98: Chapter 98 Let's Go Together

Zhen Lu tried to move his fingers, and his knuckles twitched a few times.

The heat inside his body was spreading rapidly, converging from his limbs toward his core, as if something were slowly being released from within.

The three women stood in the dark green firelight, their shadows stretched long and faint, projected onto the iron cages and stone walls behind them.

In the basement, only the low whimpers of the beasts and the crisp crackling of the candle wicks on the walls remained.

Shirley stood by the iron cage, her tail swaying gently behind her, her tone carrying a hint of teasing playfulness.

"I'll add some entertainment for you."

She raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

The lid of the iron cage holding the beasts suddenly sprang open.

The two beasts, starved for who knows how long, let out low roars simultaneously, struggling to rush out, but their necks were firmly locked deep within the cages by heavy iron chains.

The moment they lunged forward, their heads and upper bodies remained trapped in the cage, but their legs swung out first.

The cage door slammed down behind them, pinning the two beasts.

Their heads were inside, their legs outside, and their two hind legs kicked wildly on the ground.

"These are all females."

Shirley turned around, her tone airy,

"Be careful in a while, don't get scratched."

"Stinking skeleton, daring to trick me, I'll play you to death. Hmph."

She tilted her head toward Su Yunxiu and Su Yunli, the three of them chuckled, then turned and walked toward the stone steps.

Zhen Lu's body remained frozen in place, but his mouth could still move.

Watching their backs, he suddenly spoke:

"Don't you know I have Mental Power?"

He mobilized his Mental Power to perceive his surroundings, but his telekinetic tentacles had barely extended beyond his body before they were blocked by an invisible force.

Faint alchemical runes appeared on every stone brick of the basement walls, connecting into a network that sealed off the entire space.

This was a containment array specifically designed to target the projection of Mental Power.

Shirley stopped and turned back.

"We know. The containment array is carved on the basement walls specifically to lock down telekinesis. Did you think we didn't know your background?"

"Do you think Su Li let you touch her leg for nothing?"

"Besides, even if you have telekinesis, it's useless; you can't kill me either."

She tilted her head and glanced at Su Yunxiu.

Su Yunxiu took over, her tone still that gentle, polite style, but every word felt like slowly twisting a screw into a wound:

"I could be killed by you, but what would be the point? I don't have any valuable skills on me, and can you commit suicide with your telekinesis? If you commit suicide, all this talent of yours will disappear."

The three of them laughed again, their laughter echoing softly in the narrow basement, mingling with the low whimpers from the beasts' throats.

Zhen Lu laughed too.

His laughter wasn't loud, but it was clear enough to make all three of them stop laughing simultaneously.

He looked at Shirley, his voice extremely steady:

"You said it yourself, I have a lot of talent. Do you know what talents I have?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Blessing Resonance was activated.

The original use of this skill was to synchronize positive buffs from one person to their teammates, and that alternative buff Shirley personally concocted was also a buff.

This buff was already deeply entangled with his energy circulation system, and Blessing Resonance identified it and faithfully recognized it as a synchronizable "skill effect."

Consequently, the heat buff winding through his body was synchronously injected into the three targets.

Shirley, Su Yunxiu, and Su Yunli froze at the same instant.

Their bodies felt like they had been filled with lead, and the heat surged outward from inside their blood vessels, exactly the same as what Zhen Lu had experienced just moments before.

Shirley's body swayed violently, and for the first time, cracks appeared in the composure on her face.

She mobilized her energy to try and dispel it, but after trying several times, the heat remained unmoved.

She knew best what she had concocted, and she didn't have an antidote herself.

"You... what did you do?" Shirley's voice finally changed pitch.

Zhen Lu raised his eyes to look at her, his expression cold and calm, forming a sharp contrast to the face that had just said "enjoy yourself."

"There are only the four of us here now. Guess what will happen when it takes effect in a moment?"

Panic appeared on all three of their faces at the same time.

Su Yunli stood by the stone wall, only her fingers had any sensation, she couldn't even clench her fists, and the cold sharpness in her eyes was broken for the first time.

