Survival Match (Twenty)

Wherever the light touched them, the oversized underpants melted instantly. Looking at the holes, it was fair to say that this pair had fulfilled its glorious mission.

But they worked wonderfully. Once the oversized underpants covered the Lava Heart completely, its light vanished. Jiang Hao strode over and, with a few quick movements, wrapped the Lava Heart securely in them.

"Bzz, bzz, bzz~" Heart thief, put down my precious treasure right now!

The giant mosquito was clearly frantic. Ignoring the blizzard battering it, it beat its wings and charged at Jiang Hao.

"Battle Chicken, let's go!"

Big Hen took off with Jiang Hao on its back, but he was too heavy. It struggled under his weight and could not run very fast.

Eagle Strikes the Sky!

Big Hen flapped its wings furiously, but it still did no good. Unable to fly, it could only carry him in a stumbling, headlong sprint toward the exit.

Meanwhile, in the Dense Fog Zone.

After enduring countless hardships, Chubby and the other five finally made it out of the Dense Fog Zone. The Projection Fly flew behind them again, but the viewers noticed that the original seven-person team now had only six members. Who was missing?

It was Jiang Hao. After looking through the group and realizing that the missing person was actually Jiang Hao, everyone erupted.

Just as they began speculating about what dangers Jiang Hao and the others had encountered in the Dense Fog Zone, the guardian descended from the sky. Outsiders might not have known about the avalanche, but the guardian knew the contestants' circumstances like the back of his hand. After the avalanche, however, even he had not dared approach recklessly and challenge nature's might to rescue them.

Now Jiang Hao was missing, and as the guardian, he could hardly escape responsibility. Especially when Jiang Hao was a seeded contestant and a favorite to win the Beast Pet Tournament, his inexplicable disappearance during the night, with neither a living person nor a corpse to be found, would be difficult to explain to all the livestream viewers and the Referee Panel.

"What exactly happened in there? Where is contestant Jiang Hao?"

Faced with the guardian's questions, Wen Ruxue broke down sobbing on the spot. She wished so desperately that the guardian before her had been a little more competent. If he could have prevented the avalanche, perhaps Jiang Hao would not have gone missing.

Chubby did not want to speak either. Seeing Wen Ruxue crying left Song Jie so miserable that he had no desire to open his mouth. In the end, Gongsun Qianxun had to step forward and explain everything that had happened inside.

After listening, the guardian knitted his brows. He quickly seized on the crucial point. "You're saying you heard a Snow and Ice Banshee howl before the avalanche?"

A monster like that had actually appeared in the Wuji Mountains. This was a major incident. A monster like the Snow and Ice Banshee was like a ticking time bomb that could explode anywhere, at any moment. To think he had known nothing beforehand about something so serious. He had to report it immediately. Whether the information was true or false, this matter demanded attention.

"Continue the competition. I'll investigate the Dense Fog Zone."

The guardian hurried away.

News of the Snow and Ice Banshee's appearance instantly sent shock waves throughout the Shenzhou Kingdom. Everyone feared for their own safety, especially the residents of nearby Wuji City, who began considering whether to leave the city and seek refuge.

News that a Snow and Ice Banshee had appeared during the Beast Pet Tournament and that Jiang Hao had gone missing soon reached Han Qing. She had already reached the Wuji Peak Summit, but she willingly abandoned the competition and personally led people back to the Dense Fog Zone to investigate the incident thoroughly.

If Jiang Hao could not be found, or if word reached the City of Eternity, what worried her most was that this incident might affect Dragon Venerable and Long Yun. That would make the matter an entirely different level of serious.

More importantly, she did not want to become a widow at such a young age. Indeed, to persuade Dragon Venerable to personally take command of the Shenzhou Army against the North Sea Army's invasion, she had offered her own marriage as a condition, freeing him of his worries. It had also been her choice as a means of drawing Dragonkeep's three Transcendent Masters into her camp.

She did not regret choosing to marry a man two years younger than herself. In her eyes, the supreme throne mattered most.

So anyone could come to harm except Jiang Hao. If he died, all her previous efforts would vanish like bursting bubbles.

At that moment, Jiang Hao had no idea how much upheaval his disappearance had caused. How would he feel if he knew that the goddess he constantly yearned for was actually betrothed to him?

He did not know. He was very busy right now-busy fleeing the giant mosquito hunting him down.

Under the blizzard's influence, the giant mosquito's top speed had plummeted, yet it was still steadily closing the distance. Jiang Hao turned to look behind him and nearly had his soul scared out of his body. That terrifying proboscis was less than two meters from the back of his head. If it accelerated just a little, it could pierce straight through his skull!

What was he supposed to do?

Wind Orb and Fireball had no effect on it, while Shadowless Clone and Thorn Armor only worked on beast pets. The only skill he could still use now was Blood Enhancement.

Blood Enhancement could instantly increase Big Hen's strength and agility by fifty percent. At that moment, he could only curse himself for not giving his beast pet more agility points.

Fifty-two agility points were far too few. Even increasing them by half would only bring them to seventy-eight. This would be his first time using the skill, so he had no idea how well it would work. How long would it last?

In this moment of peril, he could only stake everything on one desperate gamble.

"Blood Enhancement!"

