Chapter 255: Stunned Speechless

“Yi Tong, did you see Xiahou Chengqin’s face? It’s so much better than just killing her off.” Cecily received a picture from Yi Tong, and her voice sounded satisfied. Her mood was refreshed, seeing Xiahou Chengqin in this state for the first time. It was worth it, waiting for this moment.

Glancing at Cecily from the corner of his eyes, Yi Tong didn’t say anything. He didn’t know how the Cecily that was usually noble and hot-tempered could become like this.

Even though her temper was still the same, the noble air around her was no longer there, and she was also talking a lot more.

Yi Tong didn’t know what went wrong—what had happened for Cecily to become like this?

“That’s right, how come I don’t see Qiao Qiao today?” Cecily suddenly recalled. “Isn’t she heading back to the capital? And I haven’t seen Jiji all day either.”

It was unusual to not hear Jiji’s mechanical sound for a day.

Yi Tong fiddled with the compass in his hand, answering with an indifferent tone, “Miss Gu has gone back to the capital with Big Boss.”

“I didn’t see the flying blade go out.” Cecily was afraid that Gu Xiqiao would sneak away someday, just like how she sneaked away from Baixing Village the other day. Manager Liu would have probably jumped when he found that Gu Xiqiao had gone missing.

“They walked out of the desert, not using any tools.” Yi Tong said, glancing at Cecily with sympathy in his eyes.

If it was anyone else that had heard Yi Tong’s word, they would definitely think he was nuts. Who would go out into the desert with nothing but the clothes on their back? But it was one of their people, so it wasn’t anything strange, it was just like taking a trip, nothing strange at all.

What Cecily was sad about was the fact that Gu Xiqiao had slipped away right under her nose!

How could this be!

“She didn’t take me along to play!” Cecily’s scream echoed through the skies.

Yi Tong glanced at her again, before moving away from her. He moved away from her, at least ten meters, ignoring her.

***

In the depths of the desert.

“Shi Yi! Be careful, your back!” A young man looked at his partner in the pit, shouting out.

There was a large pit in front of him, and there were tons of man-eating plants covered in black mist in it. The boy called Shi Yi was being rolled up by the plants, the corroding liquid dripping from their vines. The young boy pulled out a short blade from his boot. “Shi Yi, relax your body. This monster is afraid of steel, catch it!”

He threw the blade into the pit, which was caught by Shi Yi.

“Old Jiu.” Another man that was standing by the pit took his own short blade from his boot, his eyes red. “OId Ba has been eaten by the monster for the sake of saving us, I can’t just stand and watch as it eats Shi Yi too!”

“Together now.” Shi Er looked at Shi Yi, who was wrapped up by the man-eating plant, and pulled out another blade. “I was chosen together with Shi Yi into Boss Ying’s team, I won’t return with one man short!”

The other three had also pulled out their short blades, a determined and savage expression on their faces. “This d*mn thing has been following us all the way, eating one each day. If we don’t make a stand today, we’ll probably be eaten sooner or later.”

The fear of this monster was turning into a blazing fighting spirit instead.

“Kill!’

“Avenge Old Ba!”

The remaining people by the side of the pit jumped in with a mad expression on their faces. They picked up the steel daggers, cutting into the vines.

The vines that filled the skies disappeared suddenly at this time, shrinking back into the sand. Even Shi Yi, who was about to be devoured, was dropped.

“What’s going on?” Shi Yi got up in a daze. He wiped the disgusting mucus off him as much as he could, almost throwing up in the process. “Why did that monster disappear suddenly?”

“I don’t know, but let’s get out of here, and leave this godforsaken place,” Old Jiu crawled out from the pit as he said that. “If that monster recovers, we don’t stand a chance!”

Hearing those words, the five of them started to climb out of the pit in a hurry. They were in a frenzy and weren’t afraid just now, but the fear had returned with the adrenaline gone from their body.

“Was the monster afraid, seeing how desperate we were?” Shi Er was the first out of the pit, and he said this jokingly.

