The voice was unfamiliar, but Yunyang could hear it.
She wanted to respond, but the sounds she made couldn't reach the outside.
Upon realizing this, Yunyang paused to think, then tentatively sent out a strand of mental energy to connect with You Lu’s mental energy.
You Lu felt her mental energy and let out a small sigh of relief.
She gently held Yunyang's wrist and continued, "If you can find the Black Flood Dragon in the mental landscape, use your mental energy to approach it and purify it directly."
Yunyang glanced at the Black Flood Dragon, who had been avoiding her.
She wished she could, but the Black Flood Dragon simply wouldn't let its mental energy touch hers.
Still, she couldn't retract her own mental energy right now, so she had no choice but to try the method the female suggested.
"Pei Wenye," she "looked" at the Black Flood Dragon and spoke, "if I don't get your contamination level down, I won't be able to leave this place."
Whether the Black Flood Dragon could understand her, Yunyang didn't know. When she finished speaking, she once again controlled her mental threads to move closer.
This time, the Black Flood Dragon didn't dodge.
The invisible mental threads wrapped around its body. The tip of its tail twitched, and it emitted a very soft "hiss-hiss" sound.
Yunyang was overjoyed and immediately began purifying it.
But before this, she had already wasted nearly half of her mental energy on those black mists.
The remaining half was simply not enough to bring the Black Flood Dragon's contamination level down to below 90.
Outside the mental landscape, because she was standing so close, You Lu could easily see the alarm flashing on Yunyang's optical device.
Lady Yunyang's mental energy was down to only 13%.
But she still hadn't exited the mental landscape, which meant the Black Flood Dragon's contamination level was still very high.
You Lu felt a bit conflicted.
She had come here for her own beast-husbands. If her mental energy was entirely consumed, what if several of her beast-husbands' contamination levels became unstable and went out of control...
But then she remembered that she'd only survived because Yunyang had relayed her message, and she quickly cast the hesitation aside.
She released her mental energy, thread after thread of it winding around the Black Flood Dragon's body like silk.
Without entering the mental landscape, without any physical contact, she still managed to gradually lower the Black Flood Dragon's contamination level.
Fu Shiyi was carefully monitoring the Black Flood Dragon's condition.
Contamination level 92...
91...
90...
The moment the Black Flood Dragon's contamination level dropped to 89, Fu Shiyi pulled an inhibitor from his space button and, without hesitation, jammed it into the soft belly of the Black Flood Dragon.
He was absolutely not taking out his frustrations.
It was just that the Black Flood Dragon's back was covered in scales, and the inhibitor couldn't pierce through them. So he had no choice.
Only when the transparent liquid had been pushed into the Black Flood Dragon's body did You Lu retract her mental energy.
She raised her hand to check the numbers on her optical device.
52%
You Lu breathed a sigh of relief.
Good, it wasn't too low. She should still be able to perform a collective purification on several of her beast-husbands afterward.
After You Lu pulled back her mental energy, Yu Wenxu was the first to walk over, gently steadying her as she stepped back.
Inside the mental landscape, light began to appear hazily in Yunyang's vision.
The Black Flood Dragon raised its head high, rubbing affectionately against her mental threads, its vertical pupils filled with a hint of dependency.
Yunyang was finally able to retract her own mental energy.
She opened her eyes. What came into view was no longer the pitch-black, ruined mental landscape, but the familiar faces of her four beast-husbands.
The massive Black Flood Dragon was still coiled around her, but the crimson in its eyes had faded.
The inhibitor worked quickly. Before long, the Black Flood Dragon slowly transformed back into human form.
Pei Wenye was wearing a set of battle gear stained with blood. His sleeves and hems were torn in several places, and patches of bare, tanned skin were covered in wounds.
Seeing him like this, three words unconsciously surfaced in Yunyang's mind -
Beautiful, strong, and tragic.
The "beautiful, strong, tragic" Black Flood Dragon had suppressed fury pressing down on his brow. The moment he returned to human form, he wrapped an arm around Yunyang's waist and swiftly moved her away from his four love rivals.
Fu Shiyi narrowed his eyes.
Qin Mo gradually formed a question mark in his mind. "Pei Wenye, what do you think you're doing?"
Xuan Yu stared straight at those emerald-green vertical pupils. "You looking for a fight?"
Rong Jin also looked hostile. "What are you doing? Let go of our female master!"
This Black Flood Dragon had nearly hurt their female master the moment he appeared, and now he had the audacity to hold her and move her away from them!
Pei Wenye held Yunyang protectively and swept a cold, dark gaze over his four rivals.
From being out of control for so long, his voice was extremely hoarse when he spoke: "You made our female master bleed."
The moment he had gotten close to her earlier, he'd caught the scent of blood.
At that time, only these four males had been around her, so they must have been the ones who made her bleed.
The four beast-husbands wanted to argue, but then they realized something.
Qin Mo's expression became complicated. "You were... protecting our female master just now?"
He'd heard that snakes not only used constriction to hunt, but also to protect their own.
Pei Wenye nodded matter-of-factly.
She was his female master. Their genetic compatibility was the highest ever recorded in the Federation.
Even if his contamination level was too high and he lost control, he would still protect her by instinct.
The four beast-husbands: "..."
Held in his arms, Yunyang quickly understood what was happening. She was on her period, of course she was bleeding.
But Pei Wenye didn't know that. He thought Qin Mo and the others had hurt her, which was why he'd tried to attack Fu Shiyi earlier.
What a huge misunderstanding.
Yunyang pressed a hand to her forehead, leaned in close to Pei Wenye, and whispered something to him.
Pei Wenye: "..."
Period?
So... he had misunderstood?
The suppressed fury between his brows vanished instantly. He silently let go of Yunyang and apologized to his four love rivals.
Knowing that his motive had been to protect Yunyang, Qin Mo and the others weren't as angry anymore.
With the misunderstanding cleared up, Yunyang pushed Pei Wenye aside and walked toward You Lu, who was surrounded by several males.
She'd never met You Lu before, but besides herself, You Lu was the only female here.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that You Lu had been the one who just helped her.
You Lu was in the middle of hurriedly recovering her mental energy. When she saw Yunyang approaching, she offered a friendly smile.
"Lady Yunyang, hello. I'm You Lu."
Yunyang knew that name, You Lu, all too well.
"Lady You Lu, thank you so much for your help just now." She expressed her gratitude first, then gave You Lu a look of concern. "Has Lady You Lu fully recovered?"
She remembered that in the distress message, You Lu had said she and her beast-husbands had been attacked by an insect race.
"I've already recovered. And I should be thanking you, Lady Yunyang, for relaying my message."
You Lu had taken a particular liking to this radiant female.
She couldn't quite explain why, so she chalked it up to her gratitude toward Yunyang - if it hadn't been for her, You Lu and her beast-husbands would have died on that desolate star from depleted resources.
The two of them exchanged customary pleasantries.
Yunyang asked, "Lady You Lu, how did you end up at the Purification Tower?"
This was also what Jenkins wanted to know. As far as he was aware, he hadn't received any notice that Lady You Lu would be visiting today.
"A few of my beast-husbands have excessively high contamination levels. They were sent here yesterday." You Lu explained briefly, then made to leave. "Lady Yunyang, I need to go find my beast-husbands."
A few...
Yunyang silently glanced at the seven people standing behind You Lu.
Good heavens, that had to be nearly a dozen beast-husbands in total, didn't it?
And she'd thought she was already pushing it.
