Dear, Time to Take Your Medicine!

Candice inadvertently noticed the expression on Qin Chu's face and was immediately mortified. "Hero... please don't get the wrong idea..."

"Lord Horus has helped me a great deal. I only wanted to thank him, that's all. There is absolutely, absolutely no other meaning. Please don't misunderstand." Candice waved her little hands wildly in front of herself as she explained.

Qin Chu nodded incessantly. Mm-hm, understood, understood. After all, you and Horus had only met once. There couldn't possibly be that much love at first sight in this world.

"Don't worry. I'll personally deliver it to him. After all, he and I are very familiar with each other."

He put the box into his storage ring, then, right in front of Candice, rubbed his face with both hands and adjusted his expression. His original solemnity gradually turned into a look of complaint and irritation.

Once he was done, Qin Chu called out loudly, "Charles..."

"Hero, what are your orders..." The adjutant quickly walked in.

The moment Charles saw Maritis face-planting onto the counter, his forehead filled with black lines.

He had forgotten about the captain's alcohol tolerance...

Judging by the Hero's current appearance, with that face full of complaint and annoyance, he clearly had not enjoyed himself. He had merely come over for a drink to relax, but she had collapsed after one cup. How was he supposed to enjoy himself now?

Adjutant Charles immediately broke out in a cold sweat, his face turning pale. "Hero, this..."

Qin Chu impatiently waved a hand. "Forget it. Take Maritis back. I should head home as well."

Charles relaxed slightly. Although the Hero was in a bad mood, he had not taken it out on them. He immediately arranged for several brothers to carry Maritis home, while he and the others escorted the Hero back to the manor.

Along the way, Qin Chu casually chatted with Charles and the others, but inwardly, he was pondering how to make Ekaterina fall completely.

According to Saya, the genuine version required seven bottles of Love That Topples Cities potion. The enhanced version was more potent, so perhaps the progress would be a little faster.

Ekaterina was definitely a woman with exceptionally strong willpower. Yet after merely two bottles, she was already on the verge of losing control, her will and dignity nearly worn away.

At this rate, perhaps another three or four bottles would be enough.

Tap, tap...

The sound of footsteps clearly entered his ears.

Suddenly, he sensed that something was wrong. The surroundings were far too quiet. Aside from his own footsteps, there was not the slightest sound. Even the voices of the soldiers who had just been talking to him had vanished.

Qin Chu abruptly stopped and looked around. Charles and the dozens of soldiers had clearly been speaking with him just moments ago, yet in the instant he lost focus, they had disappeared without a trace...

As the Hero's guards, Charles could not possibly have left on his own.

Qin Chu's expression gradually grew grave. He knew that he had likely entered some kind of dangerous and peculiar domain, but he did not panic.

The sky was dim and gray.

It was not the darkness of midnight. The entire world seemed shrouded in a gray mist, and even the two crescent moons overhead were obscured.

The pedestrians and carriages on the street had all vanished, just like the guards beside him. The shops along the road had also lost their dazzling lights, leaving only a lifeless gloom. The air was thick with oppression. He sniffed faintly and caught the scent of something scorched.

"Saya?"

There was no response!

This bizarre domain had even temporarily severed the connection between Qin Chu and Saya. Such a thing had never happened before.

Gradually, the temperature around him seemed to rise, waves of heat surging through the air.

He looked into the distance. On the dim street, there were no footsteps, no breathing, no heartbeats. Apart from the burnt smell, he could not even sense the aura of a single living person.

Suddenly, something like a feather drifted down from the sky.

It landed on Qin Chu's forehead.

He reached up and wiped it away, only to find a gray-black mark on his fingertip. He rubbed it between two fingers... it was ash left behind after burning.

He raised his head to the sky. Countless ashes drifted down from above like feathers. In a short time, the ground had already been covered in a thick layer, while the increasingly high temperature distorted the air.

Suddenly, he saw a figure standing at the end of the street.

The figure wore a form-fitting suit of female armor and held a spear over two meters long. Black chains coiled around her arms, legs, and waist. Half of her body was swallowed by shadow, making it impossible for Qin Chu to see her face clearly.

It seemed this was the existence that had created this mysterious domain!

Qin Chu was just about to walk over and ask why this person had trapped him here when the figure at the end of the street slowly spread her arms.

The next instant...

Buzz...

Scorching flames instantly surged from her arms. With the light of the blazing fire, Qin Chu finally saw that face clearly.

What kind of face was that? Pale as snow, utterly bloodless.

There was not the slightest trace of life on her narrow face... Her body seemed as hard as stone...

Her slender, petite body was covered in cracked armor. From the tip of her spear hung a tattered banner stained red with blood. Flames wrapped around it, and the banner turned to ash in the inferno.

Her slender yet rounded legs supported that thin body as it fought and slaughtered.

Her brilliant golden hair fluttered amid the flames, while her sapphire-blue eyes were hollow and dim!

Qin Chu could not help taking a step back.

He recognized that figure, that face.

Th-this was the statue at the intersection of Antia Long Street!

But now, the statue had come alive!

Flames had already spread across her entire body.

Qin Chu shuddered as he looked at the figure within the roaring blaze.

Her power, the aura radiating from her body, was absolutely no weaker than Ekaterina's!

While thinking of a way to escape, Qin Chu gave a small bow and wore a gentlemanly smile. "May I ask if you are Miss Antia?"

"May I know why you have sought me out?"

Qin Chu received no answer.

Right before his eyes, the girl wrapped in fire serpents suddenly transformed into an arc of flame.

