INHA Chapter 116

At the same time, the inexplicable sense of danger made Xu Dongyou more alert than ever. He carefully sensed the exact source of the threat, finally focusing his attention on the underground heart.

The danger was emanating from there.

Uncertain of what other tricks the evil tree might have, Xu Dongyou knew he had to find a way to deal with it. After some contemplation, he took out the weapon equipped with sealing stones provided by the research department before they came. This weapon was capable of long-range attacks.

His dagger was suited only for close combat.

Before Xu Dongyou could launch his attack, however, the heart began to expel a large amount of sludge. Small puddles quickly formed on the ground. One handler, unfortunate and unable to react in time, was splashed with the sludge and immediately disintegrated into bones with a horrific scream.

Everyone was horrified. At this moment, Xu Dongyou didn’t hesitate to press the attack button on the heart. With a whoosh, the weapon embedded with sealing stones pierced the heart. The area struck immediately developed grayish, withered patterns.

It was as if it had lost its vitality, along with its ability to expel black sludge.

The evil tree went berserk. Though it was silent, it felt as if it was roaring in everyone’s hearts. Every branch and leaf began to thrash wildly, and the roots hidden deep underground started to struggle and break through the soil, seemingly intent on taking everyone down with it.

Everyone was immediately alarmed. The tree trunks continued their assault, forcing them to fight back.

The director, realizing the key to breaking the deadlock, shouted, “Everyone, attack the heart with the sealing-stone weapons!”

This command roused everyone and they quickly switched to the appropriate weapons and began their assault. Soon, most of the heart’s surface turned a grayish-brown, losing its vitality.

This only fueled the evil tree’s fury, increasing the speed at which more tree trunks emerged from the soil. It began to dig, exposing the heart and spewing out black sludge.

It might have lost all reason, not realizing that such actions would only hasten its own demise.

Xu Dongyou, the fastest among them, knew his primary task was to help deal with the tree roots so that everyone could focus on attacking the heart.

Other handlers with fast speeds also targeted the tree roots, working in concert with Xu Dongyou. Even the researchers joined in, and they quickly managed to seal the exposed parts of the heart.

At the same time, the tree trunks were all eliminated. However, everyone knew that many more trunks still lay buried underground and the heart wasn’t fully sealed yet.

The director ordered everyone to fall back and prepared to reveal more of the heart, allowing it to be sealed completely.

During this time, the evil tree grew increasingly agitated, but all its tactics were already exhausted, leaving it only to await its end.

Everyone remained vigilant, continuing to seal the heart. Handlers outside observing the situation were tense and anxious and many requested to go in to help.

After a few seconds of deliberation, the higher-ups ordered additional personnel to assist. However, as these reinforcements arrived and started helping, the evil tree seemed to realize it had no chance of turning the situation around. A terrifying aura suddenly erupted from it and an even denser gray mist spread from its center, more intense than before.

Everyone immediately avoided the mist, panic-stricken.

But the small world was limited in size. Unless everyone left, they would eventually be engulfed by the gray mist. Everyone looked to the director, waiting for his orders.

The director, though reluctant, could see that the evil tree was indeed trying to take them all down with it. As the mist thickened, the tree trunks and veins visibly withered at an accelerating rate.

Xu Dongyou even heard the heartbeat of the underground heart weakening.

A more terrifying sense of crisis surged within him. Xu Dongyou was unwilling to leave just as they were about to eliminate the evil tree, but with this new development, they had no choice but to withdraw.

They couldn’t risk everyone’s lives.

Xu Dongyou quickly said to the director, “Director, we need to retreat. This mist is impossible to fully defend against.”

The director nodded, “Retreat!”

The researchers hurriedly collected their preserved samples and data, and everyone quickly fled. Xu Dongyou intentionally fell a few steps behind, glancing back at the heart. Gritting his teeth, he threw out a vine, which wrapped around the sealing stone he had brought. He then guided the stone into the ground, penetrating deeper into the heart, drilling further and further.

Every part of the heart that was exposed was sealed and the evil tree appeared even more withered, seeming to be dead. However, Xu Dongyou could still hear a faint heartbeat from the heart.

It wasn’t dead yet.

The director turned around and saw Xu Dongyou still there. He immediately shouted for Xu Dongyou to come over quickly. Xu Dongyou didn’t look back and continued to control the vines to seal the heart. Just as the gray mist was about to envelop Xu Dongyou’s location, the heart was nearly completely sealed.

The other handlers had all left, leaving only the director behind. He rushed back to pull Xu Dongyou out but was horrified to see that the heart suddenly erupted in a massive explosion.

In an instant, Xu Dongyou was engulfed.

“Dongyou!!” The director roared, his eyes filled with rage, but he couldn’t get any closer. The gray mist had spread to where he was. He retreated a few steps, using the teleportation array to leave the small world.

However, his reaction was too slow; the gray mist had already enveloped half of his arm. The others hurriedly applied sealing stones to the director to suppress the mist’s invasion.

