Chapter 97: Oh no, I've ended up inside the succubus's belly! [Please subscribe for all four stories!]

Lu Chen frowned, slightly startled.

Just a moment ago, Goliath had been trying to stuff a sock into his mouth and shove his face into her foot.

Then, all at once, she turned solemn and said someone was coming?

He checked carefully, but the danger alert had not sounded at all.

He glanced at Ely.

Ely seemed just as bewildered, not understanding what Goliath meant.

Of the three, only Goliath had noticed anything unusual.

And yet, by rights, Goliath was usually the most careless of them all: forever drinking, broad of mind, hazy in memory, the very least perceptive of the three.

The atmosphere turned strangely oppressive.

Lu Chen followed the direction of Goliath's gaze, but saw nothing.

He looked around again. There was no sign of anything amiss.

"Who are they?" he asked softly.

Goliath took a sip of wine and murmured, "The ones coming to arrest me. But there is no reason for them to appear here... Is your Demon-Slaying Sword still with you? Hurry up and take it out."

Lu Chen was stunned.

"Nether demons?"

Goliath nodded.

"Yes. Not some loyal imperial subject like me, but one of the Four Great Calamities—the true abyssal nether race."

Lu Chen frowned, suddenly recalling the colossal nether hand that had appeared during the black cat mission, at the time of the handoff.

The reason the abyssal nether race could make the Empire wary, and why they could be called a "race" at all, was that a group of nether demons unwilling to remain in humanity's shadow had joined forces, gone into the abyss, and developed a civilization independent of mankind.

They called themselves superior to humans, a highborn race closer to the heavenly order, and they had subjugated the mindless nether ghosts.

Pure, mindless nether ghosts were of no concern to the Empire.

The nether ghosts of today were all dependents of the abyssal nether race.

The nether demons had domesticated and controlled all of them, so that the nether ghosts now rarely attacked civilian planets as they once had.

It gave the impression that the whole race had gone into hiding, biding its time in secret for some grand design.

In the New Era, the Empire classified the nether demons and nether ghosts, which had ceased attacking civilians, as one of the Four Great Calamities.

After all, what kind of calamity was it to attack civilians? Only something that threatened the Empire's rule truly deserved the name.

In truth, as far as Lu Chen knew, the Empire was rather lenient toward demons these days.

Especially those nether demons who had only recently fallen into demonic corruption, then suppressed their inner miasma and preserved human reason. So long as they registered with the Empire, took anti-demonic medicine on schedule, and were forbidden from sexual relations or bloodline exchange with normal humans, they still retained imperial citizenship and were free to live as they pleased.

The abyssal nether race called such demons "traitor demons."

Lu Chen guessed Goliath's mother must have been one of them, but had broken the taboo by consorting with a human and given birth to Goliath, a half-demon.

Perhaps that was why Goliath had gone to sea in search of adventure.

With her languid temperament, she was hardly suited to adventure.

As Lu Chen thought this, black mist churned overhead, with wind and cloud gathering into one.

In the blink of an eye, the pressure plummeted, raising the hairs on his body and making his joints crackle.

The sky suddenly tore open in a ring-shaped fissure, like a gaping maw.

Crimson blood dripped like lava, staining the black-mist-covered heavens.

The blood curtain seeped down from all sides, quickly forming a pillar of blood-red space.

It looked as though it would soon envelop the boulder, the ship, the corpse of the star ray, and all three of them.

For one brief instant, Lu Chen felt as if his body and soul were about to separate.

The spiritual power within his sea of energy surged into a violent tide, seeming ready to burst from his body.

He was having trouble holding on.

Ely was the same.

Only Goliath remained relatively calm.

Lu Chen asked her curiously, "Friends of yours?"

Goliath stiffened, one hand resting on the hilt at her waist, already in a stance ready to draw and fight at any moment.

"What nonsense. Would friends come to arrest me?"

"Then why aren't you leaving?"

"This is a nether domain. Once it appears, you can't get away."

Lu Chen was seeing a nether domain for the first time since crossing over.

In the game, once a player was engulfed by a nether domain, it was like entering the poison zone in a battle royale: health drained at terrifying speed.

The appearance of a nether domain meant an abyssal nether demon was about to show itself.

