stonecrandall Page 39
Page 39
While both Mai Shiranui and Rinko Akiyama addressed Luo Jiajun as "Master," Mai's tone was more like playful banter between lovers, unlike the overly formal tone of Rita or Rinko Akiyama. Looking at her large, blinking eyes as she spoke, Luo Jiajun couldn't help but smile mischievously.
"Tsk~ Xiao Wu is really cute. It makes me want to drag her back to the mall and have a quick game, and postpone everything else."
"Eh~?"
Mai Shiranui was startled by what she heard and quickly crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Dame~! Dame~!"
"No matter what, business comes first!"
"Haha, just kidding." Luo Jiajun pinched the female ninja's smooth cheek again, then said, "Alright, let's go. Business is important. Let's try to be back before dark."
The group then set off, with Luo Jiajun pointing the way and Jiela leading the way, heading south.
However, they hadn't walked far, only two blocks, when the team stopped again. This was because a battle was taking place just a short distance ahead, outside a supermarket. (The remaining text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the previous sentences.)
A group of survivors carrying torches are attacked by a number of tree spirits equal to their own.
One of the survivors, whose dead-fish-eyed face gave off a sinister vibe, was incredibly brave. He not only charged out of the group, but his fists, as big as sandbags, even caught fire, easily defeating the tree spirit in front of him.
When he saw a teammate being tackled by the tree spirit, this person's arm stretched out like a rubber band, and his flaming fist reached out and blasted the tree spirit away. The rescued survivor immediately shouted:
"Damn, I almost died! Thanks a lot, boss! You're awesome, boss!"
……
Luo Jiajun and his group watched from a distance.
Just then, Leda whispered from the side, "It's the same situation as the previous group. Those people in front also used torches as weapons and had some strange characteristics."
Luo Jiajun nodded and said, "The two teams should be working together. If they are indeed looking for someone, then they chose to split up to increase efficiency."
As he spoke, Luo Jiajun's attention remained focused on the "Fire Fist Rubber Man" in the distance. He watched as the man knocked down another tree spirit with two powerful punches, and flames immediately erupted from his palms, incinerating the fallen tree spirit...
"Let's go, we'll take a slightly longer route." Luo Jiajun only wanted to take care of himself and didn't plan to make any more contact with other survivors, so he called to the four women beside him to continue on their way.
Shortly after Luo Jiajun and the others took a detour and left from this place, the battle on the road ahead also ended. More than ten tree spirits were all defeated and burned to ashes.
Within the protective circle created by the fireworks, there was no need to worry about being attacked by the mutated plants for the time being. Zhou Yaoyang extinguished the flames burning in his hands and looked through the undulating heat waves at the location where Luo Jiajun and his group had been.
"Boss, did you notice that too? A group of people passed by that intersection just now. Although it was a bit far away and I couldn't see them very clearly, I'm sure there were several girls in that group. Should we chase after them..."
“pia~!”
Before the underling could finish speaking, Zhou Yaoyang immediately slapped him across the face, leaving the underling's face red and swollen.
"I'm going to chase you, yeah, I'm going to chase you!"
"If it weren't for me, you bunch of trash would be dead already!"
"Use your brain, you idiot! That group only had five or six people. Don't you think about it? How could such a small group have survived until now?"
Amidst the insults, Zhou Yaoyang's fierce gaze swept across the faces of his other underlings.
Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to look him in the eye.
Zhou Yaoyang spat on the ground beside him and continued to scold:
"You all better remember this! This is the end of the world! An end of the world that's even more terrifying than World War Z, the Hollywood blockbuster, the one with Brad Pitt, you know? You bunch of idiots!"
"Damn it, there are mutated plants everywhere now. Any random flower can grow taller than a person. Do you think anyone who has survived this long is easy to bully? Even if there are trash like you, they've survived this long because they have powerful figures protecting them. Just like you bunch of trash, it's because I'm protecting you, understand?"
"Still thinking about women—it's no easy feat for women to have survived this long!"
As he continued cursing, Zhou Yaoyang seemed to remember something when he mentioned women. He then looked down at his right hand and saw that there were signs of decay on the skin of his right forearm, like moldy food.
On that part of the decaying skin, there was a mottled color of grayish-white mixed with scarlet. He raised his left hand and tore off a small piece of dry skin, and felt no pain at all.
