Chapter 43

Before Ye Jun could speak, the Iron-Eating Beast's second punch came crashing down.

So far, Gian hasn't even used any skills, which shows the power of the evolved Ironhide.

Ye Jun was carried around by the peregrine falcon, and then he summoned his second pet—

It was a centipede-like creature nearly three meters long and half a meter wide. Looking at its appearance, Qiao Ning immediately thought of a big boss insect monster in an ancient-themed, infrastructure-building game she had played.

Ancient millipede.

Living in the Carboniferous period 300 million years ago, it is the largest arthropod discovered to date.

This giant millipede, an evolved species, is clearly different from the ancient millipedes of the Carboniferous period. It has eyes, can see, and can survive and move around even in normal oxygen conditions.

The giant millipede has an extremely hard shell. The Iron Eater's ordinary punch didn't even break its shell, but it must have hurt it, because it twisted and bit the Iron Eater's belly.

Fat Tiger thought to himself, "It's just biting, that's something else!"

The two giant beasts instantly began to tear at each other and wrestle. The evolved millipede carries a certain amount of toxicity, but the evolved iron-eating beast is not afraid of this toxicity.

On the contrary, the giant millipede could not withstand the thunderous power of the panda's Thunder Fist. Even with its super-strong defensive shell, it gradually fell into a disadvantageous position.

The peregrine falcon is playing guerrilla warfare with the green ivy. As the fastest bird of prey, the peregrine falcon is not easy for the green ivy to either entangle and strangle it or to hit it with its leaf blades.

After all, this is not a confined space. On such a vast ice field, the peregrine falcon's aerial abilities are maximized.

Conversely, due to the cooler temperatures, the green ivy's combat power and attack capabilities have actually decreased.

Pets are living beings, and they are also affected by natural disasters and environmental factors.

Taking advantage of the fact that Qiao Ning's pets were all entangled and unable to protect her, Ye Jun took out a blood-red longsword and attacked her.

Qiao Ning dodged, and before she knew it, she had already grasped the Black Flame Bone Blade. She swung the blade down with a backhand strike, and the two blades clashed.

Ye Jun's blood-red blade shattered in less than three seconds, and the black flame bone blade slashed down on his shoulder.

"Flying Mantis!" Ye Jun cried out in pain, and then Qiao Ning saw a mantis, even bigger than the millipede, gradually emerge behind him.

Eat her!

Seeing this, Cui Ting hurriedly stepped in front of Qiao Ning: "If you want to kill her, kill me first! Don't be afraid of getting a red name! My talent is pet doctor, which is a special professional talent. If you kill me, your red name level will increase significantly. When the beasts of the Icefield are attracted, you won't be able to escape!"

Ye Jun smiled strangely: "Tingting, don't forget, I'm your closest relative. We almost got married, don't you remember? We've known each other since high school. After all these years, with such a deep bond, how can you side with an outsider?"

Cui Ting's expression was as if she had swallowed a hundred flies; her disgust was impossible to conceal: "You still have the nerve to talk to me about feelings! Don't give me that nonsense! I will never believe a single punctuation mark of yours again, and I will never be fooled or manipulated by you again!"

Ye Jun's last smile vanished, his expression turning icy cold: "Then you can die with her!"

Sensing danger, Cui Ting's raccoon took the initiative to appear and try to save its owner, but before it could jump over, it was blown down by a hurricane.

The raccoon, which had been blown over, got up from the ground, shook its fluffy head, and looked a little confused, as if it didn't know what had happened.

Ahead, a giant locust, its body entirely blue-green and looking extremely poisonous, was already engaged in battle with a giant mantis.

Despite its large size and ferocity, the flying mantis couldn't even survive a single round trip in the mouth of the poisonous locust. Within seconds, it was poisoned so badly that its head turned black and its wings turned black, and it died instantly.

The dead flying mantis naturally became the giant locust's meal. After eating it, the giant locust looked at the millipede that had been electrocuted by the iron-eating beast and was about to be flattened.

The giant locust screamed at the iron-eating beast.

Sister, can I borrow some food?

The iron-eating beast responded with "hmm hmm" sounds and slowly moved aside with its massive body.

Eat up, you're so thin and small, eat more.

While the giant locust was eating, Ye Jun had already sensed the situation was not good and had his peregrine falcon carry him away. As the fastest flying bird, the peregrine falcon has evolved to be even faster and is difficult to catch.

Qiao Ning, however, had no intention of letting him go, and drove after him with her three pets.

Peregrine falcons expend a lot of energy flying. If a pet is not close enough to its owner and is in a state of excessive hunger, fatigue, or injury, it may go berserk, rebel against its owner's commands, and even bite its owner.

Everyone's in the same boat; they've only had their pets for a few days, so how high can the intimacy level be? At first, the peregrine falcon was very obedient, flying wherever Ye Jun told it to fly, and as fast as he told it to fly.

Soon, not only Ye Jun was hungry, but the peregrine falcon was also hungry.

After a long period of high-speed flight, coupled with exhaustion and lack of food, the peregrine falcon's eyes soon began to turn red.

However, Ye Jun didn't notice this and was still urging the peregrine falcon to fly back. His car was still there; without it, he could escape for a while, but not forever. He would have to go back to get his car sooner or later.

Furthermore, most of his warm clothing was in the car, and as the temperature dropped, he would either starve or freeze to death.

The most dangerous place is the safest. Ye Jun didn't believe that Qiao Ning could stay there and wait for him without looking for the supply box.

As they were about to return to their original position, Ye Jun vaguely saw the shadow of his car and quickly tugged at the peregrine falcon's talons to make it descend.

Unexpectedly, the peregrine falcon suddenly became agitated, tumbling him several times in the air before flying high into the sky, then releasing its claws and dropping him from the sky.

