Shadow was a Tier 6 ability user, skilled in concealing his presence and existence.
He didn’t quite understand why Si Zhe wanted him to investigate the appearance of an unfamiliar woman. Could it be for the same reason as that brawny man who suddenly died—was it some midnight lust?
But even though he spent most of his time lurking in the dark, he knew that Si Zhe’s ability to recover and advance to a Tier 7 ability user was largely thanks to his girlfriend.
It was said that the two were deeply in love.
So that possibility was automatically ruled out.
The night was dark, and the wind was strong. Shadow scaled the exterior wall and silently climbed to the window of the room at the very end of the corridor.
To avoid being detected, he did not recklessly peek in but instead pressed his ear against the wall, listening intently.
No sounds at all.
Had they fallen asleep? But the candlelight was still on…
After waiting for a while, Shadow finally and cautiously peeked out just a quarter of his head. The scene inside the room instantly came into full view.
No one on the sofa, no one at the table, the bathroom lights were off… Only under the blanket, there lay a man and a woman.
It matched what the innkeeper had said!
Shadow’s spirit lifted.
He carefully observed the woman under the blanket and saw that she was tightly nestled in the man’s embrace, completely wrapped up from head to toe. Only the back of her head and a few strands of long black hair peeking out from the covers were visible.
They seemed to be quite intimate.
Shadow couldn’t help but feel a little awkward, even faintly resentful—hadn’t the innkeeper already said this couple was here for a romantic night? Why was Si Zhe wasting time here instead of tracking down the ones who escaped?
Oh well, since he was already here.
Shadow continued staring at the scene under the blanket, watching until his eyes grew sore. Finally, he saw the woman inside the covers struggle a little, seemingly in dissatisfaction, revealing half of her face—a face that immediately looked particularly difficult to provoke—as well as a pair of narrow, unreadable eyes.
But she quickly buried herself back into the man’s embrace. Judging by the angle, it even seemed like she was actively seeking a kiss.
Damn.
Shadow swallowed hard, almost screaming from fright.
A woman with such a fierce face—no wonder she killed that brawny man without even blinking after being provoked. Well, that made sense. Only fierce women could survive well in the apocalypse.
Shadow stared a few more times.
He noticed that the man under the blanket seemed a little impatient, yet the woman remained persistent, insistently seeking intimacy. She was utterly unabashed, overly proactive, and incredibly passionate… Just who was this man with such great fortune?
Clicking his tongue twice in his mind, Shadow figured his task was complete and turned to climb back to the leader’s room.
The white candle on the table burned steadily.
Si Zhe had been staring at it for a long time when suddenly, a dull pain weighed on his heart.
Weiran… I will definitely avenge you!
A figure leaped in from outside the window. Si Zhe instantly collected his thoughts and looked over coldly.
Shadow landed silently and quickly approached the table. “Captain Si, I saw what that woman looks like.”
“Speak.”
“She has long black hair. The candlelight was too dim to make out her exact features, but her overall aura is fierce. She gives off the impression of a strong-willed woman.”
A strong-willed woman?
Even though Si Zhe didn’t want to recall Su Su’s appearance, he still knew that the word strong-willed had nothing to do with her.
“Were you discovered?”
“No. They were too busy being intimate to notice my presence.”
Si Zhe pondered for a few seconds.
Perhaps he was just being overly cautious.
Forget it. His purpose for coming out was to track down the escaped battle pets and the remaining ability users who had fled from the desert. There was no need to waste energy and manpower on something insignificant.
Seeing that the leader had no intention of pursuing the matter further, Shadow let out a breath of relief.
He then asked, “Captain Si, where are we heading next?”
Si Zhe recalled the information he had received a few days ago. Before he took over the tracking mission, members of the Xiaobo Guild had already been pursuing the battle pets outside the base. At one point, they were close to catching up, but Zeng Zhuyue suddenly appeared, accompanied by a Tier 6 battle pet in its humanoid form.
After engaging in combat, they lost track of the battle pets once again. The only certainty was that the creatures had fled south.
He briefly explained the situation before giving his order: “Head south for the search.”
The Research Guild’s forces were currently concentrated in the north. If those battle pets wanted to escape their pursuit, they would definitely head south with all their might.
“Understood.”
