Chapter 46
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In the corner, Lu Haoxiu was taking care of Li Sanxin with tears in his eyes.
Just now, Li Sanxin had been using the power of the ghost baby recklessly. Lu Haoxiu knew that if Li Sanxin’s mental power dropped to zero, he would completely transform into an anomaly. So when he saw Li Sanxin’s eyes faintly tinged with blood, he panicked and directly knocked Li Sanxin unconscious with a brick to help him recover his mental power
Due to being too nervous, he exerted a bit too much force and ended up hitting Li Sanxin directly, causing him to bleed profusely.
Li Sanxin, who was hit, fell straight to the ground, blood gushing from his nose.
Lu Haoxiu was terrified, hastily wiping the blood from the back of Li Sanxin’s head and quickly treating the wound, repeatedly confirming that Li Sanxin’s handsome face, now marked with a red imprint, wasn’t disfigured before finally breathing a sigh of relief.
When Lou Yan approached, he saw his eyes swollen and red, feeling extremely guilty and pitiful as he whispered apologies, “Brother Li, I’m so sorry, please don’t have any issues from my blow. Brother Li, wake up quickly, you wouldn’t have lost your memory because of me, would you? If I turned you into a fool, what would I do, Brother Li…”
Lou Yan: “???”
What on earth are you imagining, high schooler?
Lou Yan’s lips twitched, but the suppressed coldness in his heart eased a bit as he glanced over Li Sanxin, only to find him unconscious on the ground, his clothes disheveled and torn, bloodstains and dirt everywhere, a stark contrast to his usual meticulously neat appearance. His skin had reverted to its normal wheatish color, his face pale, a long piece of cloth wrapped around his head, his eyebrows furrowed tightly, even in his unconscious state appearing deeply unsettled.
“How long has he been unconscious?” Lou Yan asked suddenly.
Lu Haoxiu looked up and saw Lou Yan. His eyes lit up like a puppy seeing its owner. He jumped up and threw himself onto Lou Yan, rubbing his head against Lou Yan’s neck. “Brother Lou!!!”
Lou Yan staggered as he was tackled, then he patted Lu Haoxiu’s back helplessly. “Alright, stop crying, everything’s fine.”
Duan Zege stood behind them, watching the scene calmly without interrupting.
Feeling comforted by Lou Yan’s presence, Lu Haoxiu couldn’t help but feel emotional. He sniffed Lou Yan’s scent, feeling a sense of calmness wash over him. Finally, after rubbing against Lou Yan for a while, he reluctantly let go and answered Lou Yan’s earlier question, “Brother Lou, it’s been about 15 minutes since Brother Li passed out.”
Lou Yan nodded. That was probably around the time he fainted while devouring the heart of the red coffin.
Lou Yan squatted down beside Li Sanxin and lifted his T-shirt to reveal his abdomen. Li Sanxin’s abdomen was flat, with strong and lean muscles moving rhythmically with his breathing. Lou Yan reached out and pressed on Li Sanxin’s abdomen until he felt a hard lump about the size of a fist.
Presumably, this was the ghost baby. Lou Yan raised an eyebrow, then squeezed the lump tightly, causing Li Sanxin to arch his back in pain with a muffled groan.
Although it hurt, Li Sanxin didn’t wake up. Lou Yan released his hand and picked up a spine whip from the side, approaching Li Sanxin’s abdomen. The lump-like thing seemed to shrink away like a frightened animal, then froze in place.
His spine whip had some deterrent effect on the current ghost baby… Lou Yan was satisfied and put away the whip, tidying up Li Sanxin’s clothes.
Curious, Lu Haoxiu glanced at the spine whip and asked cautiously, “Brother Lou, will Brother Li be okay?”
“After awakening talent, our bodies’ self-healing ability is faster than ordinary people. Just like your dislocated arm, it should have taken half a month to heal, but you recovered in a week. The self-healing ability of those who merge with anomalies is even faster than those with awakened talents,” Lou Yan explained as he lifted Li Sanxin’s head, removing the cloth from his head to check the wound, “Take a look.”
Lu Haoxiu leaned over and joyfully exclaimed, “It’s starting to scab over!”
“He’s fine. He’s just not waking up right now because of mental exhaustion,” Lou Yan said, then glanced around and pondered for a moment. This place wasn’t suitable for resting; it would be best to take Li Sanxin back to Old Tree Furniture.
With that in mind, Lou Yan’s gaze fell on the spine whip…
This thing was so big, it could accidentally harm someone. Where should he put it?
The spine whip was pulled out from his own body by Lou Yan. He couldn’t help but wonder if he could put the spine whip back into his body.
Lou Yan decided to give it a try. As soon as the spine whip touched his spine, the skin on the back of his neck smoothly split open, and the spine whip slid into Lou Yan’s body like a snake.
Even though the spine whip was two meters long, it fit perfectly inside Lou Yan’s body, and he didn’t feel any discomfort at all.
“Ah!” Seeing this scene, Lu Haoxiu whispered in shock, sucking in a breath of cold air, “Brother Lou, what, what, what’s with this bone whip?!”
Lou Yan stood up and moved around, confirming that he didn’t feel any discomfort or hindrance in his movements, then couldn’t help but laugh, “A new treasure, quite convenient.”
“Oh my god,” Lu Haoxiu looked around stealthily, then lowered his voice, “Brother Lou, do you feel uncomfortable?”
Lou Yan shook his head.
Duan Zege said leisurely, “There are always things about anomalies that we cannot understand.”
Lu Haoxiu looked at Lou Yan’s back with bright eyes, nodding vigorously in agreement.
