EDEH Chapter 15

Sang Jue was completely unaware that “ji-ji” sounded like “dick” and turned to glare at Colin.

 

Liar.

 

Huo Yanji didn’t like being called that.

 

Colin turned his head away, guiltily ignoring the two gazes from both Sang Jue and Huo Yanji directed at him.

 

He’d better perform well on this mission, or he’d probably really get written up when they returned.

 

The ventilation duct was very high. Huo Yanji easily lifted Sang Jue, gripping his two thin legs and pushing him up: “Can you reach it?”

 

“I can—”

 

The duct was just a bit wider than Sang Jue’s shoulders. He gripped the flashlight, struggling to crawl forward using his elbows and hips.

 

The hot breath from his mouth and nose fogged up the protective mask. He wanted to wipe it away, but after reaching out, he foolishly realized the fog was on the inside. Just as his wiping finger stopped, he caught a glimpse of green from the corner of his eye.

 

Dozens of people were waiting on this side. Crawling through the duct wasn’t quiet—his body made clanging sounds as it collided with the metal.

 

But soon the duct fell silent, very quiet.

 

“Did he land?”

 

“Didn’t hear any landing sound.”

 

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

 

“If there are contaminants over there, this little guy can’t handle them…”

 

“Sir, should we use the dolphin mines?”

 

Huo Yanji looked at the gate and raised his hand to signal: “Wait a bit longer.”

 

Dolphin mines were quite powerful. If they really exploded, Sang Jue would be too close on the other side and might get caught in the blast.

 

Sang Jue had actually already landed.

 

But he hadn’t landed voluntarily. Shortly after entering the duct, some sticky green fluid suddenly surged into the passage, attaching to his body surface silently.

 

By the time he noticed, the green unknown substance had already climbed onto his protective mask, like being wrapped in a thin green balloon. Although the outer layer was thin, Sang Jue’s cries for help couldn’t penetrate, as if muffled, leaving only faint vibrations.

 

“Mmph…”

 

Sang Jue was silently dragged down by this thing.

 

When the fog on the protective mask’s surface dissipated, he discovered he had already reached the other side of the steel door.

 

The ground, walls, and side water channels were all covered with flowing green liquid, writhing as if alive.

 

…A giant slime had become sentient!?

 

Sang Jue felt like walking through cotton—every step was extremely laborious. He was already trying very hard to tear through the green mucus, but still found it difficult to move.

 

It felt a bit like falling into the deep sea. Although water couldn’t bind him, it made walking difficult and breathing impossible. When he tried to resist, he had no strength to use. Just as he tore open one gap, new mucus would wrap around him.

 

“Mmm…”

 

Just a little more—a bit further forward, and he could extend his tail to reach the brake switch on the side wall. The deep red button was very conspicuous. It was clearly only a few meters away, yet he couldn’t cross the distance.

 

He was almost suffocating.

 

Sang Jue pushed forward with muffled sounds—how could a mighty evil dragon be defeated by a slime!

 

The distance was about right.

 

Sang Jue held his breath and thrust forward with his protruding tail tip: “Click!”

 

—Finally touched the brake switch.

 

Sang Jue retracted his tail. New liquid sealed the small opening, and he was completely submerged in the clay-textured liquid, everything green before his eyes.

 

His body was forced to float, unable to exert any strength. The only fortunate thing was wearing the protective mask, which prevented the liquid from trying to drill into his mouth and nose.

 

The communicator kept beeping “beep” “beep,” but Sang Jue couldn’t reach it at all.

 

So dizzy… why wasn’t the door opening…

 

According to the usual plot, a prince should descend from heaven at this moment, rescuing the princess from danger. Then the prince and princess would return to the kingdom, hold a grand wedding, and live happily ever after.

 

But he was a little evil dragon.

 

The little evil dragon, struggling to breathe, began to let his mind wander—

 

Why would a princess fall in love with a prince just because he saved her? If an evil dragon saved the princess, would the princess fall in love with the evil dragon?

 

If a prince saved an evil dragon, would the evil dragon also fall in love with the prince?

 

Conversely, if an evil dragon could save a prince once, then the prince would belong to the evil dragon.

 

But both the evil dragon and prince were male, and there were species barriers—they couldn’t hold a wedding.

 

But they could be the best of companions.

 

“Clang—”

 

The steel door slowly withdrew to both sides. Everyone who had already set up dolphin mines and prepared to detonate them immediately stopped: “The door’s open!”

 

Green liquid immediately surged out through the gaps, climbing up everyone’s shoes and ankles. No matter how they stabbed with knives, they couldn’t stop its advance.

 

“Knives and bullets are useless!”

 

“Damn! What is this!?”

 

None of the mercenaries recognized this thing, and they all panicked.

 

A mercenary in front had been accidentally cut by metal sheeting. Because the wound was too small, he hadn’t bandaged it, but the green fungus took advantage—

 

“Ahh!!”

 

It was like countless poisonous leeches sucking at the wound, with all the blood in his body flowing in that direction. When he’d been pierced through the abdomen by a steel rod before, he’d maintained his tough guy image, but now he screamed in pain and bent over.

 

“Deviant multi-headed velvet bubble green fungus—” Huo Yanji’s expression changed drastically as he shouted sternly, “Put away the dolphin mines, light fires!”

 

Startled by this shout, Colin immediately remembered this contaminant he’d only seen in science books. Ignoring the green fungus that had already climbed to his waist, he pulled a red glass tube from his pack and smashed it on the ground. Flames shot up to the sky.

 

In less than two seconds, these fungal clusters that wanted to trap them retreated as if facing a great enemy, but the fire spread faster, burning indiscriminately.

