Qi Xiang froze. Why was Feng Xiao telling her not to move?

She subconsciously started to turn her head, but forced herself to stop halfway.

But the stop was so sudden and violent that her neck made a loud CRACK...

’Hiss... my neck!’

But soon, Qi Xiang had no time to worry about her aching neck.

Almost instinctively, she keenly sensed something watching her. In an instant, the hair on her arms stood on end.

But she was surrounded by a vast expanse of white, misty miasma that completely obscured her vision.

She couldn’t see a thing.

When one’s vision is obscured, they subconsciously grow more nervous, their heart rate quickening. Qi Xiang was no exception. Her hands and feet grew cold, and her mouth went dry.

She subconsciously licked her dry lips. In her peripheral vision, she saw the Mutated Rat King suddenly charge toward the area behind her and to her right.

Qi Xiang desperately wanted to turn and look but didn’t dare. It wasn’t until Feng Xiao’s shocked "Holy shit!" erupted from the walkie-talkie that her heart leaped, and she finally spun around.

She saw the Mutated Rat King with something in its mouth—a creature that was not quite fish, not quite snake.

The creature clearly had gills and two barbels like a fish. Its gaping, bloody maw, however, was filled with four rows of sharp, serrated teeth. Its body was very similar to a snake’s, except...

...for the dense rows of root-like tendrils under its belly.

The other ends of those tendrils were still connected to the swamp. As the Mutated Rat King bit down, the creature thrashed violently, its tendrils twisting madly along with it and gradually changing color.

’What the hell is this thing?’

’A chameleon?’

Qi Xiang narrowed her eyes, staring at the thing in the Rat King’s mouth. The tendrils, now completely black, were clearly venomous. She subconsciously took a few steps back.

Just then, the creature let out a sharp, piercing shriek.

Immediately, a rustling sound arose from the surrounding grass—dense and widespread... But because she was enveloped in the white mist and miasma, Qi Xiang could only stare wide-eyed, still unable to see a thing.

Qi Xiang knew she should run. Now.

But... her legs wouldn’t obey.

Feng Xiao suggested over the walkie-talkie that she get as close to the Mutated Rat King as possible. Qi Xiang tried to take a step in its direction but was met with a sharp "SQUEAK!"

The Mutated Rat King whipped its head around and glared at her.

’...Stay back.’

Qi Xiang, strangely enough, understood its gaze perfectly.

For a moment, she hesitated.

But she quickly composed herself.

’Something’s not right.’

Her luck had always been good. The mutated animals in this swamp hadn’t shown any aggression since they entered the Miasma Forest, even when provoked.

’So why are they all attacking me now?’

’It can’t be that my luck has suddenly run out, can it?’

Ruling that out, Qi Xiang narrowed her eyes, her gaze slowly sweeping across her surroundings.

’There has to be a reason for their sudden aggression.’

Her intuition told her it was important.

Back at the camp, Feng Xiao stared at the monitor, growing anxious.

The moment he noticed something was wrong, Shen Yue and Wei Heng had set out to provide backup. But the swamp was filled with a thick, miasmic mist. Even at full speed, it would take them at least ten minutes to get there.

Qi Xiang was a support main, a total scrub in a fight. There was no way she could last that long.

As for the Mutated Rat King... it might act friendly and docile around them, but Feng Xiao knew that in a true life-or-death crisis, that rat would be the first to bolt.

He’d be lucky if it didn’t shove Qi Xiang into the line of fire to save its own skin. The little creature was cunning and completely unreliable.

Fortunately, Gu Xi was in the section of swamp just ahead. Hearing the sharp, piercing shriek, she narrowed her eyes and stomped her foot.

Qi Xiang then saw the thick vine beneath her feet suddenly come to life, as if it were spring. Countless new shoots sprouted, instantly stretching out into long, frantically twisting vine whips.

’Have they turned hostile?’

Qi Xiang drew the Triangular Military Knife from her belt, her gaze instantly sharpening.

