Chapter 168: Both Sudden Deaths
After displaying symptoms of a severe spiritual pattern out-of-control, Shen Baiwei soon fainted under the increasing degree of Night Erosion invading her body.
As one of the protectors of the Siye Society, Huaiyuan Jun was the pinnacle of physical strength and martial skill, yet she was practically clueless when it came to effective healing spells.
Standing by the bed, watching the unconscious Shen Baiwei, she irritably ruffled her hair, then pretended to chant a few standard healing spell formulas with single-digit serial numbers. After finishing, she placed her hands on her hips, nodding with a proud expression.
No matter if they were effective or not, at least she had tried; what happened next would depend on the patient’s willpower.
Nanling Yaohua stood outside the door and, peering through the half-open gap, saw the scene inside the room, her mouth twitching uncontrollably.
The person had their major artery cut and bl**d was gushing out, what good would a band-aid do?
Did she want to make the bl**d pressure spike, increasing the bl**d loss to expedite d*ath?
Shaking her head, Nanling Yaohua pushed the door open and approached the bed.
“Senior, let me handle this!”
Upon hearing her voice, Huaiyuan Jun turned around and was startled to see Nanling Yaohua. She paused for a moment, then scratched the back of her head, managing a polite yet slightly awkward smile.
“Actually, I’m not… uh, you know what I mean, right?”
She opened her mouth, stammering as she tried to reclaim her dignity as a senior.
Nanling Yaohua was the granddaughter of Nanling Peak, and from a certain perspective, Nanling Peak could also be considered an unofficial protector of the Siye Society, so she wanted to maintain her image in front of Nanling Yaohua just as she had with Lu Qingyi.
“I know, senior, you’ve done great!” Before Huaiyuan Jun could express her thoughts in a complete sentence, Nanling Yaohua nodded and said, “If you hadn’t helped her with her injuries beforehand, I’d probably have had a much harder time!”
Implying that most of the credit was due to her!
Huaiyuan Jun felt flattered by the compliment.
Isn’t that right? I’m amazing!
Having reassured Huaiyuan Jun, Nanling Yaohua approached the bed and silently recited a spell, casting a healing spell.
Although the majority of the known spells are not very effective for cases of spiritual pattern out-of-control, otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many spiritual ability users succumbing to corruption each year due to urban legends.
However, healing Shen Baiwei’s internal injuries caused by the spiritual pattern may help stabilize her condition more quickly.
From a certain perspective, Nanling Yaohua had thus made the biggest effort, but what happened next still depended on the patient’s own determination.
This was different from Huaiyuan Jun.
The difference was that the former simply put a band-aid on and left it alone, waiting for self-healing, while the latter aimed to completely heal the injuries, but if the patient was too severely injured to recover, it would ultimately rely on whether a miracle happened.
Speaking of which, isn’t Shen Baiwei a member of the Miracle Cult?
Isn’t it quite normal for a miracle to happen in her case?
Nanling Yaohua thought, her gaze sweeping across Shen Baiwei’s pale face before retracting it, pulling the bed curtains closed and stepping aside, looking at Huaiyuan Jun and saying, “Senior, I thought I heard her mention ‘calamity’ when I was at the door just now?”
By identifying Lu Xianbei through the floral scent wafting from the God Realm Prototype, and linking the information she knew together, it was easy to deduce that Lu Xianbei was indeed the ‘calamity’.
She didn’t truly care about Shen Baiwei’s life or d*ath; what concerned her more was why Shen Baiwei had suddenly mentioned Lu Xianbei.
Had Lu Xianbei done something to her?
If Huaiyuan Jun found out through this person that Xiao Bei was the calamity, would she possibly take some extreme actions?
d*mn! Why am I thinking of helping someone who always deceives me clean up the mess? Nanling Yaohua thought with some resentment.
Thanks to Nanling Yaohua’s reminder, Huaiyuan Jun slapped her forehead and said, “Ah! Right, she did mention it. I was curious why she shouted ‘calamity’ before fainting!”
“Why are you asking that? Do you know something?”
Huaiyuan Jun was indeed curious about why Shen Baiwei mentioned ‘calamity’ before fainting, but it was just idle curiosity and didn’t hold significant concern.
Although she had seen the name ‘calamity’ on the red wanted list of the Siye Society, it was merely a name to her.
Before she accidentally got trapped inside Yumen Pass, calamity was just a figure who recently completed Hundred Demons Walk and became the urban legend king of a city, and events happening in Dream Come True Entertainment City were not yet connected to calamity due to the investigations not being concluded.
The only reason Huaiyuan Jun remembered the name ‘calamity’ was due to its good relationship with the character from Peach Source and its active role in the Tangcheng incident.
Such a mundane urban legend, considered to be one of the least worrisome in the red wanted list, didn’t require the intervention of the protectors; typically, even a small number of A Grade operators would suffice for a hunt.
In Huaiyuan Jun’s view, having protectors take down a legend-like calamity was like using a giant robot to beat up a small fry in a street gang—completely unnecessary.
Of course, even if she saw the current documents on calamity, without knowing the various connections hidden behind it, she probably wouldn’t think calamity posed any threat.
