Dominion’s End - Book 6: Chapter 9: Daddy, Gēge, and Me

Book 6: Chapter 9: Daddy, Gēge, and Me

I was a little uneasy as I headed back into the forested hill behind the base. Although I had a feeling that Thirteen wasn’t very hostile to me, I still needed to keep my guard up against him. Even if he had zero hostility, we were food on each other’s menus. His evolution crystal was a terrific supplement for me, while my flesh and blood was like his ginseng.

The moment I entered the forest, I could sense a powerful aberrant nearby. It probably wasn’t Thirteen, based on its aberrant energy levels, so maybe it was Asura.

“Gēge!”

A little girl sprang out from the bushes and flew into my arms like a mini canonball, taking me by surprise. As I patted her head, I could sense Thirteen in the forest behind me. I could actually detect his faint presence, but it wasn’t until Beibei had dashed out that I could sense him, freaking me out completely.

Even if Asura was far larger than Thirteen and looked scarier on the outside, he didn’t make me fear for my life as much as Thirteen did. Thirteen seems a little more hostile than before though, why?

I wanted to push Beibei away a little so I could free my leg from her grip and more easily ask her some questions, but she clung on tightly, and I couldn’t get her to budge with a light push.

So she’s still scared? I asked gently, “Beibei, let Gēge hug you?”

Beibei immediately raised her arms. I scooped her up, and she rested her little head on my shoulder, her cool cheek squishing against my neck and slowly warming up.

I said soothingly, “Don’t worry. Don’t be scared, Beibei. Gēge will protect you.”

Beibei made a force “mm.”

Thirteen stepped out of the bushes right then, holding himself like he was facing his greatest enemy. His feet started subconsciously clawing at the dirt as he firmly fixed his gaze on Beibei, making it immediately obvious what was most important to him.

Don’t tell me he’s hostile because Beibei ran over? Conflicting feelings churned inside of me. Thirteen really does care for Beibei, certainly more than I do. How many times have I thought about Beibei recently? This little girl who fell into Thirteen’s claws?

Even right at the start, the person who had protected Beibei in these snowy lands was not me, but Thirteen, an aberrant. With Beibei here, there was simply no way to fight. So I directly asked Thirteen, “What do you want?”

Thirteen continued staring at Beibei, and replied, “Beibei wants you.”

Huh? My expression darkened. I never thought it’d be for this reason. So I asked another question through gritted teeth, “Did you attack the Zhanjiang Garrison because of me?”

Thirteen shook his head and said, “Servants want to eat humans. There are lots of humans here.”

Why’re you referring to them as “servants”? My god, my little flap of butterfly wings has transformed Thirteen from the Aberrant King into Aberrant Master?

Beibei explained in her childish way, “Daddy brought the servants here to eat. But we saw lots of pretty ice, so Daddy recognized Gēge. We finally found Gēge. We can go home together.”

The hell? What Daddy and Gēge? How’d I turn into Thirteen’s son? No wonder when I jumped in to make ice shish kebabs out of the horned mice, the aberrants backed down without a fight. They recognized the “Gēge”!

I asked with bewilderment, “Beibei, have you forgotten about your mommy and daddy?”

“Beibei remembers Daddy!” Beibei looked straight at Thirteen, then pouted, “Mommy’s dead. No more. Daddy said so.”

I stared at Thirteen. Is this just some nonsense to deal with the little girl, or is this true? What happened to Auntie Chen?

Thirteen explained, “The humans there were all eaten.”

I fell into silence. Auntie Chen wasn’t among the people that Ah Nuo led back, and she hadn’t listened to me when I told her to follow the military. Maybe she was waiting back there, waiting for me to bring her daughter back, and ended up being eaten, or she found her husband and left with him. No matter what had happened, it was very difficult to find out the truth in this chaotic world.

I gazed at Beibei in my arms, feeling like I owed her a lot, and tentatively asked, “If Beibei likes Gēge, why don’t you stay with Gēge?”

