The moment Ye Chenyang stepped into car ten, someone slammed straight into his arms.
Jiang Mian leaned against his chest and raised her head, her nose twitching slightly as though confirming something.
Mm... It was still that familiar scent,
just tinged with the aura of some unknown Calamity, giving it a slightly different edge. By the looks of it, he'd just been through a fierce battle.
Ye Chenyang reached out and gently stroked the back of her head, his voice soft.
"What's wrong, Mian Mian? Are you feeling down?"
He knew Jiang Mian well. She was always reserved around others, and wouldn't act so impulsively unless something unusual had happened.
Besides, there was someone else here.
Ye Chenyang looked up toward the other side of the car.
Shen Qiuyu stood frozen in place. When their eyes met, she raised a hand and gave him a somewhat awkward greeting.
Ye Chenyang merely nodded politely in reply.
"Brother Ye, look at this! It's broken!"
Jiang Mian held up her hand. Where her bracelet had been, only a solitary red cord remained.
Then she briefly recounted what had happened, leaving out the part where she'd torn the Soul Eater apart and absorbed it.
"A fifth-tier Soul Eater?"
Ye Chenyang looked at Jiang Mian. She was unharmed and, after absorbing a fifth-tier being, seemed unusually energetic.
If she really were only a Second-tier Eye of the Storm, their souls would have been devoured long ago, and their bodies taken over.
But Jiang Mian wasn't.
It was only because of that Decaying Shadow's attack that the bracelet's protective mechanism had activated automatically, causing it to break.
Ye Chenyang had given her the bracelet in the first place to protect her,
but it also held special meaning as the first gift he'd ever given Jiang Mian.