Chapter 806: After Binding the Child-Bearing System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 807: Fantasy World Passerby A (27)

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

"Soon, less than half a month, and we'll be able to see Jin Jue City."

They had been traveling for three months by now, yet had not reached Jin Jue City as planned.

After all, no one can fully foresee what will happen on the road; discounting the time lost to various accidents, Lu Yan's party reaching their current position already counts as rapid progress.

Shen Yao blinked. "Half a month?" For real?

Lu Yan paused strangely for a second at those words. "Perhaps," he wasn't too sure.

Every previous time he gave a definite, accurate answer, their party would run into all sorts of sudden mishaps; who knows, this might be that same pattern again.

"Hahahaha, Host, Lu Yan doesn't dare either — what kind of Crow's Mouth skill is this."

The System hid in Shen Yao's mind, laughing loudly. Who told Lu Yan to be so cursed with bad luck lately? When they passed Wan Shi Town he mentioned Six-Armed Monkeys might appear, and the next second a troop of Six-Armed Monkeys showed up and besieged them with thrown stones.

When they passed through Shui Ze Dense Forest, not only did Giant-Toothed Crocodiles surface, but Skull Vines rained down.

Later they even ran into a small beast tide, fought a baffling battle, gained not a shred of benefit, and on top of that lost several carriages' worth of goods.

Now, hearing Shen Yao's blunt retort, Lu Yan also felt some doubt; he warned the servants driving the carriages to watch the outside closely, yet also felt that nearing Jin Jue City, the surrounding wilderness might not bring trouble.

Compared to the south, where vegetation is lush and strange beasts and plants abound, the west is mostly endless desert wasteland; here the most common thing is useless yellow sand. Strange beasts and plants that can survive this terrain are few, and because the environment is harsh they are even harder to encounter.

Generally speaking, passing caravans only need to be careful and cautious to avoid problems.

"But that's only high probability, not absolute," the System tsked several times, then gloated that trouble had arrived for them. "Just three li out, a large swath of Red Jade Ants is charging straight at you."

Red Jade Ants, a strange beast most common in the desert, live in colonies. They are named for being the size of an adult's palm, entirely red like jade.

The Red Jade Ants' greatest ability is their boundless, endless numbers. They usually swarm prey, injecting released toxins into the prey's body before devouring it.

The best way to deal with Red Jade Ants is to burn them with fierce fire or spray them with water.

Red Jade Ants fear fire and dread water; unless one has a contracted beast with such abilities, relying solely on one's own means basically only allows fleeing for one's life.

Barely moments after the System's words fell, the carriages stopped. A servant reported the Red Jade Ants' appearance to Lu Yan inside, trembling.

The Flaming Lion had already flown out of the carriage, instantly growing large and positioning itself between the Red Jade Ants and the caravan.

Aside from the ordinary people with no means, those Fan Family members heading to Jin Jue City to join Fan Sheng also drew weapons, standing shoulder to shoulder facing outward.

Like a red carpet covering the originally sand-yellow land, they advanced from afar, magnificent and dangerous.

Shen Yao pushed open the window and glanced out, instantly disgusted by the Red Jade Ants.

"Too ugly."

Although their all-red bodies are quite imposing, ants' features have always been somewhat abstract; moreover, Red Jade Ants magnify the original ant body a hundredfold. Shen Yao's vision is excellent, so the visual assault on her senses after the enlargement is unimaginable.

Boom!

Roar!

Rumble—!

The caravan had contracted beasts that produce water daily, but those were the entry tickets to Jin Jue City. Jin Jue City lies farthest west, surrounded by desert on all sides; without them, one cannot move an inch.

The little beast, transformed into a palm-sized cyan dolphin shape, nestled securely in Shen Yao's arms. Its value far exceeds that of ordinary items.

Shen Yao raised a hand to lightly stroke the sea beast's head, then fed it two Spirit Jades as snacks. Outside, the Flaming Lion and Gale Wolf had long since unleashed their cool skills and engaged the Red Jade Ants.

The stirred wind whipped ground sand into an all-encompassing sandstorm, rolling up countless Red Jade Ants — like a ruby magnified many times over.

A lethal stream of fire shot forth, striking the sandstorm's center with precision. The scorching heat ignited the Red Jade Ants inside, and a reek mixing cooked-meat fragrance and bloody stench rushed over.

