Chapter 449 - - ’Don’t come looking for me.

Chapter 449: Chapter 446 - ’Don’t come looking for me.Lucia looked at the scene in surprise; she hadn’t expected such a relationship between the two men.

Fengchang wielded near-absolute power in this realm. If he threatened her with the Fourth Tribe and commanded her to die, even she couldn’t resist.

If she hadn’t secretly hoped that Fengchang would meet with an accident and die within these fifteen days, she wouldn’t now possess any desire to fight. As long as Fengchang was alive, he would definitely be the ultimate winner, a fact acknowledged by all the tribe elders. Her tricks were powerless before him.

She had heard that the clan leader of the First Tribe, Fengchang Zeven, had a biological younger sister named Qianqian Zeven, but this Qianqian, reportedly, had long been exiled for fraternizing with an evil god... So it was this girl?

If this Qianqian had not been exiled for her belief in the evil god... she would probably now be the head of the prestigious Zeven family of the First Tribe, existing like a princess.

Instead of being here like a flickering flame about to be extinguished, looked down upon by any Guide.

"Qianqian," Fengchang said coldly as he looked at her, "don’t show yourself before me again."

Xiber remained silent.

The next moment, a white light of teleportation burst forth, and they returned to their original location.

The pitch-black night sky loomed before Su Ming’an, and the forest remained quiet.

Xiber stood silently beside him, like a flame on the verge of going out.

"Are you very afraid of that Fengchang?" Su Ming’an observed the silver star pattern on his arm.

The pattern was silver, resembling the scales of a snake, designed as a star with five curved lines, like a wrought iron flower enclosed.

Xiber remained silent.

"...Am I very useless?" she suddenly said. "My brother wields an ability called ’Annihilation’; his blade can cut through anything in front of him. And I... I can only provide you with some useless clues, my eyes can’t even see the content of the instance clearly..."

"I’m really useless, aren’t I?" Xiber said. "The reason you had to attack so many times just now was also because I’m so useless. If I had even a bit of a way to boost your abilities, you wouldn’t have had to expend so much energy. In the future, no matter what happens, no matter the situation in battle, I can only watch; I only have the right to be an observer, I can’t change anything..."

"Stop it," Su Ming’an lowered his arm and glanced at her.

She still kept her head low, and from the moment she had seen Fengchang, her timorous posture hadn’t altered.

Her arm was still raised high, holding a Soul Stone that dispelled the night mist, revealing a section of her arm filled with scars and burns.

Her skin wasn’t smooth or delicate but marred by vicious wounds, some healed, some not, and others still bloody. These marks stitched her together like a torn rag doll, forcibly tearing her skin from every angle–not a trace of the dignity expected of the daughter of the First Tribe.

...All because of the "Jiu Shen."

...All because of her faith different from others.

The aberrant should be ostracized, the different should be assimilated. In this kind of tribe, her faith was an innate error.

Thus, she should be forsaken, exiled, live like despised trash, and lose her life with the ticking bomb of a curse.

"If only your matched Guide was my brother. Even the third-ranked Dian Si, the fourth-ranked Migael... they are much stronger than me. You are the strongest adventurer; you deserve the strongest Guide, not someone like me infused with Jiu Shen’s essence, causing you to be shunned by other Guides as well," Xiber said. "If it were my brother..."

"Do you hate Fengchang a lot?"

"No," Xiber paused, "My brother is... the best, the most formidable; he is the hope of our tribe. I don’t have the right to hate him."

"Even if he tells you to die, to kill yourself, to never appear before him again?" Su Ming’an said. "Even with differences in faith, do you think that is something a real brother should say?"

"..." Xiber kept her head down.

A moment later, she spoke, her voice a bit hoarse: "That’s also because he cares about me."

Su Ming’an slightly frowned.

"If it wasn’t for his concern, telling me to stay away, my essence of Jiu Shen would certainly attract more and more Guides. Also, when he spoke to me just now, he was likely letting others know I am his sister, so..." her voice suddenly carried a comforting smile, as if she was consoling herself, "he was probably protecting me."

Having heard her words, Su Ming’an suddenly realized,

The girl, who had always been extremely fierce and had the temperament of a wild wolf, started acting odd after she met her brother, Fengchang, who was related by blood.

She suddenly became overly sensitive, self-conscious, and self-destructive. She treated Fengchang’s words like they were from a deity, defending his image even when she knew something was wrong.

Before, despite having gone through so much, her expression barely changed. Now, merely scolded by her so-called "brother," she had suddenly transformed.

The place he held in her heart was so high, it made her feel insignificant.

Perhaps influenced by some childhood experiences, she admired her brother to the extent that it was almost pathological.

"I don’t think he is showing concern for you," Su Ming’an said to her, "Even the most basic discipline shouldn’t be like this. He... he commands you in the tone of a master, telling you to do what he wants to see."

And saying these things in front of everyone isn’t to make Lucia respect you, but to display his authority and let others know—

he is a just king, who can sacrifice his kin for righteousness, unbound by familial ties.

Such a person, even if you are his real sister, he could order your death in the name of what he calls faith."

"Your desires, your thoughts, your admiration for him, none of it matters," Su Ming’an said. "If it weren’t for me being your match, you might have died on the first night.

—You would be dead, Xiber, and then there would be nothing left.

You need to see yourself, you are alive, you are someone who can still think for yourself.

You... should not die for anyone, no one deserves that."

He saw her lift her head.

The transparent firelight of the Soul Stone shone on her face, the faint luminescence now seeming bright.

