The dense forest.
Wu Xiaomi struggled with all her strength to pull the Witch down.
Damn it, her strength was too weak.
“Plop—”
She managed to pull the Witch off the hunchback, but couldn’t catch her in time, so the Witch’s entire body fell heavily onto the ground.
Blood immediately gushed out.
Tu! Where’s the wound? Need to stop the bleeding quickly!
She found them—two wounds on the waist and shoulder!
What to do now?
Got it!
She opened the built-in search engine in her ankle bracelet and typed in [How to provide first aid for penetrating wounds on the waist and shoulder].
The screen flickered quickly.
[Please check network connection, ERR_INTERNET_DISCONNECTED]
No signal! Why was there no signal?!
What to do, what to do… Got it!
[Blooming Flowers!]
Perfectly timed flowers bloomed over the wound on the waist, their fine roots successfully stitching the injury closed.
Wu Xiaomi repeated the same for the Witch’s shoulder wound.
Carefully, she focused all her attention to control the roots precisely, avoiding touching other blood vessels to prevent secondary injury.
“Phew—”
Finally, the stitching was complete.
The wine-red little flowers bloomed like butterfly bows on a bandage, just covering the wounds perfectly.
With the urgent matters handled, Wu Xiaomi finally had the energy to shift her gaze.
Her eyes landed exactly on the Witch’s pale cheek.
Thump, thump—
The sound of a suddenly strong heartbeat.
If Sister Xiaozhi was the aloof and proud snow lotus, and Wu Xiaomi herself could barely be considered a slightly slender and bony Bai Tao, then the Witch was lethal yet alluring, like the pink poppy blooming wildly by the golden riverbank.
Although her eyes were tightly shut, and her cheeks had lost some vitality and warmth due to blood loss,
her natural noble aura, fierce and fiery desire, was irresistible— even in unconsciousness, she exuded a deeply moving scent of captivating corruption.
Those eyes hadn’t opened yet, but perhaps when they did, the world would fall under the spell of those dangerously honeyed orbs.
Like prey paralyzed by that poison, then in that paralysis feeling a pleasure no one could resist, finally sinking into that blissful dream, never to break free…
If a racing heart was the same as being moved by beauty, then though Wu Xiaomi didn’t want to admit it, she couldn’t deny that her heart was beating especially fast.
And this time, it wasn’t because of **.
“Cough—”
The Witch slowly opened her eyes.
Then immediately hid her face behind the edge of her umbrella.
“You saw it?”
Wu Xiaomi nodded.
“Not dumb after all. Underestimated you.”
Would staring too long make someone dumb?
“The power of the Sin of Lust comes from the Mei Fox Sect’s founder, Daliya Ruixilai. It’s said that those who see her true face go mad. Well, that’s not important information, you don’t have to remember it.” The Witch waved her hand, “But I’m not that extreme, I just happen to be naturally pretty.”
This girl had a very clear self-assessment of her looks.
“We’re in the Shamanic Forest?”
Nodded.
The Witch looked at the wound on her shoulder, surprised but somewhat impressed.
“Very smart, using the characteristics of the Floral Sequence wisely. You’re not stupid.”
Of course not!
It’s just that most of the time the brain operates in low power mode…
“Have you encountered a Forest Ranger?”
The Witch asked.
Shook her head.
Not yet.
If I don’t count myself.
“That’s bad. The Shamanic Forest is filled with dangerous carnivorous Sequence creatures. Without the protection and guidance of a Forest Ranger, we would be considered prey.”
Can’t I just use the Badge of the Ranger?
“You have the Badge, but you don’t know the Ranger Spell unique to Forest Rangers, so you can’t drive off wild beasts… Looks like we’ll have to fight.”
The Witch gritted her teeth and tried to stand.
But she’d lost too much blood and suffered internal injuries; trembling and unsteady, she couldn’t get up.
