Chapter 82: Don’t Treat Me Like a Pushover

At this moment, Queen Huang was like a hunter watching her prey fall into a trap, undoubtedly in the posture of a victor. Chen Fengshi was very surprised by the deployment before his eyes, and Little An found it equally hard to accept.

She had been repeatedly thinking about the flaws in the villa area’s defense, but in the end, she still could not figure out where the problem lay. However, they had a clear conclusion: without someone possessing the Power of Life keeping a constant watch on Queen Huang, relying solely on the methods of the villa area, it was fundamentally impossible to achieve an effective lockdown!

But they had far too few people. Especially since combat operations had now begun, they worried that there would not be enough people to put into the extermination operation, so how could they spare two people to work in shifts just to keep an eye on Queen Huang?

Although the hunter before them was Queen Huang, Chen Fengshi stared at her, ignoring the surrounding crowd, as if he were simply waiting for her to give a definite answer. And if that answer was hostile, he would directly bring an end to her.

Queen Huang’s hand, which was playing with the red mist thread, slowly rose high. Her slender arm waved gently, and then, she snapped her fingers.

As a result, the surrounding lights suddenly went out for the most part. The remaining ones only provided scattered illumination and would no longer shine in their eyes.

“This little chat today—I just want to say: since we are cooperating, there should be basic trust between us. Were you planning to keep me under house arrest forever?” Queen Huang’s words were clearly a rhetorical question, leaving no pause for anyone to answer before she continued: “I know you started acting against the Hong Tribe last night; I also know the bounty on Heiqi is now five hundred thousand; and moreover—I know your names and general background information.”

Chen Fengshi and Little An’s last bit of luck was shattered. The facts proved that Queen Huang really did maintain some form of frequent contact with the outside world.

Originally, they had hoped that perhaps this little chat before them was a standing order from Queen Huang given earlier, so that no matter when she arrived here, her Demon Generals would always be waiting here.

But now, that was obviously not true. She knew the latest situation, and no one within the Demon Extermination Association could have secretly passed her this information.

As for his and Little An’s information… that was expected, but it came earlier than estimated, much earlier.

Although Little An was unwilling to accept it, Queen Huang had proven her abilities with facts, so she said: “Since you are showing off your strength, I have to say, it seems we indeed need to renegotiate the basis of our cooperation. Of course, you will also need to take on more corresponding responsibilities.”

Chen Fengshi certainly understood that this was a move of helplessness. Since they could not lock down Queen Huang at all, they could only adopt the alternative preset plan.

“I—” Queen Huang pressed one hand to her chest and said loudly: “have cooperated with the sincerity of working hard together from the very beginning! I am very willing to put in the effort to clear out the Hong Tribe together, and I mean putting in all my strength. I do not care that your Demon Extermination Association actually only has eight to fourteen combat units, oh, or perhaps, even fewer…”

As Queen Huang spoke, her gaze moved back and forth between Chen Fengshi and Little An’s faces, and the meaning was very clear.

Currently, the bounty on Heiqi assumed their numbers were over twenty. Naturally, this was a number speculated by the Sub-generals under the Hong Tribe’s Fungal Demon based on gathered intelligence and the speed at which the Demon Extermination Association cleared out Demon Generals. But Queen Huang knew that Chen Fengshi and Little An eliminated Fungal Demons at an extraordinary speed, so she could use the same data to reach a closer answer.

However, she could not accurately assess it after all, so she still overestimated the true combat numbers of the Demon Extermination Association.

Little An said very calmly: “Since the basis of cooperation must be repositioned, I can roughly tell you that the vast majority of our combat power is usually stationed in other cities or providing mobile combat support. Your estimate is close to the resident combat units in this city, but compared to the total number—the margin of error is very large.”

Chen Fengshi had to silently give her a thumbs up. Little An used this bluff beautifully, blowing a Demon Extermination Association with only four combat units into a giant nationwide organization, while also leaving Queen Huang with no basis to judge the truth right now.

Queen Huang did not pointlessly question the truth either, but smiled and said: “This is a very good start. Our cooperation should be one plus one is greater than two, rather than leaving my strength idle, which instead reduces the strength you can put into combat. As for the specific details, shall we chat while we eat?”

Queen Huang’s raised arm dropped, and immediately a group of Demon Generals sprang into action. They unlocked the door to the Spicy King, turned on the lights, turned on the air conditioning, prepared drinks, and even put on clean white chef uniforms to get busy in the back kitchen.

Meanwhile, Queen Huang accompanied Little An and Chen Fengshi into the restaurant, entering a private room inside.

The table in the private room was not big, but the facilities inside were very new and complete. It was entirely possible to live in there.

“A crafty rabbit has three burrows. Maintaining a hideout so far away from the forces you control, you really aren’t afraid of the trouble.” Chen Fengshi had to admire Queen Huang’s thoughtfulness. For a spot far away from her sphere of influence, because it needed to stay hidden, a Sub-general could not survive independently in its normal state.

That meant a high-level Demon General had to be dispatched regularly to make a connection, delivering a certain level of Fungal Demon cells to replenish the continuous consumption of the Sub-generals and Parasites. The greater the number of Parasites and the higher the level of the Sub-generals, the more energy had to be transported regularly.

