138: Chapter 137 True/False Questions

Kwon Eunbi and Choi Yena had only just enjoyed a brief moment of hard-won "sausage peace" and hadn't even had time to celebrate the progress of the "breath of joy" fragment bar when another anomaly occurred!

The group of "Soft Babies" that had been gathered in the distance and seemingly given up suddenly began to wriggle collectively and violently with "puji-puji" sounds. No longer in a lazy, complaining state, they seemed to have received some kind of summons and began to "flow" slowly but firmly toward a single direction—a patch of bushes behind and to the side of the sausage stall.

"Unnie! They're moving again! This time they're going over there!" Choi Yena immediately became alert, her grip tightening on the sausage tongs in her hand.

Kwon Eunbi also frowned (though it was hard to tell through the lion headgear) and re-gripped her Inflatable Lion King Hammer. What kind of tricks were these jelly monsters trying to play now? Were they going to have a group party behind the bushes?

However, what happened next exceeded their wildest imaginations.

The colorful "Soft Babies" swarmed in front of the bushes, but instead of crawling inside, they began to stack on top of each other layer by layer!

The pink ones stacked at the bottom, the blue ones climbed up, the green ones squeezed into the middle, and the yellow ones hung on the edges... Their squishy, elastic "bodies" seemed perfectly suited for this operation. Under the dumbfounded gaze of Kwon Eunbi and Choi Yena, these "Soft Babies" acted like sentient colored play-dough, rapidly building a towering, expanding, and trembling "Soft Baby Mountain"!

"Puji!" "Bolu!" "Guju!" Various strange noises rose and fell as the shape of this "mountain" continued to change and adjust.

"What... what are they doing?" Choi Yena was completely lost.

The ominous feeling in Kwon Eunbi's heart grew stronger. This posture didn't look like they were retreating or having a party; it looked more like... they were assembling something?

Her premonition soon came true.

When the "Soft Baby Mountain" reached nearly two meters in height and was wide enough, their wriggling and stacking suddenly stopped. The entire "mountain body" remained still for a few seconds, with only the surface undulating slightly due to internal instability.

Then—

"Buzz..."

A low and eerie hum, sounding like many voice changers stacked together, echoed from within the "mountain body."

Immediately following that, the very top of the stationary "Soft Baby Mountain" began to "bulge" slowly, gradually forming a larger, rounder... head outline. Simultaneously, two thick "arms" composed of countless small "Soft Babies" huddled together "extended" from the sides of the "mountain," while two support structures that could barely be called "legs" "differentiated" from the bottom.

In just over ten seconds, a giant Soft Baby—stacked and assembled from dozens of "Soft Babies," over two and a half meters tall, massive in size, mixed in color (primarily pink and blue), constantly wriggling and deforming, and emitting a stronger mixed stench of plastic and artificial fragrance—appeared abruptly in front of the bushes!

Its "face," barely patched together from the faces of countless small "Soft Babies" (if those could be called faces), had two crooked "eyes" drawn on with a black marker and a "big mouth" painted with red pigment that stretched to where its ears would be (if it had ears). It lowered its head (its entire upper body leaning forward) and "looked" at the sausage stall with those marker eyes, as well as at the two seemingly tiny figures, the "lion" and the "duck," in front of the stall.

"Gulu-lu... Sau... sage..."

A murky, louder murmur, mixed with countless "puji" sounds, came from the position of its big red mouth (which was actually a cluster of "Soft Babies" opening and closing).

The sausage tongs in Choi Yena's hand fell onto the sausage machine with a "clang." She instinctively took half a step back, hiding behind Kwon Eunbi, her voice carrying genuine fright and disbelief:

"U-Unnie... is... is that the Slime King?!"

Small minions merging to become a King! This was a setting straight out of a low-budget RPG!!

Kwon Eunbi also sucked in a cold breath, her palms gripping the inflatable hammer starting to sweat. Single "Soft Babies" were easy enough to deal with, but this merged giant... looked like trouble! And did it just speak? Although muffled, it definitely said the word "sausage"! Was its obsession that deep?!

She immediately turned her gaze to the side, looking for the production staff member who always appeared at the right time to provide (unreliable) hints.

Sure enough, that "savior" (?) holding the hint board appeared again. His expression was also a bit strained, as if he hadn't expected the "Soft Babies" to pull off such a trick. He quickly flashed the board:

[Emergency Alert! A mutated evolutionary form of the Star Demons Claws has appeared!]

[Name: Soft Baby Aggregate · Slime King (Temporary Name)]

[Characteristics: Formed by a large number of 'Soft Babies' through an unknown method (PD Jiang's brain hole). Strength, size, and appetite (for sausages) are all significantly increased. Moves slowly but has a wide attack range.]