Because no danger warning had sounded, Lu Chen remained fairly composed.

He even felt a little like watching the show.

In the blink of an eye, the curtain of blood had formed a cylindrical space, fully enclosing the three of them.

It seeped into the ground as well, closing beneath the earth, sealing them in from every side.

Only at the very top of the pillar was there a ring-shaped spatial rift leading to another space.

It looked like the mouth of a drain with its cover stolen.

Lu Chen could feel the spiritual power within his body draining away.

Suddenly!

In the center of the ring-shaped spatial rift, a black shadow dropped down.

Without warning, like a spider suddenly falling from the ceiling.

On closer inspection, it was a bat.

No, a massive nether ghost shaped like a bat.

It folded its wings and hung upside down, a single enormous eye staring at the three of them.

Soon, that eye began to split and multiply.

One became two, two became four, four became countless...

In a flash, there were innumerable white eyes, opening and closing in a dense, writhing mass.

In each white eye was reflected the image of Lu Chen and the others.

Lu Chen and Ely hurriedly shut their eyes.

Too late, however.

Like superstitious old Qing people who believed a photograph could steal the soul, Lu Chen and Ely were truly soul-struck.

In an instant, Lu Chen felt as though he had fallen into the center of a black hole, his world spinning wildly. It was as if an invisible giant hand had ripped open his scalp from afar, and something were lodged in his throat. In his ears, a vague cry for help drifted near and far, and his feet felt as if they were being dragged downward. One misstep, and he would lose himself entirely, dragged into an abyss of the soul from which there was no return.

Ely clutched her head and curled in on herself, her eyes gone white, consciousness lost.

Lu Chen gritted his teeth and endured the assault on his spirit, quickly extending his armored left hand to rest on Ely's shoulder.

With the power of resonance, he forcibly pulled her soul back.

Ely drew a breath back into her lungs, already drenched in sweat and utterly aghast.

Only then did the two of them finally see clearly.

On the bat's back sat a person.

To be precise... a skeleton.

Human-sized, all bones, not even a single garment covering it.

And yet, judging by the aura, there was nothing shy about it at all. Confidence radiated from it like light.

Those bones were not even fully connected, but linked from afar by wisps of black demonic flame, loose and dangling.

A scythe hung on his back, and a wine gourd was in his hand.

The wine dribbled down through the bones, finally spilling onto the bat-like nether ghost beneath him.

He actually managed to get the bat ghost thoroughly drenched, its head spinning, its vision turning chaotic, countless white eyes proliferating in disarray, the focus of each pupil revolving back and forth.

Lu Chen called up the item identification data.

[A level sixty-nine skeleton-shaped nether demon, together with his mount, a level sixty bat-shaped nether ghost.]

After draining the last of the gourd, the skeletal demon lowered his gaze and looked over.

The scene before him seemed rather odd.

"Three cats and dogs, and you claim you took down a level forty-six thunder star ray together?"

His voice leaked in every direction, unfocused and ragged.

The three did not speak.

Their nerves were stretched taut.

Lu Chen was not exactly a cat or a dog, but in the skeletal demon's eyes, he might not even be fit to rank below one.

The skeletal demon swept a rough glance over them and sighed.

"I was just wandering nearby and caught the scent of a nether demon, so I came to look. I never expected there would actually be three level-thirty humans able to withstand a nether domain. Though I failed to find any dragons or phoenixes, if I can take some half-demons and human prodigies back and turn them into true nether demons, this trip to the mortal world will not have been for nothing."

Goliath was not listening to his nonsense at all.

"Who are you?" she asked directly.

The skeletal demon blinked at the question, then instinctively replied, "A mortal-world walker. Tranmol."

Goliath snorted and went on drinking.

"I've never seen a mortal-world walker below level one hundred."

"Can't an intern count?"

The skeletal demon was dumbfounded. He, a dignified mortal-world walker, was actually looked down upon by a tiny succubus.

"A little succubus, the lowest of the low, and yet she dares question my identity... How amusing. Perhaps after this trip, my position will be made official."

Goliath simply puffed herself up and asked again, "What is a mortal-world walker like you doing in Beast Paradise?"

