Chapter 36

In the game "Rift," the most distinctive feature is the realistic simulation of creatures. No matter how great the level difference, even if it's a dragon— if you have the chance to attack a vital point with sufficient force, you can still cause significant or even massive damage. So... after the tenth poisoned arrowhead pierced the Scorpion King's eye socket, splashing a gush of blood, the giant Scorpion King fell silent.

The Scorpion King was dead, but Rody did not feel any sense of relief. He circled around the Scorpion King with its massive carapace and ran toward Sally— the glowing venomous scorpions in the distance had already dispersed due to the Scorpion King's death. Fortunately, otherwise Rody would have seen Sally being overwhelmed by countless scorpions.

However, the situation was far from optimistic. Sally had been stung by the venomous scorpions multiple times and was in constant danger of losing her life. If it were a dungeon raid in the past, these scorpion venoms would not be a big deal, as players would definitely carry antidote potions. But now, not only were there no antidote potions, even alchemists were a rare resource in the territory, where could he find the materials for an antidote?

"Damn it!"

When Rody saw Sally's condition, he still felt as if he had arrived too late. He scooped up the unconscious girl, got up to confirm the direction, and without a second thought, carried her and ran madly toward Stelro Creek— to counteract the scorpion venom, players had discovered another method besides using potions: immersing the entire body in water to shock the poisoned person out of the hallucination. As for the venom damage...

Rody could only hope that Sally's health points would be enough to get through this.

Because preparing the trap took a lot of time, the sky was already faintly bright after killing the Scorpion King. Rody easily found the source of Stelro Creek—a small pond at a slightly higher elevation. Without hesitation, he jumped into the cold water with Sally in his arms.

The cool spring water was extremely cold, making him shiver uncontrollably, but he continued to walk toward the deeper water, eventually leaving only Sally's face above the water. Rody, frozen stiff, held the frail girl tightly, supporting her body in the water, anxiously waiting for her to recover from the hallucination.

If she couldn't recover, it would mean only one thing—the venom damage had exceeded her tolerance, and she would die from losing all her health points.

This was the place where the future Scorpion King "Seryx" would pollute the water. Rody knew the terrain here very well. The final quest given to players by the Wood Elf village was to kill Seryx and hand over the venom gland from his tail to the village chief in exchange for a reward. But all of this would happen two years later. Two years ago, did the Wood Elves need players to help kill the Scorpion King at the water source?

Rody considered whether he could seek help from the Wood Elf village. He knew the Wood Elf language, but the conservative elves would likely not easily accept a human. Even two years later, when the Wood Elf village gradually opened up due to the influx of players, many elves still ignored or even despised humans.

But the materials needed to make the antidote were probably only possessed by the Wood Elves.

Thinking of this, Rody was in a panic. He lowered his head to check Sally's injuries, but what he saw was a pair of bright, wide-open eyes.

Sally didn't know how she had woken up. She only knew that she had been running helplessly in a dream-like state until the world suddenly collapsed in bone-chilling cold. Then, what appeared before her was Rody's worried and anxious face.

In that moment, Sally felt confused—she seemed to have forgotten what she had just experienced, even forgetting who the man holding her was. But when the memories flooded back, her gaze shifted from confusion to uncontrollable fear, and as Rody's face became clear in her eyes, Sally finally came to her senses and did something she couldn't even imagine.

She stretched out her arms and instinctively hugged Rody tightly.

Sally didn't know why she was so excited to confirm that Rody was still alive. Although she had learned to "remain calm" since childhood, she clearly wasn't controlling her emotions at this moment.

The two young people, who had only met for less than a week, embraced quietly in the cold pond, seemingly forgetting the dangerous jungle around them and the thrilling experience of killing the Scorpion King.

Rody felt as if Sally was trying to squeeze all the air out of his chest, and the tight grip on him felt more like an octopus than a human. But this wasn't the reason he remained frozen in place.

In fact, Rody was even more shocked than Sally.

