286: Plan B, go for it.

Half a year later, at the eastern edge of the Demon realm.

The wind howled like a blade, swirling with obsidian dust and stinging the face.

Chen Yu wrapped her specially-made windbreaker tight, her gold-rimmed glasses secured with a string to keep them from being blown away.

She squatted behind a weathered, hole-riddled black rock, muttering to the palm-sized "Underworld New Model Demon Qi Detection Compass" in her hand.

"Strange. After that grandson Ao Ya got his beating, this area has been as quiet as a graveyard."

"Where are the scouts? Where are the troublemakers? Are all of that old schemer Zhu Yan's subordinates on vacation?"

Beside her, Feng Xi was also curled up, her dog ears flapping in the demonic wind as her claws gripped the rock crevices tightly.

"A-Yu, could they have been scared witless by Lady Meng?"

Chen Yu poked the compass. "Even if they were scared witless, it's impossible for there to be zero fluctuations of Demon qi."

"It's not normal. They're definitely brewing some mischief."

As she spoke, the lazy needle in the center of the compass suddenly spun, pointing frantically toward the southeast.

"Here it comes." Chen Yu's spirits lifted.

On the hazy grey horizon, a strange "dark cloud" was rapidly moving toward them.

Looking closely, it wasn't a cloud at all, but a dense swarm of fist-sized Scarlet Flame Poison-Stinger Bees.

Their wings vibrated at high speed, emitting a tooth-aching hum, and their tail stingers shimmered with a ghostly blue light.

"Scarlet Flame Poison-Stinger Bees!!!"

The fur on Feng Xi's body nearly stood on end, her voice cracking. "These things live in swarms, and their stingers can pierce protective spiritual qi. They're under Ao Ya's command..."

"Tsk, I knew they were up to no good." Chen Yu spat. Instead of being afraid, her small face grew excited.

She quickly pulled gear out of her oversized storage ring.

"Sister Feng Xi, according to Plan B, bring out the stuff."

Feng Xi's claws flew as she also pulled out several metal cylinders engraved with spiritual runes and thrust them hard into the ground.

"Buzz buzz buzz..."

The swarm of poison bees was like a sea of burning fire, pouncing close with a foul wind, looking as if they would turn the two into sieves.

Chen Yu pressed the red button in her hand. "Puff puff puff puff..."

A large amount of thick, pink gelatinous substance sprayed rapidly from the tops of the metal cylinders Feng Xi had planted.

Instantly, a pink "snot wall" was drawn out in front of them.

The high-speed charging Scarlet Flame Poison-Stinger Bees couldn't brake in time and crashed headfirst into the pink adhesive with a series of splats.

Their wings were stuck tight; they struggled frantically, but the more they struggled, the firmer they were stuck, soon piling into a writhing "bee mountain."

The few that slipped through the net were swatted into ice shards with a few "claps" by Chen Yu, who had picked up an exaggeratedly shaped "Underworld Special Pest Swatter" emitting yin qi.

"Done. Wrap it up."

Chen Yu blew nonexistent dust off the "Pest Swatter" and pushed up her glasses smugly.

"Ling Xi's newly developed 'Demon's Sorrow' adhesive. The effect is outstanding, specifically for treating all kinds of disobedient little flying bugs."

Feng Xi stared blankly at the swarm still struggling in vain within the "snot wall."

"A-Yu, does this count as a biological weapon?"

"Nonsense, this is called environmentally friendly physical pest control." Chen Yu spoke with righteous indignation, pulling out a Recording Stone to snap photos of the "spoils of war."

"I'll find Ling Xi later and sell some 'combat footage' while I'm at it, hehe."

Just as she finished speaking, a slight but dense vibration suddenly came from the ground.

"Crack... crack crack..."

The hard obsidian ground beneath their feet split into countless spiderweb-like cracks without warning.

A cold Demon qi, thick with the smell of earthy musk, drifted out from the depths of the cracks.

"Holy crap! There's an ambush." Chen Yu's hair stood on end as she pulled Feng Xi and jumped to the side.

