When Bai Yuxian arrived, he already saw Yang Buchen fiercely pressing down on a figure whose body was twisted and mangled.
He Yishu’s consciousness felt as if it was fading, as if he saw many illusory figures around him—one after another, blank-faced people stood encircling him.
Yang Zicang noticed this person’s body sprouting one ｛Final Game｝ and ｛Finality｝ after another…
And amidst countless indiscernible waves, blurred shifting text and distorted images converge.
“What is this? ” Yang Zicang felt a chill in his heart, a pang of sorrow, as he gazed at the ethereal, ephemeral energy emanating from He Yishu. This feeling of his is so intense that Yang Zicang suddenly sensed a surge of power welling up from within himself.
It was a dazed, misty square, with countless transparent figures standing like waves erect, like a three-dimensional manifestation of sound waves, their eyes glazed and vacant… Then…
“What’s wrong with you! Yang Buchen! “
At the sound of this voice, Yang Zicang turned his head. Strangely, his own body, like the one that had fallen, began to emanate and synchronize some kind of insubstantial energy.
“Who attacked him? ” Bai Yuxian had more or less guessed the identity of this person, who had now changed his appearance.
“I… I don’t know… ” Yang Zicang muttered, his voice barely a whisper.
At that moment, it felt like he had returned to the Demon Hero Hall, as if countless figures howled and swirled around him like sound waves made flesh.
{Captives.. }
{Who… are… they… }
As if on cue from some inaudible voice, Yang Zicang turned his gaze. Countless figures from his memories, slowly twisting and dissolving, collided and converged with the silhouettes gathered in the Sub-Ether Space force-field around He Yishu ahead.
A chaotic myriad of sound waves and drifting, ethereal mist all crashed into a single expanse of chaos.
Bai Yuxian and the two women who had finally arrived behind him, carrying a short mast, watched in awe as the soundwaves and figures emitting various intense mental fluctuations transformed, amidst the pandemonium of weaponry and tearing, into scattered patches of hazy fluorescent mist. This mist expanded like stage lights, unfolding into a dazzling radiance that induced dizziness.
Bai Yuxian frantically waved his arms, shielding the two people beside him.
……
Bianca Doyle’s body trembled and slowly expanded, transforming into a stool.
It looked up innocently:
{I still can’t maintain a humanoid form for very long. }
“That’s already quite good, sir, ” Amade said, picking up the blade and a set of clothes from the ground. “Hurry back to Lang Witt’s side; thank you for your protection this time. “
{It’s fine. }
Having said that, the now frigid-limbed Mr. Bianca Doyle moved its stiff, stumbling form atop four stool legs, lurching and tilting rapidly along the roadside towards the carriage parked in the distant shadow.
Just at that moment, they all suddenly stopped their movements.
A dark red eye rotated within the stool, looking around with some caution.
Right in front of them, ripples of fluctuation appeared in this space, their fine undulations brushing against Amade’s erect ears and making all the hair on his body stand on end.
{What is this sound now? }
“I don’t know. “
Suddenly, the trees around began to sway from an unfelt wind, their treetops rustling and swishing with a “crackling, whooshing ” sound.
{What are you waiting for? Run! }
The four-legged Mr. Bianca Doyle bolted away frantically, {Master, save me~ }
Sensing something was off, Amad also started to move, casting glances backward at the spot where they had just fought the man. Now, the ground there faintly shimmered with tiny, intricate light rings. They fell from above the ground like rings of congealing mist, forming overlapping, dissolving broken records on the street, along with one fine, twisted pattern after another that, when stared at, seemed to plunge one into dullness, confusion, and various other emotions.
“Arcane patterns? “
Amad, whose eyes were lit up with light rings but could find no enemy, stared at the strange anomalies where the disappearing man had been.
Not long after, they all vanished along the fog-drenched street.
……
Yang Zicang stumbled out of the aether space, dizzy and disoriented, looking at He Yishu’s mangled form in his arms. His eyes churned with a storm of complex emotions before he finally calmed down after a long while.
He turned to look at the others, and at Bai Yuxian, who had worn himself out protecting all of them.
“Let’s head back to the inn. “
Yang Zicang reached out, removed a silk scarf from his arm, unfolded it, and stepped onto its surface.
“Is he still alive? ” Hua Mi asked.
“I don’t know. He was already dead, but then something seemed to happen… “
Seeing that Yang Zicang seemed a bit delirious, several people quickly helped him down, then flew off toward the distant sea.
……
Bai Yuxian breathed a long sigh of relief in his heart. Setting foot on this flying carpet from the intelligence, he was finally getting closer and closer to that hotel.
Mingtao…
Just as Bai Yuxian was thinking about this, the man on his mind finally emerged step by step from the hallucination of the Sub-Ether Space, weak and weary.
“Divine Hotel… ” Soldier No. 2 touched his new face and looked at the note Bai Yuxian had left behind, along with a business card on it.
This was originally Bai Yuxian’s possession.
“Damn it, he took my Ether Foundation and stuffed this crap into my hands. “
— I will expose my identity with the presence of the Sub-Ether Positions Space, making it difficult for the target to easily believe the intel I disclose.
— Just enter, and that will be my final task.
Feeling the captivating waves of the “Basic Pattern ” inside his head, Soldier No. 2’s frail body gradually revealed a faint hint of affinity.
｛One Hundred Crowns…｝
The distant faint dot of light responded from afar and quickly grew farther away.
Clutching the business card, Soldier No. 2 carefully controlled his emotional fluctuations as he walked through the Sub-Ether Positions Space.
He dared not stay in this world for too long, but it was only here that he could locate the position of Bai Yuxian’s other business card.
“How fast indeed. “
Soldier No. 2 swiftly pulsed his feet, deliberately treading on the bright fluorescent patches within the Sub-Ether space, traversing the twisted and shifting terrain with speed.
……
Yang Zicang and the others returned to the small boat anchored by the islet in the sea.
“Welcome aboard. “
Yang Zicang turned his head, extending a hand toward Bai Yuxian, his voice gradually regaining strength as he said, “Thank you for your help just now. Do you know how He Yishu’s body can be restored? “
This severely injured man, now barely hanging on by a thread, lay beside the boat.
Yang Zicang had no idea what had happened to him.
Bai Yuxian said, “The Sub-Ether Force Field Space is manifested from the Ether itself, but manifesting it comes at a cost. Perhaps those things just now were that cost. “
Then he lifted his gaze: “Hmm… Your energies seem capable of counteracting a great deal of the matter within the Sub-Ether Space? “
“Seems like it… ” Yang Zicang said, not entirely sure.
The group returned to the inn. The commotion from upstairs startled Karl, who had just stepped out of the lobby, and Wager, still with a toothbrush dangling from his mouth, as they stared at the man being carried down.
He Yishu’s body was pierced clean through, with several large gaping holes around his neck and waist.
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