But this was indeed a brilliant move. It also meant that other Fungal Demon Main Bodies could very well do the same.

“The primary prerequisite for pursuing peace is having the strength to protect yourself and stay alive, so this necessary homework certainly cannot be skipped.” Queen Huang sat upright and at ease, letting four handsome male Parasites attentively prepare the bowls and chopsticks and tidy up the details of the room’s hygiene. She smiled at Little An and said: “The environment might not compare to your usual conditions, Little An, but it should still be acceptable, right?”

Chen Fengshi did not want to say anything anymore. This was a conversation between two controllers of extraordinary resources; it had nothing to do with him, a commoner. From his perspective, renting out this shop would at least bring in some income. Leaving it idle just for the luxury of coming over for a meal on a whim… he could only sigh and forgive his own low class for being unable to comprehend this level of existence.

“I usually just make do.” Little An was so domineering. Queen Huang smiled and only said: “Don’t worry, the kitchen hygiene here is done very well, because all the little creatures you humans hate will absolutely not go in.”

Little An and Chen Fengshi had been wondering all along, how exactly did Queen Huang communicate with the Demon Generals and Parasites? And now, these words were practically the answer.

“Microorganisms have consciousness? Can they be controlled?” This was simply magical to them.

“It’s hard to explain in a few words. I can only say simply that our relationship with living things has a huge deviation from the cognitive methods known to humans, and is even a departure from basic concepts.” Queen Huang clearly had no intention of explaining this in detail. Chen Fengshi figured that forcing her would not yield results either. This information was of great importance; if it were him, he would absolutely not reveal it either.

Little An took a sip of wine, saw that the ingredients in the pot would need a little more time to be fully cooked, and said: “Then let’s talk about the details of our cooperative sweep targets.”

This was, of course, the main topic of today’s meal. Although they had already considered this, Chen Fengshi also felt there was no reason to just let Queen Huang sit idle and take advantage.

But it could not be in a form where they lost the initiative…

Queen Huang was not harmless, or rather, a Fungal Demon could never be harmless. Trying to control her might just be a fantasy.

“Gathering intelligence, directly joining combat, providing weapons including firearms, financial support, and so on—there is nothing that cannot be done!” Queen Huang’s straightforwardness made Chen Fengshi suspect that her actions might stem from the results of the Demon Extermination Association’s clearing operation last night.

“You can be informed, but the command must be ours.” Little An was not confused by these offered benefits, displaying an attitude that having this help was better, but it did not matter if they did not. Therefore, holding the initiative firmly in her hands was a fundamental condition she must not compromise on.

“Of course!” Queen Huang agreed readily. This was simply more likable than angel investment.

But this was what they needed.

Chen Fengshi felt that Queen Huang had great patience. She seemed so easy to talk to, but in fact, as long as her resources were used, she could in turn obtain some information that the Demon Extermination Association was bound to be unable to hide. Even if Little An held the initiative, how much key information Queen Huang could figure out in the future was actually still a long-term contest.

If Little An never made mistakes and did everything perfectly, then what Queen Huang could grasp would be quite limited. But as long as she made a mistake, or her defense was not tight enough for Queen Huang to find a breakthrough, then Queen Huang might grasp key information about the Demon Extermination Association.

However, since they had to rewrite the method of cooperation, which meant they had to use Queen Huang’s strength, being able to maintain control over the use of the initiative was already the most powerful condition they could obtain. The remaining risks were inevitably going to exist under the current conditions anyway.

What the final result would be still depended on the long-term contest between both sides. As for right now, Queen Huang was almost unilaterally agreeing to everything.

So, Queen Huang introduced all her Demon Generals. There were thirty-two of them. The strongest were the noodle stall owner and a pretty-boy young man. From their appearances, the noodle stall owner should be a strength-and-speed type Demon General, while the young man had a much thinner build and should belong to the speed-and-agility type.

From Queen Huang’s side, there were no extreme muscle-bound Tier 9 Demon Generals prepared, but there were four muscle-bound Tier 8 Demon Generals. Besides those, there were also various mixed types of Tier 7 and lower Demon Generals.

Aside from keeping the necessary ones to protect her own safety, she could hand over all these combat forces to Little An and Chen Fengshi’s command. In addition, before two more Fungal Demon Main Bodies were destroyed, she would still stay in the designated area, but she had to be allowed a certain number of Demon Generals to accompany her, as well as a certain number of Parasites to serve her daily needs, handle life’s chores, and incidentally provide her with the energy she required.

The hot pot meal lasted for four hours, and everything that needed to be discussed was settled.

The noodle stall owner’s strength left a deep impression, so he was assigned for Little An to use. That pretty-boy Tier 9 Demon General was kept by Queen Huang’s side as a bodyguard. Chen Fengshi then asked for a muscle-bound Tier 8 Demon General, along with some lower-level Demon Generals of various types. The vast majority, of course, were handed over to Little An to command.

Little An divided the large number of Demon Generals of various levels into several teams, directly dispatching them to the edges of the target Fungal Demon’s sphere of influence to gather intelligence and confirm the number and levels of the Demon Generals to be cleared.

As for the offered firearms, Little An did not take them. It was obvious that they would become a handle that could easily be manipulated by Queen Huang to the disadvantage of the Demon Extermination Association.