Yun Ruoxi released her right hand, and the telekinetic force gripping the spaceship instantly dissipated.
“Now you can continue your mission, Heishui.”
Inside the spaceship, seeing that Yun Ruoxi no longer harbored killing intent, Dr. Forefinger gave his final instruction before disconnecting the link.
Leaving only a sweat-drenched Heishui behind.
He exchanged a glance with Yun Ruoxi outside the dome window, forcing a strained smile before swallowing hard.
He quickly reached out and pressed a couple of buttons on the console. The entrance located at the top midsection of the spaceship instantly contracted and opened.
But the girl, looking at the entrance opened for her, was in no hurry to enter. Instead, she transmitted her voice telepathically with a calm tone.
“Wait.”
She turned to look at the abyss of death row behind her, extended her right hand toward the location of the Bone Mountain, and clenched it forcefully.
Then—
From the bottom of the abyss of death row, a white dot suddenly shot upward at high speed, flying toward their location.
As the distance closed rapidly, the white dot grew larger and its shape became clearer.
Finally, Heishui realized the white dot was actually a milky-white giant egg formed by multiple layers of thick telekinetic shields.
And inside it, there was a blurry human figure.
“Aaaaaah—!”
A piercing woman’s scream erupted from within the giant egg, echoing through the sky.
“…Another qualified individual from the abyss of death row?”
Hearing the scream, Heishui was momentarily stunned.
He had thought Xinglan—no, Yelan, had already killed everyone in the abyss of death row!
Heishui inwardly let out a sigh of relief. It seemed she hadn’t completely lost her humanity; she still retained a trace of “Lan’s” shadow.
During the last month or two in the battle camp, although A Zhen, Xinglan, and Wood Heart had desperately tried to hide it, anyone with eyes could see—Xinglan had been somewhat different since returning from her punishment.
So, while he was shocked by Xinglan’s appearance here, after thinking it over, he wasn’t entirely surprised.
He believed this was the aftermath of that punishment.
As Heishui pondered, the giant egg flew to Yun Ruoxi’s side and then, with a soft pop, instantly dissipated.
Revealing the true appearance of the figure inside.
It was a white-haired girl wearing a black-and-white dress.
She was short, with delicate features, but her face was somewhat pale, and a trace of vomit residue lingered at the corner of her mouth.
Unlike Yun Ruoxi, whose face was stained with blood, her dress, though old and patched, was surprisingly clean. She looked nothing like someone who had just emerged from the abyss of death row alongside Yun Ruoxi.
‘Who is this?’ Heishui wondered inwardly but didn’t dare ask, fearing he might offend Yun Ruoxi.
However, Yun Ruoxi seemed to see through his thoughts and explained in a calm tone.
“Another qualified individual, Shi Linglin.”
After saying this, she grabbed the girl’s shoulder with one hand, lightly tapped the void with her bare feet, and casually walked over to the entrance, entering the spaceship.
During this process, Heishui noticed a slight twitch at the corner of the girl’s mouth, as if she was somewhat dissatisfied with being handled this way.
Click!
After the two girls entered the spaceship, the entrance closed under Heishui’s control.
Heishui pondered for a few seconds, then got up from his seat, walked over to the unconscious Heart Demon lying on the floor, picked her up, and headed toward the Treatment Capsule at the rear of the cabin.
Even though Heart Demon had offended Yun Ruoxi, she was still his teammate. He couldn’t just abandon her.
Walking to the midsection of the cabin, Heishui saw Yun Ruoxi floating cross-legged in mid-air, watching him with a placid gaze, while the girl named Shi Linglin sat obediently on a nearby chair.
Although the blue-haired girl’s eyes held no killing intent, under the gaze of those ruby-like, blood-tinted eyes, Heishui instinctively slowed his pace.
The pressure was simply overwhelming!
Even when Xinglan was at the peak of her power in the battle camp, the pressure she exerted wasn’t half of what this “Yelan” was giving off now!
What in the world had Yelan experienced here?
As this thought crossed his mind, a powerful force suddenly emanated from Heart Demon’s body. Caught off guard, Heishui lost his grip, and Heart Demon floated up from his arms.
Heishui looked up at Yun Ruoxi with a face full of tension.
The girl, however, wore a placid expression, even exuding a cat-like laziness as she yawned.
“I’m tired, I need to sleep. Go pilot the ship.”
With that, Heart Demon whooshed into the Treatment Capsule, while Yun Ruoxi herself simply lowered her head and began snoring, fast asleep.
Watching this scene, Heishui looked dazed. After a moment of stunned silence, he finally let out a sigh of relief and stood up from his spot.
***
Meanwhile, Shi Linglin beside him seemed to have shrugged off a thousand-pound weight. She stretched vigorously and muttered under her breath.
“Exhausting. I’m not some toy for her to play house with…”
She walked toward Heishui while complaining in an extremely low voice.
Reaching Heishui’s side and seeing him still spaced out, Shi Linglin suddenly reached out and shoved his chest, pushing him hard against the cabin wall.
“Hey!”
Shi Linglin looked at Heishui with playful interest, raising an eyebrow.
“You know my big sis? Must be one of those battle camp cadets from the Saints’ hand society, right? Heard you guys have pretty high status.”
As she spoke, she rubbed her hands together, a hint of anticipation on her face.
“You must have stellar energy cigarettes then, right? Give me a couple, and I’ll guarantee you won’t die.”
“What?” Heishui didn’t catch on immediately.
“Stel-lar en-er-gy cig-a-rettes!” Shi Linglin said with exasperation. “The cigarettes made from tobacco grown in the Negative Universe. How can you be this old and not know about them?”
“Oh, oh, oh!”
Heishui finally understood, a look of realization dawning on his face as he pulled out a pack of stellar energy cigarettes from his pocket.
These stellar energy cigarettes were made from tobacco infused with stellar energy and had a certain addictive quality.
Not only could they slightly restore the stellar energy within a star energy user’s body, but they also stimulated brain activity.
Among lower-tier star energy users, they were hard currency.
He didn’t smoke them himself but kept a pack or two for use during missions.
Heishui was about to open the pack and pull out two cigarettes to hand over.
“Here you—”
But the next second, the entire pack was snatched away by a small hand, so fast that even Heishui didn’t react in time.
Heishui immediately gave Shi Linglin a meaningful look—this person was not simple…
The cigarette pack spun on Shi Linglin’s fingertip. She glanced at it, a pleased expression appearing on her face, and pulled out one cigarette to sniff under her nose.
“Oho, second-grade too. You’ve got pretty good perks, huh, cadet?”
Heishui pointed at the cigarettes in her hand.
“You took my whole pack of second-grade stellar energy cigarettes. So, before I answer your questions, don’t you think you should help clear up some of my confusion first?”
Shi Linglin clearly looked full of desire, practically itching to smoke, but upon hearing Heishui’s words, she instead tucked the cigarettes into her bosom first and then said generously.
“Fine, go ahead.”