"......"

As soon as these words were spoken, even before they could be relayed to Chen Cang, Jiang Ye himself was rendered utterly speechless!

Seriously? Bro? Are you for real??

You want the mighty "Protagonist" to act as a stepping stone for a mere Newborn?

Which means...

You want Chen Cang to withstand the erosion of the giant toad's gastric acid, to stand in the acid, and lift up the Newborn?

Doing it this way would indeed reduce the damage to the unborn "Newborn"...

But the problem is!

Chen Cang is the "Protagonist," not a saint!

You want the protagonist to sacrifice himself for others? Does that make any sense?

What's even more infuriating...

Jiang Ye, who had synchronized with the Witch Gui's memories, knew perfectly well—

When that gastric acid corroded Chen Cang, he was howling in pain!

It was only because he possessed the Glyph Pattern Ability and forcibly cut away the eroded, rotting flesh that he managed to isolate the pain.

You want him to immerse his entire body in the giant toad's gastric acid...

How much agony would he have to endure?!

No wonder you used [Pain Sharing] first...

If the protagonist had to bear this pain alone, there's no way he'd agree!

Now, under [Pain Sharing], with the pain divided among the three of them, Jiang Ye deeply regretted it!

Why the hell should he share the protagonist's pain?

He wasn't trying to Clutch Thighs!

Jiang Ye's expression visibly darkened.

Li Si knew what was on his mind and added, "If that portion of the pain is truly unbearable..."

"I can try to call in some more people to share the [Pain Sharing]."

After saying this, noticing Jiang Ye still looked hesitant, he speculated further:

"Cheng Lin... you must be a newly involved Moon Person from this batch, just dragged into this world, right?"

Jiang Ye remained silent, not answering, but it was essentially an admission.

Li Si suddenly wore a complicated expression, letting out something between a light sigh and a soft laugh, then said with a look of emotion, "It's precisely because you're so 'new' that you haven't experienced the ultimate despair and collapse of the spirit, you haven't personally destroyed flesh and faith, you haven't tempered your own will..."

"That's why you feel physical pain is hard to endure."

"But in my view, physical pain can be completely endured through willpower."

"......"

Jiang Ye was left speechless by this retort.

He really wanted to say—

Bro, have you ever experienced Lightburn?

But in this era, the concept of Lightburn probably doesn't exist.

Saying it would be useless; the other person simply couldn't understand.

This was a generational gap caused by information disparity, impossible to explain.

So he silently shut his mouth, offering no rebuttal, and said directly, "Whether you can endure it is your business, but what Chen Cang decides is not something I can control."

Sure enough, as soon as the Witch Gui Jiang Ye relayed Li Si's idea, it met with fierce opposition from Chen Cang.

Meanwhile, Li Si here said expressionlessly, "Tell him—the absolute safety state of the [Salvation Domain] should be able to avoid damage from the giant toad's gastric acid."

Then he added, "Remove the 'should.' Change it directly to 'can avoid damage from the giant toad's gastric acid.'"

Jiang Ye frowned...

Seriously, bro?

Is this your attitude for Clutching Thighs??

However, he still didn't argue.

The Witch Gui Jiang Ye in the giant toad's stomach, maintaining the senior persona, declared firmly, "Don't worry. Have you forgotten the shield I gave you?"

"Under this shield effect, you are in an 'absolute safety state' and won't suffer acid damage."

With such a firm tone...

After a brief consideration, Chen Cang agreed.

He hesitated slightly, then pulled out his tongue from his throat again.

Using the long tongue as a safety rope, he looped it around the top of the giant Newborn sphere.

Then, he slowly lowered himself along this safety rope.

The lower he went, the more pungent and unbearable the smell became.

Until his entire body was completely submerged in the acidic water, the holy white light enveloping Chen Cang indeed felt no gastric acid damage.

He believed in the effect of the so-called "shield" and became bolder in his descent.

He soon discovered, "The space inside this giant toad's stomach looks way too big..."

"Trying to lift such a huge sphere in this space probably won't be simple."

Saying it wasn't simple, but actually, it wasn't that difficult either.

Chen Cang himself still had the Glyph Pattern Ability and other talents.

In terms of strength, he was no Formatted newbie.

However, Chen Cang soon realized that this matter was indeed not that simple!

After diving down for less than half a minute, he was surprised to find—

The giant sphere suspected to be the 'Newborn' wasn't resting at the bottom of the giant stomach.

It was semi-floating on the acidic water.

Only the bottom third of it was in contact with the giant toad's gastric acid.