...That was the light reflecting off the liquid on her face.

"What should I do then?" she choked out. "I’ve never, ever had a way."

He saw the tears streaming down her face.

Strip away her protective shield, expose her scars, pierce through her concealing words, shatter her self-deceptive thoughts.

When someone truly has nothing left behind them, the light before her eyes becomes her only dependable support.

That was Su Ming’an’s purpose in saying these things.

He did not genuinely feel sympathy or pity for Xiber. She wasn’t his kin, just a Guide he had worked with for fifteen days. He was acutely aware of what he needed in a world of top-tier competition, where he was under considerable pressure and had no time to pity others.

Xiber was far, too far from his world, the time they spent together too short, and she couldn’t slightly connect with his heart like Sherrod and Gerald did.

Everything she had shown, all the ideas and principles she expressed, failed to move him.

"Come back with me," Su Ming’an said. "We’ve figured out the rough situation of the minor instance, considering the dangers of night, we will continue during the day. I will ensure you survive, you will have a way out."

Xiber’s hand trembled.

The firelight from the Soul Stone flickered slightly, her figure looking small among the dark trees.

"Adventurer, Su Ming’an," she suddenly called out his name.

She looked at him, her eyes gleaming with a flickering fire.

In that moment, the timidity in her eyes seemed to fade away, revealing a trace of coldness.

"...remember what you’re saying now," she said.

"..." Su Ming’an sensed a hint of abnormality.

But at that moment,

a white shadow suddenly broke through the bushes and appeared. Its swaggering manner was somewhat reminiscent of an invader strolling into a village.

Su Ming’an immediately closed the live stream, turned his head, and saw a fluffy white rabbit.

In the darkness of night, the creature’s form resembled Sadako, which was a good thing he was somewhat prepared psychologically.

"How about it?" The rabbit approached him, its chubby face breaking into a smile: "The questions I posed weren’t bad, right?"

"Some questions were really terrible," he said.

"Okay, I’ll try harder next time." Shadow scratched his head, his pale arms noodling about: "After all, my ability to interfere is quite limited; I can only select questions from the question bank, not create my own. Otherwise, I would just ask ’Is Edward a big fool?’ Wouldn’t that be simpler?"

Su Ming’an glanced at Shadow’s patrol progress, now at 9.8 percent. Shadow should be able to cover the ground within fifteen days, and he wasn’t worried about it.

"If you move on from here for about half an hour, you’ll see a large instance," Shadow said. "It’s near the Third Tribe, and many players are gathering there. You can try going there tomorrow. Also..."

Shadow leaned closer to him and whispered, "While patrolling, I heard someone is setting a trap for you; be careful."

"Got it." Su Ming’an let Shadow continue to patrol and turned to leave himself.

Being the Number One Player, in such a world purely of competition, amounted to a crown that anyone could snatch away.

These people... were they finally starting to make their move?

He returned to the initial house.

The log cabin was small, but only such a sealed structure could prevent the invasion of the nighttime black mist.

Walking up the stone steps, Su Ming’an picked up the key that had been lying there since he woke up.

The key was made of iron and looked dull and lusterless; he had asked Xiber, but she did not know who it belonged to.

He pocketed the key, sat down inside the wooden house, leaning against the wall.

"Good night," he said and closed his eyes.

Xiber glanced at him.

After a moment’s silence, she went to sleep in the bed.

The night in Qiongdi was eerie yet quiet.

Only dark shadows flickered within the darkness; the little wooden house slept silently, as if it had sunk into a deep black silence.

Su Ming’an had a dream.

He couldn’t remember the specifics of the dream nor what he saw, but upon waking, he vaguely remembered a familiar voice speaking a few sentences.

He opened his eyes.

He saw a wooden house in daylight, coated with a layer of golden light.

The sunlight touched the old green stains on the cover board, moved over the fireplace piled with dust, and gently made its way to his eyes.

He touched the cold walls, stood up from the floor, and looked toward the bed—

It was empty.

A note lay on the bed, and he picked it up to see a few lines of neat handwriting.

He put away the note, opened the door.

He suddenly saw a young woman in her twenties, wearing glasses and carrying a basket on her back, walking toward him. Her braided hair swayed slightly as she approached.

Her basket was filled with sweet potatoes and potatoes. Her destination seemed to be this small wooden house.

Upon seeing Su Ming’an emerging from Xiber’s room, her initially calm expression turned utterly terrified.

"You, you..." She pointed at Su Ming’an, her eyes nearly popping out.

"You stranger, why are you coming out of Cici’s room?" She seemed to realize something, then gasped in shock: "You, you spent the night with Cici?"

Su Ming’an: "..."

Before he could speak, the young woman suddenly understood: "You must be her adventurer, right? That’s right... the war has already started..."

She placed the basket full of food at the doorway of the small house, her expression somewhat sorrowful.

"My surname is Fang, and I am the teacher responsible for educating the children of the First Tribe." She smiled at Su Ming’an, her braids swaying slightly: "Cici’s temperament has probably caused you a lot of trouble. I apologize, but I still have to ask you to look after her. I only hope that she can have some good days in these last few days..."

Speaking thus, she directly found a little wooden stool to sit on and began peeling the potatoes, apparently intending to make lunch here.

Su Ming’an now understood how the food in Xiber’s room came to be.

Watching Teacher Fang, whose smile could not hide her weariness, he suddenly realized that even in this land of Qiongdi, there were people who genuinely liked Xiber and could quietly deliver food to her consistently, even though she was in exile.

Even Fang believed she was going to die.