The skeletal demon was momentarily stunned, actually cowed by the succubus's bearing, and answered on reflex, "The Empire slandered us, claiming we were creating demonic star beasts here. Surely I must come and clear things up? And if I can run into a black dragon or something, all the better."

As soon as he spoke, he jerked his head and came back to himself.

"No, why am I telling a tiny succubus all this? Could it be... this is your charm art? It even works on me, a skeletal demon?"

Goliath: "..."

The skeletal demon recovered his bearing and turned to stare at Lu Chen.

"And you, armored fellow. Just a little boy, and yet you're even calmer than the succubus? Not only can you keep yourself conscious, but you can also use spiritual power to keep others conscious? Wait... this rippling spiritual pattern, where have I seen it before..."

After thinking for a long while and failing to figure it out, he muttered another complaint about the wolf girl.

"And you, wolf girl. At such a young age, this body constitution is not quite right either. Was something done to you in a laboratory? I've never seen a reborn lineage constitution of this purity before."

After carefully inspecting the three of them, the skeletal demon's eyes suddenly lit up as he understood.

"I get it. You escaped from a research center for abnormal humans.

"In that case, come with me and join the nether race. I'll lead you to save the nation by a roundabout route, and together we'll ascend from the abyss into the immortal realm.

"This decayed mortal world is not worth wasting your lives on, you so-called geniuses."

What a fine roundabout route to save the nation, to ascend from the abyss into the immortal realm. Wasn't that just taking the long way around for no reason?

Lu Chen could not help saying, "And if I refuse?"

"You?"

The skeletal demon froze, then suddenly understood something.

"You're the leader among the three of you?"

Doesn't that seem obvious?

Lu Chen drew the Demon-Slaying Sword.

"See this Demon-Slaying Sword of mine?"

The Demon-Slaying Sword, a relic from ten thousand years ago, had no real sword light to speak of, and in Lu Chen's armored hand it looked rather small.

But the ancient aura it gave off made the skeletal demon visibly stir.

"Forgive me, I misjudged you... You're forcing me to kill you!"

With that, he immediately commanded the bat ghost beneath him.

"Bat, go swallow all three of them!"

Lu Chen blinked.

He had thought that because no danger warning had sounded, he could afford to be a little reckless and show the nether demon some ten-thousand-year-old firepower.

But it seemed he had provoked the other side.

This fellow meant business.

The skeletal demon made his move, yet the bat ghost did not attack them.

"Bat!"

The skeletal demon shouted again.

The bat ghost still did not move, even shrinking back a little.

The dense white eyes rapidly contracted into a single eye, reflecting Goliath's shadow.

Only then did the skeletal demon look at Goliath.

A faint layer of demonic flame covered her entire body. A pair of cat ears had sprouted atop her head, a long cat tail emerged from behind, and sharp claws had appeared on both her hands and feet.

"Bat... don't tell me you like cats?"

The bat ghost backed away sharply.

"Hm?"

The skeletal demon sensed something was wrong.

"Idiot. I fed you all that wine for nothing. No brains are still no brains. It's only a little succubus with some talent, and she has you too scared to act?"

He looked again at the succubus below.

She had already transformed completely into a huge cat-shaped form.

Still a somewhat untrim cat at that, her body like a shadow bristling after a shock, her eyes flickering with scarlet demonic patterns.

Her aura completely overwhelmed both the skeletal demon and the bat ghost.

As if she were a far higher level of demon...

Lu Chen understood. Goliath was about to show her true power!

However, her body was still within the demonic flame. She had already fallen unconscious, and the cat-shaped flame had taken control of her body.

The armor's radar could no longer detect her level.

But item identification still rated her at only level thirty-eight.

This meant... she was only putting on airs.

But the skeletal demon did not see it that way.

A trace of solemnity appeared in the empty hollows of his eye sockets.

It was as if a mind were gathering inside a skull...

Suddenly he remembered a certain legend.

"Could it be that you are..."

Before Goliath could answer, the skeletal demon slapped the folded wing-elbow of the bat ghost.

"Bat, it's all because you smelled something alluring and came rushing over. We have a mission! When you're on a mission, you must focus. How can you be so distracted!"

With that, he leaped upward and, together with the bat ghost, withdrew into the ring-shaped spatial rift.

Lu Chen had not even reacted yet.

The ring-shaped spatial rift sealed itself and vanished.

