Chapter 142
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“The heavy rain has stopped!!!”
“Look, the rain stopped!”
“The rain stopped, ah ah ah, we’re saved!”
“Mom! Dad! The rain outside has stopped!!!”
“The flood! Look at the flood! The flood has also subsided!”
Inside the tall buildings, exclamations of surprise and cries rang out, more and more heads poking out to look at the water on the ground, then showing expressions of crying and laughing, like survivors after a disaster.
With the “Water Ghost” eliminated, the continuous days of heavy rain finally stopped. The gloomy weather dispersed, and the long-lost sunlight finally descended upon Chengjiang City.
The people who were still alive in Chengjiang City were ecstatic, and the speed of the water receding was as fast as the speed of rising. People began to spontaneously or organizedly rebuild their homes, clear the roads, and restore communication with the outside world.
But these ordinary people didn’t know that the great hero who killed the “Water Ghost,” Lou Yan, had disappeared after jumping into the water.
Li Sanxin, Duan Zege, and the soldiers sent by the Anomaly Control Bureau searched for Lou Yan’s figure for a whole day and night, but they couldn’t find any trace of Lou Yan.
At ten o’clock in the evening, Li Sanxin and Duan Zege, dragging their tired bodies, returned to the villa. Before they could open the door, they heard a loud crash from the living room.
“Ah ah?” Little Yu’s anxious voice sounded.
Li Sanxin quickly pushed open the door and saw Lu Haoxiu lying on the ground in a daze, a chair tripped over by his feet. His face was blank, and he fumbled around, trying to pick up the chair he tripped over.
“Sorry, did I hit someone?”
Lu Haoxiu’s once bright and lively eyes were now clouded and absent-minded, as he awkwardly reached out and asked tentatively.
Lu Haoxiu didn’t know if there was anyone around him, or if his voice could be heard, because he couldn’t even hear his own voice.
He felt like he was locked in a closed, dark box, devoid of all senses. Lu Haoxiu tried to suppress the anxiety and panic in his heart, but from his expression and trembling voice, some of it inevitably leaked out.
Little Yu helped Lu Haoxiu pick up the chair, carefully holding Lu Haoxiu’s hand and anxiously trying to comfort him.
“Who?” Lu Haoxiu was suddenly touched, subconsciously trying to avoid Little Yu’s touch, but then he realized that he had been brought back home, so he asked anxiously in a low voice, “Is it Little Yu?”
Little Yu’s eyes were red, tears streaming down her cheeks. She shook Lu Haoxiu’s hand up and down, nodding vigorously, “Ah!”
Lu Haoxiu’s ears perked up, but he didn’t hear any sound. But from Little Yu’s actions of holding and shaking his hand, he knew that Little Yu had heard his words. Lu Haoxiu smiled, reached out to awkwardly touch Little Yu’s face, and then felt the tears on Little Yu’s face.
Lu Haoxiu’s heart suddenly felt sour and soft again. He sniffed and tried to pretend to be as cheerful as before, smiling, “Little Yu, don’t cry, I’m fine. It’s not good to cry anymore.”
“En!”
Little Yu nodded vigorously again, holding Lu Haoxiu’s hand and sitting on the sofa together.
Li Sanxin, who was standing by the door watching this scene, suddenly felt his eyes turn red. He turned and left the door, sitting on the steps outside, regardless of whether they were dirty or not, trying to calm his emotions.
Duan Zege sighed, sitting down beside him with a complicated expression, taking out a cigarette and handing it to Li Sanxin, “Do you want to smoke?”
Li Sanxin took the cigarette, and after Duan Zege lit it, he silently took a puff, feeling heavy and suppressed.
Since coming down from Xiaoqing Mountain, he had been searching for Lou Yan’s figure without rest. At this moment, Li Sanxin’s chin was covered with stubble, his eyes were dark, and his mouth was cracked and peeling, making him look weary and haggard.
For someone who is clean and has OCD, Li Sanxin rarely showed such a disheveled side, but he was really too tired, too tired to even have the energy to tidy himself up and maintain his composure.
Today’s events piled up one after another. After killing the Snake Lady Yelan with Duan Zege, they turned back to find the two high school students, only to come across Lu Haoxiu, who had lost his senses, and Ye Buyan, who was heavily injured.
