The rabbit was clearly annoyed. "What's the problem?"

Ruan Xing shook his copy of the contract. "This paper, where did you get it from?"

That's it? The rabbit did not expect such a simple question. It let out a mocking laugh from its chest and answered without holding back, "Mist City."

Ruan Xing's eyes sharpened. So it really was Mist City!

"When did you get it?"

Mayor Rabbit: "I forgot. It's been years. I didn't even know how to use it back then."

"Was there anything else from there?"

The rabbit snorted, "What else could there be? That place is a mess; fog is everywhere, and there are just some pollutants and stuff."

"Those stones used to draw formation arrays—did they come from Mist City too?"

"Are you done yet? I am in a hurry!" The rabbit bared its bloody teeth. Combined with its bright red eyes, it looked quite terrifying.

"Answer me!" Ruan Xing was equally impatient.

The rabbit found it very odd, getting pulled aside and interrogated like this. Was this guy mentally unstable?

"Yes. Back then, I was just an ordinary citizen in Mist City. I didn't know a thing. It was only after I came to Fairy Tale City and started fighting for territory that I figured out how to use those things."

"Did you ever see a tower there? Black and very tall."

"I don't think so. There were all kinds of buildings; maybe there was one, but I cannot remember." The rabbit tilted its mouth, clearly giving a half-hearted answer.

"Do you know someone named Fu Zhi?"

"No. I only know one human, but he is not here right now." Mayor Rabbit bared its teeth at him. "Alright, how many more questions are you going to ask? Get lost."

Like Luo Shi said, the real candy merchant never appeared. The person pulling the strings was still hiding deep in the shadows.

Ruan Xing jumped down lightly.

Seeing how docile he looked, Mayor Rabbit burst into wild laughter. "Once this is all over and you're willing to worship me as your master, I'll make you deputy mayor. You'll be in charge of building up the city."

Ruan Xing asked, "And if I'm not willing?"

Mayor Rabbit jumped onto the edge of the incinerator and sneered, "Then today will be the day you die."

And with that, the massive figure plunged headfirst into the furnace without hesitation.

Ruan Xing and Fu Gui were both shocked.

He threw himself in? Is this pollutant insane?

But just then, a strange rumble came from the incinerator. The entire unit began to jump up and down as if it had gained a will of its own.

BOOM!

After completely digesting the rabbit's body, the lid of the incinerator flew off. A raging fire burst out from the opening, and the surrounding temperature rose rapidly.

"Puff puff"—two long rabbit ears sprouted beside the wine vat, and four short legs stretched out in front.

Ruan Xing said, "It is trying to merge itself with the factory."

Fu Gui screamed, "Get out of the way!"

The pipes leading to the furnace suddenly twisted like snakes, writhing upward to connect with the countless tubes in the ceiling. Then, all of them began to pulsate.

The shuttle vehicle suddenly came to life, let out a piercing shriek, and charged straight at Ruan Xing.

【Haste】

Ruan Xing quickly dodged. But during the rapid movement, his hood slid off due to the momentum, revealing his face. His emerald green eyes stood out clearly.

"Your face…" The rabbit was completely fused with the factory. Its voice echoed from every direction as if the entire building had become its body.

His face? Ever since the incident at Meili Entertainment, Ruan Xing had become somewhat self-conscious about his appearance. But Mayor Rabbit's tone was definitely not praise. It was something deeper, something more suspicious.

After a moment of silence, Mayor Rabbit laughed loudly. "Even if you refuse to join Fairy Tale City, I won't kill you. But I will turn you into the most exquisite chocolate and place you in the factory showroom. Every citizen will see you—your full self, from every angle. They will covet you, desire you, toss and turn through countless days and nights. Some might even sneak in to… lick… every part of you."

Fu Gui shouted, "You pervert! Screw off with your disgusting fantasies!"

Suddenly, a whooshing wind blew out from the incinerator as if a fan had been installed underneath, constantly blowing air inside. The wriggling snake-like pipes tore themselves from the ceiling, forming a tightly sealed fence around Ruan Xing, trapping him inside. Then they tightened and twisted, turning into thick ropes that lifted him off the ground and tied him onto a conveyor belt.

"This production line was specially prepared for you. Before being fed into the machine, you still have a chance to change your mind. If not, you will become a living sculpture of Fairy Tale City."

The conveyor belt started moving. Ruan Xing turned his head. Less than ten meters away was a square-shaped machine. He had seen this kind before in the chocolate workshop. Materials sent into it would come out as melted chocolate.

So, those humans in that state were technically still "alive." Then, when they were used as buildings, walls, decorations in the city, or even swallowed by citizens… were they still alive at that point?

The thought was terrifying.

Mayor Rabbit didn't say anything else. Only the buzzing sound of the conveyor belt could be heard.

Fu Gui was so anxious it started hopping in place. "Hurry, hurry! That guy's consciousness is not here anymore! Break the ropes now! I do not want to become a chocolate bird!"

Mycelium threads slipped from his hand, softened, and then slid beneath the conveyor belt. With a powerful push, the belt gave off a loud "crack crack" sound and was forcefully stopped. The mycelium then slashed through the bindings around them.

