Chapter 459: Chapter 335: All That Trouble for Nothing_2
"Oh, still alive. What about Mike and Doctor Du?"
"They’re all here."
"Sigh, I wasted so much time searching. Where did you all go, got lost? Why did you come over just now."
"Everyone’s physically weak."
Doctor Du, Huang Zaijiang, and Mike gradually emerged from the passage. All three had injuries, with Huang Zaijiang faring the worst. He already had one unusable arm, and now he limped out with a lame leg.
Mike had no major injuries, but dozens of minor ones. Doctor Du had a bandage wrapped around her forehead, stained with a patch of blood. Her face looked quite unwell, pale and sallow.
Both Doctor Du and Wang Le had been marked by dark handprints, yet only Wang Le had come out to lure me into joining their camp. Initially, I found it strange, but seeing Doctor Du this way, as if she’d experienced a severe illness, perhaps she had used some extreme measures to shake off the Evil Spirit’s control.
"The core?" Mike asked, noticing the large open hole above, and quickly walked over, looking up.
"Taken away."
"Who?" Mike demanded sharply.
"A group of people, quite formidable. I couldn’t fend them off myself. Among them were capable individuals who took the light orb away."
"Damn it!" Mike spat, spinning in place and cursing.
"Did you see Wang Le?" Huang Zaijiang’s concern for his friend was clear.
"Up above, passed out, but nothing serious."
Hindered by his injuries, Huang Zaijiang couldn’t move quickly, so Chen Qinghan rigged a rope system. He and Mike went up first, then pulled the injured up one by one.
Mike was already exhausted, and after getting Miss Tang up, he collapsed from fatigue. Chen Qinghan called me to go up and help.
The first thing Huang Zaijiang did upon reaching the top was check on Wang Le. He only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming Wang Le was merely unconscious.
The city’s buildings had transformed, and the group found a relatively sturdy-looking house nearby to rest.
Even without the Evil Spirit, there were fierce beasts and strange insects around. Resting out in the open was still very dangerous.
They were too exhausted to move, and once inside, they closed their eyes to rest, even skipping meals.
I stood guard at the door, keeping track of the time for them. After a full ten hours of sleep, they began to wake up one by one.
During those ten hours, I could do many things, like quietly leaving while Chen Qinghan stood guard, as I went looking for Ou Chen.
He was still in the same building we had met in. I informed him that the core had been taken, and once again Bi Shi shouldered the blame.
Of course, I wasn’t wronging her. It was her people who took the light orb, and she was specifically after the core.
I expected Ou Chen to be disappointed or even furious upon hearing this, but he wasn’t. He calmly said "Good," leaving me suddenly unsure if he genuinely wanted to destroy the core.
"Are you coming with us? Don’t worry, others don’t need to know you’re an ancient person. You can say you’re a survivor."
"No, now that there’s a result, I should go find Wuyong."
"Alright then, but I have quite a few questions I’d like to ask you sometime. When would be convenient to talk? I’m staying in the two-story house with the pointed roof south of the city center."
"The Ancient City is about to disappear, in no more than 12 hours. Once you’ve recovered, you should leave as soon as possible. I know you have many questions, but none of them matter now. I’m tired. Finally, I can rest."
"Oh, then rest well."
I came with a belly full of questions and left with them unanswered. It’s not about the core, but more about my curiosity about Ou Chen’s identity.
He says he’s not an ancient city native, yet can live for thousands of years. Who exactly is he?
After speaking with him, I returned to the small building. Chen Qinghan was not as taciturn as Ou Chen and recounted their experience after entering the underground passage, including how they found Miss Tang and her father and engaged in a fierce battle against the Evil Spirit.
I mentioned how Gu and I went to the ’power room’ without the Evil Spirit hindering us, realizing it was because they had caused chaos in the core area, and the city’s puppets had moved to deal with them.
Of course, he also mentioned they could hold on for so long because someone was helping them.
Wang Le saw two groups fighting in his vision, but it wasn’t an illusion. It truly happened, indicating a betrayal among the puppets according to the Evil Spirit.
I don’t doubt this since Ou Chen also bears a dark handprint, though he strives to help us destroy the core.
Chen Qinghan said some things couldn’t be overheard by others and told me these matters were unknown to Mike and the others, as it was the traitor in the shadows who informed him.
