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墨書 Inktalez
The female doctor ignored Cui Ming, who had tried to engage her in conversation, and continued walking ahead. After a while, they reached an open area, and the feeling of frustration lifted. They were halfway up the mountain. Cui Ming looked up and saw the towering volcano; above the halfway point, it was mostly rocky with very little greenery. Cui Ming picked up the female doctor's telescope to observe the volcano, then walked to the edge of the cliff and looked around.
This was a good observation point, with a clear view to the west. In Cui Ming's understanding, the magic circle shouldn't be too small, at least around twenty square meters, and it should be located in an open area. The absence of Warden indicated that this open space was relatively hidden. It could basically be ruled out that it was near the residence of the Lich. When it came to magical knowledge, one always wished for more; if only they knew the area of the magic circle, they might have been able to figure it out themselves.
"Let's set up camp here," said the female doctor.
Cui Ming walked over and heard the sound of a waterfall. After passing through a few meters of dense forest, he found a small clearing with a three-meter-high waterfall.
Cui Ming set up the tent; there was only one tent, and he hadn't brought his own. While he was busy, the female doctor took off her outer clothing and walked into the waterfall in just her undergarments, lying in the water to wash herself.
Consider yourself lucky; Lich wasn't watching. Cui Ming turned a blind eye as he finished setting up the tent, then jumped onto a tree trunk, lying back with his feet crossed and closed his eyes to rest. When someone entered his territory nearby, a howler monkey appeared, baring its teeth at Cui Ming. He opened his eyes, pulled out a Poker card, and threw it, severing the monkey's tail. The monkey quieted down.
The female doctor emerged from the water, removing her undergarments and drying herself off. Cui Ming, pretending to doze off, said, "How about I take a trip up to the volcano?"
The female doctor replied, "My reason for going to the volcano is just an excuse; I need to collect herbs here. Many people have cuts and other superficial injuries due to the dampness of their living conditions. I need to find some anti-inflammatory herbs that only grow in this Rainforest. If I said I was looking for these herbs, Lich wouldn't agree to send you as my bodyguard."
"What does my Uncle He usually do? This place is so boring."
"He seems to enjoy fishing; he often goes to the rocky areas in the south but always comes back empty-handed."
Oh? That's useful information. To the south—right now, he was on the west side of the volcano. Cui Ming said, "Since you're looking for anti-inflammatory herbs, why not head south? As far as I know, there are more venomous snakes and fierce beasts there, but also richer resources."
"Is that so?" The female doctor asked with curiosity before continuing, "I'm only familiar with herbs; before coming to Shadow Island, I had never foraged for them. I actually don't know where they grow; most of the time I just wander around hoping for luck."
"Then let's go see if luck is on our side." Cui Ming closed his eyes again.
It was now past five in the afternoon; night was approaching quickly. Shadow Island would gradually enter a state of polar night during this season.
Cui Ming started a fire while the female doctor wore loose clothing without her undergarments and combed her hair by the fire. As Cui Ming ate some Bamboo Rice that she had brought along, he remarked, "This is pointless; you don't need to try to seduce me." The implication behind his words was clear: if she hadn't been trying to seduce him, she wouldn't have said anything.
However, many people wouldn't understand such subtleties. The female doctor's face flushed red as she asked, "What did you say?"
"We have no grudges against each other. Why would you want to sacrifice your body to kill me?"
The female doctor remained silent for a long time. "As long as you don't have any ideas about Big Twin and Little Shuang, I can tell Lich that I want a man."
Cui Ming chuckled. "You do want a man; you're just looking for an excuse, especially since I'm such an outstanding one."
The female doctor was furious and threw her comb at him. Cui Ming caught it, and she stormed back to her tent, refusing to eat.
...
Cui Ming knew the female doctor was cursing his ancestors in her heart, but unfortunately, he didn't even know who his ancestors were. He left and caught a python nearby to make soup. He couldn't stand eating pure Bamboo Rice.
Around nine o'clock in the evening, while enjoying the snake soup, Cui Ming noticed that the female doctor seemed to have fallen asleep. He tidied up a bit, sat on a rock, leaned against a tree, and fell asleep by the fire.
After drinking a lot of water, Cui Ming felt restless and couldn't sleep well. He was awakened by the urge to urinate and stepped outside the firelight to relieve himself before returning to add more wood and closing his eyes again. At that moment, he habitually checked his Fate Card and noticed a Force fluctuation about eighty meters away from him. From its direction, it seemed to be above him, on the mountain, as if it were overlooking their camp.
Who could it be? It couldn't be Lich; Lich didn't have any Force fluctuations—he was on par with Zhir. Was it Warden? Warden had gone shopping for daily supplies the day after he arrived on Shadow Island, so according to the timeline, he wouldn't be back until the day after tomorrow. That left only one other person: Lich's daughter.
This was bad. If Lich's daughter was someone who appeared kind but was ruthless inside, they were in trouble. If she knew he had arrived, it would lead to her death; she couldn't take action against her brother nor change Lich's decision. The best course of action for her would be to eliminate him. Would she not fear Lich stopping her? Of course, Lich would intervene, but Lich's daughter knew him very well; she might find an opportunity while he was napping to assassinate him.
But why was she not moving? She should have attacked by now.
Waiting... waiting...
