"Ah! My freshly brewed medicine!" Lingsha's face instantly paled. She glared at Xiao Bai, the tiny white snake coiled around her wrist. The creature, barely a few days old, had visibly weakened after spitting out those two droplets. Its head drooped, it clung to Lingsha's hand, and even the speed of its tongue flicks slowed.
Seeing Xiao Bai's weakened state and remembering that she had provoked it to show off, Lingsha finally sighed in resignation. Her mind involuntarily recalled her most iconic saying: "Don't be angry, don't be angry. If I die of anger, who benefits?"
Though she wasn't truly furious, merely slightly annoyed, the pot of medicine was now undoubtedly ruined—poisoned beyond use.
Wait... Lingsha pondered. Perhaps this poison could still be useful? She imagined storing it in small vials to use as ranged weapons against enemies.
The question remained: how effective would the poison be through skin contact alone? Most toxins required absorption into the bloodstream to reach their full potency.
"Or perhaps I could find a way to vaporize it into a toxic smoke?"
If it were smoke, Lingsha could deliberately direct the poisonous fumes to "attack" her enemies. Moreover, this method would be far more effective at entering the body through inhalation and extensive skin contact than simply throwing a bottle.
But then, Lingsha suddenly realized something and shook her head. "Why does this feel like I'm developing a bioweapon?"
To be honest, she felt a strong aversion and disgust towards such weapons. In fact, wouldn't any decent person loathe these inhumane tools of destruction?
Besides, her current situation wasn't dire enough to warrant resorting to such measures for self-preservation. So, Lingsha abandoned her plan to further research vaporizing the poison. She briefly bottled the concoction before her, carefully stored it away, and then turned her attention to the back of her hand.
The substance had nearly permeated her skin, leaving only a faint mark. Despite this, she extended her delicate pink tongue and licked the back of her hand.
"Hmm, no strange taste," Lingsha thought. "It's just like licking my own skin."
Since Lingsha wasn't sick and felt no discomfort, the only noticeable change was a slight surge in her energy levels.
Wait... she narrowed her eyes, focusing intently on the sensation. She finally understood the most absurd effect of Xiao Bai's saliva: lifespan extension!
Could this be the culmination of the Third Laboratory's research? A snake that could grant immortality?
And with no apparent side effects! Even if Xiao Bai's production rate was low, achieving immortality for someone wouldn't be impossible.
Lifespan was essentially life force. Though Lingsha didn't fully grasp the underlying mechanism, with Xiao Bai's help, replenishing the Prophet's vitality and reviving her might not be beyond reach.
After the first batch of medicine failed, Lingsha didn't attempt another brew. Instead, she extinguished the fire. As the night deepened, the flickering flames would only make the trio a conspicuous target in the darkness.
As a member of the Vidyadhara Clan, Lingsha's vision far surpassed human capabilities. Even with the fire extinguished, she could still clearly see her surroundings.
After stopping her pharmaceutical work, Lingsha, already brimming with energy and now wide awake thanks to Xiao Bai's earlier antics, gazed up at the night sky. Ordinarily, stargazing during a wilderness camping trip would be a romantic affair.
But when she looked up, she saw only a vast, empty darkness, utterly devoid of stars—disappointingly dull.
With nothing else to do, Lingsha pondered for a moment, then crossed her legs, rolled up her pant legs, and removed her shoes. Staring at her small, crimson-red feet, she recalled the acupuncture point knowledge she had read about in the Main World and began massaging them herself.
Having hiked all day, it was impossible for her feet not to ache. But self-acupressure proved rather awkward. If only another version of me were here, Lingsha sighed inwardly.
It's worth noting that Lingsha was wearing clothes she had brought from the Third Laboratory: long-sleeved pants and sneakers, practical for wilderness travel but completely concealing her lower legs. Because of her naturally colored calves, she could only wear pants or go barefoot, effectively making her incompatible with almost all types of stockings.
As Lingsha massaged her feet, her mind wandered. Suddenly, a faint sound reached her ears, causing her to freeze and turn toward the noise.
"Something's coming..."
The voice wasn't Lingsha's, but Li's. The girl had awakened unnoticed, her ears pricked high as she warily peered in the same direction.
"It's here!" In the next instant, Li burst out of the tent. Simultaneously, a Dark Shadow lunged toward their position. The two collided head-on, and the battle was decided in the blink of an eye.
Crack!
With a sharp snap, Li's whip-like kick struck with such force that it cleaved the Dark Shadow in two at the waist, reducing it to two halves in a single blow!
But the fight was far from over. Lingsha rekindled the dying campfire. As the light flickered back to life, she could see their surroundings more clearly: they were completely surrounded. On all sides of the two tents, pitch-black creatures lurked.
Crouching low to the ground, they resembled insects more than animals. Their bodies were devoid of fur or flesh, instead covered in smooth, glossy chitinous plates. Slender, razor-sharp tails flickered behind them like assassins stalking in the night.
The sight involuntarily reminded Lingsha of the Aliens from the movie.
P.S.: Elysia possesses a Scholar-manufactured potion capable of healing injuries at the genetic level. However, its mechanism fundamentally relies on the Scholar's expertise, employing nanomachines to repair the human body at a cellular level and achieve its therapeutic effects. In contrast, the Pre-Humans of the Beast-Eared Girl World focused their research primarily on biological approaches.