Chapter 250: It’s On Fire!
After helping the suddenly fainted Shen Baiwei onto the bed, Long Bang paced over to a wooden table and looked at the two girls lying on the bed side by side, letting out a helpless sigh.
“Why do all the bad things seem to happen to me?”
If it weren’t for Shen Baiwei learning that he was going to take the iron box containing the token to the depths of the County Prince’s Mansion for sealing, and called him over, insisting on putting the portrait of “Big Shen Girl” into the iron box, he probably would have already been inside the County Prince’s Mansion.
And now…
A perfectly fine girl fainted without warning, and she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to.
At the very least, he would have to wait until the subordinate he sent to find the doctor returned, right?
Thinking of this, Long Bang suddenly felt a dryness in his mouth and throat, not sure if it was due to his anxiousness that stirred up heat.
“Should I ask the doctor to help me take my pulse when he arrives?”
Long Bang shook his head, loosened his collar, and then picked up the water kettle and teacup on the table, pouring himself a glass of clear water.
The dryness seemed to intensify…
Even he, a Longxiang Army Armor Soldier who had suffered from water scarcity while traveling in the Gobi Desert for years, felt an unbearable sensation, yearning for clear water to relieve it.
However, just as the cup reached his lips, a horrifying wave of spirit energy surged into his consciousness.
Scorching, vast, heavy… it felt as though he had been struck on the head by a red-hot heavy hammer, causing his body to shudder alongside it.
In that instant, he felt fear, a fear that stifled any desire to resist.
In a panic, Long Bang suddenly turned back, looking in the direction from which the wave of spirit energy came, his eyes widening in astonishment.
He was well aware that the person there just now was “Shen Girl,” but at this moment he couldn’t see “Shen Girl,” unsure if his eyes were blinded by the scorching airwaves or if the strong spirit energy fluctuation affected his vision, in any case, all he could see was a figure slowly sitting up, wrapped in crimson light.
Firelight, dust, withered plants, and more—things that could often be seen deep within the desolate Gobi—manifested in flashes of light and faded away.
For a moment, painful memories surged uncontrollably in Long Bang’s mind, pulling him back to that terrifying time.
Memories associated with “drought”…
At that time, he had just arrived at Yumen Pass from his hometown, Xiaoxiang City, and, arranged by his older brother, joined the Longxiang Army. Little did he know that during his first long-distance march, he would encounter a raiding Huihu tribe, accidentally getting separated from his companions and lost on the vast Gobi.
Perhaps too much time had passed, or perhaps it was too painful, making him reluctant to touch it. In any case, the memory of being lost in the Gobi had become blurred.
However, at this moment, those memories seemed to “revive” suddenly, becoming clear again and forcibly pulling him back to that time.
A deserted village, scattered white bones of cattle and sheep, the riverbed that had dried up for who knows how many years… all the scenery exuded an aura of decay and withering.
The heavens and the earth seemed to stretch under some force, and at the edge of his vision, there was a figure leading him forward. The figure was almost invisible to the n*ked eye, only a blurry outline, guiding him deeper into the Gobi.
It felt as though his mouth and nose were ignited then forcibly stuffed with fine sand by the wind. With every breath and every movement of his throat, he felt a tearing pain, which surged through his nose and throat, causing the heat to churn violently in his chest.
In a daze, he felt as though he was about to d*e, and in his sight, the twisted, wind-eroded earth mounds resembled huge monstrous shadows that squirmed in the distorted light of the scorching sun, stealthily following behind him, as if waiting to devour corpses and souls.
As a child, he often heard the elders say that the mysterious things of the Great Tang lay hidden in the mountains of the South. Being a native of Xiaoxiang, he had also heard the bizarre legends circulating in the countryside, but those legends paled in comparison to the fear lurking in the vast Gobi.
For a moment, Long Bang even felt he was still in that seemingly endless desert, and that his experiences over the past few years were merely a dream just before he died. Now that the dream was over, he was about to embark on the road to the afterlife.
Then…
A crisp, youthful voice echoed in his ear.
“Long Bang, doesn’t your hand hurt?”
Hearing the voice, Long Bang froze for a moment, and then, as if awakened from a nightmare, the terrifying scene before him instantly dissipated, and the beautifully arranged room of Dai Mu Institute and “Shen Shen Girl’s” familiar face came into view.
“Does it hurt?” Long Bang repeated “Shen Girl’s” question vaguely, looking down and seeing the steaming water in the cup and his five fingers, which were reddened from the heat, only then did he feel the intense burn in his palm.
“Ah—! It’s hot, ouch!”
With a cry of pain, the teacup fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.
