Li Hao's freshly inflated Great Soul Master pride was instantly drenched in ice-cold water.
A fly?
What kind of fly could beat a powerful Dou Emperor like you half to death?
A fighter-jet-class fly?
His scalp prickled. Instinctively, he shoved Xiao Wu farther behind him.
Run!
He had to run!
"Um... Your Majesty the Queen."
Li Hao cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound a little calmer.
"As the saying goes, a gentleman's revenge can wait ten years. How about... we make a strategic retreat first?"
He had only just reached level twenty-nine. He wasn't even a Soul Elder yet.
The other party was a ruthless character who could hunt down Medusa. Charging in now wouldn't be bravery; it would be throwing his life away.
And getting two for the price of one.
The second rule of a salted fish's self-cultivation: never get involved in a fight you can't control.
"Master, please call me Cailin."
Medusa corrected him.
"Before you, I am no Your Majesty the Queen."
With that, she turned to look into the distance.
The perfect lines of her profile were as cold and hard as ten-thousand-year-old ice.
"My master's dignity must not be challenged."
"Anyone who dares offend my master is my enemy!"
Li Hao was speechless.
"Big sis, have you got something wrong?"
"They're not here to offend me. They're hunting you!"
"I'm a six-and-a-half-year-old fisherman. What the hell kind of dignity do I have? My dignity is being able to lie by the river for one more day!"
"Besides, you were the one who was almost beaten to death just now, not me!"
He was about to try persuading her again when Medusa suddenly turned slightly, placing herself completely between him and Xiao Wu and the danger.
A vast torrent of battle energy burst from her.
Purple energy curled around her, making her look like a god of slaughter descended upon the world.
"They're here."
She uttered two cold words.
Li Hao's heart leaped into his throat. Holding Xiao Wu, he was ready to dive into the grass.
But one second passed.
Ten seconds passed.
A minute passed.
Aside from the rustling of leaves in the wind, there wasn't a soul in the forest.
The battle that should have shaken the heavens and destroyed the earth never happened.
Li Hao: "..."
Xiao Wu: "..."
Even Medusa's cold, beautiful face showed a trace of confusion.
She closed her golden, slit-pupil eyes and carefully sensed her surroundings for a moment, then slowly let the energy around her dissipate.
"They... are lingering in the distance, afraid to approach."
"It seems they were scared off by the strange phenomenon just now."
Li Hao let out a long breath, his whole body nearly giving out.
Thank goodness.
Those villains had some brains after all. They knew enough to avoid danger.
It seemed the commotion he'd made had convinced them that some peerless powerhouse had arrived.
A false alarm.
"Come on, come on, let's hurry home!"
Li Hao didn't want to spend another second in this damned place.
He scooped up Xiao Wu and turned to leave.
Medusa silently followed, taking the lead and clearing the way for him.
The trip home was unusually smooth.
"Hiss, hiss..."
A ten-year Datura Snake lurking in the grass had just poked its head out. It hadn't even had time to show off its venomous fangs.
A flash of purple light passed.
It instantly turned into a lifelike stone statue.
Medusa didn't even glance at it as she continued onward.
Li Hao followed behind with Xiao Wu in his arms, the corner of his eye twitching.
"Roar!"
A foolish hundred-year Nether Wolf sprang out of the woods to the side, blocking their path.
Medusa stopped and coldly glanced at it with her golden, slit-pupil eyes.
The Nether Wolf's fur stood on end. It let out a whimper, tucked its tail between its legs, and scrambled away into the depths of the forest.
Li Hao: "..."
So this was the strength of a queen-level bodyguard?
Terrifying!
They traveled on in silence.
With Medusa clearing the road like a one-woman sweep, they soon left the Star Dou Forest behind.
When Li Hao saw the curling smoke rising from Holy Soul Village in the distance, he finally felt the peace of coming home.
Just then, Xiao Wu squirmed in his arms and started acting cute.
"Daddy, I can't walk anymore. Carry me!"
