Chapter 171 : Not a Single Drop Left
Chapter 171: Not a Single Drop Left
“Hera, being a person… being a demon, you can’t be too greedy.”
Vivian gritted her back teeth; it was genuine heartache.
The Seed of Life—how many years did it take to produce even one!
“Gone!”
Vivian plopped back into the rattan chair, crossed her arms, and put on a fearless, “nothing to lose” posture.
Her eyes rolled, and she began spouting blatant lies with her eyes wide open.
“Want a new one? Sure, wait another three to five hundred years.”
Vivian glanced at Lilia standing beside her, a trace of schadenfreude in her gaze.
“Anyway, your little pet is as strong as a bull now. She doesn’t need that bit of supplement.”
When Lilia heard “as strong as a bull,” the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but twitch twice.
Please stop talking.
If you keep going, the boss is really going to treat me like livestock.
Hera quietly looked at Vivian, as if she had long anticipated this old miser’s reaction.
She didn’t get angry; she didn’t even frown.
“No stock left?”
Hera asked lightly, her tone calm to a rather eerie degree.
Vivian felt her scalp tingle under that gaze, but she forced herself to nod. “Right, not a single drop left!”
“Alright then.”
To Vivian’s surprise, Hera nodded agreeably.
She turned around and, with elegant movements, grabbed Lilia—still in a daze—by the back of her collar, like lifting a kitten that had gotten into trouble.
“Since Lady Vivian is having such difficulties, then this account…”
Hera paused, turned her head slightly, and a calculating gleam flickered in her golden eyes.
“Let’s put it on the tab for now.”
“I’m not in a hurry.”
“After all… there will be plenty of chances to ‘collect’ later.”
After saying that, she didn’t give Vivian any time to react. Her fingertip lightly tapped the air.
A pitch-black spatial rift tore open out of nowhere, revealing the deep and dangerous chaotic void within.
“Let’s go.”
Hera carried Lilia with one hand.
“Wait!”
Seeing the rift about to close, Vivian suddenly realized something was wrong.
This woman was being this agreeable?
Putting it on a tab?
When the Queen of Eternal Night had her eyes on a debt, it usually meant interest piled upon interest—next time she came, she might even tear off the roof of her treehouse!
“Hera! Make yourself clear!”
Vivian jumped up from her chair and shouted at the rift.
“Don’t come next time with this girl and try to scam me! I really don’t have anything good left here!”
However, the only response was the crisp crack as the spatial rift closed.
And Hera’s final drifting words:
“That’s not up to you.”
……
Inside the spatial passage.
A violent wave of dizziness struck again, but this time, Lilia didn’t feel nauseous or like vomiting.
That was ridiculous.
“Your physical condition has indeed improved quite a bit.”
Hera’s voice sounded by her ear, carrying a hint of amusement.
Lilia turned her head and saw Hera staring at her with that look…
Like someone who had just bought a brand-new sports car and couldn’t wait to take it out on the track for a few laps.
“Since you’re not dizzy anymore.”
Hera released her grip on Lilia’s collar and, in one smooth motion, wrapped an arm around her waist.
Their bodies pressed tightly together in the narrow spatial passage.
Lilia could clearly smell the pleasant cedar-like cold fragrance on Hera, and… a dangerous aura.
“Then after we get back, there’s no need to rest, right?”
Hera leaned close to her ear and whispered softly.
“Tonight…”
“I need a ‘tenaciously vital’ assistant to cooperate with an experiment.”
Lilia: “!!!”
She knew it!
Looking at Hera’s flawless yet mischievous face, Lilia shed two streams of wide noodle tears in her heart.
Give me back my weak, helpless self!
……
The first rays of morning sunlight filtered through the gap in the curtains.
Lilia suddenly opened her eyes, her memories still lingering on last night’s bizarre and dazzling magic. She instinctively reached toward her lower back, already preparing her habitual groan: “Ow… my poor back… I can’t go on…”
However, the expected soreness didn’t arrive.
Not only was there no sense of being drained or having her bones fall apart, instead…
She cautiously moved her legs.
Whoosh—
The elastic sensation beneath the blanket told her that her current condition was absurdly good.
Lilia froze. She maintained the posture of reaching to rub her back, her hand awkwardly suspended midair, her expression like someone who had swallowed an entire durian with its shell.
This is bad.
That damned Seed of Life.
Last night, Hera’s insane experiment had lasted the entire night. If it were before, Lilia would already be lying in bed playing dead.
But now, she could actually feel that the life energy inside her was still bouncing around happily, as if recklessly mocking: “Come on! Keep going! Another three hundred rounds and I still won’t be out of breath!”
“Awake?”
A lazy, husky voice with the unique magnetism of just waking up came from beside her pillow.
Every hair on Lilia’s body stood on end in salute.
She mechanically turned her neck, making cracking sounds.
Hera was lying on her side, propping up her head. The black silk night robe hung loosely on her body, exposing large swathes of dizzyingly pale skin. Her golden eyes were half-lidded, lacking their usual cold killing intent, instead rippling with a kind of satisfaction after a full meal, and a hint of… surprise at seeing her new “toy” still holding up.
“G-good morning, Master.” Lilia swallowed, trying to make herself look weak—even just a little. “Last night… you worked hard.”
“I didn’t.”
Hera extended a slender finger and idly curled a strand of Lilia’s silver hair by the pillow, winding it gently around her fingertip. “The one who worked hard was you. After all, cooperating with that level of high-intensity magic conduction does take quite a toll.”
Lilia was just about to nod frantically in agreement—“Yes, yes, I’m dying”—when Hera’s next sentence completely cut off her retreat.
“But judging from your complexion…” Hera’s gaze swept over her overly rosy cheeks. Her fingertip slid downward, stopping at her flat abdomen, pressing lightly, “your recovery ability seems even better than I expected.”
Lilia’s abdomen tensed, and a tingling, electric sensation shot up her spine straight to her scalp.
“N-no… actually that’s just a final flash of vitality!” Lilia made her last desperate struggle. “Really, Master, I’m already empty inside—just a light touch and I’ll shatter…”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Hera raised a brow. A faint black glow suddenly lit up on her fingertip as she lightly tapped Lilia’s stomach.
That bit of magic was like a drop of water falling into the ocean, instantly swallowed by the surging life force inside her without leaving even a trace—there was even a sense of it letting out a satisfied burp.
The air suddenly fell into a terrifying silence.
Lilia closed her eyes in despair.
“Looks like that old tree spirit Vivian’s stuff is indeed somewhat useful.” Hera let out a low chuckle. To Lilia, that laughter sounded like a death knell. “Since your physical condition is so good, then today’s schedule…”
Lilia’s eyes snapped open, her face filled with terror.
“Don’t look at me like I’m going to eat you.” Hera seemed to be in an excellent mood. She slowly sat up from the bed. “For the next couple of days, push aside all those messy documents and trivial matters.”
She stepped barefoot onto the carpet, stretching her body with her back to Lilia. Her graceful curves were fully revealed in the morning light.
“I’m going to properly ‘inspect’ my territory. Of course, you’ll accompany me the entire time.”
Lilia collapsed onto the bed, staring lifelessly at the intricate patterns on the ceiling.