Once everyone received their orders, they left the leader’s room one after another.
The shabby inn returned to its eerie silence, with only the candlelight flickering persistently. The shadows cast on the wall stretched long and thin, as if pulling at the threads of human lifespans, elongating them endlessly.
Outside the window, a scruffy little cat leaped off the eaves and vanished into the night.
—
Inside the room at the end of the corridor.
Sensing that the unfamiliar presence outside the window had faded, Xuan Mang deliberately did not call attention to it. Instead, he continued pressing against the female’s lips, kissing and rubbing against them.
Su Su was both furious and flustered.
Yet she didn’t dare to evade.
Who knew if the person outside had truly left? She didn’t even dare to move too much, fearing that she might shift the blanket and expose Xuan Mang’s lower half—his serpent tail.
That would render all their efforts at concealment completely useless.
The less she dared to move, the more Xuan Mang took advantage of the situation.
His vertical pupils stared at her brow and eyes, their fierce gaze slowly trailing downward—down to those soft, sweet lips… His scarlet snake tongue flicked restlessly.
The forked tip lightly brushed against Su Su’s lower lip.
She was about to explode from anger!
Xuan—Mang—!
The silently mouthed words of anger did nothing to intimidate a certain arrogant serpent man. Instead, he took the initiative to inch even closer, deliberately staring at the female’s flushed, irritated face.
His heart itched. His snake body itched too.
Under the relentless teasing of his serpent tongue, Su Su endured for the greater cause, holding back again and again.
Until Xuan Mang’s head suddenly disappeared beneath the blanket.
“!!!”
She could feel a large expanse of wet, cool ticklish sensations spreading across her neck… and even the buttons of her shirt being repeatedly nipped at by two sharp venomous fangs.
Deep breath.
Hold it in.
Su Su’s gaze passed over the disheveled blanket and fixed onto the peeling, aged wall, biting her lips and enduring for a long time.
Until her body finally betrayed her, shuddering in fear.
Xuan Mang!!!
If it weren’t for the spy outside, she absolutely, absolutely would have…
Rip!
A faint scratching sound came from outside the window.
Su Su jerked her head around and saw a petite “cat” crouched on the windowsill.
The cheetah was back!
That meant the spy must have left long ago!
Fury surged in Su Su’s heart. With a quick movement, she ruthlessly yanked off the messy wig perched on Xuan Mang’s head.
“You, get out here!”
The guilty serpent man lazily slithered out from beneath the covers.
Su Su immediately got up to open the window for the cheetah.
Once it leaped inside, she finally looked down—her shirt’s top two buttons had been chewed into a complete mess, and even the fabric bore several small holes punctured by venomous fangs.
She had a very reasonable suspicion… that the only thing punctured wasn’t just her shirt.
Su Su took a deep breath, but she couldn’t hold back anymore. She grabbed hold of that thick snake tail and demanded with gritted teeth, “The person left earlier, why didn’t you warn me?”
Xuan Mang immediately put on an innocent act.
“Hissss—”
He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t warn her.
Su Su instantly caught his meaning and became even angrier.
But there were more pressing matters at hand. She temporarily put the troublemaking serpent aside and turned to look at the cheetah.
The feline had already leaped onto the table and gently placed a small recording device from its mouth onto the surface.
This was another good find Su Su had scavenged from the mall last year.
She listened to the entire recording and sat at the table, lost in thought for a long time.
“A suddenly appearing Tier 6 battle pet…”
Si Zhe’s words were vague—so vague that she couldn’t tell whether the Tier 6 battle pet he mentioned was an old acquaintance or a completely unfamiliar newcomer.
If it was an old acquaintance, could it be Lan Jing, rushing back from the desert?
Or perhaps Cancan’s venomous insects?
Where would they be escaping to?
The more she thought, the more concerns she had.
She had lingered around the northern base for two reasons: one, to track down Pang Cancan and the others; and two, because she had no clear destination in mind.
But now, instead of running into the people she wanted to find, she had run into Si Zhe.
If he were alone, that would be a good thing.
But with several Tier 6 ability users by his side, even if a fight broke out, winning or losing wasn’t the biggest issue—what mattered was whether someone would seize the chance to report her whereabouts to the Scientific Research Guild.