It was a moment of stupidity that left Beibei to live among the aberrants. But she was ultimately a human being. She was still young now so it was fine for Thirteen to raise her, but a lot of problems would crop up as she got older. There was no way I could just leave her like this with Thirteen.

Beibei looked a little disappointed as she asked, “Then, when can Gēge come with Daddy and Beibei?”

In another life, probably.

I said patiently, “Gēge is busy working, so why don’t you go home with Daddy first?”

Thirteen valued Beibei a lot, so if I were to try to take her away by force, Thirteen might end up back on the path of slaughtering any human he came across. I was letting down Beibei and Auntie Chen, who had entrusted me with her, but—but let’s just leave it like this for now!

After all, right now I really didn’t have the power to afford gaining another enemy as powerful as Thirteen. I hadn’t even resolved the Shangguan family issue. Even though Zhu Yuanzhou had made a very sincere oath, Shangguan Chenhong did end up dying here. Even if I wasn’t the one who had killed him, they would still hold it against the Jiang Dominion.

Not to mention there was still the final boss, the MORC. I could only spare a bit of my time and attention on caring for Beibei. I asked Beibei, “Where is home? Gēge will come and visit after he’s finished with his work.”

“Gēge still needs to work before coming home?” Beibei pouted unhappily, then said angrily, “Home is home! Beibei doesn’t know where it is!”

The little girl petulantly ran back to Thirteen, so I had no choice but to ask Thirteen instead, “Did you guys really find “home”?”

Thirteen shook his head. As expected, having lost her memories, Beibei only instinctively wanted to go “home,” a place where she felt safe, but she didn’t realize that there was no home to go back to.

I really have to do something about this. I carefully requested Thirteen, “Take Beibei and find somewhere safe to stay, then tell me where it is. Beibei is human, not an aberrant. As she grows up, she will discover that she is not the same as you guys, and there’s going to be a lot of trouble. But I can help you.”

I wasn’t sure whether Thirteen got what I was saying, but he at least understood that I wasn’t planning to take Beibei away, and his attitude quickly switched back to the indifferent, lazy office worker. It was evident that he wasn’t a son-con, so I didn’t bother calling him “dad” either, or I would really be disrespecting my own father. Even though he and mom passed away a long time ago, I still remembered them!

“Listen.” I pointed at the city not far away, announcing, “That land there is called Lan City, and it’s my territory. Go live somewhere else.”

Although that was your territory in my previous life, I want Lan City in this life!

Thirteen didn’t seem to care too much about my declaration, and just said, “Something very big is there. You can’t win.”

What’s very big? I didn’t understand.

“Oh yeah, very big!” Beibei cut in, the little girl’s mercurial temper disappearing as quickly as it came, and she instantly forgot that she was mad at her gēge. She spread her arms, saying, “It’s this big! It’s much much bigger than even Uncle Asura and has many heads. Daddy only has one head, so he can’t win.”

A lot of heads—the Yggdrasil Earthworm! That thing was indeed enormous and I couldn’t win against it. Last time, I almost lost my life fighting against him. Even though I had already reached tier three, the Yggdrasil Earthworm lived in Lan City and had probably eaten a fair number of humans. With a body like that, he was probably a tier three as well.

“You really can’t win against the Yggdrasil Earthworm? Don’t you have a lot of ’servants‘? So you can just all attack and win?”

I couldn’t help but ask the Lan City ruler of the previous life, how on earth he had dealt with the Yggdrasil Earthworm. It would serve as a useful reference, and it would be even better if he could give tips on what weaknesses he had.

“Yggdrasil Earthworm.” Thirteen mumbled the name, then shook his head. “Yggdrasil Earthworm also has lots of servants.”

What? My face twisted. If that terrifying thing actually led his own aberrant tide, there was no path to victory!

Thankfully, the aberrant tide attacking the Zhanjiang Garrison was led by Thirteen and not the Yggdrasil Earthworm, or else whether or not the incomplete city wall could withstand the earthworm would become a moot question, since the earthworm could drill up from underground!

