Part 2
But there were still people among the common folk who made offerings to Xieshen, thinking they could be the special one. Small Xieshen didn’t even bother to pretend, but larger Xieshen that had been nurtured for a long time gained intelligence. To eat more souls, they would still put on a bit of an act.
But no matter how well they pretended, after ten years at most, the Xieshen would come to collect its price.
Furthermore, Xieshen had no integrity. When absorbing souls, they didn’t care who was a believer and who wasn’t; they ate everyone they saw.
Some Xieshen hadn’t developed intelligence and were mentally chaotic, acting only on instinct. Their understanding was: you summoned me and said you’d give me a price, so what’s the difference between collecting it now and later?
There were plenty of cases where followers summoned an Xieshen, and the first thing it did upon appearing was eat everyone present.
Summoning an Xieshen was a gambleāonce you placed the bet, you were destined to lose.
Which of these two had a screw loose to actually summon an Xieshen? Did they think that since they couldn’t escape anyway, they might as well drag a few Awakeners down with them?
The middle-aged man, however, had a face of wild joy: “Scared now, aren’t you! It’s too late! Lord Xieshen is about to descend! When that time comes, you will be the sacrifices delivered to him!”
Cheng Yunshao retracted his previous thought. It seemed these two didn’t have those brains after all.
Did they really think the Xieshen would come out to “uphold justice” for them?
“Retreat first.”
He was concise in the team voice chat: “An Xieshen is at least Grade 5. We can’t beat it.”
Luo Shizhen immediately pressed the emergency contact: “I’ve notified the accompanying teachers.”
This time, the others were stunned.
They all knew they couldn’t win and that retreating was the right move, but subconsciously, none of them had thought of asking the teachers for help.
It was like in the world of wild beastsāif one beast couldn’t beat another, it would either grit its teeth and continue to fight for its life or turn its head and leave, but it wouldn’t go ask another large beast for help.
That was something only humans did.
But what Luo Shizhen did was indeed correct. A Grade 5 Anomaly wasn’t something they, as students who had just awakened, could handle. It was only normal to leave it to the teachers.
Everyoneās faces remained calm, but in their hearts, they felt a strange sensation, as if they had only just realized they were humans.
Although Luo Shizhen felt it was a bit of a pity about the fried prawns, since an Xieshen was about to descend, it was definitely better to run away now.
Luo Shizhen’s trust in his teachers was just that simple.
He was even carrying Wen Hu when he took out the detector to check: “It should be Grade 6.”
Then he earnestly followed the procedure, filled out the report, and quickly submitted it to the school.
The Awakener regulations stated that if one encountered a powerful opponent they couldn’t beat and couldn’t escape from, they should transmit as much information about the opponent as possible.
This was done so that Yongzhou could send rescue based on the situation, and even if they sacrificed themselves, they would leave more information for future colleagues.
Luo Shizhen wasn’t good at much else, but when it came to following regulations, he was absolutely the first. Having seriously written down what he saw, the last bit of tension in his heart vanished.
He even thought to himself: This person really dares to make a wish.
The highest grade currently announced for Awakeners was Grade 9. This Xieshen itself was only Grade 6āhow could it possibly help him become the strongest Awakener?
The Xieshen obviously knew it couldn’t do it.
A follower made a wish, but it couldn’t fulfill it?
What then?
It lowered its eyes and smiled, as if a god were pitying the world.
The slightly raised wooden lips, however, suddenly opened wide in an instant, like a snake’s bloody maw, and swallowed the middle-aged man in one bite.
Right, if it ate the follower, wouldn’t it no longer have to worry about not fulfilling his wish?
It surveyed the others in the cavern, the half-kindness and half-greed on its face gradually transforming into total greed.
First, it looked at the young manāsmelled of bugs, not very interested.
Then it looked at the other Awakenersāall young men with vigorous vital energy. These looked much more delicious.
The Xieshen happened to be heavily injured and was in need of high-quality nourishment. As soon as it felt the follower’s summons, it hadn’t delayed for a second before coming.
It smiled, its expression unchanging, but its head slowly rotated 180 degrees as it observed, giving off an Uncanny Valley sense of discomfort.
It first looked at Cheng Yunshao, who was closest. Not much meat, but the scent was fragrant. Not bad.
Then it looked at Qin Yinian. Eating him would probably be very spicy, but also not bad.
It continued to look at Lu Qiujin. This scent was even better. The more a heart was filled with dark thoughts of hatred and anger, the more it liked it.
Three consecutive food items of high qualityāthe Xieshen smoothly continued to rotate its head.
When it turned toward Luo Shizhen, who was carrying Wen Hu, it paused.
It slowly turned back, then turned toward him again.
And paused again.
The wooden statue repeated this movement of turning away and turning back several times.
Qin Yinian, who was still staring at it warily: “What? Is its head stuck?”
Lu Qiujin stepped in front of Luo Shizhen, staring intently at the statue, and whispered:
“It seems to be looking at Shizhen.”
Luo Shizhen, upon being named: “Eh? Looking at me?”
He hurriedly took out his tactical mask and put it on.
Then he pulled out a spare mask and slapped it on Wen Huās face: “You cover up too, maybe it’s looking at you.”
The group was tense, all on alert, ready to fight at any moment.
