If you were made a mascot, you would become a legend in the police force.

Upon hearing its boss's summons, Jin Dou, who was hiding in the distance, immediately demonstrated the value of an SSR-level treasure-hunting rat.

As a qualified "working mouse", it frantically dug the soil with its two front paws as if they were equipped with motors, and mud splattered everywhere.

In the blink of an eye, a spacious hole was dug.

Jin Dou ran to the terrified cubs and, with a combination of dragging, pulling, kicking, biting, coaxing, and deceiving, drove them into the burrow.

Even the aloof white mastiff lowered its guard.

It slammed its front paws on the ground, and a thick ice wall rose up, forming an absolute defensive line around the cub, forcefully blocking the blood-red vines that had slipped through.

Under the desperate cover of this divine team, the last little clouded leopard fled into the depths of the burrow in a panic.

Commander Li let out a long breath, twisted his fleshy neck, and his joints cracked.

The worries are gone.

Now, I can finally let loose and settle accounts with you, you broken tree!

Seemingly realizing that its prey had escaped, the ancient tree went completely berserk.

A huge gash suddenly and strangely appeared on its massive, charred trunk.

Inside was a gigantic maw filled with countless wooden fangs!

A foul stench that could make you vomit your leftovers with just one whiff erupted from the giant mouth.

Immediately afterwards, three dark red vines, deep purple in color and covered with evil incantations from the sect, burst forth like angry dragons emerging from the sea, cleaving the earth in two!

These three main vines produced a piercing sonic boom, and their speed and power were more than ten times stronger than those miscellaneous blood vines from before.

They didn't even glance at the white mastiff, turned in mid-air, and headed straight for the VIP customer with the highest hatred value in the entire venue—Li Tuantuan!

Li Tuantuan had just snapped a section of the blood vine with a stick and hadn't even had a chance to catch her breath.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

The purplish-red main vine, like a persistent carbuncle, instantly wrapped tightly around his legs and round waist.

A violent pulling sensation came over me!

Li Tuantuan's massive body, weighing a full 300 pounds, was actually lifted off the ground by this brute force and dragged directly into the air!

What the hell!

Did this lousy tree grow up eating spinach?! Its strength is so bizarre!

Li Tuantuan twisted and struggled desperately in mid-air, but the three main vines were extremely resilient, and the more she struggled, the deeper they tightened around her.

Even worse, the dense barbs on the main vine actually come with armor-piercing and powerful paralysis debuffs!

Li Tuantuan's proud "copper skin and iron bones" were greatly weakened in the face of this purple-red main vine, which was designed specifically to devour.

The sharp barbs pierced through the thick fur and penetrated deep into the flesh.

A strong numbing sensation, like an electric current, coursed through Li Tuantuan's body. Her limbs instantly became unresponsive, and she almost dropped the titanium alloy nunchucks.

It deals true damage and has hard crowd control?!

This is absolutely deadly!

The system's unprecedentedly piercing alarm was exploding wildly in his mind:

[WARNING! Deadly Crisis!]

[The mutated Soul-Devouring Ancient Tree is forcibly extracting the "bloodline essence of the ancient Iron-Eating Beast" from its host!]

[Please break free immediately! Otherwise you will be completely drained within three minutes!]

In mid-air, Li Tuantuan was tightly bound by the blood vines into a black and white meat dumpling, and was slowly dragged toward the abyss's gaping maw filled with wooden fangs.

The black-robed man, who had been lying in a pool of blood below, barely clinging to life, saw this scene and, his face covered in tattoos, burst into a maniacal, pig-like laugh:

"Inhale! Inhale to your heart's content!"

"That's the purest bloodline of China's national treasure! If we drain it dry, the divine tree will completely transform and dominate the entire Qinling Mountains!"

"You heretics, you will all die here today! You will all come to hell with me!"

The white mastiff below was so anxious that its eyes turned red, and it let out a frantic roar.

It recklessly spewed out countless ice spikes, raining down on the blood vines that bound Li Tuantuan.

But it was all in vain!

The purple-red main vine's defensive power is nothing short of monstrous; when an ice spike hits it, it shatters instantly, leaving not even a trace of white.

It looked like half of Li Tuantuan's body was about to be dragged into that stinking tree mouth.

however.

To everyone's surprise, this usually cowardly iron-eating beast not only did not let out a desperate scream, but also completely stopped struggling.

He was hanging upside down in mid-air. His large, round face, with its distinct black and white features, showed no sign of panic. Instead, he grinned, revealing two rows of gleaming white fangs.

His expression was just like that of an old fisherman who had finally waited for a big fish to bite his hook.

You want to suck my blood?

Li Tuantuan laughed in her mind in a fit of rage, and issued an ultimatum to the system:

"System! This piece of junk is practically leeching off me and you're still playing dead?!"

"Immediately activate reverse absorption!"

"I'm a penniless bastard who owes you over three thousand in interest! Someone's offering me help today, and if I don't drain this damn tree dry, I'll chop this damn motherboard to pieces and we'll all die together!"

Faced with a desperate, desperate worker, the system remained silent for a fraction of a second before wisely choosing to back down.

【Ding--】

[Host detected to be facing a life-or-death crisis; special hidden privileges have been forcibly activated!]

[Ultimate Passive: Reverse Devour! Now Activated!]

It ended with a completely emotionless electronic voice.

In mid-air, Li Tuantuan's round body suddenly erupted with an extreme black and white light that seemed to devour light!

Physics completely fails at this moment.

Li Tuantuan transformed into a bottomless vortex of spiritual energy!

Those purplish-red barbs that were originally deeply embedded in his body, ready to feast on and extract the panda's blood, suddenly convulsed violently and wildly, as if they had been electrocuted!

The ancient tree not only failed to absorb even a single drop of blood.

Instead, he realized with immense horror that the purest spiritual energy he had accumulated over hundreds of years and refined by devouring countless living beings was flowing down his vines like a burst dam...

It was frantically poured into the giant panda's body!

"Awooo—!!!"

From the ancient tree's massive wooden maw, a piercing scream, like that of a human being skinned and dismembered, suddenly erupted!

It was scared!

It used all its strength to try to pull back the three main vines.

But Li Tuantuan is now like a super-powerful water pump running at full speed, locking the vines in place so tightly that they can't be broken at all!

Inviting a god is easy, but sending him away is difficult.

Li Tuantuan let out an extremely arrogant laugh in her heart.

"Want to get off now? Too late! I'll weld the doors shut for you today! I won't be a coward if I don't suck you dry!"

A massive amount of pure spiritual energy surged into Li Tuantuan's limbs and bones like a tsunami, making every pore of her body feel relaxed and refreshed.

Meanwhile, the system panel in his mind was about to explode with a crazy bombshell!

The gold lettering flooded the screen like a waterfall:

[Merit Points +1000!]

[Merit Points +5000!]

[Merit Points +20000!]