But if Thirteen himself said he couldn’t win against the Yggdrasil Earthworm, how’d he become the Ruler of Lan City back then?

In my past life, I had never heard of a thing such as the Yggdrasil Earthworm, which led me to believe that he had probably not survived until the late apocalypse. But how did such a terrifying early game mini-boss die then? If something else other than Thirteen was the one who killed him, then how did Thirteen deal with the aberrant that was stronger than the Yggdrasil Earthworm? The more I thought about it, the more it didn’t make sense to me.

I couldn’t help but ask again, “Are you sure you can’t kill him? Even if you put your life on the line?”

I assumed that he was still thinking, as Thirteen remained expressionless for a long time. However, he ultimately shook his head. This is terrible! To think my transmigrating little flap of butterfly wings that made Thirteen not kill people on sight might have caused this—I thought I had done something good, but I might have spawned an aberrant even more terrifying than Thirteen. With such a large body, there was no way he wouldn’t need a lot of food!

Thirteen said, “We don’t need to kill him. He’s going the other way and will not come here.”

My expression changed, and I quickly asked, “Where is he going?” Dàgē is still out there. I hope he doesn’t run into it!

Thirteen pointed in a direction, and I heaved a sigh of relief. That was not where Dàgē was, and it wasn’t even the downtown area of Lan City, just the outskirts—

I froze. The Shangguan family’s military zone!

The Shangguan family clearly had a huge amount of firepower. I didn’t know if they had also bought energy guns from the MORC in my past life, but even without those, they still had exceptional firepower. On top of that, they had a lot of people, all soldiers to boot.

What exactly was strong enough to breach the Shangguan military zone last time?

A theory suddenly popped into my head. I gritted my teeth and decided to risk testing it.

“Thirteen, use your psychic powers to attack me!”

Thirteen repeated it syllable by syllable, seeming not able to understand the phrase, “Psy-chic- po-wers?”

“It’s the power that will make my head hurt.”

As I explained, a strange thought flickered across my mind. Somehow I always seemed to be teaching Thirteen, and I was even the one who had named him by accident. So technically, he should be the one to call me “Dad” right?

The future Aberrant King with a thick tail shot me a glance. A shiver ran down my spine as I thought of getting called “Dad” by him, and I quickly formed an ice cube in my mouth to freeze that thought.

Suddenly my head started throbbing—

From the back, a loud explosion rang out. All of the people running involuntarily flew forward, only left with the ability to clutch their heads and wail.

I lay sprawled on the ground. I would never have thought that explosions were something this terrifying. In movies, the main character would be able to avoid the explosion with a flying tackle, and then be able to quickly climb to their feet to continue running.

It was only now that I had experienced it that I knew it was far from the truth. Even with the explosion so far away, the loud sound of it shook my heart like it had been hit by the explosion. My ears were ringing, unable to hear anything, and even my head hurt so much, like it had been hit by the blast.

I climbed to my feet, feeling dazed. From behind me, I heard a very strange howl. How loud is the howl for me to be able to hear it clearly on this chaotic battlefield?

I couldn’t help but turn back to look. Smoke filled the air in the direction of the military zone, and within it, a gigantic, horrifying black shadow was writhing and squirming in pain. The shadow was so distorted it was hard to imagine what it was. It seemed like it wanted to scale the city walls and escape, but it didn’t have enough strength to do so. It couldn’t climb up smoothly and kept falling.

Seeing that, I was so scared I stopped breathing. This moment really is the end of the world, huh? To think these monsters could grow to be this large… Faced with these monsters, how is man supposed to survive?

My heart was overcome with despair, and I could not even muster the will to run away. Compared to struggling to survive with no hope on the horizon, I might as well cross over to see my mom sooner… With a flash of light, explosions rang out one after another within the military zone, the explosions even more powerful than before. My whole body was sent flying by the shockwaves of the explosion, and right before I passed out, I saw the monster collapse to the ground with a wail—

I smiled and then shut my eyes in relief. So ultimately, there was still hope left for mankind.

