Chapter 233 - 232: Together

Chapter 233: Chapter 232: Together

Feng Ling’s breath hitched. She rushed forward, extending her Teeth and Claws in a race against time to bite into the Mouse Monster above! She flung the corpses pressing down on Huangfu Miaomiao to the sides!

Huangfu Miaomiao lay on the ground, completely still.

Feng Ling grabbed her by the shoulders, trying to drag her out, but she wouldn’t budge!

Feng Ling didn’t give up, pulling with even greater force. The pain jolted Huangfu Miaomiao awake. She opened her eyes and saw Feng Ling, her face immediately crumpling as she started to cry. "Feng Ling... SOB SOB SOB SOB..."

"Shut up!" Feng Ling snapped. "Now is not the time for crying!"

Ye Zheng, standing to the side, said, "Her legs are stuck."

Feng Ling had noticed it too.

Both of Huangfu Miaomiao’s legs were sunk into the mountain of flesh. Her right leg was submerged past the ankle, her left past the thigh.

Without another word, Feng Ling drew her Bone Blade. "Brace yourself."

Huangfu Miaomiao stared blankly. "Brace for what... AHHHHH!!!"

She screamed in agony as tears burst from her eyes!

"Go get a basin of water! Quickly!" Feng Ling yelled to Ye Zheng. Then, she hacked at the lump of flesh by the ankle, gripped Huangfu Miaomiao’s calf, and yanked with all her might, forcibly tearing the foot free!

It could no longer be called a foot—it was just an oval-shaped lump of meat. Where her toes should have been, everything had fused together into a sticky mess.

Her right foot was already in this state; it was terrifying to imagine what her left leg had fused into.

The more time they wasted, the worse it would get. Feng Ling had no time to worry about whether Huangfu Miaomiao could take it. She drew her Bone Blade and hacked at the left side!

"AHHHHHH!—"

Huangfu Miaomiao was in agony, clinging to Feng Ling’s arm and screaming, "I can’t do it! I can’t do it! It hurts too much! WAHHHHHH!..."

Ye Zheng returned from the restaurant with a basin of water and forcefully splashed it over Huangfu Miaomiao’s legs!

The water washed away some of the minced flesh clinging to her legs, making her gruesome state all the more apparent.

Feng Ling grabbed Huangfu Miaomiao’s shoulders and barked, "Stop crying! Hurry up and redeem a syringe to inject yourself! Don’t waste any more time!"

Sobbing, Huangfu Miaomiao redeemed the syringe, her body trembling uncontrollably from the excruciating pain.

Ye Zheng stared at her mangled, bloody right foot and asked Feng Ling, "Can that even be fixed?"

Feng Ling’s tone was cold and hard, laced with a strange vexation. "I don’t know. It’s a desperate gamble."

She pulled the Bone Blade free and swung it at the left side—

Even though Feng Ling left a margin around Huangfu Miaomiao’s left leg, cutting only beside it, the task was incredibly difficult. The corpses of several Mouse Monsters were tangled together here, a chaotic mess of fused bone and sinew. Each strike was like hacking into a large pumpkin stuffed with bones—not just hard, but sticky.

She discovered that the farther from the leg she cut, the less pain Huangfu Miaomiao felt.

This was not a good sign. It meant the skin, flesh, and nerves of Huangfu Miaomiao’s left leg had already become one with the mountain of flesh.

Feng Ling yanked out her Bone Blade and saw that some blood-red flecks of meat were stuck to it, clinging to both the blade and her Scale Armor.

When she drove it into the flesh again, the Bone Blade felt like it was being suctioned tight and wouldn’t come out.

Feng Ling frowned.

She had just seen a layer of skin peel off Ye Zheng’s claws; she’d assumed her Scale Armor would protect her. She had underestimated the power of this mountain.

The blood and flesh of the mountain weren’t corroding her Scale Armor; they were actively growing onto it, fusing with it. This was a different kind of injury altogether.

