"Not on my watch!" Li Chengfeng roared, erecting a massive mana barrier. Blue fire crashed against it, melting the shield away layer by layer. But he poured more and said coldly. "Xue'er, finish it."
Li Xue clenched her fists, hesitating for a moment while glancing at Lin Fang, but in the end, she ordered in a trembling voice. "Betty, kill it! Go all out."
The white-furred cat vanished from her shoulder in an instant. In the blink of an eye, it reappeared high above the Pegasus.
The beast stopped its breath attack and looked up, sensing danger.
But it is already too late.
Betty opened her jaws and exhaled a freezing gale. Frost spread instantly, freezing the Pegasus into a statue of ice. In the next heartbeat, the little creature gathered a sphere of blinding white energy and unleashed it.
BOOM!
The frozen Pegasus shattered into countless glittering shards, dissolving into nothing.
The battle Lin Fang painstakingly fought, even with the help of Li Chengfeng, was finished by Betty in a moment.
Silence fell, both in the room and in Lin Fang's mind. The only sound Lin Fang could hear was his own ragged breathing and a notification as its spirit was absorbed into his body.
[+1 Infernal Pegasus spirit has been absorbed by Nemesis' will]
[Infernal Pegasus spirit is converted into 10,000 common-grade spirits.]
In the end, he gritted his teeth, slamming his fist into the ground. "Damn it…"
The ride back was quiet, but not the same silence as before. This time it seemed quite heavier.
Lin Fang sat in the passenger seat with his arms crossed, staring outside the window. Not once did he speak as if he were thinking deeply. On what matter, only he knows.
In the backseat, Li Xue leaned forward slightly, her eyes never leaving him. She could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands clenched unconsciously. Worry clouded her chest, but she stayed silent, sensing that words might only worsen his mood.
At the wheel, Li Chengfeng stole glances to the side. He, too, noticed Lin Fang's frustration but chose not to speak.
An hour later, they arrived at the guild. The vehicle slowed to a halt, headlights bathing the entrance in pale light.
Lin Fang opened the door and stepped out calmly. He faced them briefly. "I'll return tomorrow."
Before he could turn away, Li Xue called out softly, "Lin Fang."
He paused, turning slightly to her. With a nod, he said. "I didn't forget the promise. I'll meet your brothers for dinner."
Li Xue shook her head. "That isn't why I called."
Her gaze met his in concern. "I just wanted to ask… are you sure you don't want to check with the doctor? You were hit pretty badly."
Lin Fang shook his head with a forced smile, "Regarding that, you don't have to worry about it. I guess the Nemesis' spirit took care of it. I feel perfectly alright."
Li Chengfeng nodded at that. "That's good. It means your body is slowly getting synchronized with the spirit king."
Li Xue, however, said. "Still, it would be better to visit the hospital once." Before Lin Fang reacted to it, she further said, almost after hesitating for a moment. "Also, regarding the dungeon, that monster was far stronger than you. It wasn't something you could have handled. Even Uncle couldn't have trapped it with his mana ropes after it had evolved into a Spirit King. And don't forget, there are countless dungeons out there. You'll have more chances to connect with Nemesis."
For a moment, Lin Fang said nothing. Then he let out a long breath, lowering his shoulders slightly. "I know. I'm just… angry at myself. Angry for being too weak."
Li Chengfeng spoke again, but this time in a firm tone. "Lin Fang, the fact that you could even fight it is already a miracle."
"Uncle…" Li Xue raised her voice slightly, almost in protest, as though she wanted him not to make it worse by such statements.
As Li Chengfeng only pressed his lips together and fell silent again, Li Xue said. "Don't worry about it. You are now a member of the Zero guild. You will go into more and more dungeons in the future. And also, you don't have to come for dinner. I already have a plan to send them away for now. No need to trouble yourself."
Lin Fang managed a faint, forced smile. He gave a small bow, "Thank you. I'll take my leave."
With one last glance, he pulled away from the guild, riding his motorcycle.
*
Two days later, in a luxury suite nestled on the top floor of a five-star hotel in Longjiang City of Southern Wu Nation, the sheets looked to be in disarray. Heavy breathing and lusty moans filled the room.
Shang Wei leaned back against the headboard with his chest glistening with sweat and his fingers tangled in the hair of the beauty lying beside him. But just as she arched again with a pleased moan, a sudden mechanical chime echoed from the suite's private door, interrupting their intimacy time.
Ding-dong!
Both of them froze. The woman couldn't help but let out a dissatisfied groan and collapsed on the bed. Her voice muffled into the pillow. "Ignore it…"
Shang Wei chuckled wryly instead. "Can't. I'm expecting something important."
He slipped on his robe and padded across the marble floor toward the door. A drone hovered outside, carrying a sealed crate with NovaMart's golden delivery emblem.
The drone's mechanical voice announced as it scanned his presence: "Special Delivery for Verified Buyer: Shang Wei. Please confirm receipt."
Shang Wei pressed the biometric scanner. The crate clicked. The moment his fingerprint was accepted, the drone displayed:
[Delivery Confirmed. Thank you for shopping with NovaMart.]
With that, the drone turned and zipped away into the night sky.
Shang Wei brought the crate inside and placed it on the coffee table. The woman, now wrapped in her silk robe, sat up eagerly as her eyes caught sight of the softly glowing seal. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yup." Shang Wei nodded as he unlocked the crate. The lid rose with a mechanical hiss, revealing six neatly nestled Direwolf eggs, each one looking slightly different. They all have the basic look, white on top and black on the bottom, but according to their element, their overall appearance changed. For example, the luminous direwolf egg had a golden swirl design, the Electral Direwolf egg had lightning-shaped marks all over, the shadow direwolf egg had dark cloud imprints on the egg, etc…
"All six variants are here, including the new Shadow variant and Hydro variant," Shang Wei murmured.
The woman's eyes widened. "Whoa, I was originally skeptical about it and thought you were being scammed, but it seems he is the real deal. So, how do you want to play this?" She asked curiously.
"Wait, let me scan it first," Shang Wei said cautiously, pulling out his bioscanner from the nearby drawer.
With a beep, the device displayed the results in a floating window. One after another, he confirmed their elements and King Tier potential. In the end, he let out a low whistle in satisfaction. "Definitely authentic."
"And you got it for only 240,000 credits," the woman grinned, ignoring his amazement. "That's a steal."
"Cheap?" Shang Wei nearly choked, speaking to himself in his head. "Lady, that's expensive as hell. These eggs alone cost that much… now think of what it'll take to raise it—trainer, license fees, habitat…"
The woman grinned again, "Well, it is not like you are the one who will raise it, and your clients were all wealthy enough to afford that much. Why do you worry about it?"
Shang Wei sighed, dropping his shoulders. "That's right. But I was just worried about how many products this seller had. The rarer monster eggs are, the higher value we can assign to them. I need to meet this seller as fast as… Hmm?"
Before he finished those words, something caught his eye. The crate didn't seem completely empty. At the bottom of the crate, a small rectangular card was lying there.
He picked it up. "Hmm? A business card?"