“Daddy, you hit Gēge again! It’s all because you keep bullying Gēge. That’s why he ran away and won’t come home now!”

The little girl was very angry.

“Jiang Shuyu told me to do it.” The voice replying sounded like they felt a little wronged.

Wronged… Thirteen?

I was shocked back to my senses.

“You did say it.” Thirteen looked at me and emphasized, “To use psychic powers to attack you.”

“Yeah I did say that!” I quickly admitted and explained to Beibei, “This has nothing to do with Daddy. Gēge asked him to do it.”

“Really?” Beibei’s face was thoroughly puzzled as she asked, “Gēge, you like to be hit by Daddy?”

That just makes me sound like a masochist! I gritted my teeth and explained, “I don’t enjoy getting hit! Gēge forgot some stuff, and Daddy’s powers can help Gēge remember.”

“Really?” Beibei asked in a half-understanding way, “Does that work on Beibei, too? Beibei can’t remember Mommy’s face. If I get hit by Daddy, will I remember her?”

Faced with Thirteen’s killer gaze, I quickly denied, “Nope! It’s only effective on Gēge.”

Beibei lowered her head in disappointment. Seeing the little girl feeling sad, Thirteen’s gaze on me continued to feel like he was about to eat me alive. I, however, just rolled my eyes at him. He had not made a move even when I was deeply immersed in my memories just now, so clearly as long as Beibei was here, Thirteen would not lay a hand on “Gēge.” Asura, who was hiding in the woods, was a bigger threat to me.

After receiving my eye roll, Thirteen stared at me, as if he couldn’t understand what the expression meant. However, he was immediately distracted by Beibei asking, “Is there really no photos of Mommy?” and started to nonsensically answer the girl’s questions with a series of “yeahs.”

Now that I didn’t have to worry about Thirteen, what I should be worried about was another terrifying foe—the Yggdrasil Earthworm. Apparently, in my past life, I had heard of the Yggdrasil Earthworm, and even encountered it personally. However, Guan Weijun from my past life was only focused on escaping for her life, and had not even clearly seen what the boss had looked like. It was only due to having seen the Yggdrasil Earthworm now, that I could recognize him with a single glance.

As I had guessed, the Yggdrasil Earthworm had not lived until the late apocalypse because he had been taken out by the Shangguan Family in a kamikaze explosion. I carefully considered Shangguan Chenhong, and concluded that he couldn’t have been the one who had done that. That kind of guy would never guard the base with his life and ultimately choose to perish with the aberrant. He was absolutely part of the batch of high-ranking officers who had run away first.

I racked my brains in my attempts to remember what exactly had happened then. Damn it, my only clues were Xia Zhengu’s grumbles. It really had been far too long. Other than the explosion that I recalled just now, I couldn’t remember anything else. After all, the Shangguan family infighting wasn’t anything important to me, so even if Xia Zhengu had talked my ears off about it at that time, I still couldn’t recall a thing.

The truth was, if I hadn’t coincidentally dreamed of it, I probably wouldn’t even have remembered the surname Shangguan. Time really is a butcher knife for memories. The precognition advantages that came from being reborn again were almost completely gone in less than a year.

For the first time since the apocalypse, I felt slightly thankful for Xia Zhengu. If it weren’t for all his constant cursing and grumbling that revolved around the powerful and the fighting among them, I would remember even less than I did now.

Although I couldn’t really remember what had actually happened, I had a guess. Could the troops guarding the city at that time belong to Xiao Sha’s brother, Shangguan Chenhao?

I remembered Shangguan Chenhao’s subordinate, Tang Liang. He and his troops had left a pretty good impression on me. When I met them, they had encountered a wave of horned mice, and even while they were running for their lives, they still did not forget to reach out to help their comrades. Seeing that scene made me take action to save them. Their behavior was miles better than the troops of Shangguan Chenhong.

