Chapter 211-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

Bai Yi watched Bai Muqing leave without a word. The temperature around him surged dramatically. Bai Mulin felt the scorching heat of the ground about to burn through his soles, and silently retreated to the side.

His father was clearly, truly furious. To break discipline and defy his authority at a time like this—even if Bai Muqing was his daughter, she couldn't simply walk away.

A battle between father and daughter... no, a battle between two dual-S-rank ability users was about to erupt. The destructive power would be no joke. He'd better find a reason to stop it, or things would only get worse.

Bai Mulin glanced at the massive dark silhouette in the distance. It was swiveling its head and neck, its long, sleek black tail furiously lashing the ground, kicking up dust that lingered in the air like storm clouds brewing before a downpour.

He was too far away to see clearly whether anyone was near it, but based on experience, ability users were already engaging it in combat—it was clearly enraged.

Where on earth had this thing come from? The more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.

Bai Mulin paced anxiously in circles. Suddenly, his eyes lit up—he spotted an opportunity.

A gray dove was circling in the sky. Bai Mulin recognized it—it was the ability of another squad's captain, a mobile Image Recorder. Touching it would grant access to visual intelligence.

Before the giant dragon appeared, that squad had already gone ahead as a vanguard to scout the Demonic Domain.

Bai Mulin reached out his hand. The gray dove seemed to recognize him and turned to fly toward him, but midway it was seized by a powerful hand.

"Father?"

Bai Mulin looked at Bai Yi and found that his father's expression was even more grim than when Muqing had insisted on leaving. His untrimmed eyebrows twisted into a knotted rope across his face. After a long moment, as if scalded, he released the dove and froze with his hand still outstretched.

Bai Yi turned and hurried away. Bai Mulin should have felt relieved that his father was no longer blocking his sister, yet for some reason, watching the direction his father departed, his heart grew even heavier.

What had his father seen through that dove?

Bai Mulin tried to pick up the gray dove, but the moment his hand touched it, it crumbled to ash.

His eyes went wide. The fact that it vanished at his touch meant the dove carried classified intelligence that couldn't be relayed a second time. Yet it had been circling aimlessly in the sky... Perhaps even its owner hadn't decided who to report to, or perhaps its owner was already dead, and the dove was the last flicker of a dying flame.

*

Ye Zheng stood on the empty, open ground. By the last sliver of twilight, she locked eyes with those enormous, piercing golden pupils from afar.

She hadn't been sure whether Sykes retained consciousness after transforming into the dragon, but the instant their gazes met, she was certain—Sykes was absolutely not mindless!

The sharp claws perched atop the tower spire released their grip. In the next moment, the sky-blotting black dragon spread its wings and dove forward at astonishing speed—fast as a summer cloudburst striking without warning.

Its speed exceeded Ye Zheng's expectations. Normally, a creature of such enormous size couldn't possibly combine speed and agility, yet it was shockingly fast!

Ye Zheng immediately turned to run. She had no intention of confronting it so abruptly.

She had barely taken a step or two when the killing wind howled at her back. Just as she was about to look behind her, her body suddenly felt weightless, and the pressure from behind vanished instantly.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Zheng found herself leaning against a crumbling wall. Wu Shu had an arm around her shoulder, vigilantly looking back.

Wu Shu's teleportation ability was truly invaluable in critical moments. Ye Zheng let out a soft breath of relief.

Wu Shu turned her head. Their eyes met, and Ye Zheng saw shock and confusion practically overflowing from Wu Shu's gaze—she was asking: what on earth is that thing?

Ye Zheng tapped Wu Shu's arm with her fingertip, then pointed in another direction. Wu Shu understood her meaning and shook her head, indicating she couldn't teleport long distances again so soon.

Teleporting to Ye Zheng's side and then teleporting them both to this relatively safe position had already consumed a considerable amount of energy.

Wu Shu peeked over the wall again. The target had vanished from its previous spot. The dragon held its long neck high, its inhuman golden slit-pupils constricted, slowly swiveling its head to scan the ground. Its spike-crowned black tail idly slapped the earth, and the fragile ground had already cracked under the impacts.

They were already at a considerable distance from it, yet Wu Shu was carefully controlling even her breathing. The monster gave her a peculiarly strange feeling.

She couldn't say why, but the creature's mannerisms seemed oddly familiar.

Ye Zheng leaned against the cold, hard wall, thinking. She tilted her head and noticed the wall was painted with an image of the God of Hope. She turned to examine the ruined wall more closely, then surveyed the surroundings and recognized the place.

This was the Imperial Palace chapel—a place for Royal Family members to worship and pray.

Suddenly, the ground emitted one dull rumble after another, growing louder and louder. The wall they leaned against began to tremble. Ye Zheng didn't need to look back to know it was heading their way.