As she furrowed her brows, the tip of a slender snake tail silently coiled around her ankle.
She turned her head and saw that Xuan Mang had already slithered behind her, quietly comforting her.
His palm reached out and gently removed the disguise wig on her head, letting her smooth, elegant long hair tumble down.
Just like that, the anger Su Su had been holding onto dissipated.
She stared up at Xuan Mang in a daze.
His expression remained cold and sharp, but his fingers tenderly rubbed the reddened spot on her forehead where the wig had pressed too tightly.
“Hiss~”
Sleep.
Su Su was effortlessly lifted and carried back into the blankets. The frustration and exhaustion that had weighed her down moments ago were abruptly interrupted. Her delicate face buried obediently into the soft covers, as if she hadn’t fully processed what had just happened.
Whoosh.
The cheetah blew out the candle and instinctively curled up on the sofa.
Now, only the moonlight from the window illuminated half the bed.
Xuan Mang, well-practiced in his ways, immediately moved to slip under the blanket.
Su Su let out a sigh.
She suddenly realized that while she had been wracking her brain thinking things through, the snake and the cheetah were both living in the moment—completely straightforward, neither overanalyzing nor exhausting themselves with unnecessary thoughts.
Calling them simple-minded… wasn’t quite accurate either.
Back when Xuan Mang was still in his original form, he had used diversion tactics to destroy Si Zhe’s dantian.
And that dictionary… she strongly suspected he had already memorized every single word in it, down to the last stroke.
The cheetah was smart too.
It had completed her task perfectly, without Si Zhe noticing anything.
Su Su couldn’t help but start doubting her own average intelligence.
She drowsily closed her eyes.
Pop.
The lowest button of her shirt was bitten through again, flying off to who-knows-where.
Su Su’s eyes snapped open.
She had reached her limit.
Without hesitation, she kicked Xuan Mang onto the floor.
“You’re sleeping on the ground tonight!”
“Hiss!”
Xuan Mang refused and tried to crawl back up.
Su Su’s expression darkened. “If you dare come up, I won’t talk to you anymore.”
The half-serpent man, full of gloom and dissatisfaction, froze.
Reluctantly, he surrendered.
Seeing that he was finally obedient, Su Su let out a breath of relief.
She lay back down, still feeling the lingering chill where his fangs had pierced through the fabric… She didn’t mind Xuan Mang’s closeness, but the cheetah was still in the room!
How many times did she have to explain to Ah Xuan the concepts of human civility and etiquette?
Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the floor.
A pair of vertical pupils stared straight back at her.
Under the moonlight, they glowed with a beastly green radiance.
Like a wolf. Like a tiger.
Wild and vivid.
Su Su shuddered.
She squeezed her eyes shut immediately.
Countless thoughts drifted through her mind until she was on the verge of falling asleep.
Suddenly—
A car engine roared to life downstairs, followed by hurried footsteps.
In the stillness of the night, the sounds were jarringly loud.
Su Su’s drowsiness vanished instantly.
She sat up, pressed herself against the window, and peered outside.
It was Si Zhe.
The night hadn’t even passed yet, and for some reason, he was suddenly leading his team away in a hurry.
The direction they were headed—north.
Was something urgent happening at the northern base?
Su Su couldn’t make sense of it.
She watched as the entire convoy disappeared into the night, a sense of regret and unwillingness rising in her chest.
If Si Zhe had been alone, or if he had only brought one or two people with him…
Forget it.
She stood at the window for a long time.
Just as she was about to turn back and go to sleep, a sudden flash of inspiration struck her mind like lightning.
This had nothing to do with Si Zhe.
It was about something else.
—Lan Jing couldn’t stay away from water for long. If the ones who had rescued the battle pets were him and Zeng Zhuyue, where would they take them to settle?
The seaside would be the best option.
The seaside…
Su Su’s eyes suddenly lit up.
She had to take a gamble.
Although Si Zhe hadn’t mentioned Cancan at all, she and Zeng Zhuyue had disappeared together, and both were currently untraceable.
Could it be possible that they were actually together?
If they needed a base… the Southern Base was too far.
But what about Sun Zhichun’s seaside base?
A sudden, powerful intuition surged in Su Su’s heart—perhaps they were there.