The troops that had stayed behind might really have been them. Then I would have repaid them for saving my life before, though looking at things, it might have only extended their lifespan by a few days.

At the Shangguan military zone, there was also Wei-xiǎogē…

I couldn’t help but look at Thirteen. This guy was the leader of the aberrant tide, if he could help—No, wait, what kind of wild fantasy am I thinking of?

I should already count my blessings that Thirteen stopped attacking the garrison because of Beibei. To think that I would be deluded enough to want him to lead the aberrant tide to help save humans?

At that time, he might even directly join the Yggdrasil Earthworm’s aberrant tide in eating humans!

The focus of the aberrants of the early stages of the apocalypse was their hunger. If Thirteen could really control them not to eat humans and to attack the other group of aberrants instead, then why should I still aim to become the Ice Emperor? I might as well run over and call him “Dad”!

I took a deep breath, stopped dwelling on unrealistic ideas, and requested, “On Beibei’s behalf, could you not eat the people in my base, and just take your aberrants and leave?”

To that, Thirteen didn’t seem bothered as he said, “Then I’ll go eat at where the Yggdrasil Earthworm is.”

Stop it! My sense of foreboding is coming true. Two waves of aberrants are going to join up and eat humans together! I immediately shouted, “You can’t go there to eat either!”

Thirteen only coldly looked at me, without replying.

I gritted my teeth. As expected, they were still man-eating aberrants. It was just that Thirteen mostly kept a humanoid form, and was not intimidating at all other than when he was angry. On top of that, he was taking care of and protecting Beibei, and he was even the type to keep his promises. All that led to me letting down my guard around him. I had forgotten that this guy didn’t just eat humans—he was even a picky eater who specifically aimed for the heart.

If it weren’t for Beibei, my heart would be the food that he wants the most right now!

Just the Yggdrasil Earthworm alone would destroy the Shangguan military zone. But due to the troops’ resistance and kamikaze attack, many people still managed to survive. If Thirteen were to join in, then not a single one would be spared!

It was too hard on my conscience to send Thirteen to eat people from the military zone to protect my own base, but I definitely couldn’t let him eat anyone here!

Or maybe I should try to eliminate Thirteen right here? But both Thirteen and Asura are strong, and their abilities even complement each other. It simply couldn’t get more challenging than that. I have Xiaorong, but I really can’t compare to Thirteen when it comes to raising underlings. Mine clearly isn’t as strong as Asura. I really can’t claim that I can defeat this pair of aberrants.

I can’t win against them in a fight, yet I definitely can’t allow anything to happen to our base. At the same time, I don’t want to stand back and watch the Shangguan military zone fall into crisis… No wonder the Ice Emperor said that I have too much that I can’t let go of. Now, where should I suggest Thirteen to go for his meal? Who are the ones who will be forsaken under my suggestion?

I forced myself to stay calm, and not to think too much unnecessary stuff. I just had to focus on minimizing the damage. It’s not like I can expect to be able to save the world?

“Why don’t you go and have your meal in Lan City? If you go and contest for food with the Yggdrasil Earthworm, he might get upset. If both sides start fighting, Beibei will be in danger.”

The survivors within Lan City were very scattered and wouldn’t all be taken out at once. Once I reunited with Dàgē, we could immediately go to Jin Zhan to ask for his cooperation. With the three of us working together, we could definitely eliminate this future Aberrant King!

However, Thirteen said, “I don’t bring Beibei when eating.”

I quickly said, “If you don’t bring Beibei, then who else can you ask to look after her? Even if the other aberrants can resist eating her for a moment, there’s no guarantee when you’re away for too long. The aberrants might stop listening to orders.”

Thirteen nodded. He seemed to agree with my statement as he said, “I will stand with Beibei far away, and Asura will go and eat. The Yggdrasil Earthworm will not attack him, but would attack me.”

