Nightmare World.
Shen Ye rushed out of the Secret Passage with Xiao Mengyu in his arms.
He put all his Attribute Points back into agility and ran toward the Human Race's military camp at full speed.
As he ran, he shouted:
"Big Skeleton, you scavenge on battlefields. Hurry up and find her a suitable suit of armor, and an identity!"
"I'm not a scavenger-damn it, putting together a full set of equipment is hard! It's nowhere near as easy as you make it sound!" Big Skeleton complained.
Still, he took various pieces of protective gear out of the Ring, one after another.
And so, as Shen Ye ran, he fitted Xiao Mengyu with a faceplate, helmet, leather armor, and arm guards.
The Battlefield Medical Camp was already in sight.
Shen Ye shouted:
"Help her! She's dying!"
In front of the camp, two guards swung their spears across his path and barked:
"Who are you? Whose command are you under?"
"-Show us your identification papers!"
How could Shen Ye possibly have identification papers?
Worried about Xiao Mengyu's injuries, he grew frantic and roared:
"Don't you even recognize me? I'm the Boy Who Survived!"
Both guards jolted, then took a closer look.
"It really is you."
"Quick, take the wounded inside!"
They hurriedly moved the Abatis in front of the camp aside.
Several physicians came over at the news.
"It's me! It's me!" Shen Ye said delightedly.
"It's him! It's him! I treated the hemorrhoids he would have developed twenty years from now," one physician said, puffing out his chest.
"The Boy Who Survived? Why have you come back?" another physician asked.
Shen Ye laid Xiao Mengyu on a hospital bed and said:
"I came across a wounded comrade-quick, treat her."
The physicians all looked over.
The girl wore a suit of knight's armor, and a trace of a sharp, formidable aura lingered around her.
She was indeed a skilled fighter of the Human Race.
"She's badly injured. Healing her as quickly as possible will require some expensive Sacred Runes," one physician assessed.
"Take it! All of you, work together!"
Shen Ye pulled out his money pouch and tossed it straight to him.
The physician hefted the pouch, took several gold coins out with trembling fingers, then handed it back to Shen Ye.
"This will be enough-His Highness the Prince gave you this pouch, didn't he?" the physician asked.
"Huh? How did you know?" Shen Ye asked in surprise.
"Only the Imperial Clan may use the design on this pouch," another physician said.
"Hurry up and treat her. Stop talking. I'm afraid she'll die," Shen Ye urged.
"Ah, right!"
The physicians responded.
They immediately gathered around the bed and began chanting Holy Arts incantations, sending shafts of blazing light down onto Xiao Mengyu.
Shen Ye stood to one side and watched.
Suddenly.
A faint glow appeared in the air, coalescing into lines of small text invisible to everyone else:
"The battlefield changes from moment to moment. As you fell silent, people gradually stopped paying attention to you, and your fame began to fade." "But at this moment, you returned to the battlefield and immediately saved a comrade, carrying her back to camp and even spending your own tuition money just to save her life." "From now on, everyone will speak of your noble character." "Congratulations, you're back in the spotlight." "-Boy Who Survived."
Shen Ye was speechless.
This evaluation tag was far too stubborn. It clung to him like sticky candy.
Forget it.
Let it put me back in the spotlight.
Once the tag fully formed, he could simply sacrifice it for Attribute Points.
A short while later.
The holy light faded away entirely.
The physicians began wiping the sweat from their foreheads.
"How is she?" Shen Ye asked.
"Her body is recovering rapidly. She should wake up in a few minutes," a physician said.
"When she wakes, she'll be back at full strength," another physician said.
Shen Ye let out a breath of relief.
Then something else occurred to him. He abruptly jumped up, rushed forward, scooped Xiao Mengyu into his arms, and ran outside.
He ran so fast that he vanished from everyone's sight in no time.
-No one stopped him.
"She must be his lover," a soldier whispered.
"Obviously. Who else would spend that many gold coins to save someone?" another soldier said.
"You're right. If I had that much gold, I could get myself several wives," a third soldier said.
The physicians, however, were discussing something else.
"His Highness the Prince seems to think highly of him," one physician murmured.