For her, urban legends usually fell into two categories: those that could k*ll her and those she could k*ll, and calamity was obviously in the latter category.
“Because…” Nanling Yaohua pondered for a moment and looked at Shen Baiwei on the bed, “because we encountered an attack from calamity on our way back; I believe this guy was injured at that time.”
After saying so, she sighed internally.
In such matters, she actually despised lying, but to prevent Huaiyuan Jun from linking calamity with Lu Qingyi, she still said it this way.
Maybe it was because she had spent too much time with Lu Xianbei recently that she had been somewhat assimilated? Nanling Yaohua thought.
“Is that so?” Huaiyuan Jun rubbed her chin in contemplation and nodded, “That makes sense…”
According to the intelligence she had heard from Lu Qingyi, there were indeed many illegal spiritual energy organizations wanting to sneak into Yumen Pass while the Miracle Cult opened its gates, mixing in among the chaos, so it was quite normal for calamity to be among them.
“I told you! Lu Qingyi doesn’t seem like the type to ab*se suspects; the character of Dachunyang Palace Disciples is supposed to be pretty good.”
As she spoke, she grinned widely, patting Nanling Yaohua on the shoulder, “No worries, if calamity dares to chase after you, I’ll handle her.”
“Moreover, the legendary Shaman Queen has been released by those half-urban legends, and she’s currently on a killing spree outside; nobody has survived an encounter with her. It’s quite possible that after calamity attacks you, she’d run into the Shaman Queen and become the nourishment for her recovering spirit energy.”
“Did you just say the Shaman Queen has been released?” Nanling Yaohua frowned.
“Yes!” Huaiyuan Jun nodded seriously, “Did you not hear the screams outside since early this morning? Oh, right, I forgot, Lu Qingyi mentioned you were severely injured and unconscious before.”
“In short, there’s a big guy in black armor out there killing indiscriminately; if you’re okay, don’t run around. If you stray too far, I won’t be able to protect you.”
Upon hearing this, Nanling Yaohua’s gaze trembled slightly.
Previously, she hadn’t known what type of terrifying urban legend she had encountered, but now, after hearing Huaiyuan Jun’s words, a thick cloud of doubt settled in her heart.
If that was indeed the legendary Shaman Queen, how could she let the leader of the Yumen Sands Sea Branch go unscathed?
When she had faced that terrifying urban legend, although she had quickly fallen into a completely suppressed state, she’d had sufficient time for the other side to capture certain characteristics of her swordsmanship.
With the level of combat skill displayed by that urban legend, it shouldn’t have been difficult for them to see the link between her sword techniques and those of the Nanling County King.
Using the swordsmanship originating from the Nanling County King in front of the Shaman Queen felt akin to an undercover police officer revealing their badge before a gang leader and shouting, “Sorry, I’m a cop!”—that would be tantamount to seeking d*ath.
It would be lucky if she wasn’t immediately submerged in concrete and drowned.
At this thought, Nanling Yaohua suddenly asked, “Senior, why do you think someone could survive after escaping from the Shaman Queen?”
“Well…” Huaiyuan Jun contemplated for a moment and said, “I think it would either require tremendous strength or an undisclosed, dirty deal with the Shaman Queen? Why are you asking that?”
“…” After hesitating repeatedly, Nanling Yaohua nodded and said, “It’s nothing, I’m just a bit curious.”
After a brief pause, she chose not to disclose her own injury to Huaiyuan Jun.
Then, shifting the subject, she said, “By the way, senior, where’s the Qingyi girl? She saved me earlier, and I haven’t had the chance to thank her properly!”
“Ah, her!” Huaiyuan Jun tilted her head toward the room where Lu Xianbei was resting and pointed, “She said she was a bit tired and went to that room to rest.”
“Thank you for the information, senior.” Nanling Yaohua thanked Huaiyuan Jun, then bowed slightly before turning left out of the door toward Lu Xianbei’s room.
————
“Creek—!”
Pushing open the ancient-carved wooden door, Nanling Yaohua entered the room, glancing around before quickly spotting Lu Xianbei lying on the bed.
Crossing the reception area and bypassing the screen, she approached the bedside for a closer look, and upon seeing Lu Xianbei’s face, she suddenly froze.
Lu Xianbei lay stiffly on the bed, her complexion pale and bluish; apart from a faint sign of breathing, she resembled a corpse in every way.
Seeing Lu Xianbei in this state, Nanling Yaohua’s expression gradually turned serious.
Initially, she thought that Shen Baiwei had suddenly shouted “calamity” before losing consciousness because Lu Xianbei had done something to her, causing Shen Baiwei’s spiritual pattern to go haywire.
But now, Lu Xianbei’s condition appeared not much better than that of Shen Baiwei next door.
It seemed like they were on the brink of mutual destruction.
If this continued, both would be dead before long.
“…” In silence, Nanling Yaohua reached out and grasped Lu Xianbei’s wrist, preparing to check her pulse when suddenly a sharp pain surged through her fingertips.
Looking down, she saw chaotic black lines, like frenzied electric arcs, coursing across her fingers, leaving behind gruesome scars.
In the next moment, her mind became hazy, and her brain flashed with some incomprehensible images…