Bird Xiaomi in her Forest Ranger form stepped forward and caught the Witch’s arm.
“So I have to rely on you now…” The Witch smiled bitterly, “I’ve become a burden.”
[That’s fine, it gives me a chance to repay my debt, right?]
Bird Xiaomi scratched her head, smiling goofily.
[Don’t move, I’ll carry you.]
“No need yet,” the Witch weakly waved her hand, “How far have we run?”
Wu Xiaomi estimated Xiao Yangtuo’s movement speed.
The mission started at noon, and they’d been running until nightfall.
About six hours.
Thanks to its small size, the little alpaca ran quickly through the forest, about thirty kilometers per hour.
That meant, ideally running straight, they had covered roughly one hundred eighty kilometers.
Looking at it that way, Xiao Yangtuo was impressive! It hadn’t even exhausted itself!
“Phew—”
Although not dead tired, Xiao Yangtuo had reached its limit.
It lay on the riverbank ground, occasionally sticking out its tongue to lick some water, too lazy to move.
[You go rest now, you’ve worked hard.]
Dismissing the summon.
Xiao Yangtuo vanished.
[Xilin City, about one hundred eighty kilometers north.] Wu Xiaomi wrote, answering the Witch’s question.
“North? That’s good, the direction is right…” The Witch said weakly, “But you’ve run so far and still haven’t met a Forest Ranger. That’s strange.”
[What’s strange about that?]
“Normally, each Forest Ranger is responsible for managing at least twenty square kilometers of Shamanic Forest. And at each boundary of their territory, there’s a sensing connection that lets them easily detect intruders’ locations.”
“But none of them came looking for you.”
The Witch thought for a moment and tried to stand again.
“Help me up. There should be a Forest Ranger’s cabin nearby. Let’s go check it out.”
Wu Xiaomi tore two vines from the roadside and tied the Witch’s waist to herself to help keep her balanced.
The night had completely fallen, thick fog covered the moon, and it became difficult to see even her own hand.
“Don’t use light, keep your footsteps quiet.”
The nocturnal hunters were waking one by one; night was their hunting ground.
And this time, the two girls were the prey.
“Activate your Hunting Spirit Instinct. It’s meant for coping with environments like this.” The Witch whispered guidance.
In this forest with an extremely high density of life, the Hunting Spirit Instinct provided an overwhelming amount of feedback.
“Ugh—so many snakes! So many insects!”
It would be fine if she couldn’t see them, but once her senses became sharp, she could clearly detect every insect under every fallen leaf.
The whole world became very lively.
Every step would crush a few bugs.
Giving her goosebumps all over.
“Found the cabin?” The Witch asked in a low voice, the fragrance wind making Wu Xiaomi’s ears tremble.
“Found it.”
There really was a cabin.
Pitch black inside, not a single light.
It looked empty.
“We have to ask for help.”
[But it seems like no one’s here.]
“Even if no one’s here, we have to go in. We need a place to spend the night, or else we’ll be tiger bait before we figure out what’s going on.”
Alright.
Supporting the weak Witch, step by step, they painfully moved toward the cabin.
By the time they reached the door, Wu Xiaomi was drenched in sweat.
She knocked.
“Anyone there?”
No response.
Pushed the door.
Creak—
The wooden hinges squealed in a painfully loud sound, echoing through the night like a bomb.
The door wasn’t locked—or rather, the lock was broken.
No one was inside.
The Witch raised her hand and tied the door lock tightly with vines.
“All set, we can light the lamp.”
Lighting the oil lamp on the table, the two girls finally returned to the world of light.
Wu Xiaomi quickly noticed an envelope on the table.
On the front was written—[Ranger Summons Order]
Luckily, the letter inside was still there.
She rustled it open and read.
[The whereabouts of the Shamanic Bloodline lost seventeen years ago have been discovered. All Guardians of the Forest, assemble at the base to execute the Shamanic Retrieval Operation.]