Qin Chu's expression changed slightly as he tried to dodge, only to discover in shock that his body seemed suppressed by some mysterious force and could not move. The next instant, accompanied by a scorching wave of heat, the blazing arc of fire appeared before him.

Amid the swirling flames, the girl's fair and pretty face flickered in and out of view.

"Light can bring life... You awakened me...

You carry... the Seed of Life..."

The first chapter had three thousand words. Please vote with your monthly tickets. Many thanks to Jiuchi Xingheluo for the reward, and thank you all for your support.

Today, I lined up for a nucleic acid test. There was a confirmed case in a neighboring residential area... This guy visited three foot massage parlors in three days... and had quite a few close contacts. How depressing. I hope the city does not get locked down. I barely went out during the National Day holiday.

The Seed of Life (Three Thousand Words, Please Vote with Monthly Tickets and Continue

Reading)

Her voice was crisp, yet hollow. Not even the slightest emotion could be sensed within it.

The girl's small fingers touched Qin Chu's cheek. Though flames wreathed her body, her fingertips were exceptionally cold.

Her icy fingers slid down his cheek, over his neck, chest, and lower abdomen...

She seemed to be searching for something on Qin Chu's body. Her cold fingertips swept past his navel, and Qin Chu's body trembled slightly.

What exactly did Antia mean? Why had she said that he carried the Seed of Life?

The raging flames brought terrifying heat. Fire had even wrapped around Qin Chu's body, yet it did not harm him. His throat moved as he tried to ask what she intended to do.

But the moment he lowered his head, he met Antia's eyes. In an instant, Qin Chu's entire body shook violently. Deep within those hollow sapphire eyes, he saw pain, despair, and madness...

Strange scenes flickered rapidly before his eyes.

A towering palace... Was this the imperial palace of the Orwell Empire?

The girl wore battered armor, her petite body kneeling on one knee. Before her stood a fat man wearing a crown. The fat on his face squeezed his eyes nearly shut, making them almost impossible to see.

Yet through those narrow slits, one could glimpse his greed and wariness toward the petite girl below.

The magnificent palace overflowed with praise for the girl, but those flattering words brought her no joy. They only irritated her, because the enemy had not been completely defeated. They were still seeking an opportunity to strike back.

She wanted even more to be on the battlefield, defending the peace of the Orwell Empire.

The fat man commended the girl's achievements and conferred upon her the title of Valkyrie, Protector of the Nation.

His bloated body shifted laboriously upon the throne, searching for a posture that was far from elegant but made him comfortable. His entire body sprawled over the throne like a massive lump of flesh.

He asked the girl whether she was willing to become his queen...

The girl answered, "With the nation's grievances yet unavenged, how could I speak of home?"

The surrounding nobles gathered around the girl and praised her noble character. None of them noticed that the bloated figure upon the throne was releasing venomous resentment and fury through his gaze.

The king's authority could not be challenged.

A noble so adored by the other nobles was an enemy of royal power.

From the moment the girl refused to become queen, she had been marked for death.

They held a grand banquet for her. The king personally offered her a drink, and the girl had no idea that the cup already contained a slow-acting but deadly poison.

They could do nothing about the savage enemies trampling their land, but they were remarkably skilled at dealing with their own people.

Don't drink it, don't drink it, don't drink it...

Qin Chu roared inwardly, as though he were seeing his former self.

He wanted to stop the girl from drinking that cup of wine, but this was merely a memory he was witnessing. No matter how Qin Chu roared, he could change nothing.

He could only watch helplessly as the girl drank the poisoned wine. Then, she fell ill.

Her body weakened. She could no longer lift her spear, no longer lead armies into battle and slaughter...

Her condition grew worse and worse. She was brought into the imperial palace to receive the finest treatment, but those physicians and priests had long since been bribed. The potions the girl drank, just like those Qin Chu had experienced before, were all filled with slow-acting poison.

Once the girl no longer had the strength to resist, they dressed her in the armor she had worn while fighting on the battlefield and brought her the spear that had pierced through an unknown number of enemies...

They bound the girl with chains and burned her with flames.

It hurt so much!

Why were they doing this to her?

As they watched the girl's petite body struggle desperately in the flames, excited smiles appeared on their faces.

They wanted to watch this girl die miserably in the form she had been proudest of.

They forged a suicide note and told the girl's family that she had left on her own because she did not want them to see her in such a miserable and disheveled state. She had gone to find a place without people and quietly wait for death.

They held a grand funeral for the girl. At the funeral, they wept bitterly and lamented the fall of a pillar of the empire.

They named a street after the girl.

They turned the girl's remains into a statue. Mysterious and intricate incantations were carved inside the stone sculpture, transforming it into a prison. The girl's soul was trapped within it for all eternity, standing in the middle of the street named after her... They wanted the girl to see with her own eyes that even without her, the empire would endure for ten thousand generations.

Betrayal seemed to be a tradition.

"You're crying? Why?"

The petite girl stood quietly before Qin Chu. Her expression was innocent. Since she was rather short, she had to tilt her head up to see Qin Chu's face.

On that face, she saw traces of tears.

As the girl drew closer to Qin Chu, she seemed less dull than before. Her hollow eyes had gained a faint glimmer of liveliness, as though she had regained a slight ability to think.

Haa...

They were kindred spirits!

Qin Chu let out a long breath, a gentle smile appearing on his face. He reached out and wanted to pat the girl's head, but his palm passed through her body without encountering any resistance.

So she really was a ghost.

"It's nothing. It's just... you and I are the same..."

We were both equally pitiful.

"What do you want from me?"

"The Seed of Life?"

"Not the Seed of Life. It is the Seed of Light. Light brought life, so you possess the Seed of Life as well."