Chapter 106: “You don't want anything to happen to your daughter, do you?”
In the washroom, Ning Zhuo lay frozen in a strange posture, his scalp prickling as if a giant anaconda pressed its cold scales against his back.
In fact he had not imagined it — Mo Lin, who was gradually returning to its original size, had squeezed the tiny washroom until there was almost no room to move.
Ning Zhuo remained locked by its 「Spatial Imprisonment」.
“Y-you, what do you want to do?”
He forced his voice to stay calm, but it still trembled uncontrollably.
The reason was simple: through the thin wall of the washroom, in his bedroom, his beloved daughter Ning Ruirui was lying on the bed.
If Mo Lin burst out of the washroom, it would inevitably run into his daughter.
He did not fear death for himself, but he absolutely could not stand by and watch his daughter die.
Yet he had no ability to resist Mo Lin — and even if he had, he did not dare act rashly at this moment.
So he could only ask Mo Lin softly:
“You already got what you wanted, didn’t you? Why come to our Yongzhou Chamber of Commerce again?”
Mo Lin smiled lightly:
“I came to the Chamber only to ask the Chamber for a little more.”
Ning Zhuo was taken aback:
“You attacked my cargo ship on the Ning River and still weren't satisfied, and now you come make trouble at the Chamber headquarters?”
Ning Zhuo said:
“You must understand, even though you are an earth anaconda with unusual strength, this is the Yongzhou Chamber of Commerce headquarters — the thing we have least shortage of here is earth-rank experts.”
“Don't think that because you flew off right under our chairman's nose, you can come and go freely inside the Chamber headquarters!”
Mo Lin paid no mind to Ning Zhuo's attempt at intimidation:
“There is no need for you to worry about that. You only need to tell me where your Chamber keeps the Earth Vein Yin Marrow and the Yin Flood Dragon Heart’s Blood.”
Ning Zhuo froze at those words:
“Yin Flood Dragon Heart’s Blood? Our Chamber doesn't have such a thing.”
Of course — even an organization like the Yongzhou Chamber of Commerce did not possess Yin Flood Dragon Heart’s Blood.
Mo Lin, who had only asked casually, felt no regret and simply pressed its cold tail against Ning Zhuo's back:
“So you say. That means you do have the Earth Vein Yin Marrow, right? Tell me where it is.”
Ning Zhuo stiffened his body:
“I will not tell you anything!”
“You stole our Chamber’s demonic core, and now you want to steal the Earth Vein Yin Marrow from us as well? I won't betray the Chamber!”
At that moment, a knock came from outside the washroom, making the already immobile Ning Zhuo even more rigid:
“Dad, what are you saying in there?”
The iron-spined Ning Zhuo suddenly showed only fear and pleading in his eyes.
Mo Lin glanced at the shadow of the child outside the door, then looked back at Ning Zhuo, and said nothing.
Ning Zhuo called out:
“Ruirui, go outside... lie down and rest a while, Daddy is about to bathe.”
He had intended to send Ruirui out, but he felt the scales behind him tighten.
Clearly, if he insisted on sending Ruirui out, Mo Lin might act on her first. Helpless, he hurriedly changed his words.
“Oh, Daddy, hurry up, Ruirui is so sleepy.”
“Then Ruirui will sleep first. Daddy will be done soon.”
After soothing his daughter, Ning Zhuo forced his head to turn and looked at Mo Lin behind him, whose pupils flashed with cold light.
It was the first time he had observed Mo Lin so closely, and likewise the first time Mo Lin had looked at Ning Zhuo so closely.
It came so near that it could see the fear stacking in Ning Zhuo's eyes, the pleas silently screaming for it to spare the child beyond the wall.
Mo Lin could not care less about Ning Zhuo's fatherly feelings, but it did not mind using them:
“You don't want your daughter to die a tragic death, do you?”
With those simple words, Ning Zhuo's pleading grew more intense. Mo Lin had no doubt that if it loosened the 「Spatial Imprisonment」 now, Ning Zhuo's first act would be to kneel before it.
Mo Lin said coldly:
“If you don't want that, then tell me where the Earth Vein Yin Marrow is.”
Ning Zhuo shut his eyes tight:
“Alright, I will tell you — but do not harm my daughter.”
He seemed prepared to plead with Mo Lin once more; after all, betraying the Chamber and failing a mission were two different matters.
“But have you thought: with your massive body, even if I tell you where the Earth Vein Yin Marrow is, how could you carry it away before others and in front of them?”
Mo Lin smiled indifferently:
“That is simple.”
As it spoke, Ning Zhuo felt his body relax — evidently Mo Lin had lifted the 「Spatial Imprisonment」.
Compared to 「Spatial Imprisonment」, it was the child in the room next door that had been his true constraint.
Before Ning Zhuo's astonished eyes, Mo Lin's enormous form began to shrink again, finally becoming a small grass snake which slipped into Ning Zhuo's clothes and coiled around his waist:
“Alright, let's go. Lead the way.”
Ning Zhuo watched Mo Lin's miraculous displays and could not help but let out a soft breath.
Imprisonment, lightning orb, flight — and now shrinking. How many more “surprises” would this anaconda demon show?
Could it really be, as the Prince of Jiyang had said, that this snake belonged to the true dragon lineage?
None of that mattered now.
As long as he could protect his daughter, even if it were a true dragon in the world, he would not be afraid.
“Wait...”
At that moment Mo Lin stopped Ning Zhuo as he was about to push open the door:
“Take your daughter with you as well.”
Ning Zhuo's face changed at those words.
One must understand: his daughter was his fatal vulnerability, and the reason he followed Mo Lin's orders.
They were about to go and seize the place, and this anaconda demanded he bring his daughter?!
“That is impossible!”
Ning Zhuo refused Mo Lin's request outright.
Mo Lin did not get angry; it simply coiled at Ning Zhuo's waist and said calmly:
“If you do not bring your daughter, who knows whether, once you are far from her, you will report me to others?”
Ning Zhuo's furious expression changed.
Clearly, Mo Lin had guessed his thought.
His intention had been to lead Mo Lin away, and once his daughter was safe, report Mo Lin's existence to the Chamber’s other experts so they could take Mo Lin down.
Anyone who threatened his daughter must be destroyed!
He had already disregarded his own safety.
But Mo Lin had seen through his plan and insisted he bring Ruirui along.
Mo Lin knew Ning Zhuo would not agree, so it said simply:
“If you truly guide me, your daughter will remain safe beside me.”
“If you refuse, I will kill both of you now. The choice is yours.”
Faced with Mo Lin's words, what else could Ning Zhuo do?
He completely abandoned the plan to inform others, pulled his drowsy daughter from the bed, and headed toward the place in the Chamber headquarters where the Earth Vein Yin Marrow was stored.