Suixi's wild laughter truly stripped Dongzi of any remaining will to fight. He clutched his clothes over his head, silently pleading, "Just leave me a complete corpse. I'm not married yet, so at least keep my face intact when I go below. If that doesn't work, I’ll find a wife down there!"

A huge moth had already settled on Dongzi’s head, seemingly the leader of the swarm. Moths covered Dongzi completely, and all of them watched the actions of the moth atop his head. This lead moth’s long proboscis slowly edged toward Dongzi's Baihui acupoint. Just as its mouth was about to touch the crown of his head, a beam of light suddenly shot out from a dark corner of the farm, and the commanding moth vanished instantly.

The moth, the size of a human head, was instantly snared by something rubbery and wide—about a meter across—that tightly bound its wings. This moth was slowly dragged toward a black hole, the rubbery substance appearing to be coated in something sticky. Immediately after, dozens more identical rubbery bands flew in from an unknown source. In less than ten seconds, every moth on Dongzi disappeared without a trace.

"What?" Suixi broke out in a cold sweat. The Sky Moth Devourer was one of the foundational secret techniques of the Song School. How could it have failed against this simpleton? Suixi couldn't comprehend it. He tentatively moved slowly toward Dongzi. As he drew near, several wide, slime-covered bands flew from a distance and wrapped around Suixi's legs.

"Ah? What is this…" Suixi cried out as he was yanked away at great speed by the bands. Moments later, another shout echoed: "Ah! Toads!"

Dongzi was still shielding his head with his clothes, muttering prayers to retain his whole body. It wasn't until Suixi was dragged away that he felt an immense lightness lift from him. Peeking through the gap in his shirt, he saw no moths around him. He quickly pulled the cloth away. The first thing he saw were the few hoodlums outside the door, all staring wide-eyed at the scene behind him.

Dongzi chuckled, turning around without a second thought, then collapsed onto the ground, crying out, "My God, what is this?"

Standing behind Dongzi were three enormous toads, each the size of a car. Their eyes were fixed intently on Dongzi, yet they betrayed no malice.

Dongzi shook his head, patted his own skull, and looked again. Suixi was caught in the mouth of one toad, desperately gripping the toad's lower eyelid. The toad couldn't swallow; its tongue had no truly effective way to deal with such a catch. The other two toads tried to help secure Suixi, but only his chest and above were exposed. They were hesitant to pull at his head for fear of injuring the mouth of the first toad. Thus, the three toads stared at Dongzi, hoping he would devise a better solution.

"My heavens, my experiment was a success!" Dongzi was practically vibrating with excitement. He looked around the rest of the farm; there were only these three toads. He found this strange, but given the situation—with the toad having dragged Suixi away—he couldn't pursue other matters. Dongzi, hands behind his back, slowly approached the immobilized Suixi, squinted, and grinned widely: "Kid, now let's see who doesn't know their limits! You Song School people, call all your people! You were clearly just a funeral officiant, so stick to that! Pretending to be an ancient master is just asking for trouble. You three Toad Brothers, just swallow him and excrete him later."

"Croak! Croak!" Two deafening croaks shook Dongzi’s eardrums to the point of rupture. One of the idle toads spoke in human language: "Master, we don't know how to eat him right now. We ate too many moths earlier, and it’s all stuck in our throats!"

Dongzi was stunned again: "Oh my god, you can speak human language?"

"Is this because of those talismans you made? None of them should grant us speech." The toad spoke, glanced at Suixi again, then turned back to Dongzi: "Master, what should we do with this person?"

"Uh! How about this: you wrap him up with your tongues, and I'll tie him up tightly with rope. Then you can save him to eat tomorrow. Will that work?" Dongzi seemed genuinely determined to make Suixi pay.

The three frogs looked at each other, then carefully deposited Suixi in front of Dongzi. Dongzi untied the rope used for the farm gate and bound Suixi tightly: "Kid, stay put. They'll eat you tomorrow."

"Phew! It really does smell foul inside those frogs' mouths. You, Dongzi, really do have some means to engineer mutated toads. Truly brilliant. I, Suixi, have fallen into your hands. Do whatever you want; I, Suixi, won't even bat an eye." Suixi’s words were incredibly defiant, enraging Dongzi repeatedly.

"Kid, you're pushing me too far! You’re not afraid, are you? Today I'll show you!" Dongzi pulled out his military-grade tool and pressed the sharp point against Suixi's neck. Just as Dongzi was about to strike, he heard Suixi start to whimper.

Suixi cried with genuine sorrow, weeping as he spoke: "Dongzi, I was wrong. I know I shouldn't have treated you this way, shouldn't have given you such a terrible fright. If you let me go, I will disappear from Wenchang forever."

"What? That’s good then. Then tell me, do you deserve to die?" Dongzi asked Suixi.

Suixi cried out: "I deserve to die, I deserve to die!"

Then Dongzi turned to the mutated toads: "You all heard him, right? He said he deserves to die, so feel free to eat him tomorrow. Otherwise, he won't have peace of mind."

"This…" The three toads seemed uneasy, their eyes showing hesitation as they looked at Dongzi.

"What’s wrong? Are you afraid you can't handle it? Then I'll come here tomorrow to help you. He absolutely must be eaten, or that wouldn't be fair!"

"Master, you misunderstood. We meant we can't wait until tomorrow. We'll eat him as soon as our stomachs finish digesting the previous meal," the toads said in turn.

Dongzi laughed and moved close to Suixi, adopting the posture of a bandit chief cornering his captive bride. He pinched Suixi's chin: "Kid, prepare to die. This is an accident, and it has nothing to do with me, Lin Dongzi. I have to go back now; I have other business. I doubt any of your people can get past the defensive line of three toads." With that, Dongzi laughed loudly, walked out the door, and glanced at the terrified, so-called underworld figures huddled in the corner, staring blankly at the three massive toads.

Dongzi staggered out, hailed a taxi, and returned to the hotel. When he entered his room, he found Yang Xiaoling feeding one of the toads.

"Sister Xiaoling, why are you feeding him?" Dongzi didn't understand why she was doing this.

Xiaoling looked weary and distressed: "It’s not that I want to feed him. It's just that he ate two pounds of beef, a lot of mosquitoes, flies, and butterflies, and a whole chicken, and his stomach still looks bloated."

"What? Heavens above, what kind of creature is this? Did I write the talisman wrong?" Dongzi smacked his head, thinking hard. Suddenly, he remembered the fight back at the farm—only three toads had appeared. Where were the rest? Thinking of this, Dongzi slapped his head again: "This is too taxing on the brain, too tiring. I don't want to think about it anymore. Sister Ling, how about this: feed him one chicken a day for seven days, and let’s see what changes."

Yang Xiaoling looked at Dongzi and burst out laughing.

The sky darkened again. At this moment, a taxi pulled up outside the hotel. Zhou Huan and Hong Kun got out. Entering the room, they saw Dongzi chatting with Xiaoling, which confirmed that nothing had happened to him yet. In Zhou Huan’s eyes, Dongzi hadn't even left, so Zhou Huan was immensely relieved, believing Dongzi had finally matured.

"Brother, how did your business go? Isn't Sister Xiao He coming tonight?" Dongzi asked Zhou Huan.

Zhou Huan pondered for a long moment, then sighed deeply: "Your Sister Xiao He is currently tying up that big shot from the Public Security Bureau. If she got out now, the big shot would also be free, which would create significant obstacles for us."

Dongzi stared at Zhou Huan with profound confusion: "Master, what exactly is going on here? Dongzi doesn't understand."