“What exactly are you thinking?”
In the dim tent, a complex breath filled with anger, disappointment, and frustration blew directly into Li Si’s face.
In that instant, Li Si recognized who the sudden attacker was.
No one but the Shadow Assassin, who excelled at hiding in the shadows, could get so close to her without being detected.
Li Si could have countered directly, but considering He Zi’s not-so-bad personality, she let He Zi drag her into the tent to see what she wanted.
However, that first sentence was quite baffling.
The tent was dark; the campfire outside barely illuminated the face across from her through the thick animal hide.
He Zi stared at that face, her blade-like black brows furrowed, her two slender cat ears twitching wildly.
She really didn’t understand why the powerful Li Si would now be wearing a goblin costume, becoming the laughingstock of all adventurers.
When she saw the message in the chat channel during the day, she had a bad feeling.
She didn’t expect that when she returned to camp at night, it really was her.
Throughout the entire strategy meeting, He Zi watched Li Si sit like a fool next to the weakest loser in the whole town, silently mocked by others.
She had wanted to drag her out and demand an explanation.
“Just because we left you behind? So you have to torment yourself like this? Why would you want to become everyone’s laughingstock? What made you degrade yourself to the point of clowning around with that trash?”
“Huh?” Li Si frowned.
He Zi’s eyes were like amber candles, fierce and surging, nothing like the calm He Zi of before.
“He Zi, what’s wrong with you? This is my own business. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Because of that, you turned yourself into a clown? Aren’t you strong? Why don’t you ditch that waste and get stronger faster? I only agreed to let you leave the team because of that, so why are you saddling yourself with a burden now?”
He Zi gritted her teeth and suddenly grabbed Li Si’s shoulders, pressing her firmly to the ground.
Her state was more like frustration than accusation.
Li Si could read He Zi’s emotions but didn’t know where this frustration came from.
Disguising as a magic beast was indeed unconventional, but it wasn’t as bad as He Zi made it out to be.
Forget it.
Though her attitude was arrogant, He Zi’s intentions were good—she wanted to persuade Li Si to leave Lil Ya and return to her former state.
But that was definitely impossible.
Li Si had always been like this; she had merely been wearing armor and pretending before.
Li Si exerted force and gently lifted her knee, striking He Zi’s lower abdomen.
The strike was fast and fierce.
He Zi tried to block, but seemed afraid of making noise that would be heard outside, so she held back.
In her moment of hesitation, Li Si’s knee connected, and the pain made He Zi instinctively pull her stomach inward.
Li Si took the opportunity to flip over, intending to stand up, but He Zi yanked her back down.
Their positions swapped instantly, and now Li Si was on top.
He Zi’s movements suddenly stopped.
She glanced warily toward the tent entrance.
From outside the tent came footsteps approaching, along with a cold, interrogative voice.
“Ao Li An Na has Li Si still not replied to your messages?”
“Yeah, we couldn’t find her tracks in town either. Probably because she was resentful about being kicked out, she went out alone to level up. Looks like over there at Mei Lin’s, you haven’t received her reply either.”
Li Si’s eyebrows moved slightly.
When Ao Li An Na said the name “Mei Lin,” He Zi’s hands suddenly tightened, as if she was afraid Li Si would run away.
Li Si tentatively shifted her body.
He Zi’s gaze sharpened, and a tremor passed through her amber pupils, as if pleading.
Li Si tilted her head in confusion.
He Zi seemed more afraid of Mei Lin than she was.
That wasn’t right.
As an assassin, fear was the last negative state she should experience.
Li Si stared at those trembling pupils.
She had wanted to walk out of the tent directly, but after thinking about it, she gave up and let He Zi control her, staying pressed on top of her for now.
Once the voices outside faded, Li Si finally spoke, “They’re gone. Actually, even if they find out about my current appearance, I don’t care.”
He Zi’s eyes trembled, “How can you not care… this secret is only known to me… right… you’ve never taken off your armor, only I… know the current Li Si… only I…”
‘So what?’
Li Si decisively broke free from He Zi and subconsciously looked at her chest.
The two of them had been squeezing so hard that it had become a bit deformed.
She really didn’t know why He Zi had used so much force.
Anyway, she appreciated He Zi’s goodwill, but she would never accept her advice, and certainly wouldn’t leave Lil Ya because of it.
Her current goal, besides getting stronger herself, was to make Lil Ya stronger too, and to let these arrogant Chosen Ones truly learn what adventure meant, rather than the superficial strength they had now.
“He Zi, I know you have your own difficulties. I don’t blame you for the team dismissal. But I hope you remember: the reason we adventure is definitely not for dignity, superiority, or recognition. Lil Ya is not as bad as you think. She possesses unpredictable power within her. If you don’t change your ways and continue adventuring like before, you’ll eventually suffer for it.”
Li Si paused.
A thick strand of black miasma drifted past her eyes like a thread.
Following the direction it came from, Li Si turned her head sharply.
The miasma thread passed through the thick animal hide tent, solidifying into a tangible line that connected directly to the campfire outside.
“Hey… what’s wrong with her?”
“The little goblin collapsed!”
“Hey hey hey, Lil Ya ate herself into unconsciousness!”
Li Si dashed forward, instantly throwing off He Zi’s hands.
She almost turned into a blur, and in the blink of an eye, she was at the table by the campfire.
The half-broken left ear of the goblin on her head was completely severed by this swift charge.
As the ear fell to the ground, Li Si was already checking on Lil Ya’s condition.
Lil Ya’s cheeks were stuffed full.
She was lying flat on her back, stroking her stomach with a blissful expression, mumbling repeatedly, “So happy… so happy…”
Li Si frowned and stopped the others who wanted to help.
With that single action, the tangible warning thread vanished.
It was as if the hidden danger had sensed her arrival and retracted its edge.
And Li Si’s reaction speed, which had exceeded her limits, was also unusual.
[Absolute Guard]: 0/1
All her actions just now were entirely the result of a cultivation effect being triggered.
Li Si narrowed her eyes and scanned the surrounding crowd.
Suddenly her gaze shifted, and in an instant, she understood all the connections.
“So this is the special power you were talking about?”
From the crowd, He Zi arrived shortly after.
She stood at the edge, looking at Lil Ya on the ground, having eaten herself unconscious, and expressed her dissatisfaction with her eyes.
Li Si had no time to pay attention.
She turned and picked up Lil Ya to help her recover.
As for the cause and effect of this incident, it was definitely not just overeating.
In the moment she saw the face of a certain adventurer just now, Li Si had figured out the location of the dungeon’s entrance and the source of this incident.
It turned out that the first chapter’s storyline, “The Bewitching Yadana,” had already begun.