Watching Long Bang grimace and shake his hand, Luxianbei’s gaze involuntarily drifted to his hand that looked like a pig’s trotters from the burns, feeling a bit embarrassed.
This shouldn’t have anything to do with me, right? Luxianbei thought.
“Shen Girl! I just saw you…”
“What happened to me just now?” Luxianbei asked expressionlessly.
“You just…” Long Bang tried to recall what had happened the moment “Shen Baiwei” woke up and suddenly realized that his mind was in a state of chaos. Other than feelings of “dryness,” “heat,” and “an inexplicable sense of pressure,” there were no images or details of the few seconds of “Shen Baiwei’s” awakening.
Could it be that I suffered from nightmare illness too? Long Bang thought confusedly.
Recently, aside from the ordinary citizens and Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers in Yumen Pass, who had caused disturbances due to impulsive outbursts, there was another noteworthy incident: a small portion of the monks remaining at Zawen Temple after the Hong Bian Monk’s disappearance had suffered from nightmare illness.
Those monks with nightmare illness initially woke up suddenly from nightmares at night, then uncontrollably flailed and shouted, their expressions conveying an indescribable madness.
After the night of chaos, they would hide in dark corners, lying down or sitting, as if their souls had been taken away by some ghostly thing, lifeless and unresponsive, regardless of how others called them, only mumbling words that others couldn’t understand.
After being reported by the Longxiang Army Soldiers, he had visited Zawen Temple several times. Since the number of monks with nightmare illness was not large, and they hadn’t made any destructive actions, he hadn’t paid much attention.
But just as he was awakened from those terrifying memories that almost consumed his sanity, he immediately thought of those monks with nightmare illness.
Could it be that those monks also saw some strange phenomena?
But what was the source of those strange phenomena?
While Long Bang was pondering, Luxianbei’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Long Vice Commander? What happened to me just now? Why don’t you finish your sentence?”
Luxianbei disliked two types of people the most: the first type are those who only say half of what they mean.
Was it a bit reckless to tell Shen Girl now that he wasn’t sure if he had just experienced symptoms of nightmare illness? Long Bang looked at Luxianbei, pondered for a moment, and shook his head, saying, “It’s nothing. I just wanted to say that I was worried when you hadn’t woken up for many days. Now that you finally woke up, it’s really great!”
“Many days?” Luxianbei froze for a moment, as if suddenly remembering something, her pupils widened slightly, and she hurriedly asked, “How long was I unconscious before?”
The word “many days” gave her an ominous premonition.
“A considerable amount of time.” Long Bang licked his dry lips and counted with his fingers, “If carefully calculated, today it has been a hundred days.”
“What the heck! How can that be?” Luxianbei exclaimed, “Shen Bai… where is my sister? Where is she?”
d*mn it! It clearly felt like it hadn’t been long, how could it have been a hundred days?
This is a huge problem! The message from the void that the Wordless Book brought said, that I and the save file girl must resolve the crisis of Yumen Pass within forty-eight hours, or we’d be burdened with a huge responsibility. Now it’s already over ninety days, and it’s mostly hopeless.
With that much time, let alone resolving the crisis at Yumen Pass, it was enough for the Shaman Queen to casually go from Yumen Pass all the way to the White God Group’s stronghold in Saint Petersburg… Luxianbei thought in terror.
In rumors, the terrifying urban legend—the embodiment of the Black God Chelnaberg, which coincided with the power of the Shaman Queen—was being closely guarded by the White God Group at all costs, preventing the Black God from returning to the world from the urban legend.
If the Shaman Queen successfully breaks free, there is a high likelihood she would find a way to seize the item that contained the power of the Black God.
“Before you woke up, little Shen Girl suddenly fainted.” Facing Luxianbei’s alarming questions, Long Bang explained, “I just placed her next to you. Right over there.”
As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to the bed on the other side of the room.
Following Long Bang’s direction, Luxianbei saw Shen Baiwei lying motionless on the bed, slightly twitching her exquisite nose as if she had caught a whiff of something unusual.
“Long Bang, do you smell something burnt?”
Upon hearing this, Long Bang also twitched his nose and then nodded, “It seems so.”
As soon as the words fell, the two saw several wisps of black smoke rising from Shen Baiwei’s body.
Before anyone could react, the black smoke thickened at a visible speed, then…
Shen Baiwei ignited.
From a distance, it looked like a cremation scene.
“d*mn! Quick, put out the fire!”
With Luxianbei’s light exclamation, the two rushed forward, splashing water, patting, and chanting water attribute spells… and they were in a flurry of chaos.
(Note: A bit of writer’s block today, shorter update.)