Lou Yan smiled and lifted one of Li Sanxin’s arms onto his neck. “The environment here isn’t good. Let’s go back to Old Tree Furniture.”
“Oh, okay,” Lu Haoxiu agreed, about to lift Li Sanxin’s other arm.
“Let me do it,” Duan Zege, who had been like a spectator, finally stepped forward, smiling as he took over Li Sanxin. Then he said to Lu Haoxiu, “You hold Little Yu, and by the way, the little girl named Little Ling in Old Tree Furniture is still alive. Let’s take her back together.”
Lu Haoxiu nodded, carrying the already asleep Little Yu in his arms, and found Little Ling to hold her hand, following behind Lou Yan as they walked out of the ancestral hall.
Just as they had left the ancestral hall, a voice suddenly came from behind, “Mr. Duan! Wait!”
The group stopped and looked back, seeing Teacher Lin and several locals from Liushu Village catching up to them. When they reached them, a middle-aged man behind Teacher Lin, with red eyes, quickly stepped forward and shook Duan Zege’s free hand vigorously. “Mr. Duan, thank you so much, we really appreciate everything you’ve done. Thank you, and thank your brothers for helping us. We can never repay such kindness. Every one of us in Liushu Village who’s still alive considers you our saviors! If there’s anything we can do for you, just say it, and we’ll do our best to repay you!”
His eyes filled with gratitude and exhaustion as he looked at each person, and the emotions hidden within them left Lu Haoxiu, a half-grown child, stunned for a while.
Choking up, Teacher Lin said, “It’s all over now… We really thank you. If it weren’t for you here, we don’t know what kind of ending we would have faced.”
After speaking, Teacher Lin bowed deeply to Duan Zege and his group. The several locals behind her, regardless of whether they were old or young, also bent down.
“You don’t need to thank us. Your own efforts are what allowed you to survive,” Duan Zege shook his head, calmly and bluntly saying, “If you hadn’t chosen to believe in me, if you hadn’t cooperated with us, the outcome wouldn’t have been like this. You should actually thank yourselves, and those companions who sacrificed themselves.”
“Besides… I didn’t really do much. The one who solved the root of the problem is my friend Lou Yan, the handsome guy next to me.”
Duan Zege pointed to Lou Yan beside him.
Lou Yan, who was standing upright, was taken aback when he was mentioned. Facing the grateful eyes of Teacher Lin and the others, he remained silent for a few seconds before simply saying, “Duan Zege is right. There’s no need to talk about repaying favors. We did this not just for you guys.”
Teacher Lin smiled, but tears were already streaming down her face. She looked at the outsiders before her, deeply imprinting their faces in her heart, and softly said, “Okay, thank you.”
Lu Haoxiu scratched his cheek, feeling uncomfortable with the atmosphere. He intentionally changed the subject, “By the way, aren’t you going back to rest?”
The expressions of Teacher Lin and the others dimmed. Teacher Lin sighed, smiling bitterly, “We want to bury the bodies in the ancestral hall first. They are all villagers from our village, and at the very least, we should give them a proper burial.”
Lu Haoxiu dryly responded, then glanced down at Little Ling, whom he was holding, and asked with concern, “What about these children like Little Ling?”
“Mr. Lu, don’t worry. We’ll take care of them,” Teacher Lin smiled gently, bending down to pat Little Ling’s head, her eyes softening, “Some have lost their children, and some children have lost their families. But as long as those of us who have lost loved ones gather together and work hard, we will form new families. Pain is temporary, and the future is full of hope, isn’t that right, Little Ling?”
Little Ling’s swollen eyes blinked with tears. Hearing this, she nodded vigorously, her voice hoarse with tears, “Yes!”
Teacher Lin and the others didn’t need the help of Lou Yan and the others, so they bid farewell to each other at the entrance of the ancestral hall. Lou Yan and his group walked through the muddy ground, and by the time they reached Old Tree Furniture, the sky was already slightly bright.
Passing by the room of Huang Xin Liu Cheng, Lou Yan heard loud snoring, couldn’t help but think that fools are lucky, and this couple had also escaped a disaster.
As soon as Little Yu and Little Ling were put to bed, they fell asleep snoring softly, and Li Sanxin was also placed on the bed. Lu Haoxiu and Duan Zege were also very tired, but they were hungry, so they were preparing to cook instant noodles.
“Lou Yan, are you going to eat?” Duan Zege asked.
Lou Yan nodded, indicating he wanted one.
Duan Zege and Lu Haoxiu took three buckets of instant noodles downstairs, while Lou Yan went alone to the room rented by Cai Mo and his two cultist followers next door.
This bedroom was on the innermost side of the second floor, smaller than Lou Yan’s room. The cultists didn’t bring much with them, and the beddings were messy, showing signs of use. The sofa was pushed together, also showing signs of being slept on.
The ashtray on the small table was already full, with a half-empty cigarette box and a lighter on the table.
In addition, there were two black briefcases at the foot of the bed.
Lou Yan sat on the edge of the bed and took the two briefcases one by one. The first briefcase contained a stack of information about Liushu Village. Lou Yan briefly glanced through it; the information included some anomalies in Liushu Village collected from various sources, including the post made by “Old Tree Furniture.”
This information wasn’t very useful to Lou Yan. He flipped through it and found three bundles of cash. These cash bundles were not as useful to Lou Yan as the information, so he casually put them aside and picked up the second briefcase.
Can there be something useful here?
Lou Yan thought to himself and opened the second briefcase, finding five syringe vials of medicine and an old-fashioned keypad phone inside.
Author’s note:
Changing the part about the spinal whip =w=
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