"Outsider, why are you destroying this place?"
The lizard fiend did not attack directly but stared warily at Fang Ming and asked.
"Tell me where the principal is, and I'll let this place go," Fang Ming said in a deep voice. He hadn't expected to encounter an intelligent fiend here.
"The principal?" The lizard fiend narrowed its eyes. "What do you want with that person?"
"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask," Fang Ming sneered. "You want to know too much."
"Speak quickly, where is the principal now? Otherwise, don't blame me for killing you!"
The lizard fiend was instantly angered by Fang Ming's words. It had tried to communicate with him nicely, only to find him unreasonable.
"No comment!" the lizard fiend roared.
"Then you can die!"
Fang Ming leaped up and lunged at the lizard fiend.
The lizard fiend didn't humor Fang Ming either. It had only tried to talk because it didn't want to fight. After all, even if one fiend won, they would likely suffer significant injuries.
But it never expected its compromise to embolden Fang Ming!
"You're asking for death!"
The lizard fiend also lunged forward, its four sharp claws striking the ground with a rumbling sound.
"Boom!"
The two colossal creatures collided with a massive impact, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The surrounding weeds were blown away by the shockwave, and several large trees were snapped like tofu.
Fang Ming gripped the ground with his tail and was pushed back half a step by the collision, leaving a沟壑 (gōu hè - gully/groove) in his wake.
The lizard fiend was not so lucky; its entire body was flipped over, rolling several times before coming to a halt.
As the dust settled, the lizard fiend looked at Fang Ming with a hint of fear in its eyes. It slightly lifted its right front leg, which was bent at an unnatural angle, and placed it on the ground.
In a single blow, it had broken a leg!
The difference between it and its opponent was too vast!
"What exactly are you looking for the principal for?" the lizard fiend asked gravely.
It had cowered and dared not continue fighting Fang Ming.
"Just tell me if you know or not. Don't ask anything extra," Fang Ming pointed at the lizard fiend. "I don't have that much time to waste talking to you. Speak!"
The lizard fiend hesitated for a moment, then suddenly turned and fled.
If it couldn't win, couldn't it run? It wasn't stupid.
Fang Ming hadn't expected the creature to be so spineless, to just run away. By the time he reacted, it was already nearing the entrance of the building.
"Truly seeking death!"
Fang Ming let out a cold snort. This confirmed that the creature definitely knew something about the principal, but dared not say it for some reason.
Thinking of this, Fang Ming quickly gave chase.
"Don't push your luck too far!" the lizard fiend shouted back angrily.
"If you don't speak, you won't be running anywhere today!" Fang Ming sneered, lunging forward and grabbing the lizard fiend's tail to pull it back.
The lizard fiend was decisive. Seeing its tail caught, it immediately severed it to escape, then its body began to shrink, and it darted into the building, disappearing without a trace.
"The monk can run, but the temple cannot," Fang Ming sneered, dropping the still wriggling tail and entering the building where the lizard fiend had hidden.
Unbeknownst to him, after the severed tail landed, several eyes suddenly opened on it and began to writhe and crawl like a snake, disappearing into the grass.
Fang Ming arrived in front of the building and, just as he had destroyed the first building, he first released Annihilation to destroy some of the base, then punched the wall again and again.
"Boom—!" Another building collapsed.
Countless fiend seeds fled in panic. Fang Ming's gaze scanned the ruins but found no sign of the lizard fiend.
"Strange? Where did such a large creature disappear to?" Fang Ming wondered. He had clearly seen the lizard fiend hide in the building, but now there was no trace of it.
"Did it shrink its body and escape?" Fang Ming mused, rubbing his chin.
But that was unlikely. Even if its body shrank, its fiendish aura wouldn't disappear. Otherwise, how would fiends of vastly different sizes fight?
After waiting for a while longer and still seeing no sign of the lizard fiend, Fang Ming scratched his head in frustration.
"Forget it, forget it. If it ran, it ran. I'll keep looking for others."
Thinking this, Fang Ming approached the third building. This building was much larger than the previous two, likely the main structure of this hospital, nearly twenty stories high.
A twenty-story hospital, even now, would be considered a very large hospital.
"Annihilation!"
Fang Ming tried to repeat his previous tactic, but suddenly, the ground beneath him shook. Fang Ming instinctively interrupted his skill and jumped to the side.
"Boom!" The lizard fiend burst out of the ground, its gaping maw crushing everything above!
If his reaction hadn't been so quick back then, he might have been swallowed whole.
"It burrowed underground, no wonder..." Fang Ming snorted, his gaze fixed on the lizard fiend.
The lizard fiend's sneak attack failed, and without a word, it burrowed back into the ground. The earth seemed like water to it, and it sank into the ground without any hindrance.
"Oh? Such an ability?" Fang Ming suddenly understood. This creature's ability was to merge with the earth. Good heavens, thankfully the first encounter wasn't a sneak attack, or he wouldn't have had time to dodge.