But she quickly realized the vine whips weren’t attacking her. Instead, they were viciously lashing out at her surroundings.

The old vine she stood on remained as steady as ever.

"Gu Xi!"

Qi Xiang looked ahead into the vast whiteness. She couldn’t see Gu Xi, but she knew she had to be nearby.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Several kilometers away, Shen Yue and Wei Heng stood back-to-back, gasping for breath.

This was insane. They were wearing gas masks and had even erected barriers with their abilities, but they still felt their chests tighten. They were short of breath, their heads were spinning, and their bodies were gradually stiffening, as if the miasma was seeping in through every pore, corroding their very neurons.

Shen Yue’s vision was blurring. He bit his tongue, struggling to stay conscious, and conjured a small whirlwind at his fingertips. He tried to blow away the surrounding miasma, hoping to give himself and Wei Heng a moment’s respite.

But the miasma, intertwined with the mist, seemed to be glued to the very air. The moment he blew it away, more would just steam up from the ground.

It was endless, impossible to disperse.

Shen Yue had been using this near-useless method the entire way, pushing forward with Wei Heng.

Now, with his powers severely depleted and having inhaled too much miasma, his vision was starting to black out in waves.

Shen Yue lowered his hand in defeat.

"Hey, you think we’re gonna bite the dust here today?" he asked, leaning against Wei Heng. He was panting heavily, but his tone was as lazy as ever.

"No," Wei Heng said calmly, staring straight ahead. "Gu Xi is nearby."

The two leaned on each other for support, tightening their grips on their weapons and raising their guard. With their vision so severely hampered, who knew what else was hiding in this forest, or if it would attack?

Holding their breath, they braced themselves for a desperate fight.

Suddenly, Shen Yue bit his tongue again and nudged Wei Heng with his elbow. "Are my eyes playing tricks on me?"

"No." Wei Heng watched Gu Xi speeding toward them and finally let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Then, with a look of disgust, he shoved Shen Yue off of him.

...

A few minutes later, the three of them found Qi Xiang. She was squatting off to one side, watching the Mutated Rat King with great interest.

The Mutated Rat King still had that creature clamped in its jaws, but it wore a look of utter distress.

Gu Xi and the others: ?

Their gazes fell on its mouth. Only then did they see that the thing it was holding was clearly still alive. Perhaps it had already exhausted itself from struggling, for it now seemed to have calmly accepted its fate. It was staring back at Qi Xiang with dead, fish-like eyes, the picture of someone who had given up on life.

When it saw Gu Xi’s group approach, the creature only gave a listless, defeated flick of its fishy tail, as if to inform the three bipeds that it was, in fact, still alive.

"What the hell is going on?" Shen Yue asked, clinging to Wei Heng’s arm. He walked over weakly, leaning almost his entire weight on him.

Wei Heng, having already tried and failed to shake him off on the way here, expressionlessly let him cling, his own gaze falling on the rat.

Qi Xiang walked over to Gu Xi, resting her chin in her hand. "My guess," she said, "is that the little guy is trying to tell you he’s having a really hard time."

Hearing this, the Mutated Rat King nodded vigorously. The strange fish in its mouth, still looking like it had given up on life, listlessly wagged its tail in sync.

Shen Yue clicked his tongue, his eyes circling the Mutated Rat King. "To be honest, I don’t see what’s so hard for him..." ’The weird fish in its mouth is the one having a hard time, isn’t it?’

’Can’t even get a quick death...’

Qi Xiang explained earnestly, "Because it has to go against its bloodthirsty mutant instincts and keep its captive alive."

Shen Yue was completely baffled. "But why does it have to keep it alive?"

Qi Xiang shot him a look and said self-righteously, "Didn’t Gu Xi tell it to engage in animal diplomacy earlier? If it kills everything, how is it supposed to conduct diplomacy? Besides, what’s that old saying... ’When two states are at war, do not execute the envoy’?"

Shen Yue was speechless. ’Yeah, right. I’ll believe that when pigs fly.’