Liu Ye didn’t reply to Queen Luna right away and instead looked at his stats to check his condition. His HP seemed to have stopped dropping, but he was still extremely weak and his mind felt drained which made him unable to bend elements.

His newest notification only confirmed his discovery.

[Ding! An antidote has been consumed. You will be in a weakened state for the next five minutes while your body is healing. You will be unable to use your abilities during that time period.]

“Thank you for saving me. I think the antidote worked, but it will be a few minutes before I return to peak performance,” Liu Ye informed softly as he struggled to get up only to be pressed down back into Queen Luna’s thighs.

“Don’t move and relax for a moment,” Queen Luna ordered sternly while checking his forehead for high temperature. “That bastard used Red Lotus poison which could kill us both if I didn’t react fast enough. I only had one antidote so we had to share it.”

“It’s okay, I already figured that much. It was necessary for our survival so don’t think about it,” Liu Ye assured, trying not to focus his mind on what just happened. “What about the thief leader? Did you finish him in time?”

Although Liu Ye was on the verge of death just a moment ago, he didn’t take long to return into grinding mode. Red Nightmare needed to be eliminated for almost killing him.

“No, he ran away after I jumped in to save you,” Queen Luna replied with an annoyed click of her tongue. “It’s fine. He won’t be living for long. Once we are done with our mission I will personally bring a squad to eliminate all thieves in this region. Let’s rest for now.”

“No, it’s fine. We can go right away and still catch up to him,” Liu Ye decided on the spot and struggled to get up. Queen Luna tried to stop him again but he forced his way up until she eventually let go.

“Dummy, can’t you just listen for once? You can’t even move properly and you want to chase him?” Queen Luna scolded while holding his shoulders to keep him from leaving. “Let’s wait at least until you can bend elements again. That poison is not a joke and I’m really worried about you…”

Liu Ye gazed at Queen Luna suspiciously and saw her stare at him with a loving expression. She suddenly grew closer again and coiled her fingers around his neck with her nails gently scratching his skin. When she added a warm smile to the mix, it was clear she tried to seduce him again.

“Calm down,” Liu Ye halted Queen Luna’s advances before she went too far. “I am grateful that you saved us, but can we focus on what’s ahead of us? We need to catch the thief leader before he runs away and I don’t want it to distract us from our mission.”

Staying together would get even more complicated and awkward if their kiss affected Queen Luna further. He couldn’t really expect an NPC to behave fully rational and logically so he could only try to convince her to chill. Too bad, it was easier said than done.

“What? I’m not doing anything wrong,” Queen Luna replied innocently while placing her free hand on his chest. “I just want you to rest properly and what’s better than a short nap on a woman’s thighs? What kind of man doesn’t like soft thighs?”

She then raised her eyebrows as if she thought of something and added, “Oh, maybe you like breasts more? Do you want to rest on my chest? I will sacrifice myself if that can convince you to stay.”

“Stop it,” Liu Ye warned Queen Luna before she crossed another line. “I told you that I am loyal to my girlfriend so stop trying to take advantage of me. I’m grateful for being saved but don’t test me anymore or I will be forced to leave.”

There were limits to everything and Liu Ye couldn’t just let her do whatever she wanted. He stepped back to free himself and surprisingly, Queen Luna wasn’t offended at being rejected.

She didn’t show any toxic energy and nodded, “Alright then. Even though I want to tease you more, I will resist this urge for your sake. Will you introduce me to your woman one day though?”

“If she wants to meet you I won’t mind,” Liu Ye replied casually while pulling out a health potion to refill his HP. “Shall we go? We need to hurry or we won’t be able to catch him. I think I’m good at running already.”

“And how are you going to fight him once we do? You want me to finish him off?” Queen Luna questioned as she regained control of the water bubble and began moving them out of the poison mist.

“I should be fine to join you in the battle in the next few minutes and if we catch him faster, I have other ways to protect myself,” Liu Ye replied and withdrew the Ice Serpent from his inventory. “I can still use my Elemental Weapons.”

“Oh! That’s a nice dagger,” Queen Luna praised and focused on bringing them out. “Let’s go then. I already injured that bastard so he won’t be able to run easily.”

Liu Ye actually expected Queen Luna to question him about the goods he found but it seemed she forgot about it completely. She didn’t really need them as an NPC so he didn’t remind her and simply followed behind. They only walked a few steps before Queen Luna stopped and turned around with a smile.

“One more thing though,” Queen Luna muttered as she leaned over to whisper into his eyes. “I just want to say that I loved playing with your tongue. Can’t wait to do it again…”

She giggled right after and put on her bandana while explaining herself, “That was the last one, for now. I promise!”

Liu Ye couldn’t find a comment to her teasing anymore. No matter what he said she wouldn’t listen but she was still useful to him so he couldn’t really leave. He was simply stuck with her no matter what she did. To make it worse, their affinity just kept rising with each small thing and it happened again, this time at double the rate.

[Ding! Your affinity with Queen Luna has increased by 20.]

Liu Ye could only hope she wouldn’t cause any trouble for him in the future even though he knew the chances were pretty high.

Once they were out of the toxic mist, they began searching for Red Nightmare tracks and it wasn’t long before they were running after him through the dry wood forest. The blood footprints on the ground were a clear indicator of his escape route.

Liu Ye felt better with each second, regaining his mind’s clarity and physical strength. Even his bending has finally returned when Queen Luna stopped their chase. He expected to hear some good news about Red Nightmare but she suddenly signaled to be quiet.

“I found him but I sensed more than one person. They are standing still ahead and one of them is laying flat on the ground,” Queen Luna informed quietly.

It didn’t look great so Liu Ye pointed at the nearby stone formation and they climbed to get a better view of the situation. Once they saw the scene, what worried him the most ended up actually happening.

“Someone got him before us…”