The crimson pillar-like nether domain dispersed with it, as if it had never existed at all...

Lu Chen rubbed his eyes. The abyssal nether race had just slipped away like that.

They had been scared off by Goliath?

To frighten the enemy away while being so vastly weaker than them—clearly, her identity was no ordinary one!

In any case, Lu Chen let out a breath of relief.

He had not expected Goliath to become this reliable.

He could not help lifting his head and shouting toward the demonic-flame giant cat, "Goliath, you really came through for us again!"

Who would have thought that Goliath could be too reliable?

The huge black cat of demonic flame slowly turned its head. Its eyes within the black fire looked like blood-red black holes.

Lu Chen only felt his scalp go numb. Before he could even react, the Demon-Slaying Sword in his hand was swatted away by a cat paw.

"Wait, calm down... I'm your father!"

The words had barely left his mouth before both man and armor were swallowed in one gulp by the black cat!

Lu Chen's world spun violently. While shouting at the top of his lungs, he dragged the unconscious Ely into the inner cabin of the armor.

He suddenly remembered Goliath saying that once she transformed and lost control, she would kill everyone...

It had not been a joke!

For humans, demonic flame possessed three fatal powers.

Mental assault.

Draining spiritual power.

Corrupting the flesh.

Lu Chen's armor had no defense against any of them.

"It's over!"

So soon after entering the succubus's body, was this progression a little too fast?

Compared with being enveloped by a nether domain, being swallowed directly by demonic flame amplified Lu Chen's experience of nether power across the board.

His brain felt on the verge of exploding, his spiritual power leaked away rapidly, and even his body seemed about to peel.

As if body and soul were being corroded completely...

"Wait, I'm practically dead already. Why hasn't the danger guide given any warning? Does that mean it thinks I have a way to solve this easily?"

Lu Chen had no choice but to try bloodletting therapy.

It was the only method he could think of that might work...

He immediately used a dagger to slit his wrist and bled madly.

He tried to force a resonance connection with his own blood and the bloodline that Goliath had fused with him earlier.

His blood was instantly absorbed by the demonic flame.

Lu Chen spread his fingers and released resonance spiritual power at once.

Lu Chen's blood, Goliath's blood, and the blood just absorbed by the demonic flame were all linked in the void by the power of resonance, joined end to end, completing a closed circuit.

The immense black cat of demonic flame suddenly bristled, raised its head, opened its huge mouth, and let out a soundless, desperate howl.

Its form twisted gradually... until it fully retreated back into Goliath's body and vanished.

Lu Chen drove the armor forward, quickly extending both arms to catch Goliath in midair, and they landed together on the boulder.

At the same time.

In the sky, the lingering power of the nether domain was congealed by the sword aura spread from the black cat's howl, and it actually began to rain blood.

Drip by drip...

Lu Chen's armor stood at the edge of the boulder.

He was holding the unconscious Goliath in his arms, with the unconscious Ely lying in his belly, while the armor's outer shell had been corroded beyond recognition...

Thinking back on everything that had happened after entering the Zuan starcloud, Lu Chen, for the first time, was moved to sentiment.

"I stepped onto a stage I was never meant to stand on ahead of time... I'm still too weak."

Then he placed Goliath into the inner cabin of the armor as well, like a man with two daughters tucked inside his belly.

Next, he planned to use ropes and hooks to lash the star ray to the ship and take it away.

But when he stood at the edge of the boulder and looked down, he saw that the star ray's flesh had shriveled to only a fifth of its original size, leaving merely a little over ten meters behind its tail... it was almost turned into jerky.

Granted, the corpse of a spiritual beast without its beast core would gradually wither, but not at such speed.

"Could it be caused by the nether domain absorbing spiritual power?"

Still, after considering it carefully, Lu Chen realized that if a star beast were hung outside during flight, the rate at which its beast spirit was lost would be very fast as well.

Since the star ray had shrunk, it could be stuffed into the ship and taken away.

In the end, perhaps they would not lose much!

For a spiritual beast, the beast core was the most valuable part, accounting for seventy percent of its worth. Beast flesh, blood, and bones combined could only make up thirty percent.

Lu Chen had no choice but to remove the beast core early.

After all, he was too weak. If he did not completely kill the star ray, he could be counterkilled at any moment.

