"What do you mean by this?"

"Fair trade, nothing owed between us," Ling Ji said matter-of-factly. Having settled her debt, she intended to proceed with her own affairs. "I have something to do, so I'll be leaving now."

After saying this, she closed her eyes, preparing to teleport to where Zhuo Bai was.

The next moment, she opened her eyes, stretched her arms, and midway through the movement, she realized something was wrong. She turned her head and saw the three men and one woman still within her sight. "Why are you still here?"

Ye Jianghuai, Zhao Xiaobo, Jiang Yan, and the driver: "..."

Haha, that's a good question. We were wondering the same thing.

Weren't you leaving? Why are you still sitting in the car seat without moving? Can you really disappear automatically?

Once again, they confirmed the look in each other's eyes: she's seriously unwell.

From their eyes, Ling Ji read the same message. She rarely fell silent for a moment. She secretly tried again and found her butt was still glued to the car seat, not having moved an inch. Her ears turned red. "Can you give me more food?"

Not enough energy, can't teleport!

"Heh." Zhao Xiaobo laughed politely yet helplessly and exchanged a glance with Ye Jianghuai. "We don't have any more."

Even if we did, we wouldn't give it to you.

Coming up with such a weird excuse for food, Zhao Xiaobo felt he had a duty to teach her the meaning of honesty on behalf of her elders.

But before he could say much, she interrupted him, "The road ahead is blocked; you should take another route."

Ling Ji's gaze passed through the windshield, through the pouring rain, and fixed on a certain spot ahead.

"Don't change the subject. We are discussing something very serious now." Zhao Xiaobo thought she was making another excuse to avoid the lecture and was even more determined to teach her a lesson.

But before he could say much, he was interrupted again.

"Screech—"

The familiar sound of sudden braking echoed again. Zhao Xiaobo, unprepared, was flung forward once more. Ling Ji quickly grabbed him, once again preventing him from hitting his head.

"Another accident?" This time Zhao Xiaobo quickly recovered, asking the equally stunned Ye Jianghuai.

Ye Jianghuai glanced at the girl sitting steadily beside him, unaffected by inertia, and who had the presence of mind to catch both Zhao Xiaobo and Jiang Yan. His voice lowered, "Let's go check."

As they got out of the car, Li Weiguo, sent by Sergeant Qin, approached them. "Reporting, sir, a large boulder is blocking the road ahead. It seems to have been washed down by the rain. We request additional personnel."

"How many men are needed?" Li Weiguo reported a number. Ye Jianghuai walked forward, pulling out his walkie-talkie to address Chen Yi in the third vehicle behind them. "There is a landslide ahead. Send the first and second squads to assist. Everyone else stays put."

Chen Yi, his deputy, was highly capable and quick to respond, promptly carrying out Ye Jianghuai's instructions.

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By the time Ye Jianghuai reached the scene, he saw a four-meter-tall, five-meter-wide boulder blocking the entire road. He couldn't help but look towards Ling Ji in the distance.

Not only him, but Zhao Xiaobo and Jiang Yan also turned their gazes towards the girl in black.

Just moments ago, she had told them to take another route, saying—the road ahead was blocked.

Given the vehicle's speed, they were about 500 meters away from the boulder at that time. Normally, this wouldn't be surprising; soldiers with good eyesight could achieve this.

The problem was that it was raining heavily, reducing visibility to no more than fifty meters. How could a girl sitting in the back seat see through the heavy rain to a spot hundreds of meters away without any tools?

Did she have superhuman sight?

Moreover...

Zhao Xiaobo's expression grew serious as he looked at Ling Ji for the first time with seriousness and scrutiny, and a hint of unrecognized wariness.

He noticed something even more extraordinary.

The girl wasn't using an umbrella, yet she wasn't wet from the rain at all. It was as if she wasn't standing in the pouring rain but under clear skies and sunshine.

Ling Ji walked over slowly, and the rain seemed to avoid her, as if she were wearing an invisible raincoat that kept her completely dry.

"Who exactly are you?" The evidence was clear. No matter how hard it was to believe, Ye Jianghuai couldn't continue thinking of her as an ordinary person.

Even if this realization shook the worldview he had built over the past twenty-something years.

"I'm not human," Ling Ji said casually, not caring about the men's tense bodies and vigilant gazes. She walked up to the boulder, glanced at it, and waved at Ye Jianghuai. "I'll help you move this boulder if you give me another box—no, two boxes of those things."

Ye Jianghuai, his nerves already frayed by her casual admission, stared at her for a moment. Seeing nothing in her expression suggesting a joke, and considering her unusual nature, he made a decision.

"Fine, if you can do it, I'll give you three boxes!" The boulder was blocking the road completely. It wasn't impossible to move it with enough people, but it would take time.