Shen Yao: …

Shen Yao covered her mouth and nose with a backhand motion. The dolphin beast in her arms also buried its round head into her embrace. Lu Yan took from his Ring Space an array artifact humming with energy fluctuations; as it was deployed at the four corners of the carriage, fresh air once again filled the entire space.

Phew—

Finally survived!

Shen Yao shook the little beast in her hand happily, then sneakily moved her head toward the window, watching the battle and commenting on the situation.

Occasionally, when the mood struck, she would slowly raise the little beast to her eye level, matching the baby-talk sounds from its mouth, and the two — one person, one beast — chatted animatedly.

The Red Jade Ants were like tireless, unwearying puppets. Even as batch after batch were killed, they still charged without the slightest hesitation.

The Flaming Lion and Gale Wolf had to keep releasing their skills to attack. Unlike the others around who could take turns resting, as the main offensive beasts, the two of them ended up exhausted, tongues lolling.

"Retreat."

Lu Yan gave the order. The originally stationary carriages slowly turned around, not stopping until the red jade-like figures behind them could no longer be seen.

This is the nearest route to Jin Jue City; even with Red Jade Ants intercepting, they cannot change routes. Fortunately, although Red Jade Ants are vast in number, where they survive there are no other strange beasts. As long as they solve this Red Jade Ant trouble, they are one step closer to Jin Jue City.

"Treat it as cultivation tempering. The danger in Jin Jue City is no less than the surroundings. If you can't even handle Red Jade Ants, you'll likely be helpless on the Jin Jue City side too."

Lu Yan's words were ugly and direct. Fan Gui Qi sent this many people to find Fan Sheng precisely hoping they could help Fan Sheng.

If, when push comes to shove, they still need Fan Sheng to protect them, then they need not continue forward; stopping here and returning to Yuan City would at least preserve their lives.

"Weigh it yourselves. When you left, Young Master Fan should have spoken with you. Whatever decision you make, it's your own true intention."

These are not Lu Family personnel; Lu Yan cannot decide their life or death.

Without the Red Jade Ants, he also cannot guarantee there won't be other troubles ahead. If the caravan is attacked and suffers heavy casualties, Lu Yan never promised Fan Gui Qi he would ensure the Fan Family's safety.

The steward in charge of the Fan Family members nodded to Lu Yan, turned, and gathered them all. He had long been prepared, distributing a stack of banknotes holding Spirit Jades one by one. Then, regardless of what these people would do, he left them to their own devices.

Very soon

The few who were hesitating withdrew first, leaving the temporary camp while the sky was still not dark.

This was like a signal; one goes, then two. The dangers on the road are visible, tangible things. Whether they lacked confidence in themselves or simply felt the banknote was thick enough, they didn't want to keep risking their lives… In short, by the time night fully fell, a quarter of this batch of Fan Family members sent by Fan Gui Qi to assist Fan Sheng had already left.

Mhm

This is actually a significant loss of personnel, but compared to retreating before battle or clinging to life on the battlefield, leaving now still has some benefits.

It's just that these people are thinking too simply; their journey here has been unsafe, and even with so many people plus Lu Yan and even Shen Yao taking action they couldn't guarantee zero injuries, so how can their banknotes guarantee they'll return safely to Yuan City, let alone Lian Tang City?

'They cannot guarantee it; likewise, they don't need to return to Yuan City or Lian Tang City.'

Shen Yao thinks the System is thinking too simply, not noticing that few of those leaving have already established families; the vast majority are alone, which can be called a considerably unstable factor — they have no constraints and can act impulsively.

System:...

'Even if they stay in the surrounding cities, with those spirit jades as backing, they can live very well.'

Not everyone pursues power; the vast majority of people work to make a living, the Fan Family gave them a choice, some will consider their future life — leaving now certainly involves danger, but staying to fight to the end might very well result in losing everything.

Of course, for those who already have families, with wives and children or relatives in Yuan City and Lian Tang City, whether they die or not doesn't matter; even if they die, the Fan Family will give the family compensation, and perhaps the family can even live better because of this opportunity.

Propping her chin, staring at the bonfire before her, Shen Yao heard footsteps not far away.

That Fan Family steward came looking for Lu Yan again; the two hid their figures in the night, what they said is unknown, but judging from Lu Yan's expression when he returned, tonight will not be peaceful — they need to prepare in advance.

The bonfire burned, occasionally accompanied by crackling sounds of wood; Shen Yao lay in the carriage sleeping soundly.

