Female Protagonist Assistance System

Chapter 31 : . The Third Exposure

The tunnel was extremely long and dark. Gu Xun'er and Qing Lin couldn't see in the dark like Xiao Han, so they could only use the prepared moonstones for illumination.

Entering the pitch-black passage, Gu Xun'er felt a chill throughout her body. She frowned slightly, her gaze sweeping over the smooth walls around them. If a Heterogeneous Flame was ahead, there was no reason for this tunnel to be so cold.

Seemingly noticing Gu Xun'er's confusion, Xiao Han's voice came from ahead: "It's because the Heterogeneous Flame has absorbed all the fire attribute energy around it."

Gu Xun'er nodded in understanding.

None of the three spoke much, so apart from the faint rustling of footsteps, the journey was almost completely silent.

In the dark and deep tunnel, there seemed to be no concept of time. The three continued forward endlessly, and the tunnel seemed to have no end, with no light visible at its terminus.

This scenario... was like continuously walking towards the center of the earth.

Startled by her own thoughts, Gu Xun'er shook her head, dispelling these unrealistic ideas.

As they ventured deeper, she suddenly noticed the cold feeling enveloping her body abruptly dissipate, replaced by a faint scorching heat.

As they went deeper, the temperature rose higher. If not for the Golden Emperor Skyscorching Flame within her, Gu Xun'er felt she might not have been able to endure.

Soon, they saw the end of the tunnel.

Standing at the tunnel's end, Gu Xun'er and Qing Lin gazed at the fiery red world before them, their faces filled with awe.

In the enormous cavern, red-hot lava flowed slowly. Occasionally, huge bubbles would rise from the lava, bursting with a faint sound moments later, spraying hot lava outwards like a brilliant red firework.

"Oh?" Qing Lin suddenly showed a surprised expression. "Teacher, there seems to be something in here? I sense a faint, obscure aura."

Xiao Han nodded calmly. She had been here before and knew what was inside: "Just a Dou Ling level snake."

As she spoke, she slowly walked towards the lava: "As it happens, it's one of today's objectives."

Just as Gu Xun'er and Qing Lin were puzzling over her meaning, Xiao Han suddenly raised her hand. Silver lightning arcs appeared on her arm, and then a giant dragon composed of lightning emerged behind her.

The majestic dragon with its imposing horns slowly stretched its body behind Xiao Han, emitting a low dragon roar.

Nine Heavens Thunder Technique—Heavenly Thunder Dragon Shadow.

"Go." A single cold word fell from Xiao Han's lips. As soon as she spoke, the giant dragon roared and plunged into the lava.

As the dragon dove into the lava, a muffled boom resounded through the lava lake. Countless streams of hot lava suddenly erupted at that moment, with molten rock mixed with silver lightning arcs splattering everywhere.

Amidst the flying lava, a massive mysterious creature suddenly burst out of the magma. Silver lightning wrapped around its body, the power of the lightning so strong that it blasted off its scales, revealing bright red flesh.

This mysterious creature that suddenly emerged from the lava was a snake-like magical beast. Its body was extremely long, roughly four to five zhang in length at a glance. It was entirely fire-red, looking like a round fire jade from afar. Its body surface was covered with palm-sized red scales. What was most shocking was that this magical beast had two heads.

Having forced out the two-headed snake, Xiao Han stepped back slightly, then her rear leg suddenly exerted force, and she instantly appeared before the two-headed snake.

With just one glance, the two-headed snake recognized the person who had thoroughly dominated it years ago.

Fear suddenly surged in its heart. The two-headed snake hissed and desperately tried to escape back into the lava.

"Running?"

Seeing the two-headed snake's actions, Xiao Han sneered. Her left hand suddenly clenched, and the air around the two-headed snake abruptly contracted, restraining its movements.

Then, Gu Xun'er and Qing Lin witnessed how Xiao Han brutally beat a Dou Ling level two-headed snake.

The scene was so bloody and violent that Gu Xun'er silently turned her head away, covering Qing Lin's eyes in the process.

In the next second, a powerful gust of wind suddenly came, followed by the ground violently shaking.

Xiao Han had thrown the two-headed snake like garbage, and the entire snake crashed heavily in front of the two.

The dying two-headed snake stared at Qing Lin with its large copper bell-like eyes, as if attracted by the Snake Person bloodline in her.

Slowly opening its bloody maw, the two-headed snake revealed two enormous fangs.

The huge three snake heads reflected in Qing Lin's eyes, causing her to widen them, her pupils suddenly contracting to needle-like points.

For some unknown reason, even though she clearly knew that with Xiao Han and Gu Xun'er present, this snake could absolutely not harm her, she couldn't suppress the fear in her heart. Her mind gradually went blank, as if only she and this snake existed in this world.

Slowly, three green dots suddenly appeared beside Qing Lin's jade-green pupils.

In an instant, these three dots transformed into three extremely small green flowers. As these strange green flowers appeared, an intense, eerie light suddenly burst forth from them, enveloping the fire spirit snake before her.

When bathed in this somewhat uncanny light, the fire spirit snake's massive body suddenly stiffened. Its two pairs of huge eyes stared at the small girl before it with terror.

That fear was even greater than when facing Xiao Han.