"Boom!!!"

The spot where they had just been squatting suddenly collapsed.

A pincer the size of a small car, covered in dark brown rocky carapace, burst out of the ground, its jaws lined with serrated teeth and gleaming coldly.

Immediately after, a second, a third... a full ten thousand giant insect Demons of various forms, all emitting a fierce Demon qi, crawled out from the cracks opening in all directions.

Their compound eyes flickered with a cruel red light, locking firmly onto Chen Yu and Feng Xi.

"Rock-Shell Burrowing Worms, Rot-Venom Giant Centipedes... and Bone-Eroding Flying-Sickle Mantises."

Feng Xi held her breath and said, "It's over, it's over. These are all famous fierce insects of the East. Great God Zhu Yan has brought out his entire nest of trump card insects."

Looking at the insect army baring their fangs and claws in the encirclement, Chen Yu didn't panic. Instead, she licked her lips, her eyes behind the lenses shining brilliantly.

"Good timing." She patted a bulging hide bag at her waist, and the opening popped open automatically.

"Iron-Haired Dogs, it's dinner time!"

"Woof woof woof~ Awooo!!!"

Accompanied by barks so excited they broke pitch, over a hundred black shadows carrying a burnt dog smell...

...like mad dogs off the leash—no, they were mad dogs—scrambled out of the bag.

It was the Iron-Haired Dog pack, who had been driven stir-crazy.

Big Dog charged at the front, eyes gleaming and drool flowing, pouncing straight for the joint of the pincer of the nearest Rock-Shell Burrowing Worm.

With a "crunch," sparks flew; three-quarters of the rock shell was actually bitten off.

The other Iron-Haired Dogs also showed off their skills, some pouncing on wings, others biting tails, all focusing on weak joints.

For a moment, barks and insect hisses filled the air, rubble flew everywhere, and the scene was extremely chaotic yet full of violent aesthetics.

Chen Yu stood with hands on hips, laughing wildly: "Hahaha, didn't expect that, did you! This Old Lady didn't bring a vanguard, but a demolition... ahem, a 'Special Pest Clearance Action Group.' Professionally aligned and fair to all!"

Feng Xi watched as a Bone-Eroding Flying-Sickle Mantis was tackled by three Iron-Haired Dogs and was being frantically "dismembered."

She suddenly felt that after hanging around A-Yu for so long, even the behavior of the dogs and Demons had been tainted by her habits.

A few days ago, she had flipped through a new manga that vividly depicted the ruthlessness of villains hunting the protagonist.

Looking at the scene now, she realized that such swift and ruthless methods really did have a bit of that legendary villainous ferocity.

[How satisfying, how cathartic. Who told the Demon high-level brass to use the Grass Spirit Dog Clan as bait?]

The insect army clearly hadn't expected their opponents to be the Underworld's Iron-Haired Dogs. The hard shells the Rock-Shell Worms were so proud of were as brittle as crackers before those canine teeth.

"Retreat, retreat quickly!"

A slightly larger Bone-Eroding Flying-Sickle Mantis let out a shrill hiss, its compound eyes full of terror.

How was this a hunt? This was clearly delivering their lives to the Demons.

The insect tide began to stir, attempting to crawl back into the ground cracks to escape.

"Want to run? Have you asked Big Dog?" Chen Yu was sharp-eyed and patted another hide bag at her waist.

"Xiao Hei, Er Ha, block the doors!"

"Woof woof woof~"

Two even sturdier black shadows lunged out; they were the designated "door gods" of the Iron-Haired Dog pack.

They charged toward several of the largest crack exits and stuck their butts out. Their dog bodies expanded a hundredfold, physically blocking the crack entrances tight.

"No thoroughfare!"

"Refunds—oh wait, no way out!"

The insect Demons blocked outside completely lost their heads, becoming turtles in a jar.

Seeing that the "dog food" couldn't escape, the Iron-Haired Dog pack chewed even more happily. The sound of "crunching" rose and fell, and the scene was, for a moment, quite "appetizing."