"Done!" The girl clapped her hands as if brushing away nonexistent dust, her face breaking into a radiant smile like a rainbow. She then turned to an elderly man beside her, dressed in medieval gentleman's attire, who looked like a butler, and asked with a smile, "Grandpa Obis, how did I perform just now?"
"Miss, your performance was flawless," the elderly man, with white hair neatly combed, smiled gently. He glanced at the unconscious Chu Xun and added, "But Miss, the master has already said that you can't pick up any more random people on the way. We must get to the Sky City as soon as possible. You are the representative of the family this time."
"Fine..." Upon hearing the butler's words, the girl shrugged her shoulders and pouted, helplessly saying, "I just don't get it, why do I have to represent Dragon Castle in that disgusting event?"
"Miss, you must understand, survival games are an essential part of maintaining stability across the major cities. They also determine whether lower-level cities will be granted permission by the Council to upgrade," the butler said, looking at the girl's displeased expression with a trace of helplessness. "As for why the master sent you, I believe he must have his own reasons."
At this point, the butler couldn't help but grumble in his heart. If it weren't for the Miss's excessive sympathy, and the fact that every time she went on a journey, she brought back all sorts of stray people like adopting pets, the master wouldn't have to send her to participate in such a cruel event. He's just trying to train her...
You see, your kindness is just too out of place in this cruel world...
"Alright, alright, I know," the girl said, waving her hand impatiently. "Even if I don't take him with me, I can't just leave him to die. Let him wait here to die."
"Of course, that's no problem." The butler gently nodded and then spoke softly to the air beside him. "Twelve, take this young man to the nearest city. Remember, the Miss wants him alive."
"Understood!" As soon as the butler's words finished, a ripple appeared in the air next to him, and a warrior clad in full black armor materialized out of thin air.
"Miss, Lord Obis, I'm leaving first!" The black-armored warrior walked straight to Chu Xun, picked him up, and then turned to the elderly man and the girl, saying a few words before disappearing with Chu Xun, leaving no trace behind.
"Alright, Miss, shall we continue our journey?" After sending off Chu Xun, the butler turned his gaze to the girl and said, "The master did say..."
"I know, I know, let's go!" Before the elderly man could finish speaking, the girl grinned mischievously, then leaped into the air, transforming into a streak of fiery flame that shot into the sky, leaving only a long trail of flames behind.
"Clearly, there's a faster way, yet she chooses this petulant way of flying. It's truly a headache..." Watching the flames shoot into the sky, the butler helplessly shook his head and then also transformed into a streak of black light, following the fiery trail into the distance.
As the elderly man moved, eleven identical streaks of black light suddenly appeared behind him, then shot into the air, closely following the elderly man and the girl as they sped away.
Meanwhile, in a ripple of air, the warrior named Twelve appeared in a forest less than five hundred meters from the city walls of Chu City.
It wasn't that he didn't have the ability to enter Chu City, but rather that something strange was happening to Chu Xun in his arms.
At that moment, the previously unconscious Chu Xun suddenly began to struggle instinctively. As he struggled violently, the veins on his body began to swell up one after another. The purple-blue veins crawled beneath his pale skin, looking incredibly terrifying.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh!" Suddenly, Chu Xun began coughing violently, and as he coughed, a faint red blood began to ooze from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. This blood seemed to have a corrosive quality, and as it dripped onto his face, it left deep black wounds, creating a grotesque and terrifying sight.
At this moment, the aftereffects of forcibly ingesting the alien genes began to manifest. After merging with the alien genes, Chu Xun's body structure had changed significantly. His body had become much stronger, and he now had acidic blood, much like that of an alien.
However, this change wasn't complete. While he had acidic blood, he couldn't completely resist its corrosive effects. At that moment, the acidic blood was starting to eat away at his veins and internal organs from the inside out. If this continued, it wouldn't be long before Chu Xun was completely dissolved by his own blood.
"This kid... How did things go so wrong all of a sudden?" Twelve, with his vast experience, immediately recognized the problem with Chu Xun and furrowed his brows slightly.
This kind of issue wasn't uncommon. People generally referred to it as "alien power rejection." This situation typically occurred when an alien user's abilities and physical constitution were imbalanced, resulting in a rejection reaction. The only solution was to strengthen the user's body to bring it into balance with the alien power.
Of course, this required a significant cost, so people generally let such situations resolve themselves. After all, the cost of fixing it was far too high for the potential benefits.
"Kid, you're lucky today," Twelve muttered after a slight hesitation. He drew a metallic cylinder from his waist, opened it, and took out a syringe.
The metallic cylinder clearly had insulation functions, as it released cold white mist when opened. More mysteriously, the liquid inside the syringe was a silver-colored substance, looking like a mixture of mercury, liquid, and metal. At this moment, without the cold environment of the metal tube, the silver liquid seemed to writhe violently, almost as if alive, creating a terrifying sight.
"Serves me right for being unlucky. Who told the Miss to want you alive?" After taking a deep breath, Twelve spat on the ground, then forcefully injected the syringe into Chu Xun's carotid artery.
Since the Miss wanted the boy to stay alive, he couldn't die, because the Miss's words were sacred orders to Twelve.
As the needle pierced Chu Xun's carotid artery, the silver liquid eagerly rushed into his body. Immediately, Chu Xun's swollen, purple veins began to shimmer with silver light. As this silver light flashed, Chu Xun's coughing and struggling ceased, and his breathing grew smoother.
"Damn, this kid really has good luck," Twelve cursed again as he saw Chu Xun quickly recover to normal, even the wounds on his face that had been caused by the corrosive blood healing rapidly. He then picked up Chu Xun again and disappeared once more.
A moment later, Twelve reappeared outside of Chu City, but Chu Xun, whom he had been carrying, was no longer in his arms...
"No way, I definitely need compensation from the Miss this time. This is a life-saving thing!" Looking at the remaining syringe in his palm, Twelve gritted his teeth and then shot into the air, turning into a streak of black light as he sped toward the distance.
"Such strong energy!" Meanwhile, inside the Chu family's mansion, the head of the family, Chu Xiong, suddenly changed his expression and then blurred out of sight. When he reappeared, he was already at the top of the mansion.
"Which strong expert would come to such a remote place like ours?" Looking at the black light disappearing into the distance, Chu Xiong's face turned grave.
The appearance of a super-strong person was undoubtedly a huge risk for any city without a corresponding powerhouse stationed there. Even with the highest council's restrictions, such powerful individuals could still destroy an entire city on a whim.
This wasn't a mere rumor, but a bloody fact. The city of White, which had been destroyed during the insect plague, was wiped out because it offended a powerful alien user, and the entire city was drowned in a sea of insects controlled by that user. Over thirty thousand people perished without a single survivor.
And with Chu City's current strength, it might not even compare to the White City of that time!
"Fortunately, it seems like they're just passing through. But just in case, we must be careful..." Watching the black shadow vanish into the sky, Chu Xiong let out a slight sigh of relief, then thought for a moment and returned to the mansion. He issued a new city order.
"From today onward, no one is allowed to leave the city until the student exam is over in half a month!"