Seeing the abnormality on his arm, Zhou Yaoyang's facial muscles twitched slightly with anger.
"Keep searching, you bastard!"
"We need to see him alive or dead!"
"If you can't find that stinky Ma Xiaolian, don't blame me for taking my anger out on you guys!"
The murderous intent that emanated from Zhou Yaoyang's eyes as he spoke made his followers tremble.
If Luo Jiajun were here, he would be certain, upon hearing the name "Ma Xiaolian" again, that Zhou Yaoyang and his gang were indeed looking for such a person.
But what exactly is the reason that makes them so determined to find that woman named Ma Xiaolian, even at the risk of searching extensively outside and being attacked by mutated plants at any time?
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With the idea of taking care of themselves and not meddling in other people's business, Luo Jiajun and his women chose to take a detour and did not come into contact with Zhou Yaoyang's group.
But during the rest of the journey, Luo Jiajun became noticeably distracted.
...How did that guy, who can control flames and whose body is so flexible that it can stretch like a rubber band, acquire all those abilities?
"Unboxing"?
However, don't all high-value items have a strong version-specific feel?
Take, for example, the [Red Dewdrop Holy Grail Bottle] and [Senzu Bean] that I obtained from my two "openings" – both of them are directly related to "plants".
Senzu beans are beans, and are plants, so there's no need to elaborate. The Red Dewdrop Grail Bottle from *Elden Ring*, according to the game's lore, contains a "Golden Tree Seed" as a soaking medium; the water in the bottle gains its life-restoring effect because it absorbs the sacred power of the Golden Tree Seed.
But Luo Jiajun couldn't quite figure out how the "Fire Fist Rubber Man's" abilities were related to the plant theme.
Seeing Luo Jiajun's absent-mindedness, Leida, who was accompanying him, had a dangerous glint in her eyes. However, she was wearing armor, and her eyes were completely hidden by her helmet.
Then, after walking for a short while, the female knight suddenly stopped and reported to Luo Jiajun that she needed to... relieve herself.
Well, it turns out that even the most beautiful woman needs to poop.
Luo Jiajun was a little surprised and looked at Leida with a strange expression, saying, "With that armor on you, it must be very inconvenient for you to urinate or defecate, right?"
Leda nodded and said, "Yes, so it may take a little longer. I hope Master can understand."
What could Luo Jiajun say? He simply asked Jera to accompany Leda to relieve herself to avoid her being attacked.
The two women walked into an alleyway not far from the roadside and temporarily disappeared from Luo Jiajun's sight. Then, instead of removing her armor, Leda pulled Jera deeper into the alley, almost to the other end.
Zyra then realized something was wrong, and her gaze toward Rita became subtle.
Leda then said:
“Jera, there’s something that Master can’t do right now, but if we were to do it, Master wouldn’t have to worry. I don’t need you to come with me, I just need you to stall for time until I come back. All of this is for Master, do you understand what I mean?”
Despite Leda wearing a helmet, Zyra could still feel Leda's burning gaze.
The clever fairy almost instantly guessed what Leda was planning to do by leaving the group without permission.
"Hmm... I didn't have a very good impression of those people either. That guy who can control fire seemed to be quite restrained with my little ones. He might become a problem someday."
Hearing Zyra mutter this so quietly, Leda knew that the matter had been settled.
"Don't worry, if the master finds anything wrong and blames me later, I will take full responsibility." After making this promise to Zyra, Leda left from the other end of the alley.
At this moment, Zhou Yaoyang and his group had just finished fighting.
……
"If you can't find that stinky Ma Xiaolian, don't blame me for taking my anger out on you guys!" Zhou Yaoyang's shout, punctuated by blazing flames on the street, sent shivers down the spines of his henchmen.
It was at this moment that Zhou Yaoyang suddenly felt like he was being pricked by thorns, and subconsciously followed his sixth sense to turn his head sharply to look at the side not far away.
The heat waves generated by the flames caused the air to ripple in the field of vision.
In the shimmering scene, a female knight, dressed in black and gold armor but with a white cloak covering her body, slowly walked towards Zhou Yaoyang and his group, holding a slender, light greatsword inlaid with gold.
Beneath the helmet, her eyes now held a cold, ruthless glint, as if they had turned black.