When the tubes were cut, some unknown liquid spilled from their hollow interiors and writhed on the ground, twitching like freshly severed blood vessels.

Ruan Xing sat on the conveyor belt, now very close to the processing machine. He raised his hand and aimed at the massive thing in front of him.

In an instant, several black arrows locked onto the square machine, ready to destroy it.

But just before impact, the machine began to tremble and shake. Its parts rattled as if from fear, and then it folded its huge body backward, the front part pressing onto the conveyor belt—as if kneeling before Ruan Xing.

"It's… conscious?"

The square machine bent again deeper to express its answer.

The black arrows stopped just as they were about to hit. Then, the massive machine suddenly extended two thick support legs from its base. These legs seemed to have been lubricated, spinning rapidly as they supported the machine's body. With that, the cube bolted off, running at full speed and disappearing from sight.

"Even though this is a polluted zone, not everything here is under the rabbit's control?" Ruan Xing rested his index finger against his chin.

These machines must have been added later. Maybe what the rabbit could control was only the original equipment of this factory—or rather, the hardware of the factory itself.

Ruan Xing had come up with an idea.

—

Su Xiaona dodged another attack from the robots.

Although these small minions weren't particularly strong, their overwhelming numbers made them dangerous. Moreover, they were incredibly tough. Her body was already bruised, and under the constant heavy hits, some of her muscles were crushed into pulp beneath her skin.

Tiny fleshy growths had started sprouting from her skin, a clear sign that her pollution level was rising.

Su Xiaona took a suppressant pill. Her face showed no fear, but she had a bad feeling when she noticed that the surrounding walls were being pushed inward by some external force, slowly shrinking the space.

Time was running out. Were the explosives planted correctly? Why were they not detonating yet?

There were 21 people assigned to this mission. Excluding those who had to take care of the injured or calm the remaining civilians, plus Ruan Xing and Su Xiaona, several others had been sent off with specific tasks.

To plant the explosives.

Ruan Xing had drawn a map based on the layout of the formation and what he had seen inside the factory. He divided it among the others. Nine of them were split into four small teams and moved out at the same time. Ruan Xing and Crow made up one team on their own.

With the contract signed between Ruan Xing and the rabbit, he could ensure temporary safety. The others had to rely on themselves for protection since there were plenty of carnivorous creatures in the city.

One of the team leaders was named Wang Qi. He had been temporarily transferred from the second unit and had worked with Su Xiaona for a long time.

"Sister Xiaona said she would buy us one hour, so that means we only have one hour. We must finish the setup within that time. The walls here can move. The pollutants might be aware of what we are doing, but they might not get here in time. So we need to move fast!"

That was what he told his teammates before they set out. He was mentally prepared for what was ahead.

But the area they had been assigned seemed to be the nest of the factory workers.

The three of them were surrounded by monkeys. A younger team member wanted to cry but had no tears. "Brother Wang, do you think they can understand human speech?"

They definitely could not understand human speech, but fists—they would understand that for sure.

Wang Qi charged ahead. He was fast. As he closed in on one of the monkeys, he grabbed it by the head, ignoring its thrashing. His veins bulged as his fingers clenched tight, and with a violent twist, he snapped its neck. The monkey collapsed, no longer breathing.

When he ran into the tougher ones, he grabbed whatever part he could, flung them into the air, and shot them in the head mid-flight.

The younger squad members' jaws dropped in surprise. They had never seen someone fight like this—tossing enemies around like chickens.

"This is what I learned under Sister Xiaona. You two should stick to using your powers or guns properly!" Wang Qi still had time to give orders.

The younger one nodded. "Got it, Brother Wang!"

Moisture suddenly condensed in the air and formed a giant bubble that covered a monkey's head. The bubble started spinning violently, causing the monkey to vomit and suffocate in its own vomit.

The two of them dragged away the factory staff while one planted the explosives. They barely made it in time.

"All right! Time's up. We must leave now and trigger the explosives!"

Wang Qi yanked his teammates to their feet and began retreating, but then, a roar came from a corner of the room.

A leopard.

Wang Qi's expression darkened.

—

Meanwhile, Ruan Xing found a shuttle vehicle. As soon as it saw him, it bolted like a drunk driver spotting the police. Ruan Xing caught up with it, stabbed its tires, and let the air out.

The shuttle looked completely done with life and let Ruan Xing climb all over it without resistance.

Inside, he found a loudspeaker with a red carrot-shaped charm hanging from it. It was something Mayor Rabbit used to supervise workers, and it was extremely loud.

Ruan Xing gave it a light pat. A loud buzzing sound came out. It still worked. The sound was deafening, like a rooster's crow.

Fu Gui: [Nice, let's hurry. Su Xiaona probably can't hold on for too long.]

Ruan Xing listened carefully to the noises and made his way over.

Su Xiaona's situation was grim. Even with her incredible strength and martial skill, there came a point when technique alone wasn't enough.

The walls around her were continuously sending more robots. At the same time, the floor beneath her was sinking—like a deepening pitcher plant trap.

The hunter kept tossing in the endlessly biting rats. They were not strong, but they drained stamina. They planned to wear their prey out and let the pitcher plant digest it completely.

