After passing through the flooded tunnel again, a glimmer of light shone from the exit ahead—the cold, clear radiance of the moon.
Seeing this, the two quickened their pace and soon reached the tunnel's exit, which connected to another ruined house.
Coming out of the ruined house and feeling the breeze blowing, Lara breathed a sigh of relief; it had been too oppressive down in the tunnel.
"That's great. That damp feeling was really unpleasant."
Lara complained while stomping her feet. The water in the tunnel had soaked her lower body. Fortunately, she didn't have a cleanliness obsession, or she would have surely gone crazy.
But Xia Yu, standing beside her, made a silencing gesture, signaling Lara to listen closely to their surroundings, and whispered.
"Shh, listen. There seem to be sounds around us."
Seeing this, Lara also focused her mind and listened intently. The next moment, intermittent voices reached their ears.
"Samantha?" Hearing a familiar female voice in the conversation, Lara said in surprise.
"That's right, Samantha is nearby." Xia Yu pulled Lara toward the source of the sound; he had already sensed where the conversation was coming from.
After walking along the path for a while, a stone staircase appeared before them. It was built from natural stones, and the intermittent conversation became clearer and clearer.
Before long, an orange firelight appeared ahead. The two cautiously stepped forward and, following the light, discovered Samantha talking to an unknown stranger.
"Samantha?"
Samantha, who was still speaking, looked up when she heard someone call her name and saw that it was her companions.
"Lara, Xia Yu, you survived!"
Samantha stood up in surprise to greet them. The stranger beside her also stood up with the help of a cane. He was a middle-aged man in his late fifties with a buzz cut and a somewhat cold expression.
Seeing that her companions seemed wary of the middle-aged man, Samantha hurriedly explained, "It's okay, he's one of us."
"I'm sorry for startling you," the middle-aged man explained. "This place makes everyone jittery. We just spoke with your crew members; they're on their way over."
Samantha also gestured to Lara toward her injured foot and said, "Look, he helped bandage my foot, so he's a good person."
Hearing this, Xia Yu rolled his eyes inwardly. He hadn't realized before how naive Samantha was. He could probably trick a girl like her a dozen times.
The middle-aged man walked toward Xia Yu and Lara with his cane, explaining gently.
"I can only do this little bit to help. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Matthias, and I'm a teacher."
As he spoke, Matthias extended his dirty hand, attempting to shake hands with Lara.
Lara hesitated and was about to shake it, but Xia Yu stepped forward and shook Matthias's hand first.
"Hello, hello. I'm Xia Yu, and this is Lara. We are both Samantha's companions."
Matthias looked at the kind-looking young man in front of him. Although he found it a bit strange why the other party was smiling so happily, he also smiled gently.
"Hello, nice to meet you."
After greeting them, Matthias tried to pull his hand away, only to find that Xia Yu had no intention of letting go. He looked at the young man with some confusion.
Lara also noticed Xia Yu's strange behavior, but before either of them could ask a question, Xia Yu spoke first.
"Mr. Matthias, I feel like we're old friends meeting for the first time. Why don't we leave the ladies some space and go over there for a chat, just the two of us men?"
Hearing this, Matthias's expression froze. Just as he was about to ask a question, Xia Yu had already pulled him toward a nearby small grove.
"Lara, you chat with Samantha first. I'll go have a private talk with Mr. Matthias. Don't worry, I'm sure Mr. Matthias won't refuse."
Swept along by the momentum, Matthias glanced at Samantha and decided to play along for now. So, he spoke kindly.
"Mr. Xia Yu is quite enthusiastic. Then I shall humbly accept. I happen to want to know what Mr. Xia Yu wishes to discuss with me."
With that, his figure was pulled into the dark woods by Xia Yu. Lara looked at where they had gone with some concern, but she didn't follow to ask, because she trusted Xia Yu.
Thus, Lara sat down next to Samantha and asked her about Matthias.
On the other side, inside the woods.
After dragging Matthias to a relatively distant part of the woods, Xia Yu let go of him.
Matthias scanned his surroundings warily, then pressed the pistol hidden at his waist before speaking.
"So, Mr. Xia Yu, what is it that you wanted to see me about privately?"
Xia Yu still wore a smiling expression as he spoke politely, "Mr. Matthias, I have a request. I wonder if you would agree to it?"
Hmm? What does this kid want to do?
Matthias grew wary, but his expression remained unchanged, still speaking gently.
"Go ahead, what is it? Just don't make it too difficult; after all, I'm just a survivor myself."
Hearing this, Xia Yu smiled slightly and said politely, "It's nothing important. It's just... Mr. Matthias, could you be my dog?"
"?"
Matthias's expression froze. Because Xia Yu's words were still very polite, he thought he had misheard and couldn't help but ask.
"I'm sorry, I might have misheard? Could you say that again?"
"I said, can you be my dog? The kind that barks 'woof woof.' If I give you a bone, you must be moved to tears of gratitude, eat it thankfully, and then continue to please me. Mr. Matthias, what do you think?"
Before Xia Yu could finish, Matthias was already fuming with rage. He had never suffered such humiliation. He was the leader of the Solarii, the man who would eventually rule the world through Himiko.
Seeing Xia Yu still smiling, Matthias drew his pistol and growled while pointing it at him.
"Heh, I won't let you die. I want you to know the price of humiliating me."
But seeing Xia Yu remain calm in the face of a firearm, Matthias's heart tightened. Just as he was about to fire a warning shot to scare Xia Yu, he suddenly realized he couldn't move.
"What did you do!"
Although his body couldn't move, his head still could, so Matthias roared at Xia Yu in fear and anger.
"What did I do? I just made it so you wouldn't be so irritable." Xia Yu walked toward Matthias with a smile.
Looking at the smiling demon in front of him, Matthias was about to scream in terror, only to suddenly find that he couldn't even open his mouth. He could only watch helplessly as Xia Yu approached him.
"Look into my eyes!"
Hearing the demon say this, Matthias hurriedly squeezed his eyes shut. But the next moment, a massive amount of spiritual power tore through his mental consciousness like a hot knife through butter.
"Dumb[bleep], you really thought closing your eyes would work."
Xia Yu curled his lip. This feeling of tricking people was quite nice. He decided that every time he controlled someone in the future, he would say that line.
Matthias, under spiritual invasion, began to tremble all over. Although he had a strong will to resist, he was ultimately just an ordinary person, not to mention that this spiritual intrusion was mixed with a soul intrusion.
After only a few seconds, Matthias's spirit completely collapsed. Xia Yu's spirit bored directly into his mind, followed by a forced Soul Enslavement.
After carving his mark, Xia Yu focused his perception and immediately felt that Matthias's soul was now in his grasp. Life or death was entirely up to his whim; if he wanted, he could even alter Matthias's cognition.
Feeling the power of Soul Enslavement, Xia Yu couldn't help but take a sharp breath. Fortunately, he was a good person; otherwise, with this skill, he could easily create sex slaves. Luckily, he wasn't that kind of person.