into Linley and confirming that his condition had stabilized, Lei Lin began to "observe" the surroundings again.

Looking at the remaining half of Nina's head, he thought, "Although only half a head is left, one can tell she was indeed a pure and lovely little cutie."

"But I remember in the original work, her entire head was crushed by Beibei. Is this a detail that can be changed, or is the grand trend immutable?"

"Sigh~, I'd better be careful. As I interfere more and more with the plot, the original story might not be very reliable in the future!"

"At the very least, I need to plan more carefully regarding the details!"

Holding the blood-stained dagger, Lei Lin sighed, "It seems this guy Linley was ambushed by this little beauty. As expected, a rookie is just lacking in experience!"

Hearing this, Beibei immediately squeaked to express his dissatisfaction!

At this moment, Beibei was still in a state of extreme agitation over Linley being ambushed. If it weren't for the fact that Lei Lin had gotten along well with them previously, and that he knew Lei Lin wasn't a bad person—and that the first thing he did upon appearing was to use magic potions to stabilize Linley's injuries—Beibei would definitely have attacked to vent his negative emotions.

Lei Lin immediately said helplessly, "Alright, alright~, although I don't understand what you little fellow is saying, I assume it's nothing nice. I won't speak ill of your master anymore."

He then came before Linley and carefully checked his condition, sighing, "Magic is good, but with such a fine physique, why don't you find a Battle Qi Manual to practice with, you guy?"

"If you had Battle Qi to protect your body, you wouldn't have been injured so severely!"

Having said that, faint electric sparks appeared on Lei Lin's body. He then guided the electricity to gather at the puncture wound on Linley's abdomen, stimulating his cellular vitality to help Linley recover quickly.