Rescue

Zhan Qiu faced a Mo'er Race beetle at Domain Lord Eighth Stage. At the start of the battle, the two had been evenly matched, but after the Mo'er Race immortal's scream, the Domain Lord Rank beetle clearly grew afraid, and Zhan Qiu immediately gained the upper hand.

As the Mo'er Race's situation grew worse, Zhan Qiu's opponent started thinking of making a run for it. But Zhan Qiu kept it firmly entangled with his spear. Distracted, the beetle was pierced by the spear, and the force carried along it nearly damaged the Singularity inside its body.

It was also an experienced Domain Lord Rank beetle. It knew that unless it forced its opponent back, it would never manage to escape at its leisure.

After exchanging more than a dozen blows, the Mo'er Race immortal's cries rang across the battlefield. The beetle knew that if it didn't flee now, it would be too late. Just as it prepared to fight for its life, another Domain Lord Ninth Stage beetle ahead of it fled in its direction.

At its cry, that Domain Lord Ninth Stage beetle hesitated, then extended an armored leg from behind Zhan Qiu and stabbed at his back.

Attacked at once by two opponents at Domain Lord Eighth and Ninth Stage, Zhan Qiu was immediately in grave danger.

Just then, Bai Muye happened to look over. In a panic, he hurled the long staff in his hand toward the beetle behind Zhan Qiu, its momentum immense. At the same time, the Fusion Domain at his side rapidly contracted, transforming into a Domain Whip that shot after the staff.

"I'll risk it!"

When Zhan Qiu sensed the deadly attack from behind, he had few options left. He could only attack the enemy in front of him with all his might, hoping to drive it back and give himself some room to maneuver.

But his opponent was also experienced. It knew that retreating now would undo all its efforts, and it might never escape alive. So it gritted its teeth and held its ground.

Bang! Ssh!

Two sounds reached Zhan Qiu's ears.

He didn't need to turn around to look. His Domain had already sensed a long staff hurtling through the air toward his rear flank with astonishing force.

The Domain Whip following close behind carried enough power to surprise even Zhan Qiu.

The Domain Lord Ninth Stage beetle had meant to ignore the long staff, thrown by someone at Universe Rank. But the force with which it tore through the air made it frown.

If it ignored the staff, it might not injure it, but it would certainly delay it for an instant—and that instant might be enough for the human Domain Lord chasing it to catch up.

But if it blocked the staff, it might lose its chance to kill the Domain Lord in front of it.

It didn't hesitate for long. It shifted the direction of the left armored leg among its two forelimbs and knocked the incoming staff aside. With a bang, the staff spun away.

Its right armored leg continued toward Zhan Qiu, but the tremendous force from its left leg slowed its movement. The Domain Whip, following right behind the staff, instantly lashed against its right armored leg.

With a sharp hiss, the Domain Whip broke apart, but the beetle's armored leg was stopped in its tracks. The tremendous force of the blow even made the beetle itself pause for a moment!

Furious, it lit up its compound eyes and was about to charge at Bai Muye, but the Domain Lord chasing it finally arrived.

The Domain Lord slashed at it. It had no choice but to turn and defend itself.

Bai Muye couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. For a moment, he'd felt as if Death had fixed its gaze on him. Without the Thunder Staff in hand, he was unarmed; if this Domain Lord Ninth Stage beetle got close, it would probably tear him apart in an instant.

"Yow!"

A scream came from Zhan Qiu's opponent. At the cost of having one arm torn off by the beetle's armored leg, Zhan Qiu thrust his spear into its chest. As the force erupted, the Singularity inside the beetle was shattered!

Zhan Qiu glanced back at Bai Muye gratefully. Ignoring his injuries, he turned and charged at the beetle that had ambushed him, clearly still furious over the brush with death.

Bai Muye moved his left hand. A Domain Whip, much thinner than the previous one, appeared. With a flick, it wrapped around the staff that had been knocked away and pulled it back.

All around him, people were pursuing the enemy. He couldn't very well stay where he was. Seeing that Zhan Qiu and another Domain Lord had the ambushing beetle screaming in agony, he turned and followed his comrades in pursuit.

