After she produced the metallic hydrogen sample, those people had no intention of letting her go. She made a deal with another local faction and escaped by the skin of her teeth, only to discover that she had been expelled from the university two years prior.
When she returned home in disgrace, she learned that her mother had suffered a fatal heart attack two years ago upon hearing of her disappearance, and had already passed to another world.
Then that man had the audacity to stand before her, speaking in a condescending tone, telling her that all the ordeals she had endured over the past two and a half years had been with his tacit approval.
Now that she had passed his first test, she had qualified to become his heir. If she agreed to return, he would help resolve all her difficulties, including the degree she wanted most.
He didn't understand at all - what she wanted was never just a certificate. Everything she had wanted had been destroyed by him.
What she wanted most now was his life!
Luo Wei's eyes snapped open, her right hand instantly gripping the throat of the figure before her.
The skin under her hand was smooth and cold, and her fingertips sank deep into it.
Wisps of bloody mist drifted from the wound, quickly dispersing in the murky water.
In Luo Wei's eyes reflected two hollow sockets, their sunken depths pitch black, devoid of any light.
The face before her was deathly still, its pale skin covered with a grayish tinge, seaweed-like blue hair floating freely behind its head.
Luo Wei's fingers loosened as her gaze traveled downward, landing on a rotting fish tail with missing scales.
A dead mermaid?
She released her grip, about to distance herself from the mermaid's corpse, when the undead mermaid suddenly extended its sharp-clawed hand, clutching her arm and turning to swim upward.
With a splash, Luo Wei broke through the surface, the rushing water forcing her eyes shut.
The grip on her arm suddenly vanished. Luo Wei opened her eyes to find herself immersed in a hot spring, surrounded by thick green grass along its edges. Steam rose from the water's surface, obscuring the distant view.
Looking around, she saw the undead mermaid had vanished - everything that had just happened seemed like a dream.
Luo Wei frowned as she swam toward the edge. Upon reaching the shore, she summoned Nicole with a thought.
She first sent Nicole to check for dangers on shore. Only after the spider returned, waving its pedipalps twice in her direction, did she grab the grass at the edge and climb up.
However, as soon as she raised her head after climbing ashore, she saw an elderly woman standing on stone steps in the distance, her cloudy eyes fixed unblinkingly upon her.
Luo Wei: ...
Nicole, you'd make an excellent scout for the enemy army.
She held her breath, unsure if the other person had truly seen her.
One of the three taboos of the Demon Sea was to avoid making sound - perhaps if she stayed silent, the other wouldn't notice her presence.
"What's your name, little one?" the old woman's hoarse voice called in her direction.
Luo Wei kept her mouth tightly shut.
But the little spider suddenly bounced up like a rubber ball, making over a dozen jumps to reach the stone steps, then leaped again to land on the old woman's shoulder.
The old woman tilted her head to listen for a while, as if truly hearing the spider speak, and muttered to herself: "Your name is Nicole? Oh, what a lovely name. You like it very much? Oh, is that so?"
As she spoke, she glanced at Luo Wei, her cloudy gray eyes seeming to light up as she tapped the stone floor with her walking stick made from a tree root.
"Come here, young lady. I don't eat people."
"As you can see, I'm just an aged witch."
Luo Wei looked at her suspiciously, refusing to take a step forward.
"No need to be so tense, child. You can speak here," the elderly witch said patiently. "Those who emerge from there all harbor unresolved hatred. Perhaps you seek revenge?"
"Come, follow me. Let's talk properly inside. It's been half a year since I've seen another person!"
The witch beckoned to Luo Wei and, without waiting to see if she would follow, turned and walked deeper into the winding stone steps.
Nicole turned halfway around on the witch's shoulder, watching Luo Wei with its large black eyes, as if curious why she wasn't following.
Luo Wei bit her lip - she had raised this spider for nothing!
After careful consideration, she followed.
The witch walked unhurriedly along the stone path, with Luo Wei maintaining a distance of ten paces behind her. They followed the gently sloping, winding steps until they reached a small wooden cabin surrounded by a fence.
Luo Wei's pupils contracted when she saw what was inside the fence, and she stopped at the bottom of the last step.
Eight mercenaries stood in the yard, their eyes open with enraptured expressions, like puppets whose souls had been controlled. Their hair and clothes were still dripping water - they must have just emerged from the sea.
But how were they here? Where was Troy?
The witch opened the fence gate and, noticing Luo Wei's heavy gaze on the mercenaries, raised her graying eyebrows: "Did you come together?"
Luo Wei finally spoke: "What happened to them?"
"Oh, they're fine. They're dreaming - Staci has woven them a nightmare. Once they wake, they'll be thrown back to the shore."
The witch entered the yard, tapping the mercenaries' shoulders and legs with her walking stick: "Good physical condition. They should be able to swim out, as long as they don't keep thinking about coming back to find something."
So this was the truth behind "don't look back," Luo Wei thought with mixed emotions.
"Is Staci the mermaid who brought me here?"
"Staci? Oh yes, she's an undead mermaid, dead for over a thousand years," the witch said, shakily walking toward the cabin door. "Come in, young lady, and tell me how you became a necromancer."
Luo Wei cautiously entered the fence but stopped at these words: "I'm a necromancer?"
"Aren't you?" the witch said. "You have an affinity for dark elements and can summon the undead. I thought you knew you were a necromancer."
Luo Wei nodded: "Then I am."
She followed the witch into the small cabin, where she saw baskets of herbs and various animal bones.
Either Demon Island had rich biodiversity, or there were people who regularly traveled between the island and the outside world. Otherwise, there couldn't be so many items.
Either possibility suggested this wasn't an isolated island.
The witch lit the stove fire and had Luo Wei sit on a wooden stool, pouring her a cup of black herbal medicine.
"Drink, child. It won't make you sick."
Luo Wei lifted the cup and sniffed - a bitter herbal smell.
This was quite remarkable - in the Western Plains, people used herbal medicines for enemas, but the witch brewed herb porridge for drinking.
She pretended to take a sip as the elderly witch sitting opposite stroked her walking stick and spoke: "Young lady, tell me your story. Where did you come from, and why have you come here?"
"By the Necromancer God above, Demon Island is no good place. There are only undead and dark creatures here. If humans are tainted by the darkness here, they will be devoured by magical beasts."
Luo Wei chose her words carefully: "To be honest, I come from the Misty Plains."
"In our Misty Plains, witches are a highly respected profession, so when I learned that people in the Western Plains fear and persecute witches, I felt very distressed."
"I heard there were witches on Demon Island, so I came to see. If there are still bloodlines of Western witches remaining, we in the Misty Plains are willing to accept them."
"Lies!" The elderly witch suddenly gripped her walking stick tightly, her cloudy eyes flashing with sharp light. "I see in your eyes that you're lying."
"You didn't come looking for witches. Tell me your true purpose!"
Luo Wei paused, setting down the herbal medicine: "Perhaps... do you believe in the Necromancer God?"
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