As she pulled him along, Xie Zhouxing suddenly came to a halt.
“Wait.”
“What is it now?”
“To the left.”
Xie Zhouxing frowned. “There's a door on the left.”
Cen Yao looked up.
There was indeed a half-open iron door on the left side of the corridor.
Without a second thought, she pulled Xie Zhouxing and rushed toward it.
But just as they drew near, a faint chewing sound echoed from inside.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Cen Yao slammed on the brakes, and Xie Zhouxing went completely still as well.
The two of them looked at each other.
No. To be precise, Cen Yao was looking at Xie Zhouxing.
Xie Zhouxing couldn't see, but he had clearly understood what the noise behind the door meant.
“New route,” Cen Yao said decisively. “Let's go.”
The two turned around, but the tentacle monster had already recovered.
Having had one of its tentacles bitten off by the fish-headed man, it seemed completely enraged.
A mass of tentacles writhed in midair, their teeth gnashing wildly, and several of the purple nodules on them suddenly swelled.
Splat! The nodules burst, spraying a sweet yet rancid purple liquid in all directions.
Cen Yao shoved Xie Zhouxing away, and at the same time, Xie Zhouxing grabbed her and pulled her down.
The two fell flat onto the floor in a messy heap.
The purple liquid whizzed past just above their heads and splashed onto the wall.
Thick smoke immediately billowed from the wall. The hard concrete wall melted as if exposed to extreme heat, corroding into several smoking pits in the blink of an eye.
Cen Yao watched with a racing heart. Why was every monster in this dungeon more unreasonable than the last?
The fish scales corroded, the tentacles corroded, and even the bursting nodules corroded. Was this laboratory specifically researching corrosive agents?
“We can't run anymore,” Cen Yao panted, clenching her fists. If she and Xie Zhouxing just kept dodging, they would eventually be worn down to death.
Beside her, Xie Zhouxing's breathing was also ragged.
Earlier, in his effort to dodge a tentacle, his arm had been deeply gashed by the fish-headed man's claws.
Blood dripped from his fingertips, leaving small, dark red splatters on the floor.
Yet he still didn't panic. He listened closely to locate the two monsters, his expression solemn.
“Is there any other way?” Cen Yao grit her teeth, not answering.
The two monsters didn't give them much time to think.
The fish-headed man lunged first, while the tentacle monster flanked them from the other side.
Cen Yao raised her hand, trying to channel the magic power in her body. But the moment the magic power gathered at her fingertips, it dispersed.
Not enough. It wasn't nearly enough.
Just as she was about to ask the orb to buy a wand, a long tentacle from the tentacle monster suddenly whipped through the air toward her.
Crack! Unable to dodge in time, Cen Yao was struck hard on her side.
The immense force sent her flying, slamming her heavily against the wall several meters away.
Thud! The excruciating pain almost made Cen Yao lose consciousness on the spot.
She slid down the wall. Her back burned with searing pain, as if her entire skeleton had been shattered.
A sharp, stabbing pain shot through her waist. Her hospital gown had been torn open by the teeth on the tentacle, ripping away a large chunk of flesh.
Blood quickly stained the blue-and-white striped fabric red.
Cen Yao lay on the cold, dirty floor, her body trembling with pain as her vision swam.
She tried to push herself up off the ground. But at the slightest movement, her wound flared with even greater pain. Cold sweat poured down her forehead, and even her breathing trembled.
“Hey, squishy, you okay?”
Xie Zhouxing's voice came from nearby.
Cen Yao forced her eyes open. Xie Zhouxing wasn't doing any better than she was.
“My name isn't squishy.”
His golden curls were a complete mess, and his forehead had been cut open at some point, blood trickling down his pale, delicate face.
“Well, you didn't tell me your name.”
His hospital gown was shredded with several gashes from the fish-headed man's black claws, and his arms and legs were covered in cuts of varying depths.
His originally striking, handsome face was now deathly pale.
He was still dodging attacks. The fish-headed man's claws swiped at him again and again, while the tentacle monster's tentacles cut off his escape routes from different directions.
Though blind, Xie Zhouxing relied on his ears to catch every rushing sound, desperately rolling, ducking, and dodging.
But he was clearly reaching his limit.
“Fine! My name is Cen Yao.”
Cen Yao gasped, forcing herself to shout to him.
“Xie Zhouxing, don't you have some kind of Talent?”
Xie Zhouxing had just sidestepped to dodge a tentacle. The sharp teeth on it grazed his shoulder, tearing away a piece of fabric.
He panted, but even now, his smug tone was unmistakable.
“Of course I do! My Talent is incredibly strong and amazing!”
“You're Cen Yao? The one I'm thinking of?”
Cen Yao said in exasperation, “Then use it already!”
“Is there anyone else named Cen Yao?!”
Xie Zhouxing dodged another bite from the fish-headed man.
“I can't right now, it only works at night!”
“The Witch Cen Yao.”
Just as he finished speaking, his foot slipped on a slimy scale, and he stumbled violently.
Thud! A tentacle slammed hard into his back.
Xie Zhouxing was sent flying, crashing into a metal utility cart by the side of the corridor, and fell near Cen Yao along with the cart.
Crash! The glassware on the cart shattered all over the floor.
Xie Zhouxing groaned, unable to get up for a long time.
Covered in dust, blood, and the rancid scales shed by the fish-headed man, he looked so battered that his original elegant, noble appearance was completely unrecognizable.
Cen Yao: “...”
Was this karma?
She turned her head, rolling her eyes halfway before stopping herself.
“That's me.”
“By the way, are you still alive?”
Lying on the floor, Xie Zhouxing spoke with a weak but resilient voice.
“This young master... is the most handsome man in the world... and so powerful. How could I die at the hands of these ugly things?”
“But how could you be that Cen Yao?”
Cen Yao: “...”
Even in this state, he didn't forget to praise himself.
“Why wouldn't I be? Am I not worthy?”
Cen Yao even admired herself a little at this point for still being able to engage in idle chatter.
The fish-headed man and the tentacle monster closed in from both sides.
Realizing their two prey had no strength left to escape, they actually slowed their movements.
Foul-smelling slime dripped from the fish-headed man's gaping mouth. Its bulging, dead-fish eyes darted between Cen Yao and Xie Zhouxing, as if deciding which one to eat first.
The tentacle monster extended several tentacles. The tooth-lined appendages writhed slowly, their teeth opening and closing with a scalp-prickling clack-clack.
Cen Yao closed her eyes.
Unbelievable.
After all that back-and-forth, she still had to rely on herself in the end.
Beside her lay a bloody Xie Zhouxing.
In front of her were two monsters ready to pounce and tear them to shreds at any second.
She didn't have her wand, she didn't have her Witch's robe, and she had never even successfully cast the most basic offensive magic without a wand before.
But she couldn't hide anymore. She had hidden long enough.
Cen Yao took a deep breath, her body trembling continuously from the pain.
Yet she still raised her hand—her wandless right hand—slowly lifting it in the dim corridor.
“Since you admire me so much, I'll let you witness the true strength of a Witch!”
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