All Debts Settled

The giant python gathered its strength and lunged. Du Shijie squeezed her eyes shut and screamed in terror. Blood splashed all over her, and she cried even harder, tears and snot streaming down her face.

But when she opened her eyes, she found that the giant python's head had been severed. The eyes of the head at her feet still gleamed with excitement. It had died before it even realized what had happened.

She looked at Lin Nanyao in surprise, only to find her panting heavily and staring at the sky.

"N-Nanyao, what just happened...?"

Du Shijie sobbed and kept wiping her eyes. Her arms were covered in snake blood, while her fingers were soaked with tears.

Lin Nanyao was frightened too, but she forced down her fear. "I don't know. Someone saved us."

"Did you see who it was?"

Du Shijie cautiously looked around, seemingly hoping someone would come out to protect her.

"No. All I saw was a huge blade, like a giant scythe suddenly dropping from the sky. Then its head fell off."

Still shaken, the two girls huddled close together and looked up, searching, but saw nothing.

They had no idea Xiao Hao was in the shadows around the corner behind them.

"I don't know who you are, but thank you so much!"

Lin Nanyao was the first to calm down. She wiped away her tears and spoke into the empty air.

Du Shijie also said shakily, "Um, thank you. I don't know how to repay you..."

The two kept thanking their rescuer and waited there for a while, but no one came out.

Lin Nanyao sighed. "Let's go. Whoever saved us either left already or doesn't want to reveal their identity."

Something seemed to occur to Du Shijie.

"Doesn't want to reveal their identity? Could it be the top player?"

"I don't know. If it really is the top player and he doesn't want to reveal his identity, we'd better respect that."

Du Shijie was as docile as a rabbit now, nodding repeatedly.

She had no idea that the top player she held in such awe was Xiao Hao, the very person she had been yearning for all these years.

They were lucky the top player had saved their lives at all. They didn't dare ask for more, such as an escort home. If they annoyed him, they would be in trouble.

The two girls clasped hands even tighter. The giant python's body was still writhing, blood spurting endlessly from the vessels at its severed neck. Their hearts pounded with fear, but they forced themselves to stay quiet and took another route.

They walked until their legs went numb, and at last they were nearly there.

Xiao Hao was almost numb himself. This walk had taken far too long. The sun had already set, leaving only a little light in the sky. It would be dark soon.

A middle-aged woman suddenly shouted from a room in the apartment building, "Shijie, don't come back! There's a snake!"

Hearing her voice, Du Shijie was overwhelmed by a sense of grievance, and she could no longer hold back her tears.

"Don't worry, Mom! The snake's dead!"

A man in another room roared, "Nanyao! Don't come back! There's a snake! Run!"

Lin Nanyao and Du Shijie exchanged a look. Smiling, Lin Nanyao called up to the man, "Dad, it's all right! The snake's dead!"

Like close sisters, the two girls walked on, laughing and crying at the same time.

Their families were all safe!

Thank goodness!

"What do you mean, dead? Run!"

"Go! Don't come back!"

Compared with the frantic middle-aged people upstairs, the two girls felt much more relaxed.

Their parents still didn't know the giant python was dead!

Seeing their anxious faces warmed Lin Nanyao's heart. "It's all right. That giant python's already dead. We're safe!"

Their parents upstairs were nearly frantic with worry, their voices hoarse from shouting.

"Run!"

"Don't come back!"

"Hurry and leave!"

"There are snakes here!"

Only after Du Shijie and Lin Nanyao drew closer did they realize something was wrong.

From the way their parents were panicking, it seemed the snakes were inside the building.

But they had clearly found the giant python in the alley.

Could there be more than one giant python?

At that thought, both girls went rigid.

"There are lots of snakes here! Run!"

Countless snakes suddenly slithered out of the stairwell. More emerged from hiding places in the sewers, among the plants, and in the trees.

The dense mass of snakes piled over one another, countless cold eyes glinting menacingly.

Xiao Hao was speechless that it had taken them this long to catch on. If they entered the game world with reactions this slow, they wouldn't stand a chance of surviving.

Behind them, Xiao Hao blinked as he watched snakes pour out in heaps as though they cost nothing. Good grief.

