Chapter 135: Two People

"What? Over sixty percent?"

Lin Qiu was startled by the system's declaration. If things had dragged on any longer, the amount of Xu Fei's yin essence drained would have exceeded seventy percent.

"What is going on here?" Xu Bancheng asked.

Lin Qiu picked up the yellowish-green twig that Xu Bancheng had cast aside and held it up before him. "This thing is the culprit. Looking at the setup here, there is likely a mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes."

Xu Bancheng fell into deep thought. The fact that Xu Fei appeared here, and the way she was lured, suggested the purpose was far from simple.

"Did you have designs on that ancient demon vine earlier?" Lin Qiu asked.

Xu Bancheng did not deny it, nodding slowly. "Though a vine is a plant, it possesses incredible resilience and can exert control over the entire battlefield. If one could fully awaken the bloodline of an ancient demon vine, it would be a formidable tool for large-scale combat."

Lin Qiu suddenly felt a sense of relief that the ancient demon vine had been consumed by his Infinite Devour technique, rather than being contracted and bonded to Xu Bancheng. If his guess was correct, that vine—much like the ape—had only just had its bloodline stimulated, perhaps even forcibly awakened.

When examining the yellowish-green twig, he had noticed that the sap at its center was a pale pink with a cloyingly sweet scent, similar to the "toxin" he had detected earlier. This toxin could stimulate the ape’s evolution, but it also exerted a significant influence on humans. Had Xu Bancheng truly bonded with that ancient demon vine, he might have eventually ended up as nothing more than a puppet for the owner of this twig.

"The ancient demon vine is gone, so be it; there will be more suitable exotic beasts. Regarding Fei-fei’s current state, do you have any solution?" There was no trace of regret on Xu Bancheng's face. A powerhouse never dwells on an expendable loss, for doing so might cause them to miss something even better waiting ahead.

"System, do you have any ideas, or perhaps some kind of potion? Isn't futuristic technology supposed to be powerful?" Lin Qiu asked.

"The potion repository is not yet unlocked. If forced, the cost will be a massive amount of evolution points, and there is a risk of you dissolving into a single cell and vanishing into the void."

It was the same familiar threat. Lin Qiu swore that one day he would dismantle this system with his own hands, regardless of whether it was just a collection of data. Since the system had spoken, Lin Qiu was at a loss.

"I don't know. Perhaps we should take them to the hospital first. If she doesn't wake up, her bodily functions will inevitably deteriorate without food or water," Lin Qiu said.

Without another word, Xu Bancheng scooped Xu Fei up into his arms and strode out of the cave.

"What's going on?"

Wang Xiaomeng, held in Hei Ze’s arms, stirred and woke up. The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was Hei Ze’s muscular, masculine chest—bronzed skin with perfect, chiseled lines.

A sudden look of infatuation crossed Wang Xiaomeng’s face, causing Hei Ze to break into a cold sweat. He reflexively loosened his grip, dropping Wang Xiaomeng onto her backside.

"Hei Ze, what are you doing!"

Wang Xiaomeng was still dizzy; the fall hurt her tailbone, and she nearly gave herself a concussion. Before Hei Ze could reply, a swarm of men in black rushed into the cave.

Wang Xiaomeng had no memory of what she had experienced, so she pulled Hei Ze to hide behind a corner.

"So, what is the situation now?" Wang Xiaomeng asked, rubbing her backside.

Even knowing that Wang Xiaomeng was male in his genes, seeing him look cuter than any delicate girl—one hand on his slender waist, the other rubbing his rear—would surely make any male's blood boil. Hei Ze’s attention was completely elsewhere. It took several calls from Wang Xiaomeng before he finally snapped out of it, tearing his gaze away from her backside to see her face puffed up like a blowfish.

"Ah, it's nothing. These must be the reinforcements from the Xu family," Hei Ze said.

Wang Xiaomeng knew the Xu family was powerful, but he hadn't realized they were *this* powerful. There were so many of them that they would likely fill the entire cave and still have to queue outside. By comparison, his own Exotic Beast Management Bureau only sent three people on a mission; it felt downright pathetic.

Before long, all the girls were carried out one after another. The others had not had as much yin essence drained, and some were already beginning to stir on the way to the hospital. But Xu Fei remained completely unresponsive.

"Are you not leaving?"

Once Xu Bancheng’s people had mostly cleared out, Hei Ze and Wang Xiaomeng walked back in, shocked by the scene.

"What is going on here?"

Wang Xiaomeng had asked this question countless times since waking up, his mind still too foggy to process everything.

"No, no, it's impossible. This vine couldn't have existed on its own."

Lin Qiu ignored Wang Xiaomeng and Hei Ze, remaining in the center of the altar to contemplate the problem. Deprived of the nourishment of a living host, the few remaining twigs had already lost their vitality. The system offered no further hints, claiming the search radius was too vast to identify what creature these twigs belonged to.

The cross-sections of the twigs were perfectly clean. The girls had been unconscious and carried no blades, so it could not have been a sharp tool. Lin Qiu suspected the main body of the vine had sensed their arrival and shed these twigs voluntarily. If so, the creature had likely already escaped.

With the girls rescued, the ape stopped scratching the walls, its golden eyes fixed on Lin Qiu and his group. As Xu Bancheng’s men departed, Lin Qiu walked up to the ape and patted its shoulder.

"Do you have any clues?" Lin Qiu asked.

The ape chattered and gestured for a long time, but Lin Qiu could not understand its meaning. The mastermind was truly cruel; to have granted the ape enough intelligence to think, yet refuse to help it evolve fully.

Lin Qiu thought for a moment and decided to change his approach. "How did you come to be in this cave?"

The ape understood the question immediately, becoming suddenly agitated and gesturing wildly. It felt like talking to a primary schooler—even if it understood, it would babble a mess of nonsense, leaving Lin Qiu to sift through the chaos for useful clues.

The ape tried to recount its entire life from birth. Lin Qiu keenly captured two keywords: "Master" and "Owner."

These words likely referred to two different individuals, and they had appeared very early on, long before the golden liquid even manifested. This helped Lin Qiu understand why the ape had performed so many "conscience-stricken" acts—wanting to save the girls on one hand, while being forced to lure them into a trap on the other.