“No way.” Old Jiu shook his head. “Let’s just leave first.”

“Old Jiu, look, there are people!” Shi Yi exclaimed, almost out of the pit, seeing two figures not far off from them.

They didn’t expect that there would be others in the desert, and the team felt that it was a bit strange. They waited for the two to come closer, and it wasn’t long before they were in front of them.

It was afternoon in the desert, and the two approached them slowly. A man and a woman. The man was dressed in a snow-white shirt, his face as cold as ice, looking extremely majestic. As they got closer, it felt like the heat of the desert became fainter as the air got colder

The girl beside him was even more eye-catching and beautiful, seemingly surrounded in a faint mist. She nodded her head slightly, a soft smile on her face, and it felt like flowers sprouting from underneath snow, radiant like the soft light of a crescent moon peeking from behind the darkness.

Old Jiu and the others, who had been in a panic and ready to run for their life, calmed down significantly, staring at the two in shock. It was like they were in a dream.

“Hello, where is this place?” The girl smiled brightly at them as she asked.

It took a long while before Old Jiu was able to react. “Miss, how are you both here?” The main point was… their clothes were so clean and neat, no trace of sand or dirt was on it, and they didn’t look like they had walked through the desert at all.

“We came out on a private jet and stopped to look at the scenery. I didn’t expect to get lost after that, and can’t find the plane. Could we walk with you?”

Saying that, the girl patted the robot beside her. “I’m from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in A University, this is my graduation project.”

Jiji: “…” Does Professor Jiang know about this, Beauty Qiao?

Old Jiu looked at the meal card that Gu Xiqiao pulled out from her pocket, and instantly believed her.

They had thought that the two didn’t look like regular people, but hearing Gu Xiqiao’s explanation, Old Jiu was not suspicious of them anymore. Having a private jet, it looked like a spoiled child from a rich family.

Seeing that this group of special forces people actually believe in Gu Xiqiao’s bullsh*t, Jiji didn’t have anything more to say to that, and so it didn’t. But it did give Old Jiu a long look with its cold, mechanical eyes.

Old Jiu wiped his face in slight nervousness, he could actually feel a look of contempt coming from the robot. Was the robot sentient?

Gu Xiqiao introduced herself and Jiang Shuxuan in a friendly tone, and Jiu Tong and his team did the same.

From Old Jiu to Shi Si, there were six of them. With Old Jiu as the lead, they said that they were bodyguards. They had come to the desert to protect their employers, but had been separated from them during the journey.

“It’s fortunate that you met us.” Shi Yi walked in front of the two, he had initially reached out to pat Gu XIqiao on the shoulder like he usually did to his team, but before he could touch her, a cold glare stopped him. He pulled back his hand hurriedly, and huffed, “You don’t know how weird this desert is…”

Before he could finish, Shi Er covered his mouth.

Gu Xiqiao didn’t mind his action, for them to willingly take the two ‘burdens’ was already a surprise to her.

When evening approached, Old Jiu, who was leading the group suddenly shouted, “Careful! That thing is back again!”

The group got into a defensive formation immediately, drawing their daggers, looking around warily.

Gu Xiqiao leaped into Jiang Shuxuan’s arms immediately, stuttering and trembling. “W-what’s… coming?”

Jiang Shuxuan was also looking around, looking slightly alarmed.

Jiji: “…” You’re being so overly dramatic, Beauty Qiao.

Shi Yi and Jiu had no time to take care of Gu Xiqiao. At this time, the sand beneath their feet was also surging, and three giant ants burst out from underneath!

“If you guys don’t want to die, then make sure you hold on to this properly.” Shi Er threw a knife at Jiang Shuxuan, seeing the shocked look on their faces, he shouted sharply. “If an ant comes close, just stab it!”

Jiang Shuxuan caught the blades clumsily, his hands trembling. He looked as though he was afraid of the three ants, his head lowered.

When in fact, he was talking leisurely to Gu Xiqiao at the same time.