If he had cultivation at level fifty, perhaps he could have hunted the star ray intact.

Of course, the star ray was formidable. For the three of them to join forces and kill it was already no small miracle; they could not ask for too much.

"This battle cost us dearly. Next, I need to find a planet where we can sell our haul, level up, and resupply as quickly as possible, and then fight again!"

Thinking this, Lu Chen immediately stuffed the shriveled star ray into the ship like a rolled-up quilt.

Even shriveled, the star ray was still huge, nearly filling the ship's rear hold and leaving nowhere to put the armor.

Lu Chen had no choice but to mount the armor on the top of the ship and secure it with the large cargo rack.

Once the star ray's corpse and the armor were taken care of, Lu Chen hoisted Goliath and Ely onto his shoulders and entered the ship in his own body.

...

He temporarily placed the two of them in the bathtub.

Then he took two healing pills from Ely's storage pouch.

One pill into each mouth.

As he waited for them to wake...

Lu Chen first went online and found the navigation map for the Zuan starcloud.

Within the Zuan starcloud were many human-inhabited planets.

Most of them dealt in industries related to star beasts.

For example, star beast medicine, star beast feed, beast meat processing, star beast ship retrofitting...

Recently, because so many ships in the Zuan starcloud had been damaged, quite a few had been salvaged.

As a result, these planets also gained businesses in secondhand ship parts and retrofitting.

Lu Chen opened the map and soon found a nearby supply planet called Great Longevity Star.

Target locked.

Autonomous flight.

It would probably take about half a day to get there.

After setting the course, he turned back to the bathing chamber.

Ely and Goliath were leaning against opposite ends of the bathtub, heads drooping, with no sign at all that they were about to wake.

"Even the healing pills didn't work?"

One had been stained with demonic aura, the other was covered in sweat and drenched by blood rain.

"Staying unconscious like this isn't good either."

With no other choice, Lu Chen had to resort to violence and slap them both in the face.

Smack!

Smack!

"Wake up!"

No reaction.

"No reaction even after being slapped in the face. Looks like they're in a deep coma."

Lu Chen pinched both of their thighs hard.

Still no reaction.

He had no choice.

He turned the bath heater toward their faces and blasted them with cold water, then hot water, alternating warm and cold, fire and ice.

Still neither of them woke...

This terrified Lu Chen so much that he hurried to check their pulses and breathing. Only after confirming they were both still alive did he finally relax.

When he came back to his senses, both of them were already soaked through.

Goliath was wearing a gray-white swordsmanship robe on the outside, now stained with blood rain, white tinged with red.

Through it showed the black lace underwear beneath...

Tsk tsk.

And then Ely.

She wore a white tube top and white panties printed with cute little bone motifs.

Like the way a middle school girl might dress.

Her petite figure revealed a youthfulness unique to a maiden.

And yet she was still curvy in all the right places, not the flat-chested loli type at all.

It was only beside Goliath that she seemed rather ordinary.

Lu Chen's face went red and his heart pounded, so he dared not look any longer.

"A grave sin. I, the great adventurer, holder of the Empire's Hero Medal, the Federation's Freedom Medal, the Idealist Medal of the Crownless Nation, and the Tuta Desert Air Force Medal, am actually staring at women's underwear."

"How base I am!"

"But what's the point of just looking?"

"The two of them are covered in blood rain and stench and sweat; there's no way they can sleep comfortably like this. Better take off their clothes and give them a bath."

"Sigh, this captain really has it hard!"

Lu Chen gradually ascended to the moral high ground.

He adjusted the water temperature, filled the bathtub until the water rose over their chests, and then let a mist rise so he could admire the scenery through the haze.

Take them off?

All of it could come off.

The problem was... which to start with?

"Let's start with the smaller one. Step by step. You can't bite off more than you can chew."

Saying this, Lu Chen removed Ely's outer garments.

In a blink, only the cute tube top and little panties remained.

Lu Chen ran into another dilemma.

Should he start from the top or the bottom?

"Better start with the top. This sort of thing can't be rushed. It has to be done slowly, with gradual depth."

Thus, he reached his righteous hand behind Ely.

Just as he was about to undo her buttons...

Suddenly!