That actually sounded very plausible. The Yggdrasil Earthworm would feel threatened by Thirteen, but Asura might be mistaken for one of the earthworm’s subordinates. The current aberrant tide was just a bunch of aberrants that had gathered to attack together and wasn’t a real organization. There was a high chance that the Yggdrasil Earthworm wouldn’t be able to tell which aberrants were in the tide, as long as there weren’t any that were stronger than him.

But Thirteen, you’re an aberrant. Could you stop being so smart?

No wonder he was able to become the Aberrant King in his past life. Disregarding how many types of powers he actually had, just based on the fact that he already had this kind of intelligence in the first year of the apocalypse was terrifying. He knew not to clash head-on with the Yggdrasil Earthworm. After the Yggdrasil Earthworm gets killed by explosions, Lan City would be his to take over.

—Wait, I suddenly remembered something. The Yggdrasil Earthworm will be killed in the explosion at the Shangguan military zone! What if Thirteen were to head over now?

Even if Thirteen didn’t enter the fray and only let Asura enter the military zone, Asura and most of the current subordinates under Thirteen could be eliminated. The price paid however, would be that this time, almost all of the people in Shangguan military zone would get wiped out.

“Gēge.” Beibei suddenly grabbed my hand and quietly said, “Daddy and his servants need to eat, just like Beibei also wants to eat food and candy. Don’t be angry at him. Daddy already eats very little. He wouldn’t just eat any… food.”

“What is this candy?” My expression changed. What on earth might an aberrant feed a little girl to fill her tummy?

“It’s this! This candy is for Gēge. Beibei kept it for you. It’s really big!”

Beibei took something out from her cloak’s small pocket and shoved it into my hands. I was terrified that I would end up holding human eyeballs or something like that, but once I took a good look, I was speechless. Isn’t this—

I jerked my head up, instantly picking up Beibei and retreating a large distance. In an instant, Thirteen was enraged and attempted to charge at me. However, he suddenly froze in his tracks. A line of black had appeared without a sound between Thirteen and me. If someone had never eaten crystals, they might not see anything until this black void devoured everything, shrank, and disappeared, leaving behind only a round, vacuumed space in the center of the overgrown grass of the woods.

Seeing such a terrifying ability, I was instead ecstatic. He’s finally here!

Dàgē!

Countless people walked out of the woods. It was dark at night and they were a distance away, so I couldn’t see the faces of most of them. The person at the front walked out from under the shadows of the trees, basking in the moonlight. He looked imposing and full of killing spirit. I give it ten out of ten for intimidation! But show some restraint. Don’t waste your energy, Dàgē!

My dàgē’s ability is wonderful—he can heal, fight, and is basically great at everything, but the only downside is that it takes too much energy, so he can’t fight long battles. Even if he held a crystal, he wouldn’t be able to absorb it fast enough. Um, and the fact that it takes a while for him to cast his ability is actually another downside, but that might be resolved if he breaks through tier three.

But all that didn’t matter much, since Dàgē was the boss of Jiang Dominion. There would always be someone willing to support him. Even the younger brother could hold off the enemy until he could release his ultimate technique!

With a roar, Asura jumped out from the trees to block Thirteen from us. He was even carrying a sharp quill in each hand, as though he were a dual-wielding swordsman. However, a flash of bluish-white light made him almost drop his quill.

Another person walked out from under the shadows of the trees. He stood next to my dàgē, lightning still circling his hands. Lightning curled between his fingers like tiny snakes, moving with such energy that it felt like the lightning was alive.

Jin Zhan, the future Thunder God.

Why did even Jin Zhan come? I stared at him, puzzled. He actually left Lan City, his base of operations, and personally came over. I wonder if Jin Feng also came over, or is she watching the house?

Jin Zhan gave me a look, and for some reason, I felt like it was a gaze of approval. I could not help but straighten my back upright!

