---o---
"Wende!" Dan Heng yelled to the man beside him.
"Coming!"
Three lightning needles instantly flew toward Stelle's neck, but she reacted with incredible speed, dodging them before turning her attention to Wende, who had just released them.
---o---
"So you're the one who put that mark on me, huh! Die! Rules are made to be broken!" Dogzi roared, launching her ultimate at the "Inner Alchemist of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus."
---o---
"Hah!"
Stelle's baseball bat, glowing with a white light, smashed viciously toward Wende's face.
"Watch out!"
March's Six-Phased Ice shield materialized around Wende just in time. Simultaneously, Wende reacted instantly, dodging to the side the moment Stelle swung the bat.
CRACK!
The baseball bat slammed hard against the shield in front of Wende, and the force of the impact still sent him staggering back a few steps.
"Looks like Stelle really trusts you when she lets you use your needles on her normally," March quipped, watching Stelle, whose evasion stat seemed to be maxed out.
"This is no time for jokes. We need to figure out how to bring Stelle back to her senses," Wende said, shaking his slightly numb hand. Even though the blow hadn't landed on his body, the shockwave was still deeply unpleasant.
Dan Heng was still engaging Stelle, trying to restrain her while looking for an opportunity to knock her out without causing any real harm.
But Stelle's combat prowess was no joke. Wielding two weapons, she clashed back and forth with Dan Heng, and for a moment, their attacks were perfectly matched, reaching a stalemate.
"Uncle Yang! Think of something!" March cried, tugging frantically at Welt's sleeve as she watched Stelle fight Dan Heng to a standstill.
"March, stay calm. We cannot let Stelle get hurt!" Welt said composedly, tightening his grip on his cane. He was waiting for the right moment…
Wende's expression was grim. From his perspective, he could see a foreign power inside Stelle's body gradually eroding her from within. However, that power quickly dissipated whenever it came into contact with the Stellaron inside her.
If they wanted Stelle to return to normal without outside interference, they would have to wait for the Stellaron to completely assimilate that foreign energy…
But with him here…
"Dan Heng!"
Wende shouted a warning. Lightning flickered in his hand, and a needle crackling with the power of Yin and Yang shot from his fingertips.
Swoosh…
The lightning needle flew past the tips of Dan Heng's hair, zipped past their clashing weapons, and struck Stelle squarely on the forehead in what felt like an instant.
Zzzzt…
The lightning dissipated on contact, injecting a power that symbolized balance into Stelle's body and forcibly calming her agitated state. The Stellaron inside her seemed to seize the opportunity, frantically beginning to merge with the "impurities" in her system, including the power Wende had just injected.
"Uncle Yang!" Wende yelled to Welt behind him, seeing Stelle freeze up like a crashed computer.
Thwack!
Thud…
"…"
Welt silently pushed up his glasses, which had slipped down a bit from the force of the blow. He gave Wende a slightly resentful look, as if questioning why he was always the one who had to do the knocking out.
"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Yang."
Wende immediately started placating his favorite old-timer. Making him personally knock Stelle out… The kid isn't that bright to begin with. What if he knocks her silly?
"So, what now?" Dan Heng asked, sheathing Cloud-Piercer. The commotion they had caused was significant. The people hiding in the shadows must have noticed by now, right?
"We just need to wait for Stelle to wake up. The rest is no longer our business."
Wende leaned down and lifted Stelle into a princess carry, shaking his head at Dan Heng.
Someone else would track down that Danshu. It just wouldn't be them.
"Sigh, I knew this trip would be unlucky, but I didn't expect Stelle to be this unlucky," March said with a sigh, putting away her bow. She looked at Stelle, who was lying in Wende's arms like a sleeping beauty.
"So, my worrying was justified after all, not excessive, right?" A corner of Wende's mouth curved up as he looked at the little girl.
"Fine! You were right, okay! All that matters is that Stelle is fine now!"
March seemed to have lost all her fight. After all, Stelle had really been in trouble this time. If they hadn't been on the scene, who knows what kind of chaos would have erupted.
"This girl, Stelle. Every time I tell her not to trust strangers so easily, not to pick up and eat things people leave behind, she never listens."
Gazing at Stelle in Wende's arms, March was suddenly struck by an idea. She reached out a sinful little hand and gave Stelle's cheek a hard pinch.
"Hmph! That's for making us worry for nothing. Consider this the interest you owe us!" March declared, lifting her chin with a look of pure satisfaction.
"Mm… It seems March hasn't changed a bit recently," Dan Heng stated bluntly, looking at March's childish display.
"What do you mean! I've changed a lot, okay!"
"Yes, yes, our little March has changed so much. Dan Heng, hurry up and praise her!"
"Wow, how amazing."
"Dan Heng! Wende! Uncle Yang, look at these two!"
"Youth is a wonderful thing…"
"Stop sighing and do something!"
---o---
"Huh? So that was a hallucination? I almost killed my Yifu!"
Dogzi stared at the dialogue on screen in disbelief.
Just as she was about to finish off one of the four Abominations of Abundance with the Trailblazer, the system suddenly prevented her from attacking. The screen went black, and when she came to, she was back in a hotel near Changle!
A conversation with March 7th by the door revealed that after eating Danshu's "miracle elixir," her personality had changed drastically. She couldn't tell friend from foe and had nearly clocked Wende with a baseball bat!
Thankfully, they managed to stop the rampaging Trailblazer in time, otherwise the chaos she would have caused would have been unimaginable!
[So? You almost committed patricide! You unfilial child!]
[Sigh! Lusting after beauty and forgetting your father! You're unworthy of being his child!]
[How could you do this to your Yifu!]
[Wende: I raised an ungrateful wretch.]
"Waaah, stop scolding me, stop scolding me! I'll never be attracted to another big sister again! I, Haihai, swear it! I promise I won't be tricked by a big sister again!"
[Put it in writing!]
[Really? I don't believe you.]
[You can't trust a dog's words.]
[Today you dare run off with a big sister, tomorrow you'll dare to become the child who charges her father!]
[Huh? Isn't she already?]
[Huh? Aren't you all?]
[Oh, we've all charged before. Never mind then.]
[Wende: The mortal world has become filthy again.]
---o---