The giant's hand hung right above Xiao Cheng's head, bigger than her whole body. If his fingers had moved down just a little more, he could have easily snapped her neck.

Xiao Cheng gasped, subtly shifting slightly to the side, silently withdrawing her sinful hand despite the glare that could kill her a thousand times over.

Then she took out the coins from her pocket, gave the giant a bright smile, and said, "Brother, would you believe me if I said I came to pay back the money?"

The giant didn't say whether he believed it or not.

Another loud crash echoed through the garden, snapping a row of trees in half, which then fell like dominoes.

The exquisite birdcage, along with the specimens inside, was instantly and completely destroyed. Flames began to flicker and then quickly spread, engulfing the entire perimeter of the garden in flames.

The giant was utterly enraged, his pupils, the size of sandbags, reflecting the chaos. He leaped from the rooftop, roared at the sky, and then brought his enormous hand down with a whooshing sound as it struck Xiao Cheng.

"Holy crap! Seriously, I didn't blow this up!" Xiao Cheng's pupils suddenly contracted, and he leaped backward, grabbing the wooden ladder and landing smoothly on the ground.

The treehouse was smashed to pieces by the giant's slap, collapsing completely with a loud crash. The giant took a heavy step, almost grazing Xiao Cheng, leaving a deep footprint in the ground.

Xiao Cheng didn't have time to hesitate. She rubbed her palms, which were almost burning, and turned to run in a direction where the fire wasn't so intense, searching for Fang He as she ran.

Unfortunately, we didn't even see a ghost.

The giant didn't chase after them immediately. Instead, he rummaged through the ruins of the treehouse for the bag of gold coins. Half of the coins had already been scattered, and the rest, along with the bag itself, was buried deep at the bottom, with only a tiny corner sticking out.

The giant dug for a while, but to no avail. He became even more furious, pounding his chest and stamping his feet. Then he strode after Xiao Cheng and delivered another slap from the sky.

Xiao Cheng was almost in tears.

"Damn it! You're the one who smashed up the house, and you're blaming me for that?!"

Seeing that she couldn't avoid it, she simply stopped running. Just as he was about to hit her, she used a clever trick to flip over and land on the back of the giant's hand.

Then, before the giant could grab him with his other hand, he leaped onto his shoulder, gathered his strength, and delivered a powerful flying kick to his enormous eyeball.

The giant let out a terrible howl, the enormous sound making Xiao Cheng's head go numb and causing a violent ringing in his ears, almost causing him to lose his hearing for a short time.

The giant unconsciously closed his eyes, and slammed his two large hands together as if swatting a fly.

But it missed.

By this time, Xiao Cheng had climbed onto the top of his bald head, took a deep breath, and shouted at the distant sea of ​​fire, "Fang He! Where the hell are you?!"

Then, a disheveled, gray-faced figure emerged from the thick smoke.

To be honest, for a moment, Xiao Cheng wasn't even sure if it was really Fang He.

So he didn't start the fire? He didn't cause the explosion either? He was just a victim?

Before she could fully understand, she saw another strange creature emerge from the sea of ​​fire, right behind Fang He.

They really do look extremely strange.

It has a human body, dragging a scorpion and a snake tail, and three disproportionately large, fleshy heads. Most importantly, each of the three heads has a gourd on top of it.

Then one of the heads suddenly opened its mouth wide and spat out a ball of blazing flame. From its mouth came a woman's shrill scream: "Hey! Monster! Give me back my grandfather!"

Xiao Cheng: "..."

Don't make everything combine, damn it!

Seeing that the giant was completely distracted by the combined monster, Xiao Cheng seized the opportunity and slid down his back to the ground, just in time to meet up with Fang He, who was running over.

Fang He was still breathing heavily when, without thinking, he grabbed Xiao Cheng's arm and, before she could regain her balance, pulled her towards the vines.

"Wait, wait..." Xiao Cheng was completely out of the loop. She had no idea what had happened in that short period of time. "What's going on? What's wrong with the dwarves? Isn't the passage here?"

"No! You're wrong, all wrong!" Fang He said, unusually impatient. "There's no time to explain, hurry up! The sky is falling!"

"What? What is it...?"

Before Xiao Cheng could finish her question, a series of loud rumbling sounds came from behind, the ground trembled violently, and the clouds began to show dense cracks. Then, just as Fang He had said, they began to collapse rapidly.

The combined monster suddenly swelled up completely, its muscles bulging and its skin bulging with lumps. Then it stomped the ground forcefully and leaped up, colliding heavily with the giant's body.

Flames erupted again, and fireballs scattered in all directions, crashing down one after another at Xiao Cheng's feet, the sparks igniting the hem of her clothes.

Fang He suddenly lunged forward, pinning her beneath him, then rolled over with her, sending her sprawling to the side. A burning clod of earth, like a meteorite, crashed down right where she had just been standing.

Fang He seemed to have been injured by the flames, letting out a barely audible groan. Fortunately, they were almost at the edge of the vines by then.

"Get down." Fang He grabbed Xiao Cheng's arm and shoved her aside, so that she landed on an outstretched branch.

Although Xiao Cheng was full of doubts, she also knew that this was not the right time to press for answers.

"Keep up!" She slid down quickly, section by section, and when she looked up she could see the fragmented clouds and the faint crimson firelight shining through from above.

Fang He followed her down the slope.

But before the two could climb to the bottom, the giant and the combined monster noticed their presence almost simultaneously. They roared in unison, briefly setting aside their differences and turning their attention to them.

"You cannot leave!" the combined monster cried out in the voice of the first dwarf, who seemed to have been greatly deceived and angrily spewed out a ball of fire.

The flames spread downwards along the vines, quickly reaching the area where Xiao Cheng and Fang He were. Fortunately, the vines were thick enough that they did not break.

The giant and the combined monster then rushed down through the flames.

With their arrival, the vines finally broke under the strain, the entire sky suddenly caved in and was torn apart, along with the charred vines, crashing down with a thud.