CHAPTER 111: CHAPTER 111: ARENA

Ruan Li yawned. She and Xu Mo had been trapped here for a total of thirty-nine days.

If the news on TV wasn’t fabricated, the outside should have already descended into chaos.

The invasion of Evolved Ferocious Beasts was like locusts swarming across the land, leaving behind barren dirt and bodies wherever they appeared.

Although Ruan Li hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, just recalling the two previous attacks by Evolved Ferocious Beasts on Star A was enough to understand their ferocity. Furthermore, with half a year passed, under Ruan Ying’s technology, those beasts were likely evolving into something increasingly terrifying.

At the same time, the ancestral regression phenomenon among normal Beastmen was spreading like an epidemic.

The regressed Beastmen would lose their normal consciousness and start indiscriminately attacking both Beastmen and females, despite the military’s strenuous efforts to control it, the situation remained very dire.

Even though the Beastmen at home weren’t weak, Ruan Li still felt faintly worried.

Even during these days of leisurely tranquility, she felt a vague inclination to stay, which seemed absurd.

The warm wind blew against the strands of hair falling across her forehead, the orange sun shone on her cheeks, scattering lights like fragments of gold.

She raised her eyes.

What she saw was spring warmth and blooming flowers, smelled the fragrance of grass, and sensed the sweet earthy scent following a rain shower.

But too quiet.

She heard the sound of the wind, footsteps, and the sound of the fox’s swaying tail.

Yet, it lacked the presence of humans.

On the vast endless plain, there was only one person and one fox, no shortage of trees or vegetation, no absence of natural scenery.

The fox seemed to sense the change in the human’s emotions, it turned its head to look up at its back.

"Aow."

The sound was somewhat puzzled, as if questioning.

Ruan Li got off from it, patted its forehead.

Xu Mo transformed back into a human, embraced Ruan Li, and lowered his head to ask, "What’s wrong? You seem unhappy."

"Unhappy..." Ruan Li whispered slowly.

Was she unhappy?

No worries about food and drink, a comfortable life, a lover as company, yet why was she unhappy?

Dense eyelashes fluttered like a butterfly with broken wings, trembling unevenly and flying randomly.

Xu Mo captured her momentarily confused and restless expression.

He suppressed the inexplicable panic in his chest, as if the person so close suddenly became an elusive veil, visible yet untouchable, dreamlike in the light shining from afar, yet unable to be grasped.

He lowered his head, as he had done countless times, and gently kissed the top of her head. The residual fragrance was instantly carried away by the spring breeze blowing on his face.

"Little Li, go ahead, do what you want to do."

Xu Mo’s handsome face was veiled in a tender hue under the orange sun, he smiled lightly, held Ruan Li’s hand, and gently led her forward.

Then, he released her hand.

Ruan Li’s puzzled sight turned towards him, but she quickly realized...

This time, she easily touched the icy cold wall, and all surrounding scenes began to transform rapidly.

Vast grasslands, green grass and blue sky, all swiftly replaced by cold white walls.

Only Xu Mo stood two steps away from her.

His face clearly had a gentle smile, but the more she looked, the more alarmed she felt, her heart felt like it was plummeting into a thousand-foot abyss, continuously falling, as if entering a bottomless chasm, never knowing where the end might be.

Her heart felt squeezed by a huge invisible hand, invisible yet the feeling that her entire heart was about to explode was clear.

Even the sound of blood flowing through her veins seemed unusually clear in her ears.

Xu Mo turned his face and said softly, "Don’t look at me like that."

He operated on the Smart Brain on his wrist, and the surrounding scene transformed again, the icy walls instantly became floating virtual data hovering in the air, they glowed green, decomposing and recomposing amid endless blackness.

The noisy and dark place was filled with the cheers of the crowd.

The suffocating smell of blood almost made one want to vomit.

"What’s the next battle?"

"That last one was so boring, two Beastmen were just desperate fighting, too bloody, without any artistic beauty."

"Isn’t coming to the arena all about seeking excitement?"

Her eyes moved around, somewhat dry, her gaze fell on the around dim and undefined environment, dirty and messy, the smell mixed together making it unbearable.

She felt like she was in the backstage of some stage, a red curtain blocking her view.

The curtain had deep and shallow stains, seemingly tainted with some sticky liquid, casually wiped by lazy cleaners.

The curtain in front suddenly was drawn open, red and blue flashing lights instantly illuminated Ruan Li.

She frowned and squinted slightly, scrutinizing the scene in front.

Seemed like yet another fabricated scenario.

"Next, let’s welcome the female Ruan Li, with her Super High-level Healing Ability, and her Beast Husband Xu Mo to the stage of the arena!"

As the host’s voice fell, the surrounding immediately erupted in deafening cheers, they roared with excitement, eagerly anticipating the upcoming duel.

"Let us wait and see, will the Beast Husband win, or will the female prevail!"

Ruan Li was pushed forward by invisible hands onto the stage, the glaring lights were so piercing she almost couldn’t open her eyes, her ears filled with the cacophony of spectators egging her on, the sharp noises incessantly pounding her eardrums, making her head split with pain.

This is fake, this is fake...

She pinched the palm of her hand, the blood vessels at her heart violently pulsing, one after another, like giant drumbeats pounding heavily, her breath rapid and heavy, desperately trying to suppress the discomfort brought by intense emotional fluctuations.

Under glaring and dazzling lights, she could feel the gaze of the person opposite.

It was the experimental fox, not her Xu Mo.

Not him.

The blinding lights clashed with her vision and swollen eyes.

Ruan Li frowned and blinked her stinging eyes, seemingly seeing Xu Mo walking towards her, his eyebrows cool, his long legs striding confidently.

"Let’s countdown, 3, 2, 1—"

The host roused the whole atmosphere, and a thunderous uproar and cheers abruptly erupted.

The sound waves more ferocious than raging tidal waves, like dense needles stimulating Ruan Li’s brain and eardrums.

She frowned, raised her hand, and touched her earlobe, the sticky liquid smeared on her fingertips turned out to be blood.

"You—"

Xu Mo’s gaze fell on her, calm as water, even so indifferent one might doubt he really knew her.

"Just injure me and you can leave."

"Ruan Li."

As the words fell, the man suddenly raised the laser sword in his hand and thrust it toward her.

Ruan Li furrowed her brows, "Get lost."

It was unclear whether this was virtual or reality, but it didn’t matter, just getting out of her sight was enough.