Yesterday night, the demon that Lin Feng killed was called the "Red-scaled Giant Serpent." This creature can also often be encountered in some advanced mazes. The value of its crystal core goes without saying—just one is worth a silver coin.
Coincidentally there was another one right in front of them now.
"Really, I don't want to provoke it at all. Let's run away while it hasn't noticed us yet," Emily tried to back out.
The Red-scaled Giant Serpent in front of them was 30-40 meters away, coiled up lazily basking in the sunlight, flicking its tongue.
"You! Go!" Lin Feng knocked on her head, lightly pulling at her cheeks. "You wasteful woman, are you really going to let go of that huge chunk of experience and money? Be braver. I don't want to use the slave imprint to force you."
Emily swallowed her saliva. She looked at the giant snake, then looked at Lin Feng, cursing outright that Lin Feng was insane.
"Hurry up, or I'll toss you out there," Lin Feng frowned slightly, putting on an angry face.
"You could just kill it directly yourself. Why torture me instead? I give up on you," Emily was incredibly cowardly.
It was always the same whenever they went into mazes. She liked to hide behind Yuna and play a support role.
"Because I want you to get stronger. Killing more magical beasts will let you level up. Go on," Lin Feng had been urging her for a while now and was truly getting impatient.
Since this rabbit was unwilling to take action herself, he could only lend a small hand.
Lin Feng picked up a rock from the ground and fiercely threw it towards the snake's head.
"Thunk."
The giant snake turned to look at the two of them, then charged over without the slightest hesitation. Emily was dumbfounded.
"Don't worry darling, I'll protect you well. Go all out in battle!"
With that, Lin Feng retreated to the side. Coincidentally the snake's aggro was completely on Emily.
"I hate you!" Emily immediately turned to run.
Although the giant snake's body was massive, it could crawl incredibly quickly through the dense forest.
Emily bounced left and right to no avail. The distance between them only continued to shrink.
She couldn't outrun the snake. Left without recourse, she could only fight back with her bow.
Relying on her agile body, she ceaselessly circled around the great snake.
Unfortunately her bone dagger couldn't penetrate its defenses, and her iron-tipped arrows—her only hope—were almost used up.
"Shoot its eyes! The eyes! One hit will kill it dead for sure," Lin Feng said.
Emily wanted to retort that it was easier said than done to aim accurately at the erratically moving snake head.
After struggling for quite a while, she finally found a good angle and took a shot at its eye.
Unfortunately she was too nervous and the arrow went wide.
Just as she was about to be swallowed up by the giant snake, the snake exploded in front of her face.
Lin Feng picked up the crystal core with great satisfaction, even waving it in front of Emily's face twice.
"You bastard!" Emily wanted to slap him across the face, but her hand was grabbed mid-swing when she lifted it up. "Let me go!"
"Oh? Does a slave dare to strike her master? You're very presumptuous indeed," Lin Feng pulled her into an embrace, softly speaking next to her ear, "Emily did great just now."
He secretly appraised her.
As expected it was effective. This battle directly boosted Emily by one level.
She was now Level 7.
By the time they returned, her level would probably exceed Yuna's.
"Master, can you please stop tormenting me? I might really develop issues from the fright. Do you want me to get Heart Chill Disease too?" Emily's heart was still racing like crazy. Lin Feng could hear the intense thumping even in the embrace.
"Why be afraid? I'll protect you well," Lin Feng placed the crystal core in Emily's hand. "Worth one silver coin."
"What use is it for me to hold onto it... In the end won't it still go into your pocket?"
"Then help me hold onto it." Lin Feng smiled cheekily.
This left Emily even more vexed.
What could be more agonizing than holding someone else's money yet being unable to use it?
From morning to afternoon today, the two were supposedly gathering herbs for medicine under the guise of hurrying on their journey, when in fact Lin Feng was ceaselessly tormenting Emily all along.
Whenever they came across a magical creature he would make Emily kill it. After just a few short hours she was already tortured to the point of collapse.
"Master, please, I'm begging you. My whole body has no strength left. I can't endure your torment anymore," Emily pleaded with tears pooling in her eyes.
Lin Feng appraised her again.
Seeing the four large words "Severe Fatigue" in her status bar, he finally decided to let her rest.
Tiring as it was, the results were extremely pronounced.
Emily rapidly leveled up from Level 7 all the way to Level 11.
By the time they returned, her level would probably exceed Yuna's even more.
"Let's find a place to rest then. To tell the truth, I'm also quite worn out without sleep last night," he said.
If there was a cave or tree hollow right now for the two to rest in, that would be perfect.
But he was very tired too and couldn't be bothered to look anymore.
Lin Feng offhandedly picked an ancient towering tree and sat leaning against it.
"Resting here? Isn't that unsafe?" Emily's eyelids were already drooping in exhaustion.
"What is there to fear with my protection? Still think I'm not strong enough?" Lin Feng pointed to the spot beside him, signaling for Emily to sit over.
"Or should we go up the tree?"
"Aren't you afraid of rolling over and falling off while sleeping?"
Emily considered it and he did have a point.
"Then... let's just sleep leaning against here." She sat next to Lin Feng and finally heaved a sigh of relief when she slumped back against the tree.
Except that with the uneven, protruding tree roots it still felt somewhat uncomfortable to sit on.
The wind would blow by and it was a little cold too.
"Come here," Lin Feng yawned before continuing. "Yesterday you let me use your lap as a pillow. Today I'll let you hug me in your sleep."
Emily sized him up, then shook her hand decisively in refusal: "No need."
"Standing on courtesy? Lie down on me and hug me while you sleep. Isn't that much more comfortable than leaning on the tree?"
Although he wasn't wrong, Emily truly did not feel like actively climbing onto Lin Feng's body herself.
She just had an ineffable feeling that it would lead to all sorts of taking advantage.
Seeing that Emily remained unmoved, Lin Feng directly pulled her into his embrace.
"What are you doing? I don't need this!"
Although Emily was now lying on Lin Feng, her little hands remained timidly suspended in midair, not daring to casual touch anything.
"Hug my waist or neck. You're poking my painfully with your elbow like this," Lin Feng pushed her elbows away. Her earlier pose was as if she was planking.
"Mm..."
Emily hugged Lin Feng's waist, with her face pressed against his chest.
It felt a bit strangely satisfying.
So a man's body could be this firm ah?
The scent wasn't too bad either.
"What're you blindly sniffing for? We have limited time. Can you hurry up and sleep," Lin Feng had also rested his hands on her waist.
Emily oh-ed in acknowledgment. The instant she closed her eyes, her head began the countdown to shutdown.
"Wait, seems like... something's poking me?" Emily had just lowered her head to take a look when Lin Feng covered up her eyes.
After all, Lin Feng was no sage who could hold a beauty in his arms without chaos in his heart.
"Please ignore that thing over there. You just need to sleep properly now."
"Mm, then I'll rest now. Do pay attention to our surroundings... *yawn*..."
In less than thirty seconds after closing her eyes, she was out sleeping like a log.
This once-in-a-blue-moon chance, to be honest Lin Feng did want to do something, but his own eyelids were drooping now too.
Lin Feng liked hugging things in his sleep.
Now holding such a soft demi-human girl in his arms, his urge to sleep naturally grew stronger.
Ah forget it, there would be time to take advantage after waking up anyway. No hurry.