“Brother Jiang, how can such big ants live?” Gu Xiqiao’s eyes were full of interest.

Jiang Shuxuan squinted slightly. “They grew up in a nest filled with malicious aura. It’s almost the same as Xixi.”

“Oh, no wonder.” Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “What’s the meat quality of such a big ant, I wonder?”

While they talked, the sand beneath their feet started moving. It turned out that there was a fourth ant, getting ready to launch a sneak attack on Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao.

“Shh, don’t come for us.” Gu Xiqiao raised her foot and lightly tapped the bottom. She had been planning on just chasing the ant away, but after that one tap, the sand underneath them stilled. She scratched her nose. “… I think I used too much strength, oops.”

It was dead after such a light tap? The corners of Gu Xiqiao’s mouth twitched.

Jiang Shuxuan reached up to cover his mouth as he tried not to laugh.

Suddenly, the ant that was on Shi Yi and Shi Er barged toward Gu Xiqiao’s direction. She immediately picked the dagger from Jiang Shuxuan’s hand, cutting off the front legs of the ant with one swipe. Placing Jiang Shuxuan behind her, she plastered a horrified expression on her face, her eyes wide. Even her hands were trembling.

Jiji sat beside her, looking on with a disinterested expression. As expected of a shadow queen in the acting industry.

We’ll be watching her play out the entire afternoon.

“Miss Gu, you’re amazing!” Shi Yi quickly pulled the ant’s attention away to himself, and gave Gu Xiqiao a thumbs up. At the same time, he gave a contemptuous look to Jiang Shuxuan, who was behind her.

Old Jiu, Shi Wu and the rest had all gone through vigorous training, and they were able to cooperate seamlessly, finally killing off the three ants with difficulty.

The six of them sat down, panting for air.

Gu Xiqiao opened Jiji’s chest, and took out a pot of water. As she helped Jiang Shuxuan rinse the blood off his hands, she asked in a horrified voice, “What were those things? Is the world ending?”

If her hands weren’t still and calm, she might have shown some flaws that can be seen by Jiji.

But Old Jiu’s group had just been fighting for their lives, and were trying to catch their breath, none of them noticed Gu Xiqiao’s state, just giving a contemptuous glance at Jiang Shuxuan every now and then. They didn’t expect such a tall, noble looking man was actually a coward that hid behind a woman!

What’s worse, the man wasn’t ashamed of it, but actually looked proud!

Shi Yi really wanted to give him a punch to his face!

Hearing Gu Xiqiao’s words, he came back to himself. Seeing that Old Jiu had no intentions of answering, he started to speak. “Just as you’ve seen, this is the strangest part of the entire desert. This god d*mn place doesn’t even have a signal, and there’s so many weird things. Not only these ants, there’s also skeletons and man-eating plants…”

“How can those things exist? I thought they were only found in science fiction and movies!” Gu Xiqiao’s face was shocked, but she was calmly washing her own hands.

“It’s not science fiction.” Old Jiu took a mouth of water, his voice rough and low. “There’s a lot of secrets in this world that regular people like us don’t know about. When I was with the captain last time, I once met people with supernatural powers. They are able to fly in the sky and do impossible feats.”

“Is that really true, Old Jiu?” Shi Yi had never heard about this before, and his eyes were full of fright.

“Yeah.” Old Jiu’s eyes were lost in thought. “When I was training with the captain and some others, one of the senior members of the camp was from this supernatural circle.”

When he heard this, Jiang Shuxuan paused, squinting his eyes slightly at Old Jiu. After a while, he lowered his head, not saying a world.

Hearing Old Jiu describe the supernatural person, everyone’s face was filled with a cross of horror and amazement.

They didn’t imagine that by coming to the desert, they would hear such things.

“After so many years since then, I’ve not met another one.” Old Jiu sighed. “All of this isn’t something regular people like us will be able to touch.”

The rest of them stopped talking, immersing themselves into the world that Old Jiu had described.

