He'd gone and lost the Four-Legged Dragon. The thought left Shen Cong thoroughly depressed — tonight was proving unbearably aggravating. He'd managed to rally his spirit through self-mutilation, but his brain still dragged with residual fatigue, drowsiness, fog, and vertigo, and his body felt heavy, aching, sore, and weak.

"In this state, there's no way I can go find Little Four."

Shen Cong himself had nearly been lured off to become butterfly food. One could imagine the state of the Four-Legged Dragon — intelligence on the level of a five- or six-year-old child — probably lying stupefied in the butterfly's lair right now.

Fortunately, the household still had a squad of little brothers who were immune to all of it. "Blackhead — take a Vajra Ant detachment out that way and search for the Four-Legged Dragon. Find her, then come straight back and tell me."

Blackhead, ever obedient, went at once to collect its ants and set out.

The Vajra Ants' combat strength might be lacking, but finding the Four-Legged Dragon shouldn't be hard — they could track her residual pheromones and fix her position exactly.

With the ant detachment out searching, Shen Cong didn't sit idle either. He gulped down water and yogurt, trying to neutralize the toxin in his body.

Even with his brain running at half-lucidity, he understood this much: his condition was the work of that butterfly's poison.

A poison with hallucinogenic effect — it had shown him someone he longed to see who did not exist. The hallucination plainly targeted the brain. The Four-Legged Dragon counted as an intelligent creature, hence she'd been hit; the Vajra Ants were lower animals, completely immune to the hallucination — they even breathed differently, so the other ill effects missed them entirely.

Enough yogurt and water down, and his spirit finally felt a shade restored.

Shen Cong settled into the driver's seat, a submachine gun cradled in his arms, started the twin electric motors, and let the engine's vibration wash over him while he husbanded his strength.

The moment he sat down, sleep came clawing back.

An irresistible, sinking…