The remaining two-thirds floated above the gastric acid.

And this giant toad's stomach...

Looking further down, it was like a bottomless pit!

Which meant...

He couldn't find a foothold at all!

Not only could he not find one below, but also none to the left, right, or all around!

All he could see was a vast, foul-smelling ocean!

With no foothold, the only force in this space was the natural buoyancy of the giant sphere resting in the acidic water.

He couldn't possibly use buoyancy to lift this colossal sphere, could he?

Hiss... wait, maybe he actually could?

Like pushing water while swimming...

Perhaps he could apply a strong force to the bottom of the gastric acid.

Then use the reaction force to fly upward.

Like when an explosion occurs at a certain point, everything at the explosion's center is pushed outward.

Then he just needed to trigger a small explosion at a point below where the giant sphere was immersed in the acidic water...

Then perhaps he could use the explosion's force to "blast the sphere skyward"!

Hmmmmmm...

This kind of "skyward" would theoretically free the giant sphere from long-term contact with the acid.

But the problem is!

If the explosion happens in the acidic water, then the acid water will also be blasted skyward!

Just like when Chen Cang fell into this space with the giant sphere, the sphere's impact into the acid water splashed a large amount of acid.

Then during an explosion, even more acid water would be splashed!

At that time...

The "skyward" blasted sphere would still be harmed by the splashed acid water.

Is there a relatively gentle force that could only push the sphere up?

Or, are there any other means to directly isolate the sphere from the acid water?

While Chen Cang pondered this in his heart, the Witch Gui Jiang Ye also pondered, suddenly asking coldly, "By the way, how long can your tongue extend?"

"Could you use your tongue to wrap around the entire giant sphere?"

"......"

Chen Cang was speechless, not answering directly but instead asking, "By the way, senior, can't your 'shield' just be applied to this giant sphere as well?"

Jiang Ye thought to himself, apply my ass!

If Li Si hadn't used [Target Anchor] on you in advance, I wouldn't even be able to give you this "shield"!

The problems the two encountered regarding "lifting the giant sphere" were naturally also synchronized with Li Si, who had proposed the idea.

Li Si fell silent for a moment, then suddenly suggested, "Perhaps... that pair of eyeballs could be of help."

"That pair of eyeballs? Which pair?" Jiang Ye was momentarily stunned but quickly realized. "You couldn't possibly mean—"

"The pair of eyeballs you put in the bamboo tube??"

Li Si fell silent again for a moment, then nodded seriously. "The mechanical eyeballs themselves possess the ability to fly in mid-air. Perhaps they can lift that giant sphere."

"......"

Hearing this, Jiang Ye felt something was very off!

Li Si, facing his questioning gaze, said bluntly, "Tell Chen Cang to rest assured—"

"First, he is currently within the [Salvation Domain] and isn't even afraid of Erasure-level death."

"Second, if I truly intended to harm him, since I hold his [Target Anchor] chip, I could attack him in other ways at any time."

"There's absolutely no need to first give him the [Salvation Domain] and then scheme against him."

"......"

The logic made sense.

But what Jiang Ye suspected was...

Maybe you don't intend to kill the protagonist.

But perhaps you want to steal the protagonist's opportunity?

Jiang Ye had some additional thoughts.

However, after brief consideration, he didn't ask further and directly relayed Li Si's proposal to Chen Cang.

Chen Cang, of course, was initially skeptical.

He feared that releasing the mechanical eyeballs might cost him his life.

But after Jiang Ye explained Li Si's reasoning about why harming him was unlikely, Chen Cang indeed hesitated.

"You're saying that guy has my [Target Anchor] item... if he really wanted to attack me, he wouldn't need to go through such convolutions..."

After some thought, Chen Cang couldn't decide and sought advice from his "Portable Old Grandpa":

"Witch Gui, what do you think? Should I listen to him and release his eyeballs?"

Jiang Ye thought briefly, then said thoughtfully, "He could have directly transmitted the eyeballs over. But instead, he sealed them in the bamboo tube, giving you the choice of whether to open it..."

"From this perspective, his loyalty and surrender to you indeed outweigh any scheming."

Chen Cang thought about it and felt this made sense too.

So, he opened the black bamboo tube.

The method to open the tube was, of course, taught by Li Si.

Jiang Ye, as the intermediary, relayed the information.

At the bottom of the bamboo tube was a circle of small buttons resembling a password lock.

Chen Cang operated the buttons as instructed. After everything was done, he heard a "click" sound, as if a switch had been flipped.