With a loud bang, a dark shadow fell from the sky and crashed heavily onto the car roof, shattering the sturdy windows and leaving a large dent in the metal roof.

Even after Ye Jun's death, the peregrine falcon that had turned against him did not disappear, because before his death, the peregrine falcon had already rebelled and broken free from his bond.

The peregrine falcon, now free, soars into the sky like an arrow, gliding through the clouds and emitting joyful cries.

Qiao Ning was nearby and witnessed the entire process of the pet turning on its owner. Ye Jun fell from a great height, his body no longer recognizable as human, and disappeared shortly afterward.

Qiao Ning had emptied his car of supplies and was just thinking about how to deal with the wrecked vehicle when she suddenly received a notification from her smart home assistant:

[An unclaimed vehicle has been detected near the owner. Proceed with vehicle refining and fusion? After this fusion, there is a 30% chance that the owner's vehicle will be directly upgraded to a Level 5 vehicle, unlocking the vehicle attribute panel, function panel, etc.]

"What if the fusion fails?"

[If the fusion fails, the owner's car will drop one level to a level 3 car.]

Thinking about the tens of thousands of materials and hundreds of blueprints she had spent upgrading her car, Qiao Ning couldn't help but hiss and clench her back teeth.

After weighing the pros and cons, she decided to take a gamble.

What else can a lucky person gamble on besides luck? Of course, they'll gamble on things that can be solved by luck.

"I choose integration."

The refining process takes about thirty minutes, while the fusion process is faster, taking only five minutes.

[Server Merge Announcement: Congratulations to player Qiao Ning (1408) for being the first to successfully upgrade her car to Level 5, unlocking the entire server's car attribute panel and function panel ahead of schedule. From now on, cars will be a great asset for players in survival battles. We hope all players will strive to explore the various uses of their cars and become even more powerful.]

[Wow, this guy's car is already level 5, and mine is only level 2. Is this the difference between people?]

[I'm curious, how does Qiao Ning upgrade her car so quickly? Any secret techniques? Maybe she can share them with everyone? A higher-level car also increases our server's survival rate, right?]

[If you're trying to get something for free, just say so. Don't always try to take shortcuts. If there really were shortcuts, do you think none of the hundreds of thousands of people would have discovered them?]

I'm a player from server 1279, and holy crap, I'm devastated!

I have Ye Jun, a top player on our server's leaderboard, as a friend. We added each other a long time ago, and I doubt he even remembers me, a nobody.

Just now, I discovered! Ye Jun's profile picture went gray, he's dead! I watched the replay of the video from the half hour before his death, and it seems his pet turned on him!

Previously, Qiao Ning posted a photo of the three of them from an overhead view on a highway in the chat room. But not long after, less than two hours later, Ye Jun died.

As a mere bystander, I'm already trembling with fear; it's truly terrifying to think about. I want to ask the brothers and sisters of 1408, was Sister Qiao always this ruthless?

No, Qiao Ning is a really nice and kind person. I've been following her since the earliest server, 1408, and we're still in this server now. With her and a few other big shots around, our server's ranking is rock solid. We small fry can just stay put and try our best to make a living as long as we don't cause trouble or do anything stupid.

She warned us shortly after we entered the game, when we knew nothing about it, that we shouldn't be stingy with gas and should drive at full speed to find supply crates. Some people didn't listen, and that's why they died.

I'm the kind of person who listens to advice, and listening to the big shots was definitely the right thing to do.

Later, as natural disasters became increasingly severe, she often sold supplies at low prices when resources were scarce, saving countless lives. I don't know if others remember her kindness, but I will always remember Qiao Ning's goodness and her life-saving grace.

[Now that you mention it, I'm reminded of something. My friend received help from Boss Qiao, but unfortunately, he didn't survive the last natural disaster. Before he died, he asked me to give him a chance to convey his gratitude to Qiao Ning in person.]

[Friends of 1279, to be honest, I suspect that the top player on your leaderboard has some mental issues. He's already in a survival game, why is he still writing some kind of yandere CEO running away with his sweet little wife script?]

I'm a bit of a coward. Before he was alive, I didn't dare to complain because I was afraid he would kill me. Now that he's dead, I really can't hold back my complaints.

With Ye Jun's seriously ill mind, if you follow him, you'll all end up as cannon fodder villains, or even worse, just cannon fodder lackeys.

Don't take offense, but the personality and intelligence of the server's top leader largely determine how long their followers survive. You should really think carefully about whether you want to join our 1408 side.

[It's no use not wanting to seek refuge; once this natural disaster ends, the survivors will naturally belong to District 1408.]

[Brother, are you really that confident? Server 1279 is leaderless, but there are still servers 1356 and 1657.]

It's not that I'm confident, it's that I see no hope of winning in zones 1356 and 1657. Zone 1657 has been fighting amongst themselves all day, still arguing over such trivial matters.

The top influencer on the 1356 list is of average strength. He used to fawn over Ye Jun, wanting to form an alliance with them, but look at him now, they don't dare to utter a single word.

So, how do you think those two regions can win? Even if they team up, they probably couldn't beat 1408.

Zhang Tianye (1356): You guys, stop talking nonsense. We in 1356 have never thought of forming an alliance with 1279. Our two districts have no relationship. What you've said has made things a bit unclear. What if people misunderstand?

And Ye Jun and I don't even know each other.

The screen was filled with rows of question marks.

[Your change of heart is too fast! Ye Jun has only been dead for less than an hour.]

【Zhang Tianye (1356): @Bai Tanxiang, Aunt Bai, I'm sorry, I admit that I spoke rudely to you before and raised my voice.

I hope you'll forgive me for my past mistakes; I promise I won't do it again.