Gao Xu's bold opening, paired with the righteous look on his face, made him seem like a champion of justice, noble and selfless, with a most impressive appearance.
But at first hearing, his words sounded utterly brainless. Tang Mei'er scoffed and snorted, choosing to ignore him.
As she watched Gao Xu's bearing change completely, a flash of blue light appeared, and a round bead was already in her hand.
"Die!" Tang Mei'er was decisive and ruthless. Gao Xu was clearly going to oppose her, so there was no need to waste words. She would simply kill him.
What she had taken out was the Heavenly Tolerance Sect's unique hidden weapon from the Jian Xia Qing Yuan world: a Thunder Fire Bead. Made by coating iron sand with gunpowder and tar, it was a thrown weapon. If it hit, its effect was similar to the Heavenly Tolerance Sect skill Mountain-Pushing, Sea-Filling, though not quite as powerful.
The most vicious thing about the Thunder Fire Bead was that it took advantage of the way most Reincarnators instinctively ducked to avoid hidden weapons. It created a sea of flames that engulfed everything in every direction. If someone caught off guard threw themselves on the ground, they would be burned into a charred lump by the continuing damage in moments, dying a horrible death.
Tang Mei'er was certain that no matter how deeply Gao Xu hid his capabilities, he was still a newcomer. He had to know nothing about the various items in the Dimension, so the Thunder Fire Bead was the best tool for dealing with him. Nothing else came close!
Many schemes seemed unimpressive once explained after the fact. But the key was that events often unfolded in the blink of an eye. Being able to act in that tiny window with the most efficient and practical method, achieving one's goal directly—that was what a true intellect did.
Otherwise, one was just a hindsight expert, completely useless!
For a woman, Tang Mei'er showed remarkable quick thinking in a crisis. It was a pity that the enemy she faced this time was Gao Xu, who had been reborn once. The instant the Thunder Fire Bead flew out, Gao Xu pretended to leap—but right then, something happened that even he hadn't expected.
"If you don't want to die, jump straight up! Trust me!!!" Zhu Hao's hoarse voice rang out. Not only did he warn Gao Xu, he also threw all his strength into hurling the sword in his hand at the Thunder Fire Bead, intercepting it in midair.
Gao Xu slowed his movement, deliberately acting as if he had only narrowly dodged the hidden weapon thanks to Zhu Hao's warning. After landing, he even nodded to Zhu Hao in thanks.
The sight made Tang Mei'er's eyebrows shoot up. Furious, she shouted, "Zhu Hao, you dare betray me?!"
"Boss, you made the first move, so... so I'm making the second!" Zhu Hao gave a bitter smile. He had survived, but from the blood spreading beneath him, at least one major artery had been severed. Without a blood-stopping potion, there was no way he would survive.
In this situation, other Reincarnators might have swallowed their pride and begged Tang Mei'er for a potion, thinking to stay alive first. But fools like Zhu Hao hated being played for a fool more than anything, so he didn't even hesitate before turning against her.
A murderous glint filled Tang Mei'er's eyes. Another Thunder Fire Bead appeared in her palm, and she threw it at Zhu Hao.
Zhu Hao knew most of her secrets. If he survived, killing Gao Xu would become much harder, and the success within her grasp might slip away at the last moment!
After throwing the second Thunder Fire Bead, Tang Mei'er couldn't spare a moment to check what happened, because the Snake Demon had already come slithering over, lured by the smell of realgar.
The Snake Demon probably had only a few seconds left in his frenzied state. Tang Mei'er wasn't afraid to trade blows with him for a while. Her weapon was a Snake Whip, which came with a skill that combined flexibility and rigidity. Soft, it became a whip; hard, it became a staff. It combined the whip's binding with the staff's crushing blows, making it difficult for enemies to defend against.
The Fox Demon was already at the end of her strength, so Tang Mei'er boldly fought on two fronts. Her Snake Whip flickered back and forth like a silver dragon dancing, a silver snake striking, its momentum impressive.
Without a certain level of skill, it was impossible to fight with this kind of flexible weapon without hurting oneself. In skilled hands, however, it was unpredictable and devilishly difficult to deal with.
Tang Mei'er flicked her wrist, and the Snake Whip coiled around the Snake Demon's chest, waist, and tail. Each loop carried a binding force that could restrict an enemy's movements. It was her D-rank support skill: Binding Whip.
Under the effect of Binding Whip, the Snake Demon's speed immediately slowed. With the precious breathing space this bought her, Tang Mei'er quickly used an Ethereal Scroll to lower her presence, while scattering the realgar packets among the newcomers on the ground to sow confusion.
Tang Mei'er wielded her various tricks with astonishing skill, neutralizing most of the threat posed by the Snake Demon. Only then did she have time to look toward Zhu Hao and see whether the traitor had been burned alive.
