Back at the hospital…

<Ding. Congratulations. You have learned the recipe for lesser-grade anti-toxin>

<Ding. Congratulations. Your Alchemy Skill has upgraded>

[Fu Fu Fu! Not bad. Maybe when I finally don't have paws, I can make a lot of things! Woof!] 

Qin Hua was happily daydreaming as she watched the elder prepare the concoction. This was the easiest upgrade she had received as all she had to do was simply wait and observe.

Soon, the first batch of trial concoction was prepared to completion and the elder looked at Lu Chen with his excited reddened eyes.

Lu Chen, on the other hand, had no idea what the green concoction was. He scooped out a bit and smelled the suspicious looking liquid.

[Woof! Woof! Naive humans!] Qin Hua shook her head helplessly. She then directly stuck her head inside the stockpot without bothering to explain it to anyone.

Ah! The dog! The elder saw the dog drinking directly from the big container and panicked but he didn't dare say anything to the huge beast.

Lu Chen, however, didn't seem to quite care about that part. He watched her actions and narrowed his eyes at her pensively. "Oh. Looks like it is safe to consume. Let's give it to everyone."

"Ah?" The elder was confused.

Lu Chen smiled and patted him. "What else can we do, senior? We don't have any doctors in the group. We have no idea how to monitor health, etc."

"All we can do is simple trial and error."

"Ah. You are right." The elder nodded and hurried to scoop out small portions of the anti-dote in several plastic cups they had lying around.

After drinking a tiny sip, he spread the cups out on a tray to give to others. "Let me take it, elder." Lu Chen took the tray from him with a gentle smile.

Gou Sheng looked a bit startled to see this gentle side of Lu Chen. He didn't expect the man who mercilessly made sick people drag their wounded bodies for several kilometers to act in this fashion.

"Here. You should drink some more." Lu Chen handed the elder a full glass and then turned to walk away. 

"I think we have enough here. So maybe we should save the rest of the herbs for the future."

Woof! Woof!

The elder watched the dog and the man communicate in strange ways and smiled tiredly. 

He then saved his portion of the antidote and walked over to take care of his granddaughter. The poor girl was only in middle school and yet she had to deal with such a situation.

Lu Chen had already given her a glass, but the elder gave the child extra to make sure that she was fully cured of the insect venom.

Lu Chen saw this and chuckled, giving the elder another one. "Huh? Where are Alex and Xu Meilin?" 

Qin Hua also noticed their absence and saw that the small cat had disappeared as well.

[Eh? Where did you run off to now? This little girl is so naughty! Woof!] 

Qin Hua tried to pay attention to their surroundings and dashed to look around the hospital when her ears suddenly perked up. [There are others here? Woof?]

Qin Hua slipped into the shadows and disappeared, leaving behind all the survivors with Lu Chen, Guan Ye, and Luo Zu.

…

…

…

Meanwhile…

"Are you sure? You don't want me to help you? It's no problem. Our normal abilities are all enhanced now. No matter how heavy you are I can easily carry you!"

Do you want me to carry you?" Fang Yuan generously offered again as the four of them headed back to the hospital.

Alex's lips twitched. Just how heavy do you think I am asshole? She cursed him inwardly but didn't say it out loud. She only shook her head with a small smile.

Only a couple more minutes. Only a couple more minutes. She muttered to herself and dragged her injured body on the ground, moving forward inch by inch.

In truth, she had a few spare mana cores inside the storage pouch hanging around her waist which surprisingly hadn't been affected by the acid. 

Absorbing these might probably help her condition a little bit, even if it does not heal her. However, she didn't want to risk exposing this item in front of strangers.

Especially with Xu Meilin still unconscious, the entire burden fell on Alex's shoulder and she was doing everything that she could.

As the group walked forward, unbeknownst to the four of them, one single shadow buzzed widening and returning back to normal.

Qin Hua watched the scene in front of her calmly. [Woof? Why are these two injured? And who are these two guys?] Her paws stopped moving for a second, as she bolted in another direction.

[I should first run around and see if anyone else is present in the vicinity.] 

Qin Hua did not save any energy and quickly scanned the entire hospital campus, combing through the big area from top to bottom. She eventually came across the hall where the centipede's body was splattered all over.

There amidst the acidic goop was a small white cat, trying to tiptoe and jump its way through the ruined floor to a shiny orb at the center.

Qin Hua stopped and stared at the naughty little cat. [Woof! This must be the beast's mana core! Eh? Lazy chunky is putting so much effort into a single mana core?]

She squinted her eyes suspiciously and inspected the core on a whim.

<Ding. Earth-element attribute mana core>

Qin Hua was immediately surprised and glad that she had decided to inspect the core. [Woof! Then the goblin leader's mana core should have also had lightning-attribute?]

[Woof! Alright! Now is not the time to be thinking about these things. I still need to figure out if Alex and Xu Meilin are fine and what is happening there.]

[Woof! Sorry you little thief, but I will be taking this.] 

Meow Meow? The cat innocently cocked its head to the side and looked around, only to see Qin Hua jumping in front of it and absorbing the earth-element attribute mana core in one go.

[Ah! Don't look at me like this, Coco. I will feel bad. I will definitely compensate later for this. Alright?] Qin Hua grinned wickedly, her emotions betraying her words.

<Ding. Congratulations. You have gained earth element affinity>

<Ding. Earth element affinity: Low>

Seeing the notifications that popped up, her grin widened even further. 

She giggled to herself and ran away leaving the cat behind. The poor thing meowed innocently, licking its paws. She then started randomly wandering about again.

Qin Hua, meanwhile, hurried back to Alex and Xu Meilin. It looked like there were only these two strangers around, so she decided to directly confront them about this.

[On second thought, I need Coco to heal the two girls.] She made a quick U-turn and tossed the kitty onto her back, the dog and the cat now riding together back to the group.

Meow? Meow?

…

…

…

"Alex, right? This is the right place? There are no signs of your friends? Have they gone somewhere?" Fang Yuan sighed and looked around.

His friend also had a small frown on his face. Not that they suspected anything, but just that if the girls were missing for so long, then that could only mean one thing. They were no longer alive and were either killed or eaten alive!

"Yes. Yes. Just a few feet up ahead. They should be" Before Alex could finish her sentence, three guys appeared in front of them.

Fang Yuan's and Geming's faces immediately changed at the sight of the unexpected company. The two of them looked at the woman next to them, a small doubt forming at the back of their minds.

And just like they suspected, Alex moved. She used whatever strength she had left and kicked the guy standing on her right, aiming at his knee.

And while the other one was caught off guard, she quickly grabbed Xu Meilin from his arms and dashed towards Lu Chen, who was already on his way, and caught both the women.

The two men by now recovered from their initial shock. Geming clenched his fist and on his hand appeared another mysterious weapon.

Fang Yuan also reacted and reached into his backpack as if he was about to withdraw a weapon.

Seeing this, Guan Ye and Luo Zu dashed forward, their own weapons ready in their hands.

The atmosphere suddenly became very tense and it looked like an intense battle was about to break out at any moment.

However, before anything could happen and both sides could make a move, a cat and a dog arrived at the scene, the former riding the latter.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

Meow? Meow? Meow?

Coco's face became small on seeing Xu Meilin very hurt and the cat leaped out of Qin Hua's back to dash towards the young girl.