Free Web NovelWhen Lu Yibei awoke inside the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate, five days had passed since the Shaman King was exiled.
Waves of dizziness assailed him, everything in front of him seemed covered by frosted glass, with pale halos, a ceaseless roar in his ears, and a heavy weight on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
Subconsciously, he raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, but he didn't feel the expected sticky sensation of sweat on his palm. He paused for two seconds before realizing that his right hand had long since vanished with Nanling Yaohua into that abruptly closing dark rift.
Dozens of bones throughout his body ached faintly, his body was as weak as if he had severe hypoglycemia, and he was missing an arm... Other than that, there didn't seem to be any major life-threatening issues.
His condition was at least much better than during the Dream Come True Journey and the Dream City incidents.
“You’re awake? How do you feel?”
Lu Yibei lay on the bed like a salted fish who had died with open eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling, secretly checking his physical condition. Hearing a voice, he turned his head and saw Shen Baiwei on the other side of the room.
She was fully dressed, sitting on a chair by the window, with her packed luggage at her feet, looking as if she was about to embark on a long journey.
Lu Yibei clasped his hands over his chest and said expressionlessly, “Beautiful lady, who are you? What are you doing here?”
At a time like this, shouldn't my dear Shui Ge be guarding my bedside and taking care of me?
Shen Baiwei rolled her eyes, “Do you think I want to stay here? If I hadn't seen that no one was looking after you and worried you might suddenly die, I would have left long ago!”
“Leave?” Lu Yibei tilted his head. “Where are you going?”
“Tethys Laboratory, of course!” Shen Baiwei pouted, “Didn't you remind me that the Elder Council's Saint Plan was about to be completed, and I had to return to Tethys Laboratory to retrieve what belonged to me before then?”
“Oh, right!” Lu Yibei slapped his forehead. “Speaking of which, I haven't told you yet...”
“Forget it.” Shen Baiwei waved her hand, interrupting him. “As long as the intelligence is reliable, it doesn't matter where it came from.”
She had repeatedly pressed Lu Yibei for the source of the intelligence because she was worried it might be unreliable, but as her trust in Lu Yibei deepened, coupled with Lu Yibei's current performance, she felt there was no need to doubt anymore.
At the very least, the authenticity of the intelligence could no longer be verified from Lu Yibei.
“Don't worry! This intelligence is 100% reliable!” Lu Yibei said with certainty.
He was very confident about this; although Chatterbox Girl rarely disclosed intelligence to him, the general direction of every piece of intelligence she did disclose was never wrong.
Even if it were wrong, it would be Shen Baiwei who got screwed, and Chatterbox Girl who took the blame. What did it have to do with Lu Yibei?
“Hmm, I understand.” Shen Baiwei nodded, then took out a small notebook from her embrace, opened it, and handed the few pages clipped inside to Lu Yibei.
“Here, take this!”
“What is this?” Lu Yibei asked.
“What happened during the two or three days you were unconscious.” Shen Baiwei raised a hand to adjust her glasses. “I thought you'd be interested, so I simply recorded it for you.”
Lu Yibei took the pages, looked at Shen Baiwei, then at the contents of the pages, and couldn't help but utter an uncultured sound.
“Holy crap...”
The first thing he saw was Nameless Book's message, brought by Void earlier today.
The content of the message was simple: roughly, “Your alternate identities were basically exposed by your dear Old Dad during the Shaman King battle. Now, seven or eight large Spiritual Energy organizations want your life, and four or five other large Spiritual Energy organizations want to capture you for re-education. If you want to keep your life, contact the Sect Leader of Da Chunyang Palace as soon as things here are over.”
“No! Are these people crazy?!” Lu Yibei put down the papers in his hand, looked at Shen Baiwei, and asked indignantly, “You be the judge! I just dealt with the Shaman King, shouldn't I be hailed as a hero?”
She had thought that since she had defeated such a world-class boss as the Shaman King, with top DPS throughout, in a game, she should have first pick of the best drops from the Shaman King, and she should receive the most quest rewards. Yet, reality was completely different from what she had imagined.
“This is very understandable, isn't it?” Shen Baiwei said indifferently, “Your situation is hard to define. Who can say for sure why you defeated the Shaman King?”
“What's more...” She paused slightly, then changed the subject, “Your bug friend brought some gossip, saying that there are recent rumors that the revival of an Extinction-Bringer of Old Days like the Shaman King means that world-destroying factors are about to appear, and you might very well be one of them.”
“The most important point is that even a terrifying urban legend like the Shaman King was defeated by you. If I were the leader of those Spiritual Energy organizations, I would also be wary of you. If left unchecked, the damage you could cause if you lost control one day would be immeasurable.”
“But you can't just point a gun at a good person without asking any questions or caring, can you?” Lu Yibei mumbled, then lowered his head to continue reading the papers in his hand.
Although being targeted by nearly ten large Spiritual Energy organizations sounded a bit scary, Void's message had already stated that Zhang Huainan, that Old man, would cover for him. Thinking this way, there seemed to be nothing to fear.
Would Old Zhang harm me? Lu Yibei thought, frowning when he saw the remaining content on the papers.
After reading the rest of the content, he realized that he had missed many things during his coma.
Although he had relied on exploiting a bug to turn the tide and exile the Shaman King from this world, the disaster caused by the Shaman King did not completely cease.
