Chapter 112: Terrifying Loyalty

"I'm fine... ugh!"

Chu Ping opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The blood stained a large patch of the white snow, like red ink dropped onto a blank sheet of paper.

Yet Ye Da noticed that within the pool of blood, there were actually some chunks.

They looked somewhat like internal organs or bits of flesh.

"Lord, don’t worry." Chu Ping wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his skinned hand, wincing in pain as he gasped, "Some of my organs were corroded by the carnivorous flower, so they came out... just like that..."

*Thud!*

Chu Ping knelt heavily before Ye Da, his face contorted in agony.

Ye Da was about to help him up but saw that despite Chu Ping lying on the ground, he raised one hand high and said, "The carnivorous... the carnivorous flower’s fallen parts... I... I picked them up."

"That’s not the most important thing right now." Ye Da was genuinely moved by Chu Ping’s loyalty. "Your health is what matters. Come on, forget about those damn flowers."

This guy was too earnest...

Even in such a grievous state, he still thought about gathering things.

"My lord... please accept this," Chu Ping said. "I’m useless. This is all I can do for you. Otherwise, I would want to... want to kill all those flowers for you. If I could do that, I could prove my loyalty to you."

Chu Ping’s mindset...

Left Ye Da feeling somewhat incredulous.

After all, Chu Ping and he had known each other for less than half a day—too short a time to become close.

Why would Chu Ping swear allegiance to him?

Puzzled, Ye Da glanced up at the attribute bar floating above Chu Ping’s head, and sure enough, his loyalty had changed.

[Loyalty: 80% (Grateful for the lord’s life-saving grace; I must find a way to repay him!)]

Seeing Chu Ping’s loyalty rise to eighty percent, Ye Da finally understood.

Beyond Chu Ping’s own mental resolve, his loyalty had reached a level of true allegiance, fueling this special shift in attitude.

Ye Da wasn’t sure...

Whether this was a change arising from the player’s own mindset or a forced transformation imposed by the world's game mechanics.

If it was the latter, that was rather terrifying.

"Alright, I accept it. Now stop talking," Ye Da said.

---

Ye Da took the item from Chu Ping’s hand—a bagged flower pod, resembling a miniature carnivorous flower, soft and squishy to the touch, its contents unknown.

But there was no time to investigate now. Ye Da quickly helped Chu Ping up and headed toward the rocky wall.

The urgent task was to get Chu Ping back to the stone hut and wash off the flower sap before it further corroded his skin.

No matter how strong Chu Ping’s healing ability was, he wouldn’t withstand continuous corrosion.

"Howl!"

"Howwwl!!"

As Ye Da supported Chu Ping for a while, they soon returned to the valley where the stone hut stood.

Just as they entered, the sound of wolves howling reached their ears.

Chu Ping nervously looked up and said, "Lord, it sounds like wolves!"

"It’s fine, they’re mine," Ye Da replied casually.

Upon hearing this, Chu Ping’s eyes widened in disbelief, "You keep wolves?!"

"Yes, they guard the place," Ye Da said. "Come on, my stone hut isn’t far from here."

"Woof! Woof woof!!!"

As they neared the stone hut, the barking of two pups grew louder.

Chu Ping, afraid of wolves, fixed his gaze nervously on the door.

"Don’t worry, they’re very gentle," Ye Da assured him.

But the moment Ye Da opened the door, the two little wolves leapt out and knocked him to the ground!

The sudden scene startled Chu Ping greatly.

He hastily drew a stone axe from his back, ready to fight, but Ye Da quickly said, "It’s okay, don’t be tense. They’re just too excited to see me!"

Hearing this, Chu Ping noticed the pups were licking Ye Da and wagging their tails wildly.

Yet as Ye Da and Chu Ping spoke, the pups suddenly realized their master had brought a stranger home, and they both tensed up.

"Whimper!"

The two pups immediately gave a warning whimper, making Chu Ping quickly raise his axe again after just lowering it.

---

Ye Da scooped up one of the pups with one arm and said, "His name is Chu Ping. From now on, he’s part of our family. No hurting him."

"Lord, they’re just animals. They won’t understand, right?"

Chu Ping remained worried.

But in the next moment, a miraculous thing happened—the pups stopped whimpering and instead looked at Chu Ping with curious eyes, even wagging their tails at him.

Chu Ping was stunned, mouth agape. "They... really understand?"

"Yes, they’re very empathetic. You don’t need to worry so much," Ye Da said as he led Chu Ping inside the stone hut.

Yet the moment Chu Ping stepped inside, he froze at the doorway, unsure what to do.

The wooden floor was so immaculately clean that he didn’t know whether to take off his shoes.

And the lord lived alone?

How could his stone hut be so big?

"What are you standing there for?" Ye Da closed the door and turned to see Chu Ping lost in thought. "Come in. I’ll get some water ready for you to wash off the sap first!"

"My lord, your stone hut is huge!"

Chu Ping slipped off his shoes and couldn’t help but marvel, "Even Mr. Long Yi’s stone hut isn’t this big!"

"And he has a whole team helping him level up, but his place isn’t as nice as yours."

"Lord, you must be the Chosen One, right?"

"Just lucky, really," Ye Da said, a little embarrassed by the praise. "I’ve had a lot of fortunate encounters along the way, which led to what I have now. It’s not really comparable; luck plays the biggest part."

"No, luck is a form of strength," Chu Ping shook his head. "Long Yi relies on his whole team for his achievements, but you’ve gotten more rewards alone than his entire group, and even built a bigger stone hut."

"If I may say, you’re the one most qualified to participate in the Lord’s Invitational!"

"The Lord’s Invitational?" Ye Da asked curiously. "What’s that? I haven’t seen any announcements about it."