Chapter 193. Demons and Monsters (17) The Survivor Pushkin

     “God?”

     Ye Mo temporarily halted the assault of the external support team. Hearing Pushkin’s plea for help, she was so startled she nearly unleashed a mental attack, convinced there must be something wrong with his head.  

     “Lord—no, Boss? No… King? No…” The silver wolf scratched its head with a paw in an oddly human-like gesture, its expressive wolf face twisting in confusion. “The title isn’t important. What matters is your everlasting mercy and greatness. By the ancient demon gods above, I merely wish to express my endless admiration and devotion to you.”  

     “…”  

     Ye Mo’s eyes twitched, and her mental power swept across the hundred or so silver wolves hidden in the forest. There were countless hostile ones among them, but they did not attack immediately, instead observing, evaluating, and remaining vigilant.

     As for their own side, in addition to similar hostility and scrutiny, a look of proud satisfaction emerged – the kind that says, ‘My leader is being praised.’

     Ye Mo, adhering to the principle that ‘more words lead to more mistakes’, simply promoted the base instead: “This is the Half-Demon Base.”

     “Of course!” The silver wolf prattled on. “Just as the stars foretold, you’ve built a new future for half-demons. We all know how difficult it was—how impossible it should have been. No demon, no spirit, no monster has ever achieved it. Yet you did. Like a deity descending from the heavens to save the world.”

     “By the ancient demon gods above, the energy for cultivation grows scarcer by the day. Monsters slaughter each other in droves. Countless millennia-old bloodlines have been wiped out. And now, the only rising faction is the Half-Demon Base. If this continues, fate will abandon us all. The apocalypse of darkness will come. But—but—before that darkness, the sun, the moon, and the stars guided us to you. Only you. Only you can lead us to a new hope.”

     A cool breeze swept through. Whether it was an illusion or not, the forest grew even quieter.  

     Ye Mo, who had not yet completed the main task, did not dare to accept Pushkin’s high hat and really save the world. “You are wrong, I am just an ordinary half-demon.”

     Silver Wolf jumped lightly and jumped to the top of the tree. Standing on the light leaves, he looked at the sparkling lake below and said in a slightly exaggerated tone: “Look how beautiful it is! You don’t have to be modest. Even a fool knows that the sun, stars and moon will never lie.”

     “The stars never lie, but they will not save people either.” Ye Mo silently complained and raised his eyebrows: “So?”

     Silver Wolf jumped from the top of the tree and landed lightly on the ground hundreds of meters away. A leaf that fell from the branch fell to the ground after a long time. It was almost the same. He stretched out his claws, and several demon pills exposed to the air shone brightly.

     The words just now may have played a role, making the monsters and demons in the forest listen to Pushkin’s next words quietly: “Merciful Lord, please save the seriously injured silver wolf warriors. We are willing to offer four fire wolf demon pills and one pangolin space beast pill, which come from those terrible invaders.”

     Space beast pill?

     Although the space demon pill is smaller than other fire demon pills and is easily overlooked when hidden in the energy pile, the surprise it brings is no less than the other four demon pills.

     “We also rescued more than 20 half-demons from the road. I believe they are happy to join the half-demons base.”

     A wolf howled, several silver figures flashed by, and more than 20 powerful half-demons appeared in everyone’s sight, trembling. They were all weak and rarely had anything to do with wolves. It looked like they were picked up from the road.

     “Are you willing to join the half-demon base?”

     The frightened half-demons responded very quickly, probably without thinking: “Yes…Yes.”

     “…”

     Ye Mo handed them over to the winged-tiger half-demons—there was a dedicated onboarding process for newcomers to the Half-Demon Base. Then, with the measured pace of an ordinary human, she approached the silver wolf. With a flick of her wrist, five demon cores vanished instantly. “Pleasure doing business.”