Time he couldn't afford to waste. The sooner he reached the disaster area, the more people he could save.

If she could move the boulder faster, he'd give her not just three boxes, but ten.

Ling Ji's eyes lit up at his words. Afraid he might change his mind, she quickly placed a hand on the boulder and pushed it towards the cliff on the other side of the road. The massive rock, which would have been a headache for dozens of people, rolled lightly down the cliff, following the laws of gravity and mass.

"Boom."

The rock tumbled down the cliff, making a loud noise.

Zhao Xiaobo stood there dumbfounded, with his mouth agape, looking like a country bumpkin seeing the city for the first time, unable to speak.

An illusion, it must be an illusion.

"Dr. Jiang, I think there's something wrong with my eyes. I need to see a doctor."

Jiang Yan swallowed, equally disoriented. "Sorry, but I think I need to see a doctor too."

"Tap tap tap." At that moment, the first and second squads arrived. The squad leader saluted Ye Jianghuai, about to ask when they should start moving, but saw the boulder was already gone, leaving only a dented ground as evidence of its presence.

The squad leader was puzzled. Which hero moved this rock?

"Fill in the dent to allow the vehicles to pass," Ye Jianghuai instructed the soldiers, snapping out of his shock. He pulled the girl standing by the pit aside and shared his umbrella.

"Where's the food?" Ling Ji looked up, her eyes shining.

Ye Jianghuai glanced at Zhao Xiaobo, who quickly responded, "I'll get it, I'll get it."

Ling Ji was satisfied, and her mood towards Ye Jianghuai softened. Sensing her change in demeanor, he hesitated before asking, "What... are you?"

"Crack." A crisp cracking sound interrupted him. Ye Jianghuai saw the previously calm girl’s expression change as she pulled a handful of jade fragments from her sleeve. A faint white light flew from it, heading north.

"Dammit." Ling Ji, clutching the remaining sliver of Zhuo Bai’s soul in the jade, spoke urgently for the first time. "I have an urgent matter and need to go. I'll leave the food with you for now and retrieve it when I return."

She tried to use her power to teleport again, but she forgot her energy was still insufficient. Frustrated, she stomped her foot and transformed into her true form, flying into the sky.

Ye Jianghuai saw a fleeting image of a dragon, feeling a strange familiarity as if he had seen it before.

His body instinctively reached out, grasping at the apparition. Before he could fully process the sensation, he was lifted off the ground and soared into the sky, disappearing from sight in a blink.

Zhao Xiaobo, struggling with three boxes of food, finally arrived, looking around for them. He placed the boxes under a makeshift shelter and approached Jiang Yan. "Did you see Jianghuai and that girl?"

Jiang Yan nodded mechanically, still not recovered from the surreal scene. "Where did they go? I didn't see."

Jiang Yan pointed upwards, dazed. "They flew away."

Zhao Xiaobo: "Huh?"

Jiang Yan: "I think I have mental issues now and need to see a therapist." She clutched Zhao Xiaobo’s arm, her nails digging in. "Do you think there are really demons in this world?"

"No, that must have been a deity."

Zhao Xiaobo, utterly bewildered: "..."

I think you're sick too. Can you let go of me?

You’re drawing blood from my arm!

...

When Ye Jianghuai regained his senses, he was high in the sky. The gray, thick storm clouds brushed past his feet, bringing a refreshing coolness. The white rain veiled the earth in a translucent mist, making the landscape hazy and unclear, with only the outlines of verdant mountains visible

.

The strong wind whipped against his face, making him squint. Tears streamed from his eyes, only to be blown away by the wind before they could fall.

He instinctively tightened his grip on the solid surface beneath him.

"Huh, how did you get up here?"

Ling Ji, feeling a weight on her hind foot, looked down to find a familiar figure.

Ye Jianghuai tried to speak, but the rushing wind filled his mouth, making him cough and swallow his words.

"Sigh, I don't have time to take you back now." Given his generosity in offering extra food, Ling Ji felt slightly more patient with him. Using her tail, she hoisted him onto her back. "Hold on tight, I’m going to speed up."

Ye Jianghuai's waist tightened, and the next moment, he was swung onto a hard, wide surface. A deep sense of familiarity washed over him as if he had been here countless times, knowing exactly how to settle in comfortably.

His face pressed against the smooth, glossy black scales of Ling Ji's true form. His limbs clung tightly to her sides, the wind howling past his ears. All he could hear was the rapid pounding of his own heart.

"Thump, thump, thump."

Ye Jianghuai's heart raced like a drum. He gripped Ling Ji's scales, feeling the awe of riding a dragon through the clouds. He had never imagined experiencing something like this, riding a mythical creature through the sky.

"Hold tight." Ling Ji's voice came through the wind, tinged with urgency.

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