Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Before the Death Worm could crash down like a collapsing mountain, the golden rope hooked around Luo Lin’s waist, yanking her sharply backward.

Faster than anyone else present, Isabella reacted. Recognizing the familiar rope, she knew who had arrived and joyfully turned her head, shouting, “Mengde!”

“I’m here, Miss.”

The mysterious reinforcement replied. Though she stood quite far away, her voice, amplified by spiritual power, was clear and steady, revealing her profound mastery.

The voice belonged to a young woman, likely Isabella’s powerful personal maid.

Unable to resist, Eve also turned to look. She saw an unusually dressed woman shrouded in a wide white robe that concealed her completely. With one hand, she supported the weakened Luo Lin, while the other held several coils of the golden rope—the very tool used for the rescue.

The woman wore an intricate silver mask that covered her entire face, revealing only a pair of black eyes and dark curls framing her cheeks.

Black hair and black eyes—a member of the Luo family?

Eve felt suspicious, as the original story never mentioned such a character. By the time the female lead met Isabella at the First Empire Academy in the novel, this mysterious personal maid was no longer by her side.

Strictly speaking, this was still two years before the main story began, and this was a tale involving side characters unrelated to the female lead. It seemed plausible for figures outside the main plot to appear.

Yet, Eve couldn’t shake off a sense of unease.

Filled with curiosity and scrutiny, Eve retracted her mech, jumped to the ground, and walked over to take over supporting Luo Lin. She fed Luo Lin a Spirit Recovery Potion and a Stamina Replenishing Potion. After drinking, Luo Lin’s complexion improved slightly. Wearily, she rested her head on her companion’s shoulder, her voice flat even as she complained, “I really almost died just now.”

“I’m sorry, I should have considered more when devising the plan. You’ve worked hard, Luo Lin.”

After comforting her, Eve naturally turned to the silver-masked woman and asked, “Thank you for saving her, miss. May I ask how to address you?”

“Her name is Qin Mengde,” came the voice as Gullveig swooped low. By then, Isabella had also retracted her mech and leaped down from mid-air, exclaiming cheerfully, “She’s my best friend.”

Qin Mengde neither agreed nor objected to this description, so Isabella, as if encouraged by some invisible force, continued the introductions.

“These two are Eve and Luo Lin from the Medici family. Especially Eve—she’s incredibly powerful. Back when you went to… when you were away, she was the one who broke my Valkyrie.”

Initially, Qin Mengde had been distractedly observing the wildly thrashing Death Worm while listening to Isabella. But upon hearing about the Valkyrie being damaged, she finally turned her gaze, staring intently at Eve.

Though she maintained her aloof demeanor, Eve inexplicably sensed a chilling coldness in that look.

Eve: “…”

She knew Isabella meant well by introducing her this way—to prove her strength—but did she have to make it sound like tattling?

Perhaps sensing the palpable hostility, the other young lady resting on her shoulder suddenly lifted her head and said, “What a coincidence, my brother’s Apollo was almost broken by Eve too.”

Eve promptly pushed her head back down. “Just rest, okay? Stop talking.”

Then Qin Mengde spoke, her cool voice emerging from behind the mask. “So you’re a professional wrecker.”

…Eve really had no response to that.

She decisively changed the subject. “Can we please drop this? It’s all in the past. Right now, we need to deal with this Advanced Zerg. By the way, Miss Qin, where are the two stewards from the Medici family? Why didn’t they arrive with you?”

“They’re behind. They were too slow. I was worried about the young lady’s safety, so I came ahead.”

Upon hearing this, Eve raised an eyebrow.

As if heaven itself conspired to match her thoughts, despite the considerable distance, the Death Worm’s awful screeches, and the panicked screams of fleeing team members, Eve could still hear the scolding from the other side—from an exasperated Cecil.

“Why are you so late?” Even though he had known about Eve’s radical plan, Cecil was still startled by the appearance of the Zergs.

Before the match, it was said to be only a Death Worm larva, but even as a larva, it was an Advanced Zerg, and its intimidating presence was overwhelming. Only when the two stewards of the Medici family arrived late did he finally feel somewhat reassured. Embarrassed and annoyed, he couldn’t help venting his anger on them. “Dragging your feet like this—why don’t you just wait until I’m dead to show up?”

