"Squeak! Squeak!" Bai’s little claws tapped against its master, Lin Yue, realizing that he seemed to have completely fallen unconscious.
The master now leaned against the wall, emitting a significant amount of heat, with his breath extremely rapid; the temperature on his forehead even higher than before.
It was the first time Bai had seen the master in such a state.
In its memory, the master was always full of energy, seemingly never knowing fatigue, with strong actions when facing enemies.
But now, what has happened to the master?
"Squeak... Squeak?" Bai suddenly turned around, catching a whiff of a certain scent.
A scent it was very familiar with, seemingly...
"Squeak! Squeak squeak!" Bai saw from the not-too-distant rooftop, a silhouette that had already spread its wings and was flying directly this way!
Monster Winged Dragon!
The Monster Winged Dragon, with a wingspan of four meters, discovered two sudden prey on the ground, but its bright yellow eyes disregarded the silvery-white creature, locking onto the motionless human, and dived towards his location.
Bai realized that engaging in aerial combat with such monsters put it at an extreme disadvantage, so it glanced at the high wall Lin Yue had erected to block those behind the door and leaped onto it in a few strides.
As the Monster Winged Dragon continuously approached, the icy fog from its mouth kept increasing.
"Squeak!" Just as the Monster Winged Dragon was only a dozen meters away, Bai suddenly leaped forward and released a massive amount of icy fog!
This fog, which could drop the air temperature to below several tens of degrees Celsius, almost completely enveloped the Monster Winged Dragon, causing it to lose consciousness and crash heavily to the ground.
"Squeak!" Bai descended from the air, its back having stretched considerably to both sides without anyone noticing, allowing it to glide gently to the ground.
The Monster Winged Dragon on the ground struggled to rise, only to have its throat severed by Bai’s extended claws. As blood continued to flow and the cold continued to invade, it gradually lost all signs of life.
However, Bai did not relax; it ran to its master, biting his clothes, trying to hoist him onto its back.
But what Bai hadn’t anticipated was that the master’s weight was too much for its physique to support.
"Squeak..." Bai tried, but was unable to accomplish this, leaving it more worried about the master’s scorching body temperature.
It snuggled next to Lin Yue, gently blowing a minimal breeze against his forehead, trying to lower his temperature, even eventually curling up entirely beside Lin Yue, hoping its ice-cold body temperature could help cool him down.
"Uh..." Lin Yue remained in the deep abyss of darkness, utterly exhausted, still immersed in sleep.
Bai was extremely anxious, aware that this place accessed through the door was fraught with dangers.
Just before, the master and it had barely managed to wipe out a bunch of Monster Winged Dragons and a Tentacle Monster. The remaining corpses would become bait for other predators, attracting them continually to this region.
It believed this place was far more dangerous than the area they had left with the humans, yet the master seemed determined to choose this place rather than stay on the other side.
"Squeak!" As Bai continued cooling Lin Yue down, a sudden "taptaptap" sound rang out again, prompting Bai to leap up and dash in another direction!
A large mass of Ice Qi froze dozens of black bugs that emerged from nowhere into ice lumps, while Bai again used its sharp hind claws to stomp them into pulp.
The danger hadn’t disappeared but continued to emerge one after another.
Two more Monster Winged Dragons noticed Bai, forcing Bai to brace itself for battle once more.
As the battles emerged consecutively, Bai gradually felt tired; even later on, in order to keep the monsters from discovering Lin Yue, it gathered a lot of tall grass from slightly distant clumps to cover Lin Yue.
Every time, Bai exerted all its strength, continuously killing the monsters charging at them, but the increasingly severe fatigue and constantly draining stamina made it progressively difficult in battle.
"Squeak..." Bai glanced back at the still unconscious Lin Yue, while a horde of insects surged in front, seemingly drawn to the corpses or perhaps to Bai and Lin Yue!
The Secret Realm seemed to never give Bai any respite.
Under the allure of Tentacle Monsters and heaps of Monster Winged Dragon corpses, with the piles of monster remains near the Ancient Secret Realm Gate, nearby monsters were drawn by the scent of the corpses, advancing towards this spot from all directions relentlessly!
Bai panted heavily, growing increasingly exhausted; the continuous battles were gradually sapping its strength, finally forcing it to lean next to Lin Yue, barely managing to slay the encroaching spiders and creepy crawlies.
Yet, at distant high-rises, more silhouettes of Monster Winged Dragons appeared, all awaiting Bai’s moment of complete exhaustion to swoop onto the already blood-soaked battlefield and claim victory!
"Squeak..." Bai moved with difficulty to the still unconscious master’s side; at that moment, it was out of strength.
If there’s food, it could last a while longer, but now...
At this time, several Monster Winged Dragons noticed Bai’s condition and dove down eagerly!
"Squeak..." Bai spread its arms, standing in front of Lin Yue; realizing it could do nothing more, it could only...
No matter what, protect its master once more!
A voice suddenly echoed in Lin Yue’s mind in his daze.
[Congratulations, you and your pet have formed a strong emotional bond. Your pet has entered the second stage of bond evolution!]
"Bond... Evolution... Bai..." Lin Yue murmured, using nearly all his strength to open his eyes to a slit.
And the sudden appearance of white light was infinitely gentle and healing.
Within the white light, a solid, tall figure appeared. Lin Yue slightly opened his mouth, trying to discern what this figure was, but the persistent fever sent him back into unconsciousness.
It is unclear how much time had passed.
Lin Yue seemed to have had an extremely long dream.
A dream of being that unpopular child in the orphanage, with no one to protect him against bullying from the older kids and the headmistress, only managing to endure each day. But at some point, a little white lizard appeared by his side, driving away those who hurt him, sharing meals and drinks...
He also dreamed of Liu Kai repeatedly saying to him, "In this Otherworld, going alone can never compare to teamwork and mutual assistance."
Dreamed of Bai’s courageous battle figure fighting beast packs to protect him...
After a long, long time.
The heat still clung to him, but that deadly feeling was gone.
The sound of calls echoed in his ears, resembling Bai’s voice, yet it also sounded a bit like the Ice Lizards’.
Lin Yue looked within his field of view, seeing a huge, over three-meter-tall mutated white creature. Its retracted wings on its back and the familiar gaze from the ruby-like eyes reminded him of the phrase "bond evolution" he heard in his stupor, seemingly understanding something.
"I am not alone, am I." He sat up with difficulty, embracing Bai tightly.
Sometimes, animals can exhibit more humanity than humans.
This Chapter took a long time to think about and write.
Apologies for posting so late. ♪(^∇^*)
Thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement. This Chapter is an additional release for reaching 300 monthly votes.