Yu Shengyan immediately became vigilant, scanning his surroundings, but everything looked the same as when he had arrived there was nothing out of the ordinary.
What is going on? Not only had the stones in the distance mysteriously vanished, but even the ones he had placed right in front of him just seconds ago were gone. Who could possibly be that fast?
Yu Shengyan continued to observe for a few minutes, feeling that the area was inexplicably eerie. Fortunately, he had been walking in a straight line toward the east, so he could maintain his direction even without the markers. An hour had passed; fearing that trouble might arise where his Master was, he had to hurry back. On his return journey, he noticed that the sun remained just as vibrant and brilliant it seemed… as if it hadn’t moved at all.
Min Yue gradually edged closer to Jialuo. Jialuo seemed to sense something, and with a slight tilt of his sleeve, the little squirrel secretly rolled back inside. However… none of this escaped Min Yue’s watchful eyes.
“You have something on you?”
Jialuo froze. The stiff, porcelain-like expression on his face finally cracked, his features coming to life for the first time. He seemed somewhat startled.
“No.” Jialuo deliberately avoided looking at Min Yue, tilting his head to the side, his eyes obscured by shadows.
Min Yue chuckled inwardly, reached out, and grabbed the little fuzzball from Jialuo’s sleeve. Jialuo immediately stiffened and began to struggle, his hand moving to intercept.
“Still saying you don’t? Then what is this little accomplice?”
Min Yue’s gaze turned icy as he held the squirrel by its little belly. The squirrel was stunned for a moment, then began frantically paddling its tiny paws against Min Yue’s large hand, letting out panicked squeaks. Min Yue stared at the squirrel, its large, round, bright eyes meeting his own.
Min Yue’s inner thoughts: “Holy crap, it’s so cute! My nose is bleeding from the overload! Keep acting evil: Hahaha, and this fur is so incredibly soft!”
“Let it go?!”
Before Min Yue could indulge in his fantasies for too long, Jialuo shouted. Min Yue remained impassive, his “poker face” frozen, as he looked at Jialuo with mild interest. Jialuo was furrowing his brows, his eyes filled with genuine concern…
Hmm?
Main Plot Boss: “Little Anti-Protagonist, I feel like you’re losing out to a squirrel in front of your own Jialuo…”
Lan Tian rolled his eyes internally. “Boss, stop playing around. I shouldn’t have handed this mission over to you…”
Main Plot Boss: “Alright, alright.”
Min Yue met Jialuo’s indignant expression head-on. “Rest assured, we are upright people; we won’t harm it. I was just asking, what was it doing on you?”
The squirrel, realizing it couldn’t struggle free from Min Yue’s grip, seemed to give up. It rested its tiny chin on his hand, seemingly thinking these humans were quite troublesome.
Jialuo appeared to be contemplating what to say next. On the other side, he secretly exerted strength, trying to break free from the slightly frayed ropes.
Just then, Yu Shengyan returned. As soon as he stepped into the cave, he saw his Master gripping the furry little creature with a serious expression, while on the other side, Jialuo was bristling with anger, channeling his demonic energy.
“Master, look out!”
Yu Shengyan immediately summoned his “Light of Annihilation.” This time, he aimed it directly at Jialuo’s head…
Both Lan Tian and Min Yue were stunned; they had forgotten that Yu Shengyan had always been reckless with his attacks except when it came to Lan Tian. Min Yue stood frozen, holding the little squirrel, completely caught off guard by the light beam.
Lan Tian, with his mind set on the mission, Jialuo was still useful leaped lightly toward Jialuo’s side, twisting his body to shield him from the Light of Annihilation.
However… Lan Tian had underestimated the power of the light. He looked down at the massive hole in his chest, expressionless. He turned his head slightly, but the light that leaked past him still struck Jialuo on the head. Jialuo’s expression went blank for a moment, but after a few seconds, his face became expressive again. He collapsed to the ground, clutching his head and wailing in agony.
Lan Tian’s expression became incredibly bitter… This is a disaster; I’ve lost the leverage and gained nothing…
However… looking at the protagonist’s expression, it was even more dramatic. He was shocked, then frightened, then terrified and enraged. He hadn’t expected… the First Senior Brother’s specialty… was taking hits for people… and that he’d take a hit from anyone…
Lan Tian mentally covered his face… No, it’s always just a coincidence… But his hands were tied, so he couldn’t even cover his face… He glanced down at the floor… his poor little face was about to have an intimate encounter with the dirt…
Fortunately, the protagonist caught him just in time.
The Light of Annihilation was forged from the most sincere and pure emotion the will to protect making it devastatingly lethal to demonic beings. Consequently… Lan Tian couldn’t handle it either. This trigger activated the “pain sensation,” so Little Mengmeng’s “pain shutdown” protocol kicked in, incidentally taking the “unconsciousness trigger” along with it.
So, he was fully conscious now.
Yu Shengyan held him and laid him gently on the ground, attempting to channel spiritual energy into him. But as he did, he remembered that Lan Tian was a demon and that such energy would be useless. Yet, in the next second, a small amount of energy entered, though the rest leaked out. Yu Shengyan was startled, leaving a note of caution in his mind.
He surveyed his surroundings and suddenly remembered that Jialuo had previously channeled demonic energy into Lan Tian. He dragged Jialuo, who was still clutching his head, over to Lan Tian’s side, grabbing Jialuo’s hand and pointing it toward Lan Tian.
“Do you still want to save your Master?” Yu Shengyan shouted at Jialuo.
Jialuo snapped back to consciousness, his eyes red as he looked at Yu Shengyan and Lan Tian, and began channeling his demonic energy.
Little Mengmeng: “Ta-da! The protagonist has successfully triggered the next mission—’The Hidden Village.’ Target: Jialuo. Unlock the mystery of his origins.”
Lan Tian: “Little Mengmeng, your missions are getting messy. Didn’t I still need to find those other people? I haven’t finished that yet.”
Little Mengmeng: “It’s not messy, it’s normal! As long as you unlock his origin story, you’ll be able to find those people!”
Lan Tian: “Oh.”
The moment Jialuo was struck earlier, fragments of his past life as a human flashed through his mind. But… these events were so distant that they felt alien to him, causing him a massive headache.
As he finished channeling his energy, those fragments became clearer. He saw a massive high platform, and standing on it was a person wearing white robes, holding a book. Below were groups of villagers, with five figures standing at the very front, dressed quite differently from the villagers. The villagers looked at the white-robed figure with joy and longing…
But those five people… were filled with excitement and a strange greed… as if they were witnessing a miracle.
He peered closely at the figure on the platform and recognized him in an instant. That person was… Yu Shengyan.