He turned to my dàgē and said, “I originally thought that your little brother was a coward, but it looks like I was sorely mistaken. He sure is full of guts, to even dare to come and negotiate with an aberrant all by himself.”

Dàgē angrily shot me a look, a look that implied “you’re grounded” as he agreed, “He sure has too much guts, to the point I rather he was timid!”

I immediately became timid from that. I grabbed Beibei and hid in the shadows of the trees, trying my best to reduce my sense of existence. Anyways, there was no need for me on the scene anymore. With Dàgē and Jin Zhan here, I wasn’t scared of anything, be it Thirteen, or even if the Yggdrasil Earthworm were to come over!

Take out Thirteen first, then we’ll talk. I hinted at Dàgē with my eyes. I did not speak, afraid that Thirteen would be alerted.

Starting the battle with a roar is something only a dummy would do!

Dàgē understood me in an instant, and with a stretch of his arm, two blade-shaped shadows flew toward Asura who was blocking the way. Asura was about to attempt to block them with his quills, but a shout of warning from Thirteen made him abandon his quills to dodge instead. He just barely made it in time. He only managed to escape unscathed by sacrificing his weapons.

What a pity! I wrung my hands at that. As expected, the casting speed was too slow.

But honestly, I had not expected that Dàgē was already able to suppress his ability to such a tiny and precise extent. Last time, he could only throw out very large bolts of energy, like a silent bomb that obliterated everything in its path.

The only downside was that it wasted too much of his energy. For acting powerful and cool, it was ten out of ten, but when it came to an actual battle, it would receive a failing grade.

At this moment, Thirteen suddenly turned around, charging in my direction. He was forced to stop mid-way, as black blades that could rip through everything attacked him. He was able to dodge that but was unable to dodge the lightning that came next.

Thirteen was electrocuted until he went stiff. Asura reached out to drag him out of the path of the black blades.

Jin Zhan abruptly gave a muffled grunt, and his figure started swaying. It looked like he was about to collapse, but he managed to stay on his feet after taking a step back. One of his hands was clutching his head. He was trying to bear the pain. The other hand unleashed a big move. A lightning web burst open, the web so tightly woven that it looked like it couldn’t be dodged.

But the lightning web did not hold for long. Most of Thirteen’s face was covered in scales, and both eyes were red, with his pupils becoming slits. It seemed like he was using psychic abilities, and even though he was not attacking me, I could feel my head getting a little uncomfortable.

Dàgē’s face was all scrunched up in pain, but it seemed like he could still handle it. On the other hand, Jin Zhan had both hands clutched around his head in agony while his nose bled. It was clear that he was the person receiving the brunt of the psychic assault.

Asura gave a roar. Quills grew out of him like a porcupine. Then, all of the quills shot out of him. Right then, numerous wind blades appeared in defense, but were not able to fully block all the quills, merely weakening them. At the same time, a wall of water rose and blocked off the remains, preventing Jin Zhan from becoming a human cactus.

Did Xiao Sha and Yunqian come, too?

The water wall dropped, and the water surged outwards. Looking at the water pooling around my legs, I had a bad feeling and immediately leaped up high onto a branch above. As I had expected, lightning spread over the water soon after, with absolutely no regard for my safety.

Jin Zhan, how wonderful of you! Are you trying to electrocute your brother-in-law to death—cough I mean, electrocute your current comrade to death?

“Daddy!” Beibei, who was in my arms, started squirming, and she cried out, “Gēge, they’re hitting Daddy! Hurry and go save Daddy!”

Beibei sure has a lot of strength. Did she eat too much candy? As I grabbed the girl, I spouted some nonsense at her, “It can’t be helped, Gēge can’t defeat them. Stay here and don’t move okay? Don’t let your Daddy worry about you.”

Hearing that, Beibei really didn’t dare to move anymore.

The lightning attack did not knock down Thirteen or Asura. Asura seemed unhurt. His body was sturdier than one could ever imagine. Thirteen looked like he took a bit of damage, but he was still able to move about freely.