 

The mercenaries could still try to put out the fire, but the green fungus could only be burned into air, not even leaving ashes.

 

The steel door was affected by the green fungus and opened very slowly. Through the narrow gap, Huo Yanji caught sight of Sang Jue soaking in the fungal cluster.

 

He squeezed through sideways, strode forward, bent down while drawing the long dagger strapped to his leg. A cold flash, and the fungal cluster was cut with a huge gash.

 

Just as they were about to heal, Huo Yanji was faster than them, extracting Sang Jue like peeling a butterfly from a chrysalis, holding him securely.

 

With both legs sunk into the mass, Huo Yanji’s expression remained unchanged. After waiting less than a few seconds, the fire spread over, and the fungal clusters immediately scattered like a tide.

 

Huo Yanji took advantage of the momentum to jump onto the work platform behind the steel door. Sang Jue in his arms was so light that Huo Yanji could support him with one hand. His burning cheek pressed against Huo Yanji’s shoulder—he was probably suffocating from being held too long.

 

Colin suddenly roared: “Fall back! Everyone fall back!”

 

Huo Yanji immediately thought of something. Upon hearing this, not only did he not retreat, but he lunged forward with Sang Jue—

 

“BOOM!!”

 

The massive sound exploded in everyone’s ears as a dolphin mine was detonated by the fire.

 

The heavy steel door was directly blown apart, with a piece of metal sheeting hanging precariously from half the door. Everyone behind was knocked to the ground by the huge blast wave.

 

They covered their ears, eardrums buzzing, unable to get up for a long time.

 

Sang Jue beneath him still showed no response. Huo Yanji removed Sang Jue’s protective mask, checked his pulse, then without hesitation lifted Sang Jue in a half-circle, half-embrace position with crossed hands, pressing against the lower side of Sang Jue’s shoulder blades.

 

Colin scrambled up in a disheveled state, staggering to Huo Yanji’s back, unable to hear his own voice clearly: “Not breathing?”

 

Huo Yanji said nothing and pressed hard again.

 

“—Cough cough!”

 

Sang Jue’s good digestion wasn’t just boasting—what he’d eaten hours ago had been completely digested, and he nearly vomited bile from the pressure.

 

He muttered: “Prince…”

 

Due to the ringing in his ears, Huo Yanji didn’t hear clearly.

 

He had Sang Jue sit on the ground and began checking his wounds. Fortunately, the other scrapes had all healed, with only his neck still injured. But Sang Jue had wrapped it tightly before, and the bandage was waterproof like a band-aid, which prevented contamination by the green fungus.

 

Infection and disorder from green fungus happened quickly, with obvious characteristics—the green fungus would spread invasively under the skin layer like spider webs.

 

—Like that mercenary behind them.

 

Huo Yanji took back the gun he’d given Sang Jue earlier and aimed it at the infected person’s head.

 

“Sir—”

 

They would need the mercenary team in many places later. Colin was afraid that directly killing this mercenary would affect the others’ morale, but just as he said “Sir,” the bullet had already fired.

 

When the gunshot rang out, everyone fell silent, the buzzing in their ears immediately disappearing, very sobering.

 

The infected mercenary slowly fell. Huo Yanji didn’t lower his gun, moving the muzzle to aim at a supervisor.

 

The man’s face went pale: “I, I’m not infected…”

 

Colin said angrily: “The dolphin mine you didn’t put away almost killed us all!”

 

The supervisor’s face went white, stammering for a long time without being able to say anything consoling. Just now he’d been frightened by the infected mercenary’s screams, his first reaction being to deal with the fungus clinging to himself, afraid of becoming like that, completely missing Huo Yanji’s order to put away the dolphin mines.

 

“Useless!” Huo Yanji’s expression was ice-cold. “If even one person had been killed in that blast, you’d have to pay with your life.”

 

The supervisor breathed a huge sigh of relief—fortunately, there was currently only one casualty, the infected person Huo Yanji had shot.

 

But after going out, he’d probably face punishment.

 

The mercenaries should have been sad or angry.

 

But experiencing Huo Yanji’s presence and authority up close for the first time, they were somewhat intimidated instead.

 

Most of the time, Huo Yanji’s presence was very restrained. Although cold, he didn’t seem cold-blooded or cruel, easily giving people the illusion that he might be approachable.

 

“Drag the body into the supply room. Everyone else, continue forward.”

 

Green fungal clusters fed on flesh and blood—human corpses were their favorite nourishment.

 

“Yes!”

 

Huo Yanji helped up the unsteady Sang Jue. The communicator suddenly beeped twice. He pressed to answer, hearing crackling static through the earpiece, with Wei Lan’s voice intermittent.

 

“City battle situation chaotic… sonic device zzzz… destroyed, avian contaminants over ten thousand… no ground zzz zzzz… full counterattack…”

 

“Received.” Huo Yanji said. “Prioritize resident safety first, show no mercy to the infected.”

 

Wei Lan: “Yes.”

 

The communication cut off.

 

Sang Jue followed Huo Yanji step by step, gripping his clothing and not letting go.

 

Colin noticed this. Although he thought it was better to keep a low profile—if news of these two spread, it might cause some trouble. For instance, people would definitely think Sang Jue had only looks but no ability, and an army general shouldn’t be with such a person.

 

The Supreme Council might even use this to control Huo Yanji into making some unpleasant decisions. Also, Huo Yanji had been in the position of highest supervisor executive for over ten years—who knows how many people hated him. One person spitting could drown Sang Jue…

 

Tsk, liking the commander was too tragic.

 

But Colin could understand—Sang Jue had just escaped death, so being clingy was very normal and understandable.

 

If his female clung to him like this, his heart would melt.

 

Hm? Why did he say female?

 

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