Shirley froze in front of the steps, her tail held straight, her lips moving but making no sound.

Both of their gazes turned to Su Yunxiu simultaneously.

There was panic on Su Yunxiu's face too, but after a brief moment of chaos, she immediately calmed down.

She looked at Zhen Lu, was silent for a moment, then spoke, her voice deeper and steadier than before:

"Commit suicide, and I'll give you ten million."

Zhen Lu looked at her in surprise.

He hadn't expected this woman to be able to calm down so quickly and immediately offer a price.

He stood there stiffly, his limbs still locked by the heat, but his expression had regained its composure, his tone leisurely:

"Ten million isn't enough."

"Then what else do you want?"

Su Yunxiu's voice remained steady, without a trace of unnecessary fluctuation.

"I want your"

Su Yunxiu's pupils shook.

"Resurrection Skill Scroll."

"Give me the Resurrection Scroll too. Add another five million. Fifteen million in total. Then I'll commit suicide."

"Fine, I agree."

Su Yunxiu didn't hesitate, and a feeling of relief welled up.

"As long as you commit suicide, we will give these to you."

Zhen Lu looked into her eyes and paused for a moment.

"How can I trust you?"

"My real surname is Yun, my full name is Yunxiu."

Su Yunxiu looked at Zhen Lu, her tone urgent but every word carried weight, while her eyes glanced toward Su Yunli.

"She is surnamed Su, called Su Li. Both our families are large clans with power; it's impossible for us to break our word over this little bit of money. And—"

She paused, her tone shifting from candid to vaguely threatening,

"If you really do something to us here, are you sure you can get away with it? Your face and your name, you aren't using Camouflage, right?"

Zhen Lu was silent for a moment.

The first half was sincere; the second half was already a threat.

He thought about it, and it seemed that was indeed the case.

If they brought their grudges into reality, he would have no way to stop them.

If a war broke out then, he wouldn't necessarily die, but it certainly wouldn't be pleasant.

It wasn't worth burning all his bridges for a moment of gratification.

He nodded.

"Fine, I accept your terms."

Su Yunxiu looked at him and added:

"Before you commit suicide, cut yourself off first."

Zhen Lu was stunned.

"What do you mean by that?"

"After you commit suicide, your corpse will remain here. If you don't cut it off, what difference does it make what we do to your corpse versus when you were alive? I'll add another ten million. Cut it off first, then commit suicide."

Zhen Lu was silent for quite a while.

He quickly calculated the ledger in his mind; Pain Healing could directly set pain to zero, so cutting it off for him was just a visual effect with no actual sensation.

Twenty-five million plus a Resurrection Scroll; no matter how you calculate it, this deal wasn't a loss.

He gritted his teeth.

"Fine, I agree."

"Then hurry up, it's about to reach the critical point."

Su Yunxiu felt the drug's effect approaching its limit, and the heat in her body was rushing toward its peak.

Zhen Lu didn't hesitate anymore; he condensed his Mental Power into an extremely thin blade on the surface of his body, set his pain to zero, and simultaneously turned off all his special effects and traits.

The blade swept across his front, clean and neat.

Then he turned around, the blade sliced horizontally across his neck, and his figure swayed before collapsing.

Su Yunxiu stood in place, watching his clean and decisive two cuts, her tightly wound nerves finally relaxing.

She slowly exhaled, the expression on her face slowly shifting from calm to a complex release.

The heat in the basement was still spreading through the three of them, but their complexions had eased much more than before.

The two female beasts in the iron cages were still stuck in the cage doors, occasionally letting out low whimpers.

The eruption of the drug's effect left the three of them no room for thought.

At the same instant, breaking through the critical point, the three of them were simultaneously swept away by the long-suppressed heat.

Consciousness was shattered into fragments, reason completely disconnected, and the dark green torches in the basement flickered with gloomy light on the walls.

The two beasts, stuck in the cage openings with their butts facing out, occasionally let out roars.