Chapter 364 Xia Xinyan, Don’t Be Afraid, I’m Here

However, Ling Mo was genuinely worried about her.

Just now, while dealing with that Blob Guy, his cockpit was also tuned to the communication channel, so he naturally heard the Fatty’s frantic cries.

At that moment, he realized something was wrong—seriously wrong.

Otherwise, given how much Fatty valued his face, he wouldn’t lose control and yell like that. Based on Ling Mo’s understanding of Fatty, if he were normal, he would definitely have made a snarky comment like “Ha Pi.”

So, despite not knowing what exactly happened, Fatty’s unusual behavior made Ling Mo tense up instantly. He wanted to rush back to help, but dealing with Blob Guy was already a big headache, and being dragged around by this guy had wasted Ling Mo quite a bit of time.

Fortunately, Xia Xinyan was alright.

It might sound a bit like valuing looks over friendship, but… he truly felt a weight lift off his shoulders at that moment.

As for Fatty and the others… well, he actually thought Fatty had pretty good luck, so he wouldn’t die that easily. After all, disaster leaves lasting legacies.

After quite some time forcing himself to calm down, Ling Mo released Xia Xinyan and asked, “What exactly happened?”

“Someone took them away,” Xia Xinyan squinted slightly, tilting her head towards the live camera still floating nearby, “Looks like some crazy brainwashing organization. I don’t think what’s happening here is a coincidence.”

As she spoke, she casually checked Fatty’s livestream on her phone—it’s hard to deny, Bai Yu’s gadgets were quite sturdy; that floating camera was still diligently broadcasting, capturing their two remaining live forces, while the audience was already in an uproar.

To the vast majority of viewers, their current situation was no different from a disaster unfolding, so the comments flooding the livestream were diverse: some were gloating, thinking they were asking for trouble; others were concerned if the monsters here might break loose and wreak havoc on the outside world; and some were speculating what the man had meant by helping humanity evolve.

However, it was clear most people were pessimistic about the situation Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo found themselves in—after all, even the strong folks from the Ability Bureau could be silently taken away, and while they might be a bit stronger, there were only the two of them, so turning the tide seemed impossible, right?

Xia Xinyan quietly put away her phone.

She couldn’t be bothered to chat with the viewers in the livestream, but as long as the broadcast wasn’t cut off, she and Ling Mo would do what needed to be done.

There were advantages to being under the camera, as they could showcase all their performances and strengths to the audience, but there were disadvantages too, like some things that couldn’t be said outright.

She didn’t plan on revealing the whole Eden situation to the public just yet. Even if the audience saw the confrontation with that man earlier, they would only know a name at most, which was one of her bargaining chips. But if mishandled, it could lead to a disaster the world could have avoided.

It all depended on how she intended to proceed.

Xia Xinyan didn’t doubt the possibility of such events happening—while her previous life was relatively smooth, the rural incidents then wouldn’t have unfolded with their presence, and the outcomes would likely have been different. This was probably no longer a butterfly effect; it was more like Princess Iron Fan’s Banana Fan—it could end up fanning Eden into something else entirely.

Or it might directly squash it here.

But for now, the priority was to rescue people.

Xia Xinyan glanced at the mecha not far away: “Are you still going to use that thing?”

Ling Mo took a look too, then snapped his fingers; the mecha vanished in a wisp of white light. At the same time, a small yellow chick suddenly appeared in front of Xia Xinyan—only for her to slap it towards Ling Mo.

Ling Mo caught the Tianji, who promptly rolled over and stood up, addressing him seriously: “Master, this chicken believes we should be friendlier with each other in the physical world.”

“Shut up.” Xia Xinyan couldn’t be bothered with it.

Ling Mo chuckled: “Feels like Xinyan doesn’t really like the Tianji, huh?”

He quite liked this little chick—at least it coordinated well with him when it became an AI.

Xia Xinyan subtly shifted the topic: “Let’s hurry and save people.”

She definitely didn’t like this chicken.

After all, the whole mess started because of it.

Though, honestly, life here wasn’t too bad, but… just like how she inexplicably became a nemesis to Summer Jincang in her past life, once a habit is formed, it’s hard to change.

Ling Mo didn’t probe further, gently patting the Tianji onto his battle armor, after which the Tianji turned back into a wisp of white light, merging into the armor’s AI.

“They should have been taken to the same place… The method of capturing is through mental shock, temporarily incapacitating their ability to act—don’t worry, it won’t affect you much.” Xia Xinyan set off towards the direction Blob Guy had pointed, guessing, “According to that guy, I suspect they want to modify those people, just like… the two monsters we encountered.”

One was a six-handed giant, and the other was Blob Guy; indeed, both could be quite troublesome.

Ling Mo followed closely behind, somewhat puzzled: “Modify? Is it to turn them into infected?”

“Possibly,” Xia Xinyan nodded, “That’s why we need to find them quickly.”

They moved towards the back mountain, where the forest was thick, making it a good hiding place. Moreover, considering that Blob Guy’s indicated direction might not be accurate, Ling Mo conjured a bunch of reconnaissance drones to widen the search range—drawn from the inspiration he got from Bai Yu. Yet the dense forest hindered visibility, so the search efficiency wasn’t high.

As time passed, Ling Mo’s expression grew increasingly grave: “Could we have been tricked? Is it possible that guy deceived us into coming here?”

Xia Xinyan shook her head: “Not likely… even if thoroughly infected people might retain some awareness, their intelligence is no different from those demons; that guy wouldn’t be smart enough to deceive us—unless someone behind him intentionally fed him false information… but that’s also unlikely.”

After all, if someone was crazy enough to start a cult, they wouldn’t be stacking pancakes either.

However, as soon as she finished speaking, an extremely arrogant voice suddenly rang out beside them: “Ha! That’s right! You guessed it—you’ve been tricked!! Didn’t expect that, did you!!”

The two instinctively turned to look, finding a… thing that could still vaguely be called a person—this dude was covered in all sorts of bizarre insects, enough to induce physiological discomfort at a glance, to the point where even Xia Xinyan, who had seen her fair share, had a weird expression.

Then Ling Mo wrapped an arm around her again: “Xinyan, don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

Xia Xinyan: “…”

She wasn’t afraid, really.

Just grossed out.