As if he had accidentally triggered some mechanism, Ely abruptly transformed into a white wolf and pounced him to the ground.

Her wolf claws pierced the skin over his chest, drawing blood.

This was a feat not even the spiral sandworms, not even the thunder star ray, not even the abyssal nether race, not even Goliath's demonic form had achieved!

Seeing Ely lose control and move to bite, Lu Chen hurriedly shouted, "Ely, listen to my ex... explanation!"

Then, in a speech as rapid as lightning, he launched into a long explanation on his own.

At the same time, he used resonance spiritual power to soothe the white wolf.

A few minutes later.

The fierce white wolf finally calmed and turned back into the adorable Ely.

Not only had her body turned human again, but her buttons were still undone.

Ely covered her tube top.

Seeing the blood on Lu Chen's upper body, she knew she had wrongly accused the captain and asked worriedly, "Captain, are you all right? I was too excited!"

Lu Chen did not feel any pain at all. He was simply curious.

"I'm fine. I'm just wondering why your clothes disappear when you turn into a white wolf, yet when you change back, they can be restored perfectly. That's not scientific at all, is it?"

Ely explained with complete seriousness, "The process of a reborn transformation is accompanied by an invisible mist of illusion, which has a certain hypnotic effect and prevents people from seeing the exact process."

"So that's how it is. Very reasonable."

Reasonable my ass.

You didn't blow your clothes off when you transformed at level ten either...

Lu Chen had no words left to complain. He simply waved a hand and turned to leave.

"Fine, then Goliath is in your care."

"Mm."

Ely nodded, clutching her chest.

A faint trace of pride bloomed on her little face, as though the captain washing her first was itself an honor.

...

After the bath, Goliath finally woke as well.

Unusually, she was dressed in a long pink dress, with a very cartoonish pattern, almost like sleepwear.

Holding a cold beer in one hand, she plopped down on the bridge console to face Lu Chen, who was seated in the pilot's chair.

Her wet hair had been tied into a single ponytail.

Her fine sword-like brows were slightly furrowed as she stared at Lu Chen for a long while.

Then she lifted his shirt and found that the wound had indeed been caused by a wolf claw.

It was impossible to tell whether she felt relieved or slightly jealous.

She took a sip of beer and said calmly, "Not simple. You're still alive, after all."

Lu Chen recalled being swallowed whole by the black cat just now; in fact, it had been quite dangerous.

Still, compared with being taken away or killed by the skeletal demon, this was much safer.

"If we hadn't shared bloodline exchange before, we probably would have been wiped out this time."

Goliath was also slightly surprised.

"I thought you were calmer than I was at the time, and figured you had some other card up your sleeve!"

Lu Chen shook his head and sighed.

"Hanging by a thread, dancing on a grave mound, that's all."

Goliath suddenly gave him a sidelong glance, her lovely eyes carrying a faint, elusive hint of grievance.

"Just because you survived, you've started indulging your dirty little fantasies, have you?"

It seemed Ely had sold him out...

Lu Chen said righteously, "Careful or I'll sue you for defamation. Who told the two of you to be sleeping so dead, soaked in sweat and blood rain? If not for me, your captain who loves the people like his own children, who would personally bathe you? I even raised mist. A gentleman through and through, heaven and earth can bear witness!"

Goliath snorted coldly and took another sip of beer.

"Stop making excuses. To think you would even make a move on little-chested Ely. You're such an utter pervert!"

Lu Chen blinked.

So it wouldn't be perverse if you, big-breasted one, were the one being touched?

It felt like there was a trace of jealousy in her words, as though a succubus should not be left behind in this regard.

"I couldn't exactly take off both of your clothes at once. There has to be some order, doesn't there?"

Goliath shook her head and sighed.

"Don't explain. Even I, a proud succubus, can't compare to your peculiar tastes. White hair, wolf girls, lolis, glasses... Don't blame yourself. If I were a man, I wouldn't be able to hold back either."

Lu Chen was speechless.

"This also has to be a contest of winners and losers? Fine, fine, I'll strip you right now."

Smack!

Goliath slapped his hand away.

"Cut the fake stuff. Since I got the credit, pay up more."

Lu Chen spread his hands.

"Talking about money hurts feelings. This was a hard-won victory, and we didn't earn that much, so we need to level up quickly. We can't keep ending up this miserable."