Then, a loud "BOOM!"

The entire bamboo tube exploded at the bottom of the giant toad!

And just as Chen Cang had envisioned...

The force from this explosion really did blast the giant sphere skyward!

At the same time, it also sent acid flying everywhere in a massive spray!

Acid liquid shot out Overwhelmingly...

Chen Cang's long tongue, wrapped around the sphere, was carried along as it flew...

The chaos caused by this explosion was even greater than when Chen Cang first fell into the giant toad's stomach!

Chen Cang, in his "absolute safety" state, naturally suffered no harm.

But in the chaotic scene, he was directly blasted into a daze.

Instead, the Witch Gui Jiang Ye, residing in his body's [Heart Demon Nest], immediately took control of his body, using his eyes for keen observation...

However, the moment he took control of the body, the Witch Gui Jiang Ye instantly felt intense pain as if his body was being torn apart and corroded!

What?!

What's going on?!

Could it be that the "absolute safety" state generated by the [Salvation Domain] only works on Chen Cang's soul, not his physical body?

So after the Witch Gui seized this body, it no longer enjoyed the benefits of the [Salvation Domain]?

Or is it...

Li Si...

This guy, played some scheming trick?

For a moment, numerous doubts flooded Jiang Ye's mind.

Even the intense pain made him instinctively want to retreat back into the [Heart Demon Nest] and let Chen Cang bear all this...

However, he truly didn't trust Chen Cang, so he forced himself to endure this pain.

His gaze quickly searched for a pair of eyeballs amidst the chaos.

Yes!

Jiang Ye strongly suspected...

The explosion wasn't the goal.

Li Si's purpose might have been to use the chaos caused by the explosion to conceal the whereabouts of his eyeballs!

Of course, the chaos occurring in the giant toad's stomach was also relayed to Li Si via the Cheng Lin version of Jiang Ye.

Whether Li Si had amazing acting skills or was genuinely shocked.

His face quickly showed an expression of disbelief. "How is that possible? An explosion... No!"

This "disbelief" even swiftly turned into astonishment and despair!

"No! Impossible! Absolutely impossible..."

His expression was utterly devastated.

He looked like a eunuch who just learned his manhood had been blown up...

Jiang Ye really couldn't tell from his expression whether this guy was acting or if his eyeballs were truly destroyed...

Because on the other side, the Witch Gui enduring the pain indeed hadn't found his eyeballs in the chaos.

This side's Jiang Ye pressed urgently, "What exactly happened? Wasn't it about releasing the eyeballs to help the Newborn fly up? Why did the bamboo tube explode??"

"This explosion wasn't within your expectations?"

Li Si remained devastated, as if he couldn't even hear the questioning.

Jiang Ye directly rushed over and shook his shoulders. "Please! Bro, snap out of it! I'm asking you!"

Saying this, he simply yanked off the guy's wig.

A sudden chill on his head. The devastated Li Si stiffened almost imperceptibly the moment his head was bare...

But soon, he regained his senses, appearing to force himself to focus, and said solemnly, "I must have been set up!"

"My eyeballs were destroyed!"

"But now is not the time to explain this..."

"I want to know, how is that 'Newborn'? Was it affected by the explosion? Is it in any danger?"

"......"

Jiang Ye's suspicion of this guy grew stronger!

After brief thought, he said solemnly, "The Newborn was blasted skyward! At the same time, the acid water in the giant toad's stomach was splashed everywhere. The scene is extremely chaotic!"

"The key is..."

Jiang Ye stared intently at Li Si's expression.

Unfortunately, this guy had his eyes covered with the black ribbon, effectively closing the windows to his soul.

Judging emotions solely from the remaining facial features was difficult.

Jiang Ye still probed—

"The key is, after the explosion, Chen Cang, who should have been in the 'absolute safety' state of the [Salvation Domain], suddenly felt intense pain!"

"It was a kind of pain, of being torn apart and corroded..."

As he spoke, Jiang Ye's gaze fixed tightly on Li Si, saying solemnly:

"You, who share [Pain Sharing] with him, didn't feel that pain?"

Li Si's face, with covered eyes, indeed showed nothing.

But Jiang Ye sensed a subtle change in the atmosphere.

Sure enough, after a moment of subtle silence, Li Si suddenly stated, "Actually..."

"It should be after Chen Cang actively jumped into the acid water that I started feeling pain as if being corroded by something."

"You and he have the protection of the [Salvation Domain]'s safety state, so you didn't feel it."

"Only I, alone, bore this pain imposed by [Pain Sharing]..."