But what appeared before her was Gao Xu holding a red card with white markings, having just drawn Zhu Hao inside it!
"A Rescue Card?!" Tang Mei'er's face turned livid. This card came from the Fire Emblem world. It could temporarily protect a Reincarnator on the same side. The protection didn't last long, but it still counted as a life-saving item.
Rescue Cards were expensive. Tang Mei'er had put one on Zhu Hao so that she could have him protect her at a crucial moment. She hadn't expected Zhu Hao to trust Gao Xu enough to hand it over to him!
Gao Xu had hesitated for a moment over whether to save Zhu Hao. After all, in his previous life, Zhu Hao had hacked off his arm while pursuing him!
Gao Xu didn't consider himself a good person, and he had no interest in repaying evil with good. But the one he hated most was Tang Mei'er. Zhu Hao was, at most, a blade in her hand. Compared to her, Zhu Hao—someone who could keep her in check—couldn't die just yet.
The sea of fire created by the Thunder Fire Bead blazed across the ground. Gao Xu went the whole way in saving Zhu Hao: with a thrust of his sword, he flicked a ball of flame onto Zhu Hao's back. As Zhu Hao let out a piercing scream, the burn slightly slowed the severe bleeding from his severed artery.
Just as charcoal could stop bleeding from a burned scalp, methods like this—with no scientific basis—could prove remarkably effective in a desperate moment. Of course, this depended on a Reincarnator's abnormal constitution. Otherwise, even if Zhu Hao survived, he would be crippled.
Seeing Zhu Hao's health drop to the brink of death before finally stabilizing, Gao Xu drew him into the Rescue Card. At least he wouldn't have to worry about releasing a corpse later.
The successive turns of events left Tang Mei'er frantic. She had sacrificed too much. Now, one of her subordinates was dead and another had betrayed her. There was no turning back; this time, she would either succeed or perish!
Normally, she wouldn't have given a newcomer like Gao Xu, with his level of strength, a second thought. But now, with Zhu Hao helping him, Gao Xu might well be the last straw that broke the camel's back!
When Gao Xu tilted his head to dodge another sleeve dart, his nimble movements and the precision with which he stayed beyond the Snake Whip's range finally shattered Tang Mei'er's hopes of killing him quickly.
Seeing that things weren't going her way, Tang Mei'er relaxed her expression and had no choice but to compromise. "You're Gao Xu, right? You're a capable newcomer~ People with strength can earn respect and admiration in the Dimension. How about I give you twenty percent of the rewards for killing the boss?"
This was more than a compromise; it was practically an attempt to recruit him. Surely someone as clever as Gao Xu would understand.
But the terms Tang Mei'er considered extremely generous weren't worth a damn to Gao Xu. His only answer was a sharp Flying Dagger, aimed straight at the crimson crystal on Tang Mei'er's forehead—the source of the Succubus's power.
"Fool!" Tang Mei'er swung her Snake Whip and knocked the dagger away. She had been caught off guard the first time. Did Gao Xu really expect that useless thing, with its practically nonexistent damage, to keep succeeding in sneak attacks?
In fact, the Flying Dagger that Tang Mei'er didn't even consider a threat did accomplish something. In the instant her attention wavered, a childish voice suddenly sounded in the Fox Demon's ear: "Mother, that bad woman is about to... hurry... then..."
Hearing the important message her daughter had sent, the Fox Demon's spirits lifted. Without hesitation, she gave up her demonic power and cut off the Dream Return effect on the newcomers. Though the backlash left her badly injured and crumpled to the ground, Tang Mei'er's plan to use the newcomers' lives to finish off the Fox Demon had clearly failed!
At the same time, the Snake Demon's frenzied state ended. Now weakened, he quickly slithered to his wife, lifted her, and rushed toward another exit from the room. Before they entered, the Fox Demon summoned the last of her strength to cast a cloud of mist. It spread instantly, and the two demons vanished from Tang Mei'er's sight!
"How is that possible?! No!!!!!!!"
Gao Xu drew attention head-on while Su Mei secretly notified her parents. The timing was perfect, the coordination was flawless, and the solution was clean and clear. Once again, the shrewd and ruthless Tang Mei'er tasted the agony and despair of falling from heaven into hell!
The last time she had felt the same way was when she drank that bottle of Succubus blood—and that had been the beginning of this battle!
"Was I destined to always live beneath someone else, a groveling subordinate with no dignity?"
The Succubus transformation ended, and Tang Mei'er returned to her original form. She stared straight at Gao Xu, a difficult-to-describe hysteria suddenly rising in her eyes as she laughed like a maniac. "You've destroyed my last hope... my last hope! Hehe, hahahahaha, can you even imagine what I'm going to do to you next...?"
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