Ryan was surprised by the sudden emergence of Sena but he quickly brightened, giving Xuefeng a thumbs up.
"Nice! You already have a daughter. Congratulations!"
Xuefeng ignored that comment, not having the will to explain anything.
"Are you willing to answer some questions?" Xuefeng asked directly. "If you lie to any of them, you can't follow us and I will consider you a threat if you do."
"Oh, sure, no problem," Ryan agreed right away. "I'm always honest. Lying is a sin."
"Alright then," Xuefeng nodded before glancing at Nuwa and Yiren. They didn't need a command to know what he wanted from them.
Oof…
Ryan gasped as three combined forces of the three Royal Elves wrapped around him to immobilize his body. This time he was completely stuck, unable to move.
"Hehe, I knew that's not all you have got," Ryan commented with a giggle. "So what are the questions?"
He couldn't escape the truth in front of Sena.
"What are your intentions for following us?"
"I wanted to be friends."
"Have you ever thought of hurting Xuefeng or anyone close to him?"
"No, I wouldn't hurt my friends."
"Were you tempted by the King of Heaven's announcement and thought of killing Xuefeng?"
"I wasn't tempted, no. I respect Xuefeng and consider him as a rival instead of an enemy. I wish to beat him in a duel but I never thought of killing him."
Ryan was completely relaxed as he answered all the questions. Xuefeng left the interrogation entirely to the girls and they were naturally concerned about Xuefeng's safety.
"Before you ask the next question, I already know what it will be about," Ryan interrupted as he glanced at Xuefeng. "Anyone would be concerned about allowing any other man in front of their wives but I can assure you, I have no interest in your wives. They are naturally beautiful but my entire focus is on my own wife. I am the type of guy who completely loses interest in other women when I'm taken. Just wanted to put it out there."
Xuefeng squinted his eyes as he glanced at Sena.
"He is honest," Sena reported right after. "I can sense he is not a bad person."
"Seeeeeeee, I told you all~" Ryan called out happily. "Soo, am I in the team?! Yes, yes?"
"You can follow us then, but if I see you are lacking and slowing us down, we are not going to babysit you," Xuefeng decided after a short contemplation.
Although he wasn't a saint, he didn't plan on killing people who didn't disturb him in any way. Ryan was stubborn but he didn't bother them too much just yet.
"Great! Let's go!" Ryan called out as he raised his palm in celebration. "Let's defeat those Beasts with the power of friendship!"
"Uhm, no," Nuwa denied without hesitation as she flew down towards the Black tower's base.
"Oh, come on!" Ryan complained. "You are not going to leave me hanging again? Aren't you excited about the adventure?"
"We are not going down there to have fun," Wuying shrugged as she followed after Nuwa. The rest seemed to have the same stance, causing Xuefeng to smile wrily.
He knew that they had a different definition of fun. For them, fighting and adventure were like a job while the games in the bedroom were their fun.
Pa!
"Power of friendship!" Sena called out excitedly as she high-fived Ryan, being the only one who shared his energy.
"You, I like you already!" Ryan nodded in approval. "We need to convince them to not be so stiff. Life is all about having fun."
"Sena, we are going." Xuefeng pulled her away before Ryan could corrupt her any further and followed after his wives.
"Hey, wait for me!"
Ryan chased closely behind till they arrived in front of the giant hole in the ground. The smell coming from the inside was hard to resist handle while the sharp earth spikes on the walls were bloodied as if many people died from not being careful.
Sena hugged into Xuefeng's chest as her enthusiasm for adventure faltered.
"Daddy… Is this where were are going…?" Senna asked quietly, not peaking anymore.
"Yes, that's where we need to go. There is something down there that I need to find," Xuefeng explained as he rubbed her back. "Do you want to enter inside to your sister Ling?"
"Mhmm… I didn't know it would be this scary," Sena nodded shyly. "I will still help if you need me."
"Good girl," Xuefeng praised before the beauty in his arms disappeared.
Even though she was hungry for adventure, Sena was still too innocent for this brutal world. The battle with Joker she just witnessed was nothing in comparison to what they were about to go through. The Beasts in the Hellhole definitely were not fluffy and nice to play with.
"You seem to have accepted Sena as your daughter already. Are you sure you don't like kids?" Ming teased in a whisper as she replaced Sena in his arms. "I'm also going back inside."
Since when did being friendly equal adoption? Xuefeng wasn't fast enough to tease her back before she vanished as well. Thinking back to Sena, she was nowhere close to being a kid and Xuefeng was sure he was younger than her. Pretending he was her father just didn't make sense.
"Aaahhh, can you smell it?" Ryan questioned as he took a deep breath at the edge of the Hellhole. "This is the smell of adventure."
He grinned at the group and jumped down into the darkness while making multiple backflips. "The last one down loses!"
Xuefeng had to admit the man was truly fearless.
"Are you ready?"
———
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!! Is this how I'm going to die?!"
While Xuefeng and his team were entering the Hellhole, Jiao was already deep underground while going through some dire circumstances. Her hair was all a mess and her skin was getting worse with each minute as the corrosive fumes and stomach fluids burned through her Spirit Qi Barrier.
"Damn it…" Jiao cursed again, this time more depressed and melancholic than before. She already tried everything to get out but she couldn't break through the thick stomach walls.
Most of the time the worm was moving crazily, causing Jiao to bounce around its intestines but now it finally calmed down as if waiting to ambush its prey. The mix of dead beast carcasses, rocks, and the intestine fluids finally came to a stop, looking like a stinky pool full of floating objects.
"Think, what would Xuefeng do…" Jiao muttered while absorbing Spirit Qi from her leftover Spirit Stones.
Where were all the Spirit Stones when she needed them? Jiao was happy with how convenient the ID Cards were since she didn't need to pay using endless amounts of Spirit Stones but now she hated that idea. She couldn't save her own life with stupid credits.
"He would probably be strong enough to kill this worm with a single punch…" Jiao muttered as she looked around, hoping to find a way for her survival.
She only had two options. Either wait for a miracle while keeping herself alive or try her last effort at breaking through the two openings and find an exit. Thinking about her two options, only one gave her a slim chance of survival.
"Exit…" Jiao gazed at the pulsing muscle at the end of the intestine tunnel.
It was closed shut but she remembered how it opened before, letting through a smaller boulder. Maybe if she was able to swim up to the exit, she would be able to force her way out before the worm digests her.
"Okay, let's try—"
Just as she decided, she saw the walls tensing and moving again, signaling another ride. Jiao didn't hesitate and grasped onto her homemade handles while hugging the wall. If the toxic liquid was able to melt the rocks, she would be completely done for the moment she touched it so she thickened her Spirit Qi barrier right before the storm approached.
Waves of toxic liquid splashed against her boulder but then she noticed something weird. Instead of moving towards the exit, the water gathered in the opposite direction.
"Is the worm backing up?" Jiao questioned only to witness a sudden reverse as the worm pushed forward.
Bang!
The worm slammed against something hard and came to an immediate stop. The toxic liquid splashed all over her but Jiao quickly removed it to preserve her barrier.
"Is it trying to break inside something?"
As if to answer her question, the worm repeated the sequence, backing up only to slam again.
Bang! Bang!
It repeated over and over again, making Jiao think that the worm lost its mind. The Worm took almost ten tries before it finally broke through. The walls began contracting as if it was swallowing something and the entrance to the intestines opened.
A gigantic boulder, almost fifty meters in diameter squeezed through the entrance before swimming towards her. It spun around until Jiao saw the other side. Her eyes slowly widened, not believing what she just saw.
"This can't be real…"