Chapter 100 - 98: Seven Years

Chapter 100: Chapter 98: Seven Years

Pei Xianjue was going insane with rage. She no longer cared what kind of illusion Liang Zhou had seen; she just wanted to cut him down!

"I must have been blind! When I was picking out bodyguards, I actually praised you for having an air of integrity! Fuck, integrity my ass! How is what you’re doing now any different from some street punk?! A social degenerate, a piece of scum, and you have the audacity to dream of becoming a hero for mankind! You’re a joke, Liang Zhou!"

Every insult assaulted Liang Zhou’s ears. Enraged, he reached out and gripped Pei Xianjue’s jaw, forcing her to look at him—

"So I’m scum? Then what does that make you?! The pampered young lady of the Pei Family, telling everyone to ’let them eat cake’! You get to study abroad without even trying, you have piles of cash without ever working. You need a bodyguard, so you get your pick of martial arts champions. You want into the Inspection Bureau, so you get your choice of High-level Cards. What could a high-and-mighty rich girl like you possibly understand? You don’t understand a thing!!!"

"I’m not your damn mother!!!" Pei Xianjue roared. With Liang Zhou gripping her chin, she took advantage of her free hands and violently slashed her flaming blade across his waist!

Liang Zhou collapsed in agony, clutching the scorched wound.

Fury burned in Pei Xianjue’s eyes. Gripping her scimitars, she glared down at Liang Zhou. "...I’m not your mother. I have no obligation to understand you."

A low growl escaped Liang Zhou’s lips. His body began to expand rapidly, and in an instant, he transformed into his Giant Wolf form!

He transformed so suddenly that the wound from the steel fork, which had just begun to scab over, tore open again. Blood gushed out, a gruesome sight.

Pei Xianjue was so furious she actually laughed.

She sheathed her scimitars, freeing a hand to pluck the pinhole camera from her collar. Wordlessly, she removed it and tossed it to the ground.

Then she said to Liang Zhou, "Turning into this... are you planning to attack me?"

The Giant Wolf panted, its golden eyes fixed on Pei Xianjue, brimming with killing intent.

"Before you make your move, have you considered one thing...?"

Having dealt with the camera, Pei Xianjue drew her scimitars again.

Flames danced on the blades of the two custom-made scimitars in her hands.

She said, "Back when I needed you to help me as Card Holders, I went to great lengths to acquire several High-level Cards. Did you ever wonder why, out of all of them, I picked the Giant Wolf Card for you?"

Suspicion flashed in the Giant Wolf’s eyes.

Pei Xianjue raised her eyes to him and smiled. "You can’t be stupid enough to think I came completely unprepared, can you? The Inspection Bureau is short-staffed, and I do need help. But no matter how desperate I am, I’m not foolish enough to let my own subordinates outshine me."

The flames on her scimitars suddenly erupted, as if she were holding two blazing suns, bursting with light in the darkness.

The Giant Wolf instinctively took a step back as the two scimitars suddenly slashed a cross through the air!

—Sparks flew as the metal blades struck each other, shooting toward the Giant Wolf like miniature meteors! They landed on its fur and instantly caught fire!

"Do you understand now?" Pei Xianjue watched him with a cold gaze. "Your Card... happens to be one that I can counter perfectly."

The Giant Wolf let out a defiant roar. It slammed against a tree trunk! It rolled on the ground! It did everything it could to extinguish the flames, but its thick fur was the perfect fuel. The fire spread like a wildfire, completely out of control!

"I really didn’t want to fight you..." Pei Xianjue said, watching the flame-engulfed Giant Wolf. Her expression held an unfamiliar coldness. "I led you all into the Maze to fight monsters and save our people. This was supposed to be a story of triumph and inspiration, not... this."

She started walking, approaching the Giant Wolf one step at a time.

The flames on her hands crept upward, igniting her lips, her eyes, and her hair, until her entire body was wreathed in fire. Just like the Card she possessed: the Golden Crow.