In fact, Jin Zhan’s situation looked the worst out of all of them. Blood had even started oozing from his eyes. He took out his guns and started firing wildly, having either gone crazy from the pain in his head or fallen in a hallucination. Unfortunately Asura was completely unafraid of guns, and Thirteen also did not seem to be as scared of them as before.

Dàgē was the one who had to dodge his occasional stray bullets, and tackled him to take away his gun. Jin Zhan was about to turn and fight him when someone ran up to him and hugged him from the back, yelling, “Jin-gē! It’s me, it’s Ah Zhi!”

Hearing the familiar voice, Jin Zhan calmed down and stopped his rampage. Knowing that something was off with himself, he stopped moving at all and just stared blankly with his eyes red.

Seeing that, I landed on the ground and glued my eyes to the battlefield. I pulled out my hoarfrost dagger, intending to wait for the prime opportunity to make a move and take out Thirteen in a single blow.

Dàgē gave me a glare, clearly not intending to give me a chance to barge in. He initiated an attack and charged in, which caused me to roll my eyes. With your slow speed of casting your ability, please stand back and be a long range fighter, okay?

But seeing that he was attacking Thirteen, I did not stop him, for right now Thirteen was not highly proficient in close-range combat. Moreover, he was currently distracted trying to hold Jin Zhan down with his psychic abilities.

Xiao Sha, Yunqian, and several people I didn’t recognize went to stop Asura. No one there was able to defeat him, but they would be able to fend him off at the very least. Looking closely at their battle, I concluded that Asura was absolutely a master of close combat, and would be able to kill someone in the blink of an eye. One had to be highly cautious fighting him.

In the nearby woods, the howling of wolves resounded. This made my expression change, for that meant that Thirteen had informed the other aberrants. The aberrants were not too far off, so it looked like this battle would have to be resolved swiftly…

Dàgē suddenly yelled in pain, and I quickly looked over in shock. He had retreated quite a distance back, and his left hand was burning with a strange blue flame. He used his healing ability to suppress the blue flame. The flame vanished immediately, yet his expression was still pained. He was still breaking out in a cold sweat from the pain, so evidently there was only so much healing could do.

Could that be hellfire? The thought suddenly came to me. The Ice Emperor had previously mentioned the powers that Thirteen would acquire, and it seemed they would be no different in this lifetime. Even with Beibei here, Thirteen was still that extremely dangerous Aberrant King.

After forcing Dàgē to retreat, Thirteen actually did not choose to immediately run to and group up with the aberrants. Rather, he charged in my direction with his eyes focused on Beibei, refusing to leave without her.

Inwardly, I was shocked. This Aberrant King truly loves Beibei… Behind him, Dàgē’s black blades came to my support, but Thirteen used his clawed leg to leap to one side. When he landed, he stumbled a few steps before he stood steady, and I noticed that part of the flesh around his ankle was gone. He had not managed to fully dodge the blades. This greatly reduced his speed.

Once Thirteen was close enough, I threw Beibei behind me. Manifesting my hoarfrost dagger, I sent a wave of cold air and froze the ground below Thirteen’s feet. This was not enough to trap him there, but rather just stall him for a single moment. That was enough. I raised my hoarfrost dagger and glided toward him.

Thirteen attempted to try and dodge out of the way, but I froze the ground once again and raised ice walls all around us, cutting off his routes of escape. In an instant, I was there, close enough for me to actually see his eyes. Blue flames started to spark, but it was already too late for him. He wasn’t familiar with this power and was too slow.

I could not help but open my mouth to say, “I will take care of Beibei.”

Hoarfrost dagger, attack—

From the back, I heard the little girl shriek, “Don’t hit Daddy!”

Her scream was like a tsunami, shattering all the ice. Being the closest one to her, I felt my brain blank out in an instant, and before I lost consciousness, all I could think of was that so-called “candy” of hers…

Beibei, just how many evolution crystals have you eaten?