In an instant, Nanami tensed up.
After all, she’d always thought she was pretty good-looking, with a nice figure. Back in Sakura, she was the dream goddess of countless little Riben [Japanese] folks!
She didn’t know much about Lu Ran at all.
What if he used this one minute to do something to her?
Hard to understand, but even at a time like this, in this kind of situation, Nanami still had these random, messy thoughts running through her head.
I guess that’s just how women are sometimes.
“What are you trying to do?” Nanami asked.
“Do what?” Lu Ran replied casually.
Then he went back to his own business, opened his communicator, and sent a few messages to Liu Xinxin and the others.
He told them they could come over now—the danger was gone.
At that moment, Liu Xinxin and the others were still sitting on the sand dunes, feeling a little bored.
When she got Lu Ran’s message, Liu Xinxin immediately replied: “Got it, we’ll be right there.”
Lu Ran, still not completely at ease, asked: “Nothing unexpected happened after I left, right? Did those sandworms respawn?”
Liu Xinxin glanced over at the skeletal soldiers, the ancient golems, and the shredded bodies of sandworms lying among the banshees.
She replied: “They did respawn, quite a few of them, but as soon as they appeared, your undead minions just tore them apart.”
Undead creatures with ten times the stat boost—and so many of them!
Forget sandworms—even if an elite sandworm showed up, it would have to get on its knees and call them “sir”!
“That’s good, then come on over.” Lu Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Xinxin looked at Ye Hongyi and Lei Tai.
They’d gotten Lu Ran’s message too.
“Well, I guess that settles it. So that Yamata no Orochi suddenly stopped moving because it got killed.”
“So now, it’s been resurrected by Lu Ran and brought under his command.”
“I’m dying of laughter—I’d really love to see the look on Nanami’s face right now.”
“What I’d like to see even more is the expression Nanami had when Lu Ran oneshotted that Yamata no Orochi.”
…
Chatting among themselves, the three of them leisurely made their way over to Lu Ran.
Lu Ran wasn’t in a hurry to recall the undead minions he’d left scattered around. No rush—he could do that after Liu Xinxin and the others arrived.
And in the meantime,
Nanami let out a small sigh of relief.
She could see that Lu Ran didn’t seem to have that kind of intention.
After all, with only one minute of control time,
even getting into her body and “exercising” a little would be tight on time.
Lu Ran was wasting time like this—clearly he wasn’t thinking about that.
But what she hadn’t expected at all was that Lu Ran’s control time wasn’t limited to just one minute!
“The one minute is almost up. So what was the point of controlling Yamata no Orochi? To scare me? To prove how strong you are? Fine, I admit you’re powerful, but making me submit to you? Impossible! I’m in your hands now, so do whatever you want—kill me or cut me up!” Nanami said coldly.
She had no intention of fighting at all.
If even the Yamata no Orochi couldn’t hurt Lu Ran,
then with just herself and her two shikigami, she’d be even less than nothing.
Lu Ran glanced at Nanami and said, annoyed, “What kind of nonsense is that? You’re still useful. No rush to kill you.”
Hearing that,
Nanami burst into loud laughter.
She said, “You want to use me to restrain Sakura? Forget it. I will never cooperate with you!”
Lu Ran raised an eyebrow.
He said flatly, “Cooperate? I don’t need your cooperation. All you need to do is follow orders. And as for that tiny speck of land called Sakura—why would I need to go through the trouble of using you to restrain them? You’re dreaming!”
Lu Ran’s contempt for Sakura wasn’t faked. It came from deep within his bones—real, genuine scorn!
Nanami’s anger flared up instantly.
She said stubbornly, “You might be strong, but I don’t think you have what it takes to stand up against an entire country. And no, I will not follow your orders!”
Lu Ran looked at Nanami, amused.
He said, “You sure have a smart mouth on you, woman. Didn’t you reverse-contract the Yamata no Orochi? If I control the serpent, doesn’t that mean I control you? Do you even have the power to resist? Hmm?”
Nanami furrowed her brow.
She said, “You can control the serpent for one minute. You want to use that one minute to—”
Before she could finish,
Lu Ran waved his hand and cut her off.
He said lazily, “Oh, come on. That minute is long gone. Just calm down. Whatever I say, you do. Got it?”
Hearing that,
Nanami froze completely.
Wait—he was right. That minute had already passed!
But the Yamata no Orochi was still there. It hadn’t disappeared!
What did that mean?
Lu Ran’s Raise Dead skill could not only control boss-level beings, but it could also break the one-minute time limit?
Then how long did it last?
Ten minutes? An hour? Ten hours? Or… a whole day?!
“H-how long can you control Yamata no Orochi?” Nanami asked.
She had already realized how serious this was.
If the control wasn’t just for one minute, then Lu Ran’s chance to take possession of her was even greater!
And she would have no way to resist!
If Lu Ran knew what Nanami was thinking right now, he’d probably be pretty frustrated too.
This woman—why were her thoughts so full of that kind of stuff?
Was it just the way things were over in those little Riben [Japanese] islands, or was there some other reason?
As for Nanami’s question, Lu Ran answered straightforwardly: “Oh, there’s no time limit. It’s permanent control.”
Pfft—
Nanami nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Permanent control!
That meant her life now belonged to Lu Ran, didn’t it?
And besides…
Lu Ran’s commands—or rather, his control over her through the Yamata no Orochi—she couldn’t resist!
Even if her own conscious mind said no, the serpent could forcefully take over her soul and body to carry out Lu Ran’s orders!
This was rule-based control, enforced by the datafied world itself!
Nanami was completely panicked now.
Terrified, she said, “N-no… that’s impossible. That’s not how an undead mage’s skills work. You can’t permanently control Yamata no Orochi! E-even if I have to die, I won’t give in to you!”
Lu Ran frowned, glanced back, and saw that Liu Xinxin and the others were almost there.
He then looked at the Yamata no Orochi and pointed at Nanami. “Make her shut up. Also, if she tries to kill herself, take control of her actions immediately. She can’t die—I still have big plans for her.”
Nanami wanted to say something else.
But the next second—
Shwoop—
It was as if her mouth had been glued shut. She couldn’t open it at all!
Her heart pounded violently.
Because she had also realized—her body and soul belonged to the Yamata no Orochi. If the serpent didn’t want her dead, she couldn’t even kill herself!
Strictly speaking, her body and soul now belonged to Lu Ran!
The terror of this undead mage was far beyond anything she had imagined!
Looking back at it now, she had sold her own body and soul, reverse-contracted the Yamata no Orochi, and then come all the way to Longxia with such arrogance to kill Lu Ran… She was practically begging for death!
She had walked right into the lion’s den!
Just then,
She also spotted three people walking toward her from a distance.
And they looked very familiar!
“Lei Tai from the Battle Flag National Guard! Liu Xinxin from Mirror Flower Water Moon! Ye Hongyi from Red Garment Pavilion!”