Had they stirred up a snake nest?

They tried to run back, but it was already too late. A great many snakes were watching them from behind too. The predators' eyes made them feel as though they had plunged into an ice cellar.

"N-no... Please..."

In desperation, Lin Nanyao had an idea. "You're still here, aren't you? Please, save us!"

"Don't be afraid, Nanyao! Dad's coming down to save you!"

Lin Nanyao's heart ached. She shouted up to her father, "Don't come down! I wasn't calling you!"

Then Lin Nanyao called up to the sky again, "Please, save us!"

Du Shijie caught on as well and joined her. "Save us! Save..."

As though answering their pleas.

The sky went dark.

Darkness Domain!

The entire residential area seemed to be covered in a veil of black gauze.

The survivors in the apartment buildings seemed to realize something too. They joined the girls below in crying out to the sky for help.

"Save us!"

"Please, living Bodhisattva!"

"Save us! We'll work ourselves to the bone to repay your kindness!"

"As long as you save my daughter, I'll do anything!"

The cries for help came without end, as though their hope of survival lay in the sky. Like people clutching at a lifeline, the survivors desperately begged for help. Quite a few even knelt and kowtowed to the heavens.

Let's not go as far as calling me a Bodhisattva!

Recalling his own muscle-bound build, Xiao Hao's mouth twitched.

Ahem. Fight first!

Shadows surged into the area like a tide. Even the snakes were steeped in darkness. The skin of some brightly colored venomous snakes gradually faded, and their bodies rapidly shriveled.

Darkness Erosion!

The snakes grew restless. The deaths of so many of their companions filled them with fear!

Unfortunately, no matter which way they fled, they could not escape the Darkness Domain.

Snakes rotted and died in droves. Their corpses fell from the trees, the apartment buildings, and elsewhere.

Watching so many snakes die, the survivors cheered and shouted their thanks to the sky. Some even wept and kowtowed, declaring themselves his followers.

The darkness receded like a tide, leaving the ground littered with corpses.

This time, Xiao Hao had cast Darkness Domain and Darkness Erosion himself.

With just one layer of Darkness Domain, all these snakes had their life force drained dry in no time.

The Shadow Seahorse had reached level 10, so naturally all its skills were at lv.10 as well.

Using level-10 skills against monsters that weren't even level 0, there was no need to go to all the trouble of summoning the Seahorse.

This was Xiao Hao's first time using these two skills. He felt exhausted, yet noticed that his physical fitness seemed to have improved a little.

If he had to compare it to something, it was like his body after a workout: tired, but with his muscles pumped full of blood.

It seemed Darkness Erosion could also strengthen his body, though it consumed a great deal of stamina.

Not a single wild monster remained within the Darkness Domain. Lin Nanyao was safe, so Xiao Hao left without further ado.

As far as he was concerned, he had repaid Lin Nanyao's kindness.

If she hadn't encountered any monsters on the way home, Xiao Hao would have felt that he still hadn't done enough.

But she had faced several crises. Not only had Xiao Hao saved her twice, he had also saved all her family and friends along with her. Their debts were now settled.

Just escorting her home had taken until dark.

Actual nightfall, this time.

On the way back, there were still many corpses and scattered remains, both human and monster.

Many people covered their faces and wept, including quite a few soldiers.

The soldiers had guns, but their lives were still fragile.

Along the streets he passed, many soldiers knelt beside bodies, tears brimming in their eyes. Their heads hung low, their chins trembling as they clutched the fronts of the dead people's clothes.

Some soldiers slowly stood and saluted, staring at the bodies for several minutes without blinking. Their raised arms seemed to have lost all feeling, their hands remaining aloft.

The streetlights came on.

Corpses lay scattered across the main road, their bloodstains gradually drying beneath the streetlights.

Xiao Hao walked down that road, yet it felt as though he had traveled a very, very long way along the road of life.

Back at his rented apartment, Xiao Hao had intended to check the casualty figures online, but his phone didn't have a single bar of signal. Someone nearby was also complaining about being unable to make calls.

Had even the cell towers been destroyed?

That really wasn't friendly to an internet addict like him...

Well, nothing he could do. He might as well go to bed early tonight.

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