But after this Grade 6 Xieshen repeated the head-turning several times, it actually moved its wooden legs and, with the clack-clack sound of rotating wood, walked back toward the wooden box it had come from.
Whether it was their imagination or not, they felt its pace was much faster than when it had come out, as if it were running away.
The wooden box was large enough to fit an adult, and its height was naturally tall. The Xieshen actually ignored its image and used its two wooden arms to prop itself on the opening, hooked one wooden leg up, and tried to climb back into the box this way.
The group watched with blank expressions.
Wen Hu: “What is it doing? Is it preparing some big ultimate move?”
Cheng Yunshao never let down his guard: “Maybe there’s a weapon in the box.”
Qin Yinian: “Why does it look to me like it’s trying to run?”
Lu Qiujin: “It’s Grade 6, and the highest among us is Grade 2. If anyoneās running, it should be us.”
Luo Shizhen stared at the Xieshen, thinking that the Gu insect’s hallucination must not have been resolved yet.
Because he actually started to think this Xieshen smelled very good again.
Luo Shizhen licked his lips: “Then, are we still fighting?”
Cheng Yunshaoās brain worked rapidly: “Fight! Who knows what scheme it has! Anyway, whatever it wants to do, we just have to stop it!”
Just as they were about to step forward, they saw a piece of the struggling Xieshenās head suddenly sliced off by a sharp blade.
A ripple of spatial fluctuation appeared in the cavern, and several men wearing Guardian combat uniforms stepped in.
A young man holding a device tapped it a few times: “The positioning is correct; it’s here.”
“Ah, it’s underground. Even with heavy injuries, it can still run this well.”
The man in the lead wasn’t wearing tactical goggles. His long golden hair was tied back, his eyes were a deep blue, his features were exquisite, his profile deep, and his skin was so pale it seemed to reflect light in the cavern.
He looked just like a prince depicted in a fairy tale.
However, this “prince’s” hand movements were so fast they left afterimages. In a few moves, he hacked the wooden Xieshen into pieces.
In the process, the Xieshen also counterattacked with incredible speed, either opening its mouth to strike back or shooting poisonous spikes from its hands, but the “prince” avoided them all swiftly.
Cheng Yunshao whispered: “They should be another Guardian team, following this Xieshen here.”
Qin Yinian also said: “It’s a high-grade team, otherwise they wouldn’t have a Space-type.”
With a crack, the Xieshenās head rolled to Luo Shizhenās feet.
It stared with a pair of venomous eyes, meeting Luo Shizhenās gaze.
Luo Shizhen didn’t react, just stared back at it without blinking.
The Xieshen: “…”
Without a body, in this situation, it could still control its head to slowly turn around, facing Luo Shizhen with the back of its head.
This time, even if Luo Shizhen was slow to react, he knew the Xieshen didn’t want to see him.
He didn’t understand and wanted to ask.
A combat boot carrying the scent of battle stepped down, crushing the wooden Xieshen head to pieces.
A corner of the Xieshenās eye was still twitching in struggle, but the owner of the boot leisurely applied pressure with the sole.
“Iāve been hunting you for so long; finally, the case can be closed.”
Amidst the long-haired manās casual tone, the fragments of the Xieshen head were ground into powder.
The real reason it could no longer be resurrected was the black Qiāthe Qi-bodyāthat struggled and floated up from the powder, only to be captured and eventually absorbed into the long-haired man’s body.
Luo Shizhen widened his eyes in amazement. He knew that black Qi represented Anomalies and Pollution.
But the long-haired man was accustomed to it. He slightly lifted his chin and closed his eyes as if digesting this mass of Pollution.
While Luo Shizhen was in a daze, the long-haired man suddenly opened his eyes. Those azure eyes were like the oceanābeautiful, but deep and unfathomable.
“No wonder it was afraid of you. You seem to have something else on you.”
He leaned slightly toward Luo Shizhen, a strand of golden hair brushing against the other’s neck.
He lifted Luo Shizhenās wrist and sniffed it, a look of slight disgust appearing on his face.
“Sui An’s power.”
Luo Shizhen looked at his watch in surprise: “Inside here?”
Sui-laoshi hadn’t told him.
“No, more than that.”
The long-haired man slowly straightened his back, observing this student who was too young and naive for an elder.
“You also have his spiritual body on you.”
As a high-grade Awakener, Sui An’s spiritual body was equivalent to the man himself.
There was no more thorough protection than attaching one’s own spiritual body to another person.
He chuckled, as if mocking that Sui An would actually go to such lengths to protect someone.
His slender, pale fingers lightly pinched Luo Shizhenās cheek. The long-haired man said with a smile:
“It seems you are quite special.”
Luo Shizhen looked at him but only gave a “hehe” laugh:
“We were assigned protective teachers by drawing lots. It’s possible that our team is protected by Sui-laoshi.”
The long-haired man smiled. He could see Luo Shizhenās admiration and longing for Sui An, as if Sui An were truly some kind of respectable person.
It was… quite annoying.
He ruthlessly exposed the truth:
“The spiritual body of a Prosecutor is equivalent to the Prosecutor himself. In other words, every move you make, the Prosecutor can see and hear. It’s equivalent to you being under his constant surveillance.”
“Student, did your Sui-laoshi tell you about this?”
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