The group didn’t run into trouble for the next few days, and the journey was strangely quiet.

Shi Yi once again saw Gu Xiqiao washing her hands with water. Who the heck would wash their hands in the desert with water? If it was the last time, Shi Yi would definitely ridicule this action fiercely. In his eyes, this was just the actions of someone seeking death. However, in the past few days, Shi Yi realized something and was completely speechless, because the water that the two had looked like was never ending.

Even the drinking water for the six of them were provided by her.

They had even taken a shower and washed their clothes with the water she provided, and their bodies felt refreshed from it.

This was the first time they had been so comfortable in their journey in the desert.

The youngest of the group, Shi Wu, couldn’t help but praise and admire her, “This robot that you invented is amazing, Miss Gu.”

The explanation that Gu Xiqiao gave them was that Jiji could combine the water molecules in the air which could then be condensed into water.

Jiji: Look at her, talking bullsh*t again, did it have this function? Did it?!

On the last day, when everyone was about to reach the oasis, the sand beneath their feet began to rumble violently, and then it slowly started sinking inward.

“They’re here again.” Old Jiu’s face paled drastically. “This is bad, everyone, get ready to make your stand!”

“Can’t believe that they appeared on the last day.” Shi Yi’s face was a desperate look.

Shi Wu leaned down to grab his short blade from his boots. The blade reflected the sun ray, glowing coldly under it. “Even if we die, we need to make sure to hurt it. To avenge Old Ba!”

The sand under his feet sank in, forming a huge pit. At the same time, a terrifying atmosphere gradually spread over the entire area.

A huge man-eating flower slowly emerged from the middle, its green vines swaying up. The flower was covered with a black mist.

The green vines enclosed around the eight people standing.

If any regular people were to see this scene, they would definitely faint out of fear and horror.

“It’s become even stronger.” Old Jiu leaned over to pull out his own dagger, a cold glint in his eyes. “We may not be able to escape this time.”

“Miss Gu, if you can run, just run.” Shi Yi flashed Gu Xiqiao a smile, waving the dagger in his hand. “But they’ve already got human intelligence, so I fear that you may not be able to escape.”

“Sh*t, we have to at least get a layer of skin off!”

“When we meet Old Ba again, we’ll give him that in exchange!”

The six of them set off without saying anything more, the tactics and strategy clear in their minds as they moved.

“I didn’t expect this thing to still be alive, Brother Jiang.” Gu Xiqiao had a calm look on her face, completely unlike the panic expression on the six of them. “Hmm, it seems to have evolved too. That’s interesting.”

“You want to go?” Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head to look at her.

Gu Xiqiao nodded.

He rubbed her head gently. “Be careful.”

“It just so happens that the treasure you gave me last time have yet to be used, I can try it out this time.” Gu Xiqiao looked up to see the plant that was intending to play around with the six of them.

Old Jiu and the others were fighting desperately against it.

A dreadful pressure filled the pit suddenly, one that was more terrifying than the previous one.

Shi Yi, who was trapped by a vine, looked down with difficulty, astonishment on his face.

Old Jiu, Lao Shi, Shi Yi, Shi Er, Shi San, and Shi Wu all turned, looking at their backs with fear on their faces, as well as disbelief.

Gu Xiqiao had already stepped forward, six golden needles surrounding her that radiated with bright light. Every needle exuded a frightening aura.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

The six needles flew out, instantly severing the six vines that were holding the men. The needles cut through the extremely hard vines like a knife on butter, and the six of them fell to the ground safely.

Gu Xiqiao raised her head slowly, looking at the man-eating plant that had doubled in size since the last time. She chuckled lightly and said, “How ’bout I play with you instead?”

The gold light burst forth after she said that, and the needles flew out one after another, slicing through everything in its way.

“This… this is…”

“Supernatural…”

“Oh my god…”

“It’s simply…”

Shi Yi and the others watch the scene in front of them, stunned speechless. They were in complete shock, not moving from where they had dropped at all.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep