In the boundless desert, where the sky stretched high and the wind was still.
A massive “sand dune” suddenly trembled violently. Countless grains of yellow sand tumbled down, revealing a pitch-black serpent’s tail halfway exposed.
Pa-da.
The snake’s tail emerged from the sand layer, slapping the ground a few times before the rest of its body burrowed out from beneath the yellow sand.
In an instant, a giant python spanning several hundred meters stretched out across the desert.
Under the protection of its serpentine belly, a small and fragile female was safely brought back to the surface.
“Peh, peh, peh.”
Su Su took a deep breath, spitting out sand several times before managing to steady herself on the snake’s body.
At this moment, she looked utterly disheveled. Her clothes, hair, and even the gaps between her fingers were filled with sand and grit, making her seem as though she had just been unearthed from the desert.
Several bottles of water suddenly appeared out of thin air, landing beside her one after another.
“Thanks, Ah Xuan.”
Using the bottled water, Su Su barely managed to clean her face and hands. As for her body and hair, there was no time to worry about them now.
“Where is everyone else?”
Looking around, she saw only the empty dunes and the scorching sun hanging high in the sky. There was no trace of anyone else, as if the sandstorm and the sudden ground collapse from earlier had never even happened.
Standing atop the giant python, Su Su cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted in vain, “Cancan! Brother Zhichun!”
No response.
After calling out several times, she sat down in a daze, seemingly coming to terms with the fact that the sandstorm had completely scattered everyone.
“Hiss~”
A massive and menacing snake head nudged toward her, gently rubbing against her cheek.
Looking into those familiar vertical pupils, Su Su snapped back to her senses and reached out, pressing her hands against its head.
“Xiao Hei, Ah Xuan, it’s a good thing I still have you.”
It seemed that every time she encountered a situation like this, the one always by her side was Xiao Hei.
Just having been “dug” out from the sand, Su Su felt an unusual moment of vulnerability. Resting her cheek against the giant python, she calmed herself for a few dozen seconds before speaking. “Let’s go look for them.”
That sandstorm had been terrifying, but everyone who had reached Tier 6 as an ability user had their own ways to survive. She believed that the others were safe—just scattered to who-knows-where.
“Hiss.”
The python rubbed against her a few more times before swinging its tail and raising its colossal body… but all around them, there was nothing but dunes and an endless expanse of sand, making it impossible to determine a direction.
Struggling, Su Su climbed onto Xiao Hei’s head. “I remember that town was to the northwest. Let’s follow the compass and head that way.”
The off-road vehicle had long disappeared without a trace, and relying on foot alone, escaping the desert was impossible. At times like this, the giant black snake—usually clinging to her for affection—knew to keep its massive form, serving as her mode of transportation, slithering forward toward the unknown.
But the sun above was unbearably dazzling and scorching. The sand beneath was heated like the stones inside a furnace. And black absorbed heat…
Every so often, Su Su would cling to Xiao Hei’s head and quietly ask, “Are you getting burned?”
“Hiss.”
Not hot.
Su Su didn’t believe it one bit.
She took out the shawl she used to keep warm at night, dampened it with water, and draped it over Xiao Hei’s head.
The effect was minimal, but the giant python seemed pleased.
Su Su silently hugged its head and sighed. “If only I had an ice-type ability…”
“Hiss!” The python flicked its tail in disagreement.
Its reaction brought Su Su a small sense of comfort amid her helplessness. She pressed against it for a moment, then murmured, “But having an ice-type ability might not be good either… If I did, maybe I wouldn’t have attracted you in the first place… and I wouldn’t have been able to help you get this far…”
The desert was vast and empty. After walking for nearly half an hour, there was still no sign of anyone.
Not just her teammates—even other teams, or even corpses, were nowhere to be seen.
Just as Su Su was growing increasingly anxious, the distant roar of an engine suddenly broke the silence.
Several dunes blocked her view, allowing only the sound to reach her ears without revealing what was happening.
Su Su’s mind spun, and she quickly patted the top of the python’s head. “Shrink down, quickly.”
Obediently, the python shrank to a length of just over ten meters and slithered beside the female, stealthily climbing up a dune with only half of its head peeking out.
The off-road vehicle in the distance rumbled closer and closer. Su Su focused all her attention on it, but the more she looked, the more confused she became—was this vehicle even part of their convoy? She had no recollection of seeing it before.
Could it belong to another group of ability users?
It wasn’t until the vehicle passed just ten meters away that Su Su finally saw the person inside!
Even if it was just a glimpse of her side profile, she could recognize her anywhere.
Qi Huiling!
How had she remained completely unaffected by the sandstorm and the sudden ground collapse? And why was she now driving an unfamiliar vehicle?
And… where was she heading?
Holding her breath, Su Su silently watched the car disappear from sight.
This mission had been initiated by the Research Guild, and everyone had come for the Tier 7 zombie. Now, with the zombie inexplicably gone and Qi Huiling appearing in an unexpected place…
Her instincts screamed that something was off.
“Ah Xuan, let’s quietly follow her.”
“Hiss~”
The black snake subtly grew larger, just big enough to carry Su Su without standing out too much.
With the tire tracks still fresh in the sand, the one-human, one-snake duo kept a cautious distance of several kilometers, trailing just far enough to avoid being noticed.
They had no idea how long they had been moving forward when the dunes gradually gave way to crumbling walls and ruined structures made of yellow earth.
It was an abandoned settlement. Before the apocalypse, it might have been a small village—or perhaps a tourist site?
By now, the black snake had shrunk back to two or three meters in length, staying close to Su Su as they carefully navigated through the dilapidated ruins.
Then, at a corner, they suddenly caught sight of the off-road vehicle Qi Huiling had been driving.
