BOOM—

With a tremendous crash, the mobile house collapsed.

The culprits were a pack of tusked, elephant-sized Alien Beasts that resembled wild boars.

Like the Alien Beasts that had appeared before, they too had blood-red eyes and were completely devoid of reason.

The incredibly sturdy house ultimately couldn’t withstand their brutish charges.

All the warriors had transformed into their beast forms and were battling the Alien Beasts.

Even Lan Yan had changed into his Merfolk form.

When she saw one of the horned, boar-like heads charge toward his abdomen, Jiang Qin felt her heart practically stop.

Lan Yan’s eyes glinted with ruthless ferocity. He seized the boar’s head, then plunged his sharp claws into the back of the Alien Beast’s skull.

The Alien Beast roared in pain and struggled, ramming its body against Lan Yan’s several times.

But even so, Lan Yan didn’t release his grip on its horns.

His right claw, embedded in the back of the beast’s skull, sank even deeper. Only when the Alien Beast could no longer struggle and its pupils had dilated did he let go, dropping the corpse to the ground.

To Jiang Qin, the scene was utterly shocking.

"Has he... always fought like this?"

’How many lives can he possibly have to burn, fighting like that?’

Lan Yuyan sighed. "There’s no other way. A Beastman with Water Strange Beast Genes has no real advantage fighting on land."

"Besides, this place is all sand and rock. He can’t manipulate waves."

Seeing Lan Yan ready to fight again while the other warriors struggled desperately against the Alien Beasts, Jiang Qin could no longer hold back.

"Have them all fall back. I’ll use my Superpower to kill the Alien Beasts."

’If I just summon Xiang Liu, they wouldn’t have to fight such a difficult battle.’

Watching more and more warriors get injured, she felt she couldn’t stay silent any longer.

’It’s true that I’m afraid of dying, afraid of being dissected for research. But if staying alive requires sacrificing so many other lives, then maybe not living isn’t such a big deal after all.’

Lan Yu gripped her wrist without a word, his hold tightening as if he would lose her the moment he let go.

Jiang Qin looked up, staring deep into the struggle in his eyes. "You know I have the ability to do this.

They don’t have to die. We can all go home safely."

There were too many Alien Beasts, and now a flock of Fire Scale Eagles had arrived.

With enemies in the sky and on the ground, there was nowhere to run. The only option was to fight.

Under the circumstances, no one had the luxury of avoiding the black blood on the ground anymore.

Many warriors were showing signs of poisoning.

They couldn’t even bear to drink an Antidote Potion right away. They still had to fight, and even if they were cured, they would just get poisoned again.

But the Antidote Potions were limited, so unless they were on the verge of collapsing, no one was willing to use one.

After taking the antidote, every Beastman felt a wave of weakness.

The moment an opening appeared, the Alien Beasts launched their counterattack.

The warriors, realizing they couldn’t hold on, quickly shouted, "Fire the signal! Get the captain back to escort Miss Jiang away!"

’If our sacrifice is inevitable, then at the very least—at the very least—we have to protect the female in our squad!’

This was the thought in every warrior’s mind.

However, they never expected that as their signal flare shot into the sky, two other signals appeared separately.

"Damn it! The captain and the patrol team are both in danger."

It was obvious the two new signals had been fired by the captain who had left, and the patrol team that had gone after the suspicious Beastman.

But they were in no position to go to their rescue.

Knowing they couldn’t count on the captain, Mo Yuan made a decisive call. "Xiaodong! Eagle! You two fall back! Help the two Mr. Lans get Miss Jiang out of here! We’ll clear a path for you!" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

It was at this moment that Lan Yuyan, who had been gripping Jiang Qin’s hand tightly, finally let go.

He looked at Jiang Qin gently. "Forget it. Go do what you want to do. Whatever the outcome, I’ll be with you."

"Okay!" That was what Jiang Qin had been waiting to hear.

’Even without his support, I would have insisted on doing what I wanted. But if possible, I still hoped he would be willing to face this with me...’

***

When the Nine-headed Serpent suddenly appeared, blotting out the sky, every Beastman panicked.

This was exactly what Lan Yuyan had been worried about.

The Alien Beasts Jiang Qin had secretly summoned before were all small, inconspicuous amidst the chaos.

But now, she was about to summon a massive and powerful Alien Beast, which would easily arouse suspicion.

Especially in a place where they were being watched.

This was the very reason he was so against Jiang Qin exposing herself.

But he wanted even less for her to live with regret, just as he once had...

’There was a time when he, too, would often wake up in the middle of the night, thinking that perhaps he could have done better back then.’

’But time flows on, and no one can return to the past.’

So he didn’t want her to live her future days filled with regret and remorse.

’In truth, he was selfish when it came to Jiang Qin.’

’He selfishly wanted to ignore everyone else’s lives and care only for her safety.’

’He even thought that it would be fine if, out of the fifty of them, she was the only one to survive.’

’But he also knew Jiang Qin would never want that. So, rather than upsetting her by interfering with her decision...’

’...it was better to be crazy with her, to be unrestrained with her.’

’Looking on the bright side, the worst that could happen was dying together with the one he loved.’

...

Amidst the chaos, Jiang Qin controlled Xiang Liu, making it speak in a hoarse, deep male voice, "All Beastmen, fall back."

The panicked Beastmen were stunned, seemingly not expecting this behemoth to be on their side!

With no time to wonder where this ally had come from, the warriors, still in their beast forms, hastily retreated, leaving the battlefield to Xiang Liu.

Fearing they would be hit by Xiang Liu’s venom, Jiang Qin had Lan Yuyan lead everyone back and erect a temporary tent to shield them from the poison.

The materials used for the tent were also of the highest level.

Afraid it wouldn’t be enough, Jiang Qin also hung a Jade Pendant on the entrance.

This was no ordinary Jade Pendant, of course. She had crafted it from special materials bought from the small, daily-refreshing mall in her system, and had even enchanted it using the enchanting module.

So now, this Jade Pendant had the function of a small protective shield.

...

With no more fear of friendly fire, Xiang Liu began its slaughter.

All nine of its heads were spewing venom.

Any Alien Beast touched by it collapsed, screaming and wailing until only a skeleton remained.

To increase its power, Jiang Qin closed her eyes and carefully pictured Xiang Liu’s form in her Spirit Sea, strengthening the output of her Superpower.

A light rain began to fall from the sky.

The crowd, still in shock at Xiang Liu’s immense power, was confused. "Huh? Why did it suddenly start raining?"

"Does it even rain on this kind of planet?"

"How strange. The rain seems to be falling only around the Nine-headed Serpent’s heads."

Before they could marvel at the wonders of nature, they discovered that the Alien Beasts touched by the rain began to rot.

In the blink of an eye, their flesh had dissolved into a bloody pulp.

But even in this state, they didn’t die. Instead, they writhed on the ground, rolling and wailing in agony.

Facing this cruel scene, the Nine-headed Serpent’s nine heads reared back, looking down on it all with cold, grim indifference.