75: Chapter 75 Shi Yan: "Hero Qin! Now... are you going to repay my life-saving grace?"

Shi Yan: "Hero Qin! Are you going to repay the life-saving favor now...?"

At that moment.

Qin Muyuan leaned in close to Shi Yan and tapped his own cheek with his finger.

Seeing this, the little girl tilted her head in confusion at first, not quite understanding what Qin Muyuan meant.

After a few seconds, Shi Yan suddenly let out an "ah" sound, as if she had a sudden flash of realization:

"Hero... Qin! Are you going to repay the life-saving favor now...?"

Qin Muyuan retorted: "What else?"

Hearing this, Shi Yan's small face instantly flushed crimson, filled with shyness and bashfulness.

Finally.

She still lowered her head, leaned forward, and awkwardly planted two smacking kisses on Qin Muyuan's face.

Leaving a kiss on each of Qin Muyuan's left and right cheeks.

Seeing this, Qin Muyuan raised his hand to wipe away the saliva left on his cheek by Shi Yan, then opened his status panel.

"Hmm? No change?"

On the panel, [Little Girl Shi Yan's Gratitude] showed no changes at all.

Neither the buff effect nor the duration had changed in the slightest.

"Can it not be refreshed? Or is there some other reason?"

Qin Muyuan pondered.

After pondering for two seconds without figuring it out,

"Whatever."

Qin Muyuan, two seconds later, couldn't be bothered to continue thinking and cast the matter to the back of his mind.

No matter how much he thought about it now, he wouldn't figure it out.

It would be better to wait until this buff's duration ended before coming back to ask Shi Yan for another cheek kiss.

At that time, he could see if he could reapply the buff.

The quest to ask Shi Gandang for a map had already refreshed.

The guidance within his field of vision had also changed directly from finding Shi Gandang to guiding him to Lingzhu Market in Daliang Country to visit the Yu Family.

However, adhering to the principle of prioritizing nearby quests,

Qin Muyuan switched his quest to exterminating the Black Water Demon, deciding to go find trouble with the Black Water Demon first.

The arrows within his field of vision refreshed again, and Qin Muyuan immediately stepped forward, walking in the direction of the arrows.

Leaving behind Shi Yan, whose expression was a mix of bashfulness and anticipation, standing blankly in place.

She watched Qin Muyuan's gradually receding back with a look of utter helplessness.

"Is it... already over?"

...

On the other side.

Before even walking out of Xiao Mansion, Qin Muyuan saw Xiao Chang standing in front of the mansion's entrance, waiting for him.

"What is it?" he asked.

Xiao Chang answered with a solemn expression:

"Brother Qin, could you tell me where you plan to open up the Demon Domain?"

"If we can know the location in advance, I can lead the fleeing commoners there ahead of time."

"Once the Demon Domain is broken, we can lead them to evacuate in time, avoiding being trapped inside when the Demon Domain closes again."

Confusion appeared on Qin Muyuan's face: "What? Break the Demon Domain? When did I ever say I was going to break the Demon Domain?"

His words, on the contrary, left Xiao Chang confused as well:

"Brother Qin, aren't you planning to tear open a gap in the Demon Domain and lead us out..."

Suddenly, Xiao Chang's voice paused, and he stopped.

It seemed as though he only understood Qin Muyuan's meaning now, and he gazed at Qin Muyuan with absolute shock, his eyes looking as if he were gazing upon a deity:

"Wait! Brother Qin, wasn't what you meant earlier to break open the Demon Domain and take us out?"

"Instead... you mean to Seal that Black Water Demon and directly shut down its Demon Domain?!"

"Seal?" Qin Muyuan said: "Pretty much."

"Hiss!"

Hearing this, Xiao Chang sucked in a breath of cold air, feeling that it was simply terrifying!

Just previously, Brother Qin had been fighting for his life alongside him in Heishui County.

Yet now... he had actually reached the level where he could Seal a demon?!

If it were anyone else claiming they could Seal a demon alone, Xiao Chang would definitely treat them as talking big.

But if it were Qin Muyuan... Xiao Chang felt there was at least a ninety percent credibility!

"Since that's the case, I wish Brother Qin success in your first battle!"

Xiao Chang cupped his fists solemnly toward Qin Muyuan and said.

After that, he walked back into Xiao Mansion.