Ruan Xing found a place that was relatively safe from attacks and hid there. He pointed the loudspeaker toward Su Xiaona's location and turned it on. The loud buzzing immediately drew the rabbit's and Su Xiaona's attention.

"Xing Xing!" Su Xiaona shouted in surprise.

"Sister Xiaona, cover your ears."

The speaker's volume was massive. Even Fu Gui, perched on his shoulder, felt its vibrations reverberating through him.

The rabbit's voice rang out from the factory, confused and angry. "What are you doing?!"

Su Xiaona didn't hesitate. She tilted her head and clamped one hand tightly over her ear.

Mayor Rabbit's voice was completely drowned out as Ruan Xing adjusted the super loudspeaker to its highest volume. The tool used to scold and order employees around was now being used like a whip against the rabbit himself.

Ruan Xing took a deep breath, and an unfamiliar language spilled from his lips.

At first, the voice was quiet, but then the muttering grew into an overwhelming and indescribable language—chaotic, harsh, jarring—that swept over the entire area.

The robots froze. Their movements stuttered, and their joints grinded as if jammed. Then, they fell down one after another. Some even began to smoke.

As they lost consciousness, one final thought flickered in their minds: This was a summon from Hell.

Fu Gui hadn't covered his ears. Last time, Ruan Xing cast a protection spell for him. This time, he hadn't, but thanks to the master-servant contract, Fu Gui could still withstand the effect.

【Death Aria】

Back when Ruan Xing talked to the cube-shaped machine, he already knew it could hear. So, he was not worried about whether it would fall for it. What he was concerned about was whether it would affect others. Fortunately, it had not. Although it was spirit-based magic, it was highly targeted.

Mayor Rabbit, as the factory itself, was more of a structure. This kind of attack barely affected him. But the machines, as individual entities, were hit hard by the spiritual magic.

As the whispers ended, Mayor Rabbit's scream rang out clearly, "What the hell did you do?!"

He had been so close to exhausting the woman. Then, this uninvited guest jumped in, and suddenly, all the machines went brain-dead and dropped like flies. He had lost his connection with them!

Fu Gui shouted, "Are you blind?! Our boss is wrecking your ass!"

With the machines collapsed and piled up at the bottom of the pit, Su Xiaona now had a staircase to climb up.

She was in a mess. Her original clothes had long been shredded beyond recognition. Because one of her arms was broken, she had been relying more on her legs to fight. Her left thigh had a deep gash, so deep that the bone was visible. Blood was gushing out, and her dark combat suit was completely soaked and tattered.

Ruan Xing's expression looked grim. He flashed to her side and handed her a bottle of potion. "Take care of it for now."

The rabbit was furious. The walls writhed. "So it looks like you have made your decision, young man."

Ruan Xing held up Su Xiaona, pretending to lean on her for support, while secretly using healing magic to speed up the effect.

Su Xiaona gulped down the potion. Her most serious wound had already stopped bleeding, and even the badly damaged muscle in her hand had mostly recovered. Her eyes lit up. "This potion works really well."

Ruan Xing gave a small smile. The magician's three-piece potion set was the only one that had ever received universal praise. It was one of his proudest creations.

Mayor Rabbit had not thought much of it at first. But when he saw the red potion in Ruan Xing's hand and Su Xiaona's immediate recovery, his tone changed. "What is that?!"

Ruan Xing replied, "Let us leave Fairy Tale City, and I will tell you."

Mayor Rabbit rejected him flatly. "No way. For the sins you committed today, dying a hundred times would not be enough."

Su Xiaona said, "That should be my line."

The rabbit laughed. "I am the factory. The factory is me. You are inside my belly and still have the guts to talk like that. I have to admit, impressive. But even if you leave, what difference does it make? You will still become polluted. The pollution will wrap around you completely at night. You will turn into warm, soft chocolate. Your family will watch you melt with their own eyes."

The surrounding walls surged toward the two of them, squirming. The "stomach walls" were ready to start digestion. Tiny pipes pulsed like active capillaries.

Ruan Xing said, "Rabbit, do you know what it feels like to eat firecrackers?"

Mayor Rabbit scoffed, "I sure as hell don't—"

It suddenly froze. Then it realized, it had been too focused on the two of them and forgot the other minions. But with staff on-site, it should still be safe—

"Boom!"

A violent explosion rang out. The factory walls contracted sharply, wave after wave like a raging sea.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" Mayor Rabbit screamed.

The entire factory came alive. The floor felt like it had been pumped full of water, enough for someone to surf on. Pipes covering the walls writhed like possessed snakes, attacking every living thing within sight without distinction.

In the chaos, Ruan Xing crouched down. "I will carry you."

Su Xiaona did not hesitate at all. She immediately climbed onto his back. Surprisingly, even though he looked thin and delicate, Ruan Xing moved swiftly and smoothly.

【Haste】

Ruan Xing tried to take her out of there, but when they reached the entrance of the factory, they found the doors had already melted into a solid steel wall.

"Go to the incinerator!" Fugui shouted. "The pollution level is highest there!"

