Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

The night fell, the desert sky was cloudless, and the stars shone freely.

Yang Yu and his companions stood on the deck of the sand sailing ship, guarded by a dozen soldiers.

Qing Shi was restless, stories about the Lamia echoed in his mind, while Yang Yu and his team were unrestrained, admiring the beautiful starry sky.

The Lamia guards were not of high level, anyone in Yang Yu’s team could easily overpower all the Lamias present.

The only discomfort Yang Yu and his team felt was from the plummeting temperature at night, and the cold wind blowing, piercingly chill.

Before long, the cold wind on the deck of the sand sailing ship made most people shiver, with cold hands and feet.

Even after putting on winter clothes, they still felt cold. Bai Jin activated a barrier to block the cold wind, and Yang Yu lit a stove, making everyone feel a bit more comfortable and able to sleep quietly.

Early the next morning, they woke up slowly to some sound.

Through the dense morning fog, they saw giant garlic sprouts standing in the desert, with thick sea mist turning to dew on the broad leaves, flowing along the veins into the new shoots.

Suddenly, a giant garlic sprout moved, and others followed suit.

Huge turtles carrying garlic bulbs raised their bodies from the sand and slowly moved eastwards, and the garlic sprout leaves on them gradually gathered, growing inversely to form a big garlic head.

This was another magic beast capable of surviving in the desert, known as the Garlic Turtle.

They are one of the Fierce Land Shark’s favorite foods and also a primary vegetarian source for the Lamia.

The Lamia climb up the stems of the Garlic Turtle at night when they are resting to pick some of the leaves they use to absorb moisture.

Special sand sailing ships provide full-time protection alongside.

Tracing back the history of the Lamia consuming Fierce Land Sharks, it probably started during the protection of harvesters. After killing a Fierce Land Shark, leaving such a large heap of meat on the ground seemed wasteful, so the Lamia tried its meat, opening a new world.

To capture the delicious prey, hunting sand sailing ships often follow the path of the Garlic Turtle, lying in wait to catch them.

Today was no exception.

A huge hunting sand ship brushed past Yang Yu and his team. Yang Yu looked up at the Lamia on the ship, fully armed and ready for action, noticing their special spears.

If Yang Yu remembered correctly, last time they used such spears to control the Fierce Land Shark and then deliver a fatal blow.

”We are about to reach our village, get ready.

I told you in advance, don’t make any small moves.

Although your abilities are extraordinary, this is still our territory. If we wanted to end you, we have our ways.”

The Lamia captain warned Yang Yu and his team again to behave themselves.

Yang Yu nodded in agreement, also asking the captain if the Lamia Clan had any taboos to avoid making mistakes unknowingly.

The Lamia captain seriously mentioned a few taboos and specifically instructed Yang Yu and his team not to move around without the Queen’s permission. If the Queen asked them to go east, they mustn’t go west. Only by first showing respect to the Queen would the Lamia Clan respect them.

Yang Yu nodded, keeping it in mind.

The bright sunlight spread warmth, gradually dispersing the fog, revealing a towering wall to Yang Yu’s eyes.

The wall was built with sturdy stone, coated with some material that gave it a metallic appearance and texture, which no wind or sand could erode.

The sand sailing ship slowed down, approaching the high wall and went directly into the wall.

The wall had a hidden space, a ten-plus-meter-tall iron door appeared before Yang Yu.

The Lamia city had four gates in the east, south, west, and north, each protected by a special barrier. From the outside, the location of the gates looked no different from the other walls.

Even high-level mages would find it challenging to break the barrier and find the entrance to the Lamia city.

The ship’s captain entered a series of commands at the control panel, making a gap at the bottom of the huge iron door, just wide enough for the small ship to pass through.

Passing through the massive iron door, sand flowed like seawater into the Lamia city.

Several huge sand sailing ships docked at the Lamia Clan’s port, but the Lamia were rarely seen.

It wasn’t the time for trade with the outside world, so the port was understandably very quiet, mostly staffed by ship maintenance personnel.

After docking, the captain led Yang Yu and his team officially into the Lamia city.

The Lamia city was built around an oasis, with various rare desert plants interspersed among the uniquely desert-style buildings, while a giant pyramid stood in the city’s center.

Yang Yu felt as if he had traveled through time and space into ancient Egypt, thousands of years ago.

Contrary to the exotic city, various conspicuous machines were displayed all over the city.

Yang Yu even saw something like a vending machine, where a Lamia inserted a coin, pressed a button, and with a ”clang,” a metal can slid out from it.

A few Lamia children held game controller-like devices, racing various off-road vehicles on the open streets.

In the center of the street, Yang Yu could see through shop windows that various sand sailing ship models were for sale, even large-scale models over a meter tall.

If he hadn’t seen it himself, Yang Yu would never have imagined the Lamia Clan’s city would be like this.

Is this what you call mechanical punk?

Is this culture something developed on their own, or does it hold some unknown secrets?

If given the chance, Yang Yu wanted to explore it and might find many interesting tasks.

When he first reached a bottleneck, there seemed to be an option for a mechanic...

If he had chosen the mechanic at the beginning, he might have come to the Lamia side, and here he could probably obtain various design blueprints to improve his mechanic level.

If he had chosen the mechanic and found the ruins on the Luo Ze Empire’s side, he might have been able to inherit past memories and know everything.

Perhaps that route was the truly correct path, who knows...

When you choose something, you have to give up something.

Looking at his companions beside him, Yang Yu thought.

With all the choices leading to this point, there wasn’t much to regret.