CH 19

Fingers intertwined

Without the command from the giant worm leader, the group of human-devouring Gu worms quickly retreated into the depths of the forest.

The battle ended, everyone’s tense nerves relaxed.

It is just a shame that such a stunning young woman, both in terms of strength and resourcefulness, is going to perish. Lightning of that scale, I am afraid that even level 3 peak ability users like their Deputy Head will turn into a paste…

The thunder light slowly subsided, the smoke slowly dissipated, revealing a standing figure.

“No way…” Someone whispered in disbelief.

A few tiny arcs of electricity flashed and sparks flashed from time to time on a shield in a pale haze of smoke. This shield was a much darker colour than the previous one, a dark blue translucent shield that was indestructible and there is not a single crack under that kind of attack.

Among the smoke and mist, arcs of electricity continue to flash, the figure standing is vaguely as elegant as a painting, with black hair flowing like a waterfall and fluttering clothes, as if an immortal had arrived.

The protective cover slowly dissipated, Zhu Ai turned her back to everyone and held Shen Qingjia in her arms. The slender and beautiful girl said nothing, Xu Kai and others could not see her expression. Shen Qingjia was completely obscured by the girl’s body, only a delicate arm and legs could be seen hanging down, not moving at all.

There was the sound of blood dripping to the ground.

Xu Kai said cautiously, “That… the injury…”

“No problem.”

“Uh… We have medicine to treat the wound.” Xu Kai knew the girl’s indifferent temperament so he didn’t mind.

“No need.”

Xu Kai, “…”

When Shen Qingjia regained consciousness, the sky was already dark and there was the whirring of the wind in his ears.

“Have you woken up? You’ve been sleeping for almost an hour.” Zhu Ai noticed the change in her breathing rhythm.

Shen Qingjia rubbed his eyes, “An hour? According to the routine of the movie script, shouldn’t I be in a coma for two days and three nights and then only wake up after the expedition ended?”

So childish!

Zhu Ai burst into laughter and said, “Since you were unconscious, I asked Xu Kai to go ahead. Now that you are awake, we should hurry.”

Only then did Shen Qingjia realise that she was sitting on her own mount – the back of Heise and her upper body was leaning against Zhu Ai’s arms. There was a reassuring smell on Zhu Ai’s body, Shen Qingjia couldn’t tell what kind of smell it was, she just felt that she wanted to sleep in her arms and never wake up again.

Shen Qingjia blushed, thinking that she must have bled too much after being injured and her mind was muddled.

Speaking of injuries… Shen Qingjia raised her left hand, only to find that her arm, which was almost broken in two, is now intact, don’t mention the wound, not even a little blood can be seen. The skin on her arm and wrist was smoother and delicate than snow. There is no trace of the hideous appearance from being blown up by the thunderbolt in the previous memory.

“Huh …… Where’s the injury I received earlier?”

Based on the arm’s injury that was almost completely broken in two, the bleeding probably wouldn’t stop in an hour, right? So what’s …… going on here……?

“Injury? Where is it?” Zhu Ai patted Shen Qingjia’s head and said worriedly, “Did the lightning ball hit your head?”

She seemed to be worried about Shen Qingjia, but there was laughter in her eyes.

“Oh I see! You now know how to tease people!”

Grit her teeth, Shen Qingjia uses her claws [2] against Zhu Ai. But how could she win against the Greatest Villain? She got recaptured in her arms. “Don’t move, it’s dangerous.”

Shen Qingjia was quiet for a moment, then hugged Zhu Ai and said coquettishly, “No matter how dangerous it is, I know Zhu Ai can hug me.”

Zhu Ai’s hands clenched tightly, “Don’t try to work as hard as this time in the future, you must know that manpower will eventually be insufficient. This time… This time I almost thought I couldn’t make it in time.”

The sky was as dark as ink, and the shapes of the distant mountains were faintly silhouetted in the night. Zhu Ai felt that the dark, unlit future that weighs heavily on his heart is just like the night. The enemy in the shadows was approaching and it was almost impossible to breathe.

“Yes, yes, Zhu Ai is nagging like a wife!” [3]

A blush flashed on Zhu Ai’s cheeks, she turned her head to look at the horizon, “You are talking nonsense again.”

