Xie Zhaolin's gaze lingered on the girl for less than a breath before she looked away, fixing her eyes on the two Crimsonflame Bear cubs still clawing madly at the barrier.
She immediately understood why the girl was here. Most likely, she'd been caught by the Crimsonflame Savage Bear and dragged back as stored food, or maybe as nothing more than a living target for the cubs to practice hunting.
That wasn't rare in a beast's lair.
But what did that have to do with her?
Her real goal was the cubs and whatever resources the nest held.
Without a moment's hesitation, her figure flickered. In the next instant, she was behind the two cubs, hands darting out before they even had the chance to react. She clamped down on the backs of their necks and gave a sharp squeeze!
"Wu…"
The cubs went limp without a single cry, dropping into unconsciousness. She tossed them into her beast pouch, leaving them to join the other two she'd already captured.
Done.
She didn't even glance at the girl trembling and gasping in the corner. With a turn, she headed straight out of the cave. To her, this was nothing more than an insignificant interlude. Saving the girl hadn't even counted as saving. It was just clearing an obstacle that stood between her and her spoils.
"W-wait! Benefactor!"
But before she could take more than two steps, a desperate, trembling voice called out from behind. The girl stumbled to her feet, blood still at the corner of her lips. She staggered forward and clutched at Xie Zhaolin's robes.
"Benefactor! Please, take me with you! I… I can't make it out of this Endless Beast Plain on my own, I'll die out here! Please, I beg you, have mercy!"
Her sobbing plea was thick with terror and despair, tears streaming down her face.
Xie Zhaolin froze mid-step, frowning, irritation flashing across her face. She didn't bother looking back. With just a flick of her wrist, a gentle yet irresistible force shook off the girl's grip.
"Let go." Her voice was cold, emotionless. "I'm not your benefactor, and I've no duty to carry you."
The girl stumbled backward, falling hard onto the ground. Her face drained of all color as disbelief twisted into despair. She stared after Xie Zhaolin's retreating back, lips trembling, then tried to push herself up again, clinging to her last shred of will to live.
But just as she moved, Xie Zhaolin stopped. Slowly, she turned her head. Her eyes were frigid, stripped of any warmth.
The moment they met that icy gaze, the girl froze solid. Every word died in her throat, her entire body stiff with primal fear.
"Follow me again," Xie Zhaolin's voice was calm, almost flat, but laced with killing intent sharp enough to pierce bone, "and I'll kill you."
The girl went pale as paper, lips quivering. She couldn't make a single sound.
Xie Zhaolin turned back, striding out of the cave without another look. Her figure vanished into the dim light beyond.
Inside, the girl crumpled onto the cold stone floor, her expression blank, her eyes clouded with fear and despair. She couldn't understand why the one who had just saved her from a beast's jaws could turn so cold and ruthless in the next breath, even threatening her life.
Outside, the sun was dazzling.
Xie Zhaolin didn't stop, didn't look back. Whether that girl lived or died had nothing to do with her. Dragging along someone drained of spirit power, badly injured, and with an unknown background was nothing but suicide in the Endless Beast Plain.
She had no obligation to play savior. Only her own survival and path mattered. She left that place quickly, heading toward another marked area on her map where beasts gathered and rare resources might be found.
The days that followed, she continued her ruthless, efficient training. Along the way, she inevitably ran into other adventurers and loose cultivators.
Her handling of them was simple. If they avoided her or only watched warily, she ignored them. If they showed hostility, tried following her, or even set ambushes…
She struck first, no hesitation.
Their storage bags naturally became her spoils.
While sorting through them, she didn't just find spirit stones and resources. Scattered among the loot were fragments of jade slips and broken message talismans. Piecing them together, she gradually built a picture of what was happening in the Endless Beast Plain.
Some of the messages drew her attention.
They came from cultivators who had fled near the Bone Eroding Marsh, their voices filled with terror.
"It's gone mad! That sea of flowers has gone completely insane! After clashing with those bugs at the marsh's edge, it actually broke out of the swamp!"
"It's moving aimlessly, leaving destruction everywhere, like it's looking for something!"
"Whole squads ran right into it, couldn't even run before they got swallowed up!"
"Shit! That thing's supposed to be a plant! Since when can plants run? And that fast?!"
Xie Zhaolin frowned slightly as she sifted through the reports.
That thing… it hadn't given up? It had even left the Bone Eroding Marsh, rampaging through the wilds?
Was it searching for something?
"For me?"
The thought sank into her mind, leaving her uneasy. That sea of flowers was unpredictable, absurdly powerful. If she stumbled into it again, it would mean another brutal fight, maybe even forcing her to waste another precious escape talisman.
"I'll need to be more careful from now on. Expand my divine sense, always keep alert for large-scale plant movement." She made a silent note, ranking it as a top-level threat.
Several days later, after finishing her search in a valley, she moved toward another zone. As she cut through a dense thicket, the air suddenly erupted with panicked screams, crashing trees, and beastly roars.
Her divine sense swept forward.
A staggering figure was running for her life.
It was the same girl she'd abandoned in the cave.
Still alive.
But barely. She was even more wretched than before, face white as paper, one arm hanging uselessly, body covered in fresh wounds.
A peak second-rank Shadow Leopard prowled behind her, batting at her like a cat with a mouse, adding fresh gashes with every swipe.
The girl's face was wet with tears, her eyes unfocused, body shuddering on the verge of collapse.
Xie Zhaolin's gaze brushed past her for half a breath, then slid away, cold and detached, as if she were nothing but a stone by the roadside. Her steps didn't falter. With a faint flicker, her figure shifted course, skirting the area without a trace, vanishing swiftly.
She might save someone once by convenience, but never twice. Everyone had their own fate. In the Endless Beast Plain, weakness was a sin. She wasn't a savior, and she had no overflowing compassion to waste on someone who'd only drag her down.
That girl's life or death had nothing to do with her anymore.
Xie Zhaolin's silhouette flashed a few times and disappeared completely, leaving no trace behind, as if she'd never been there at all.
What she didn't notice was the fleeting look in the girl's eyes as she vanished…