Su Su immediately halted, slipping behind the crumbling mud wall.
The black snake followed closely behind, and just as the last tip of its tail disappeared behind the wall—two sets of footsteps echoed nearby.
“Where is this place?”
A hoarse female voice spoke first, muffled by a layer of fabric. It sounded somewhat familiar, yet unclear.
This wasn’t Qi Huiling’s voice. That meant—there was someone else inside the vehicle!
Beside the Off-Road Vehicle.
Qi Huiling smiled. “This is our base, of course.”
“Base?” Lin Weiran frowned. “Wasn’t the base in that town earlier?”
“Idiot.”
Qi Huiling’s mocking tone made Lin Weiran clench her fists in frustration. Beneath her mask, her expression darkened.
She despised the Research Guild—their arrogance, their self-proclaimed superiority due to their intelligence-evolved abilities, and their utter disregard for anyone else.
After taking two deep breaths, Lin Weiran spoke coldly. “You never told me. How was I supposed to know?”
“Well, now you do.”
Qi Huiling, of course, noticed Lin Weiran’s dissatisfaction. But so what? If she wanted to cure her crippled boyfriend, she had to abandon both her pride and dignity, bowing and scraping to the Guild for assistance.
To be honest, Qi Huiling thought it would be better if Lin Weiran fixed that hopeless romantic brain of hers first.
So what if a man saved her? He did it willingly. Just throw him a little compensation and be done with it.
Qi Huiling had no respect for Lin Weiran’s way of handling things. With no outsiders around, her tone was particularly dismissive, as if she were ordering around a pet. “Come on, let’s go.”
Her attitude was unbearable. Lin Weiran held it in, again and again—until she finally snapped.
“Researcher Qi, I’m a Tier 6 ability user, after all. Now that it’s just you and me left in this desert, with the others either dead or buried, don’t you think you might need me to get back safely?”
There was a faint hint of threat in her words.
Qi Huiling raised an eyebrow, pondering for a moment before responding, “You do have some skills. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought you here alone.”
Lin Weiran’s expression finally eased a little.
Even with her mask on, Qi Huiling could easily guess her shifting emotions. She let out a delicate laugh. “You really are something else.”
A few sweet words were all it took to manipulate her.
At this point, Qi Huiling didn’t mind explaining a little more.
“That town earlier? It was just a rest stop for the Guild’s researchers. This place—this is the real research base.”
“Do you think we’d let just anyone know about a place this secretive? No choice but to send them off as bait to lure away the Tier 7 zombie. Meanwhile, you and I are here to retrieve the most important item.”
“Can we go now?”
Lin Weiran silently followed Qi Huiling’s steps but suddenly asked, “Where did that Tier 7 zombie go?”
“Who knows? Maybe it’s still wandering the desert, just waiting for some unlucky fool to stumble into it.”
As her voice trailed off, the two figures disappeared into the depths of the abandoned ruins.
Su Su finally released the hand she had been using to cover Xiao Hei’s “mouth and nose.”
The python, refusing to let the moment pass without “getting even,” flicked its tongue—gently licking her fragrant palm… and ended up with a mouthful of sand.
It flicked its tongue twice in silent complaint.
Holding her breath for too long, Su Su let out a heavy exhale.
As for the scheme she had just overheard—well, it was expected.
She had already prepared for the possibility. With the three major guilds gathering and the Research Guild, the most calculating of them all, as the initiator, this western expedition was never going to be simple. There were bound to be complications.
Huang Yongjun’s betrayal was one instance.
Qi Huiling keeping an ace up her sleeve was another.
But… was that really all?
What exactly was this important research that Qi Huiling was so determined to retrieve, even at the cost of avoiding everyone else? Could it be another breakthrough on the level of the Energy Disruption Device or the Battle Pet Transformation Serum?
And then there was that unfamiliar Tier 6 ability user. Su Su had never seen her before, yet her voice sounded oddly familiar. Could she be the Research Guild’s hidden trump card?
A foreboding feeling crept into Su Su’s heart.
“Ah Xuan, let’s go. We need to see what they’re up to.”
Emerging from behind the collapsed mud wall, Su Su weaved her way through several dilapidated buildings. Relying on Xiao Hei’s ability to sense ground vibrations, she managed to avoid losing her way and continued tailing the two.
After following them for a while, the black snake beside her suddenly halted.
It sharply twisted its head, looking toward the rear.
Su Su turned to follow its gaze—there was no one in sight.
But she trusted Xiao Hei’s instincts. It wouldn’t have reacted like that for no reason.
Feigning nonchalance, she turned back and continued moving forward.
Then, as she passed another corner, she swiftly ducked into the ruins, her concealed weapon ready in her sleeve. At her feet, the black snake raised its body, coiling into an attack stance.
Seconds ticked by.
No one appeared from the corner.
If they waited any longer, they might lose track of Qi Huiling.
Anyone else would have assumed that Xiao Hei had made a mistake by now.
But Su Su remained vigilant. She stared intently at the corner for a long while.
Once again, it was Xiao Hei who sensed something amiss first. The snake suddenly whipped its head around—
“Hiss!”
A streak of blue flame shot toward the silent figure that had appeared behind them.
Su Su whirled around in an instant, but before she could release the concealed weapon in her sleeve, a voice stopped her—
“Don’t attack.”
The figure dodged the small burst of blue flames and revealed a familiar, handsome face.
“It’s me, Jiang Hong.”
Him? What was he doing here?
Su Su lowered her hand in surprise. “Where’s your battle pet?”
“Meow.”
A miniature feline leaped onto Jiang Hong’s shoulder, its sharp gaze locked onto the large python on the ground.
Jiang Hong casually stroked the feline’s head before glancing at her.
“What a coincidence.”