Leonora spoke for a long time without getting a response from Shiya.
She raised an eyebrow and followed Shiya’s gaze, only then realizing that she herself was already wide open.
In an instant, Leonora clamped her legs together, her earlobes turning bright red.
Her tone was fierce.
“Pervert! How dare you look at my… my…!”
Shiya felt both her kidneys were in danger.
She could only gently pat Leonora’s black-stockinged thigh, repeatedly begging for mercy and admitting defeat.
“I didn’t do it on purpose, Miss.”
The two girls tussled for a while longer, until Leonora saw a flush spread across Shiya’s face as well.
Only then did she nod in satisfaction and let her go.
But just as she was about to speak, Leonora felt a searing, stabbing pain in her internal organs as if they were being burned.
She grunted and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The last bit of strength she had mustered instantly withered.
Leonora’s entire body went limp, and her voice became weak and feeble.
“I’m seriously injured. I’m afraid I can’t keep going anymore.”
The slight smile on Shiya’s face instantly froze solid.
She understood what Leonora meant.
Losing the most basic ability to move in such a dangerous place meant becoming a lamb waiting for slaughter for the Mud Men.
Could she carry Leonora on her back?
Shiya quickly dismissed that idea.
That was clearly even more impossible.
If the Mud Men caught up, waiting for them would be undisputed death.
Leonora wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, lowered her head, her maple-red hair obscuring her face, making her expression unreadable.
“But it’s okay. My father… might have already realized I’m missing. The Duke’s guards will probably arrive soon.”
But even Shiya could hear how little confidence Leonora had when she said this.
This time, Shiya was silent for an unusually long time.
Only after a long while did she speak quietly.
“Miss, can you make me a self-defense Flame Talisman?”
“You’re going to look for a way out by yourself?”
Leonora saw through Shiya’s intention immediately.
Shiya nodded slowly but firmly.
“Please.”
Leonora pressed her lips together, her voice growing even drier.
“Then put me down first.”
While Leonora was creating the Flame Talisman, Shiya wasn’t idle either.
She found the hospital layout map in the records room.
With just a glance, she located the position of the hospital’s other exit.
Sensing Leonora’s gaze on her, she quickly averted her eyes.
“Here.”
Leonora handed over a gold ring engraved with a crimson talisman.
Shiya took the gold ring, looking at the young lady’s extremely solemn yet overly awkward expression.
She suddenly felt the weight of this ring become much heavier.
“Miss, to activate this… it wouldn’t need to be worn on the…”
Leonora turned her head away, fingers twisting a few strands of her hair, a slight curve lifting the corner of her lips.
“If you insist on wearing the ring I gave you on your ring finger, no one’s stopping you.”
Noticing the smile on the young lady’s face, Shiya put her hands on her hips and huffed.
“That won’t do. I’m going to be Miss Elena’s bride. Don’t you dare get any ideas, you~”
Her intention was just to act like an obsessed girl, tease the young lady a bit, and lighten the heavy atmosphere before parting.
But Leonora’s eyes instantly reddened, and she bit her lip tightly.
Shiya panicked, taking a few steps forward and placing her hand gently on Leonora’s slender shoulder.
“Miss, I was just joking…”
But Leonora sharply slapped her hand away, lifting her chin.
“What does that have to do with me? Hurry up and go find a way out now. Don’t bother me.”
Shiya silently lowered her head and gently slipped the ring onto her ring finger.
She could sense Leonora’s tough exterior hiding a soft heart, and that hint of fragility buried deep within.
“Miss, you’ll definitely be okay.”
Shiya didn’t dare look at Leonora’s beautiful pale red eyes anymore.
She turned and quickly walked away, almost like she was fleeing in defeat.
And Leonora stared blankly at Shiya’s resolutely retreating back.
Unbeknownst to her, she had already raised her staff, aiming it at the completely defenseless Shiya.
Actually, earlier when she was treating Shiya’s wounds, Leonora had secretly slipped the last life-saving Flame Crystal into Shiya’s coat pocket.
All just so this powerless idiot wouldn’t die easily.
But now, reason told Leonora she should use her staff to blast the legs off this heartless woman who was abandoning her.
Then take that Flame Crystal back, and hold out as long as possible until her father’s guards arrived to rescue her.
But in the end, the hand holding the staff fell weakly.
Leonora simply tilted her face up, empty eyes staring at the ceiling, imagining in what manner the perhaps imminent death outcome would present itself.
At the very least, this was the path Shiya chose for herself.
Whether she lived or died had nothing to do with her anymore.
Shiya closed the records room door behind her and let out a long exhale.
Actually, she had deceived Leonora a little.
Shiya had no intention of looking for any exit.
Instead, she had decided to take a complete risk and go all out.
Just now, when Leonora suggested waiting for rescue on the spot, Shiya had been tempted for a brief moment.
But reason and experience told her that as the Mud Men gained complete control of this hospital building, finding them was only a matter of time.
Even if Shiya didn’t know this, she wouldn’t pin her hopes of survival on the enemy’s negligence, or even on their mercy.
She had to find that slim chance of survival, to go home and see Xiao Mei.
Leonora’s suggestion was ultimately just a beautiful fantasy.
Perhaps even she herself believed that deep down.
As for why Shiya didn’t tell Leonora about her decision?
Perhaps the girl just didn’t want the injured young lady to worry.
That was all.
Shifting her gaze, Shiya saw the fire axe hanging on the wall and got an idea.
She strode forward, clenched her fist, and punched the glass cabinet.
The glass pane didn’t budge.