If they could not escape, then they had to dive into the enemy's core. That was a lesson from all the times Fugui had worked with Ruan Xing—if they could not destroy the source, then they would make its stomach cramp.

Su Xiaona was stunned when Ruan Xing changed direction.

She saw in him a kind of unstoppable courage. Charging ahead even when the odds were against him. Going against the flow. That kind of mindset and resolve…

Su Xiaona's eyes turned red. Even as a seasoned veteran, she felt ashamed to be outdone.

Su "Imagination Overdrive" Xiaona had already started composing an epic BGM for Ruan Xing in her mind. The pounding beat synced perfectly with his footsteps.

By the time they reached the incinerator, Ruan Xing noticed her eyes were teary and was surprised. "Are you hurt again?!"

Su Xiaona shook her head. "Sorry. I just got too emotional."

Fugui muttered, "This woman is weird. The way she looked at you just now, it was like she was about to set up a shrine in your name."

A chill ran down Ruan Xing's spine.

As soon as the incinerator noticed they had arrived, it tilted its "head" and spewed a stream of molten red lava straight at Ruan Xing.

If it touched him, he would turn to ash instantly—no shrine needed.

Mycelium twisted into a rope, wrapping around both Ruan Xing and Su Xiaona's waists. The other end shot to the ceiling and tied a dead knot around a pipe. The two of them dangled mid-air, swinging like stunt wires.

Su Xiaona found it amusing. "This weapon of yours is really handy."

Sharp-headed water pipes lunged at Ruan Xing. Even pipes understood the principle of going for the weaker target first.

With both of them suspended in the air, their movements were heavily limited. Ruan Xing was never one to rely on brute strength, but he did his best to twist and swing his body, firing black arrows nonstop. The sizzling sound of corrosion filled the air. But there were just too many pipes.

Su Xiaona shouted, "You sneaky rabbit! Fight me one-on-one if you dare!"

The rabbit responded, "What am I, an idiot?"

Challenging her directly would mean throwing away his advantage. Even with A-rank physical stats, he could not take her head-on. She had almost destroyed his precious joyhouse.

Even though Ruan Xing was doing his best to dodge, one snake-like pipe still managed to bite off a chunk of his flesh. Blood dripped steadily from the wound in his waist, falling into the lava below and evaporating into a metallic red mist.

"Your flesh tastes unexpectedly good," the pipe said, rapidly contracting as it swallowed the chunk of meat. At the same time, a second wave of attacks was already winding up.

Ruan Xing held his wound. His movements slowed. It was unclear if he was too badly hurt or if he had given up struggling.

"Xing Xing!" Su Xiaona panicked. "Let me down! I will kill that rabbit!"

She pulled at the mycelium to break free. With a hard tug, several strands snapped, squeaking in pain. "Ow—ow ow—"

"Sister Xiaona!"

A voice rang out from a distance. It was Wang Qi and his team—they had arrived too. No one had died, but two were severely injured. Wang Qi had lost an arm, likely bitten off by some large beast.

Su Xiaona shouted, "Why did you come here? Shouldn't you be running?!"

The back of the incinerator was connected to massive pipes. There was nowhere to run. Seeing more people arrive, the rabbit was furious. It bounced with rage, its voice now crystal clear. "Persistent bugs. Damn it, all of you just die!"

The wine-vat head tilted. Lava poured from the top of its skull. From the way it moved, it looked less like lava and more like brain matter.

The thick red liquid gushed out, quickly flooding the area.

A young team member from Wang Qi's squad immediately summoned a wall of water. As lava and water collided, steam burst into the air, spreading black ash everywhere.

The entire place became thick with fog. Nothing could be seen clearly anymore.

Su Xiaona suddenly felt the water pipe above her head burst open. A huge amount of liquid sprayed down, mixing with the lava on the ground. The steam surged even more intensely. Visibility, which was already down to five meters, was now reduced to just one.

It felt like she was back in her childhood, unable to see the blackboard clearly. As a farsighted kid fitted with nearsighted glasses, the whole world had looked blurry. Later, when she got older and wore the correct prescription, she finally saw things as they were.

That was how she developed the habit of always wearing glasses.

The tension around her waist loosened. That line had let her down. The ground was still scorching hot, but she could now stand on it.

Where was Ruan Xing?

"Xing Xing? Xing Xing!" Su Xiaona shouted twice, but all she got in response were the voices of teammates and the rabbit's curses.

The steam was not only blocking human vision. It was blocking hers too.

Su Xiaona tore off an attacking steel water pipe with her bare hands. After yanking it down, she crushed it vertically like a soda can.

A nearby team member saw this and swallowed hard. Then he released more water orbs, which floated slowly into the incinerator one after another.

The shouting, the hiss of steam, the clash of metal—all the noise overlapped into chaos, perfectly masking Ruan Xing's movements.

He crept silently up to the incinerator and pulled out the last piece of magic crystal from his pocket. It was small, only the size of a quail egg, but it was enough. He quickly drew a complex symbol on it.

Like scratching an itch, the incinerator was too busy heating its fire to notice what he was doing. By the time it realized, it was already too late.

"What did you do?!"

