Chapter 37: Sweet Dreams

“Urgh…”

Someone couldn’t hold it in first. 

Then, like a chain reaction, successive sounds of vomiting echoed one after another inside the enclosed platform.

The delicious meat porridge they had just drunk—once regarded as a lifesaving gift—now churned violently in their stomachs, turning into the most lethal emetic.

The refugees retreated in terror, staring at the mass of green slime containing human remains as if they were looking at the entrance to hell.

“Baobao! Baobao!!”

The mad woman who had been kneeling on the ground suddenly seemed possessed.

Her previously unfocused pupils dilated sharply as she let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Instead of retreating, she crawled up from the ground on all fours and lunged toward the highly corrosive monster with open arms.

“Baobao! Is that you? You came back?”

“Mommy’s here! Mommy won’t scold you anymore!”

“Come here… let Mommy hug you…”

“Stop! That’s a monster!”

Qinghai Starlight’s expression changed drastically. 

Being the closest, she reacted extremely fast. 

She took a large stride forward, wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist, and forcefully dragged her back, shoving her into Fei Xia’s arms.

“Fei Xia! Watch her! Don’t let her get herself killed!”

Qinghai Starlight shouted without looking back as she summoned her magic staff.

Buzz—

A dazzling blue translucent barrier expanded in front of her, firmly blocking a jet of acid sprayed by the Slime.

Sizzle— White smoke rose from the surface of the light shield, showing just how corrosive the acid was.

“Bellflower! Take everyone deeper into the station! Leave this to me!”

“Yes! Everyone, follow me!”

Bellflower reacted quickly and began directing the panicked crowd toward the deeper parts of the subway station.

Fei Xia firmly held down the woman, who was still struggling madly.

The woman’s strength was shockingly powerful. 

Her nails dug deep into Fei Xia’s arm while she continued babbling incoherently about “Baobao” and “Mommy was wrong.”

Fei Xia frowned, preparing to adjust her grip and knock the woman unconscious.

Buzz—

The space around her shoulder rippled slightly.

A white round ball sneaked out from a magic circle. It was Snowball, who had been missing for a while.

“Whew… What a delicious meat smell! Is dinner finally ready?”

Snowball sniffed the air, drool nearly dripping from its mouth.

Its eyes immediately landed on the large pot that had been knocked over, its contents of rice porridge, meat broth, and dirt all mixed together on the ground.

“Ah! My meat! Such a waste!”

Snowball let out a wail of despair, then angrily turned around to see which idiot had knocked over its meal.

However, the moment its gaze fell on the massive, writhing Slime ahead…

Its small eyes widened into perfect circles.

“This… this is…”

Snowball’s body froze. 

The greedy expression on its face vanished instantly, replaced by a look of horror and seriousness that Fei Xia had never seen before.

“This monster has eaten quite a lot of people.”

Fei Xia continued restraining the mad woman while speaking coldly.

“Looking at the things inside its body, it’s swallowed at least three or four children.”

“No! That’s wrong!”

Snowball jumped onto Fei Xia’s shoulder, its voice sharp and urgent, even trembling slightly.

“That’s not a monster at all!”

“What?”

Fei Xia was stunned.

“It doesn’t have a monster core! Its magic power flow is chaotic! That’s… that’s a forcibly fused soul!”

Snowball stared fixedly at the mass of rotten flesh, speaking rapidly as if witnessing something taboo.

“That’s a Chimera! It’s a failed product created by forcibly fusing living humans through alchemy and magic grafting!”

“Those damn beasts! They actually hid all the way out here?! They’re still conducting this experiment?!”

Fei Xia’s mind went blank with a loud buzz.

Human modification…?

That meant the disgusting, acid-spewing monster in front of them had once been… one of those missing children?

In the instant Fei Xia was dazed by shock—

“Roar—!!”

A sudden change occurred on the battlefield ahead.

The Slime seemed to have been provoked. 

It violently contracted its body like a compressed cannonball, bypassing Qinghai Starlight’s light shield, and pounced toward the weakly defended Fei Xia and the mad woman.

