Volume 6, Chapter 90 – Eating Is Important

Dozens of ice-blue Frost Sprites formed a ring, their transparent wings beating with a faint but uniform “buzz,” like countless invisible mosquitoes whispering by the ear. The five members of the Divine Kingdom squad stood back-to-back, weapons already raised, yet none of them attacked…

The reason was simple — the Frost Sprites before them were too well-behaved. Their ice-blue bodies shimmered with a crystalline luster, their round eyes quietly watching the squad without the slightest hostility, instead carrying a hint of innocent confusion, like a flock of harmless sprites who had wandered into the battlefield by mistake.

“Captain, these little things don’t seem dangerous at all — they’re actually pretty cute.” One of the squad members let a hint of a relaxed smile show on his face, even reaching out a hand to try to coax the nearest Frost Sprite closer. “Maybe they’re the cubs of some rare magical beast. Should we capture some for research? They’d make pretty good pets too.”

Lina also lowered her detector, a flicker of curiosity in her eyes. “They look so docile. Could they have just been drawn here by the battlefield’s residual energy?” She gazed at a Frost Sprite that had landed on a piece of rubble — the little creature was tilting its head to look back at her, its ice-blue eyes like two pure sapphires, and she instinctively let her guard down.

“Are they really alright though? They just feel… too quiet.”

One squad member pursed his lips and asked hesitantly.

“What could possibly go wrong?” Karen scoffed, the tension in his nerves easing somewhat. “They’re just a bunch of harmless little sprites — they don’t even have spiritual power in their bodies. Heh, leave them be. Keep searching, and don’t let these little things distract you.”

With that, he turned and walked toward a ravine not far away, intending to explore the depths.

But the moment he took that step, the smile on his face suddenly froze.

The air seemed to congeal in an instant. The originally fresh atmosphere abruptly turned thick and acrid, like a miasma laced with deadly poison — one breath, and his throat felt as though it was on fire.

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Karen instinctively covered his mouth and nose, only to find that breathing had become extraordinarily difficult. His chest felt as though a boulder were pressing down on it, the oxygen seemingly drained dry, his lungs torn through with a piercing pain.

“Wha— what’s happening?!”

Karen’s voice came out hoarse and distorted, his body swaying out of control, his face turning purple-blue at a visibly rapid rate.

The teammate beside him fared no better — his expression changed in an instant, his outstretched hand frozen in midair, choking sounds rasping from his throat, his eyes bulging wide and bloodshot. Lina collapsed straight to her knees, both hands clamping desperately around her own throat, white foam frothing at the corner of her mouth, the skin of her face beginning to take on an eerie blue-black tint, as though some toxin were rapidly devouring her from within.

“Is this poison gas?!!”

Marcus reacted the fastest — he immediately activated the anti-toxin device on his exploration gear, but it was useless. The viscous air pierced through the protective layer, surging into his airways, bringing with it a violent searing sensation. The heavy firearm in his hand fell to the ground with a clang, his body curling into a ball, convulsing all over, black blood gradually seeping from all seven of his orifices.

The other two squad members were in the same state.

Just like that, the entire squad’s collapse took place over the span of barely a dozen seconds.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no violent burst of energy — only silent suffocation. The originally fresh air had, in this single moment, transformed into a deadly toxin their bodies could not accept.

Karen struggled to pull out an antidote, but his fingers had stiffened beyond his command. He finally crashed heavily to the ground, his eyes bulging wide, fixed on the encircling Frost Sprites, filled with disbelieving terror and unwilling rage.

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Thomas curled up on the ground, his body convulsing violently a few times before going completely still. The relaxed smile from moments ago still lingered on his face, forming an eerie contrast with his now blue-black complexion and twisted posture.

Lina’s body had already begun to wither and decay, as though all the energy and soul within her had been drawn away.

For a moment, a foul, fishy stench filled the air.

All the while, the Frost Sprites still hovered around them, ice-blue eyes calmly watching the squad members’ miserable state, making no movements of their own — only their transparent wings beat slightly faster, the “buzz” they produced sounding like some kind of eerie hymn.