The Third Steward and Fourth Steward, both tall and lean, usually held respectable positions in the Medici family. Now, they hung their heads like scolded dogs, unable to lift them under the scolding of their young master.

Eve, accustomed to such scenes, turned away indifferently. But Qin Mengde, seemingly witnessing this for the first time, commented with interest, “Miss Isabella would never treat me like that.”

By then, Isabella had already taken Gullveig to rescue others. Her feather blades were deadly in combat but even more effective in saving lives. Only Eve, Luo Lin, and Qin Mengde remained behind, pondering how to deal with the Death Worm. Thus, Eve awkwardly replied, “Sorry, our family has let you…”

Before she could finish with “see such disgrace,” Qin Mengde interrupted, “No need to explain. I’ve heard about the Medici family.”

Well, it seemed their family shame had already spread beyond the family. Eve could only silently look up at the sky.

“However,” Qin Mengde’s tone shifted, “one of the two stewards should be exclusively assigned to this Miss Luo Lin, right?”

She looked down at Eve, who kept a straight face, and Luo Lin, who pretended to be dead. Qin Mengde was tall, standing half a head above both of them. Her sharp eyes carried an inevitable condescension as she slowly asked, “—Can the Medici family discipline her subordinate without overstepping her authority?”

“……” Eve looked at her with a sincere expression. “Miss Qin, could you please not speak in such hurtful riddles? Let’s be direct, keep it simple, simpler.”

“Heh, I don’t care what you want to do, or what your Medici family wants to do.”

Qin Mengde took a step forward, lowering her head to close in on Eve until they were almost nose to nose. So close that Eve could see not only the patterns on her mask but also the finely engraved Alchemical Ciphers for stability and defense, which kept the mask tightly fitted to her face and difficult to damage by external force.

Her voice was low and cold as she warned, “There is a person in your team who has been replaced by a rove beetle. That is the reason we were sent ahead. And we saw clearly on the spacecraft’s surveillance that you had already noticed something was off. So why did you still summon the Death Worm? Even if it’s a larva, the appearance of two Advanced Zergs in a row—even with elders present—cannot guarantee zero casualties. And this situation likely arose from internal conflicts within your Medici family.”

“I don’t care about anyone else. But if the young lady suffers even the slightest unnecessary harm because of you, or your family, I will not let you get away with it.”

Qin Mengde’s eyes were extremely black, unnaturally so. Belatedly, Eve detected deeply hidden anger and urgency in her words. She tilted her head, studying the masked woman.

Such a distinctive personality, yet completely absent from the original plot—already very unusual. But this familiar, excessive concern for Isabella reminded her of someone else.

Eve blinked and replied meekly, “Alright, Miss Qin. I also swear to you that this matter will not involve anyone from the Cavendish family. If the situation truly spirals out of control, then at the very least, I will die before Isabella.”

“You better mean what you say.”

“Of course,” she summoned Hecate, instructing the recovered but silently pretending-to-be-dead Luo Lin to hide properly, then turned to Qin Mengde with a confident smile. “I never do things I’m not sure about.”

Hecate’s figure streaked like a meteor back to the battlefield where the Death Worm was wreaking havoc. Isabella was discussing with a few others who still had energy left, dodging the Death Worm’s attacks while pondering why its shell defense was so high. Catching a familiar figure in her peripheral vision, she instinctively called out, “Eve?”

Her tone rose in confusion at the end because Eve brushed right past them.

Eve’s target was “Xie Ke,” or rather, the rove beetle. She was certain that the Zergs in the rainforest region excelled not in physical strength but in intelligence far surpassing their peers. If the rove beetle could successfully impersonate a human with companions for so long without exposure, besides disguise, it likely possessed other skills capable of influencing mental faculties.

In other words, its physical strength should be lacking—at the very least, easier to handle than the Death Worm.

As Hecate approached, other team members assumed Eve, like Isabella, had come to assist them. Only “Xie Ke,” hidden among the crowd, felt increasingly uneasy. Its limbs began to tremble involuntarily, sweat beaded on its temples, its face turned as pale as paper, and it stared intently as Hecate drew closer.

Whoosh—Eve drew the Emei daggers from the mech’s elbows. The diamond-shaped blades glinted coldly in the sunlight.

