Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Save Me, My Belly Is Big
"Pretty lady, have some candy."
Faye Yardley watched the chubby boy, Cody Shepherd, offer her a piece of candy. A wave of disgust washed over her, and she couldn’t help but furrow her brow.
Cody Shepherd’s chubby hand was almost in Faye Yardley’s face. "Here, pretty lady. It’s for you, take it."
Instead, Faye Yardley stepped to the side, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it back, shoving the candy right into Cody Shepherd’s own mouth.
She then clamped his own hand over his mouth and stomped hard on his foot, causing Cody Shepherd to gasp in pain and swallow the candy whole.
Once she was done, Faye Yardley took two steps back and said with a beaming smile, "I don’t like candy. You’d better eat it yourself, chubby boy."
Then everyone watched as Cody Shepherd bent over, jamming his fingers down his throat. "HURK— GACK—"
But nothing came out.
"Oh my, chubby boy, what’s the matter? You ate your own candy, so why are you making a face like that?" Faye Yardley then gasped. "Ah! Don’t tell me your candy was poisoned, was it?!"
Watching all of this unfold, Jefferson Yardley hardly knew how to describe the complex emotions churning within him.
’Was his niece in the wrong? It didn’t seem so. The boy ate the candy he’d offered and then acted like this? What were his intentions in offering the candy to begin with?’
’But was his niece entirely in the right?’
’Damn it, that chubby kid was his partner’s only son.’
Felicity Yardley smirked at the chubby boy’s miserable state, then quickly composed herself and called toward the house, "Mr. Shepherd, your son Cody ate the candy he brought, and now he doesn’t seem to be doing too well."
A man and a woman shot to their feet and ran out, rushing to the chubby boy’s side. One asked what was wrong, while the other demanded to know what color the candy was.
Standing beside her brother, Faye Yardley chimed in, "He offered me a red candy. I said I didn’t want it, so he ate it himself."
Hearing this, the woman’s head snapped up, her eyes glaring viciously at Faye Yardley. "My son was kind enough to offer it to you, and not only did you refuse, you made him eat it?"
"If he’s so kind-hearted, isn’t it better that he ate it himself? Giving it to someone else would be such a waste."
Ethan Yardley backed up his sister. "That’s right. My sister just didn’t want to waste your family’s fine things. Supplies are so scarce here; you should enjoy your good things yourselves. If my sister wants something to eat, I, her brother, will go out and get it for her."
"Dad, Mom, help me! My stomach is getting bigger..." The chubby boy’s voice was filled with utter terror as he spoke.
Jefferson Yardley watched the scene unfold, completely at a loss for what he, as the host, should say.
"Whoa, his stomach really is getting bigger! Is his belly moving, too? He can’t be pregnant, can he?" Faye Yardley sounded genuinely surprised as she said this.
’What in the world is going on?’
’How could a piece of candy make a boy pregnant? His stomach was getting abnormally large, even though he was already fat.’
"Zhang, lay Cody flat and don’t let him move." The woman was clearly decisive, but the look she shot Faye Yardley was pure venom.
Faye Yardley simply raised an eyebrow in response. ’As if I’m afraid of her. A piece of trash like this thinks she can frame me? She can go play by herself!’
The woman pulled out a Sharp Dagger, sliced open the chubby boy’s abdomen, and two writhing balls of flesh leaped out from inside him.
After performing the impromptu surgery, she just sprinkled some hemostatic powder on the chubby boy and quickly wrapped a Bandage around him.
Before anyone else could react, Faye Yardley had already drawn Light Wound. With a single slash, she split the two fleshy orbs into four pieces. Inside were countless tiny snakes, which now also met their end on Light Wound’s blade, leaving the floor littered with severed heads and bodies.
Standing farthest away, Felicity Yardley was the first one to gag out loud.
"I’ll kill you!" the woman snarled, her voice dark and menacing as she stared at the floor covered in mangled snake parts.
Faye Yardley had no intention of saving her uncle’s face. She immediately raised Light Wound and slashed at the woman.
’Anyone who wants to kill her was better off dead, plain and simple.’
’Why keep them around?’
’To nurture an enemy and make her own life miserable?’
The woman was clearly no ordinary person. She was even able to fight back under the attacks of the Divine Weapon Energyanshang. But she didn’t last long before she transformed, turning into a monster with a human head and a snake’s body.
As Faye Yardley continued her relentless assault, she didn’t forget to run her mouth. "Oh, so you’re one of the Snakefolk. No wonder you’re so venomous and disgusting."
Her brother, Ethan Yardley, clearly had the same idea. He had already drawn The Hound God and run the Shepherd father and son straight through the heart.
Felicity Yardley shouted to her stunned father, "Dad! Dad, get over here! You’ll get caught in the crossfire! Hurry!"
The creature’s tail was as thick as a bucket, and it lashed out—CRACK! CRACK!—as if trying to smash the raft to pieces.
’Seeing Faye dodge and weave with her weapon, still managing to injure the Serpent Maiden, proved she was no ordinary person. And her own dad was just standing there like an idiot. What if he got hit?’
Not that Felicity dared to go over there herself; she was nowhere near as skilled as her cousin.
Fortunately, Jefferson Yardley had seen his share of trouble. A momentary daze didn’t mean he’d lost his wits entirely. Hearing his daughter, he no longer thought of sending his niece and nephew away. In fact, he was now desperately hoping they would kill the Serpent Maiden. Otherwise, if they simply packed up and left, he and his daughter would be the ones left to suffer the retaliation.
Carefully making his way around the fight to his daughter’s side, Jefferson Yardley looked utterly dejected. "What have I done? Why on earth did I invite those two here?"
"Dad, weren’t you the one who said you wanted to mend your relationship with Mr. Ethan? Faye was just part of the package."
"Faye is just... Ugh, never mind. Right now, I just hope the two of them can win. And that they don’t tear my raft apart."
"Dad, don’t you think this might actually be a good thing?" Felicity Yardley said softly, gesturing toward the three combatants. The scales of victory were clearly tipping in favor of her cousins.
Jefferson Yardley silently agreed with his daughter. After all, with the Serpent Maiden and Mr. Shepherd gone, the faction they had created would fall entirely under his control.
But the Serpent Maiden wasn’t dead yet, so he didn’t dare voice his agreement.
’Still, weren’t those two siblings a little too strong?’
’He couldn’t have defeated the Serpent Maiden even if there were ten of him, yet this brother-sister duo looked like they were about to slaughter her.’
’Thinking back, he hadn’t sided against them just now. The fact that they’d accepted his invitation must mean they still acknowledged him as their uncle.’
The Serpent Maiden was already struggling against Faye Yardley alone, let alone with the addition of the equally battle-hardened Ethan Yardley.
And so, under the hopeful gazes of Jefferson Yardley and his daughter, the Serpent Maiden was dismembered.
Felicity Yardley immediately started clapping. "Mr. Ethan, you’re amazing! Faye, you’re a total badass!"
Faye Yardley gathered all of the Serpent Maiden’s belongings, including her corpse, stuffed them into a wooden chest, and stored it in her backpack. She planned to dispose of it in a large waste-recycling bin when she got back.
"Faye, this... all of this... is that really necessary?"
Faye Yardley looked at her uncle and blinked. "Are you saying you want to eat some Snake Meat, Uncle?"
