"Xiao Xiao, do you feel anything uncomfortable? Like dizziness or hallucinations?" Ye Feng looked at Xiao Xiao with surprise.
"Hmm... no!" Xiao Xiao blinked and then shook her head affirmatively.
"This..." Ye Feng was even more astonished. "I felt dizzy just now... but Xiao Xiao is fine... could Xiao Xiao's mental strength be even stronger than mine?"
"Hehehe, come and play!" At this moment, the zombie head hanging from the Phantom Zombie's waist let out a chilling female voice again.
"This guy... a third-tier zombie, a Fraudster's head..." Ye Feng frowned slightly, pulled the fire axe from the Phantom Zombie's head, and then ended the zombie head that made the chilling sound with another axe strike.
"Ding~ Host has killed 2 third-tier zombies, gaining 60 usable points~!" The system's mechanical voice sounded.
"That head really was a third-tier Fraudster zombie..." Ye Feng muttered, and then he and Xiao Xiao continued to explore the underground ruins.
...
Half an hour later,
"Scorpion Pool?" Ye Feng looked at a plaque in front of him, somewhat puzzled. The meaning of these two characters referred to a pool with many poisonous insects and snakes, which seemed related to an ancient form of punishment where enemies were thrown into a large pit filled with venomous creatures to be eaten alive by them.
"Big brother, this place is so strange. The ground is unbelievably clean, and there are no zombies... Other places have various bodies, skeletons, or zombies wandering around..." After looking around, Xiao Xiao's voice was filled with confusion.
"Indeed... it's unnaturally clean around here, as if someone or something specifically cleaned it up..." Ye Feng added. "And that Volt Chicken of yours is also quite strange, falling asleep while standing..." Ye Feng looked speechlessly at the Volt Chicken in the cage in Xiao Xiao's hand, which had closed its eyes and showed no electrical fluctuations.
"Hmm?" Suddenly, Ye Feng frowned slightly. Dense rustling sounds came from all around, as if a large group of things were approaching them from all directions.
"Rustle rustle~!" After a faint but dense sound, Ye Feng's expression changed, as his and Xiao Xiao's surroundings were already covered in a black mass of creatures.
"Big... Big brother... so... so many bugs..." Xiao Xiao's pretty face turned pale, and a large ball of fire defensively appeared in her hand.
Looking at the countless thumb-sized black bugs crawling on the ground, walls, and ceiling, Ye Feng's skin crawled.
"Rustle~ rustle~" Suddenly, the bugs on the ground began to scuttle rapidly towards Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao.
"Boom!~" Xiao Xiao instinctively threw the fire in her hand, hitting the swarm of black bugs. However, to Ye Feng's surprise, the swarm of black bugs rapidly gathered together, with some larger, dark and shiny black bugs forming the outer layer.
"Whoosh~ boom~!" After a large ball of flames, the black bugs did not turn to ash as Ye Feng expected. Instead, they intertwined and crawled, devouring the flames Xiao Xiao had unleashed.
"Rustle rustle~" After a series of dense friction sounds, Xiao Xiao's flames were completely extinguished. The black bugs' bodies became even darker and shinier, and their size increased considerably. Some even grew wings.
"Holy crap, what kind of bugs are these? They can devour arcane energy flames? And they seem to have evolved?" Ye Feng was quite surprised and took out a Molotov cocktail.
"Rustle rustle~!" Before Ye Feng could act, the bugs from all directions suddenly became agitated and rushed towards Xiao Xiao. The winged black bugs flew at the forefront.
"This is bad!" Seeing this, Ye Feng's expression changed drastically. He immediately sidestepped, scooped Xiao Xiao up, and retreated sharply.
"Boom~" Almost simultaneously, Xiao Xiao unleashed another, much larger ball of flames from her hand, which also hit the swarm of black bugs but was quickly absorbed.
"Swoosh swoosh swoosh~! Crackle~ crackle~" Ye Feng's Tang saber continuously slashed through the air, cutting down a series of black bugs which fell to the ground in half.
"Rustle rustle~!" These black bugs clearly had no concept of companions. They climbed onto the corpses of their fallen comrades, devoured them completely in an instant, and then rushed towards Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao again.
"Wait... the target of these bugs is..." Ye Feng, holding Xiao Xiao and fending off the flying black bugs, retreated while frowning. The next second, his eyes sharpened, and arcane energy appeared on his body. Instantly, the swarm of black bugs seemed to sense something, paused abruptly, and some of them shifted direction, lunging directly at Ye Feng.
"Damn it, it really is like that!" Ye Feng immediately retracted the arcane energy from his body and shouted to Xiao Xiao, "Xiao Xiao, stop condensing flames with arcane energy! These black bugs are drawn to arcane energy!"
"Oh, okay!~" Hearing this, Xiao Xiao waved her hand, and the large fireball condensed in her hand instantly vanished.
At this moment, large swarms of bugs were already very close to Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao. Furthermore, black bugs had emerged in their retreat path, surrounding them. Then, the dense swarm of bugs leaped forward, pouncing onto Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao.
"This is terrible!" Looking at the countless black bugs swarming from all sides, Ye Feng's expression was grim.
"Cluck cluck!!~" "Crackle~ crackle~~" At this moment, the previously sleeping Volt Chicken suddenly woke up, chirping joyfully, with arcs of electricity dancing on its silvery-white body.
"Rustle rustle!~!" As the Volt Chicken chirped, the black bugs seemed to sense something. The ones flying in the air abruptly changed direction, lunging towards Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao, while the black bugs flying towards them continued forward due to inertia.
"Cluck cluck!!~" "Crackle~ crackle~~" The Volt Chicken let out a few calls, and several large arcs of electricity erupted from its body, piercing through the iron cage and striking the bugs, instantly making them emit a scorched smell.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~!" Large portions of the bug swarm lunging at Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao fell to the ground, and a foul burnt odor filled the air.
"Rustle rustle~!" The remaining black bugs kept a safe distance from Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao, or rather, from the Volt Chicken in Xiao Xiao's cage.
"This Volt Chicken is these black bugs' nemesis!" Ye Feng looked at the Volt Chicken with amazement.
"Cluck cluck!~" "Caw caw!~" At this moment, the Volt Chicken let out another cry and pecked at the bars of the cage.
"Big brother, this Volt Chicken seems to want to come out~" Xiao Xiao looked at the Volt Chicken and then at Ye Feng.