After he fell into a coma, the urban legend army, freed from the Shaman King's control, fell into complete madness and chaos, scattering like wild horses.
The north and south defense lines, arranged by Nameless Book and ambushed on the periphery, engaged in a tug-of-war with those urban legend for nearly thirty hours before annihilating them. Afterward, it took almost three more days to deal with the night erosion that had spread across nearly the entire Gobi Desert.
It could be said that for over four and a half of the past five days, the Night Watch had been grappling with the disaster caused by the Shaman King, only resting just before Lu Yibei woke up.
And unlike the Night Watch operatives outside the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate who were bustling with activity, the cheerful and joyful atmosphere inside the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate had persisted for five days.
The residents of the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate and their ancestors had endured a thousand years of hardship with scarce resources. Many common things in the outside world were unheard-of treasures to them.
Birds in the sky, fish in the water, crops that bore plump fruits... they made new discoveries every day and were as happy as if it were a festival.
But no one seemed sad about Dragon Tang's passing.
“Why is this happening?” Lu Yibei asked, his voice agitated.
In her opinion, the residents of the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate forgetting Dragon Tang was somewhat ungrateful.
“I guess Dragon Tang arranged it...” Shen Baiwei explained, “You don't know, Dragon Tang hasn't been involved in the management of various affairs within the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate for a long time. It's been the descendants of the Long Xiang Army, whom he deeply trusted, managing things on his behalf. This is probably because he had long sensed his mind beginning to become confused, right?”
“I also heard that before Dragon Tang, as the Nangling Commander, presided over the ceremony for the return of the Miracle Saintesses, many young people didn't even know the name or deeds of that elusive old man. Don't you think that's a bit outrageous?”
“And now, under the guidance of Dragon Tang's few confidants, it's been taken by everyone as a miracle brought by the return of the original Miracle Saintesses.”
“Is that so? I understand.” Lu Yibei lowered his head, his eyes slightly dim.
He didn't want everyone to be sad about his departure, only happy because life had improved...
That Dragon Tang kid, he's pretty cool! frёewebηovel.cѳm
Lu Yibei continued to flip through the papers Shen Baiwei gave him, finally finding what he wanted to see on the last page—the Shaman King's “death report.”
In the Spiritual Energy perception of all high-level Psychic, no Spiritual Energy fluctuations of the Shaman King could be sensed anymore.
Not a single trace remained, cleaner than the toilet water supposedly scrubbed by R Country cleaners in toxic chicken soup legends.
Lord Bing and Doji Ten, two Calamity-level Psychic with similar authorities to the Shaman King, capable of triggering authority resonance, also explicitly stated that they could no longer sense the Shaman King's authority.
It seemed, then, that the Shaman King was indeed dead.
But...
What about Xiao Hua?
Lu Yibei thought, casting an inquiring gaze at Shen Baiwei, “I say, Miss Time Princess, why is there no information about Nanling Yaohua on this?”
Shen Baiwei squinted at Lu Yibei, saying irritably, “Four days ago, that Old man Nanling Qifeng held a funeral for Nanling Yaohua. Many people went. Guess who wasn't invited to the funeral?”
“Was it me?” Lu Yibei shrank his neck, testing softly. After receiving an affirmative look from Shen Baiwei, he immediately retorted, “But I was unconscious, wasn't I? How could I go?!”
“Tsk!” Shen Baiwei spat, “Do you think they would invite you if you were awake?”
“Brother, someone died! Even if others know you bear very little responsibility and this can't really be blamed on you, still, think about it, wouldn't seeing you bring back painful memories and affect their emotions?”
“Leaving aside everything else, just take that Night Watch operative named Bai Kai. He's your Old Dad, right? These past few days, besides delivering meals on time and taking away the cold food on time, he hasn't stayed here for too long. Why do you think that is?”
“...” Lu Yibei hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.
He now understood why it was Shen Baiwei, not Shui Ge, who was by his bedside. ƒreewebɳovel.com
Thinking about ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) it carefully, he could actually understand. It was like after his car accident, shortly after waking up and learning of his Old Dad's death, he would constantly smash things and get angry at the Doctor, nurses, and Shui Ge.
He wasn't blaming them, but rather, he couldn't accept reality and control his emotions for a while.
“Thank you, thank you for taking care of me these past few days...” Lu Yibei said.
“I... I... it was just a small favor! Didn't I take care of you for a while before?” Shen Baiwei turned her face away and mumbled, “Well, now you're better, if there's nothing else, I'll be leaving. Infiltrating Tethys Laboratory isn't easy, I'll go prepare in advance.”
After speaking, she got up and hurriedly left the room.
“Take care! Call me if you miss me!”
He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but Lu Yibei distinctly felt a sharp pain in his thigh, as if someone had twisted it hard, when he called out to the departing Shen Baiwei.
Is she crazy?
If you're going to leave, why pinch me?
Forget it, let her be. I seem to be unable to hold on again. I'll rest for a bit longer. I'll deal with the troubling matters after I wake up.
Lu Yibei thought, slowly closing his eyes.
Just then, a blurry figure gradually appeared behind him.
From its silhouette, the figure resembled a graceful young girl.
And the girl's slender little hand was quietly resting on his thigh...
