Despite having many guesses about the battle taking place far outside the city, the group didn’t stop moving forward.
Soon, they arrived at the location Jiang Rouqian had described.
Jumping down from the flying sword, Ling Xiaoyou looked at the surroundings and said with some surprise,
“The greenery here… is incredibly dense?”
Looking at the tightly packed, dense forest before her, Ling Xiaoyou thought that if someone with trypophobia were here, they’d probably have an attack on the spot.
It was like a human scalp; those slender trees were like strands of hair, tangled and intertwined with each other, inseparable.
“Tsk… why does that sound so weird…”
Shaking off the strange thought, Ling Xiaoyou turned to Bai Shuanglian and asked,
“Jiang Rouqian could only guide us this far. It seems we have to find the specific location of that institution ourselves.”
As she spoke, she took a step forward, ready to walk into the crowded forest to search for the institution’s location.
But before she could take more than a few steps, Ling Xiaoyou felt her small hand being pulled back by Bai Shuanglian. The latter shook her head and said,
“The location is already obvious. No need to search.”
Hearing this, Ling Xiaoyou was taken aback and looked at Bai Shuanglian in confusion, only to see her holding her hand and walking in a certain direction.
Seeing this, Ling Xiaoyou didn’t ask further and simply let Bai Shuanglian lead her deeper into a specific part of the dense forest.
The Su sisters followed closely behind. Although Su Lihua was very curious about why Bai Shuanglian would say that, seeing that Ling Xiaoyou didn’t ask, she also closed her curious mouth and silently followed.
The path through the dense forest should, in theory, be difficult to traverse, given how tightly packed the trees were. But none of them were ordinary people. This level of difficulty meant nothing to them and could be easily overcome.
Soon, Bai Shuanglian, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped and looked ahead, saying,
“We’re here.”
Hearing this, everyone stopped. Ling Xiaoyou, standing beside Bai Shuanglian, peeked her little head out and followed her gaze, immediately freezing.
In front of a tree that was several times thicker than the surrounding ones, two men in suits stood meticulously, their expressions serious, as if that tree were some important cultural relic.
At other positions not far away, a team of security personnel was patrolling. They nodded to the two men before disappearing back into the forest to continue their rounds.
Seeing this, Ling Xiaoyou lowered her voice and asked,
“These guys look like they’re with the pursuers I saw before. But they’re actually guarding this tree? Could this be the research institution Jiang Rouqian mentioned?”
“Most likely.”
Bai Shuanglian nodded and explained,
“Since an experimental subject escape incident occurred, these guards wouldn’t just stay inside. They’d definitely come out to patrol to prevent any other subjects from escaping.”
Ling Xiaoyou nodded in understanding, realizing Bai Shuanglian had found this place by sensing the guards’ auras.
“So, how do we get in next? This place probably has an identity verification system like the pier last time, right?”
Su Lihua asked curiously.
“Maybe… we can replicate our last operation.”
Ling Xiaoyou thought for a moment, her gaze falling on the two diligently standing guards, a slight smile curling at the corner of her mouth.
The night wind howled, rustling through the forest.
But for Sander, who had been guarding here for some time, such sounds were already familiar, even ignorable—treating them as white noise wasn’t difficult.
However, at some point, an almost imperceptible, abnormal sound had mixed into that white noise.
Sander frowned, listening carefully, but he couldn’t quite make out what the sound was.
Suddenly, he froze. His dark pupils gradually lost focus, his consciousness seeming to blur.
Then, like a night owl who had stayed up far too long, his body gradually went limp, and he fell to the ground with a thud.
His companion watched this scene in shock and confusion.
“Hey, Sander! Sander, what’s wrong?”
His companion called his name but received no response.
Just then, he also heard the sound that shouldn’t be there.
The next moment, his pupils similarly dilated, his eyes vacant. The one who had intended to wake Sander also fell stiffly to the ground.
Seeing this, Ling Xiaoyou stopped spreading the illusion, letting the two guards remain forever lost in their dreams. She then nodded her little head quite proudly and said:
“OK, done. Now we just need to extract these two demons’ blood and make concealment tools.”
Su Lihua looked at this scene in astonishment, completely unprepared for how powerful Ling Xiaoyou had become.
She looked Ling Xiaoyou up and down, unable to help but say,
“I remember it’s only been a little over half a month since our last trip to the pier, right? How did you suddenly become so strong?”
“Hmph, ‘A scholar who has been away for three days must be looked at with new eyes.’ Besides, we’ve been apart for so long. Isn’t it normal for me to get stronger?”
Ling Xiaoyou proudly lifted her little chin.
“Don’t dwell on unimportant details.”
She waved her hand.
“Right now, we need to deal with these two quickly and then infiltrate this research institute!”
Hearing this, Su Lihua opened her mouth but ultimately swallowed her curiosity and followed the others to the two demonic men.
Once familiar, twice skilled. With their previous experience, Ling Xiaoyou and Bai Shuanglian’s handling speed was noticeably faster this time. Before long, the two demons had transformed into a mass of blood.
“Every time I see this, I feel like we’re the wicked villains,”
Ling Xiaoyou couldn’t help but comment, looking at the still-writhing blood mass.
“It just looks a bit bloody, but our intentions are good,”
Bai Shuanglian said with a slight smile.
She lightly flicked her finger, and the blood mass split into five portions. Four of them landed on the backs of their hands, transforming into intricate, mysterious patterns.
The remaining portion wasn’t extra; it had another purpose.
Ling Xiaoyou glanced at the patterns, identical to last time’s, then looked at the much smaller blood mass. She extended her small hand, a strange power surging from her fingertips, condensing water out of thin air. It merged with the blood mass, causing it to gradually grow.
Soon, when the ratio of water to blood reached a certain point, Ling Xiaoyou gained control over the blood.
With a thought, the large mass of “blood-water” under her manipulation gradually took the shape of the two demons she had previously trapped in the illusion. It possessed real color, not the transparency of plain water.
This was precisely the new application Ling Xiaoyou had developed after conceptualizing the “replica” spell.
She controlled these two “water demons” to return to their original posts and continue guarding the entrance.
As for them, they smoothly entered the giant tree.