The two men exchanged blows among the trees.
The supposed movement in his belly had forced Lu Mingxuan to abandon most of his arts.
Even so, Su Jin had a hard time fighting without Multiplication.
Lu Mingxuan had far more experience. Su Jin had been an office worker until joining the Company just two months ago.
All his experience came from rough fights and killing zombies in the apocalypse. He had never met an opponent like this.
Lu Mingxuan's arts were still affecting him. Invisible rings seemed to bind his limbs and slow his movements.
Without the melon babies weakening Lu Mingxuan, Su Jin would have been helpless against him at full strength, even up close.
Fortunately, Lu Mingxuan's condition worsened by the second.
After another dozen exchanges, Lu Mingxuan kept trying to restrain Su Jin.
He could tell Su Jin lacked experience, but his fighting instincts were sharp. Whenever Lu Mingxuan caught him, Su Jin struck back even if it meant taking a hit.
When Lu Mingxuan's legs weakened again, he struck with a wind-laden hand. Su Jin ducked his head and lunged.
He slammed his forehead into Lu Mingxuan's nose and struck him hard in the stomach with his right hand.
The movement inside Lu Mingxuan was already growing stronger. After that blow, tears and snot poured down his face.
As his breathing faltered, the melon babies seemed to push upward.
He immediately used his energy to suppress them.
Su Jin seized his chance, turned behind him, locked an arm around his neck, and drove a knee into his lower back.
"Argh!" Lu Mingxuan cried weakly, his body going limp. He felt as though he might vomit and soil himself at once.
It wasn't the pain. It was the terrible movement inside him.
Feeling Lu Mingxuan weaken, Su Jin pressed his knee harder into his back and tightened the chokehold.
"Heh, Brother Lu, you're about to give birth. I've never seen a man do it. This will be educational."
Su Jin's wicked laugh sounded in his ear.
Lu Mingxuan looked down. His belly was swelling larger and larger.
It was almost the size of a watermelon. At last, he broke.
"I was wrong! Brother, I was wrong! I don't want to give birth! Please give me the antidote. I can't take it!"
"You're not sorry. You're just afraid you'll have to give birth."
"Don't make me! I'll give you anything! I can help you escape, wherever you want to go!" Lu Mingxuan sobbed.
He couldn't hold it. Push his energy down, and the thing moved down. Pull it up, and it moved up.
When he pressed from both directions, it went for his navel. Whatever he did, it would come out. It was unbearable.
"I... surrender..."
Under Su Jin's chokehold, Lu Mingxuan could bear no more. His eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
He fell to the ground, his swollen belly landing heavily.
Pfft. A large bulge appeared in the seat of his trousers.
Curious, Su Jin stepped closer and pulled at them, but before he had opened them fully—
Pop!
A small yellow flower sprang from the waistband.
"Stop! Yunlian!"
....
Du Wenyan led Yunlian out from the leaves. Both stared at the unconscious Lu Mingxuan.
Five-Vein masters were rare. Who would have thought one could be beaten like this?
And so thoroughly humiliated.
Yunlian's small face lit up. For the first time, she realized how formidable her ability could be in a fight.
"Get into the RV. I'll deal with this, and then we'll go."
Su Jin brought out the RV and sent the sisters inside before turning back to Lu Mingxuan.
He undid the man's belt, revealing an appalling sight.
His backside had burst into bloom.
Tangling vines sprawled over it, like a patch of summer growth.
Tiny sweet melons no bigger than a thumb hung among them, dotted with their own natural fertilizer.
Su Jin grimaced in disgust.
For the vines to have grown this far, they might have taken root in Lu Mingxuan's organs and drawn nutrients from them.
His stomach and intestines could be badly damaged.
Otherwise, given Yunlian's ability, sprouts without soil would soon wither.
Now that they had captured him, Su Jin couldn't let him die.
From inside the RV, the sisters watched Su Jin, swallowing hard.
Yunlian turned to Du Wenyan. "Brother, what is Brother Wu doing?"
"I..." Du Wenyan moved her lips, then quickly closed the curtain. "Don't watch things you shouldn't. And don't ask."
Su Jin put on rubber gloves. After hesitating, he took out his phone and began recording.
With his other hand, he gripped the base of the mass of vines and pulled hard.
The vines came free with bits of debris and spilled onto the ground.
"Oh, hell..."
Su Jin grimaced and kicked a small hole in the dirt.
He used a stick to push the vines into it, covered them, then breathed out and discarded his gloves.
After taking several more pictures from different angles, he hoisted Lu Mingxuan up and carried him to the RV.
Only the world's first melon grown in a living body remained, growing quietly in the forest.
....
The RV returned to the road.
They drove for several more hours and stopped to camp after night had fallen.
Traveling at night would usually be best, and Su Jin didn't need as much sleep as before.
But now there was another, dangerous complication aboard.
It was better not to keep traveling until Lu Mingxuan woke and they knew how to deal with him.
They had left him on the sofa, bound tightly with nylon rope.
Even his fingers had been separated and wrapped one by one. His mouth was stuffed full too.
Most importantly, Su Jin had fed him another dose of melon seeds.
No living creature in this world could escape a binding like that.
Su Jin was confident of it.
The twelve-millimeter nylon rope had a breaking strength of nearly two tons, and he'd wrapped it over and over.
If Lu Mingxuan could break free, he was truly unbeatable.
Their captive remained unconscious. After the fight and the hours of travel, all three were hungry.
Under warm yellow light, Su Jin cooked rice noodles on the induction stove.
Du Wenyan never took her eyes off Lu Mingxuan. Yunlian licked her lips and kept turning to watch Su Jin.
For days they'd eaten beef-flavored instant noodles. This seemed to be something new.
It smelled good too.
Su Jin divided the cooked noodles into two bowls, added some beef, and gave them to the sisters.
He opened another tin of Indian sweet dumplings for himself. "Try them. They're called crossing-the-bridge rice noodles. Wenyan, you don't have to watch him so closely. He can't do anything."
"Even if he got free, there's nowhere to dodge in here. I could kill him with one stroke of my knife."
Du Wenyan nodded and took a small bite.
She looked up at Su Jin.
"If there's nothing wrong with it, eat," he said with a raised eyebrow. "It's been days. I was worrying over nothing. We can eat food from the immortal realm."
Yunlian tasted the broth, her eyes curving in delight.
"It's delicious! Brother Wu, if everything the immortal gives you tastes this good, what is the food in the immortal realm like?"
"Even better. Eat these noodles and even your piss will smell sweet."
"That's amazing!"