Fang Ming scanned his surroundings, found a relatively large tree, and jumped onto it, carefully observing the movements on the ground.
The gentle breeze rustled the surviving weeds, causing them to sway slowly.
Suddenly, Fang Ming felt another slight tremor.
"Here it comes?"
Fang Ming's gaze sharpened, fixing on the spot directly below the tree.
As expected.
"Boom!"
The lizard fiend erupted from the ground again, but this time Fang Ming was too high, causing it to miss. It then flipped like a whale and submerged back into the earth.
The tree Fang Ming had been hiding in began to tilt as its roots were disturbed.
Fang Ming had no choice but to jump to other trees, but they were too small to support his considerable weight. He had to land on the ground and cautiously observe his surroundings.
This lizard fiend was elusive, but Fang Ming had discovered a weakness in its abilities.
"Every time it attacks, it causes the ground to shake, right?" Fang Ming adopted a defensive stance, not daring to be careless.
In that case…
Fang Ming's eyes narrowed.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake again.
Now!
"Annihilation!"
Fang Ming unleashed his ability, targeting the ground. As expected, the lizard fiend burst out from beneath him again, directly into the path of the "Annihilation" Fang Ming had released.
The lizard fiend didn't even have time to scream. Its body disintegrated and vanished in an instant. Due to its size, its rear half was outside the range of Annihilation, leaving behind two severed legs and half a severed tail.
"It's not dead yet?"
Fang Ming scoffed and walked over to the severed tail, picking it up.
"Tell me, where is the principal?"
The severed tail: "..."
"Not talking? Don't blame me for finishing you off completely," Fang Ming said with a cold smile.
The eyes on the severed tail finally opened, and it pleaded, "My lord, I was wrong, please spare me! I truly don't know where the principal is."
"Are you sure?" Fang Ming grabbed the ends of the severed tail and pulled, distorting the eyes that had opened.
"It hurts, it hurts! I was wrong, I was wrong, I'll tell you, I'll tell you," the lizard fiend begged.
"Speak!"
"I don't know the principal's exact location, but I know of such a person. Ten years ago, in the unfinished buildings to the east, he buried something and forbade us resentful fiends from touching it, then he left," the lizard fiend confessed honestly.
"Buried something?" Fang Ming frowned, unable to quite understand what the principal was up to. And it was precisely ten years ago that he came here.
Ten years ago... wasn't that when this hospital was abandoned?
"Do you know what was buried?" Fang Ming asked.
"How would I know? I didn't dare go near that place, I was scared. When I got close, I felt fear and trembled all over," the lizard fiend said with lingering fear.
"Is that thing still there now?"
"Yes, yes, yes. I can take you there now," the lizard fiend said obsequiously to save its life.
"No tricks," Fang Ming warned, then dropped the severed tail.
As soon as the severed tail hit the ground, the surrounding earth quickly converged towards it. In the blink of an eye, a lizard fiend made of earth reappeared, and its body simultaneously transformed into flesh and blood.
Fang Ming was surprised. Could this creature's true form be its tail? No wonder it could swim in the earth; it was made of piled-up earth.
The lizard fiend, having reformed its body, said to Fang Ming, "Let's go, I'll take you there."
"One, Qing Mian, get Sixth Master. We'll follow it."
Fang Ming spoke into the air.
The lizard fiend looked at Fang Ming with surprise, then glanced around. There was nothing there.
Suddenly, it felt a weight on its head. A man with a cold expression appeared above it – Qing Mian!
The lizard fiend was shocked. When had this fiend gotten above it? It hadn't noticed anything!
If its opponent had been this person earlier, it probably would have died without knowing how.
"Wait a moment, my two companions will be here soon," Fang Ming said to the lizard fiend.
"There are two more?" The lizard fiend was instantly filled with dread. It had been surrounded without realizing it! And it had even considered fighting the fiend in front of it.
If this person hadn't had something they needed from it, it would probably be soup by now…
Soon, Yi Hao arrived with Zheng Zhu Liu.
"Let's go, we have everyone," Fang Ming said.
"Didn't you say two?" the lizard fiend asked, confused.
It looked left and right, but only saw one human, not the other one.
"He's already here, you just can't perceive him," Fang Ming smiled slightly. He had to admit, Yi Hao's invisibility ability was indeed powerful.
Against opponents of the same level, he could make them unable to perceive him.
"Here?" The lizard fiend was bewildered. It opened all the eyes on its body and looked carefully around, finally confirming—there was no one else.
"Stop looking, you won't find me, Nicholas," Yi Hao said dismissively.
He disdained to deal with such a weak fiend.
Hearing the voice, the lizard fiend finally confirmed that there was indeed a fourth person. It was shocked, realizing that the weakest one it had fought was the one it was currently facing.
Fang Ming: "..."