She wrapped her arms around Li Hao's neck, rubbing her little face against him.
Li Hao smiled and was just about to adjust his hold to make her more comfortable.
A slender, jade-like hand reached out without warning.
Then, under Li Hao's stunned gaze, Medusa lifted Xiao Wu out of his arms with one hand, her expression blank.
As if she were picking up a disobedient little rabbit.
"Children shouldn't be so spoiled."
Cailin's voice was as cool as ever, carrying an air of instruction.
"Depending on someone to carry you too much will affect your bone development."
The air froze instantly.
Suspended in midair, Xiao Wu helplessly kicked her four little legs.
At first, she was stunned.
Then her pretty, doll-like face turned red at a visible speed.
"You... you bad woman! Put me down!"
"That's my daddy! What gives you the right to carry me?"
Xiao Wu was so angry her eyes reddened. She lashed out at Medusa.
But Medusa couldn't understand her anger at all.
She only tilted her head, pure confusion in her golden, slit-pupil eyes.
"I'm helping my master by taking a burden off his shoulders."
"You are my master's... appendage. I have a responsibility to ensure your health."
Appendage?
Boom!
Those three words completely ignited Xiao Wu's fury.
"You're the appendage! Your whole family is an appendage!"
"Daddy is mine! You bad woman who came from who-knows-where, don't you dare touch him!"
Xiao Wu struggled violently in the air, even flashing her still-weak little claws.
Caught in the middle, Li Hao felt a massive headache coming on.
On one side was his newly acquired bargain daughter, a transformed hundred-thousand-year soul beast who was an expert at acting cute, pouting, and emotionally manipulating people.
On the other was his newly acquired bargain subordinate, a projection of a queen from another world—decisive and ruthless, but with zero social skills.
The two of them together were like Mars colliding with Earth.
"Um... Cailin, put her down first."
Li Hao tried to mediate, forcing the words out.
"Xiao Wu, don't be rude."
At his words, Medusa obediently let go.
Xiao Wu shot back into Li Hao's arms. Clinging tightly to his neck, she buried her little head against his shoulder and sobbed with grievance, then glared at Medusa as if to warn her.
Li Hao felt like his CPU was about to burn out.
What was this?
His harem hadn't even started, and he already had a domestic melodrama on his hands?
Holding Xiao Wu and looking at the peerless queen beside him, who had an expression that said, "What did I do wrong?", he felt that his salted-fish life had a bleak future.
After much coaxing and cajoling, they finally made it back to the shabby wooden hut in the village.
When Medusa saw the drafty little dwelling, its door barely hanging on by a thread,
a crack appeared in her face of ten-thousand-year-old ice for the first time.
She surveyed the place, which was so run-down it could have been called a slum, her lovely brows drawing tightly together.
"Master."
She turned to Li Hao, utterly serious.
"Your residence has an extremely low security rating, zero defensive capability, and negative comfort."
"This is entirely unbefitting your status."
"It must be renovated at once."
Li Hao waved his hand, listless.
"Enough, enough. Having a place to live is good enough. Don't set your standards so high..."
All he wanted now was to lie down and properly digest everything that had happened today.
However, he had clearly underestimated a queen's ability to get things done.
And her devotion to assisting her master.
The next day.
At the first hint of dawn, Li Hao was still asleep when a strange rustling sound woke him.
He blearily opened his eyes.
Medusa was standing at the door of the little wooden hut, directing dozens of lifelike little snakes made of purple energy as they darted across the ground around it, setting something up.
Noticing he was awake, Medusa immediately turned and walked over to his bed.
She respectfully handed him a scroll made from some kind of hastily prepared beast hide.
"Good morning, Master."
"This is the twenty-four-hour, comprehensive security and quality-of-life plan I prepared for you overnight. Please look it over."
Li Hao stared blankly as he took the still-warm beast-hide scroll.
His salted-fish life.
At that moment, it was officially, utterly ruined.
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