At this stage, the ability cannot heal wounds so quickly without leaving any traces. Probably… it’s really an illusion… Shen Qingjia thought so.

Of course, the matter of the disappearing wound that she couldn’t find an explanation was quickly put aside by Shen Qingjia. She just thought she was imagining things from confusion when in a life and death situation.

“Anyway, why are Xu Kai and the others in such a hurry? It’s obviously not suitable to travel at night.”

“Let me ask you a question: Is the mutant animal that can drive away a mutant animal that can command level 2 peaks a strong one?”

“Strong!”

“Next question: Hope base loses more than half of their manpower. Both physical strength and abilities are severely depleted. Why didn’t the strong mutant animal take the opportunity to wipe us out?”

“Because it has more important things to do than killing us!”

“Last one: Our purpose is to kill it, what could be more important than its life?”

“There are only two possibilities. One is that its strength is so strong that it can completely ignore us. The second is that it’s in a state where it can’t wipe us out… The second possibility is the greatest, so Xu Kai was in a hurry to find out if the mutant animal was really injured?”

“Children can be taught.” Zhu Ai touched Shen Qingjia’s head.

“You, don’t treat me like a child!” Shen Qingjia said angrily.

Suddenly remembering something, Shen Qingjia took out the crystal core of the giant worm leader from the bag and handed it to Zhu Ai, “The explosion was too powerful, I almost thought I couldn’t get it.”

Zhu Ai glanced at the light purple crystal core in Shen Qingjia’s palm, “For me?”

Shen Qingjia nodded, “Maybe it can make you reach level 4.”

Zhu Ai was silent for a while, before she took the crystal core, “I know my situation, the crystal core below level 4 can’t let me break through, let’s just use this on you.”

“Is that so…” Shen Qingjia lowered her head in disappointment.

She refined the energy in the crystal core into a ball of light and handed it to Shen Qingjia. After she completely absorbed the light ball, Zhu Ai found her body became hot, and her aura became sharper. It became more intense and boundless, until finally… [4]

Shen Qingjia straightened her back and smiled softly, her hair fluttering in the strong wind, “Zhu Ai, I’ll show you a fireworks show.”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“I’m not Zhu Ai the genius, of course I am happy with this!” Shen Qingjia smiled, suddenly feeling a little disappointed, “Even though my strength is increasing, I still feel unsure about the future… Zhu Ai, tell me… Do you think the two of us can be together forever?” [6]

Forever, this is a word that is too distant and illusory, and Shen Qingjia, who has changed her future a lot, is not entirely sure where the future is going now.

Zhu Ai took Shen Qingjia’s hand and intertwined her fingers, “Of course.”

Those contradictions about whether to let Shen Qingjia live happily under her protection or to accept the trials and tribulations of growth, those worries about enemies hidden in the shadows, those guesses about the intentions of Xu Kai and others and ways to deal with them …… Zhu Ai is holding Shen Qingjia’s hand at the moment and doesn’t want to worry about anything anymore.

Translator’s note :

[1] This is the same Palm Thunder from chapter 18

[2] Yes it really said claw. The thing with Chinese novels is that sometimes there will be euphemisms so sometimes the author will use ‘paw’, ‘claw’ or something like that. I think it is cute so I did not change it.

[3] 祝哀都要变成管家婆了; this is saying housekeeper but when I check this is like ‘someone who become domestic after marriage’ so… wife?

[4] 等她完全吸收完光团后，祝哀敏锐的发现她的身体变得炙热起来，气势一瞬间炙烈锋利，这股气势越来越浓烈磅礴，终于……;  honestly I found this confusing. I means, the ‘Zhu Ai found her body became hot’ here should be SQ but Zhu Ai currently hugging SQ so think about it, it does make sense. But yeah, just a note in case you are also found this hard to read at first like me.

[5] 仕女; probably looks like this

[6] Yes, 300% yes!

So well, my translation is still stolen but hey, they did not remove my notes this time…which still makes me unhappy. Anyway, I now use images combined with text. Don’t blame me, I have to do this. Anyway please comment if the font isn’t big enough or if the colour is uncomfortable to read. I just want to make those thieving sites suffer, not fellow readers like me.