betray

The surface of the lake was covered with a thin layer of mist, and small crimson-purple flowers were silently climbing on the clear lake bottom. The butterfly-wing-shaped petals overflowed from the water, coating the pure white mist into a thin purple.

Mu Xiao, who was on guard, held the wing sword and decided to find Ruowen at dawn to make things clear, willing to use his life as a bargaining chip in exchange for the other party's trust.

He could vaguely smell a strange floral fragrance in the air, and stood up to wake up the insects resting in the tent. However, the moment he stood up, his limbs felt weak and powerless, and the whole insect fell backwards. The back of its head hit a thick tree root, and the dull pain continued to spread.

Mu Xiao didn't care about all this. He shouted with all his might, and his chest vibrated violently, but his vocal cords seemed to be strangled and he couldn't make a sound.

No... I have to wake them up. I can't let any bugs get hurt because of my mistakes.

Mu Xiao bit his tongue and forced himself to cheer up. Blood oozed from the corner of his mouth. He crawled forward as fast as he could, and the back of his hand suddenly cast a shadow.

Before he could take a closer look, the back of his hand was crushed hard by the sole of the spiked shoe. The piercing pain was so severe that he couldn't scream out, and the veins in his neck and temples bulged, as if they would explode in the next second.

"I never thought you would end up like this." A familiar voice came from above his head, and Mu Xiao's blood seemed to freeze. He looked up tremblingly, unable to believe what he heard.

Ruowen looked at Mu Xiao, whose face was as pale as death, with a sneer, and there was an indescribable relief and pain in his heart. He picked up the winged sword that had fallen aside, and then dragged Mu Xiao towards the lake.

He turned Mu Xiao over with the tip of his shoe, not wanting to say a word more. He clenched the winged sword in both hands and stabbed it into the female insect's chest expressionlessly. The short sound of paper cracking rang out from deep in Mu Xiao's mind.

Ruowen grabbed Mu Xiao's collar and threw him into the lake like garbage. The surface of the lake instantly spread with bright red ink, which made the purple flowers even more charming. For a moment, he was dazzled. At the same time, a gust of wind blew past him. He watched coldly as Alred, who appeared out of nowhere, jumped to the bottom of the lake.

Ruowen slumped to the ground, feeling relieved. A strange "ho ho" sound came from his throat. He wiped the inexplicable moisture from the corners of his eyes and opened the terminal to leave a message: "I have done as you said. Please fulfill your promise."

After saying that, he buried the terminal and half a bag of flower seeds in the place agreed upon with him, and entered the dense forest with thick night fog alone. Andre in the tent slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were very clear in the darkness. After confirming that Ze Yu beside him was still asleep, he closed his eyes again.

The bone-biting coldness enveloped Mu Xiao. He shivered and wanted to curl up to reduce heat loss, but his limbs seemed to be tied and he could not move. He tried hard to open his heavy eyelids and found that he was nailed to a wooden stake, surrounded by endless darkness.

Insect shadows with strange gait gradually came from the darkness. When they got closer, Mu Xiao could see clearly that they were not insects at all, but puppets wearing masks that were hung up. The puppets stopped a few meters away from Mu Xiao, and the silk strings that controlled them randomly broke at once. The puppets fell to the ground crookedly without control, and the masks fell off their faces, revealing faces that were familiar to Mu Xiao.

They put on twisted smiles, bared their sharp fangs, and crawled towards Mu Xiao like centipedes, as if they wanted to tear him apart and swallow him.

"No...don't!" Mu Xiao suddenly sat up from the bed, breathing in deep breaths as if he was short of oxygen.

"It's okay, it's okay, we are safe now..."

The familiar scent of gardenia lingered in Mu Xiao's nostrils, and then he was embraced in a warm embrace. The other person patted his back gently, soothing his uneasy and anxious heart. Only when he heard his breathing gradually stabilized did he let go of his hand.

Mu Xiao looked around. It was an unfamiliar bedroom. He touched the white bandage on his chest and asked, "Where is this place? Last night I clearly..."

He suddenly stopped talking, thinking that something was wrong with Alred who was sitting beside the bed. Upon closer inspection, he found that the male insect's eyes, which were originally as bright as pigeon blood, were now hazy as if covered with a layer of gauze.

"Alred, can you help me check my neck? It hurts."

"It seems you are injured. Do you want to bandage it? I'll find someone to help you."

Mu Xiao's neck was fine. He was just testing a lie that Alred had made up. The other party blinked his eyes and tried hard to see clearly, but he couldn't see clearly at all. His heart seemed to have returned to the night when it was pierced by Ruowen. The unspeakable pain was nothing. The deep feeling of helplessness was what made him panic.

"How did you save me?"

Alred sighed. He knew his cover wouldn't last long, but he hadn't expected to be discovered so quickly. He tried to see Mu Xiao's face clearly, but all he could see was a blur of color. "After Ruowen threw you into the lake, I jumped in after him. I was just trying to see if the bracelet that simulated the male insect's mental force field would work. I luckily managed to make the space-time jump and arrived at my female parent planet. I can't see much after this."

"Alred's female parent star?" Mu Xiao muttered silently.

If a normal female father saw that his male son had almost lost his sight because of other female insects, he would not be able to lie here peacefully, and Alred would not be able to take care of himself here.

Despite his concern, he didn't dare ask, fearing it would touch the scars deep within the male insect's heart. He shifted his attention to what happened on the desolate planet: "You said Ruowen killed me just for revenge? That night while on guard duty, I smelled a strange floral scent, and then I felt weak all over and couldn't speak."

Alred thought for a moment and shook his head. "I didn't smell any fragrance, but purple flowers suddenly grew at the bottom of the lake. Someone must have planted them. If only female insects can smell the fragrance, but the female insects are not affected by it, then the person who planted those flowers must be him or he is related to him."

"I guess it has something to do with Morse." Mu Xiao didn't believe that Morse was dead. He was able to lurk around Ruo Wen for so long and even set up a plan to fake his death under his sword.

Mu Xiao pondered for a few seconds and said, "After we separated in the cave that day, did you encounter anything strange?"

"After you entered the passage, it was sealed. When I was about to dig it open, I suddenly fainted. When I woke up, I met Andre and Zeyu who were looking for us." Alred told him everything he remembered, trying not to miss any overlooked areas.

"Master Alred, it's time for dinner." The rhythmic knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

"Okay, could you please bring it in for me?" After receiving Alred's response, a female insect pushed a food cart into the room. She placed the food on the table and before leaving the room, she warned, "Master Alred, you'd better leave here as soon as possible."

Mu Xiao's hand holding the cutlery froze for a few seconds. He stared at Alred who didn't care. The male insect seemed to be accustomed to this sentence and was eating calmly. He was obviously half the owner of this house, so why was he mentioned?