After Dongluo's sword had erased the Mo'er Race immortal's Divine Body, the battle among the World Lords had also reached its final stage. Dozens of human World Lords surrounded the dozen or so remaining World Lord Rank beetles and quickly wiped them out.

"Stop the pursuit! Regroup!"

After Zhu Ang cleaved the last World Lord Rank beetle apart, a cool voice rang across the entire battlefield.

A disc-shaped spacecraft appeared in the sky. Dongluo boarded it at a speed invisible to the naked eye, leaving behind a single instruction:

"Take one minute to collect the spoils."

The Mo'er Race belonged to the Bug Alliance, but its people weren't strong. Their most powerful members were only High Venerables, so most of these warriors were badly equipped. Many didn't even have storage space.

Bai Muye searched several corpses but found nothing valuable. Not one of them had a storage space.

"The Mo'er Race's most valuable parts are the pair of armored forelegs," Zhan Qiu said as he flew over. The injury to his left arm was already slowly healing. "They can be used to make Force Weapons..."

"But you need an enormous number of them to earn one point of Military Merit. You can collect a few, though, and keep them as souvenirs..."

"Captain, how's your injury?" Bai Muye looked up. Zhan Qiu's face was a little pale.

"Don't worry. It's only a minor wound. I'll recover soon." With his remaining hand, Zhan Qiu tossed him a Space Ring. "If you hadn't come to my rescue, I'd have been badly injured this time. I might even have died. This is the Domain Lord Rank beetle's Space Ring. It's just a small token of my gratitude."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. Thanks, Captain." Bai Muye caught the ring.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you." When Zhan Qiu saw him accept the ring, a faint smile appeared on his face. "Come on, let's return to the ship. These Universe Rank beetles don't have anything good..."

The two flew side by side toward the spacecraft.

A minute later, the spacecraft shuddered slightly and flew deeper into the Black Meteor Mountain Range.

They were back in the same cabin. All ten Universe Rank members of Zhan Qiu's squad gathered together. They had been close by from the start, and thanks to Bai Muye's help, every one of them had survived, though some were injured.

"Captain, you're hurt?" Feng Yi saw Zhan Qiu's injury and hurriedly asked with concern.

"It's nothing. I'll recover soon." Seeing that they were all there made Zhan Qiu very happy. "Good. Our whole squad made it through this time..."

"We have Brother Muye to thank. He saved me from certain death several times..." Feng Yi looked at Bai Muye and nodded gratefully.

"I have to thank Brother Muye too..."

"Me too..."

The other squadmates chimed in with their thanks. They'd practiced in the Virtual Universe, but this was their first time in actual combat, and none of them had been fully prepared. Each of them had received more or less help from Bai Muye.

"We're all in the same squad. Like the captain said, from now on, we're brothers who share the same pot..."

Bai Muye smiled and modestly brushed off their praise.

"And that's not all," Zhan Qiu said frankly. "If he hadn't been there, you might not have seen me again either. A Domain Lord Ninth Stage beetle ambushed me this time, and I nearly didn't make it..."

The squadmates were shocked and quickly asked him what had happened.

"Captain, are we going back to the Barracks Base?" After Zhan Qiu had explained, Feng Yi asked.

"How could we?" Zhan Qiu rolled his eyes. "We're still a long way from the base. Besides, we didn't come all this way just to fight one battle, did we?"

"Then where are we going?"

"I only just found out that we're in the Black Meteor Mountain Range," Zhan Qiu said with a chuckle. "Our legion has a hidden base here. After a battle, we'll return to the base and rest for ten days to half a month. Exactly how long depends on our casualties..."

"All right, make the most of the time and rest. If you don't want to, then go review the battle we just fought..."

Zhan Qiu had been injured and had just fought a bloody battle, so he was feeling tired.

Once everyone had settled down, Bai Muye sank his consciousness into his Consciousness Sea.

"Did you eat too much?"

Xiao Si in his Consciousness Sea had visibly grown "fatter."

"Hehe, Old Bai, I had a huge feast this time!" Xiao Si's laugh brimmed with comfort and satisfaction.

"Take a look at this!" Xiao Si boasted. Then rootlets began to emerge from the tip of its jet-black seed.

One, two, three...