The strange light slowly moved over the fire spirit snake's body, finally stopping at the center of the foreheads of the two snake heads. After the light stopped moving, it began to slowly shrink. As the light's area decreased, its brightness intensified.

The light's area kept shrinking until finally, it was only about the size of a palm. With a burst of eerie light, two small green flowers were imprinted on the foreheads of the fire spirit snake's two heads.

After the flowers appeared, the eerie light began to gradually disappear. Moments later, the tiny flowers in Qing Lin's eyes rapidly receded, instantly returning to their usual jade-green color.

After her eyes returned to normal, Qing Lin's body swayed. Her eyelids gradually drooped, and she finally fell towards the ground.

But she didn't hit the ground. Gu Xun'er beside her reached out and caught her.

After Qing Lin collapsed, the huge fire spirit snake remained stupidly fixed in place.

Xiao Han's figure flashed, and she appeared in front of the two.

"Teacher, this is......"

Looking at the two-headed snake with its now extremely docile gaze, Gu Xun'er was still somewhat bewildered.

"This is a two-headed fire spirit snake. They generally grow in extremely hot places, living by consuming lava. They have great potential for evolution. At birth, they are merely first-grade magical beasts, but with enough opportunity, they might evolve to become sixth-grade magical beasts comparable to Dou Huang strong experts," Xiao Han replied calmly.

At this point, Gu Xun'er couldn't help but want to hold her forehead: "Teacher, I wanted to ask about Qing Lin. What's her situation?"

Who the hell was asking about this snake?!

Xiao Han made an "oh" sound, then asked in return: "Have you heard of the 'Jade Snake Three Patterned Eyes'?"

Gu Xun'er tilted her head in confusion: "What?"

"The Jade Snake Three Patterned Eyes is a peculiar innate pupil that only appears in offspring of humans and Snake People. Those who possess this type of pupil, when proficient, can cause people to hallucinate."

"This type of pupil can be said to be the nemesis of all snake-form magical beasts because it has a certain chance of allowing its owner to form a one-sided forced connection with snake-form magical beasts. You can understand it as a kind of forced contract."

Even Gu Xun'er, a descendant of one of the eight ancient clans, couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

Xiao Han, however, was nonchalant: "The world is vast, with all kinds of wonders."

As she spoke, she sat down on the spot, wanting to rest for a while.

Gu Xun'er nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly asked: "Then Teacher, are there people in this world who can freely change their body size?"

Xiao Han's heart suddenly skipped a beat. She turned to look at Gu Xun'er, whose face still wore that harmless, mischievous smile, looking no different from usual.

She silently suppressed the sudden unease that welled up in her heart, composed herself, and asked: "Why do you suddenly ask about this?"

Gu Xun'er tilted her head: "It's nothing, just that I seem to have encountered a liar."

Xiao Han's brows furrowed slightly. She wasn't sure if what Gu Xun'er was talking about had anything to do with her. But she also felt it was impossible. Her disguise should have been flawless. Gu Xun'er was only a Dou Shi, and unlike Nalan Yanran, she wasn't mischievous enough to dare to lift her hood. So logically, Gu Xun'er shouldn't be able to know her true identity.

Xiao Han pondered for a moment before giving an ambiguous answer: "Perhaps there are, perhaps there aren't."

At this moment, Gu Xun'er revealed a smile devoid of warmth: "Is that so... Then, Senior Sister, care to explain?"

Gu Xun'er's words stirred up huge waves in Xiao Han's heart. Her pupils contracted slightly, her shock evident.

She knows? When did I slip up?

Sensing the host's intense emotional fluctuation, the system curled up into a ball, trembling, not daring to speak for fear of incurring the host's wrath. At the same time, it was also extremely shocked. Its host hadn't done anything that could possibly expose her identity, so how did this female lead know its host's identity?

Could this be the legendary female lead halo?

Or was there something it had missed?

In terms of composure, Xiao Han, having lived two lives, was definitely more practiced than Gu Xun'er. As long as she wanted, no one could discern any of her thoughts from her expressions or eyes, let alone now when she was still wearing a wide hood and Gu Xun'er couldn't even see her face.

Thus, Xiao Han's voice remained emotionless as usual: "What are you talking about?"

Gu Xun'er stared at her steadily. Xiao Han remained impassive, maintaining her composure.

After a while, Gu Xun'er suddenly sighed, her demeanor as if facing a child who didn't understand: "Senior Sister, for Xun'er to call you out so confidently, naturally I have absolute certainty."

"Or..."

Gu Xun'er stood up, took two steps towards Xiao Han, then, before Xiao Han could react, knelt on Xiao Han's legs and reached out towards her hood.

Xiao Han instinctively grasped Gu Xun'er's approaching wrist, but her gaze was suddenly drawn to the pale cyan bracelet on that snow-white wrist.

She was slightly stunned. This bracelet... wasn't it the not-so-good quality one she had bought for Gu Xun'er at the Xiao family market? Had this girl been wearing it all along?

She hadn't noticed before.

Just as Xiao Han was momentarily distracted, Gu Xun'er, quick-eyed and quick-handed, reached out with her other free hand and swiftly lifted Xiao Han's hood.

Looking at the young and familiar face beneath the hood, Gu Xun'er curved her lips slightly. Her smile was like that of a lazy, noble cat, somewhat unrestrained, yet with an irresistible mischievousness.

"Senior Sister."