Goliath sneered, "That was a level forty-six star beast, you know? You won and still act all French about it. The dead won't rest easy."

Lu Chen then said, "This time I'm replacing the armor, at least the engine needs to be upgraded to level forty. You need to level up too, or you'll be overtaken by Ely and me."

Goliath pouted and shook her head.

"Your blood can only help me stabilize the demonic flame. Only Lady August can let me recover my cultivation step by step."

Lu Chen probed further.

"What about the star ray's beast core?"

Goliath said, "Still useless. Unless you also have a nether core from a nether ghost, and with your help as well, maybe it could be done."

Lu Chen was helpless.

"Fine. Since abyssal nether demons are active nearby, maybe more nether ghosts have already come to the Zuan starcloud."

Goliath did not hold out much hope either.

"Do I, the mighty Dawn Route, still need to level up? You saw my demonic form's fighting grace just now, didn't you? This time you got off with your life. Try not to provoke me again!"

Lu Chen thought to himself that this woman had probably already forgotten what happened just now.

"Fighting grace? Wasn't that just you throwing a tiger skin over the banner and scaring the enemy away? Maybe your mother was some big-shot demon too."

Goliath froze. That was not what Ely had said!

"You're talking about my father? I've never met him... But the man my mother took a liking to couldn't have been an ordinary person."

Lu Chen was left dumbfounded. So your father was the male succubus?

He could not imagine what a male succubus might look like.

"Have you been to the abyss?"

Goliath thought for a moment, but could not remember where the abyss was or what it was like.

"I've been to many places. Who can remember every place clearly?"

Lu Chen was curious.

"Then how did you know about the abyssal nether race's mortal-world walkers?"

"Didn't I remember clearly? Then I knew, didn't I?"

Goliath curled her lip and said, "I heard that mortal-world walkers are a special branch of abyssal nether demons responsible for investigating affairs of the mortal world, sort of like scouts. They usually appoint promising young demons to do it."

Lu Chen thought: If you don't know where the abyss is, how do you know so clearly about mortal-world walkers?

"Could it be your mother told you? Maybe your father was a mortal-world walker back then."

She had been guessed right... Goliath quickly changed the subject.

"Are you investigating your future in-laws ahead of time? I don't care about them nearly as much as you do!"

Lu Chen froze. What was that even supposed to mean? Even if he was right, there was no need to blurt out every word, was there?

"I never expected the abyssal nether race to appear here as well, and to be interested in the black dragon."

"Dragons are tied to ascension. Of course the nether demons want to become immortals too."

Goliath took another sip of cold beer and said, "Actually, the abyssal nether race has its own population problem. Nether demons and nether demons can't necessarily reproduce, unless the offspring's talent can support a demonic form. Otherwise, it's stillbirth...

"But now, spiritual energy is getting thinner and thinner, and geniuses are becoming rarer and rarer. Even geniuses, after falling into demonic corruption, can easily lose control completely. The mortality rate is high, and the chance of becoming a nether demon is very small.

"The fact that a half-demon like me could be safely born means I am a genius among geniuses, so count yourself lucky!"

Lu Chen thought to himself that this explained why the Empire did not care much about the abyssal nether race. It turned out the nether demons simply could not grow their population.

And humanoid races, with their strong reproductive power, were what the Empire watched most warily, even when their technology lagged behind.

"So another important task of the mortal-world walkers is to search for true human geniuses, or half-demon geniuses like me, and take them to the abyss to become part of the abyssal nether demons."

As she spoke, Goliath glanced at Lu Chen again.

"However, your talent is too poor. You are not material for demonic transformation."

"Ely's talent is enough, but her spiritual root seems to have been tampered with. She would also have a hard time transforming."

"Only I am qualified to become a big shot of the abyss!"

Lu Chen shrugged and asked her back, "Then why didn't you go make a fortune in the demon realm before?"

Goliath said disdainfully, "Who cares about the abyss? Money you can't spend is nowhere near as wonderful as the human world, with all these beautiful clothes."

As she spoke of beautiful clothes, Lu Chen subconsciously glanced at the arc and bright points bouncing in front of her chest.

"But you're not even wearing underwear..."

"Get lost."