"Hmph! Hmph! Now you know how awesome I am, right?", The Genie Sylas still didn't realize it had been tricked into being a tool, and said smugly, "In the future you'll understand, I'm way more badass than that Nostradamus."
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! You're the best!"
Ethan gave a super perfunctory compliment, then waved his hand and directly collected the spirit stone powder that Sylas had crushed into his storage ring.
Leaving Sylas standing there with a confused look, saying, 'Why… do I feel like… something isn't quite right?'
Stone Six naturally couldn't speak the way the Lord did.
After all, the person standing in front of him was a grand archmage. That was someone who could kill him with just a flick of a finger.
So Stone Six quickly responded, "How is that possible?"
"That's true," Sylas became smug again and said, "He's just a mere magic apprentice. How would he dare show me disrespect?"
After saying that, Sylas strutted off like a rooster that had just won a fight, chest puffed out proudly.
Meanwhile, Stone Six patted his chest and said, "Lord is really amazing. If not for that line you taught me, I wouldn't even know what to say just now."
"I never expected Lord to have thought this far ahead. Truly incredible."
———
"Ah-choo!"
Just as Ethan walked into the Pet Paradise, he suddenly sneezed.
He rubbed his nose, wondering who was talking about him again.
However… as soon as Ethan stepped into the Pet Paradise, he was completely shocked by the scene in front of him.
Because Poker Face, who had originally been tied to a pillar, now looked like a completely different person. His whole body had swollen up.
And it wasn't the kind of swelling that was evenly spread out. Instead, it was like his entire body had been burned, covered in large and small blisters.
Even the ropes binding him had been pushed up high by the swollen lumps of flesh on his body.
He looked like a deformed human chimera wrapped up tight.
It was both terrifying and disgusting.
"Hunger… so hungry…"
Poker Face mumbled those two words unclearly.
But his voice carried no emotion at all. It sounded like a machine, just repeating over and over.
["Master, is the food ready?"]
The Queen Bee's voice also sounded in Ethan's mind at the right moment, ["If you don't feed him soon, he'll probably start eating his own tongue, because he has completely lost his rationality."]
"I've already asked the kitchen to prepare food. I only have some spirit stone powder here."
["Master, I still have some leftover magma octopus eye paste in my hive. It's already a bit moldy, but it shouldn't be a problem for him to eat,"] Seeing Poker Face start to wriggle, the Queen Bee also sounded a bit anxious, ["Just place it in front of him, then untie him."]
"Alright."
Hearing this, Ethan immediately took out that bowl of sticky stuff from the hive. It looked like tofu pudding that had been left out for several days, with thin, long white fuzz growing inside.
It looked like mold, but this mold was white. Who knew if it was poisonous.
But since the Queen Bee said it was fine, Ethan didn't doubt it.
He placed the octopus eye paste in front of Poker Face.
Before Ethan even had time to sprinkle the spirit stone powder on it, Poker Face instantly reacted like a zombie seeing fresh meat. He crazily snapped the ropes binding his arms, stretched out both hands, and grabbed toward the eye paste.
Once he grabbed a handful of the fuzzy bits, he stuffed them straight into his mouth without a care.
Only when he opened his mouth did Ethan clearly see that his tongue had already been bitten into a bloody mess by himself.
At that moment, he finally understood why Poker Face's speech was slurred.
["Master, you can untie him now."]
The Queen Bee continued, ["Keeping him tied like this could easily damage the insect eggs under his skin. Don't worry, Master, he no longer poses any threat."]
"Alright!"
As Ethan spoke, a dagger appeared in his hand.
With a casual slash, all the threads binding Poker Face snapped at once. Once freed, Poker Face lunged at the plate of fuzzy eye paste like a starving dog pouncing on food, burying his entire face into it and devouring it wildly.
"Ahhhh!"
At that moment, Cook Four just happened to walk in carrying freshly cooked food.
But as soon as she stepped inside, she was startled by the monster in front of her. The plate in her hands fell straight to the ground.
Bang!
Instantly, the Red Dragon meat covered in magma chili rolled all over the floor.
And Poker Face seemed to hear the sound. When he lifted his head and saw the Red Dragon meat not far away, his eyes immediately turned red. Then he crawled over on all fours to Ethan's side, grabbed the Red Dragon meat from the ground, and started devouring it.
He didn't care at all that the meat was covered in dirt, nor that it was coated with magma chili that could burn someone to death.
"Lord, th-this… what kind of monster is this?", Cook Four clutched tightly onto Ethan's arm, her voice trembling, "He looks so terrifying! So scary!"
"Flesh field," Ethan removed Cook Four's hand from his arm and said, "Also! Can you not take advantage of the situation to grope me."
"Huh?"
Cook Four was stunned by Ethan's words.
But Ethan looked completely serious as he said something even more shocking, "I'm still an unmarried pure young man. Please show me some respect."
"Lord, I…"
Cook Four was instantly at a loss for words.
Meanwhile, the kitchen staff who followed behind her carrying food couldn't help but cover their mouths and laugh when they heard Ethan's words.
———
[Night]
As night fell, the night of extreme cold finally arrived.
At this time, the lords and players all used every trick they had. Some tried to find others to cooperate with, huddling together for warmth.
With two people, they only needed to contribute one share of firewood, and they could also rely on each other for warmth. No matter what, it was much easier than surviving alone.
Other players who lived close to lords tried to make their way into the lords' villas, grouping together to stay warm.
But even so… the world channel was still filled with complaints.
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[World Channel]
["So cold!"], Player A said, ["I feel like my whole body is about to freeze stiff! If this keeps up, I'm afraid I won't last until the sun comes out tomorrow."]
["Above, give up!"]
Player B directly dealt a heavy blow to the player above, saying, ["I just received a message from the Lord telling us to save more firewood and food, because the sun won't come out tomorrow. Nor the day after. Nor the day after that."]
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