Instead, her hand hurt so much it went numb and twitched.
Shiya’s face flushed bright red instantly.
She crouched down, rubbing her sore fingertips.
She wanted to complain a bit but felt too ashamed.
But right then, the magic ring on her ring finger emitted a faint, glowing light.
Following her will, it shot out a small flame, melting the simple lock on the fire axe cabinet.
Successfully grabbing the fire axe, Shiya walked quickly down the corridor.
Confirming she was getting closer to her destination,
She placed the fire axe horizontally on the iron bars of a nearby window and started to jog.
Clang clang clang clang clang—
A continuous, dense series of metal collisions instantly erupted on the hospital’s first floor, spreading at an extremely fast speed.
This would undoubtedly attract any Mud Men still hunting.
Fortunately, the equipment room door wasn’t locked.
Shiya easily pushed it open.
By the faint light emitted from the magic ring, she quickly found what she was looking for: storage tanks labeled with the emergency freezing magic, Liquid Nitrogen.
And right at that moment, a wave of black sludge poured directly into the equipment room.
Shiya, wearing women’s sandals, found her entire ankles immersed in this layer of sticky, foul, disgusting liquid.
Shiya didn’t care about that now.
She raised the axe and brought it down hard on the storage tank!
A crisp clanging sound rang out.
From the recoil, Shiya staggered back a step.
Enduring the reverberating shock traveling up her arm, Shiya gritted her teeth and raised the axe to strike again.
This time, the sound of the axe strike didn’t come, because a heavy footstep squelching into the murky sludge completely covered it, making Shiya’s heart tremble along with it.
The already cramped equipment room, under the cover of this shadow, plunged entirely into an unsettling darkness.
The Mud Man had silently appeared behind her.
But by then, Shiya had only managed to chip a small opening in the storage tank’s outer shell.
This completely declared her laughable plan a total failure.
Was that it?
A black mud spike carrying an aura of calamity instantly stabbed toward Shiya.
But she dodged aside as if she had anticipated it.
Even so, her ordinary human physique made Shiya a beat too slow.
A bloody gash was opened on her side.
The expected outcome didn’t happen.
As a flame barrier appeared to block the attack for Shiya, the magic ring on her ring finger shattered with a sound.
Shiya felt bitter inside.
Her only trump card was gone just like that.
Miss, the thing you gave me isn’t very durable.
But Shiya’s goal had already been achieved.
Glancing behind her, she saw that several of the liquid nitrogen storage tanks had been cleanly severed at the waist by the Mud Man itself.
A massive amount of liquid nitrogen gas instantly spread throughout the equipment room, transforming the space into a pure white world of ice and snow.
A thin layer of white frost gradually covered the black sludge on the ground.
The Mud Man wasn’t a complete fool either.
Realizing something was wrong, it tried to retreat from the room.
But things had gone this far.
How could Shiya let it have its way?
The girl reversed her offensive, charging toward the retreat-minded Mud Man, using the axe handle to lock horizontally around its throat.
But such resistance was futile.
As the fire axe snapped in two, the Mud Man seized Shiya’s arm and slammed her hard onto the ground.
Her internal organs felt crushed, and several ribs seemed broken.
But strangely, Shiya didn’t fall into a near-death state because of it.
Something in her coat pocket seemed to be continuously emitting heat, infusing her with vitality and repairing her body.
Seeing the troublesome insect stop moving, the Mud Man intended to turn and leave, but Shiya once again wrapped her arms around its legs, holding on for dear life.
For the first time, Shiya saw an emotion called anger on the Mud Man’s featureless face.
And she was soon lifted into the air by a black mud tentacle wrapped around her neck.
The powerful force almost suffocated Shiya.
Her slender neck began to twist and deform.
Faintly, Shiya could even hear the agonized creaking of bones and vertebrae grinding together.
And just as the Mud Man was about to easily snap the girl’s neck, the black mud tentacle, now covered in ice crystals, snapped off cleanly at the root.
It fell to the ground, shattering into countless pieces.
New injuries piled on old ones.
Shiya collapsed on the ground, coughing violently, spitting out a large mouthful of blood.
Faced with such a frail and weak girl, the Mud Man momentarily couldn’t move.
Its entire body was encased in the overflowing liquid nitrogen, transformed into a pitch-black,ferocious ice sculpture.
The threat was completely dealt with, but Shiya’s condition was terrible.
In her pocket, the Flame Crystal that had been supplying heat and vitality to her entire body had long since extinguished and shattered.
Shiya exhaled a puff of white mist.
She could feel that in this near minus two hundred degree Celsius cold, the accumulated bloody froth in her throat had already turned into red ice blocks, completely blocking her breathing.
Darkness swam before her eyes.
Faintly, it seemed like a life-flash montage was playing.
In her memory, it was Xiao Mei just out of the bath, damp hair clinging to her ears.
She was just wrapped in a towel, her fragrant, soft feet swaying on the mattress.
Then, Xiao Mei gave her a radiant smile, beckoning, signaling for Shiya to climb onto the bed.
Even though she knew nothing would happen, Shiya’s heart still beat uncontrollably, thump thump thump wildly.
A faint warmth also spread from her lower abdomen.
But right then, the young lady with an unfriendly expression appeared before her, looking at her with the eyes one would use to look at a dead little sister-obsessed creep, social trash.
Shiya panicked for a moment, then showed a bitter smile.
Miss, I’m just thinking about it in my dreams when I’m about to die.
Do you have to come out and scare me even now?
But then, she felt someone poke her cheek hard.