Feng Ling drew another Bone Blade and, without hesitation, hacked off the one that was stuck.

Blood surged out, then the flow quickly stopped.

Ye Zheng watched Feng Ling, his gaze somber. "...Give it up. Her left leg is almost entirely submerged. Even if you amputated the whole thing, she doesn’t have a powerful healing Card. Her body wouldn’t be able to handle the trauma."

Hearing this, Huangfu Miaomiao began to sob even harder. Before, she cried from pain; now, she cried from fear.

"Feng Ling, I don’t want to die! I’m not ready to die! ...SOB SOB SOB... Don’t leave me here all alone! I don’t want to die in the Maze!"

Feng Ling looked at Ye Zheng. "I’m going to try again."

"Let’s just get the explosives," Ye Zheng said flatly.

"Why are you so cruel!" Huangfu Miaomiao screamed at Ye Zheng through her tears. "Why won’t you let Feng Ling save me?! Even if I’m an Alien Species, I helped you! Why are you doing this to me?!"

Ye Zheng was silent for a moment before saying to Huangfu Miaomiao, "All Alien Species are detestable, but you’re different. I don’t dislike you. I just don’t want anything to happen to Feng Ling. You saw for yourself—she lost one of her weapons trying to save you."

Huangfu Miaomiao froze, looking at Feng Ling with a helpless expression.

"Of course, Feng Ling has more than just that one weapon, so even though it’s gone, you probably don’t think it’s a great loss," Ye Zheng continued. "But the reality is, no matter how many weapons she sacrifices, it’s impossible to get you out of this pile of flesh. It would just be a meaningless sacrifice."

With tears welling in her eyes, Huangfu Miaomiao mumbled, "But I don’t want to die... I don’t want to die..."

Ye Zheng spoke slowly. "We still haven’t completed our objective in this Maze. To do that, we can’t keep pouring our energy into other things indefinitely. How about we set a limit? A limit we can all accept. If we can’t rescue a teammate within that limit, we give up. Would that be acceptable?"

After listening to Ye Zheng, Huangfu Miaomiao nodded through her sobs. "Okay."

Ye Zheng asked Feng Ling, "What do you think? Can we agree on a limit?"

Feng Ling was frustrated. She felt that with just a few more cuts, she could definitely pull Huangfu Miaomiao out. However, the way the mountain’s flesh clung to her appendages was definitely a problem.

Huangfu Miaomiao held up her fingers to Feng Ling. "Two... no, three. Is three appendages okay?"

She watched Feng Ling timidly, as if afraid Feng Ling would find her greedy. She choked out, "If three of your appendages get broken, then... then you guys can just leave. You don’t have to save me anymore..."

Feng Ling frowned, looking at Huangfu Miaomiao’s left leg. ’One Bone Blade alone might not have enough force,’ she thought. ’What if I try three at once?’

She took a deep breath, and the appendages on her back deployed one after another—

A sharp Bone Blade stabbed into the mass of flesh!

Immediately followed by two sets of Teeth and Claws that lunged forward to bite! With a sickening RIP, they tore a large, bloody chunk of flesh from both sides of her left leg!

The immense pain made Huangfu Miaomiao scream again, her face drained of all color.

Feng Ling, however, felt her method was working. She eagerly swung her Bone Blade again, stabbing deeper! Her Teeth and Claws also continued to bite their way in, attempting to rip off another chunk!

Just then, all the mangled limbs and chunks of flesh facing her began to tremble!

It was as if it wasn’t just Huangfu Miaomiao feeling the pain, but the mountain itself, which began to spasm and twitch in agony!

A powerful suction force emanated from deep within the mountain. Feng Ling felt something grab her appendages from the inside. Her back went rigid as her upper body was dragged in!

"Feng Ling!—" Ye Zheng cried out, his face paling in horror.

Huangfu Miaomiao broke down completely, wailing, "Stop saving me! I don’t want you to save me anymore!!!"