Chapter 140: Mom

"Rest easy. Consciousness hedging is only prone to failure the first time. We have it under control now, so you don't need to worry," said the three children. "As long as we don't stray too far from it, we can maintain relative control over it."

"Relative control?" Liu Chang asked, puzzled.

"Yes, relative control. Because we can only interfere with its thoughts; we cannot truly replace its own consciousness—after all, the brain is still its own," the eldest of the three children explained. "No matter how simple-minded it is, that brain belongs to it, and it follows the will of that brain. We can only impose a very strong interference, but we cannot truly take over."

"And what kind of interference have you given it now?" Liu Chang asked.

"We told it that we are its kind," the eldest replied.

"And its mother," the youngest added.

"So many mothers?" Liu Chang pointed at the three of them.

"Yes," the second child nodded.

***

Back at the camp.

"They've been gone for so long. Could something have happened?" Mo Sanpang asked, worriedly guarding the campfire.

"It's fine. None of the four of them are emitting the scent of blood or the stench of a corpse. There's no green rot," He Zhizhi said, sniffing the air. "They aren't dead, or even injured."

"That's good," Mo Sanpang nodded.

"But what I find strange is that the creature with the heavy medicinal smell is also fine. And judging by how intermingled their scents are, the five of them are very close," He Zhizhi frowned. "What's even more baffling is that all four people and the insect have stopped moving."

"What's going on?" Qing Yin asked. "Are they in a standoff?"

"Perhaps," He Zhizhi had just nodded when she suddenly became alert. "No, they're moving. All five of them are heading this way."

"They're coming!" As soon as He Zhizhi spoke, the little girl on the other side also issued a warning. "They're moving fast, and the five life signs are almost overlapping."

"What is this?" Mo Sanpang's palms broke into a sweat upon hearing them. "Is the monster coming?"

"It's coming. Regardless, let's retreat first." No sooner had they said this than they immediately fled the spot. Just minutes after they left, a massive head pushed into the area, its body illuminated by the glow of the campfire.

***

"They ran away," Liu Chang said, smelling the air. "They must have been scared off. I'll go bring them back."

"Okay," the three children nodded. "How many people in the team have early warning systems?"

"Three," Liu Chang finished, then disappeared from the centipede's back.

Twelve minutes later.

Mo Sanpang:

"Holy crap! Oh my god! No way!" Mo Sanpang circled the giant centipede, exclaiming, "This is too awesome! How did you do this? How is it so obedient?"

As he spoke, Mo Sanpang gave the centipede's thick leg a hard pat.

"This one leg is as thick as my waist, and it has so many of them! How did you manage this? Didn't they say the red mist affects a creature's free will, making them hard to tame?" After a few pats, the centipede's leg wasn't enough, so he kicked its carapace twice.

*Clang! Clang!*

The two crisp sounds successfully caught the attention of the behemoth. Feeling the impact on its body, its train-like torso suddenly twisted, aiming its massive head directly at the fat man.

"Ah!" Seeing that gargantuan, ferocious head, the fat man let out a scream and collapsed onto the ground in terror.

"Don't provoke it. It thinks of us as its mother, but it only sees you as its own kind. While it generally won't hurt you, don't provoke it too much," the eldest child said, sliding off the centipede's back like a playground slide and landing on the ground.

"You should have said so sooner." The fat man stood up and spoke to the centipede in a tone used for his own kind. "Haha, don't be angry, buddy! I was just playing!"

The centipede heard the fat man, and though it was unclear if it understood, it did indeed turn its head away.

"Oh wow, this thing isn't stupid! It can understand what I'm saying," the fat man said, pleasantly surprised.

"Is there any creature left in this world that is truly stupid?" the second child also slid down from the centipede's back. "But this guy really isn't clever; it's just not stupid. It probably didn't understand your words; it just sensed your emotions."

"But with this big guy keeping watch, Liu Chang can finally sleep peacefully tonight," the third child hopped off the centipede, stumbling slightly. "You haven't slept soundly in days, have you?"

"Yeah, half-asleep and half-awake. It drains your mental energy," Liu Chang said, wearily dragging his sleeping bag over and leaning against the centipede's flank. "I'm going to sleep. It doesn't smell great here, but it should be safe."

After saying this, Liu Chang closed his eyes and fell asleep within seconds—he was truly exhausted.

Xiao Jing looked at him, said nothing, and followed suit, pulling a sleeping bag over to lean against the giant centipede.

He Zhizhi seemed a bit afraid of the creature and didn't dare to get close, so she walked back to her original spot to sleep.

Sanpang did the same.

Before long, everyone in Liu Chang's team, including the three children, was asleep beside the centipede, leaving only Qing Yin and her group of three and a half looking over.

The three and a half people, regardless of age, were all shocked.

Especially Qing Yin.

When she first met Liu Chang, her initial feeling was that he and his team were very special, but she never imagined they possessed such strength.

From their days of traveling and their weapons, she had felt from the very first day that her judgment was correct—this team was extraordinary.

But that alone wasn't enough to shock her.

The first thing that truly shocked her was that they knew the specific situation in Zhengzhou, and they seemed to understand Li Qingshui with a thoroughness that went to the bone—not something a casual acquaintance could compare to, as could be judged by their subsequent reactions.

And once she knew that, the shocks came one after another—their early warnings about danger, their digital analysis of threats—all of this was already mind-blowing. Even more terrifying was that the man had taken three children out for a stroll and returned having tamed that horrific monster.

To the average person, this was absolutely contrary to common sense and unscientific.

Yet the facts were right before her eyes. Common sense could not defeat facts, so she could only accept it all with a sense of disbelief. At the same time, she felt even more convinced of her own judgment.

When things are abnormal, there must be a demon, and the demons were right there among these people. Qing Yin watched Liu Chang and the others asleep, pondering their wonders while calculating her own gains.

"It's good to rest in the shade of a big tree; only a fool wouldn't take advantage of a good thing." (To be continued)