TFRLTOP Chapter 81 Part 2

The forest teemed with mutant birds and beasts. The ability users stood at the perimeter, taking advantage of the infighting to clear out the smaller ones, until only the massive arthropod remained.

From her perch, Ming Ming could clearly see its size—it looked mostly like a centipede, but its back half resembled a mantis or a grasshopper. It occasionally reared upright, letting out a harsh, rasping roar.

Guan Yi swung between trees on his tendrils, seizing the right moments to toss bombs into its gaping mouth—several times nearly being swallowed whole. Ming Ming watched with her heart in her throat.

An Ning sat on a branch across from her, one hand writing in a notebook while keeping an eye on the battle.

Water- and lightning-type users worked together—Li Hua fired a jet of water, and when it connected with the creature, the lightning user sent a bolt surging through it, creating a continuous electric shock.

Seeing an opening, Ming Ming rolled a mushroom bomb in the opposite direction to distract it.

The monster was caught between attacks, confused and thrashing—but it had yet to take any real damage.

Guan Yi swung across its front and tossed the last bomb straight into its mouth.

Then he shouted, “Fall back!”

He turned toward Ming Ming and made a signal. She immediately understood, triggering the bombs inside the creature.

A series of muffled explosions followed. The giant arthropod reared its upper body and let out an ear-piercing shriek. Ming Ming finally saw its face clearly.

The scouts had been right—
It really was a giant slug.

Oh, hell no! So disgusting!

But even though the bombs had detonated inside its body, it didn’t seem badly hurt. The expected “explode-into-pieces” moment never came.

Everyone’s hearts sank.

Guan Yi gestured quickly, signaling a change in tactics.

Metal-type users launched huge steel spikes that pierced the creature’s legs, trying to pin it to the ground. It screamed, its long body writhing violently.

Ming Ming’s hands clenched around the branch, her gaze fixed on Guan Yi.

Then, he did something reckless. He extended his tendrils, wrapping them tightly around the monster’s body, coiling again and again until it couldn’t move. Ming Ming didn’t understand what he was planning—until she noticed the other ability users suddenly pulling back.

“What’s he doing?” she whispered, panic rising.

Then Guan Yi turned and shouted, “Bai He!”

Ming Ming instantly realized what he meant.

No—if he was doing that, then…!

She hesitated.

“Now!” he shouted again.

Without another thought, Ming Ming acted. She threw down an early-model mushroom bomb and guided it to roll in front of him.

I have to trust him, she told herself. He’s the captain. I follow orders—for the team.

She couldn’t think beyond that—just stared at him, tense and terrified.

Guan Yi caught the bomb with a tendril, waited for the right moment, and shoved it straight into the monster’s mouth. Then he began to pull back.

The instant his last tendril snapped free, he shouted, “Detonate!”

Ming Ming hit the key.

The explosion swallowed his voice.

The blast tore the creature apart, black smoke billowing into the air.

“Guan Yi!!!” Ming Ming screamed. The shockwave slammed into her, nearly knocking her off the tree. She clung to the trunk, shielding her face as sticky fluid splattered across her body.

“Guan Yi…” she called hoarsely, eyes burning from the smoke as she tried to see through the haze.

“Bai He! You okay?!”

His voice came from the smoke. Her eyes stung, and tears spilled instantly.

Thank god… thank god…

As the haze lifted, she tried to wipe her face—only to find her arms and clothes coated in grayish-brown slime.

It looked… like slug guts.

Oh my god!

Her face twisted in horror, and she completely lost it.

This is so gross! So damn disgusting!!!

Other ability users had managed to retreat in time, but even they were hit by the blast wave, covered in filth and staggering. Guan Yi, being closest, was utterly drenched—so disgusting that no one could look directly at him.

And when he approached Ming Ming to help her down from the tree, she screamed bloody murder—

“Don’t come near me! Stay away! Ahhh! Get away from me!!”

Guan Yi froze.

Damn. My wife’s disgusted by me. That hurts.

He looked genuinely dejected. Maybe, he thought, if he acted pitiful enough, she’d soften up.

But the truth was—she couldn’t even see his expression through all that slime.

So, in the end, he had no choice but to use a clean tendril to carefully lower her to the ground.

The second she landed, she bolted eight feet away from him.

Great.

At moments like this, the water-type user became the most popular man alive.

Everyone swarmed around Li Hua, begging for water to wash off.

Why not use a river? Because the rivers were filled with mutant creatures. No one dared go near them—or drink from them.

Guan Yi, being the dirtiest, was first in line.

Fortunately, he had spare clothes. After he washed up and changed, he fetched some more water and brought it to Ming Ming.

He led her deeper into the woods.

“Where’s the water?” she asked, eyeing his empty hands.

“Take off your clothes first,” he said.

Ming Ming immediately crossed her arms over her chest. “Give me the water—I’ll wash myself.”

He spread his hands. “Can’t. I have to be here.”

“Why?!” she demanded.

He lifted a tendril. At the tip, the suction cup opened—and began to spray water like a showerhead.

Ming Ming stared. “…Seriously? You can do that?!”

“See? Without me, how would you wash?”

“I… you—” she spluttered, too flustered to swear. “Fine! But turn around!”

“I’ve seen it all before,” he teased, then straightened his face. “Anyway, water’s precious. Don’t waste it.”

He held the “shower” over her head, and within seconds she was soaked. Reluctantly, she stripped off her filthy clothes.

Guan Yi took off his own shirt too—claiming it was just so it wouldn’t get wet.

“Don’t you dare take advantage,” she warned stiffly.

But to her surprise, he behaved like a perfect gentleman, carefully helping her wash away every trace of grime.

Water trickled down her neck, and Guan Yi’s fingers traced lightly from her temple to her collarbone, then tilted her chin up. “You were scared, weren’t you? I heard you calling for me.”

His voice was low and rough, carrying warmth and reassurance. Ming Ming’s eyes welled up. She rose on her toes and kissed him.

They kissed deeply beneath the falling water, emotions spilling over in the aftermath of danger.

When they finally pulled apart, Guan Yi wrapped his arms around her. “Hold your legs together—let me warm you up a little.”

Ming Ming shot him a look, half angry, half flustered. “Now you’re not worried about wasting water?”

He kissed her neck, murmuring, “This doesn’t count as waste. It’s… exclusive treatment.”

“Smooth talker,” she muttered, though her voice softened.

By the time they returned to camp, both were freshly changed—though Ming Ming refused to walk beside him, her face still flushed.

Up ahead, she spotted An Ning sitting beside Li Hua, patting his shoulder sympathetically as he stared blankly into space.

A few others approached him, trying to ask something—but Li Hua just curled up under a tree, clutching his arms and wailing in despair:

“It’s gone! Every last drop! There’s no water left!!”

Ming Ming: “…”
Guan Yi: “…”