At that moment, Ye Buyan, with both feet and legs broken, crawled on the muddy road, using one arm to hold up one of Lu Haoxiu’s legs, crawling forward painstakingly slowly, guiding Lu Haoxiu in this way. At that moment, Ye Buyan’s face was covered in dirty mud and dried leaves, along with wounds scratched by broken stones, his hands dripping with blood.
Lu Haoxiu, on the other hand, had red eyes, looking bewildered, his hands groping in the air, following Ye Buyan’s strength step by step.
This scene was like a hammer, striking Li Sanxin’s heart with aching bitterness. These two high school students, who had just come of age, still had traces of youthfulness in their figures and faces, yet they were subjected to such torture. Li Sanxin regretted bringing them up the mountain.
He and Duan Zege carried these two high school students on their backs and continued up the mountain. Along the way, they encountered several other surviving talent individuals. When they reached the top of Xiaoqing Mountain, they heard from Wen Yian that Lou Yan had entered a frenzy state and jumped into the water with the Saint Ye Ruan.
When they counted the casualties, they found that out of the twenty-two gifted individuals they had brought, seven had died, five were severely injured, and the rest had varying degrees of minor injuries.
Twelve of the thirteen cult leaders died including the Saint Ye Ruan. They also captured a magician named Zhou Wuxin, and the reason they were able to capture Zhou Wuxin was because he did not resist.
The achievements were remarkable, but the casualties were equally devastating.
The heavy blows, one after another, reduced their joy in defeating the cultists and eliminating the “Water Ghost.” After descending the mountain, Li Sanxin and Duan Zege also took Ye Buyan and Lu Haoxiu to the hospital. Ye Buyan’s injuries were severe, but his self-healing ability exceeded that of an ordinary person, and his injuries would recover in at most a week. Compared to Ye Buyan’s injuries, Lu Haoxiu’s physical condition was even more worrisome.
Medical means did not detect any problems with Lu Haoxiu’s body, but Lu Haoxiu couldn’t see, hear, or smell anything. From Ye Buyan, it was known that Lu Haoxiu’s condition was likely caused by the rotten apple he took out using the ability of “Void Grab.”
Li Sanxin couldn’t imagine how painful it would be to lose hearing, vision, smell, and other senses, and what worried him more was that even medical means couldn’t detect Lu Haoxiu’s physical problems. Was there still a possibility of recovery?
His heart was split in half, one half anxiously blaming himself for Lu Haoxiu’s situation, and the other half angry and restless for Lou Yan’s disappearance. Li Sanxin felt like he was standing in a pot of boiling oil, unable to move, restless.
Duan Zege exhaled a puff of smoke, his voice low and hoarse, his mouth equally dry and cracked. “Worried about Little Lu’s injury? And Lou Yan’s situation?”
Li Sanxin wanted to force a bitter smile, but he couldn’t even smile. He raised his head wearily, looking at the round moon hanging in the sky. “Aren’t you worried?”
Several days of heavy rain had some benefits. Like the sky now, it seemed to have been washed clean, with bright stars shining in the night sky, clean and clear.
Duan Zege said confidently, “Lou Yan will be fine.”
Li Sanxin turned to look at Duan Zege, his brows furrowed tightly, his fingers pinching the cigarette almost to the point of breaking. “But you said before that the berserk state is very dangerous. He could become as savage and irrational as an anomaly if he can’t wake up, or even directly become one!”
“So we need to find him as soon as possible,” Duan Zege said rationally. “I’ve divined for him once before. Although Lou Yan’s process this time was dangerous, the final result will be a safe passage. So we need to find him quickly and wake him up.”
Li Sanxin breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. “Okay, we’ll try to find him tomorrow… Oh, did you divine for Little Lu? His eyes, ears, and so on… Is there any chance of recovery?”
Duan Zege hesitated, “I don’t know.”
Li Sanxin’s heart sank. “You didn’t divine for him?”
Duan Zege was silent for a moment. “I can’t divine for Lu Haoxiu’s future. Did you see the card in his pocket with ‘Count Grey’s Shop’ written on it?”
Li Sanxin nodded, pondering. “When I saw this business card, I felt it was familiar. It seems like I’ve heard this name somewhere.”
“Lou Yan also had such a card in his hand,” Duan Zege tapped the ash of his cigarette. “Count Grey’s Shop. From the name, you can tell it’s a very mysterious shop. The rotten apple in Lu Haoxiu’s pocket may have been taken out from this shop. Taking something away must have a price. Little Lu’s lost senses were probably taken by this shop. My intuition tells me that if we want to solve Little Lu’s situation, we must wait for Lou Yan to come back. He should know where this shop is.”