"Eleven gold coins-he's quite generous himself, and it was for a friend," another physician said.
"Exactly. That's why I gave his friend an extra Strength Blessing lasting three hours, as a token of my respect," a third physician said.
"What?" several physicians exclaimed in unison.
"What's wrong?" the physician who had just spoken asked in confusion.
"I gave his friend an Agility Blessing."
"I added a Resonance Blessing."
"Me too. I bestowed a Perception Blessing on her."
"Ah, we all had the same idea. I gave her a Spirit Blessing."
"I gave her one too..."
"So did I..."
After going around the group, the physicians looked at one another.
"Well, that's the full set."
"Come to think of it, only His Highness the Prince seems to enjoy this many blessings in battle."
"Indeed."
"It's rare for our Holy Medical Corps to gather at a major battle like this, and just as rare for us to bestow the full set of blessings-"
"Consider it establishing a deep friendship with this Boy Who Survived ahead of time."
The physicians all talked at once.
In a dense forest.
"Gate!" Shen Ye called in a low voice.
The Gate opened.
Xiao Mengyu's eyes also opened slightly.
Shen Ye stepped through the Gate.
The next instant.
Xiao Mengyu's sword was already at his neck.
They stood in the Hotel corridor, one fuming, the other not daring to move.
"What did you just do to me? Huh? How did my injuries heal?"
Xiao Mengyu asked in astonishment.
"A healing technique. It only works if you're unconscious," Shen Ye said.
Xiao Mengyu moved her body a little. All her injuries felt healed, and she felt reborn, every cell seemingly singing.
Strength.
Strength filled her entire body, almost tangible.
"...I misjudged you."
She apologetically moved her sword away from Shen Ye's neck.
"That guy will be here soon. Can you still fight?" Shen Ye asked.
He suddenly noticed another tag above Xiao Mengyu's head.
After "Great Swordsman," a blurry line of small text gradually grew clear:
"Holy-Blessed One (lasts three hours)."
Holy-Blessed One?
What kind of tag was that?
Had that treatment just given her some special enhancement?
As Shen Ye pondered this, Xiao Mengyu said:
"I've never felt better... I'm going to kill him."
"Remember to find out who's behind this," Shen Ye reminded her.
"I already know," Xiao Mengyu said.
Shen Ye froze.
You hadn't even beaten him yet, and you already knew who was behind this?
He was just about to ask for clarification when triumphant laughter suddenly rang out from the end of the corridor:
"Haha, found you!"
Xiao Mengyu immediately stepped in front of Shen Ye and said uncertainly, "You can't help in this fight-if you don't have any powerful combat techniques, you'd better hide."
She had underestimated him before.
Now, did he have any other hidden combat abilities?
"You're right. In a fight at this level, I need to hide right away!"
Shen Ye, however, seemed to accept her words outright. He immediately pushed open a door beside him and hid inside.
Xiao Mengyu froze.
-So his talent lay in healing?
Fine, she could fight alone.
After all, her current condition had already surpassed her peak-
"Lovely, beautiful girl, were you waiting for me?"
The man appeared at the other end of the corridor.
Xiao Mengyu raised her hand and slashed.
Whoosh-
A gigantic sword silhouette, a full two meters wide and seven meters long, pierced through the corridor, blasted through the wall, and flashed away.
The man had reacted quickly enough, throwing himself toward the floor with all his might, yet the sword energy still grazed him.
He reached up and touched his cheek.
Blood silently seeped from a long, narrow cut.
"Impossible... You were so badly injured..."
The man stared at Xiao Mengyu in disbelief.
"You didn't chase me earlier," Xiao Mengyu said.
"I'm not an idiot-I'd already sensed you had a companion, and he unleashed that burst of monstrous strength, blasting apart half the building to get you out of trouble," the man said with a shrug.
Xiao Mengyu froze.
Him?
He'd blasted apart half the building?
No, that couldn't have been him.
-There was no time to think it through.
"Let's settle this," Xiao Mengyu said.
The man couldn't help laughing.
"To be honest, your resilience and killing intent make you more attractive than that pure little lamb."
"...I can't hold myself back anymore."