An egg dropped behind Big Hen and exploded. In an instant, Big Hen blasted out a jet of flame as though someone had stomped the accelerator to the floor, hurtling more than ten meters forward with Jiang Hao!

As they ran, Jiang Hao silently counted the time.

One second.

Two seconds.

Only after thirty seconds did Big Hen's speed return to normal. In other words, max-level Blood Enhancement lasted half a minute, followed by a one-hour cooldown.

Not bad. At least he had put some distance between himself and the giant mosquito. The exit was right before him. As long as he made it through the passage and back to the ice cave, he believed the Snow and Ice Banshee would not stand by and let him die.

The ideal was beautiful, but reality was cruel.

Not long after rushing into the passage, he discovered that the white strands of hair had disappeared. That meant there was no blizzard to hinder the giant mosquito, and it could catch him with ease.

Sure enough, there was no such thing as a free lunch!

While he was worrying, Jiang Hao abruptly felt a murderous presence lock onto the back of his head. Instinctively, he tilted his head aside, and a proboscis steeped in killing intent grazed his cheek and appeared at the corner of his eye.

Jiang Hao: ∑(°口°) "Holy shit!"

That was close!

Having missed its strike, the giant mosquito buzzed its wings and pulled back, then raised its proboscis to attack again. This time, it aimed at the center of Jiang Hao's back.

At such close range, never mind Jiang Hao being unable to defend himself-even a Transcendent Master would have been helpless.

Relying solely on his unusually keen reflexes, Jiang Hao shifted his body slightly to one side again. The next second, searing pain shot through his shoulder.

He looked down. Good grief, half the proboscis had pierced all the way through his shoulder and was sticking out.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Jiang Hao turned vicious. Enduring the agony, he grabbed the giant mosquito's proboscis and forced it downward. The mosquito desperately tried to pull it free, pressing its entire body against his back and driving its six long, barbed legs deep into the skin there.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle."

A scorched stench began spreading through the passage.

The giant mosquito's six legs were like red-hot iron rods, searing his skin and flesh into a mangled mess.

"Aah! You bastard!"

It was like being tortured. Tears streamed down Jiang Hao's face from the pain, and he nearly lost his grip on its proboscis.

With no other choice, Jiang Hao endured the agony and stuffed the Lava Heart in his other hand beneath his backside. He clamped both hands around the proboscis, refusing to let it escape. He knew that once it pulled free, he would not be so lucky against its next attack.

"Phoenix, baby, run! Your master can't hold on much longer!"

Sensing its master's desperation, Big Hen drove its legs and wings even harder. But its speed was limited to fifty-two agility points, and no matter how hard it strained, it could not change reality.

"Cluck-cluck! Cluck-cluck!"

It cried out at the top of its lungs, hoping its voice would carry. Better still if the Snow and Ice Banshee in the ice cave could hear it.

Persistence finally bore fruit, and its shrill cries traveled through the passage into the ice cave.

The Snow and Ice Banshee, who had been studying the seasonings in Jiang Hao's large backpack, heard Big Hen's cries for help. It slowly rose, took one step, and appeared at the entrance to the passage. With another step, it was already in front of Jiang Hao.

It showed no reaction to the stark-naked Jiang Hao. Instead, it looked at the giant mosquito clinging to his back and said, "Let go of it!"

Jiang Hao: ???

"Oh! Oh!"

Trusting in the Snow and Ice Banshee's strength, Jiang Hao finally released the proboscis. Freed, the giant mosquito immediately pulled it out of his shoulder and was just about to deal him a killing blow.

A blizzard fiercer than the previous one swept in. It bypassed Jiang Hao and Big Hen completely, forming a tornado that pinned the giant mosquito against the nearby wall and ground it against the surface.

"Scrrr! Scrrr!" Amid an awful, teeth-grinding noise, the giant mosquito was crushed entirely into powder as though fed into a shredder, until a beast crystal wreathed in intense flames dropped out.

Just like that, the giant mosquito that had been hunting Jiang Hao had not managed even the slightest resistance in the Snow and Ice Banshee's hands.

With the danger over, Jiang Hao immediately took the Lava Heart and ran deeper into the passage to put his clothes back on.

When he returned, he found the Snow and Ice Banshee had cornered his beast pet, Big Hen, and was studying it.

It seemed intensely curious about anything and everything other than itself. Seeing that the beast crystal dropped by the giant mosquito had cooled, Jiang Hao casually picked it up. Good grief, it was actually an uncommon beast crystal. He had struck it rich!

"Senior Snow and Ice, I have fulfilled your request. Here is the Lava Heart you wanted."

The moment he finished speaking, the Snow and Ice Banshee, upon hearing the words "Lava Heart," abruptly beat a swift retreat and put some distance between them.

"Stay right there. Don't come near me."

Jiang Hao: .

It really was afraid of this thing. Truly, the vast world held every conceivable wonder. The Snow and Ice Banshee could pin the giant mosquito down and grind it into the ground, yet it feared the Lava Heart. Meanwhile, the giant mosquito it had beaten so thoroughly actually fed on the light emitted by the Lava Heart. Was this what they meant by everything having its own nemesis?

"Don't worry, Senior. I've wrapped it up nice and tight in my underpants."

Halfway through speaking, Jiang Hao realized just how easily his words could be misinterpreted.