---o---
Just as Ruan Mei was about to ask how Fu Zhu knew, he had already switched the call to video mode and aimed the camera at the 'Ender Dragon,' allowing her to see its full form clearly.
"This is… an Ender Dragon?"
Although she already had her suspicions, seeing with her own eyes that the evolutionary goal of these True Stingbugs was indeed an 'Ender Dragon' still left Ruan Mei somewhat astonished.
Fu Zhu stretched his neck and turned to hand the phone to Dahlia.
"Hold this for me."
Dahlia silently took the phone from Fu Zhu's hand and dutifully held it, keeping the camera aimed at the 'Ender Dragon.'
Fu Zhu pulled a diamond sword from his inventory. He looked at the 'Ender Dragon' that was hissing at him and let out a sudden, cold laugh.
"Since you dare to imitate it, you'd best have evolved its traits as well."
As his voice fell, Fu Zhu shot forward, leaving only a fading afterimage in his wake.
By the time the 'Ender Dragon' noticed him, it was just about to fly up to use the difference in elevation to its advantage when its right wing was sliced off at the root. Its body immediately lost its balance and crashed heavily back onto the high platform, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The 'Ender Dragon' shook its head and let out a low roar. Its multiple compound eyes scanned its surroundings warily, but its field of vision only contained Dahlia holding Fu Zhu's phone in the distance. Fu Zhu himself was nowhere to be seen.
Just as the 'Ender Dragon' was cautiously observing its surroundings, preparing to right itself and adjust its posture, it suddenly felt its head become slightly heavier.
The 'Ender Dragon' reacted instantly. Fu Zhu was on its head!
"Hah, a mere fake."
Fu Zhu looked down at the Ender Dragon beneath his feet as it tried to writhe its body and throw him off. He casually unslung the exquisite backpack from his shoulders and held it in his hand.
He let go. The exquisite backpack immediately fell.
BOOM!
A massive boom echoed, and a cloud of dust even larger than before billowed up, completely obscuring everyone's vision.
Holding the phone, Dahlia couldn't help but squint, trying to see what had happened. But the dust was too thick. She switched to holding the phone with one hand and waved the other, conjuring a blast of air that blew all the obscuring dust away.
Once her vision cleared, what appeared before her was the 'Ender Dragon,' now completely lifeless. Fu Zhu was still standing on its head, while the creature's body now had a massive hole in it, a mangled mess of flesh and blood.
What happened?!
Dahlia was astonished. Everything had happened too quickly. All she saw was Fu Zhu suddenly appear on the 'Ender Dragon's' head and say something she couldn't make out. The next second, this was the result.
Fu Zhu jumped down from the 'Ender Dragon's' head, turned to look at the body that had been almost entirely reduced to a bloody pulp, and then slapped himself on the forehead in frustration.
"A miscalculation. I shouldn't have used the backpack. I should've just crushed it with my hands."
Dahlia approached, trembling. She cautiously walked toward the 'Ender Dragon' and, after a moment of observation, discovered with shock that there was a hole the size of a human head right in the center of the creature's torso. Through that hole, she could directly see the chaotic sea of Memoria that enveloped this region.
Seeing this terrifying wound, Dahlia instantly understood. A moment ago, Fu Zhu had used some kind of method to punch straight through the 'Ender Dragon' and this entire high platform along with it.
"What did you do?"
Fu Zhu shrugged with an air of casual ease. "Nothing much. I saw it was trying to get up, so I figured I'd add a little weight. I didn't expect it to die so directly."
He had intended to test whether this fake had evolved any of the real Ender Dragon's properties, so he just dropped his backpack on it. He didn't expect it to be so fragile.
On second thought, it made sense. His backpack contained a huge amount of materials from all his travels, and he had even deliberately installed several stacking upgrades. Just the ore inside weighed at least several hundred thousand tons, and that was a conservative estimate.
If the creature had evolved the real Ender Dragon's traits, then no amount of weight could have harmed it. But alas, a fake was a fake, unable to replace the genuine article. This backpack, weighing a conservative several hundred thousand tons, had crushed it into a bloody pulp.
Fu Zhu shook his head with some annoyance. He thought he had found an interesting creature, but it turned out to be such a pushover. He should have gone easier on it.
"Give me the phone."
After taking his phone back from Dahlia, Fu Zhu switched directly to Observer Mode and flew down to find the backpack he had just dropped.
His backpack was ridiculously heavy, so much so that even the ground couldn't bear its weight. Luckily, he had upgraded it to be indestructible even by the void; otherwise, he would be genuinely heartbroken.
Dahlia watched Fu Zhu suddenly vanish and was startled once more. She scanned her surroundings warily, and only after a long moment of seeing no sign of him did she relax slightly.
She had been genuinely worried Fu Zhu would just kill her. Although she wasn't afraid of death, she didn't want to die so meaninglessly without having achieved any of her goals.
However, she hadn't been relieved for long when Gopher Wood, who had been observing from the side all this time, suddenly spoke.
"Madam, you'd best worry about yourself first."
Dahlia frowned and looked at him, but before she could ask why, countless True Stingbugs flew out from all directions. Before Gopher Wood could utter another word, his body, made of Memoria, was swarmed and devoured completely.
Dahlia was alarmed. With a wave of her hand, a ring of deep blue fire encircled her, blocking the True Stingbugs' attack.
"Did they go crazy with vengeance because their 'Queen' died? Or is this just pure instinct?"
Dahlia roughly estimated the number of True Stingbugs around her and, concluding she was no match for them, decided to find a way to retreat.
But before she could, countless cards suddenly flew through the air, shredding hundreds of True Stingbugs.
Seeing the somewhat familiar cards, Dahlia immediately turned her head in the direction they came from. She saw Robin, Ruan Mei, and her familiar colleague, Black Swan, walking over.
Black Swan, still holding a card in her hand, glanced at Dahlia and sneered. "I knew it was you. I told them our other colleagues wouldn't be so bold as to dare alter the memories of a Family Head."
Dahlia returned a pathological smile. "So, are you here to help me? My dear colleague."
"Help you? Heh."
Black Swan let out a humorless laugh. She then turned to Ruan Mei beside her, her expression instantly becoming helpless.
"Madam Ruan Mei, Mr. Fu Zhu isn't here. It seems he's already left. Perhaps we should leave as well? With this many True Stingbugs, I'm not confident I can protect you both."
Robin scanned the area. Seeing no sign of Fu Zhu, she too had the intention of retreating.
Ruan Mei's gaze, however, was fixed on the corpse of the fake 'Ender Dragon.'
"Do me a favor. I want to collect that corpse."