In Long Xuanye's field of vision, a new screen lit up.
[New choice detected. Please choose, Host.] [Choice One: Accept the girl's ring and use Instantaneous Movement Steps to leave alone. Reward: Mysterious Tier Secret Skill Startled Swan Shadow Sweep.] [Choice Two: Save the girl before you and drive off the wolves. Reward: Innate Inner Spiritual Power +1, Internal Spiritual Power Awakening.]
Long Xuanye's breath caught for a moment.
The final point of Innate Inner Spiritual Power!
It also meant these magical beasts were terrifyingly powerful!
He froze. A few seconds ago, his first reaction had been to save her. Now...
He kind of wanted to run.
He couldn't exactly risk his own life, could he?
But...
Long Xuanye still stood in front of the girl, rooted to the spot.
He knew that choosing the second option meant nine chances out of ten that he'd die.
But he didn't want to leave.
Long Xuanye had thought he would immediately choose to accept the ring and leave.
Yet his movements stiffened.
He looked at the little beggar before him, who was desperately trying to push him away, her eyes full of worry.
He hadn't recognized her as Saint Cai'er, a character he'd liked quite a bit in his previous life.
He only felt that he'd encountered another version of himself.
Another unlucky soul abandoned by family, struggling alone in a desperate situation.
Why should she have to endure this?
Long Xingyu's cold face flashed through his mind.
The humiliation and rage of being abandoned, of being hunted down, had been suppressed deep within him, with nowhere to vent.
Long Xuanye was furious.
He resented Long Xingyu, and even more, he resented the family that had abandoned this little girl here!
He'd had no choice in how miserable his life was.
But now, he had a choice.
I'd been caught in the rain, so I didn't want anyone else to get soaked.
Surviving alone in the forest for the past half month had already left his heart steeped in endless agitation and murderous intent.
He couldn't go beat Long Xingyu to a pulp right now.
But these beasts, and this little girl who'd also been abandoned by her family...
He wanted to save her!
Besides, that reward...
One hundred points of Innate Inner Spiritual Power!
Once awakened, just how terrifying would her potential be?
He knew better than anyone what cataclysm this world would face in the future. Long Haochen would make a pact with Haoyue, the God of Heavenly Punishment. What if the flapping of his own butterfly wings caused some unforeseen change, and Haoyue really did bring about the world's destruction...
Without absolute strength, he was doomed to die sooner or later!
But...
"Whew."
After breathing out, Long Xuanye's expression settled into calm, tinged with indifference.
He looked at the little beggar in his arms as if she were already dead.
Reason was like a cold rope, restraining his boiling blood.
There were dozens of demon wolves, and several of them were Third Tier!
His External Spirit Power was barely approaching that of a Third Tier Knight, and his Inner Spiritual Power had yet to awaken. What could he possibly fight them with?
This wasn't bravery. It was suicide.
People who courted death.
Always died.
Long Xuanye slowly raised his hand.
His bony, dust-covered fingers, stained with dark red blood, reached toward the old-fashioned ring Saint Cai'er was offering him.
He would take it.
Then he would survive.
Long Xuanye's gaze gradually firmed.
He hadn't yet taken revenge on that bastard Long Xingyu. He'd finally made it to another world, where great power could be his alone.
I can't die yet!
Far away, in the shadows beneath the dense forest canopy, a figure in white stood soundlessly.
A trace of approval showed in Lin Guanyi's eyes.
This boy's fighting style and will were just like those of a born knight.
But a knight's virtue shouldn't be foolish self-sacrifice.
In a hopeless situation, knowing when to abandon a burden and preserve one's strength was the right choice—a... cruel kind of right.
Sacrifice was the easiest thing. It meant nothing more than going to one's death.
The difficult part was making that sacrifice worthwhile.
This boy had potential and a kind heart. Most precious of all, he had a powerful mind that could quickly regain its composure in a life-or-death moment.
He was a promising talent.
And yet, just as Long Xuanye's fingertips were about to touch the ring...
The light in Saint Cai'er's eyes went out.
The faint glow of hope and warmth that had just been kindled sank into endless darkness.
So she was going to be abandoned after all.
She knew this was the most rational choice. It was what she had hoped for, too.
It seemed that was what her parents had said as well.
"Cai'er, there's nothing we can do.
"This is your responsibility..."
But why... did it hurt so much?
A thousand, ten thousand times more than having a magical beast's claws tear through her flesh.
Warm tears slid uncontrollably from her hollow gray eyes.
But the next moment, she didn't feel the ring being taken away as she'd expected.
Instead, a warm hand gently pushed the "Forget-Me-Not" ring back onto the base of her finger.
Saint Cai'er froze.
She raised her small face, streaked with tears and dust, and looked at him in confusion.
Long Xuanye met her gaze.
"The ring isn't something you can just accept."
"It's something you give when you propose."
As his words fell, Long Xuanye slowly straightened and shielded the petite Saint Cai'er behind him. He held the bloodied Short Blade horizontally in front of his chest.
His gaze settled calmly on the dozens of pairs of glowing green eyes.
No one knew what storm had just raged through Long Xuanye's mind in that brief moment.
He admitted it: from the start, he'd planned to accept the ring and leave.
As if.
That was the final point of Innate Inner Spiritual Power, and there was also that mysterious "awakening" ceremony. The system's second option had to be insanely difficult.
Choosing it meant death.
But... a doubt crossed his mind.
Why?
Why would an option that seemed as simple as "run away" reward him with a Mysterious Tier Secret Skill?
The last time the system had rewarded him with a secret skill was after he had fought a second-tier Shadow Leopard in a battle to the death!
And that skill hadn't been labeled Mysterious Tier. The odds were high that this one belonged to the highest grade.
The heavens didn't hand out free meals.
And this system certainly wasn't running a charity.
So this richly rewarded "escape route" had to carry enormous risks of its own!
Accepting the ring and leaving would bring trouble of its own.
The only possible source of that trouble was the girl's unfathomable background.
A girl abandoned by her family, yet secretly watched over and protected by a powerful figure...
A name flashed through Long Xuanye's mind like lightning.
Saint Cai'er!
The Reincarnation Saintess, Saint Cai'er!
If she really was that Saint Cai'er, then the White-robed figure watching from the shadows wouldn't truly stand by and let her die!
Which meant the so-called nine-in-ten chance of death before him wasn't real at all!
As long as he chose to stay and protect her, the White-robed figure would never sit by and let the wolves tear him to pieces!
The rewards of +1 Innate Inner Spiritual Power and awakening were practically being handed to him for free!
Of course, it was still a gamble.
If he guessed right, he'd soar to the top in a single leap.
If he guessed wrong...
What if she wasn't Saint Cai'er? What if the White-robed figure had only been passing by and had already left?
Then the wolves would chew him up until not even a scrap of bone remained.
As thoughts surged through Long Xuanye's mind, his gaze grew increasingly crazed.
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