Mayor Rabbit felt a strange energy starting to churn inside him, like someone had thrown a bottle of gasoline into the furnace. The fire accelerated, faster and faster, until it hit its limit.

The incinerator swelled like it had swallowed a ball of hydrogen, letting out a thunderous belch before suddenly shrinking. Flames burst out violently from its mouth.

Cracks began to appear on its surface.

Then they spread rapidly.

Mayor Rabbit's voice turned completely panicked. "Stop! I order you to stop!"

When he saw that Ruan Xing ignored him, he commanded the surrounding pipes to tear at him nonstop. Bite after bite, blood streamed from Ruan Xing's body.

The black-haired young man looked like he had crawled out of hell, drenched in blood, whispering like a demon. "You built a house with my stuff. Who gave you the guts?"

The rabbit was in disbelief. "Who the hell are you?!"

Ruan Xing grinned. "Your grandpa."

The incinerator completely panicked. From beneath the wine vat-shaped head, little black droppings rolled out nonstop, reeking of a pungent stench.

It did not want to die!

Back when it used to scavenge in Mist City, it had sworn it would live better than anyone else!

That child who once could not bear to eat a single piece of candy had now become the master of an entire city. In a world where only the strong survived, it was just a rabbit, but it forced its way onto a pedestal where all looked up to it.

All the things it once longed for and could not have—dreams, hatred, desires—they were all realized fully in this city.

Sweet candy had been its purest dream. A peaceful city was what it had always wanted but never received. It hated war, yet believed deeply in the law of the jungle.

It was a rabbit, but stronger than an elephant. The humans who became herbivores were nothing more than prey. Only the strong could stand tall.

The rules it had created should have worked. It had sacrificed so much for them. But now…

"Destroying the furnace means killing me. You will die too!" the rabbit shrieked. "Stop now! I will let you all go! I will not even ask for compensation!"

"Do you not think it is a bit late for that?"

The incinerator's little tail at the back kept going plop plop, black droppings rolling out nonstop. Clearly, the rabbit was deeply unsettled. "Are you not afraid of dying?!"

Metal covers around the furnace rattled and clanged. Ever since merging with the factory, the rabbit had grown stronger but also more restricted in movement.

Ruan Xing, despite being torn to pieces, still had a smile on his face. "I already died once."

Boom!

The furnace exploded violently, like a roar from the depths of the soul. Lava gushed out from the mouth and surged even more fiercely toward Su Xiaona and the others.

Wang Qi's expression shifted. He quickly grabbed Su Xiaona and the team members. One of them covered everyone with a thick water shield. Even so, the force of the blast slammed them hard against the factory wall.

"Move!"

Maybe the furnace was too badly damaged to care about them anymore. The factory doors began to melt with a drip-drip sound, slowly reappearing.

The lava roared behind them as the group ran with all their strength.

"Hurry!"

Su Xiaona turned around, trying to find Ruan Xing. But she did not see him.

Instead, she saw a stranger.

She did not know who he was, but he looked familiar. The man stood sideways, with hair so long it reached his ankles, black as ink. His facial features were blurred in the rising mist, but the tear-shaped mole under his eye stood out.

Invisible waves of energy surged toward him, spiraling around like the eye of a tornado. Yet the man at the center remained untouched.

Noticing her gaze, his emerald green eyes looked her way, seemingly with a hint of a smile.

The half-destroyed furnace rolled toward him. Su Xiaona was about to shout a warning—

But the man simply raised his hand slightly. The furnace let out a scream and tumbled aside as if something was forcing it to roll away.

Then the man walked forward calmly. All the lava and fire around him seemed to come alive and scrambled out of his way.

Who was this? Su Xiaona's mind exploded with questions.

Was this the real candy merchant hiding outside the factory, waiting to deal the final blow to Mayor Rabbit? Or was it some other pollutant rival of the mayor?

"Rabbit," the man said, "I will give you one chance. Before you die, tell me everything you know."

Half of the furnace had already disappeared. Mayor Rabbit looked at the man before him, and the furnace trembled violently.

Long hair slid along the side of the young man's face, revealing an incredibly handsome visage. His features were flawless. Deep in his pupils, mysterious symbols rotated slowly. A surge of overwhelming power emerged from his body, similar to—but not quite the same as—the energy found in the pollution source. It flowed endlessly, vast like the sea.

"No wonder… It is you! It is really you!" The half-broken furnace shrieked in terror, as if it had seen something beyond comprehension.

"I will talk! I will talk! I did not steal those things myself! Mist City! If you go to Mist City, you will understand everything!"

"Everything that belongs to you—I will offer it up with both hands! I am willing to serve you, just please spare me! I beg you! I am just a rabbit…"

The furnace sobbed and begged, but it was too late.

Cracks burst all over it. It looked like a pressure cooker about to explode. That half of the furnace shattered with a deafening boom.

Boom!

Su Xiaona had only seen the man bend over to speak to the furnace. She could not hear what they had said. Lava surged again, more violently than any time before. The team picked up speed. Su Xiaona could no longer worry about anything else.

Just as the group escaped the factory, a thunderous explosion made their ears ring. The massive factory erupted into flames that shot into the sky.