     Saving the severely injured silver wolves wasn’t particularly difficult. Pushkin, with his spatial bracelet, could’ve easily managed it himself. Both sides knew the real exchange happened in the shadows.  

     Ye Mo provided several packets of high-grade golden wound powder and two medicinal pills that accelerated limb regeneration. To speed up the wolves’ recovery, she had Pushkin gather the wounded within a mysterious ten-meter-wide disc—a spirit-gathering array specially engraved for the new wolf clan.  

     No matter how you looked at it, this world’s spiritual energy was far denser than the modern world’s. As a result, the spirit-gathering array’s effects were exponentially stronger.  

     One by one, the silver wolves stepped onto the disc, skepticism in their eyes. But the moment they entered, their expressions shifted to shock. They could instantly feel spiritual energy at least ten times more concentrated than before.

     This was no less than the spiritual energy found in the core spirit-jade mines guarded by the Silver Wolf Clan—the very mines they had once relied on for survival before their downfall.  

     How was this possible? 

     The silver wolves were stunned. One after another, howls of astonishment rose through the forest.  

     If the healing pills and medicines had merely amazed and envioused them, making them begin to trust Pushkin’s talk of a “savior”…  

     Then this spirit-gathering array, a mystical disc tied directly to the future of all supernatural beings—utterly convinced them. Pushkin’s wild ramblings no longer seemed so absurd. Their gazes toward Ye Mo now held genuine reverence and hope, not the wary skepticism reserved for imposters.  

     Even the half-demons, still on guard, noticed the shift in the silver wolves’ attitude. Though the respect wasn’t directed at them, they couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming surge of pride—so intense it nearly brought them to tears.  

     And this was no exaggeration.  

     For thousands of years, half-demons had been oppressed by this world. It had been so long since they had felt any semblance of recognition from other races.

     They were sentient beings, a beings with emotions, ideals, and thoughts. And now, their respect and gratitude toward Ye Mo deepened even further.  

     What began as a simple transaction with the Silver Wolf Clan had unexpectedly earned Ye Mo something far more valuable: ‘true loyalty’, the kind her followers would willingly stake their lives on. And this devotion would likely spread throughout the entire base.  

     Pushkin, ever the cunning opportunist, winked slyly and flashed a grin—his teeth slightly uneven but pearly white—like a preening peacock. His sapphire-blue eyes glimmered, sending flirtatious glances at the nearby she-wolves, their coats lustrous and striking.  

     Ye Mo barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes, muttering under her breath, “Playboy.”

     Truth be told, the defensive arrays within the Half-Demon Base had similar spirit-gathering effects—perhaps even stronger than ordinary ones.

     However, Ye Mo had no intention of allowing so many untrustworthy monsters into her domain—especially when these creatures were far stronger than the half-demons in her base. The Half-Demon Base absolutely couldn’t “invite wolves into the house.”

     Moreover, no matter how much reverence the silver wolves held for Ye Mo, they wouldn’t dare step into the illusionary formation known for its “devilish” reputation. There wasn’t enough mutual trust.

     Except for Pushkin.

     When Pushkin proposed an energy exchange in return for the right to tour the Half-Demon Base, Ye Mo pretended to hesitate for a long time before reluctantly agreeing—though with strict conditions: “Only one person is allowed, and the energy exchange must be no less than five demon cores.”

     “Fine! You cunning goddess of half-demons! Your wisdom leaves me utterly defeated.” The silver wolf bared his trademark gleaming teeth and winked again.  

     “…”

     Ye Mo felt goosebumps crawl over her skin. During the last dungeon, their interaction had been too brief—or perhaps, surrounded by more dominant powerhouses, she hadn’t noticed. But she never expected that among the top five survivors, there’d be one with a personality like this—a wolf who could grin so dazzlingly, even through his beastly face.  

     …

     Ye Mo led Pushkin into the base illusion array and disappeared. Behind them followed three half-demons with outstanding leadership potential, one of whom was the wind-type flying tiger demon.