After a moment, when the last squad member ceased convulsing and fully lost the breath of life, one of the Frost Sprites suddenly fluttered its wings, flying down beside Karen’s corpse. Its tiny claws gently brushed against his blue-black cheek. Immediately afterward, all the Frost Sprites began to move — they slowly drifted in circles around the five corpses.

As they danced, the corners of the Frost Sprites’ mouths slowly curled upward, revealing human-like smiles. Those smiles were not innocent, not confused — they curved with an eerie hint of cruelty and delight, the ice-blue eyes flickering with the gleeful light of a successful prank. As they fluttered about, they let out faint hee-hee sounds, like a group of children who had spotted a fascinating new toy, frolicking and playing beside the corpses, completely indifferent to the carnage on the ground…

—————”Hee hee, hee hee hee hee~”—————

In the nursery within the Lingyuan family’s underground base, warm yellow lamplight gently spilled across the small bed.

Bai Lianyue carefully laid the drowsy Xing Wu down on the soft baby crib. She lowered her gaze to the sleeping infant, the lingering doting affection still in her dark-red eyes. Her fingertip lightly brushed across Xing Wu’s little cheek, a faint smile at the corners of her lips:

“Baby… sleep well… have a… good dream.”

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Xing Wu smacked her little lips in her dream, her tiny brow furrowing slightly, as though protesting being put down — clearly, she didn’t want to leave Bai Lianyue’s embrace. But in the end, she didn’t wake, remaining immersed in her dreams.

In her infant state, in many cases, she truly had no say in the matter.

Once she had settled the baby Xing Wu, Bai Lianyue straightened up and slowly stepped back twice, her gaze still lingering on Xing Wu, her smile gradually fading. Her movements grew somewhat sluggish, like rusted machinery — every lift of her arm, every turn of her body carrying a hint of stiffness. Her once vibrant dark-red eyes gradually lost their focus, becoming hollow and placid, devoid of the earlier excitement and tenderness, leaving only deathly stillness, like a deep pool without a ripple.

She turned and walked toward the door, her steps steady yet mechanical, without the slightest hesitation, as though she were a puppet operating on a preset program.

“Miss Lianyue?”

The maid waiting at the door saw her emerge and quickly stepped forward, a respectful smile on her face:

“Where are you headed?”

Looking at Bai Lianyue’s hollow gaze, the young maid felt a faint sense of wrongness in her heart, yet couldn’t quite put her finger on what was strange.

Bai Lianyue did not answer immediately, nor did her steps halt. She merely turned her head slowly, hollow eyes glancing toward the maid, her lips moving as her voice came out flat and devoid of any inflection, like the synthesized tone of a robot:

“Going to eat.”

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“To eat?” The maid was momentarily stunned, then smiled and followed along.

“Of course. I’ll have someone prepare food right away. But, Miss Lianyue, the dining hall is this way — you’re going in the opposite direction.”

The young maid reminded her.

But Bai Lianyue seemed not to have heard her words, continuing to walk in the opposite direction. Her route did not lead toward the dining hall, but rather toward the depths of the base, in a direction few ever ventured —— there lay the Lingyuan family’s dungeon.

The dungeon was built at the lowest level of the base. Constructed back in the day to imprison dangerous Corrupted Beasts or enemies, it was dim and damp, perpetually sealed behind a heavy iron door. Normally, only Luo Fei or Yelena would occasionally go down to inspect it; no one else would even approach.

The maid’s smile gradually faded, her expression growing increasingly strange, even tinged with a hint of unease. She quickly caught up, reaching out to try to stop Bai Lianyue, her voice carrying a probing note: “Miss Lianyue, the dining hall really is that way! Did you perhaps remember the direction wrong? The dungeon is over there — there’s nothing to eat down there!”

Bai Lianyue halted her steps, turning her head once more, hollow eyes still unfocused, merely repeating her earlier words, her tone unchanged in the slightest:

“To… eat.”

The maid: ???