“So, what now?” Yueye looked at her arm, where scales were rapidly growing. Her pretty face was cold as frost, completely expressionless…

“It looks like your bloodline is awakening rapidly, Master…” Baiyao watched Yueye change from the side, quietly observing her as though she were a work of art.

“Sigh…” Yueye let out a helpless sigh. She’d known this was coming for a long time, but now that it was really happening, she still found it hard to accept.

After hesitating for a moment, as if she’d wrestled with the decision for a long time, Yueye took off her jacket and pants, revealing the fair skin beneath.

She lowered her head and began examining her body. Between the ice-smooth skin of her lower abdomen and back, pale blue scales shimmered faintly into view. Even her tender calves were already covered in blue-green scales. From a distance, their faint color seemed to catch the light, tracing Yueye’s alluring figure with an uncanny charm.

“Since things have come to this, there’s no way I can go back to being human…” Yueye lightly bit her lip and gazed at the deep blue sky through a gap in the trees. Her eyes grew a little damp… That feeling of being abandoned by the world once again spread through her heart.

“Then… I’ll say goodbye to human life.” She didn’t know where the thought came from. Perhaps it was the influence of her bloodline’s memories, but a bold decision took shape in Yueye’s mind.

“Are you sure, Master?” As far as Baiyao knew, Yueye couldn’t possibly accept this decision right now…

Baiyao understood what Yueye meant… As members of the Dragon Clan, they didn’t like wearing clothes. Clothes could interfere with the proper growth of their scales, and with their armor protecting them from all sides, they had even less need for garments.

“I’ve wanted to get rid of this damn nuisance for ages. And right now, I don’t want anything to do with humans…” Yueye hesitated, but in the end, she decided to break with every human custom. After being deeply affected by her Dragon Clan bloodline and hurt by her team, she’d come to see just how hypocritical and weak she was as a human…

At that moment, she chose to be a dragon, plain and simple. The person she’d been as a human was already dead. She didn’t want to be hurt a second time.

Her fair legs carried her into the woods, taking the first step of her life as a member of the Dragon Clan… the first step toward leaving everything human behind.

The creature’s squeals grated on their ears. The one that had escaped Yueye’s grasp now lay at Su Lin and the others’ feet.

“Congratulations on eliminating the system target. Reward: 100 exchange points and one handgun…” The system’s voice rang in everyone’s ears…

“That thing was way too fast…” Du Shengjie panted.

“…Good thing Su Lin’s fire-magic sword seems to be a perfect counter to this thing. Otherwise, we’d really have been in trouble this time.” Zhu Yue wiped the sweat from her forehead… She looked as if she’d just been through a fierce battle.

“So, can we go look for Yueye now?” The fierce battle had barely ended when a voice from the side dampened the mood.

Liu Huiying couldn’t go eight words without mentioning Yueye. Ever since Yueye had appeared before everyone like a savior, rescued them, and disappeared, Liu Huiying had been like this…

“Sure. Let’s head in the direction she went. The system said we aren’t strong enough to leave the forest anyway.” Su Lin thought of how hard they’d struggled against the spider they’d just fought. Remembering the even stronger creatures on the tactical map, he couldn’t help feeling a little lost.

Their group had gone from fourteen people to eleven. Looking at the team, now three members smaller, Su Lin felt a bitter ache.

“That Yueye… do you think she’d still be willing to come back?” Su Lin asked Liu Huiying. He didn’t know how to handle this… or how to face her.

“I don’t know. If it were me, I wouldn’t…” Liu Huiying didn’t soften her words at all. She crushed the hope Su Lin had been holding on to.

“Why…? Wouldn’t an apology be enough?” Su Lin wasn’t ready to give up. He believed that if Yueye helped them, they’d definitely be able to get out of the forest.

“…This isn’t just about apologizing. It’s about whether she can still trust us.” Liu Huiying understood what he meant and replied without sparing his feelings.

“I think the fact that she didn’t kill us is already more than we deserved. Please stop trying to get something out of her, okay…?” Liu Huiying rolled her eyes at Su Lin, clearly displeased with his attitude.

“But…” Su Lin still couldn’t quite accept it.

“There’s no ‘but.’ You’ve never known what it feels like to be betrayed by everyone, have you? When I see her again, all I want is to apologize—even if I have to give my life for it. I don’t want to see that look in her eyes again…” Liu Huiying murmured to herself, paying no attention to what the others thought. She remembered that cold, despairing gaze.

“Fine. Do whatever you want. But I’m responsible for this team. We’re not going to search for Yueye without a plan. If we can’t find her, we’ll try something else.” Seeing how firmly Liu Huiying had made up her mind, Su Lin snapped back, a little angry.

“Whatever.” Liu Huiying stopped paying attention to Su Lin and walked straight ahead…

“She’s really been shaken up. She wasn’t like this before. I wonder how close she and Yueye were for her to go this far,” Zhu Yue said, suddenly appearing beside them.

“Being shaken up doesn’t give her the right to act so unreasonable…” Su Lin rubbed his forehead helplessly.

“I don’t think she’s being unreasonable… I can understand her, more or less. Su Lin, some things can’t be undone once they’re done. I think Liu Huiying’s right. The fact that Yueye didn’t kill us means she still had some regard for our past. You shouldn’t be thinking about what you can get from her. You should be thinking about how you can make it up to her…” Zhu Yue gave her opinion and then stopped paying attention to Su Lin. She knew he’d started taking the bonds between teammates too lightly. Whether it was leading the others in questioning Yueye without hearing her side, or kicking Wang out, she’d seen what kind of person he was. He’d changed. They’d all changed. They were strangers now, no longer the people they’d been before they were transported to this world. In other words, they’d all grown up and found their own paths.