Chapter 371: You Are My…Salvation!
In the chaotic nightmare that Lan Zao experienced, he and Huang Zao simultaneously confronted the gods.
"Why won't you save me?!”
"Why?"
“Oh gods, how mighty you are—you could save my life without so much as lifting a finger.”
“Why won't you save me!?”
“I had faith in you.”
In a daze, Huang Zao's face transformed into Lan Zao.
Lan Zao pressed his other self's head fiercely into the scorching gravel.
Rage seethed within him, grinding his teeth until his eyes blazed crimson.
He clutched the other self's throat, suddenly yanking him out to demand: "Why won't you save me?! Why won't you save me?!”
Lan Zao was pulled from the sand but couldn't gasp for breath.
Already near death, he weakly replied: “Because...”
“I want to live too.”
These self-spoken words only fueled Lan Zao's fury.
He gripped his dying self tightly, screaming with all his might: "Yes, I want to live! Yet you won't save me! Why won't you save me?!"
“If you don't save me, I'll kill you!”
Lan Zao clutched his other self's throat fiercely, then plunged him back into the gravel.
“Save me! Save me!” He roared for help, yet in doing so, he was killing himself.
Meanwhile, the other Lan Zao had his eyes, nose, and mouth buried in the sand. Soon, he could no longer hold on. He pounded Lan Zao's arm with his hands, signaling for mercy.
Lan Zao was overjoyed and hastily pulled himself out, "You're finally willing to save me?”
But the Lan Zao he pulled out had changed form.
He had become the Fishnet Goddess.
Her face was expressionless, like a statue.
Lan Zao roared in fury, “You won't save me!”
He forcefully pressed the goddess into the sand. Soon, she began pounding his arm.
Lan Zao rejoiced, pulling her out: “Are you finally lending a hand?”
The Fishnet Goddess transformed into the Wave God, expressionless.
Lan Zao roared in fury: “You won't save me!”
He slammed the Wave God into the sand too, only to feel someone pat his shoulder again.
“Are you going to save me now?”
He pulled the Wave God up, only to see Him transform into the elf deity—Forest Mother.
Forest Mother wore a frozen smile, unresponsive to Lan Zao's desperate pleas.
Lan Zao pressed the Forest Mother into the sand again. When he pulled her up, she had become Huang Zao.
Huang Zao smiled at him: “Brother, you've already killed me. Do you wish to kill me a second time?”
Lan Zao's body convulsed violently. In his panic, he let go abruptly, and Huang Zao crashed into the sand.
The pebbles transformed into quicksand, slowly beginning to swallow Huang Zao.
Lan Zao screamed, “No, don't!”
He reached out to grab Huang Zao, desperate to stop his descent.
Simultaneously, he shouted explanations: “I didn't mean to kill you!”
“I truly didn't mean it!”
Wailing, he frantically dug, his fingers stained red with blood. Yet Huang Zao sank completely into the quicksand, vanishing without a trace.
Lan Zao completely broke down, covering his face with his hands and wailing uncontrollably.
Back to reality.
At the dock.
“Did we survive?” Dwarf Men Shi, covered in soot and dust, recovered from the blast and straightened up.
The right side of the Love Triangle's hull was already more than half burned away.
The crater in the sea caused by the explosion was rapidly filling back in.
Surrounding seawater surged in, creating a massive wave.
The wave crashed against the battered hull, and one surge poured directly into Lan Zao's cabin.
Most of the cabin's flames were extinguished, but the unconscious Lan Zao was struck squarely by the wave.
Then, carried by the receding tide, he tumbled through the gaping hole in the hull and plunged into the sea.
This sequence played out in his nightmare.
A pair of hands suddenly shot out from the quicksand, grabbing hold of Lan Zao's arms.
There was a violent tug.
Lan Zao's entire body was yanked into the quicksand.
It was dark. Endless, pitch-black darkness.
The crushing pressure surged toward him from the darkness, pressing and grinding in from all sides.
Lan Zao sensed his impending death.
Struggling desperately, he seized those hands and yanked with all his might, dragging the murderer who had pulled him into the quicksand before him.
Lan Zao stared intently and suddenly let out a startled cry.
This time, it was neither Huang Zao nor any other deity—it was the dragonman youngster.
“Lan Zao, are you going to kill me?” the dragonman youngster asked, his gaze steady and calm.
A faint smile played upon his lips.
Lan Zao's eyes widened, fixed intently upon the dragonman youngster.
His blood-stained hands, radiating the savage aura of murderous weapons, slowly reached toward the dragonman youngster's chest.
In reality, Lan Zao sank beneath the water.
He couldn't breathe. Vast quantities of seawater sealed his nostrils and surged desperately inward.
The suffocating sensation made the veins on Lan Zao's face in the nightmare bulge violently, making him look like a demon.
The demon's claws reached for the dragonman youngster's chest.
Yet the dragonman youngster seemed oblivious, his expression serene and gentle as he said, “I'm sorry, Lan Zao. It was I who gave you the magic potion.”
“Aaah—!” Lan Zao opened his mouth, letting out a roar of fury beyond measure, "You killed me!”