“Get away from them!!”

A sharp cry rang throughout the underground platform.

Qinghai Starlight hadn’t heard what Snowball had just told Fei Xia.

In her eyes, this was a ferocious monster trying to harm civilians and her junior.

As a senior and a protector, she had to act.

Without any hesitation.

The magic staff in Qinghai Starlight’s hand erupted with brilliant blue light—the strongest single-target attack she could muster by overexerting her magic power.

Whoosh—!

A spear-like blue energy beam tore through the air with terrifying speed, striking first despite being launched later. 

It pierced straight through the center of the green slime.

Squish!

Like a hot knife cutting through butter.

The massive impact carried destructive high temperature, instantly carving a charred black hole in the center of the Slime’s body.

Thud.

The Slime slammed heavily onto the ground and slid back several meters, leaving a scorched, foul-smelling trail.

Its massive body began to rapidly collapse and disintegrate. Murky liquid gushed out from the large hole like blood.

It wasn’t completely dead. 

Out of biological instinct, it curled up in fear, trembling as it tried to crawl backward, attempting to escape the glowing woman who had hurt it.

Qinghai Starlight panted lightly, her hand holding the staff still trembling slightly.

‘Is it over…’

She was about to step forward and deliver the finishing blow to completely eliminate the threat.

At that moment—

“No!!!!”

A heart-wrenching cry of grief exploded behind her.

The mad woman, who had been held down, suddenly burst forth with an unnatural surge of strength.

It was a mother’s instinct.

She violently broke free from Fei Xia’s loosened grip and rushed toward the monster that could melt steel like a moth flying into a flame.

“!!”

Fei Xia reached out to grab her but only caught a scrap of the woman’s torn clothing.

Rip— The fabric tore apart.

Under everyone’s horrified gazes.

The woman threw herself onto the Slime.

She opened her arms without hesitation and hugged the writhing body that continuously secreted strong acid.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle—

The hair-raising sound of corrosion rang out instantly.

Thick white smoke rose as her skin and flesh began to rot and melt upon contact with the slime, exposing white bone.

The pain was undoubtedly on the level of lingchi (death by a thousand cuts).

But she didn’t scream.

She didn’t even furrow her brows.

She simply buried her face deep into the slime, pressing her cheek against the tattered doll missing one eye that floated inside the monster’s body.

On her bloodied, mangled face appeared a gentle, heart-wrenching smile.

“I’m sorry… Baobao…”

The woman’s voice was hoarse and broken, her throat already damaged by the acid fumes, yet filled with endless love and relief:

“Mommy came too late… Mommy shouldn’t have scolded you…”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore… Mommy is holding you… so it won’t hurt anymore…”

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The previously raging Slime suddenly stiffened.

Its murky, pus-filled body began to tremble violently.

The floating limbs and toys inside it seemed to sense something and frantically gathered toward the center, as if trying to piece themselves back together.

Gurgle… gurgle…

A twisted, blurry human face appeared on the Slime’s surface.

It struggled to move, opening a gap and producing a hoarse, unclear human voice—not a monster’s roar, but something resembling vocal cord friction.

“Mom… my…”

“…missed you…”

It was human language.

It was a child’s tender voice.

The next second.

The massive slime, still in its monstrous form, deflated like a punctured ball. 

Or perhaps it had finally let go of the painful obsession that had kept it going.

It stopped all attacking movements and even voluntarily withdrew the acid from its surface.

It simply allowed itself to collapse, turning into a non-aggressive, warm liquid that gently enveloped the woman whose body was already mangled beyond recognition.

The violent, malicious magic power reaction that had filled the air extinguished like a candle in the wind.

It… or rather, he.

Was dead.

In his mother’s arms, he finally lost all signs of life.

If one ignored the mess and horror on the ground.

It looked as if a child who had gotten lost outside and been hurt had, after countless hardships, finally struggled back into his mother’s embrace and fallen into a peaceful sleep.

Good night… my child.

Sweet dreams… my precious Baobao.