Lan Qingyou looked at Chu Yuan as he leaned in and played the straight man, asking, "What possibility?"
"That this whole series of events was masterminded by that guy Naheye?"
Chu Yuan's words left everyone around him stunned.
Lan Qingyou continued to play along. "Meaning..."
"Meaning that Saran Siqing driving Frenna out of another region was actually just a means to get to the Empress."
"To put it bluntly, Frenna was likely just an excuse—an added bonus."
As he said this, Chu Yuan turned to look at Frenna, whose face was already turning red with rage. He didn't care if she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown and kept going.
"After all, grain is far more valuable than the meat you get from hunting monsters."
The straw that broke the camel's back had arrived.
The moment Chu Yuan finished speaking, the seductive mask on Frenna's face shattered completely.
Ferocity, darkness, and distortion!
Every dark facet of her personality made her face look surreal, as if her previous charm, innocence, and frailty were nothing more than an illusion.
"I'm an added bonus? Fine, fine... fucking great. Formation 505, I'll remember this."
Frenna spat out a curse, then turned and marched toward the ruined shelter.
Judging by her stance, she looked like she was going to drag Naheye's corpse out and give it another thrashing.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lan was pondering something else.
Namely, how Naheye had ended up as a member of Formation 505.
They weren't exactly close, but they had been partners in the early days. He was a 'grassroots' survivor she knew well.
Since the people in the Cursed Corridor used seeds developed by Jiang Lan for their crops, all harvests were initially centralized and handled by her.
After Jiang Lan and Naheye had a falling out, some people had still given their harvested ingredients to him.
Consequently, his supply of Jiang Lan's seeds was cut off, and he immediately fell back into the desperate state he'd been in at the very beginning of the transmigration.
Later, he had supposedly died because he couldn't upgrade his shelter.
With the power of that 'example' set, no one dared to give their harvested ingredients to Naheye again.
Perhaps that was the root cause of why he went to such extremes to kill her and take control of the region himself.
Looking at the badge in her hand, Jiang Lan thought silently.
After all, although this place was called the 'Cursed Corridor' and truly possessed a curse that caused rapid aging, it could become a testing ground for certain experiments if used correctly.
No joke.
This was a place where time accelerated for anything without protection. It was a natural laboratory.
So, Formation 505 wanted this place, and they hit it off with Naheye, who wanted to get rid of her and take control. It was a perfect match.
Such a thing wasn't impossible; in fact, the probability was quite high.
Regardless, the influence of Formation 505 in this region should be considered wiped out now.
After all, everyone with a dog tag was dead.
While she wasn't sure what rank these dog tags represented within Formation 505, someone who could command a squad was at least a squad leader, if not the person in charge of this entire region.
After all, how long had it been since the barriers vanished? Even if they had been networking before, the organization couldn't be that massive yet.
Not every organization could be as high-profile as the Supreme Council.
When Frenna finally emerged after a lap inside, the group saw two hounds at her heels. They were about half a meter tall, with muscles so overdeveloped they looked like disproportionate double-door refrigerators. They were two-headed dogs.
These creatures hadn't existed before she went in.
"These are..."
Jiang Lan stared blankly at the two dogs.
"Two-headed Hounds. One head is responsible for receiving information, and the other for processing it."
As she spoke, Frenna took Naheye's badge and let both dogs catch the scent.
"Do you remember the scent on this?"
"Woof! Woof!"
"Good. Go!"
With a grand wave of Frenna's hand, the two dogs bolted like hounds off a leash. They were so fast that they vanished from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.
"Holy crap! What's the deal with that?"
"I have no idea."
The group broke into hushed discussions at the sight. When they couldn't reach a conclusion, they all eventually turned their gaze toward Frenna.
"Genetically modified magic hounds. They have a speed approaching three hundred kilometers per hour and can move for about ten days without rest, food, or water."
Seeing everyone staring at her, Frenna revealed the information about the two dogs.
In response, Gu Xiaobei waved her hands frantically.
"No, no, no, that's not what we're asking."
"Uh... then what?"
"Where did those two dogs come from? You were only inside for less than two minutes, right? How did you suddenly end up with two dogs?"
Ruan Qingyi pointed toward where the hounds had vanished.
"Oh, you mean that? I thought it was something else."
With that, Frenna pulled out a test tube.
"These contain Two-headed Hound cells. Combined with a bit of magic and the unique nature of the Cursed Corridor, making two little dogs is incredibly easy."
"...You stepped into the Cursed Corridor?" Jiang Lan was shocked.
"Yes. It only took a minute to mature the two pups. It was quite a bargain."
"What do you mean, bargain? One minute in the time turbulence of the Cursed Corridor is equivalent to a natural year. That means you've aged by a year."
"It's just one year. Is that more important than the fact that they treated a beauty pageant champion like me as an added bonus?!"
Frenna didn't care about Jiang Lan's concern at all. Instead, she shot back with a raised voice.
"Uh... what do you mean by that..."
"Those two hounds will reach the nearest person who handled that badge within these ten days and kill them. Then they'll kill the second, the third, until they die of exhaustion ten days from now."
Frenna stared in the direction the dogs had disappeared, a ferocious smile appearing on her face as she spoke through gritted teeth.
"If they dare to view me as an 'extra,' they'll have to pay the price."
...
The group fell silent.
A map-wide manhunt?
And with biological guidance?
They hadn't expected this woman to be so vindictive.
Her behavior was clearly her true nature coming out, but she didn't care, so naturally, the others didn't either.
For them, as long as they weren't killing each other, stabbing each other in the back, or playing dirty tricks, it didn't seem to matter what kind of person she was in private.
Rate on N.U.
