The tree god guard controlled the tree giant as it charged toward the battlefield.
Kaos, Zi Jiu, Yun Che, Aili, and Scarlet, who had not yet lost consciousness, all fell into a heavy silence.
Facing Mo Yuan and four Combatants, they had already exhausted every trick in their arsenal and still didn’t know if they could last fifteen minutes. Now, adding such a colossal tree giant to the mix…
Even if they were unwilling to admit it in their hearts, perhaps their road to freedom truly ended here.
Mo Yuan looked at the group, whose fighting spirit was gradually fading, and raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Do you finally know when to give up? Surrender now, and you can spare yourselves some physical suffering.”
Before his voice had even faded, Zi Jiu roared back:
“In your dreams!!”
*Whoosh!*
The flames on her body grew even more ferocious. Amidst the howling wind and before the tree giant, she seemed like a weak yet stubborn little spark.
No matter how great the wind and rain, she refused to let herself be extinguished.
“Unless I die! Otherwise, I will never give up!”
“I said it before! As long as I’m alive, it’s impossible for a bastard like you to take a single step toward the spaceship!” Kaos gripped his throwing knives and stood by Zi Jiu’s side.
Fight until the last moment, then leave the rest to fate.
‘The Kaos-Jiu ship? It feels like it’ll be hard to go public.’
“Brother Zhen, you need me! Let me go, and I’ll help you take care of Mo Yuan!”
“Otherwise, Sister Jiu and the others will die!”
Inside the spaceship, this was already the thirtieth time Yun Ruoxi had asked Lin Zhen to let her go since the battle began.
At the start, Lin Zhen would respond with a few words.
But as the situation on the battlefield worsened, Lin Zhen constantly forced himself to speed up the repairs, and he stopped paying any attention to Yun Ruoxi.
So this time, Yun Ruoxi originally thought it would just be another useless attempt.
To her surprise, Lin Zhen suddenly punched the wall, looking as though he had made a difficult decision.
While continuing to use his supernatural power to repair the ship, he walked over to Yun Ruoxi’s side and suddenly pulled her into a hug.
“Xiao Xi…”
Lin Zhen’s eyes were bloodshot, revealing a sense of brokenness that Yun Ruoxi had never seen before.
He was repairing the ship inside, seemingly safe. But every time a companion was injured on the battlefield, it caused him immense pain.
Watching the repairs, which were not even half-finished, he felt a sliver of the same despair as everyone outside.
Being suddenly hugged made Yun Ruoxi freeze for a moment. The layers of disguised emotions on her face slowly melted away.
‘In the end, he’s just a thirteen-year-old child…’
She felt as if she had returned to that night in the Thin Mist Forest, and a genuine trace of gentleness appeared on her face.
She gently patted Lin Zhen’s head.
“Brother Zhen, Xiao Xi will always be by your side.”
Hearing this, Lin Zhen’s body trembled slightly. He raised his head, but instead of refusing like before, he stared seriously into Yun Ruoxi’s red eyes as if he were trying to see something inside them.
‘Was he trying to see the old Yun Ruoxi?’
No one knew.
Under Lin Zhen’s gaze, Yun Ruoxi once again showed her previous gentle smile.
“Let Xiao Xi go. Right now, I’m the only one who can turn the tide.”
As she spoke, she tried to move her arms, showing Lin Zhen her forearms, which were mangled with bloody wounds.
“Brother Zhen, Xiao Xi is really on your side now. Look, these scars are all new. If Xiao Xi had really been successfully brainwashed, why would I keep self-harming?”
“The problem is — if she hasn’t been brainwashed, why is she self-harming?”
“She’s a logical genius, Lao Xi.”
“The kind-hearted Lao Xi really doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Lao Xi’s smile looks more and more fake the more I see it.”
Lin Zhen looked at her, a faint smile forced onto his face.
“Xiao Xi, can I trust you?”
“Of course you can!” Yun Ruoxi wanted to nod, but her head was locked in place, allowing only a slight sliding sound.
“Then do you trust me?” Lin Zhen asked again.
“Of course!” Yun Ruoxi replied without hesitation.
Lin Zhen grasped Yun Ruoxi’s hand.
“Since we both trust each other, and I know you want me to stay with you forever… why don’t we make a promise?”
“Hmm? A promise?” Yun Ruoxi looked at Lin Zhen in confusion.
“You help me stop Mo Yuan and help us escape the Saints’ Hand Society,” Lin Zhen said, looking her in the eye. “Then I will come back with you and stay here forever and ever.”
“Eh?”
Yun Ruoxi froze in shock for a moment before laughing softly.
“Brother Zhen, I’m not a fool. Once you leave this place, how could you possibly come back with me?”
“But if you want to be with me, shouldn’t it be the same regardless of where we are? Why does it have to be here?”
Although Lin Zhen knew that the reason Yun Ruoxi stubbornly wanted to stay at the battle camp was due to Dr. Forefinger’s mind control, he still asked the question.
He was truly curious about Yun Ruoxi’s current thought process and logic.
“Because… everyone is only safe if we stay here.”
Yun Ruoxi gave a bright, innocent smile, yet she looked at Lin Zhen with a sickly, greedy gaze.
“And if we stay here, Dr. Forefinger promised me that once we reach adulthood, he will hold a wedding for us! No home-wrecking cats will have a chance to steal my Brother Zhen away!”
“So she’s turned into a yandere.”
“Did Dr. Forefinger use a honey trap to tie Lao Xi to his warship?”
‘Safety and marriage…’
Lin Zhen silently repeated those two terms.
They likely represented the two obsessions in Yun Ruoxi’s heart.
Safety and marriage.
The former was probably due to her experiences before coming to the battle camp.
The latter, however, was her feelings for him, which had been twisted by mind control into this near-pathological possessiveness.
If he had time, he might be able to find a way to break her brainwashing through those two points.
But now, he had no time.
Lin Zhen spoke softly.
“Xiao Xi, since you don’t trust me to come back if we leave together… what if I let you stay here alone as a hostage?”
He looked into her eyes with a face full of sincerity, showing no signs of lies or deception.
“You know I won’t give up on you. No matter where you are, I will be with you.”
“Me… as a hostage? And then, after you send Sister Jiu and the others away, you’ll come back alone to stay with me, Brother Zhen?”