"Everything was going perfectly. I was brave, approachable, and demonstrated good judgment. I even put aside our differences to come save you. All of that was crucial for my future as a leader, for winning people’s trust. And now you’ve ruined it all... Seven years. In seven years, even a dog would have learned loyalty. But this is how you repay me."

The Giant Wolf roared and lunged at Pei Xianjue, determined to take her down with it! It opened its massive jaws, intending to tear her to shreds!

The sheer difference in size made the attack impossible for Pei Xianjue to evade completely. Despite her best efforts, the wolf’s fangs sank into her right leg!

Mentally prepared for this, Pei Xianjue steeled herself and raised the temperature of her flames!

The wolf howled in agony again as its tongue, and then its entire mouth, rapidly carbonized from the intense heat.

Pei Xianjue hesitated no longer. The moment the wolf opened its mouth to howl, she plunged a scimitar into its throat!

Along with her most scorching flames!

BOOM!

The flames instantly seared through all of its internal organs. Fire even shot out from the Giant Wolf’s eye sockets!

Without so much as a final whimper, the wolf collapsed with a heavy THUD.

Pei Xianjue stood motionless, stunned, her leg still impaled by the wolf’s fangs.

A long time passed...

A very long time...

She slowly came to her senses, realizing that the man who had been by her side for seven years had finally died by her hand.

Pei Xianjue murmured to herself, "Seven years... you’d even get attached to a dog after seven years..."

A single tear rolled from the corner of her eye, tracing a wet path down her cheek.

’Ah... am I crying? Can’t let this go to waste...’ She bent down, picked up the pinhole camera from the ground, and started recording again.

Her voice was choked with emotion.

"It is now approximately 7:00 p.m. on June 2nd... I was attacked by Hunter Liang Zhou. He had lost all reason. I suspect he was being controlled by a Maze Creature, or it’s highly probable his Pollution Value exceeded the safe threshold..."

She looked down and struggled to pull her right leg free from the wolf’s fangs. Blood gushed from the wound.

"I killed Hunter Liang Zhou in self-defense... It was my own inexperience and lack of ability that led to this tragedy. If I make it out of the Maze, I am willing to accept any disciplinary action and will take full responsibility for the care of Liang Zhou’s parents."

CRACK... CRACKLE...

In the fire, once the fur had burned away, the flames began to consume flesh and bone. The Giant Wolf’s corpse started to shrink, its bones and joints cracking and splitting apart.

Pei Xianjue didn’t spare it another glance. Pushing off the ground, she forced herself to her feet with all her might and limped out of the forest.

As she walked, she set fire to the bushes and branches in her path.

The entire grove burned behind her, completely swallowing the silhouette of the Giant Wolf.

...

...

After chasing the fox out of the grove, Feng Ling soon realized she was lost.

She wasn’t worried.

Based on her previous experience, no matter how much she wandered around the village, she would eventually end up back at the smiling Divine Statue, and her tent with Huangfu Miaomiao was pitched nearby.

Unhurried, Feng Ling simply picked a path and prepared to fight her way back.

She’d found it difficult to hunt the foxes during the day, but it turned out to be much simpler at night.

Because at night, the foxes lit lanterns.

Feng Ling found it interesting that the village’s Fox Demons actually lit lanterns at night. It made telling which houses had Fox Demons and which didn’t obvious at a glance.

She tossed a grenade into a lit house.

It didn’t matter if her aim was a little off. The shockwave from the explosion would temporarily incapacitate the Fox Demon, and then she would go in to finish it off. It was a simple and efficient method.

Feng Ling easily wiped out the entire nest, then walked out of the courtyard gate to head for the next house.

Just then, Huangfu Miaomiao popped up out of nowhere.

As if afraid she was hungry, Huangfu Miaomiao eagerly offered her some bread and a cup of water.