The woman let out a soft gasp, offering a faint smile before lowering her head again. She silently clutched the frayed edge of her shabby gray leather armor.
In the wind and rain, her body trembled slightly—whether from cold or fear was unclear.
“Truthfully, even if I hadn’t intervened, you could have handled that man. Even killed him, right?”
Ye Zhongming stared at her for several seconds before speaking abruptly.
The woman immediately looked up, her face filled with confusion. When she finally spoke, her voice was hesitant.
“W-what do you mean?” She glanced at the nearby corpse and whispered, “I’m no match for him. I don’t dare fight anyone. I… I don’t know how.”
Ye Zhongming stepped forward, closing the distance between them, his gaze never leaving her eyes.
Only when they were nearly nose-to-nose did he speak again.
“That tear on your left sleeve isn’t just a tear—it conceals a bullhead needle launcher. The tips are poisoned. If his battle beast hadn’t detected me, he might already be dead by your hand.”
“And that thick rope belt around your waist? That’s no ordinary item. At the very least, it’s gold-grade equipment. More valuable than everything that dead man owned combined.”
The woman took a step back, the pretense of fragility and confusion slowly fading from her expression.
“You possess the Medusa bloodline. Not just that—you’re at least an intermediate-level job. Because it’s not just snake hair you’ve mastered, but the Petrifying Gaze as well.”
“Who are you?!”
Her sharp demand marked a clear shift. The timid, victimized persona vanished. Where once she seemed like someone the world could trample without consequence, now her hair writhed into living black serpents, hissing with crimson tongues. Her eyes clouded over like spectral gray mist, and an aura of dark energy clung tightly to her form.
“Done pretending?” Ye Zhongming smirked. “Oh, and one more thing—you’re not a six-star evolved. You’re seven-star.”
His words struck like a hammer, shattering the woman’s composure. She teetered on the edge of violence.
“Don’t push me to kill you!” Black, razor-sharp nails sprouted from her fingers, repelling raindrops on contact.
“You escaped from Soul Merchant.”
His statement triggered her attack. Ye Zhongming felt his body grow heavy—petrification—before a storm of serpentine hair and glinting black claws lunged at him.
Medusa Bloodline Abilities: Stone Bind and Serpent Strike.
Fierce Ghost job Skill: Phantom Talons.
First, cripple the target’s agility. Then follow with venomous, lethal strikes. This was no helpless victim—she was a cold-blooded assassin.
This ambush might have worked against someone of equal level—like the late Veterinarian Meng. Especially with the infamous bullhead needle launcher in play.
But her opponent was Ye Zhongming.
The petrification lasted only an instant. He was already gone when her serpent hair and claws reached where he should have been.
The icy edge of Undead Sand Moonblade pressed against her back, deflating her killing intent.
“Too slow.”
Two words summarized the exchange.
Ye Zhongming had reached the northwest for three targets: Pin Palace, God Hall, and the Soul Merchant.
He knew Pin Palace’s location—an isolated island fortress, difficult to infiltrate. But given the enmity between Cloud Peak, God Hall, and Soul Merchant, he wouldn’t waste his demon monster hordes on Wen’s faction.
The intelligence only suggested that God Hall and Soul Merchant had likely relocated to the northwest. Their exact whereabouts remained unknown. Two secretive organizations weren’t easily found.
Ye Zhongming hadn’t expected to pinpoint them immediately. Knowing their general region would suffice—then he could unleash his millions of demonic creatures to hunt them down.
But this woman changed everything.
Her behavior and others’ reactions to her betrayed her past identity: a meat pig of the Soul Merchant.
Just like the female guards once were.
What did that imply if she was outside, being treated as a meat pig?
She had escaped Soul Merchant. Which meant she might know their location. Even if not, she could provide crucial intelligence.
That’s why he’d abandoned the other lead to pursue her.
Ye Zhongming pressed the blade forward slightly. The woman immediately succumbed to debuffs—Weakness and Terror.
Her hand moved sluggishly toward her sleeve. With a light kick, Ye Zhongming sent the concealed bullhead launcher flying.
Suicide?
This puzzled him. Why pretend to be helpless earlier? It was probably because her identity as an escaped meat pig was known—high-level evolved stripped of skills, deemed useless.
She hid her strength and followed the Baowen Battle Squad. In truth, she had bloodline, job and good equipment. Why? If self-preservation was the goal, her readiness to die now contradicted that.
It was as if… she was terrified of being captured and interrogated.
What was she hiding?
“Your name. When did you escape Soul Merchant? Why come here? What do you know about them?”
Ye Zhongming’s voice was ice. “Tell me, and I’ll let you go. I despise Soul Merchant. I sympathize with people like you. But lie or refuse, and I promise—I have ways to make your life worse than any meat pig’s.”
At his last words, her body tensed. Her breathing turned rushed.