In his experience, a regular level 8 player couldn't withstand more than four attacks from a venomous scorpion, let alone a frail girl like Sally. Moreover, the scorpion venom not only induced hallucinations but also had a strong paralyzing effect. For humans, unless an antidote potion was used, even a level 10 player would be paralyzed for half a day.

But now, Sally was not only not paralyzed and unconscious, but also fully conscious with clear eyes, tightly hugging Rody as if she had never been injured.

After a silent ten seconds, Rody finally came to his senses and hurriedly carried Sally out of the creek, sitting down on the dry grass by the pond, shivering and sneezing. Without even taking off his coat, he carefully examined the wounds on Sally's legs.

He completely ignored any issues of propriety because the mysterious "ineffectiveness" of the scorpion venom was beyond his comprehension...

Sally's legs were slender and delicate, with many scratches and punctures from crossing the forest. But the most noticeable were the red, swollen marks from the scorpion stings. Rody counted them, and his heart sank—there were 12 bite marks.

Rody swallowed hard. He knew very well that, by all accounts, Sally should be dead.

"Character information."

Without hesitation, Rody said this incomprehensible phrase in front of Sally, then he looked at the data displayed above her head, frowning even more—because it showed that her health points were still more than 60%.

"Is it toxin purification? Or... toxin immunity? No, that doesn't make sense..."

Rody sat down, his tone filled with undisguised surprise. But when he raised his gaze to say something to Sally, he suddenly choked on his words.

Because her clothes were completely soaked, the linen dress clung to her body, revealing her figure to Rody. Although Rody was a宅男 with a painful romantic history, it didn't mean he was immune to the beauty of a woman's body. At that moment, a live, young, and beautiful girl was sitting in front of him, drenched, and Rody couldn't say he had no reaction.

Embarrassed and at a loss.

Sally also noticed this, but she quickly broke the awkwardness, saying, "I... I feel like I'm fine. Can we... start a fire to dry our clothes?"

Rody's gaze shifted away from Sally, and he stood up, head down, and replied, "W... wait here, I'll go gather some firewood."

After taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, turned his back to Sally, and said, "It's best to take off your clothes. If you keep them on, you'll... get sick."

Sally's face turned bright red. She wanted to ignore Rody's suggestion, but a cold breeze from the morning forest made her sneeze. Thinking about Rody's attitude toward her, Sally hesitantly reached out her hand.

Rody, who had walked a hundred meters away, wasn't worried about any monsters attacking Sally. According to the game's progression, this area was safe after clearing the dungeon. But considering the recent events, he didn't dare to go too far. He ran back, picked up all the equipment, cut off the Scorpion King's tail, carefully collected the venom gland, and gathered the animal skins and food he had dropped earlier. He finally returned to Sally with a pile of items.

Sally was almost naked, only using the dress as a shawl. Rody, turning his head to the side, awkwardly placed the leopard skin in front of her and then turned away to start the fire. After experiencing several life-and-death situations, Sally's attitude toward Rody had changed significantly. She blushed as she wrapped herself in the leopard skin, but she felt less resistance and awkwardness when facing Rody. The chaotic emotions from the battle gradually subsided, and after a moment of silence, she said, "I never thought I would have a day like this. In the past, I read about people living in the jungle. Now, are we... like them?"

"This... is far from it." Rody lit the fire, blew on the rising smoke, and hung Sally's linen dress on a branch to dry by the fire, trying to steady his voice. "Living in the jungle... how to put it, those guys are not as primitive as you imagine. For example, the Wood Elves actually live better than Noland Village in some ways. Yes, and their brewing skills are something we can never match."

Rody didn't have any concept of "propriety." He just knew that if he didn't dry his clothes, he would soon be chilled to the bone. So, he also shivered and took off his outer clothes to dry them by the fire.

The habits of a lone wanderer are hard to change. Although there was a woman beside him, Rody wouldn't let himself catch a cold and sneeze for a week just for the sake of "face."

Thus, Rody, wearing only his underwear, sat next to Sally, who was naked and wrapped in a leopard skin, both staring straight at the fire. The atmosphere was strange as they began to chat.

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**End of Chapter**