The Natives of This World Are Fierce

"Doudou! Look what you’ve done!"

Su Su glared at him angrily, quickly brushing the fruit pulp off her hands before using her foot to hook the fruit basket from Doudou’s side over to her own.

"What are you doing! I’m your senior!"

Doudou protested Su Su’s disgusted behavior, waving his tiny, non-threatening fists before jumping over to snatch the basket back.

This horseplay added a lot of life to the cold hospital room. Qin Xiaoxia didn’t stop them, and it only ended when Jenny arrived with lunch.

Her Mentor was from Hua Country, and Jenny had heard it was popular there to bring delicious homemade food to hospitalized friends and family, so she decided to do the same.

The food Jenny had brought yesterday was quite good, which made Qin Xiaoxia, Doudou, and the newly-turned-foodie Su Su look forward to lunch with some anticipation.

Perhaps because Su Su’s Magic Power had awakened so gently, or perhaps due to a lack of certain conditions or her power not reaching a certain threshold, her physical "Elfification" was slow to manifest. However, her appetite and strength were slowly increasing, and it was hard to say if this was just how the gentle transition would proceed.

Susan’s cooking was undoubtedly top-tier among American housewives. There were all sorts of meat cutlets, thick soups, and pastries. The bread was well-baked, and with the addition of a chilled salad, she had even managed a good balance of meat and vegetables.

The two big eaters, plus Su Su with her surging appetite, wiped clean the several large boxes of lunch Jenny had brought—enough food for a party.

Well, not *all* the dishes were eaten. One dish, packed in an exquisite glass container, was a dark, unappetizing mess that no one had touched.

The thing looked exactly like the disastrous concoctions Doudou cooked up himself, and none of the three present had any desire to try it.

Jenny looked dejectedly at the untouched "exquisite dish" as she packed up the containers. Su Su, helping her, didn’t forget to pat her back comfortingly.

After Su Su left with Jenny to take out the trash, Qin Xiaoxia nudged Doudou, who was resting on the side of the bed.

"Is that strange whip still hot?"

For more than a day after the battle, the strange whip, though no longer burning, had maintained a certain warmth.

This made Qin Xiaoxia worry that it would be picked up by the Americans’ heat detectors, so he had Doudou constantly urge the Demon Vine to drag the long whip as deep underground as possible.

But although the Demon Vine was a premium specimen bred by a Tree Shepherd, it was ultimately just a young plant forced to grow from a new seed with Magic Power. Even with the help of his wish-granting power, it was still quite fragile, especially since the Flame Demon’s whip was practically its natural enemy.

As a result, most of the Demon Vine’s tendrils were carbonized while carrying out its orders. If the Tree Shepherd hadn’t branded it to its very core, a wild-caught Demon Vine would have likely run away long ago.

"It seems to have cooled down. It’s a dead thing, after all. Without an Ancient Demon’s Magic Power, it can’t cause any trouble!"

At this, Doudou grew excited again.

"You’re my idol! You actually killed a Mogalons Ancient Demon—a creature thought to be extinct!"

Doudou gesticulated wildly, describing the Ancient Demon’s terror, then exaggeratedly embellished his own admiration, and finally suggested they celebrate with a grand feast when they returned to the country.

"Celebrate? Heh. Doudou, there’s something I haven’t told you. The Shadow of the Red Demoness has been shattered."

Hearing this, Doudou froze.

He couldn’t put a name to the feeling in his heart. He wanted to say that Qin Xiaoxia must be joking, but seeing his expression, Doudou found he couldn’t get the words out.

’The Shadow of the Secret Realm... the one who always stared blankly at the Statue of Comir, the one who often followed me and Qin Xiaoxia around like a listless shadow... is "dead"?’

"Then... who’s going to protect me when I’m forging Gold Coins..."

After a long moment, Doudou weakly managed to squeeze out the sentence. He had never felt this kind of pain before.

Qin Xiaoxia was actually quite dejected himself.

But more than the emotional loss, he was pained by what this meant for his Secret Realm.

Having lost the Shadow of the Secret Realm, its crucial core, it was a stroke of luck that the Secret Realm back in Qingzhen hadn’t shattered outright—a benefit from the reinforcement during the strange phenomenon of the Statue of Comir’s transformation. But from now on, it would likely lose most of its wondrous power.

For example, its elasticity for expansion would disappear, permanently fixing it to that small area at the Qingzhen association. Its defensive capabilities would also be greatly reduced, and he would lose the ability to remotely borrow the Secret Realm’s Power through Technique Arrays.

