317: Sharp tongue but soft heart

A few whimpers escaped her throat, sounding like a wounded beast driven into a corner.

Her entire body shrank back bit by bit until her spine hit the stone wall and she stopped.

【Leah.】

Shang Wan Ning's voice transmission echoed in Chen Yu's sea of consciousness.

Chen Yu looked at the hostile green eyes and clicked her tongue inwardly. "A sharp tongue but a soft heart. She claimed to look down on Mordecai's 'gift,' but her body is honest; she's already investigated the girl's name."

Shang Wan Ning slightly raised her withered hand.

A soundproofing barrier silently enveloped the prison area.

She took a step forward, and her blurry disguise faded slightly, revealing a thin, withered chin.

"Elf."

Leah's green pupils constricted suddenly, and her body curled up even tighter, her fingernails digging deep into the fungal mat.

"Do you want to leave this hellhole?" Shang Wan Ning got straight to the point.

Hatred surged in Leah's eyes as she gritted her teeth; silence was her answer.

Shang Wan Ning pointed at the shackles on her ankles. "Anti-magic Shackles from the Gray Mist Territory, a specialty of Wormrock City."

"They are specifically designed to counter those blessed by nature like you."

She paused slightly and said, "But... I can unlock them."

Leah's breathing visibly hitched, her green eyes locking onto Shang Wan Ning's withered fingers, her small face full of distrust.

There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, and a dark mage of Wormrock City was even less likely to show kindness for no reason.

"The condition?"

A hoarse, dry voice finally squeezed out of her throat, carrying the gravelly texture of long-term dehydration.

"Simple."

Shang Wan Ning's raspy voice had no fluctuations. "Tell me, what does the 'mother nest eye' of Wormrock City fear most?"

"You have pure wood-element magic in you; your status in the Elf Race shouldn't be low, right?"

Leah's emerald-green eyes blinked, her face first showing a look of surprise, which then turned into one of even greater vigilance.

She stared at Shang Wan Ning as if trying to pierce through the black robe to see the true face beneath.

A candidate priest of Wormrock City was actually asking about the weakness of the mother nest eye?

"Are you not a believer of the mother of flesh and blood, Sabrina?" she tested in a small voice.

Shang Wan Ning pulled her withered hand back into her sleeve. "Who I am is not important. What matters is whether you want to die here and rot into fertilizer for Wormrock City's flesh mats."

"Or take a gamble and leave with your life?"

Leah fell into silence, her eyes darting back and forth between Shang Wan Ning's withered figure and Chen Yu's blurry black shadow.

The dungeon was deathly silent, with only the throbbing of the flesh walls and the pitter-patter of dripping mucus echoing around.

Time passed bit by bit, and Leah's nails dug into her palms, drawing blood.

Ultimately, the desire for survival overrode her suspicion.

She licked her cracked lips. "Light... pure light... or... energy of extreme order... can tear apart Its chaotic essence."

"Making Its 'Eye' temporarily blind..."

Shang Wan Ning's hood nodded slightly. "Very good, clever elf."

"You are free."

Her withered hand shot out rapidly, the Soul Fire in her palm dancing up and down; it landed precisely in the middle of the rusty shackles.

*Sizzle~*

The runes immediately emitted black smoke, and the shackles cracked with a 'click,' falling onto the fungal mat.

Leah's ankles loosened slightly, and the long-accumulated sharp pain surged back like a tide.

Her body trembled, and she couldn't help but let out a muffled groan.

"Go."

Shang Wan Ning withdrew her hand and turned to leave. Her steps were decisive, and Chen Yu quickly followed behind.

Leah's gaze first fell on the broken shackles on the ground, then she suddenly looked up at the two figures about to vanish into the shadows of the bone gate.

She propped herself up on the fungal mat, trying to stand, but the sharp pain in her ankles suddenly seized her limbs, and her knees buckled, sending her falling to the ground.

"Wait!" she cried out.

Shang Wan Ning's footsteps didn't pause for a moment.

"The mother nest eye... the guards aren't just Bone Eaters..."

Leah lay on the fungal mat panting heavily, urgently adding, "There are also... 'Void Aberrations'... they are formless and substanceless... they only sense energy fluctuations... you all... be careful..."

Before she finished speaking, Shang Wan Ning flicked her withered hand back, and an inconspicuous Bone Talisman flew out swiftly, landing in Leah's arms.

"Crush it, and it can temporarily mask your aura. Within fifteen minutes, get out of Wormrock City."

"Whether you can live or not depends entirely on yourself."

The bone gate closed silently behind them, locking the heavy stench of the dungeon away, along with the elf's final, astonished gaze.

In the passage, Chen Yu couldn't help but transmit: "Your Majesty, are you really just letting her go? Aren't you afraid she'll talk?"

Shang Wan Ning didn't stop walking, her withered fingers curling slightly in her sleeve.

"What can an elf who can't even stand steadily leak?"

"Giving her the Bone Talisman was intended to have her draw the attention of the pursuers."

"When Mordecai finds the elf missing, it'll be enough to keep him busy for a while."

Chen Yu: "..."

【Well, that little bit of touched emotion was for nothing.】

【What 'sharp tongue but soft heart'? There's no such thing. The Empress's heart is probably harder than iron and laced with poisonous cold.】

The two figures quietly merged into the shadows deep within the spire, as if they had never been there.

Only in the dungeon, Leah still tightly gripped a cold Bone Talisman, her knuckles turning white from the force.

In her emerald-green eyes, a faint and stubborn light was piercing through the layers of gloom.

It quietly lit up—a light called "hope."

Just as dawn broke, the spire was in an uproar.

Mordecai's skeletal claw slammed onto the table with a 'thwack,' causing a few strands of shredded meat to fall.

"Escaped? The long-ear escaped?"

The skeleton attendant kneeling on the ground trembled violently, its frame rattling.

"Lord Priest, the Anti-magic Shackles were destroyed. From the marks, it was Soul Fire burning."

"A bunch of useless trash."

The skeletal priest kicked the skeleton over, his dry bone knuckles cracking as he clenched them.

"Place the whole city under martial law. Dig three feet into the ground if you must, but find that long-ear."

"Yes, Lord Priest."

For a time, Wormrock City was in total chaos.

Half-Insect Guards poured out in full force, kicking down doors to search house by house. Armored Bone Eaters roamed the alleys carrying giant axes, and Eyeless Behemoths used their sense of smell to track the unique herbal fragrance of the elf.

Shang Wan Ning leaned by the window of the Meditation Room, her index finger tapping the frame rhythmically.

Her divine sense was already attached to several search team leaders, monitoring the entire city's movements in real-time.

Chen Yu squatted nearby munching on a spirit fruit, not caring that the juice splashed onto her black robe.

"Your Majesty, how long do you guess the little elf can last?"

"Three hours," Shang Wan Ning replied without looking back.

"Her ankle is injured; she won't get far."

"Want to bet? I'll bet five hours." The White-Haired Loli's eyes were sparkling.

"That girl has a fierce look in her eyes; she definitely has a trump card hidden."

Shang Wan Ning finally turned her head, the corner of her lips under the hood curling slightly. "The stakes?"

"If I win, Your Majesty accompanies me to the night market on Mercury." Chen Yu counted on her fingers, "Grilled squid, milk tea, fried chicken cutlets..."

"And if you lose?"

"Uh..."