"Kid, not bad at all—you actually managed to make a hole in the Void Garden." The woman said in surprise.
"Where does it lead down to?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"Who cares? But one thing's for sure—no one else has gotten here. We're definitely the first." The woman laughed, then leaped down below.
Evan didn’t expect the woman to go down so quickly—he could even hear her voice: "Hurry up and get down here, what are you waiting for?"
Hearing her, Evan had no choice but to jump down as well.
Once below, he found himself in a tunnel.
"This tunnel is so dark," Evan said, and lit a small flame with his finger.
The woman scoffed, "Useless."
Then Evan saw the woman's eyes change, emitting a blue glow.
"Relying on your little fire? Hopeless. Just follow me." The woman laughed. In her eyes, everything ahead was bright, as if it were daytime instead of darkness, so she could see every detail clearly.
Evan had no idea the woman possessed such abilities; he held his fire aloft, scanning around, trying to see where the tunnel led.
"There's something good up ahead," the woman said excitedly after scanning the tunnel.
Curious, Evan followed the woman and saw a mass tightly wrapped together, faint black gas surrounding it like baleful qi.
"What is this?" Evan asked in surprise.
The woman, confident in her strength, didn't hesitate and walked over to inspect the mass.
Just as the woman drew near, the mass suddenly moved—a bug head emerged, jaws wide, blasting a cloud of black gas toward her.
The woman never expected such an attack; she tried to block the black gas but found it wasn't ordinary. She collapsed on the spot.
"Unconscious?" Evan was shocked, realizing that any gas capable of knocking out this woman must be extraordinary.
The bug opened its jaws again, and a cloud of black gas rushed at Evan, enveloping him. The black gas quickly entered his body.
"This can't be—" Seeing the black gas in action, Evan immediately recognized it as baleful qi, just like what he'd encountered in Grimshade Valley.
The black gas reached Evan's Divine-Spirit Protection Cauldron, but was blocked outside and couldn't get in.
Seeing Evan unharmed, the bug was shocked—it darted away at incredible speed, vanishing from view.
Evan saw the bug disappear, and with his limited firelight could only see nearby—he couldn't chase it, nor did he know where it went. He squatted by the woman, checked her, found she was merely knocked out by the black gas, and injected spiritual power into her.
He only withdrew his hand when she began to stir.
The woman slowly opened her eyes, saw Evan smiling at her, quickly jumped up, checked herself, and—finding no serious injuries—asked in surprise, "What happened?"
"You were attacked by that bug just now—don't you know?" Evan said, speechless.
"Bug? Right, that damned big bug dared to spray me with some unknown black gas." The woman snapped angrily after regaining her senses.
"Aren't you going to look for it?" Evan said.
"Where is it?" The woman was shocked to find the bug gone from its original spot.
"It just slipped away," Evan said.
"You're hopeless—watch me." The woman said, her eyes glowing blue again. She had no idea she'd been affected by baleful qi, thinking it was just an attack that knocked her out temporarily.
She didn't even realize Evan had saved her.
At this moment, she scanned everywhere with her glowing eyes and led the way. Evan, seeing someone open a path for free, followed behind, curious about what kind of bug it really was.
"Found it yet?" After a while, Evan asked, still not seeing the bug.
The woman said as she searched, "There's only one path here—we'll find it soon."
Evan understood and wasn't worried—unless there was another exit, the bug couldn't escape.
Just as Evan wondered if there was another exit, the woman said, "Found it! So sly—it hid in a hole."
Evan was curious how she found it, especially since his firelight couldn't reach even five meters ahead, yet she could see it.
Sure enough, before long, the woman led Evan to a hole, where the bug that had escaped was crouching. When it saw the woman, it wasn't afraid—instead, it glared at her fiercely.
When Evan approached, the bug was frightened and curled up tightly.