Previously, regarding the first group of survivors, suspected to be under Zhou Yaoyang's command, Leida had told Luo Jiajun that she could pursue and kill them all at any time. At the time, Luo Jiajun didn't issue such an order, so it was fine. However, the presence of Zhou Yaoyang in this second group completely solidified Leida's murderous intent.
Just as Zyra said, Zhou Yaoyang demonstrated considerable strength, and this strength itself was a threat. For Leda, it wasn't about whether the outsider holding the knife was good or bad; she simply didn't want any outsider standing next to her with a knife.
"To eliminate all potential threats for my master!"
Harboring the intention to wreak havoc, the female knight, despite being dressed in a white robe and golden sword, exuded an astonishing killing intent.
Zhou Yaoyang's underlings were too incompetent; they didn't even have the ability to sense the killing intent. They just suddenly felt a chill run down their spines, without knowing why.
They noticed someone who looked like a cosplayer approaching. One of Zhou Yaoyang's henchmen, who was closest to Leda, was holding a torch in one hand and pulling a dagger from his waist with the other, about to question her.
"Whoosh!"
Before she could speak, Leda's figure flashed and instantly appeared beside her. "Mei, you want to sing, Lin Zai, are you here...?"
“Woo…Gu…”
With a single, fatal blow to the throat, the female knight's movements were so fast that almost no one present could see them clearly. The torch and dagger in the hands of Zhou Yaoyang's henchman fell to the ground, his hands gripping his neck tightly, and he collapsed in the blink of an eye.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Yaoyang's other underlings were terrified.
Zhou Yaoyang's gaze turned serious as he asked Leda, "Friend, you..."
"Whoosh!"
Ignoring Zhou Yaoyang, Leida suddenly sprinted forward again, her figure flashing past several of Zhou Yaoyang's henchmen.
Then he shook the blood off his sword.
Immediately, several more people collapsed, clutching their necks.
Ignored, Zhou Yaoyang froze, standing there dumbfounded.
"Boss, boss!" one of his underlings cried out in terror.
Zhou Yaoyang then came to his senses and flew into a rage.
"You son of a bitch...!"
Flames suddenly burst forth from his hands, and he immediately charged towards Leda, brandishing his fiery fists.
"Shh!"
Leda turned around and swung her sword, unleashing a golden burst of sword energy.
Combat Skill: Sacred Blade!
Zhou Yaoyang's pupils widened as he charged forward, displaying a resilience and agility far beyond that of ordinary people. He quickly turned his steps and lunged to the side, thus dodging the sword energy.
However, several of his henchmen behind him were pierced through by the sword energy, their bodies split in two.
"Everyone must die." Rita's cold voice then came from inside the helmet.
Zhou Yaoyang's remaining henchmen completely collapsed and turned to flee.
Like a conductor of a symphony orchestra, Leda raised her greatsword forward as if it were a baton, and in an instant, ten golden needles formed of divine light appeared in the air around the suspended sword tip.
Combat Technique: Piercing Needle!
"Whoosh whoosh—!"
The moment ten golden needles shot towards Zhou Yaoyang.
The female knight turned around and faced the fleeing swarm of small fry. She raised her left hand, and a golden halo resembling a "Qi Yuan Slash" condensed in her palm.
Then throw the halo forward.
"Shh-!"
In an instant, several more people were cut in two.
She truly meant what she said, and all of Zhou Yaoyang's underlings were brutally murdered by her.
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As a hero-level (combat power) character from a high-magic fantasy world, Raida's strength makes dealing with a group of ordinary people akin to a dimensional reduction attack.
Not to mention, she now also has the "Swordsman (3)" synergy bonus:
[The damage dealt by swordsmen units using their swords is increased by 50%, as are all speed-related abilities such as agility, reaction speed, running speed, and casting speed.]
That was like chopping melons and cutting vegetables; more than ten lives were taken in less than a minute, leaving only Zhou Yaoyang alive.
But even Zhou Yaoyang, who possesses "superpowers" and has transcended the realm of ordinary people, still has a hard time.
Although he managed to dodge most of the "piercing needles" that Leda had just used, a few golden needles still pierced his body, leaving bloody holes in his ribs, shoulder blades, and right thigh.
"Hmm? He's still alive... Oh well."