Chapter 32: The Illusory Realm

Beneath the bald head was a neck covered in scales, and beneath that neck was... a carapace! The same carapace as Biluer’s. Under the light, the shell shimmered with a faint, dark green luster. The bald man’s eyes were narrow, squinted into thin slits, so small they were almost invisible. He smiled, his expression appearing kindly.

Lian Fei retreated repeatedly until she had backed away several dozen meters, only then seeing the bald figure in its entirety. If she had to describe it, it was a turtle with a human face. But this turtle had twelve legs—six on each side—resembling the jointed limbs of an insect. Behind it trailed a massive scorpion tail.

*Mengtan.*

The name of the monster before her flashed through Lian Fei’s mind. A Mengtan with extremely high defensive capabilities.

Looking at the monster, which stood three stories high, Lian Fei heaved a long sigh. "Is this for real?" She scratched her head. Why was a Mengtan here? Or was this, like the Mengying she encountered earlier, just a fake?

Before Lian Fei could puzzle it out, the Mengtan turned, preparing a tail sweep. Lian Fei did not hesitate; she instantly summoned her mecha. By the time the armor had fully expanded, the tail was already swinging toward her. Lian Fei caught the tail, hoisted it with a surge of strength, and lifted the Mengtan off the ground. After spinning it around several times, she let go, hurling the creature away like a discus.

The Mengtan went flying into the air. Watching the creature howl as it soared, Lian Fei recalled the records she had read: *[Mengtan: High defense, slow movement.]*

"Yeah, definitely slow," Lian Fei nodded.

*Boom!*

The Mengtan did not fly very far; it seemed to collide with something invisible and plummeted straight to the ground. Where it struck, spiderweb-like cracks appeared in the air. Lian Fei raised an eyebrow and immediately mounted all her heavy weapons, aiming at the spot where the Mengtan had cracked the space.

*Boom! Boom!*

Amid the deafening roar of artillery and a cloud of smoke, several blue shards fell from the cracked area, revealing a stark white foundation underneath.

"Rustle—"

There was a strange movement behind her. Lian Fei immediately drew her blade and hurled it toward the sound. The blade pierced the sky, pinning a woman to the spot. To be precise, it was a woman whose body was so smooth and white she looked like a sculpture, with a pair of massive, fluttering moth wings on her back.

So far, she was the most human-looking creature Lian Fei had seen. Had it not been for those wings, she would never have guessed the woman was Zerg. The woman’s eyes were tightly shut, her brows furrowed, and her beautiful face was twisted in a look of such pathetic agony that it stirred an involuntary sense of pity. The blade of Lian Fei’s mecha was buried in her abdomen.

This woman—no, this female insect—must be one of the insect officials serving the Queen: Meng’e.

As soon as Lian Fei’s blade struck Meng’e, everything around them shattered like a broken mirror. The environment reverted to that vast, white room. In the center sat the Queen, resembling a grotesque lump of flesh. Meng’e remained pinned to the wall.

Adhering to the principle of "cutting weeds without removing the roots leads to them growing back," Lian Fei leveled her machine gun at Meng’e. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, Meng’e’s eyes snapped open.

Lian Fei met her gaze. The next second, her surroundings shifted again.

She was on a barren mountain, surrounded by a forest of leafless trees. The environment was hauntingly familiar, leaving Lian Fei stunned for a long moment. She remained vigilant but did not retract her mecha. Suddenly, she heard a familiar, milky-voiced call.

"Big sister, where are you?"

Lian Fei turned and saw a soft, doughy little figure.

"Big sister? You’re here!"

"Ruo Ruo?" Lian Fei looked at her younger sister in disbelief. She abruptly lowered her head to look at her own hands. She was no longer inside her mecha; she was standing on the dirt. She wasn't wearing her protective suit, but the cotton jacket she used to wear, patched in over a dozen places.

"Big sister, I want to go catch bunnies by myself," Ruo Ruo said, tugging on the hem of Lian Fei’s coat.

Looking into Ruo Ruo’s watery eyes, the confusion in Lian Fei’s heart turned instantly into tenderness. She crouched down, reached out, and gently touched the girl’s face. Soft and warm.

"Big sister, what’s wrong?" Ruo Ruo tilted her head.

"Why are you here?" Lian Fei asked.

Ruo Ruo chirped, "Mother told me to come find you to play."

"Mother? She told you to find me?" Lian Fei’s brows knit together. "The mountain is so dangerous, how could Mother..."

She recalled something. Something from a long time ago.

That day, their father had accidentally brushed against a man on his way home from work. The man was dressed in fine, luxurious clothes that looked completely out of place in the poverty of Gaisero Star; he clearly wasn't a local. Their father had apologized tremulously, and the man hadn't blamed him. Thinking nothing of it, their father had returned home.

But not long after he arrived, two squads of guards swarmed their house. Seeing the dire situation, their mother had tricked Ruo Ruo into going up the mountain to find Lian Fei. By the time she realized something was wrong and returned home, their father had already been dragged away, accused of murdering a Federation citizen.

It turned out that the man had died.

Thinking of this, Lian Fei immediately scooped up Ruo Ruo and ran as fast as she could toward the base of the mountain. Back then, she had returned too late, and her father was already gone. They had spent days rushing between departments, exhausting every connection, and after a month of draining their family’s entire life savings, they finally managed to bail him out of prison.

When their father emerged, he was on the brink of death. After he recovered, he was left with a chronic condition where his bones would ache whenever the wind blew or it rained. Lian Fei had once overheard the guards whispering that her father had been slated for execution; after all, the victim was a Salunfo star-citizen they couldn't afford to offend. Since they couldn't find the real culprit, they had just grabbed a scapegoat to appease the anger of the lords from that world.

It was only just before the execution that the Salunfo side claimed they had found the true killer, which was why their father was released.

Her father’s release hadn't been the result of their family’s desperate efforts or the astronomical sum of money they had spent.

Lian Fei’s eyes darkened.

"Big sister, are we going home?" Ruo Ruo asked in her sweet, childish voice. "Are we not catching bunnies anymore?"

"Ruo Ruo, in a moment, Big sister wants to play a game with you," Lian Fei said softly. "Close your eyes. Big sister is going to act out a play with Father, Mother, and the uncles. You must not open your eyes while we play. When the scene is over, you tell Big sister how many people were there, alright?"

"Okay!" Ruo Ruo cheered. "Ruo Ruo loves games!"

Saying this, she squeezed her eyes shut.

Lian Fei smiled. "You aren't allowed to open them, okay?"

Ruo Ruo shouted, "I know!"

Seeing that Ruo Ruo’s eyes were tightly shut, Lian Fei’s expression went cold. She strode toward the entrance of their home and shouted at the guards who were currently dragging her father away: "Let go of him!"