Wu Shu frowned with a sinking feeling. How? This spot was well hidden—it shouldn't have found them.

Was it coincidence? But out of every possible direction, it had chosen to approach this one. Wu Shu couldn't help but overthink. She was never one to cling to wishful thinking. It very likely had truly detected them and was walking toward them.

Ye Zheng thought of something. She suddenly reached inside her white robe and gripped something cold.

...Could Sykes sense her location through that section of spine?

Just as those Dragon-Bodied Humans could sense the location of Dragon Bones.

The white bone in her hand suddenly felt scalding, but Ye Zheng couldn't possibly abandon it and flee. This was the only demon dragon "human bone" she had obtained—she couldn't give up such a critical clue.

Moreover, if this bone were to return to Sykes, Ye Zheng's instinct told her things would only get worse.

Someone lightly bumped her shoulder. Ye Zheng gathered her thoughts and looked at Wu Shu's anxious expression—she was waiting for Ye Zheng to come up with the next move.

"Run." Ye Zheng mouthed the word.

Wu Shu nodded. She was all for running. Fleeing wasn't shameful—recklessly standing your ground without knowing anything was what was stupid. Did she think she was some invincible hero in an adventure story?

"Run where?" Wu Shu mouthed silently.

If they were talking about the safest place... Wu Shu looked toward the tall walls in the distance. The walls had multiple watchtowers and the main gate of the Imperial Palace—also the fastest point for outside reinforcements to enter the Demonic Domain. There was also an armory nearby; most people had probably already retreated there.

Wu Shu grimaced, torn. Leading the demon dragon straight there seemed rather heartless, but quite some time had passed and hardly anyone had come to help. Wu Shu was starting to think they were the heartless and cowardly ones.

Wu Shu looked at Ye Zheng. Using dust, she drew a rough diagram of the walls on the ground. The style was rather abstract, but Ye Zheng seemed to understand. She followed suit, dipping her finger in dust and drawing a large circle on the ground.

This circle was even more abstract than Wu Shu's wall. Wu Shu raised an eyebrow at Ye Zheng, who helplessly mouthed two words.

"Hunting. Grounds."

It took Wu Shu a moment to recall the famous Crown Prince's hunting grounds.

Immediately after, a question surfaced—where was Crown Prince Sykes?

She knew that Ye Zheng's target today was to kill Sykes. But where was Sykes...

Wu Shu suddenly stiffened, looking up at Ye Zheng in disbelief. Was she overthinking this? It had to be just a Demonic Domain monster... right?

Before Ye Zheng could answer, Wu Shu turned and gripped the broken wall, boldly peeking over. The dragon was already very close. She watched it flick its tail, and the buildings it swept through cracked and collapsed.

At first glance, it looked like the mighty tail had knocked the buildings down. But Wu Shu was astonished to realize that the areas the tail swept through had simply vanished—the buildings were sheared clean through, then toppled with a thunderous crash.

Wu Shu's deep violet pupils shrank to near pinpoints. Her gaze involuntarily traced up from the dragon's tail, and just as she was about to meet those golden eyes, she immediately ducked behind the wall, gasping for breath.

She now knew the dragon's true identity.

But learning the truth only seemed to plunge her into an even deeper mystery.

Ye Zheng also withdrew her observing gaze, lowering her eyes. Her lashes fluttered faster than usual.

Even after transforming into a dragon, Sykes had retained his ability—[Destruction].

Ye Zheng's heart sank. A dragon body far more powerful than a human's, combined with the Empire's most powerful offensive ability—her plan had been to kill Sykes, yet now the difficulty she faced was akin to killing three Sykeses simultaneously.

The situation had completely spiraled beyond her control.

Ye Zheng unconsciously bit her lip. The slight pain sharpened her focus. Though the situation was extremely unfavorable, there had to be a way to turn things around. The top priority was to leave this disadvantageous position.

[Phase-two Sykes is naturally very hard to fight—he was originally the final boss reserved for the protagonist!]

System spoke up after watching for a while, unable to help itself.

The protagonist hadn't even fully developed yet, and Ye Zheng had gone ahead and moved up the final boss battle that was meant for the protagonist's party. Of course the difficulty was sky-high!

Bound by its rules and settings, System couldn't reveal how the original storyline's protagonist party had defeated Sykes. But even if it could, it wouldn't help much—Ye Zheng couldn't cheat like Percy.

System fell silent, leaving Ye Zheng more time to think at this critical moment. Its earlier words had actually given her a certain hint.

In the tense silence, Ye Zheng's dark eyes suddenly blinked rapidly twice, and she turned to look in a certain direction.

She couldn't see anyone, but pure white points of light had already arrived silently, like the prelude to a blizzard.

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