Return Journey

The incident happened with startling suddenness.

Lin Xia found himself in an awkward predicament.

Although he realized that Meng Bo was problematic, he could not tell anyone.

After all, it concerned the secret of his own killing.

Yet, if he remained silent, it felt as if a bomb were buried in Lin Xia's heart, ready to detonate at any moment, causing him immense discomfort.

However... so much time had passed.

Lin Xia also realized that Meng Bo did not seem to intend on revealing that he had harmed him.

But Meng Dahai was feeling incredibly smug at this moment.

He first hugged Meng Bo tightly, then draped an arm over his shoulder, showing him off to the crowd.

He attributed all the credit to Meng Bo.

It was as if Lin Xia were merely a lucky bystander who had hitched a ride to victory.

Hearing this, the crowd's gazes darted back and forth between Lin Xia and Meng Bo, quietly waiting for something.

Yet Lin Xia and Meng Bo seemed to have reached a tacit understanding, both choosing to remain silent.

Seeing this, the people assumed Meng Dahai's speculation was the truth.

In an instant, sounds of envy and sycophancy rose repeatedly around Meng Bo.

Meng Bo, however, was indifferent to all of this; his gaze swept over the crowd and found Lin Xia.

When he discovered that Lin Xia was also watching him, he immediately revealed a smile full of hidden meaning.

At this moment, the Healing Awakener arrived.

Xie Feng and Xiao Ya immediately set Lin Xia down to let him receive treatment.

Green light emanated from the Healing Awakener's palms, quickly enveloping Lin Xia.

Lin Xia's wounds began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Seeing that the healing process would take some time, Xie Feng suddenly remembered something and immediately urged the staff to detonate the bombs.

A moment later, the bombs were finally detonated.

Several portals appeared one after another.

Xie Feng counted them and discovered there were only eight.

Excluding Xu Jian, 39 students had come to participate in this Secret Realm trip.

Wu Ziyang and four other students had not managed to enter the Secret Realm in time.

The remaining 34 students had entered the Secret Realm in pairs.

Therefore, not counting Lin Xia and Meng Bo, there should theoretically have been 16 Secret Realm exits.

But now there were only eight...

This meant that at least 16 Awakeners had been killed...

As the students emerged from the portals one after another, some parents immediately rushed forward to embrace their children.

Other parents stood rooted to the spot with ashen faces, for their children had not made it to the end.

Even the surviving students were in a wretched state, their health bars bottomed out.

Zhu Ledong arrived before his precious daughter, Zhu Tingyu, and seeing the scars still bleeding on her body, he was nearly heartbroken.

But even while severely wounded, Zhu Tingyu had not abandoned her partner, bringing the dying Short-haired Girl out with her.

Not only that, Zhu Tingyu dragged her weak body and hurriedly scanned the area; when she saw the figure of Lin Xia being treated, she finally closed her eyes, collapsed into her father's arms, and fell into a coma.

This scene was witnessed by Zhu Ledong.

It is said that when a person is in the greatest danger, they will subconsciously look toward the person they care about most.

Could it be...

Zhu Ledong's brows furrowed tightly as he held his daughter in his arms and then looked toward Lin Xia.

On the other side, Liu Yucheng had come out alone.

Although he was also very weak, no parents came to his side.

At this moment, the scene was in total chaos, with crying sounds dominating the atmosphere.

"Bang--!"

On the outskirts of the field, where no one was paying attention, a rift suddenly tore open.

Wu Ziyang was kicked out as if by a foot, flying out from within and sliding a distance across the ground.

"Cough, cough... The Guardian Hound!"

As the rift healed, he clutched his chest, coughed up bloody phlegm, and said with resentment, "One day, I will definitely defeat you!"

The next moment, Wu Ziyang stood up, enduring the pain.

He didn't want anyone to see him.

So he immediately staggered towards the crowd.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, stopped, glanced at his status panel, confirmed his level had returned to LV1, and then continued on his way.

An hour later.

The injured were gradually treated.

Even so, those who were familiar with each other, like Zhu Tingyu, Lin Xia, and Liu Yucheng, did not greet each other.

After all, many parents who had lost their children were standing nearby...

But Lin Xia felt much more at ease after seeing that Zhu Tingyu was unharmed.

The next moment, Xie Feng canceled the planned Reinforce Card session.

For him, there was now a pile of troublesome matters to attend to.

Such as appeasing the emotions of the parents who had lost their children, and thoroughly investigating the mystery of the Secret Realm being tampered with.

So Xie Feng told the students to go back and rest, and the afternoon classes were canceled. As for the Reinforce Card matter, they would be notified later.

Thus, the parents who had lost their children remained in place.

While the parents of the survivors took their children home.

As for Lin Xia, who had no parents, he could only choose to return to the dormitory.

But fortunately, he was not alone.

Liu Yucheng and Wu Ziyang, whose parents had also not come, accompanied him.

On the return bus, there were only the three of them, and they sat far apart, each looking out the window, not speaking a word the entire way.

Wu Ziyang occasionally glanced at Lin Xia, his mind replaying the incredibly shocking scene of him unleashing the Ki Blast Cannon.

This move actually managed to instantly kill the LV6 Secret Realm leader... It was too incredible.

Also, what was that short person in a combat suit who bound the Secret Realm leader?

Could it be a new card Lin Xia had obtained?

Or was this card, like that pink jelly person, something he had possessed for a long time?

But Wu Ziyang knew that these questions might never be answered.

After all, these were things he had seen in the Otherworld, and he couldn't let anyone know that he had seen them.

So, Wu Ziyang shifted his gaze away from Lin Xia and also looked out the window, recalling the scene of fighting the Shadow Figure.

Compared to Lin Xia, he was more eager to figure out what this Shadow Figure was.

On the other side, Liu Yucheng leaned quietly against the window.

He was thinking, who had tampered with this Secret Realm?

And for what purpose?

Of course, what troubled Liu Yucheng the most was that the things he had done in the Secret Realm to survive were now constantly replaying in his mind.

Liu Yucheng didn't want to recall these things at all, but no matter how he tried to control it, he couldn't stop these memories from flooding in like a tide.

And Lin Xia, sitting in the fourth row from the back, didn't care at all who had tampered with the Secret Realm.

Nor did he feel the joy of obtaining the new card Vegeta and leveling up eight times.

His mind was filled with the image of Meng Bo.

How could someone he had personally killed be standing there alive?

Moreover, what did Meng Bo's meaningful smile at him from across the crowd mean?

"Screech~~!"

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of brakes echoed.

The bus arrived at the school gate, and the three of them got off one after another.