Li Sanxin nodded silently, took a deep breath, extinguished the cigarette, and stood up. “I’ll go cook for the two kids. Rest early, and we’ll continue to find Yanzi as early as possible tomorrow. I’m worried that delays may cause changes.”
Duan Zege pressed the cigarette butt into the ground and stood up. “I’ll help you.”
The two adults settled their emotions, walked into the house, and went to comfort the two restless children.
***
The night was deep.
In the ecological park, deep in the forest, in a cave, the environment was dark and damp, with moss growing everywhere.
The ground had accumulated more than half a meter of water, shimmering with ripples under the moonlight.
A slender figure walked out of the darkness, heading straight for the cave. The man’s silver long hair shimmered with a faint silver light under the moonlight, and his footsteps disturbed the calm water, causing ripples to spread from his legs to the entrance of the cave.
The night after the disaster was extremely calm. There was no one in the ecological park, and it seemed that even living creatures were few and far between, with no signs of movement.
The silver-haired man arrived at the cave and glanced into the dark and deep cave. Then, he stepped into the cave.
The cave was cold and silent, with the sound of dripping water incessantly. It was very dark here, so dark that one couldn’t see their fingers, but it didn’t hinder Fu Xuezhou’s sight.
This was an environment suitable for the growth of snakes, but Fu Xuezhou did not see any snakes. Instead, he saw a surprisingly beautiful “monster.”
The half-human, half-fish monster leaned against the cave wall, its long fish tail hanging in the water. The monster lowered its head, and the white bone flowers on its arms to the back of its hands bloomed like beautiful poisonous flowers. The monster remained motionless, as lifeless as if it were dead. In the monster’s left hand, there was still a human being, soaked in the water, unknown whether they were alive or dead.
This scene was like a scene from a fairy tale, but it was more magnificent, beautiful, dangerous, and eerie than the fairy tales.
Fu Xuezhou’s eyes fell on the monster, seeing the long, slightly curled black hair of the monster and the black fish tail floating in the water. His expression was inscrutable as he took another step forward.
But this step startled the sleeping monster. The monster suddenly lifted its head, its crimson eyes glaring at Fu Xuezhou, baring its teeth and emitting a threatening growl from its throat.
Fu Xuezhou’s footsteps paused, and the corners of his lips cooled, and he sneered, “Just a ‘Water Ghost,’ and you’ve put yourself into a berserk state. Don’t even recognize people anymore, Lou Yan?”
The monster looked at Fu Xuezhou with cold eyes.
Fu Xuezhou’s lips, which had curled up for a moment, straightened in an instant. He walked forward expressionlessly, bending down to pick up the monster from the water. With one arm around the monster’s waist and the other holding the monster’s slippery black fish tail covered in mucus, there was a sound of water splashing, and the monster, which was over two meters long, was lifted from the water by him.
The monster angrily sank its teeth into Fu Xuezhou’s neck, and its sharp black nails pierced deeply into Fu Xuezhou’s back muscles. Blood gushed out, and the cave was instantly filled with the smell of blood.
The white bone flowers on the monster’s body were awakened by the smell of blood, slowly opening and closing like hungry mouths.
Fu Xuezhou shook the merman monster in his arms, changing his posture, freeing one hand to grab the monster’s hair, and forcefully lifting the monster’s head buried in his neck, warning, “Don’t move.”
The monster showed a pained expression, and a pitiful mist rose in its crimson eyes, which was truly heart-wrenching. But behind the mist, there was greed, ferocity, and bloodthirstiness, like a beast eager to devour Fu Xuezhou.
Fu Xuezhou stared at the expression on the monster’s face, slowly releasing his grip on its hair and instead pinching its cheek. The monster’s face was cold and pale, but unexpectedly soft. Fu Xuezhou unceremoniously pinched the monster’s cheeks, causing them to sink. He pulled the monster’s face closer to his own.
“Just five days without seeing you,” Fu Xuezhou sniffed the mucus and aquatic scent on the monster’s body, gazing at its lips stained with his blood, “Lou Yan, why do you look so disheveled?”
Author’s Note:
Fu: …pitiful (although it’s fake)
Lou: ?
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