Then, like a monument standing in the wind for centuries, everything rapidly began to erode into sand.

The nearby candy houses started melting, revealing their true forms.

Walls that had seemed like biscuits were now full of bare bones—some human, some animal. The sweet scent of candy at the tip of their noses turned into the thick stench of rotting corpses, spreading like a physical fog through the streets.

They were standing in a city built from corpses.

Everyone was covered in ash and dirt, but their faces glowed with the joy of survival. To have made it out of such a dangerous polluted zone alive—it felt like a miracle.

Only Su Xiaona stood frozen, staring into the distant void, murmuring, "Ruan Xing…"

When Ruan Xing talked to the cube-shaped machine, he already knew it could hear. So, he was not worried about whether it would fall for it. What he was concerned about was whether it would affect others. Fortunately, it had not. Although it was spirit-based magic, it was highly targeted.

Mayor Rabbit, as the factory itself, was more of a structure. This kind of attack barely affected him. But the machines, as individual entities, were hit hard by the spiritual magic.

As the song ended, Mayor Rabbit's scream rang out, "What the hell did you do?!"

He had been so close to exhausting the woman. Then, this uninvited guest jumped in, and suddenly, all the machines went brain-dead and dropped like flies. He lost his connection with them!

Fu Gui shouted, "Are you blind?! We're wrecking your ass!"

With the machines down, their bodies piled up layer by layer at the bottom of the pit—giving Su Xiaona a staircase to climb her way out.

She was in a miserable state. Her original clothes had long been shredded beyond recognition. With one of her arms broken, she had been relying more on her legs to fight. Her left thigh had a deep gash, so deep that the bone was visible. Blood was gushing out, and her dark combat suit was completely soaked and tattered.

Ruan Xing's expression looked grim. He flashed to her side and handed her a bottle of potion. "Do a quick patch-up first."

The rabbit was furious, causing the walls around them to shake. "It seems you've made your decision, young man."

Ruan Xing supported Su Xiaona—outwardly appearing to lean on her to help but secretly using healing magic to accelerate her recovery.

After Su Xiaona gulped down the potion, the most serious wound stopped bleeding, and even the badly damaged muscle in her hand had mostly recovered. Her eyes lit up. "This potion works really well."

Ruan Xing gave a small smile. The magician's three-piece potion set was the only one that had ever received universal praise. It was one of his proudest creations.

Mayor Rabbit had not thought much of it at first. But his tone changed when he saw the red potion in Ruan Xing's hand and Su Xiaona's immediate recovery. "What is that?!"

Ruan Xing replied, "Let us leave Fairy Tale City, and I will tell you."

Mayor Rabbit rejected him flatly. "No way. For the sins you committed today, dying a hundred times would not be enough."

Su Xiaona said, "That should be my line."

The rabbit laughed. "I am the factory. The factory is me. You are inside my belly and still have the guts to talk like that. I really admire your courage. But even if you leave, what difference does it make? You will still become polluted. The pollution will swallow you whole by nightfall, turning you into warm, soft chocolate. Your family will watch you melt with their own eyes."

The surrounding walls surged toward the two of them, squirming like flesh. The "stomach walls" began to digest them, and tiny tubes pulsed on the surface like active capillaries.

Ruan Xing said, "Rabbit, do you know what it feels like to eat firecrackers?"

Mayor Rabbit scoffed, "Why the hell would I eat firecra—"

It suddenly froze as he realized that he had been too focused on the two of them and forgot the other minions. But with staff on-site, it should still be safe—

BOOM!

A deafening explosion rocked the factory. The walls convulsed violently, wave after wave, like a raging sea.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Mayor Rabbit screamed.

The entire factory came alive. The floor felt like it had been pumped full of water, enough for someone to surf on. Pipes covering the walls writhed like possessed snakes, attacking every living thing within sight without distinction.

In the chaos, Ruan Xing crouched down. "I will carry you."

Su Xiaona did not hesitate. She immediately climbed onto his back. Surprisingly, despite his slender build, Ruan Xing moved quickly and with ease.

【Haste】

Ruan Xing tried to take her out of there, but when they reached the entrance of the factory, the door was already melted into a solid steel wall.

"Go to the incinerator!" Fu Gui shouted. "The pollution level is highest there!"

If they could not escape, then they had to dive into the enemy's core. That was a lesson from all the times Fu Gui had worked with Ruan Xing: if they couldn't destroy the infection, they would give it indigestion!

Su Xiaona was stunned when Ruan Xing changed direction.

She saw unwavering courage from him—the kind that rushed forward even knowing there was no chance of return. A spirit of sacrifice.

Su Xiaona's eyes turned red. Even as a seasoned veteran, she felt ashamed to be outdone.

Su "Imagination Overdrive" Xiaona had already started composing an epic BGM for Ruan Xing in her mind. The dramatic beat of drums synced perfectly with Ruan Xing's footsteps.

When they reached the incinerator, Ruan Xing looked back in alarm to find Su Xiaona's eyes filled with tears. "You're hurt again?!"

Su Xiaona shook her head. "Sorry. I was just a little emotional."