Elder Chen grabbed the director, his emotions in turmoil, and demanded, “Where is Dongyou?!!”

The director, feeling the sting of his own delay, replied with regret, “I couldn’t save him in time. He was engulfed by the mist.”

And the tree had self-destructed as well.

Xu Dongyou’s chance of survival was now zero.

Elder Chen staggered back a few steps, his face turning ashen. Unable to maintain his human form, he reverted to his original shape and spat out a few mouthfuls of blood. He murmured, “It’s all my fault. If I had stopped him back then, none of this would have happened.”

Tears streamed down his face uncontrollably.

All the handlers fell silent, the atmosphere heavy with grief, until a voice with confusion asked, “What happened?”

Noticing Elder Chen’s condition, the voice grew anxious and hurried footsteps approached to support Elder Chen. “What’s wrong?”

Elder Chen, tear-streaked and filled with sorrow, looked up at Xu Dongyou, who was perfectly fine, and his expression froze.

Everyone: “???”

The director was the first to react and asked, “You’re okay?”

Xu Dongyou looked up, recalling the terrifying scene inside the barrier world. He nodded slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Sorry, Director. I deliberately lagged behind a few steps.”

Elder Chen snapped back to reality and grabbed Xu Dongyou, asking, “What exactly happened? How did you get out?”

Xu Dongyou quickly explained, “I originally planned to attack the heart a few more times and then leave. But my senses told me I could attack the heart in a different way.”

His demonic power was a pure white color, different from other demons. As his popularity grew, so did his strength and demonic power. When he infused all his demonic power into the heart, it created a remarkable reaction with the sealing stones, completely destroying the heart and even causing an explosion.

He immediately reacted and ran, but was still covered by the aftershock of the explosion. However, the dragon bones inside him immediately emitted a glow that enveloped him, protecting him from any danger.

The stones infected with Zhulong’s aura could turn into sealing stones, and Zhulong’s bones had the power to cleanse the entire world’s gray mist.

The small world returned to silence. The explosion had caused chaos, making the small world look somewhat dilapidated. The tree was completely dead and the heart had turned into a gray stone, losing its heartbeat.

The crisis was resolved.

He then emerged from the small world.

Even now, looking back, Xu Dongyou still felt a bit shaken. His current concern was for Zhulong, wondering if it had been injured while bearing all this for him.

Thinking of this, Xu Dongyou couldn’t stay still and said to Elder Chen and the Director, “I want to visit the sealing array.”

Elder Chen, relieved to see that Xu Dongyou was unharmed, immediately felt a lot better. He got up and said to Xu Dongyou, “Let’s go. I’ll go with you.”

Xu Dongyou nodded.

The Director and the others stayed behind to handle the aftermath. When Xu Dongyou arrived at the sealing array and saw Zhulong, he hadn’t even had a chance to ask if it was injured. Zhulong spoke first, “Are you injured?”

Its voice was thunderous but Xu Dongyou felt an immense warmth inside. Grateful and at a loss, he replied, “I’m fine. It’s you who bore all of this for me. Are you injured?”

Zhulong was silent for a few seconds before placing its tail in front of Xu Dongyou, pointing to a slightly dimmer dragon scale, and said, “This one is a bit dull.”

Xu Dongyou was confused. “Huh?”

Then he realized it and took a closer look at the dragon scale. Indeed, he could see that this shimmering scale seemed slightly dimmer compared to the others.

So, this was how Zhulong had been injured by the explosion for him?

If it had been him, he might have died in that explosion. Xu Dongyou didn’t know what to say for a moment, and finally managed to say, “Well, can I help clean it?”

Maybe he could brighten up the dragon scale.

In the past, Zhulong would have been very particular about its scales, but now, compared to Xu Dongyou’s safety, the slightly dimmed scale seemed less important. Calmly, Zhulong said, “No need.”

But then, it suddenly changed its mind and said, “Actually, do clean it. My scales are hard to clean.”

Xu Dongyou shook his head and said earnestly, “It’s fine. I can come by every day to clean it. If one day isn’t enough, I can come for a month. I’ll get it cleaned eventually.”

Zhulong, without showing any sign of embarrassment, replied, “Alright then, I appreciate it.”

Xu Dongyou smiled and said, still feeling a bit awkward, “I should be the one thanking you. If it weren’t for you, I might have died inside.”

So, helping to clean a dragon scale for a month was nothing in comparison.

“But this won’t affect your work, will it?” Zhulong asked thoughtfully.

Xu Dongyou replied, “It’s okay. I don’t have much to do during this time.”

He looked at Zhulong with deep gratitude, feeling touched by its kindness and how it contrasted with its usually imposing and untouchable demeanor.

Zhulong was truly a good dragon!

Once Xu Dongyou left, Zhulong calmly took out its search device. The search results displayed:

【How to Make Others Like You: First, show concern for them. Pretending not to care will actually make others feel you are kinder.】

It closed the search site, feeling that humans had progressed incredibly fast, finding such useful information so effectively.

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Moonlit: You haven’t even transformed yet but you’re already scheming 😂