Suddenly, a slender black antenna poked its head out from the flat ground.

It shook the featureless antenna on its head, bit by bit probing upward along the carriage edge, using gaps to stuff the antenna inside.

In the pitch-black environment nothing could be seen; the antenna rustled about probing everywhere, until the antenna tip bumped into something soft.

Hm?

Pfft!

Antenna:...???

"What are you?"

At some unknown time, Shen Yao had already opened her eyes, holding a talisman paper used for illumination, staring unblinkingly at the antenna crawling in.

The antenna couldn't move even if it wanted to; it didn't even know how it had been exposed — clearly the whole camp had fallen into deep sleep, that large swath of Red Jade Ants killed in daytime wasn't for nothing, the sleeping drug that could knock out an entire city had been absorbed into everyone's bodies, they simply couldn't wake up.

Relying on this masterful skill, the antenna didn't know how many ignorant people it had dealt with; they all ultimately became nutrients for the antenna's improvement, eaten clean.

"Devouring Spirit Worm? No. Blood-Killing Firefly? No. Spirit-Devouring Vine? Not that either."

Shen Yao was still there analyzing what exactly this antenna was, having already used divine sense to examine every inch of the antenna's body — just by appearance it was thumb-thick and no longer than an adult's arm.

Creature?

Doesn't seem like a creature either? More like a pieced-together test subject, headless and tailless.

Not directly touching this weird thing that crawled into the carriage compartment, Shen Yao used a technique to lift this short-rope-like creature in midair, scrutinized it for a good while, then suddenly realized.

Oh

Found it!

The originally quiet camp became clamorous; all the sleeping people were like they'd been suddenly startled awake.

Lu Yan's face was gloomy; the others looked around in a panic; only he went first to Shen Yao's carriage compartment to confirm safety, then went to find the Fan Family steward — the one he had never suspected, but who was now the most suspicious.

"Hiss, how did you discover it?"

Lu Yan didn't find anyone in the steward's carriage compartment; Shen Yao had already tied the person up and thrown them before Lu Yan.

Lu Yan:...

"Feels like the mind has already been influenced," Shen Yao tossed the short rope in midair to Lu Yan, "This thing is weird; if we encounter it later, we might not be able to guard against it."

This is a parasite; the steward has one such rope on him, normally hiding inside the steward's head, having already hollowed out the steward's head.

Lu Yan pinched the middle of the short rope, then viciously pinched the middle position.

A silent fluctuation transmitted between the two parasites; the bound steward on the ground had a ferocious expression, a section of antenna faintly visible wriggling in his wide-open mouth.

Shen Yao:...

Not to be dramatic, but it's really a bit sanity-draining.

Shen Yao didn't want to see these things, hugged the little beast in her arms and left.

Anyway the culprit has been found; the rest can be completely left to Lu Yan — Shen Yao hasn't slept peacefully all night, she definitely needs a good rest.

Early the next morning

The entire temporary camp began to move.

Lu Yan didn't dispose of the steward, but used the parasite in his hand to continuously probe the safety level of the whole camp.

Sure enough

He discovered a few more invaded parasites; not as severe as the steward, but already showing faint signs of controlled thoughts.

Lu Yan could only first dispose of the parasites; since it involved the brain, there would definitely be some pain; fortunately everyone could still understand — no one wants to end up neither human nor ghost.

"Fan, how did Steward Fan do it?" They wouldn't be alone together normally; finding a chance to strike wouldn't be easy.

"Those banknotes given yesterday," some had been tampered with, some were normal.

Lu Yan didn't bother thinking about the people who took banknotes and left; because once those people are hit, unless they run into a big shot with the same mindset as Shen Yao, it's very hard to detect.

As for making Lu Yan turn back to find them? Not to mention whether they can be found smoothly after a whole night, just the time they'd waste isn't cost-effective.

Lu Yan could only do his best to write letters to everyone warning of this parasite's danger; fortunately these parasites are relatively fragile and die easily, only wanting to parasitize cultivators, not interested in ordinary people.

"Let's go, be extra careful this time; Red Jade Ants carry a sleeping drug, be cautious with positioning when attacking."

The carriage once again drove away from the original place, heading toward the domain where Red Jade Ants appeared yesterday.

Repeating like this for several days, as the Red Jade Ants completely disappeared without a trace, they finally managed to continue forward.