Chapter 981: I Want to Bring Him Back

Hidden within the final record of thirty-six thousand experiments was Tanxin’s most heartfelt confession.

It was like a fiery rose hidden beneath a massive iceberg. Only by patiently chipping away at the ice could Hongxiu uncover the final surprise… or rather, his true feelings.

The moment the voice sounded, Hongxiu's eyelashes fluttered gently, and her eyes, still hazy, opened in the darkness.

She had a dream.

She dreamed she was wearing a trench coat, standing amidst ice and snow. A violent explosion, like the sun, surged towards her, yet she pressed a man against a wall...

Then...

Hongxiu turned her head slightly to look beside her. The ‘tongue’ had stopped making sounds. In the deathly silent room, only two lines of clear tears slowly spread across the pillow.

“Was it a dream…?” In Hongxiu’s mind, only the voice that had just echoed in her ears remained.

“No, that’s not right…”

Hongxiu abruptly picked up the ‘tongue’ and rotated it back to its starting position. Moments later, the emotionless voice rang out again:

“I am Tanxin, Deputy Chief Enforcer of the Aurora Domain.”

“To prevent the damage of paper experimental data, I am specially synchronizing and preserving Aurora Lord’s experimental data using this rotten tongue…”

“Experiment number 00001, we will…”

Tanxin.

The moment the name resonated, Hongxiu’s heart trembled slightly.

In her current memory, “Tanxin” was just the boy next door from her childhood. Although they shared some youthful affection, he had died of illness at fifteen… Now, however, his name belonged to the Deputy Chief Enforcer of the Aurora Domain.

And what’s more, she and Tanxin had also…

Hongxiu couldn’t be sure if the voice she had just heard was a dream or reality.

Hongxiu clenched her fists tightly. She tried to speed up the ‘tongue’, hoping to hear the final sentence directly, but this ritual artifact appeared to have no fast-forward function; it could only play from the beginning.

“Damn it…”

Hongxiu took a deep breath, sat ramrod straight on the bed, cast aside all drowsiness, and meticulously listened to the playback.

Time ticked by, second by second.

When the ‘tongue’ recounted the one-thousandth experiment, the sound of an old-fashioned alarm clock rang from the bedside.

Hongxiu's eyes were bloodshot. She glanced at the time, knowing it was time to raid the Rat Syndicate… Instead of turning it off, she used the pendant's cover to block the sound from spreading, then hung it back around her neck.

She got out of bed and stopped in front of the wardrobe.

Under the dim light of the kerosene lamp, an old knight's armor hung neatly on the wall, while a black enforcer's trench coat lay quietly beside it.

Hongxiu's gaze swept over the two garments. After a brief hesitation, she seemed to make a certain decision…

She grabbed the black enforcer’s trench coat and strode out the door.

Chen Ling walked down the steps, one by one, and stopped at the church entrance.

It was currently early morning, about two hours before sunrise, when everyone’s guard was at its lowest… This was the optimal time to launch the raid on the Rat Syndicate.

At the church entrance, many figures were already waiting. Seeing Chen Ling approach, they all turned to look.

Among them, two figures were familiar to Chen Ling.

One was a dark-skinned old man wearing an earth-toned straw hat, and the other was a woman with a trendy blue beret. Chen Ling had seen them at the banquet last time.

The Flame Usurpers’ Thief Saints, Huang He and Lan Yu… they were also the leaders of this Rat Syndicate raid.

It was clear that Chitong placed great importance on this raid, dispatching two Seventh-Rank Thief Saints and having Hongxiu overseeing the operation. They were almost determined to uproot them completely.

Huang He didn't greet Chen Ling; he merely gave him a cold glance and then looked away. Lan Yu, however, scrutinized Chen Ling from head to toe, seemingly curious about him.

“Why isn’t Hongxiu here yet?” Huang He was slightly displeased.

“We can’t just summon her to our beck and call~” Lan Yu, wearing her beret, rolled her eyes. “She’s an Eighth-Rank Asura… she has a very high opinion of herself.”

“Too bad, what does an Eighth-Rank Asura matter? The King has her firmly under control…”

Before Lan Yu finished speaking, Huang He glared at her. The latter, catching sight of Chen Ling still present, snorted coldly and said nothing more.

Just then, a red-haired figure walked straight towards them.

“Oh, you’re finally here.”

Hongxiu approached the group expressionlessly, her gaze briefly sweeping over Chen Ling before settling on Lan Yu and the other person.

“Let’s go,” she said calmly.

The others didn’t notice Hongxiu’s unusual demeanor, but Chen Ling, seeing her bloodshot eyes, felt a slight stirring in his heart.

With everyone assembled, Huang He led the group into the vehicles.

Chen Ling casually found a car and sat down. Since there were more people going out this time, he naturally didn’t need to drive himself. The other ordinary Flame Usurpers, upon seeing him in this car, immediately bypassed it and went to the vehicles behind, as no one dared to sit with him.

After all, Chen Ling’s identity was that of a “World-Ender” calamity, and no one was willing to have close contact with this fellow.

Lan Yu, wearing her beret, glanced in through the car window. Upon seeing Chen Ling inside, her eyebrows slightly arched… Just as she opened the door to get in, a hand pressed down on her shoulder.

Lan Yu frowned, looked back, and saw Hongxiu’s expressionless face.

“What are you doing?” Lan Yu asked irritably.

“He is the person Chitong specifically assigned me to protect. Apart from me, no one else is allowed in this car.”

“What do you mean? Are you suggesting he’d be in danger if I sat with him?”

“My mission is to protect him. I don’t trust anyone but myself.”

“You…”

Lan Yu wanted to retort, but seeing the faint murderous intent in Hongxiu’s eyes, she swallowed her words… After glaring fiercely at her, she turned and walked towards the vehicles behind.

Hongxiu waited for her to walk away, then opened Chen Ling’s car door.

“Why are you opening my door?” Chen Ling, who was sitting in the back seat, was startled.

“Go drive.”

Chen Ling remembered that no one else could sit in this car besides the two of them… The task of driving naturally fell to him.

Reluctantly, he returned to the driver’s seat and started the car. Hongxiu, meanwhile, sat naturally in the passenger seat. Once Huang He and the others’ vehicles began to move, they slowly followed.

The car was quiet. Chen Ling's peripheral vision constantly observed Hongxiu. Thinking of what he had told her earlier today, he decided to test her again.

“Miss Hongxiu…”

“What do you need me to do?” Hongxiu asked calmly.

“…Hm?”

“You said today that what I carry is more important than I currently believe, which implies you must know me… I mean, the person I used to be.”

“You… believe me now?”

Hongxiu didn't answer. She simply clutched the pendant around her neck in silence. After a long pause, her eyes bloodshot, she looked at Chen Ling.

“I seem to have lost a very important person,” Hongxiu said, her voice a little hoarse.

“Now, I want to find him again.”