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The Corpse-Eating Queen Bee only considered for half a second before realizing it shouldn't harbor any illusions.

The answer was clearly negative.

Since the incident in Shen City, it had discovered that its opponent liked to put infinite pressure on his prey. Despite having the ability to quickly end the prey's life, he instead guided the prey to gradually discover they were trapped.

Like a cat toying with a mouse, repeatedly giving hope, only to make the prey feel deep despair time and time again.

Wait a minute!

The more the Corpse-Eating Queen Bee thought about it, the more unsettled it felt. The description just now seemed eerily familiar.

Suddenly, a chill ran up its back straight to the top of its head, nearly making its entire "body" jump.

It was all wrong. Everything was wrong.

His target for toying wasn't that inferior woman, but the Queen Bee itself!

Deliberately causing a commotion in its domain to attract its attention, then pretending nothing was amiss to deceive and lure it into prying, and finally revealing step by step that it had fallen into his hunting range...

Escape!

It had to escape!

If its guess was correct, this terrifying person must possess power beyond SSS-level, otherwise he wouldn't be so at ease.

Having nearly reached SSS-level itself, it knew they weren't unkillable monsters, especially since it was still one step away from advancing.

Calm down, calm down...

The Corpse-Eating Queen Bee's short wings fluttered a few times, its insect legs pacing back and forth.

First, pretend to be unaware to confuse him, then use the barbarian's domain to buy time for escape.

Yes, that's it.

As long as it survived, there would always be hope.

No more taking shortcuts. Find a deep mountain forest to slowly infect and advance. Slower advancement was better than no advancement at all.

Qi Yuan heard its thoughts and felt the limitless power within him, a strength he had never experienced before.

But unfortunately, you won't have a next time.

Achieving his goal made Qi Yuan's tense emotions relax, an involuntary smile appearing on his face. However, his actions made everyone present feel their scalps tingle.

After all, he wasn't a devil. There was no need to keep torturing Linda's fragile nerves.

She had helped him greatly, so she deserved a dignified send-off. Besides, when it came time to clean up the monsters, she would have to die as a clone anyway.

A gentle light began to shine on Linda, not too bright, allowing everyone present to see the changes happening to her. Rather than Linda emitting light, it was more like a soft glow enveloping her.

This soft glow reminded those who saw it, both humans and monsters, of beautiful times long past, regrets and beliefs, dreams... as if dust-covered memories were being opened, inevitably bringing melancholy and sadness to their hearts.

What was this?

What effect did the light on her body have?

At first, they didn't understand the meaning behind Qi Yuan's actions. Even Linda stared in rare bewilderment at the changes to her body, feeling as if she had regained her former human sensations.

"Have I become human again?"

Just as Linda thought Qi Yuan might be giving her a chance at redemption, she suddenly felt a rapid onset of fatigue, and seemed to hear the ticking of a clock in her ears.

Her well-maintained, elastic skin quickly withered and shriveled. Her lustrous golden hair gradually turned into dry brown strands, then slowly became gray and white.

Linda's figure became increasingly hunched, her neck and face covered in wrinkles. She felt weak all over, as if moving even slightly would cause her body to fall apart.

No, this wasn't an illusion.

Her restraints were removed, and she saw her reflection clearly in the mirror-like floor. Trembling, she touched her cheeks with both hands, crying out in disbelief with a hoarse voice.

"No!"

Her aged body couldn't support any large movements. She quickly felt a sharp pain in her lower back and clutched it in agony.

Smith and the others couldn't help but swallow hard and take two steps back, afraid of being touched by the light surrounding Linda.

They fully realized how cruel this man from Dragon Country could be to those he deemed non-friendly.

In comparison, his earlier toying with them was merely a small joke.

They forced themselves to put on stern faces and tried to comfort themselves.

Friends joke around all the time, right? Where else could they find such a considerate friend who added excitement to their otherwise dull lives?

Fortunately, Linda didn't suffer for long. After turning into an old woman, her life force gradually weakened until she finally breathed her last.

Qi Yuan was thoughtful enough not to use his time ability to accelerate the process further, leaving her corpse intact so her family could take a final photograph, allowing her to be buried in her "most beautiful" state.

Unfortunately, his most important audience member wanted to leave their seat before the show ended.

The Corpse-Eating Queen Bee shook off all synchronized domains except for the barbarian's. It took advantage of the time Qi Yuan spent dealing with Linda to quickly sever its connection with New York City.

Being just one step away from advancement, severing the connection took quite some time.

"I can't stay here!"

"If I advance now, I won't be able to escape..."

After advancing, it would have control over this space and could theoretically hide the entrance.

But it didn't dare gamble with its life.

His power was unfathomable. For all it knew, he might simply shatter space itself to come after it.

As for using ordinary human lives to threaten him, that would be like asking for death.

It had witnessed Linda's earlier questioning, and if he truly cared, why would he put on such a show of killing the chicken to scare the monkey?

This wasn't its first failure anyway, just another escape. When this terrifying human grew old and weak, it would return to settle the score. For now, the time wasn't right. Better to play it safe.

Qi Yuan, who was about to flip the table, nearly lost his composure at these thoughts. He coughed twice to suppress his urge to laugh.

You're quite the genius, aren't you!

You think you've got immortality all figured out, huh?

"Since you like this place so much, why not stay?"

The Corpse-Eating Queen Bee didn't hesitate for a moment. It thoroughly understood the essence of teamwork: scatter, retreat, sell, and flee.

It unhesitatingly sacrificed what needed to be sacrificed.

Immediately, it placed its trump card, which it had been holding onto until now, behind itself as a shield, while frantically escaping without stopping, planning to never emerge again before Qi Yuan grew old and died.

As the two domains collided, Smith and the others felt the world spin for an instant, everything before their eyes in chaos. However, soon after, a holy light enveloped them, driving away the remnants of the strange power from their bodies.

They covered their mouths and stomachs with their hands, nearly vomiting...

The terrifying powers probed and devoured each other, colliding and compressing. Smith and his companions could estimate their chances of victory against either side just from the residual force.

Without a doubt, their chances were zero.

This was a rare opportunity to glimpse the level that strong beings could reach.

They each used their abilities to protect themselves as they looked towards the other domain.

Buildings stood haphazardly within the domain, some upside down, some lying flat, some tilted – every angle except normal; "humans" with body parts in all the wrong places wandered the vertical streets; trees with roots and branches growing randomly from their trunks ran like animals...