Fu Gui muttered, "What's up with this woman? The way she looked at you just now, it was like she was ready to build a memorial shrine for you."

A chill ran down Ruan Xing's spine.

As soon as the incinerator noticed they had arrived, it tilted its "head" and spewed a stream of molten red lava straight at Ruan Xing.

If it touched him, he would turn to ash instantly—no shrine needed.

The Mycelium twisted into a rope, wrapping around both Ruan Xing and Su Xiaona's waists. The other end shot to the ceiling and tied securely around a pipe. They swung into the air like puppets on a wire, swaying side to side.

Su Xiaona found it amusing. "This weapon of yours is really convenient."

The water pipe on the wall poked out its sharp head and attacked Ruan Xing. Even pipes understood the principle of going for the weaker target first.

Dangling mid-air, their mobility was greatly restricted. However, Ruan Xing was never one to rely on brute strength. He did his best to twist and swing his body, firing black arrows nonstop. The sizzling sound of corrosion filled the air. But there were just too many pipes.

Su Xiaona shouted, "Damn rabbit! Fight me one-on-one if you've got the guts!"

Mayor Rabbit: "What am I, an idiot?"

Challenging her directly would mean throwing away his advantage. He couldn't beat her in a braw with a Class-A physique, and she even nearly destroyed his "Happy Home" last time.

Even though Ruan Xing was doing his best to dodge, one snake-like pipe still managed to bite off a chunk of his flesh. Blood dripped steadily from the wound in his waist, falling into the lava and evaporating into a metallic red mist.

"Your flesh and blood are surprisingly delicious." the pipe said, rapidly contracting as it swallowed the chunk of meat. At the same time, a second wave of attacks was already winding up.

Ruan Xing clutched his wound while his movements became sluggish. It was unclear if he was badly hurt or if he had given up struggling.

"Xing Xing!" Su Xiaona panicked. "Let me down! I'll kill that damn rabbit!"

She tugged hard at the mycelium rope, trying to tear it apart. Her grip was strong—so strong that a few strands snapped with a painful squeal. "Ow, ow ow—"

"Sister Xiaona!"

A voice rang out from a distance. It was Wang Qi and his team.

They finally arrived. No one had died, but two were severely injured. Wang Qi had lost an arm, likely bitten off by some large beast.

Su Xiaona shouted, "Why did you come here? Shouldn't you be running?!"

The back of the incinerator was connected to massive pipes. There was nowhere to run. Seeing more people arrive, the rabbit was furious. It bounced with rage, its voice now crystal clear. "Persistent bugs. Damn it, all of you just go and die!"

The wine-vat head tilted, and lava poured from the top of its skull. From the way it moved, it looked less like lava and more like brain matter.

The thick red liquid gushed out, quickly flooding the area.

A team member from Wang Qi's squad immediately summoned a wall of water. Steam burst into the air when the lava and water collided, spreading black ash everywhere.

The entire place became thick with fog. Nothing could be seen clearly anymore.

Su Xiaona suddenly felt the water pipe above her head burst open. A huge amount of liquid was sprayed down and mixed with the lava on the ground. The steam surged even more intensely. Visibility, which was already down to five meters, was now reduced to just one.

She felt like she was transported back to her childhood when she struggled to see the blackboard clearly. As a farsighted child who was fitted with nearsighted glasses, everything around her appeared blurry. Later, as she grew older and started wearing the correct prescription, she finally began to see the world with clarity.

It also made her develop the habit of always wearing glasses.

Her waist suddenly slackened—the line holding her mid-air had lowered her to the ground. The floor was still scorching hot, but she could stand on it.

Where was Ruan Xing?

"Xing Xing? Xing Xing!" Su Xiaona shouted twice, but all she got in response were the voices of her teammates and the rabbit's curses.

This steam wasn't just blocking visibility for the enemies—it blocked hers too.

Su Xiaona tore off an attacking steel water pipe with her bare hands. After yanking it down, she crushed it vertically like a soda can.

A nearby team member saw this and swallowed hard. Then he released more water orbs, which floated slowly into the incinerator one after another.

The chaos of shouts, steam hissing, and clanging metal created a wall of noise—perfectly masking Ruan Xing's approach.

He crept silently up to the incinerator and pulled out the last piece of magic crystal from his pocket. It was small, only the size of a quail egg, but it was enough. He quickly drew a complex symbol on it.

Like scratching an itch, the incinerator was too busy heating its fire to notice what he was doing. By the time it realized, it was already too late.

"What did you do?!"

Mayor Rabbit felt a strange energy starting to churn inside him like someone had thrown a bottle of gasoline into the furnace. The fire accelerated, faster and faster, until it hit the limit.

The incinerator swelled like it had swallowed a ball of hydrogen, letting out a thunderous belch before suddenly shrinking. Flames burst out violently from its mouth.

Cracks spread across the furnace.

Then, it spread rapidly.

Mayor Rabbit's voice turned frantic. "Stop! I order you to stop!"

When he saw that Ruan Xing ignored him, he commanded the surrounding pipes to tear at him nonstop. Bite after bite, blood streamed from Ruan Xing's body.