     Soon after entering the formation, Pushkin’s wolf body was changing at a speed visible to the naked eye, from top to bottom, head, chest, arms… a strong man with silver hair and blue eyes.

     The two half-demons were startled and almost flew out of their weapons. Seeing Ye Mo’s calm expression, they gradually calmed down and thought, could it be that the silver wolf in front of them was a human wolf half-demon? What was his purpose in leading the silver wolf tribe to the half-demons base?

     Ye Mo was recording this rare and real human-beast transformation in her mind, which was a good reference value for her to make illusion formations and perform illusions.

     “Perhaps I should act a little shy?” Pushkin remarked, though his face showed not a trace of embarrassment, only smug satisfaction with his own physique.  

     Ye Mo remained expressionless. “Your physical condition appears healthy.”

     “…Thanks?”

     Pulling a dark blue robe from his spatial storage, Pushkin draped it over himself. His grin was identical to his earlier wolfish smile—though the species differed, anyone who saw it would instinctively connect the two. The essence was unmistakably the same.  

     He surveyed his surroundings as if he’d fallen into the depths of a modern Earth lake—perhaps even an actual underwater world from the modern era. The long-distance view was unnervingly realistic, nearly flawless in its deception.  

     But up close? The illusion frayed. The icy-cool touch of water lingered on his skin, along with a damp, clinging sensation. The swimming fish seemed even more lifelike than the swaying kelp—almost too convincing.  

     “It feels a bit like the legendary 30% simulated reality.”  

     In truth, it could achieve over 70% realism of an ordinary world—the limitation lay in the insufficient energy of the illusion array. Ye Mo bypassed this by directly deploying her mental abilities to cast illusions on the spot, independent of the array.  

     “The water pressure and suffocating sensation are spot-on! I’d say 85% accuracy,” Pushkin praised.  

     Ye Mo didn’t impose any mental suggestions. She dissolved the illusion with a thought. “That performance earlier was quite impressive. I’m Jing—or Maria, the founder and leader of the Half-Demon Base.”  

     “Not all of it was an act,” Pushkin corrected earnestly. “We both know how dangerous this world is. To establish a base in such a short time, to be the one capable of changing things—there’s no doubt it could only be you.”  

     “Not just me,” Ye Mo replied curtly.  

     The process of Ye Mo building her base wasn’t hard to uncover in the forest, so it needed little elaboration. In preparation for their impending cooperation, Pushkin launched into a vivid recounting of his own experiences.  

     After waking up from the space, he found that he had become a member of the Silver Wolf Clan. He soon discovered that the other new wolves were not werewolves. The first thing he did was to hide his talent.

     As the world’s second-ranked survivor, Pushkin had faced peril from the very beginning. His greatest crisis came when the Silver Wolf Clan—having lost both their chieftain and strongest warriors—teetered on the brink of annihilation.  

     Every young wolf in the clan joined the desperate fight.  

     Pushkin could barely protect himself; perhaps even self-preservation required rescue from his kin. How could he possibly save 1,000 fellow silver wolves? He could have fled, but the problem was that failing the main quest 2 also meant death.

     Thus, Pushkin entered a difficult survival process, balancing self-preservation with the search and saving his kin.

     Pushkin’s description of this period was brief and solemn, those memories weighing heavily on him.

     There must have been deaths during this time, but his wolf kin had never seen potions. It wasn’t that he was unwilling to part with them, but that he couldn’t. Death always brought pain.

     “…After the fall of our ancestral lands, the silver wolf pack scattered in all directions while being hunted. My companions and I chose the Half-Demons Base.”

     Throughout Pushkin’s storytelling, Ye Mo maintained mental surveillance. Most of these stories should be true, but there were also some traps.

     When Pushkin described the “fall of our ancestral lands,” behind the profound grief and sorrow, there was also a guilt he was desperately trying to conceal.