Since Brother Qin had said so, Xiao Chang naturally chose to believe him.

Since he believed him, there was no need to hurriedly pack up luggage and food.

As long as the Black Water Demon was sealed, the Demon Domain would naturally be broken.

And there would be no need to pack luggage and flee in a rush.

...

Qin Muyuan walked out of Xiao Mansion and, following the quest guidance arrows within his field of vision, stepped closer and closer to the center of the county town.

That Black Water Demon stayed at the center of the county, and though it was unknown what it was doing, it had sent out demon puppets to roam outside.

According to Qin Muyuan's countless experiences of playing games and reading novels,

in this kind of situation, it should mean that the Black Water Demon was about to advance.

Thus, it needed to find a place of good geomancy, slowly absorbing flesh and blood to maintain its condition while slowly advancing.

However.

"In this world with extremely high openness, the concept of 'transformations cannot be interrupted' shouldn't exist, right?"

Qin Muyuan thought to himself.

He certainly didn't want it so that after he finally found the Black Water Demon, a sentence would pop up on his panel saying [This door cannot be opened from this side], or perhaps [Please explore the area ahead later], or similar words.

Having to wait until the Black Water Demon successfully advanced, watching a breakthrough CG, and then watching like a powerless husband as the Black Water Demon unleashed a flood to submerge Qinghua County.

Only then would the player exit the special CG state and have their background displayed.

Finally, the camera would push forward, blending his back with the game screen, allowing the player to look at the chaotic world and finally take action.

This kind of method of forcibly suppressing the player might be normal in other games.

But if this game... showed this kind of situation, Qin Muyuan would be very disappointed!

He was still planning to recommend this game to his good buddies in the chat group!

Bearing this worry, Qin Muyuan, bringing Wangcai along, quickly arrived at a collapsed street on the outskirts of the county center.

Before even getting close to the county center, Qin Muyuan heard several screams and urgent shouts, along with a flurry of panicked and noisy footsteps.

Looking closely, he saw a soldier wearing light armor appear ahead.

These soldiers were wounded, fleeing in panic while looking back in terror.

And behind them, dozens of demon puppets controlled by the Black Water Demon followed step by step like zombies.

While fleeing for their lives, these soldiers also caught sight of Qin Muyuan.

Seeing this, the leading soldier shouted at Qin Muyuan while running:

"Hey! You commoner! What are you daydreaming for! Run quickly!"

Hearing their shouts, Qin Muyuan didn't pay much attention, only calling out:

"Wangcai, go."

"Awooo!"

Obeying the command, Wangcai let out a high-pitched wolf howl and sprinted out.

Amidst the exclamations of those soldiers, Wangcai passed through the crowd of wounded soldiers and charged at the demon puppets in the rear.

To deal with these low-level demon puppets, Qin Muyuan couldn't be bothered to act, leaving them directly to Wangcai, who had already completed his first Pokémon-like evolution.

And Wangcai did not disappoint Qin Muyuan.

After swallowing the [Yao Beast Intelligence-Opening Pill], Wangcai's head became much sharper, and his strength surged drastically.

Dealing with these demon puppets that hadn't even reached the Third-Rate Martial Artist Realm, his wolf claws killed them one by one, wiping out all the demon puppets in no time.

"Directly... instantly killed?"

The soldiers who had escaped a calamity saw the demon puppets that had chased them all the way swatted to death by a single paw from Wangcai.

They were all so shocked that they were completely dumbfounded.

Only then did they heave a sigh of relief with a sense of relief.

The leading soldier among them, who had the lightest injuries, cupped his fists gratefully toward Wangcai and Qin Muyuan:

"Many thanks to the hero for saving our lives—you are that Qin surnamed...!"

Before the words of gratitude could be fully uttered, the moment the leading soldier saw Qin Muyuan's face clearly, his heart leapt with shock, and he instinctively wanted to blurt out the four words "Qin-surnamed fiend".

Only at the very last moment, relying on astonishing endurance, did he force the last two words back down.

However.

With Qin Muyuan's current hearing, he heard it very clearly.

"You know me?" A half-smile expression appeared on Qin Muyuan's face.

The leading soldier's expression shifted for two seconds, and finally, gritting his teeth, he said truthfully:

"Hero... Hero Qin! We are the border-guarding Dingyuan Army of Huoyun Country! We once... received orders to pursue you, Hero Qin!"