Although Jingliu didn't know what Fu Zhu had shoved into her mouth, she instinctively felt it was nothing good and resisted eating it. But only a small part of the Golden Apple had entered her mouth, and in just a moment, it was suddenly and directly absorbed by her.
There wasn't even a process of swallowing or chewing!
Before Jingliu had time to be surprised, an intense pain that pierced her very soul erupted from all four of her limbs, as if an invisible giant hand was tearing her entire body apart and reassembling it.
In just a fraction of a second, the intense pain washed over her brain like a tidal wave. Jingliu let out a muffled groan before passing out, though unconscious moans still escaped her lips from time to time.
Fu Zhu, holding Jingliu's waist, could clearly feel the woman in his arms go limp, no longer tense like she had been during the fight.
Fu Zhu couldn't help but chuckle. He took out another Golden Apple and examined it in his hand. He now had another control method specifically for dealing with the Mara-Struck.
And this control lasted for several minutes, at a minimum.
MC, pretty amazing, right?
After dealing with Jingliu, Fu Zhu turned his head to look at March 7th's side. Although March 7th was arguably at the bottom of the Astral Express crew in terms of combat, she was more than enough to handle Luocha, a traveling merchant and doctor.
In just a short while, March 7th had figured out Luocha's attack patterns and was now able to completely suppress him.
At this moment, Luocha was relying on his recovery abilities to hold on, hoping he could last until Jingliu successfully obtained the Stellaron. Then, it would all be worth it!
However, his beautiful fantasy was ruthlessly shattered by Fu Zhu in the next second.
"Oi, you with the yellow hair, your teammate is down. Are you still going to resist?"
Suddenly hearing Fu Zhu call out to him, though the form of address was a bit strange, Luocha couldn't help but turn his head to look. The result—he saw Jingliu, eyes closed and face contorted in pain, being held in Fu Zhu's arms.
Jingliu actually lost?! And so quickly?!
Disbelief was written all over Luocha's face.
"Hey, how dare you get distracted while fighting this young lady! Take this!"
March 7th seized the opportunity when Luocha was distracted by Fu Zhu, firing an arrow right at his feet, instantly freezing both of his legs firmly to the ground.
Luocha tried to pull his legs free, but to no avail. He then glanced at Fu Zhu, who was walking over while holding Jingliu, and helplessly raised his hands.
"I surrender."
Seeing him so decisive, Fu Zhu nodded in approval.
"Not bad, you're more sensible than this shrewish teammate of yours. Now then, tear off your own clothes."
"Huh?"
Luocha's head snapped towards Fu Zhu. Tear off his clothes? And make him do it himself?
Is this how the Luofu treats its captives?
Even March 7th looked at Fu Zhu in disbelief, questioning him, "Fu Zhu, why are you making him tear off his clothes... Even if he's an enemy, you don't have to humiliate him like this, right?"
Fu Zhu replied with a puzzled look, "They both attacked us, so we have to tie them up, right? I don't have any rope on me, so don't I have to tear their clothes into strips and twist them into ropes as a substitute?"
After explaining to March 7th, Fu Zhu turned his head back to Luocha and said, "Hey, yellow-hair, you wouldn't want me to tear your companion's clothes into strips to use as rope, would you?"
As he spoke, Fu Zhu made a move, reaching a wicked hand towards the clothes of the Jingliu in his arms.
"Wait!"
How could Luocha let Fu Zhu actually tear off Jingliu's clothes? Although reluctant, he chose to do it himself. He used his sword to cut his upper garment into strips, and even took the initiative to twist them into a rope before handing it to Fu Zhu.
"This should be sufficient, right?"
"Sensible."
Fu Zhu used his other free hand to take the rope made from cloth strips from Luocha. He looked at it in his hand and felt that this thing could probably be converted.
[Cloth Strip Rope]
[Currently Convertible: Lead]
Of course.
If it were just cloth strips, it would probably convert into something else. But after being twisted into a rope, the closest thing to it in MC was a lead.
This was actually perfect. Compared to a casually made cloth rope, Fu Zhu had more faith in an MC lead. That thing could hold an animal or a person weighing over a hundred kilograms in real life without snapping.
Fu Zhu casually converted the cloth rope in his hand into a lead and tied up the Jingliu in his arms with it.
Slightly different from the game, the position the lead tied depended on where Fu Zhu aimed it, instead of automatically going around the person's neck.
Otherwise, putting a lead around the neck of a beautiful woman, with the other end held in his own hand... Fu Zhu felt that if any passerby saw that, his reputation on the Luofu would probably plummet.
After tying up Jingliu, Fu Zhu casually converted another lead and tossed it to March 7th.
Luocha, standing to the side, couldn't help but feel a little astonished when he saw Fu Zhu casually transform the rope made from his own clothes into a completely different kind of rope.
"Matter reorganization? Or morphological transformation?"
March 7th, however, was unfazed by this. She took the lead, glanced at Luocha, and turned to ask Fu Zhu, "Fu Zhu, is there a special way to use this rope?"
"How else can you use a rope? Just put it around his neck and hold the other end."
Luocha's face instantly changed. He glanced at Jingliu in Fu Zhu's arms. The rope was clearly tied around her arms and waist, so why did it have to go around his neck?
Luocha asked with some indignation, "Mr. Fu Zhu... you don't have to humiliate me like this, do you?"
March 7th also muttered to Fu Zhu with some embarrassment, "Putting the rope around his neck, and then having me lead him... if people see this, it's so embarrassing!"
Luocha's eye twitched as he glanced at March 7th. So she wasn't feeling embarrassed for him...
"Just kidding."
Fu Zhu chuckled and pointed at Luocha's hands. "You can just tie it around his hands. After all, it's just a lead, not some special tool."
"Oh, oh, oh."
March 7th quickly tied Luocha's hands with the lead, while Fu Zhu shifted the Jingliu in his arms onto his shoulder.
Compared to being seen carrying a beautiful woman in his arms and being mistaken for a "playboy," he'd rather be seen as a kidnapper.
After March 7th had tied up Luocha, she turned her head to Fu Zhu and asked, "So where are we going next? To the Cloud Knights' garrison to report them?"
"Let's go find Jing Yuan directly. Since they came to snatch my Stellaron, they must be connected to the Phantylia incident somehow."