My Name Is Annie

The giant elephant captain's joking voice sent everyone into peals of laughter, easing the tension of the slave-catching operation considerably.

Not far away, a Fire Elephant teased directly, "Captain, you're playing favorites too much. I've followed you for five years now. You should at least give me a little girl."

"Yeah, can that little waist of his really tame Medusa? Don't get yourself petrified by accident, brother. Want me to teach you a couple of tricks for taming slaves?"

"When you get tired of Medusa, come find me! I'll pay a high price!"

As everyone chimed in, they skillfully stuffed the Crocodile Warriors into sacks while craning their necks to talk to Li Ziran, who sat on the giant elephant captain's ear.

Li Ziran did not answer a single word, merely responding with a smile.

He could see it now. The giant elephant captain still controlled his Slave-Catching Group.

But why had this man obeyed his every word when he had first arrived at the Fire Elephant Slave-Catching Group?

"Can I get down and walk around?" Li Ziran asked. Since entering the other party's ear, he had noticed that the creature seemed determined to keep him under control without pause.

"Oh, is it uncomfortable up there?" the giant elephant captain comforted him. "It's dangerous down below. Your combat strength is too weak, and those Crocodile Warriors might counterattack. Medusa may be a thing already in the bag, but they certainly won't sit still and wait for death. It's safer up there."

Li Ziran instinctively wanted to argue, but in that instant, the soft fur around him suddenly tightened, winding around him like hemp rope.

In that moment, he understood. The Fire Elephant captain's ear did not merely provide comfort; it was also a special means of imprisonment.

He looked toward Karen. At a time like this, Karen should make his stance clear, shouldn't he?

Karen looked back at him and merely nodded with a smile, as though everything was under control.

Li Ziran subconsciously reached for his waist, but ultimately let go. It was not yet time to completely fall out with them. Still, he needed to think of something—preferably an accident.

Karen and this Fire Elephant were both far too steady. Li Ziran realized that everything lay within their control.

Against people like this, only an accident would work.

Wait... he seemed to have someone else he could discuss this with, and she was a native of this place.

"Hey... are you there? Medusa?" Li Ziran asked in his mind through spiritual power, but there was not the slightest response. This made him deeply suspicious. This Medusa had helped him at the most critical moment, seemingly taught him a spell like the Devouring Curse, and provided information about the Swamp Dragon—yet she had asked for nothing in return.

That was highly abnormal. The Fire Elephant captain's purpose was already quite obvious: to capture Medusa. She came from the swamp, so did she not want to save her own people?

"I know you're there!" Li Ziran said with certainty. "I can sense you."

There was no response. Everything remained silent.

"Have you never thought of saving the other Medusa? The situation is very clear now. The swamp is about to cease to exist. Without the swamp, none of the Medusa can survive."

Just as Li Ziran thought there would still be no reply, she suddenly spoke. "Can you?"

Li Ziran wanted to say of course he could, but the words stopped at his lips. He did not yet have the ability to snatch the most valuable goods from an advanced Slave-Catching Group. Fundamentally, it was unrealistic.

"Heh, so there's nothing more to say, right?" Medusa was clearly mocking him.

"Methods are thought up. How would you know it won't work without trying?" Li Ziran forced out a defense for his confidante.

Medusa did not respond, and his spiritual space fell quiet once more.

Li Ziran did not like this silence. He needed to understand the situation in this swamp so he could analyze the giant elephant captain's true purpose.

From their brief exchange just now, he could tell that this Medusa wanted to save her people. As long as she had that thought, there was room for negotiation.

"Do you know the swamp will disappear?" Li Ziran asked tentatively. "What I mean is, the Elemental Tide on the Wasteland is basically all fire element. This place simply cannot accommodate the existence of other elements. In another half day, at most by nightfall, the lake will vanish completely. Then the Wasteland will desperately squeeze the moisture from the soil. Medusa are swamp creatures. Even without the Corpse Dragon, you all..."

"I know!" Medusa could no longer stand Li Ziran's rambling. There was obvious anger in her tone.

"Why did you help me?" Li Ziran changed the subject. He could sense her helplessness and wanted to calm her down. "Can you tell me? Was that spell you taught me the Devouring Curse?"

"No!" she answered firmly.

"Then what was it? I've noticed that lately, I seem to be able to see some blurry things, especially in those Snake Women. They seem rather delicious." Li Ziran voiced the question in his heart.

He was telling the truth. Ever since he had devoured a snake person last time, he had often been able to see whitish things inside snake people's bodies. With just a slight exertion of force, those things seemed as if they would drill straight into his mouth.