With the Shadow of the Red Demoness gone, the Sea Siren’s illusory and bewitching abilities, such as hallucinations and phantom sounds, would also vanish. This cut off a significant number of convenient functions Qin Xiaoxia had grown accustomed to.

Furthermore, the impact on Qin Xiaoxia’s subsequent "Secret Realm Ring" plan was fatal.

To have possessed such an outstanding Secret Realm was simply a stroke of heaven-sent luck. Based on his own true abilities, he could have only created a temporary, shoddy version.

Without this Secret Realm, his other planned branch-realms would be like duckweed without roots. Even long-term maintenance of the original would be a problem, let alone creating a network between them.

In a word: he was vexed.

When Su Su and Jenny returned, they found the atmosphere in the hospital room had become oppressive.

Doudou was unusually sullen, ignoring them even when they offered him fruit.

...

Elsewhere, other areas of Saint Louis City had mostly returned to normal operations, but the same could not be said for the former quarantine zone in the Bevo Community.

The official story, of course, was that the quarantine for the pathogen had not yet been lifted and that meteorite fragments still needed to be cleared, so the area remained under lockdown.

"Careful, careful, slow down, even slower!"

A crane operator maneuvered the mechanical arm, slowly approaching the target under the guidance of the personnel below. It gently grabbed a section of grayish-black rock and slowly placed it into a transport truck with its top open.

Throughout the process, a constant stream of what looked like stone dust and ash fell from it.

After just over a day, this once-unstoppable behemoth had become fragile, as brittle as a rock weathered for countless years.

Norton stood watching from a short distance away. Two or three days of stubble made his usually handsome face look a bit scruffy, but it also added a touch of ruggedness.

"Sir, the detailed analysis results for the first batch of samples are in."

"Let me see!"

Taking the report from his subordinate, Norton’s brow furrowed as he read through it, occasionally glancing up at the monster’s corpse.

The data was not much different from that of some volcanic rocks, even being mixed with substances resembling shale and limestone. Although there were some things suspected to be off the periodic table, the results were far from what they had imagined.

"Sir, should we report this to the Department of Defense as is?"

Norton waved his hand, stretched his limbs, and made a beautiful sprinting kick, sending a small pebble flying toward the Flame Demon’s corpse.

"Heh! Bullseye!"

"I’m heading to Washington immediately to report to the Secretary in person and request a meeting with the President. I’m leaving things here in your hands."

’After this incident, who would dare block the construction proposal that’s been stalled for so long!’

...

Back in Qingzhen, Mumu had been guarding the edge of the wavering Secret Realm for nearly two days.

All of its Thorns were suffused with Magic Power fluctuations, having already gripped multiple corners of the Crystal Forest from underground.

If the Secret Realm truly shattered, it would immediately drag the exposed Magic Energy Crystal Vein underground. The goal was to delay for as long as possible; if things got truly desperate, it would have to just take the core of the motherlode.

Thankfully, after a period of this precarious instability, things finally stabilized. Although it was much weaker, at least it was no longer like a bubble that would pop at the slightest touch.

To be honest, it already had some psychological trauma regarding the little creatures of this world called humans. It really didn’t want to face the "firearms" Doudou had mentioned.

’There’s supposedly another thing called "nuclear weapons" that can destroy continents. It couldn’t imagine why this damned, violent species would create something so terrifying. Could it be that they had natural enemies in this world?’

Now, it retracted its thorny branches and emerged from beneath the Crystal Vein, preparing to take a rest.

’Basking in the sunlight... what a luxurious indulgence this was in the former Dark Realm.’

’The core of the Secret Realm is gone now. I wonder if I can sneak out to play.’

Suddenly, a "CLANG~" echoed from within the building.

It made Mumu tense all of its spikes in an instant.

There was no wind in the Secret Realm, and aside from a few pitiful rabbits Doudou was raising, there were no other small animals.

’Could there be something else here besides me?’

’It was hard to imagine what could have deceived it, deceived the former Shadow of the Red Demoness, and even deceived its master to pass through the Secret Realm without a sound!’

"BANG~"

Another sudden sound made Mumu’s branches tremble.

’It must be the rabbits that got out, it must be! I’m a Tree Shepherd, I’m an Elf! I’m not afraid of anything!’

For some reason, all the various horror and thriller movies it had shamelessly binged with Doudou on his tablet suddenly flooded its mind, complete with a self-supplied horror movie soundtrack.

’OMG! Mumu, are you trying to scare yourself?!’