The dragonman youngster wore a look of pity, "Yes, I killed you.”
“Now, will you kill me?”
“Aaah—!” Lan Zao roared once more, seemingly intent on taking the dragonman youngster down with him.
Yet his blood-stained hands slowed with each inch closer to the dragonman youngster's chest.
His fingers, once splayed wide, gradually curled inward, losing all strength.
Thud.
With just one step left to reach the dragonman youngster, Lan Zao finally collapsed. His knees buckled, and he knelt at the dragonman youngster's feet.
His face was deathly pale, like a terminally ill man. He looked up at the dragonman youngster, tears streaming down his cheeks, leaving two deep trails.
His hands, curled like chicken claws, froze mid-air.
He cried out to the dragonman youngster, “Commander! My Lord!”
“How could I ever lay a hand on you?”
The dragonman youngster continued to watch him silently, "But Lan Zao, it was I who gave you the potion. After you took it, death came. I am the one who killed you."
Lan Zao collapsed onto the ground, still gazing up at the dragonman youngster.
Tears streaming down his face, he cried, “How could I ever harm you!?”
“You must have been deceived! It was Zi Di! It must be that ghost...”
But the next moment, the dragonman youngster cut him off: "But what if I told you I did it on purpose? You must understand—the fewer who know about Mystifying Monster Island, the better. The fewer who share in Mystifying Monster Island's riches, the sweeter the spoils."
Lan Zao wept like a broken man; his hands clutched tightly to his chest as he kept gazing up at the dragonman youngster: “Even so... even if that's the case...”
“I'd still willingly die!”
The dragonman youngster fell silent, gazing down at Lan Zao as if awaiting his explanation.
Lan Zao dug deep into his heart and spoke: “My Lord.”
“You saved me on Mystifying Monster Island.”
“You saved my life in the first place, so returning it now is only right.”
“I committed an unforgivable mistake!”
“You took me in; you told me I could keep going forward!”
“Being able to walk alongside you for a while has been my greatest honor.”
“You...”
“You are my salvation!”
Lan Zao's words came in fits and starts, but by the end, they were shouted at the top of his lungs.
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched the dragonman youngster's face.
His form suddenly shot upward—ten meters, fifty meters, a hundred meters!
He transformed into a giant.
Lan Zao, at his feet, seemed as tiny as an insect.
The dragonman youngster's voice echoed forth. In that instant, it resonated like the tolling of temple bells, vast and boundless, reverberating throughout this darkness.
The sound exploded within Lan Zao's heart— “Since this is so, why do you not bow?”
Lan Zao's expression froze.
The next instant, he knew what to do. The claws curled at his chest slowly clasped together.
He bowed his head: “My Lord, you are my God. Your path is my path...”
He was dying.
Saltwater flooded his lungs and chest.
His body slowly sank into the sea.
Zi Di, in her true form, observed this scene from aboard the Deep Sea Monster Fish, yet did not dispatch the alchemy puppet to retrieve him.
It was because the dragonman youngster had already arrived at the dock.
Through the alchemy device, she relayed Lan Zao's peril to the dragonman youngster.
The dragonman youngster dove headfirst into the seawater, now thick with oil sludge.
Explosive battle qi surged from the ring mound behind him, allowing him to seize Lan Zao.
Plop.
In the next instant, he leapt upward, propelling himself and Lan Zao out of the water.
With successive bounds, he reached the deck of the Love Triangle in mere breaths.
"Commander!"
"Lord Commander!"
The crew erupted in joyful cheers.
The dragonman youngster's arrival greatly boosted the morale of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
By now, the dragonman youngster's prestige far surpassed that of Zong Ge and the others.
The primary reason was his legendary feat of slaying Teng Dong Lang. A silver level slaying a gold level—such an extraordinary achievement commanded undeniable respect.
A significant portion of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps' new recruits joined specifically for the dragonman youngster, eager to serve under such a formidable leader.
This was the world of the strong.
The alchemy puppet impersonating Zi Di retrieved healing scrolls and potions, then hurried to the dragonman youngster's side.
Lan Zao received treatment.
Opening his eyes, he found the dragonman youngster standing before him.
He lay on the deck while the dragonman youngster looked down upon him.
The sea, ablaze with raging fires, cast towering flames behind the dragonman youngster, making him appear as towering and majestic as in Lan Zao's nightmares.
“Lord...” Lan Zao cried out involuntarily, nearly breaking down in tears once more.
The dragonman youngster smiled at him, "I'm sorry...”
He didn't finish before abruptly turning away.
In the next instant, a thick white beam of light swept across, freezing the sea surrounding the Love Triangle solid.
Support from the magician tower!
The swamp oil elementals surrounding the tower had all been frozen into dense clusters of statues.
Once the magician tower recovered, it immediately rushed to aid the dock.
After all, if this dock were burned to the ground, the city government palace would suffer truly catastrophic losses.
The thick white beams swept across the area, extinguishing the flames wherever they touched and instantly freezing the sea water and swamp oil.
The crisis for the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was resolved.