Li Ziran thought that was the Devouring Curse, but he could not be certain. Especially since he could not understand why only Snake Women were like that; he could not sense even the slightest trace of it in other creatures.

"I won't allow it!" The furious voice exploded in Li Ziran's mind like a bomb. "If you dare do that, I'll turn you into stone forever!"

Li Ziran fell silent, but he was smiling inside. The angrier she became, the more it showed that he was touching upon her true intentions.

This was the first time he had seen this Medusa girl lose her temper. Clearly, he had struck her bottom line.

"That is the Devouring Curse, isn't it?" Li Ziran asked softly. "A special curse effective only against snake creatures." Bit by bit, he laid out his deduction. "Thank you. I won't do it."

"I know," Medusa said calmly.

"Why?" Now it was Li Ziran's turn to be bewildered. "Can you explore my thoughts?"

Medusa did not answer. The spiritual space abruptly fell silent, and only after a long while did he hear her weak reply. "We Medusa never use such evil spells. Thoughts are forbidden ground. My name is Annie. I am a Medusa who lives in this swamp."

"Annie?" Li Ziran repeated softly. "That's a lovely name. Nice to meet you. My name is Li Ziran."

"I know," Annie said calmly. "Actually, I don't want to save those Medusa."

"Oh? Why?" Li Ziran was curious. Though she said so, he could hear her attachment to her race in her voice.

"No reason. They all dislike me." Annie spoke weakly. "My hands are clumsy. My hair extracts Stone Power from the swamp very slowly, and I simply can't clean Lord Dragon's teeth as thoroughly as they can."

"Clean them thoroughly? What does that mean?" Li Ziran did not quite understand. "Is it really a dragon?"

"Of course. It's a Mud Dragon, and it was very powerful when it was young. My grandmother began cleaning Lord Dragon's teeth when she was little. You don't know this, but my grandmother was amazing. With one glance, she could petrify every cavity worm inside its teeth. Back then, there were more than a hundred Crocodile Warriors following my grandmother!" Annie said proudly, but her voice quickly grew despondent. "But Lord Mud Dragon is old now. It can't even protect its own swamp anymore. I... I..."

Annie was choking up. Li Ziran could almost see her crying.

He found it somewhat unbelievable. The Medusa, whom people on the Red Soil Continent feared threefold, were actually just tooth-cleaners for dragons. If word got out, who knew whether anyone would believe it?

This little girl had actually been rejected and driven out by her people because she had not perfectly mastered the ability to clean teeth.

Li Ziran wanted to comfort her, but he did not know what to say. He had to admit, this was rather unexpected, but at least he now understood why she knew that Petrification Ray could reduce the sharpness of dragon teeth.

This was how they survived.

They petrified the grime inside the dragon's teeth, and in return, the dragon provided them with protection.

If this dragon had not grown old, they would have remained isolated from the world and lived comfortably.

"Do you know what will happen to the Medusa?" Although the girl before him was pitifully lovable, Li Ziran had no choice but to drag her back to reality. "A slave's fate is not an easy one to endure, especially for beautiful women."

"I know. Like that Karen—his mouth is full of lies. He deceived my aunt, saying he would arrange a new home for us and asking us to take him to Lord Dragon's heart. But in the end, he captured my aunt." Annie spoke in a low voice, trembling violently as though recalling that unbearable scene. Then she suddenly asked, "Will he eat us?"

Li Ziran laughed. What an innocent little fool.

Eat them?

That was one way to put it, though there were many more methods than that. Could it be that these people truly had never had any contact with the outside world?

"More terrifying than being eaten. Perhaps you'll be unable to live, unable to die." Li Ziran sighed. "For example, having your eyes dug out—that's the simplest. Of course, there are other methods, like having a child or something. I mean, not with your own kind, and it wouldn't be with your consent either. Do you understand what I mean?"

The spiritual space fell quiet again. Annie always seemed to stop talking at the critical moment.

Li Ziran felt that he had already put it rather euphemistically. He thought it necessary to make this kind-hearted girl face reality, but just as he was about to speak, Annie suddenly said, "Can you save them?"

That abrupt question completely stumped Li Ziran. He wanted to say no, yet the words would not leave his mouth.

"I can tell you that it is the Devouring Curse. Later, I can teach you how to devour the souls of snake creatures. You must be very powerful on the Wasteland, right?"

Li Ziran laughed soundlessly. This girl's flattery was far too obvious, wasn't it?

"Yes. Not especially powerful. Just a tiny, tiny bit powerful!" Li Ziran answered with words that did not match the truth.