The black-haired young man looked like he had crawled out of hell, drenched in blood, whispering like a demon. "You built a house with my stuff. Who gave you the guts?"

The rabbit was in disbelief. "Who the hell are you?!"

Ruan Xing grinned. "Your grandpa."

The incinerator completely panicked. From beneath the wine vat-shaped head, little black droppings rolled out nonstop, reeking of a pungent stench.

It did not want to die!

When it used to scavenge in Mist City, it had sworn it would live better than anyone else!

That child who once could not bear to eat a single piece of candy had now become the master of an entire city. In a world where only the strong survived, it was just a rabbit, but it forced its way onto a pedestal admired by everyone.

All the things it once dreamed of but could never have—dreams, hatred, desires—were embodied in this city.

Sweet candy had been its purest dream. A peaceful city was what it had always wanted but never received. It hated war yet believed deeply in the law of the jungle.

It was a rabbit, but stronger than an elephant. The humans who became herbivores were nothing more than prey. Only the strong could stand tall.

The rules it had created should have worked. It had sacrificed so much for them. But now…

"Destroying the furnace means killing me. You will die too!" the rabbit shrieked. "Stop now! I will let you all go! I will not even ask for compensation!"

"Don't you think it's a little late for that?'

The little tail at the back incinerator kept dropping black pellets nonstop. Clearly, the rabbit was extremely uneasy. "Aren't you afraid of dying?!"

The metal covers around the furnace rattled and clanged. Since merging with the factory, the rabbit had grown stronger, but it restricted its movement.

Ruan Xing's body was torn open in countless places, but he still had a smile on his face. "I already died once."

BOOM!

The furnace exploded violently, like a roar from the depths of the soul. Lava gushed out from the mouth and surged even more fiercely toward Su Xiaona and the others.

Wang Qi's expression shifted. He quickly grabbed Su Xiaona and the team members. One of them covered everyone with a thick water shield. Even so, the force of the blast slammed them hard against the factory wall.

"Move!"

Maybe the furnace was too severely damaged to care about them anymore. The factory doors began to melt with a dripping sound while slowly reappearing.

The lava roared behind them as the group ran with all their strength.

"Hurry!"

Su Xiaona turned around, trying to locate Ruan Xing. But she didn't find him.

Instead, she saw a stranger.

She did not know who he was, but he looked familiar. The man stood sideways, with ink-black hair so long it reached his ankles. His facial features were blurred by the mist, but the tear-shaped mole beneath his eye was unmistakable.

Invisible waves of energy surged toward him, spiraling around like the eye of a tornado. Yet the man at the center remained untouched.

Noticing her gaze, his emerald green eyes looked her way, seemingly with a hint of a smile.

The half-destroyed furnace rolled toward him. Su Xiaona was about to shout a warning—

But the man simply raised his hand slightly. The furnace let out a scream and tumbled aside as if something was forcing it to roll away.

Then, the man calmly walked forward. All the lava and fire around him seemed to come alive and scrambled out of his way.

Who is this person? Su Xiaona's mind exploded with questions.

Was this the real candy merchant hiding outside the factory, waiting to deal the final blow to Mayor Rabbit? Or was it some other pollutant rival of the mayor?

"Rabbit," the man said, "I will give you one chance. Before you die, tell me everything you know."

Half of the furnace had already disappeared. Mayor Rabbit looked at the man before him, and the furnace trembled violently.

Long hair slid along the side of the young man's face, revealing an incredibly handsome visage. His features were flawless. Deep in his pupils, mysterious symbols rotated slowly. A surge of overwhelming power emerged from his body, similar to—but not quite the same as—the energy found in the pollution source. It flowed endlessly, vast like the sea.

"No wonder… It is you! It is really you!" The half-broken furnace shrieked in terror as if it had seen something beyond comprehension.

"I will talk! I will talk! I did not steal those things myself! Mist City! If you go to Mist City, you will understand everything!"

"Everything that belongs to you—I will offer it up with both hands! I am willing to serve you; just please spare me! I beg you! I am just a rabbit…"

The furnace sobbed and begged, but it was too late.

Cracks burst all over it, like a pressure cooker about to explode. Then, the remaining half of the furnace shattered with a deafening boom.

BOOM!

Su Xiaona only saw the man bend over to speak to the furnace. She could not hear what they talked about.

Lava surged again, more violently than any time before. The team picked up speed, and Su Xiaona could no longer worry about anything else.

Just as the group escaped the factory, a thunderous explosion made their ears ring. The massive factory erupted into flames that shot into the sky.

Then, like a monument standing in the wind for centuries, everything rapidly eroded into sand.

The nearby candy houses started melting, revealing their true forms.

Walls that had seemed like biscuits were now full of bones—some human, some animal. The sweet scent of candy at the tip of their noses turned into the thick stench of rotting corpses, spreading like a physical fog through the streets.

They were standing in a city built from corpses.

Everyone was covered in ash and dirt, but their faces glowed with the joy of survival. It felt like a miracle to have made it out of such a dangerous polluted zone alive.

Only Su Xiaona stood frozen, staring into the distant void, murmuring, "Ruan Xing…"