Seized by the System

Another cold voice sounded at that moment.

“Hahaha, Fourth Head, you’ve been exposed, it’s my turn to make an entrance.”

Before it could finish talking, a wave of heat rolled in with the smell of sulfur and a gunpowder-esque scent, choking the great green insect and forcing it to back a few steps up.

“Who is this? Who’s serving a burnt dish!” Angry, the great green insect glared at it.

Another snake torso appeared with fiery aura emanating from its body. From the peak of the volcano, its torso stretched toward the foot of the fiery mountain. Its head was as large as the other snake, but radiating heat and impatience.

“One is ice-cold, the other fiery-red. If we ask Chef Fang to make them into a hot-and-cold combination platter, they must match very nicely.” Seeing the other one appear, the great green insect swallowed its saliva while assessing the new snake in detail.

The snake that appeared first was the cold one and its body wholly of the blue spectrum. The other snake was entirely red from head to its torso. What was similar between them was that none of their tails were shown.

“Third Head, did you hear that? You were also just a platter in its eyes,” said the ice snake coldly.

The wraiths who were still very arrogant just a while ago had begun making their retreat seeing that.

They were the subordinates of the Fourth Head, and the Third Head would eat them if it was angry enough, not caring about their leader’s opinion.

“So we should show this vermin who does not understand strength our might, twin snake fusion attack!” The fiery snake was furious as it slithered toward the ice snake.

The ice snake did not evade it. Instead, it began to do the same thing.

Fire and ice mixed as scalding steam burst out everywhere.

The great green insect erected a green screen of air that blocked off all of the steam.

The rolling steam slowly dispersed. A serpent with a torso of the same length but several times thicker appeared. Two heads protrude out of a forked neck.

As it appeared, it started lashing out at the wraiths, swallowing them like it was having snacks, as if oblivious to the fact that they were its underlings.

All the wraiths were shaking uncontrollably, but none of them fought back as they allowed the two-headed serpent to swallow them.

It was only after having snacked that it glared at the great green insect as well as the three other people behind it with the two sets of eyes.

Seeing the appearance of the two-headed snake, the great green insect picked up a sensation and blushed. It turned around and said with a slight embarrassment, “How did it have the great green dragon’s abilities? It became so powerful as the two combined. You three, run, I should be able to hold it off. None of the wraiths are strong enough to take on Guardian Zhu, don’t worry about them.”

Zhu Hongying refused immediately. “How can we? We will not abandon Lord Insect Prime…”

Before she could finish. Two hands came from her back and dragged her along and their owners ran.

“Let go of me, are you two trying to betray Lord Insect Prime?”

“Big sis, even loyalty has to depend on the situation. If we stayed here, we would only be burdening Lord Insect Prime,” said Ma Da helplessly.

Zhu Hongying sighed and grabbed her sworn brothers—actually, her sworn sisters now—and dashed away even faster than they were.

With her talent comparable to Spirit Kings, she had already entered the Basin-level after Bodhisattva Spirit King’s personal coaching, much stronger than her other sworn siblings who were either Bucket-level or Cutlery-level.

However, she looked back as she ran and thought, ‘Lord Insect Prime, please be alright.’

After spending days with the others, they had gone from fearing to loving but also helpless at the great green insect’s antics. They loved that it was pure, innocent, and likes singing. In addition to that, it was strong enough to be a reliable pillar of the organization.

No matter what situation it was, as long as the great green insect had followed them, it only needed to release its aura a little before they could have the advantage in negotiations against other sects. At the same time, the great green insect was more than happy to follow them out as long as it was promised to be fed.

Bodhisattva could not do it. He needed to be in seclusion for a long time to keep reincarnating Spiritual Insects. Furthermore, as the leader of an organization, he should not leave the place without huge problems.

They were helpless at its antics due to its massive appetite. If it were not for the Venerable Dragon God’s orders, it would have eaten the Association of Spirit Kings to dust.

‘I must be more hardworking. I can’t be a burden next time!’

Zhu Hongying clenched her jaw. After years of being the head of spirit servants, she knew, just like Ma Da had said, they would only become burdens for the great green insect.

She only regretted to have cultivated for such a short time. ‘If I could advance into Pond-level, I might even be of help to the great green dragon.’

Her intention was noble, but she would not have known that she was still not good enough to participate in a fight like this even if she did advance into Pond-level.

The great green insect was a little worried, but it still showed a strong front with its front limbs akimbo. It declared, “Don’t think I will fear you just because you have an extra head. I should tell you, I’ve even met a three-headed great green dragon before, let alone you puny, two-headed snake!”

Before it could finish, a terrifying glacier and an even more scary-looking blaze blasted at it simultaneously!

Seeing that, Chong Daqing spat out two green barriers and blocked the attacks. It does, however, also looked a little strained.

Its combat techniques were bad and it could only overpower its enemies with the difference in pure strength. It would be impossible for it to perform maneuvers like Vigilante A and kill its enemies at high speed.

“What do you think?”

“Fear me! Your resolve is swaying, just let the fear embrace you, lives begin from fear as they cried and entered this world, so they will definitely leave the world in the cradle of fear while they cried!”

The two-headed snake’s voice was grim and gruff. It echoed in the space as if lulling its listeners.

