"Wh… what do you mean, the fog corpses that chase me have star stones?" Xiao Jinsheng's voice trembled.
This kind of constitution was only suitable for quietly amassing wealth.
If others knew, what if they threw her into a swarm of fog corpses to lure them?
"Isn't it because of her? Why don't we just have her lure another wave of fog corpses, and that should solve it?" As expected, Mo Jiao, whose murderous intent towards her was the strongest, spoke with ill-concealed malice.
Xiao Jinsheng clutched Que Zelian and Yu Yunxiao's arms with both hands, hiding behind them.
Her fox-like eyes widened as she glared fiercely at Mo Jiao.
However, her beautiful face, with its lively, upward-tilting eyes, still exuded a charming allure even when she was angry.
The lethality of her glare was utterly ineffective against Mo Jiao.
Mo Jiao looked at her face, his violet eyes slightly narrowed, suppressing the strange emotion he had felt a moment ago, and coldly averted his gaze.
"There's no need for her to provoke the fog corpses to confirm if it's because of her," Que Zelian countered. "The five of us can take turns killing a wave of fog corpses. If none of them yield star stones, the result will be obvious."
"I'll go first," Su Ye, ever the man of action, was the most eager.
Shouldering his longsword, he entered the mist-laden ruins of the city. Ten minutes later, he returned, covered in blood.
Apart from his Zhanmadao, his hands were empty.
He shook his head. "Killed a hundred fog corpses, didn't find a single star stone."
Soon, the remaining four men took turns venturing out to kill fog corpses. Three returned empty-handed.
The only one who didn't return empty-handed was Mo Jiao. He used his black mist to bind a fog corpse and brought it back.
He lowered his gaze to Xiao Jinsheng. "Run around once, let it chase you a few steps."
"Why don't you run around once and let it chase you a few steps?" Xiao Jinsheng retorted.
Mo Jiao shrugged helplessly. "I went out once, and two hundred fog corpses chased me. Didn't dig up a single star stone."
"This fog corpse is lame. No matter how slowly you run, it won't be able to catch you. What's there to be afraid of?"
Xiao Jinsheng fell silent.
She, too, began to suspect that the problem lay with her.
She had been in the Misty Continent for two days and a night. She had no system to accompany her, no golden finger to rely on.
Only the five 'butchers' sent by the system under false pretenses to act as her bodyguards.
But during this time, she had discovered quite a few issues with herself.
She couldn't upgrade her star level despite absorbing the same star stones as others.
Despite having the same one-star mental energy level when accepting tasks, others received items with a consistent durability of one thousand, while hers had ten thousand.
Whether it was the fog corpse that broke her window last night or the group of fog corpses that chased her today, they all had a one hundred percent chance of dropping star stones.
Too many doubts, too many unanswered questions. This made Xiao Jinsheng, despite her fear, want to get to the bottom of things.
"Let Que Zelian control this fog corpse. I don't trust you to control it."
Xiao Jinsheng also wanted to test if the one hundred percent drop rate of star stones from fog corpses was due to her.
"Fine." Xiao Jinsheng didn't trust herself, and Mo Jiao didn't care either.
He casually tossed the fog corpse to Que Zelian.
"Are you sure you want to try this?" Que Zelian asked.
Receiving Xiao Jinsheng's affirmative nod, he recalled how terrified she had been in his arms when they were chased by the swarm of fog corpses earlier today.
Now, seeing her clearly afraid yet still summoning the courage to try, he noticed that Xiao Jinsheng had indeed changed a lot.
And all for the better.
Considering this, Que Zelian's voice softened. "Don't worry, I won't let you get hurt."
"Handle this well, and I'll give you fifty points after it's done." Her own life was at stake, so Xiao Jinsheng was generous.
Que Zelian was momentarily speechless.
She was clearly terrified, yet still in the mood to play her scoring game at a time like this.
"Then thank you in advance," Que Zelian chuckled softly.
Xiao Jinsheng moved to a position five meters away from the fog corpse, preparing to flee.