The rove beetle’s eyes began to dart around nervously. First, its lips spasmed, then its cheeks started to tremble. Under the approaching threat of death, its facial features lost control, twitching wildly like a malfunctioning machine or a fish out of water.

As life dwindled, it could still smell the peculiar sweet scent on Eve, but fear had long overcome appetite, causing “Xie Ke’s” body to shudder, accelerating its collapse.

It sensed… killing intent… This woman… She truly intended to kill it!

A terrified scream suddenly erupted nearby. The rove beetle slowly turned its head to see someone pointing at it, yelling in panic, “His nose is melting… Monster! It’s not Xie Ke, it’s a monster!”

“Not a monster, but an Advanced Zerg rove beetle,” Eve cut in to correct them.

Exposed, the rove beetle completely abandoned its disguise, revealing its original Zerg form. The human-like shell melted away entirely. Its true body somewhat resembled a wasp but lacked wings, with a plump, bloated torso with mottled yellow and black stripes. It emitted low, whining sounds, its body soft and sluggish—exactly as Eve had anticipated, appearing far easier to deal with than the Death Worm on the other side.

Those around had not expected the boss to be right beside them; they stood frozen for several seconds before remembering to flee, but it was already too late. The rove beetle continuously emitted low, mournful insect-like cries, the sound waves spreading outward, easily seizing control of humans’ fragile minds in their path.

The panicked expressions of the crowd gradually gave way to cold, empty expressions.

Clang!

From the nearest circle to those farther away, they turned toward Eve, surrounding her in unison, calling up their mechs with an intimidating presence.

Sheltered behind these people, the rove beetle continued its mournful cries from its throat, its grass-green compound eyes fixed intently on Eve, a hint of smugness in its gaze, as if it believed its human companions were enough to make her give up.

“You don’t really think these people can stop me, do you?”

Eve’s gaze swept over the steadily advancing “companions” around her, finding it somewhat amusing. “It’s hard to imagine this is a plan an Advanced Zerg would come up with. After all, when it comes to hierarchical distinctions, humans are no less than Zerg.”

The rove beetle’s bulky insect body trembled.

The Luna Butterfly, busy resisting the rove beetle’s Mind Control, could no longer provide her with other abilities. But even without it, Eve found dealing with these peers not particularly difficult. As she had said, the power hierarchy was just as distinct among humans.

The black Alchemical Cipher on the mech began to flow, and Hecate’s agility was pushed to its limit. She moved through the crowd of mechs like moving through trees, nimble and effortless in her movements. The Emei daggers spun in her hands, forcefully knocking back anyone who tried to approach. Just as Eve was about to effortlessly reach the rove beetle, someone far more powerful than all the others suddenly appeared.

—It was actually the Fourth Steward.

How could a steward of such stature be so easily controlled?

Half-surprised and half-puzzled, Eve was caught off guard and forced back several steps by his powerful blow.

In that moment, she suddenly realized this was a perfect opportunity.

Why Edgar was controlled wasn’t her concern; it didn’t even matter if he was truly controlled. On the contrary, what she needed was for the Fourth Steward to attack her.

The moment this thought crystallized, the Emei daggers shot out of her hand, flying straight toward the sluggish, unable to escape rove beetle behind him. At the same time, the pursuit from the Fourth Steward followed closely. Both he and the Third Steward were power-based attackers, and a heavy punch slammed into Hecate’s chest.

Foul, crimson insect blood instantly gushed out.

The silver mech emitted a muffled groan and was sent flying in a high arc, straight toward the Death Worm.

“Eve!”

Grace was not far from the Death Worm and instinctively reached out to catch Hecate.

Under her horrified stare, the two missed each other.

“Roar! Roar—!”

The silver-white mech vanished in the blink of an eye into the Death Worm’s wide-open mouth. This sudden turn of events left everyone stunned, including Luo Lin, who had anticipated it, and Qin Mengde, who hovered nearby—this time, she hadn’t been quick enough with her rope.

Immediately after, an explosively rich floral scent, so strong it could make you pass out, erupted on the spot. Plants covered in heavy, bell-shaped blossoms sprouted from the ground one after another, growing to an unimaginable height. The formerly massive worm now seemed like an ordinary insect amidst these magnificent, colossal blossoms.

A series of explosions rang out like an orchestra of fate, one after another!