The opponent finally moved, and Cui Ming did too. A large creature crashed down where Cui Ming was standing, causing the ground to shake. The female doctor was startled awake and pulled back the tent flap to look outside. With the help of the firelight, she saw a dragon—a fully red dragon about three meters tall—breathing foul air as it turned its head from side to side, terrifying her into silence as she pressed her lips together.
This was Cui Ming's first encounter with a real dragon; he had seen fake ones several times during Assessment Matches and Competition Matches.
Cui Ming stood by the waterfall, twenty meters away from the red dragon, thanks to his Card Play ability that allowed him to shift positions.
The alliance had many records about dragons; they were among the most fearsome creatures in the Eternal Sphere and truly existed. According to incomplete statistics over the past thousand years, more than eighty cultivators had died at the hands of dragons, along with tens of thousands of ordinary citizens who perished in dragon attacks. Dragons had a strong territorial instinct; when they lost territory, they sought new ones without caring whether those territories had owners or not. According to alliance records, two hundred forty years ago, a pair of adult black dragons invaded the North Arctic Circle territory of the Inuit people and slaughtered an entire town before nesting on a cliff at the town's edge.
This attack resulted in thousands of deaths and marked the first recorded instance of malicious slaughter by dragons. Previously documented cases indicated that as long as humans fled, dragons generally did not pursue them. However, this time, both black dragons wiped out all living beings in their path; alliance scholars analyzed that this pair of black dragons needed a safe place to lay eggs and felt insecure.
The Alliance formed an expedition team, sending twenty practitioners into the small town. They not only killed the Black Dragon couple but also slaughtered their newborn, the Little Black Dragon. The skins of the three were displayed at the Alliance's Heroic Hall. After the death of the Black Dragons, this area was designated by the Alliance as a no-residence zone, leading to a large-scale relocation of humans from over a thousand kilometers away. Although humans had been winning battles in the war against dragons, strategically, they were always retreating.
Following this dragon extermination, dragons were officially recognized by the Alliance as the most dangerous creatures that needed to be eradicated. However, most dragons resided in the Arctic Circle, where many large creatures made extermination impossible. Humans could only retreat and establish a buffer zone to the south; any dragon entering this buffer zone would be killed. Of course, each battle with dragons came at a great cost.
Dragons were categorized in many ways, with color being the most intuitive classification. Red Dragons were considered the lowest tier among them, lacking significant magical and physical resistance. Their size was also slightly smaller than that of other dragons. Next were Black Dragons and Gold Dragons. Following these were rare breeds like Flame Dragons, Dark Dragons, Dark Flame Dragons, Two-Headed Dragons, Azure Eye Dragons, and others. The last three types were extremely rare variants and very difficult to deal with. To take down a Two-Headed Dragon, the Alliance set up four magic circles and deployed over thirty high-level experts to slay one that was unaware of its fate and wouldn’t flee. The Azure Eye Dragon was an anomaly among dragons; it was intelligent and powerful. It appeared over five hundred years ago in Inuit territory but did not attack humans, instead preying on marine life and even sharing part of its catch with humans during whale hunts. It coexisted peacefully with them for over a decade before leaving. It was also recorded as the only dragon that had never attacked humans and lived harmoniously with them.
Although Red Dragons were considered the lowest tier among dragons, they were still formidable creatures for Cui Ming.
"Paralysis! Lich! What are you doing? A dragon this big is wandering into your territory." Damn it! Lich is monitoring; this guy must be testing his strength as a strategist.
The Red Dragon turned and flapped its wings, charging at Cui Ming. In its mind, since this was its chosen territory and Cui Ming posed the greatest threat, he had to be eliminated. Cui Ming cast a Draw a Line to Trap card that knocked down the Red Dragon, which crashed into the rocks beneath a waterfall. With successive Special Flying Cards slicing through the Red Dragon's body, blood sprayed everywhere.
However, compared to the massive body of the Red Dragon, this amount of blood was insignificant. Cui Ming rarely engaged in one-on-one combat; he preferred group fights. If forced into a duel, he would escape—after all, what couldn’t be solved by overwhelming numbers?
As the Red Dragon charged toward him, Cui Ming fled into the forest. The dragon pursued relentlessly, crashing through large trees. But it was a vast forest; the Red Dragon soared above treetops in pursuit of Cui Ming. Cui Ming struck again with a card that brought down the Red Dragon just as it lost sight of him without Force's dazzling light to guide it; it could only rely on its eyes to search around.
Cui Ming boldly extinguished Force and hid in place while the Red Dragon flew past his hiding spot. Once again releasing Force slightly, he ran toward the waterfall direction. Spotting a female doctor, he gestured for her to climb onto his shoulder and hurried up the mountain. Upon reaching higher ground, he kicked a large stone that rolled down into the forest below with considerable noise in the quiet night.
Could this Red Dragon fight? Yes; Cui Ming was confident he could hold his own against it for some time and even injure it. But it would be pointless—a prolonged battle would leave him at a disadvantage against such an opponent; ultimately, he would have to teleport away. However, Cui Ming had no intention of fighting. He knew he couldn't outrun the Red Dragon's speed and crouched behind cover above the waterfall with the female doctor, waiting silently.
(Note: The manuscript feels insufficient when needed; debts are felt more acutely when it's time to repay.)
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