As Que Zelian counted down, the fog corpse was released. Despite Que Zelian's figure being less than a meter away, the fog corpse was fixated on Xiao Jinsheng five meters away, roaring as it lurched towards her.
"Wuwuwuwu—"
"Help, help—"
"Save me, save me—"
Xiao Jinsheng cried out as she ran, the lame fog corpse hobbling in pursuit, closing the distance to four meters, three meters, two meters.
When it was just one meter away, the fog corpse reached out a claw to grab her flowing hair, only to be swept up by a gust of wind and thrown off the balcony, its body torn to pieces in mid-air.
Xiao Jinsheng, focused solely on escaping, didn't realize the fog corpse had been dealt with. She continued circling on the rooftop, crashing headfirst into Que Zelian, who had rushed over.
"It's alright, the fog corpse has been thrown downstairs," Que Zelian said, steadying her trembling body and gently comforting her.
Xiao Jinsheng buried her face in his chest, sobbing softly. "Did… did it have a star stone?"
"Yes." A star stone was lifted by Que Zelian's wind ability from the shattered remains of the fog corpse.
"Why do these fog corpses produce star stones as soon as they chase her?" Yu Yunxiao wondered, utterly perplexed.
Xiao Jinsheng took a moment to lift her face from Que Zelian's chest. "Because I am the lucky one."
Having said that, she buried herself in Que Zelian's embrace once more.
Her arms tightened around his lean and powerful waist.
Que Zelian always flew into the air during combat, and even though the battlefield below was bloody, he still carried the faint scent of cedar.
Xiao Jinsheng inhaled this refreshing fragrance, allowing her tense mind to relax.
Once her fear subsided, her audacity grew.
The hands that were wrapped around Que Zelian's waist quietly slid down his back.
Just as they reached Que Zelian's lower back, both hands were firmly grasped.
Que Zelian endured the tingling sensation that spread through his body, even causing a shiver down his spine, due to the hands roaming over him.
He tightly gripped Xiao Jinsheng's wandering hands with his own, a cold smile playing on his lips as he gritted his teeth. "Where else do you intend to touch?"
"I'm scared, my heart hurts," Xiao Jinsheng looked up innocently, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Hmph." Que Zelian ruthlessly pulled her clinging hands away. "How come I never noticed you were such a rogue before?"
"It is your privilege to have your body soothe my frightened emotions," Xiao Jinsheng's true nature as a villainess was clearly on display.
The tips of Que Zelian's ears turned red, whether from anger or some other reason.
He then received Xiao Jinsheng's dissatisfied gaze. "That's why I said you can't be a male Bodhisattva."
"I don't believe in Buddhism," Que Zelian reminded her.
Xiao Jinsheng huffily turned her head away, no longer bothering to acknowledge him.
"Does it feel like the four of us are a bit redundant?" Yu Yunxiao wondered aloud.
"It's the three of you who are redundant," Su Ye interjected while wiping blood off his longsword.
His reply immediately drew the probing gazes of the three men in the divorce alliance.
"You're not divorcing her anymore?" Huai Qing asked.
"Are you also going to betray our divorce alliance like that Que Zelian?" Yu Yunxiao accused.
Mo Jiao remained silent, deep in thought.
Having Que Zelian protect Xiao Jinsheng was already troublesome.
If Su Ye also joined her side, it would be even more difficult.
"Didn't she promise to change?" Su Ye said, the familiar words echoing.
Coincidentally, Que Zelian had just said those words earlier this morning.
"I like the bad ones. It's not boring to tease her occasionally," Su Ye added.
Yu Yunxiao picked a fight. "She was even worse before; I didn't see you liking her then."
Hearing this, Su Ye paused his sword-wiping motion.
A meaningful glint flashed in his golden eyes, but he didn't elaborate.
He simply said, "Just consider that I prefer her current bad self."
"She doesn't like fierce ones," Mo Jiao interjected, delivering a fatal blow. "You're very fierce. Among the five of us, she's most afraid of me, but the one she dislikes the most should be you."
The previously confident Su Ye was immediately rendered speechless.