“How despicable!” Kai glared at the opponent and stepped forward. “Using a father’s daughter to blackmail someone!”

A flicker of reluctance glimmered in the dark elf’s eyes, but she still bit her purple lips with her white teeth. “I don’t want to hurt her,” she said firmly. “But I need one thing. Hand it over, and I leave—now.”

“I’ve got plenty of other valuables. Come down and duel me. Lose, and everything’s yours. Or I’ll just hand it all over.”

“Hehe! Don’t say that, fellow countryman!” The dark elf shook her head.

Ou Tao wasn’t surprised. The moment he saw her perch—a branch angled forty-five degrees above Ke Er’s cave entrance, forming an isosceles right triangle with him—he knew. Perfect firing and escape position. If not coincidence, she was a shooter-game veteran.

“I won’t fight you. Step down, you kill me. Too many items? You kill me while I pack. I only want one thing: Soul Grass!”

Ou Tao’s brow furrowed. He’d just taken that Soul Grass from the Crimson Skulls. Had she been tracking them? Witnessed his victory? Then circled back to threaten him with his daughter?

“Sir, the Great One left a message: do not discard the Soul Grass. It’s circulating heavily among black-market drug dealers—possibly linked to new neurotoxin-based substances.”

“No.” Ou Tao’s voice turned icy. His mother vanished because of drugs. He hated dealers most of all.

But hunger and exhaustion spiked his blood pressure. His cortex misfired. Vision stuttered. Lag climbed to 120.

“Sir, you can’t push further—the lag is crippling your control!”

“I pity that silver-haired little loli…” The dark elf’s voice trembled, eyes sharp. Her silver wrist crossbow locked onto the black-scarfed snowman. “But if you refuse—I count to five. Five… four…”

*What now?* Ou Tao’s mind raced.

Throw sword to block? No—blade too slow.

Summon sword spirit? No—trajectory drops; chain explosion risk. Snowmen everywhere. Zero margin for error.

Rush her? Impossible. All three Flashes spent. At 120 lag… can I even move?

No choice. He’d faced this before. Hunger. Fatigue. Limits. Helplessness. Human.

“Three… two~ Don’t force me!”

A question surfaced: *My daughter… or tens of thousands of families’ happiness?*

Then—a small figure shimmered in his mind.

Silver-haired Ke Er, tiptoeing, lifting her bento box.

“Father, Ke Er made breakfast for you!”

“Father, Ke Er loves you most!”

“Father is Ke Er’s great, great, great hero—the one who saved Ke Er!”

“Don’t let me catch you,” Ou Tao growled, “or I’ll tear you to pieces!” He slowly placed the Soul Grass onto the snow.

“Good. Your daughter lives.” The dark elf’s tone softened. “Few care for another world’s life like you. I salute you.”

“Now—step back. Three steps.”

One. Two. Three.

She moved. Left hand flicked. A grappling hook on an iron chain shot out, snatching the herb.

Ou Tao snorted. The instant the hook lifted the grass—a flash beneath it. A wooden mechanical parrot.

A tiny vial clung to its rear. As snow dust shook from its wings, it shot straight at the dark elf.

She rolled left, bolt firing—but too close. *Shatter!* Glass burst. Icy mist exploded: Splash-type Frost Despair Potion!

Frost crystallized across her body. HP plummeted.

Ou Tao hurled his last weapon with all his strength: Ami’s Persecution.

The curved blade resembled a plump fish—originating in Persia, rising in Mongolia, nicknamed “fish-head,” like the Nepalese kukri. Heavier mid-blade, lighter at the tips. When thrown, it spun like a boomerang, gyro-stabilized. Highest throwing damage and stability of any bladed weapon.

All hope now rested on Ami’s Persecution.