“Are you sure? You’re not leaving?” The Giant Sound Whale’s gaze was complex, as if it was looking at someone else through Lin Xiaohe.
Lin Xiaohe’s lips curled up high. She already knew how to defeat the opponent now!
“Of course I’m not leaving.”
“Sigh, you’re just as foolish as Johnson. Fine, I’ll give you a quick end. This is my final mercy to you.”
Lin Xiaohe smirked coldly and poured all of her remaining 24 skill points into Xinbao.
[Skill: Life Lies in Reproduction Activated.]
[Skill: Life Lies in Reproduction Upgraded to Level 2]
Life Lies in Reproduction (2): After wheat grains fall to the ground, they generate worm programs that continuously devour the enemy’s energy (no limit on energy type). Once the wheat grains are fully plump, they stop absorbing.
If the main body is in the seedling stage, one million star coins can be exchanged for 1,000 wheat seeds.
Skill Cooldown Time: 48 hours
Looking at Xinbao after the upgrade, Lin Xiaohe crossed her arms over her chest, her fighting spirit burning fiercely.
“Rise, Xinbao!”
One million star coins transformed into 1,000 wheat seeds. Combined with Doudou’s charged rampage, they took root in every corner of the temple.
At the same time, the opponent’s attacks surged in like a tidal wave.
Tiantian gritted her teeth, struggling to hold on.
Bang, bang, bang!
Her corn kernels, having taken too much damage, turned into popcorn.
Her once plump body now looked like it had a nasty skin disease—pockmarked and bumpy, with only a small handful of corn kernels still holding on stubbornly up top.
Xinbao took a deep, hard suck, and the opponent’s assault came to a brief halt.
Seeing this, Lin Xiaohe felt even more confident!
She had been thinking all along: if the Giant Sound Whale truly had such terrifying attack power and defense, why wouldn’t it just attack the Federation directly instead of using the Star Network?
The Giant Sound Whale was already a Stardust Mutant Creature, capable of swimming freely through space.
Against Federation warships, it could totally crush them with pure power!
Then, Lin Xiaohe finally caught that flash of insight.
It was like a video game. Lin Xiaohe and the others were the players, but the Giant Sound Whale was both a player and the programmer.
It could crank up its combat power and defense as high as it wanted, however it liked!
So, even if Lin Xiaohe upgraded Doudou’s and Fanfan’s skills, they still couldn’t hurt the Giant Sound Whale.
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes sparkled with intelligence. She was very confident about this battle!
Games are all about balance. Even a programmer can’t just raise the numbers infinitely without limits.
Judging from the attacks Tiantian was taking, the opponent’s single-hit damage was between 10,000 and 20,000.
Lin Xiaohe silently chanted to herself: “Xinbao, hang in there!”
Now it was a contest of who could last until the end—whether Xinbao could absorb enough energy first to break the balance, or whether the opponent could smash through Tiantian’s barrier first!
Xinbao knew: the time to prove itself had come!
Its lone little leaf was stretched taut. Its stalk and roots passively absorbed the energy from the wheat grains.
Pffft!
Its two forked roots let out a strained creak, then split into four under the torrent of energy surging in.
“Aooo!” Xinbao couldn’t help but cry out in pain.
Its roots drooped pitifully, and it hurt so much that even its leaves trembled.
“Xinbao?” Lin Xiaohe looked at it worriedly.
Xinbao sucked in a breath and said in a trembling voice: “Xiaohe, I’m okay. I want to protect Xiaohe, protect my little friends!”
Fanfan, who usually never paid attention to Xinbao, suddenly spoke up: “Xinbao, transfer the energy to me.”
The five-star matrix transmitted not just life force, but also energy.
Xinbao hesitated: “Fanfan, this energy is really powerful. If you take it in, it’ll hurt a lot. Like, a lot.”
“Stop with the nonsense. If I tell you to give it to me, just give it to me.”
Lin Xiaohe was silent for a moment, then urged: “Give it to Fanfan. We’re all one team.”
After splitting the energy with Fanfan, the tearing sensation that had nearly burst Xinbao apart finally eased up a bit.
Lin Xiaohe’s savings drained away like flowing water, disappearing at lightning speed.
Tiantian would barely get her barrier up before it was shattered the next second.
Feeling Xinbao’s actions, the Giant Sound Whale let out a furious roar that shook the entire temple.
The Imperial soldiers and Federation soldiers, the warships, the mechs—all of them inside the exam field—instantly turned into blue specks of light and were sucked into the sky.
“Pfft, pfft!” The tomatoes on Fanfan’s branches exploded.
The splattering juice flowed down the mech’s back like blood.
“Fanfan?” Doudou knew Fanfan must have passed out from the bloating and quickly said, “Xinbao, give the energy to me!”
Xinbao suppressed its rising panic and quickly changed the energy transfer direction.
The energy gathered from tens of millions of soldiers quickly burst Doudou open, too.
Its bean pod looked pathetic—split wide open, with beans clattering down, unable to stay inside at all.
Just as Doudou was about to be a goner, Tiantian said in her soft, quiet voice: “Xinbao, give the energy to me. I have the highest vitality. I’ll take it.”
Tiantian looked even worse than Doudou.
Wiping away its tears, Xinbao transferred the energy to Tiantian.
“Hahaha, you think you can break the balance?! Go die!” The opponent abandoned its human form entirely and reverted to its Giant Sound Whale shape.
It let out an even sharper, more piercing screech, and the living coral on the temple walls writhed frantically.
The entire exam field turned into a doomsday scene. Flowers, grass, and trees withered instantly. Lakes, mountains, cities, buildings, even the sky and the land—all of it turned into blue specks of light and surged toward the temple.
Crack.
Tiantian’s corncob split open. The barrier that had been shielding Lin Xiaohe so tightly wobbled dangerously.
The blue specks of light pouring in from outside gathered into a torrent, forming the silhouette of a deep blue Giant Sound Whale.
Just like on Haige Star, when the Giant Sound Whale crashed into the energy shield, this deep blue Giant Sound Whale rammed into the temple’s coral wall.
The difference was that on Haige Star, the Giant Sound Whale would turn into a shower of blue stars, but this one melted into the coral wall like it was merging into the ocean.
Then came Xinbao’s heart-wrenching cry of pain.
Its one and only leaf had split!
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes burned with fury.
Her partner, the one who had stayed by her side, fighting alongside her from the Sixth Star Ring all the way to this point—was about to be killed!
“Xinbao, give the energy to me now!”
The crack on Xinbao’s leaf was like a hideous, gaping chasm, about to tear the whole leaf in two.
It shook its head, its consciousness growing fuzzy from the pain: “No, Xiaohe is human. She can’t handle this much energy. I can still hold on. I want to protect Xiaohe…”
“Give it to me now!!” Lin Xiaohe’s veins bulged on her neck as she roared.
As a Plant Summoner, when Lin Xiaohe gave an order, her plants had to obey.
“Xiaohe…” Xinbao’s tears fell.
A surging, overwhelming force rushed into Lin Xiaohe’s brain in an instant, then traveled through her meridians to every single cell in her body.
Lin Xiaohe finally understood what Xinbao and the others were feeling—it was a pain that tore at her very cells.
The instantaneous energy impact nearly turned Lin Xiaohe into a vegetable.
Her mind went completely blank. She forgot who she was, where she came from, what her name was, where this place was…