Zhu Hongying had managed to run far away, but she could still hear the horrid voice. The fog around her had turned into steam as the temperature steadily risen.

What power!

Could it be that the area around them would become hell?

How much pressure did Insect Prime have to face in such proximity to the two-headed snake?

If she was right, Chong Daqing was still an adolescent child. How cruel to let it face such fear alone?

Her footfalls slowed slightly when Ma Da hollered at her, “Big sis, it’s no use running back. We need to call the Venerable Dragon God!”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier!” Zhu Hongying grumbled subconsciously and quickly got her phone out.

Ma Da muttered, “I saw Lord Insect Prime talking to the Venerable One on Wechat, so I thought he’d be here soon.”

Just as Zhu Hongying was about to send the message, a flash of light cut through the fog and left behind a trail of clear sky.

“Big sis, you don’t need to send any more, I think the hero is here.” Lu Er finally found a chance to highlight her own presence. ‘I need to do something, or big sis would not say anything good for me when we get back…’

…

“Great green dragon, you actually don’t need to come all the way over here. You said you want to see how it looks like before you could decide if it’s edible. I could have killed it and sent you a picture or something. I have an inherited technique that I’m sure is able to kill it in one shot,” said the great green insect.

Fang Ning was speechless. Chong Daqing had always pretended to be better than it actually is. However, it was quite loyal to its friends.

He had seen the insect through the System View. It was visibly shaking, but it still forced itself to stay and not run away. It seemed like it was worried that the three women could not run far enough to get caught up by the snake.

‘I don’t know why, but aside from Zhu Hongying who we’ve met plenty of times, the other two looked familiar too, it was like they were guys?’

Fang Ning stopped ruminating on this tiny detail. He was lazy to check the information on the game book, so he relaxed and watched as the System acted out its bravado.

Vigilante A blocked in front of the great green insect.

The great green insect was moved as it saw that happen…

‘The great green dragon was such a good friend. I’m guessing he could tell I was bluffing but he didn’t expose me. He even stood in front of me to block the attack for me. He really is a good dragon…’

Chong Daqing was flustered. At that moment, it was as if it saw its own father’s big, strong silhouette standing in front of it, telling it that it should learn to sow the seeds of the fruits it wants.

“You sinful varmint! You have eaten a whole country, your sin is unforgivable. And you dare to boast about your sin without shame and attempted to confuse the people! I shall comply with the will of the people and execute the punishment of Heaven and slaughter you!”

‘The great green dragon is so mighty!’

The green insect’s eyes sparkled. Hiding behind the great green dragon had never felt so safe before.

“Heheh, don’t be so dramatic. Vigilante A, I have heard of you. I know of your might and that you have an inhuman combat strength. Among the ones who carried the title of God of Wars in the Upper Realm, I haven’t seen anyone who could have beaten you.”

The two-headed snake did not seem even a little scared, but it also did not seem furious, as it maintained a calm expression.

Having listened up to this point, the great green insect nodded heavily. It had seen the great green dragon transform and killed hundreds of Pond-level beasts with one attack when it was still a Pond-level.

The two-headed snake looked scary, but it still would tell the truth.

“But dare you to kill me? Can you?” The two-headed snake cackled to other people’s confusion.

Vigilante A said calmly, “Your crime is punishable by death, why don’t I dare to kill you? Today next year shall be your first death anniversary!”

“Hahah!” The two-headed snake continued to snicker as it said, “Looks like you’re strong, but not smart enough! I shall tell you then. The human culture here is so rich, they not only gave me ideas to spread fear, they also allowed me to find plenty of ways to preserve my life. For example, the Wallfacers in the Three-Body Problem ¹ …” The two-headed snake spat out the last few words one by one.

Following that, it shifted, causing its thousand-meter torso to quiver. The entire volcano began shaking as it did so, accompanied by loud bangs and debris shooting upward into the sky.

The System said, “What is this retard trying to do? Even though the Body-Sword Unity technique was in cooldown for a whole month, I have plenty of ways to vanquish it. It was only at the peak of Lake-level, it would only take me a little more time.”

Fang Ning, however, got it immediately. He stopped the System and said, “Dammit, this pest is as evil as anyone could get! Don’t do anything rash, it might have annexed itself to the live volcano!”

The System said, “I don’t understand. Richie, you’ve got to explain it to me.”

Fang Ning said, “It mentioned the novel the Three-Body Problem as well as the Wallfacers. Their consensus was to force the Trisolarans to not attack by threatening to perish together.”

The System said, confused, “Is it that powerful? The Earth is huge. I don’t think it could destroy the Earth with its current power. One needs to be at least an Ocean-level before one can shatter planets.”

Fang Ning’s imagination was more active, he guessed, “It might have attached its body with the base of the volcano. We are at the Ring of Fire. It must have made some arrangements that if it dies, the whole Ring of Fire would explode alongside it. The Earth might not be shattered, but the volcanic ash in the atmosphere will obscure the sunlight, and then the world as we know it will end. More than ninety percent of the creatures would be decimated.”

The System could not respond.

The two-headed snake laughed loudly the moment it saw Vigilante A being silent for an extended amount of time. “Ha ha ha! Now, do you know my power? So what if you’re the best in combat? So what if you’re the god of war? So what if you’re the mightiest of all? Who dares to kill me?! I am the planet’s source of fear!”