Chapter 501 - Combined Efforts

Arriving at the teleport shrine, Chen Yu immediately discovered Qin Lan as she wasn't too hard to pick from the crowd.

She had long black hair that was swept to the side, a pair of glasses and a white lab coat of sorts that was worn over a simple shirt and skirt.

If one was to look past her glasses, they would see bags under her eyes which showed her severe lack of sleep due to her gaming habits.

Grabbing a pack of cigarettes, she looked up towards Chen Yu and gave him a lazy wave.

"Yo~" She called out with a smile.

"Mn, rather unkempt as usual." Chen Yu frowned. While he wasn't an extreme clean freak, it still bothered him that she couldn't even be bothered to wear her lab coat properly due to the fact that it was hanging slightly to the left.

"Well I was in the middle of a session. *Yawn~* So where are the people that you wanted me to look at?" Qin Lan yawned before lighting her cigarette up.

"Follow me, just so you know, they're quite young so it's best if you don't smoke near them. It's rather unpleasant." He reminded.

"Sure, whatever." Qin Lan shrugged while following behind him.

As they approached the hotel, she finished her cigarette and stubbed it on one of the bins outside of the hotel.

Showing her to the room, Chen Yu led Qin Lan inside.

"Everyone, I've brought the person I was talking about." Chen Yu called out as the party glanced towards Qin Lan who only waved back.

"Yo~ Let's skip the pleasantries since I'm here for a job. Where are the patients?" Qin Lan asked while glancing past the girls.

Seeing both Yin and Lisandra laying on different couches while sweat dripped off their heads, she could infer that they were the patients.

Walking up to them, she pushed her glasses up slightly before creating a tier 4 magic circle and waved it over Yin's body.

While this was happening, Lyrica had a concerned expression and looked towards Chen Yu who only shook his head.

Despite the woman's rather lazy appearance, she was serious when it came to her job.

"Hmm… interesting. Now this is a contract I haven't seen in YEARS mind you." Qin Lan smiled as she glanced towards Chen Yu.

"So are you able to help us out then?" He asked.

"Well… I'm not too sure. You see, the problem doesn't come from the contract itself but rather the condition of the person on the other side of this contract. The contract hasn't been tampered with and if you want to make it so that these two survive then the best I can do is try to break the contract without killing anyone." Qin Lan shrugged as the party frowned.

"Wait a minute, you said that you're not too sure. Does that mean you can do something after all?" Madison asked as she managed to pick up on that small detail.

"Yes. You see, I said that the best that I can do is break the contract so that two of them are guaranteed to survive. There is the second option of sharing their vitality but there is no guarantee. Who knows, if the strain is too big, the two could die instantly." Qin Lan shook her head.

"Wait, since Yin is a phoenix, does that mean she could revive herself if she died? A phoenix is known for their vitality so if they shared their vitality, does this mean that both Shiro and Lisandra would be fine?" Silvia asked.

"I'm not exactly familiar with phoenixes so I can't say for sure. Though what I can say is that reviving oneself must have consequences. Whether that be in the form of completely restarting their life from birth or not, I don't know. To be fair, there's not even a guarantee for them to actually revive after sharing vitality. You need to know that there is an inherent risk in linking them up to each other, even for a short moment." Qin Lan warned as the party fell silent once more.

"Do it. If there's a chance for mum to survive, then it's ok" Yin's voice rang out as she barely managed to open her eyes.

As a phoenix, she knew that in order to revive herself, she'd need to either be placed within one of the hottest volcanos and be supplied with an incredible amount of magic or she could be left to her own devices and be reborn in around 50 years. 20 if she's lucky.

"You understand that your life would be endangered right?" Qin Lan raised her eyebrow. Seeing Yin nod her head, Qin Lan looked towards the party.

"If that's what she wants then I agree with her." Lyrica spoke up.

"Same with me, if anything, I might be able to help if I boost her vitality through my healing spells." Silvia followed up with a smile.

With the rest of the party nodding their heads in agreement, Qin Lan shrugged her shoulders and prepared to perform the 'surgery' on the contract.

Meanwhile, Nan Tian had finally arrived in Ichisver with Keiko and Keomi. Estrella was still following behind them with a worried look on her face while they entered what seemed to be an apartment that Nan Tian had prepared beforehand.

With tens of healers already in the room, Nan Tian laid Shiro on the bed while instructing them to start healing her to the best of their abilities.

Unfortunately, at this point, her body had already broken down to a state where the previous medicine had worn off. Even if he tried to give her more healing potions or items of similar nature, they did nothing to aid in her recovery.

As the healers started to activate their spells one after another, a green light appeared on Shiro's body. The breakdown of her body started to slow but it wasn't stopped.

Confused and shocked at the state of her body, the healers couldn't help but wonder what the girl did in order to acquire such injuries. Even with the combined might of some of the best healers around, all they could do was slow down the process.

Enraged by the situation, Nan Tian glared towards Estrella with murderous intent.

It was due to this spirit that Shiro was on the verge of death. Regardless of her intentions and background, all Nan Tian wanted to do right now was to rip her head off her body.

However, a part of him knew that doing so would not be productive and the best thing for him to do right now was actually assist the healers by giving Shiro medical supplies to lighten the burden.

As they continued to heal her, a seal slowly formed near her heart.

Suddenly, her body was enveloped by purple flames with an orb of light near her heart. Her condition started to stabilise but didn't improve.

Thankfully, with the combined might of all the healers in the room along with Silvia, who had her healing amplified by Shiro's tools and Aarim's spells, they were able to slowly improve Shiro's body condition. Hours passed as Nan Tian had people coming from the branch to provide the healers with mana potions and equipment so that they could continue to heal Shiro.

After all, they were in a situation that should they stop, Shiro's condition would immediately deteriorate and put her back into the danger zone.

Pacing back and forth in worry, Nan Tian continued to use everything he had in his vaults to help the healers save Shiro. If one had to write down how much he had spent so far, they would realise that it was comparable to what a medium sized faction would spend in an ENTIRE year.

'Please live…' Nan Tian prayed in his heart earnestly.

###

Feeling as though she was submerged in water, Shiro's mind drifted to her memories and everything she had experienced so far.

Her time as Nytri in Aria…

Her life as Kuromi and finally, her life as Shiro.

From the best memories to the worse ones, they each took turns as Shiro viewed them all silently.

She knew the state of her body and she knew how much danger she was currently in. She could sense Nan Tian, Keiko and Keomi's worry in the few moments she was barely conscious and felt grateful.

Strangely enough, she could also feel her party along with Yin and Lisandra's efforts through her mind due to her contract.

Within the void, Shiro felt warm as her life was filled with people that cared for her.

'I should probably wake up now. They're trying their hardest to keep me alive, it would be rude of me to stay in this state.' Shiro thought with a soft smile.

Unknown to her, a faint figure was smiling at her within the void. Her body was flickering as if it was a candlelight in the wind which could extinguish at any moment and her hair was camouflaged by the darkness.

Opening her mouth, she silently urged Shiro to return.

'Don't die lil' sis.'