[Weakness: Unstable structure. A heavy blow to the core (suspected to be in the head area) may cause it to disintegrate. The 'appreciation' for music still exists, but it requires a stronger, more 'impactful' performance to trigger resonance.]

[Suggestion: Distract it and find an opportunity to attack the core! Or... use a more powerful 'Star Envoy' power to confront it head-on!]

After reading the hint, Kwon Eunbi's heart sank. Attack the core? Use this inflatable hammer to smash that giant, wriggling head made of countless jelly monsters? It sounded unreliable! And would the "King" just swat her and the hammer away with one slap (a soft slap)?

As for "confronting it head-on with a more powerful Star Envoy power"... that name that made her lose sleep and made her toes curl just thinking about it uncontrollably surfaced in Kwon Eunbi's mind—"Lion Charge Duck Punch."

Could it be... that the time had really come where she had no choice but to use that shameful ultimate move?!

While Kwon Eunbi was struggling intensely internally, watching the "Slime King" begin to take its first unsteady steps with its "giant legs" made of countless small "Soft Babies," approaching the sausage stall with an earth-shattering (psychologically) momentum and a "puji" with every step, Choi Yena's voice, tinged with a sob (and excitement?), rang in her ear:

"Unnie! What do we do?! It-it's coming! It's so big! The sausages... the sausages are going to be gone!"

Kwon Eunbi snapped her head back and glanced at Choi Yena. Through the mesh of the duck headgear, she could see the genuine panic in those large eyes (as well as the heartache over the sausages potentially being lost).

She looked again at the encroaching "Slime King" that emitted an ominous aura (and plastic smell).

Finally, her gaze swept over the staff member holding the hint board with an expectant look that said "The PD says it's all up to you," and the even larger crowd of onlookers holding up their phones, both scared and excited.

Shibal!! (She roared internally)

Was she really going to shout "Lion Charge Duck Punch" at such a thing in this kind of setting?! And then strike that shameful combined pose with Yena?! Just imagining the scene made Kwon Eunbi feel like her soul was already leaving her body, drifting toward a distant galaxy without Jiang Zhiyu or Slimes.

But...

If she didn't shout? If she didn't fight? Just watch as the "Slime King" destroyed the sausage stall, stole the sausages, and terrified Yena (though she was probably more heartbroken about the sausages)? Wouldn't all their previous efforts, Yena's "Sausage Saintess" career, and that 30% of the "breath of joy" fragment go to waste?

Could the dignity of the "Lionheart Sovereign"... not even protect a few sausages and a teammate's smile?! Even if it meant using the most shameful method?!

In a flash, a duel between world-shattering shame and a sense of responsibility took place in Kwon Eunbi's heart.

Ultimately, responsibility (and a "nothing left to lose" attitude) temporarily overwhelmed the extreme shame by a narrow margin.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart which was about to jump out of her chest, and then, slowly and with a tragic aura like a hero heading into a final battle, she turned toward Choi Yena.

Through the lion headgear, she couldn't see Choi Yena's full expression, but she hoped her actions would convey confidence.

Kwon Eunbi (in the lion headgear, with a small yellow duck towel over her shoulder, holding an Inflatable Lion King Hammer)—

Slowly and extremely solemnly, gave Choi Yena a thumbs-up.

In this absurdly critical context, this action appeared exceptionally abrupt yet... filled with an inexplicable determination.

Choi Yena (in the duck headgear): "...Unnie?"

Using the steadiest and most reliable voice she could muster (despite it being a bit muffled and shaky due to the headgear and nervousness), Kwon Eunbi said word by word:

"Yena-ya!"

"Don't be afraid."

"Leave... everything to Unnie!!"

Her voice wasn't particularly loud, but it carried a resolve that suggested she was putting everything on the line.

After speaking, she no longer looked at Choi Yena's reaction and turned resolutely to face the "Slime King," which was already close at hand and casting a giant shadow.

She snatched the ridiculous small yellow duck towel from her shoulder and tossed it aside (the towel drifted lightly to the ground next to the sausage machine).

Then, she gripped the plastic handle of the Inflatable Lion King Hammer with both hands once more, holding it across her body in a combat-ready stance. Though the weapon was laughable and the headgear ridiculous, her posture somehow possessed a hint of the uprightness belonging to a "guardian."

"Come on!" Kwon Eunbi growled at the "Slime King," both a provocation and a final boost of courage for herself.

Next, would she be pathetically flattened by this jelly king, or... would she shout that name and throw that shameful punch?

The answer was about to be revealed.

And Choi Yena, hiding behind her, looked at her Unnie's back—which, despite the lion headgear, seemed to emit a reliable light—and at the lonely small yellow duck towel lying on the ground...

She suddenly felt that Unnie's thumbs-up just now was incredibly cool!

Even though the situation was still quite desperate.