"Don't worry, he paid the price." (4)
Lin Yan Ming turned his head to look at Shi An who was back to sitting and asked, "Don't you want to talk about it?"
Shi An was a little confused, "Talk about what?"
Lin Yan Ming walked over and sat down next to him: "Why did that person suddenly look for you to apologize?"
Shi An, "Oh, that."
He recalled carefully and said, "He cornered me once before in the school, as if he wanted to threaten to make me quit?"
Lin Yan Ming: "?!"
He was taken aback and couldn't help but raise his voice an octave, "What happened?"
Shi An flashed him a smile, his fair face was still youthful and looked well behaved, "Don't worry, he paid the price."
Just this small bag of supplies and he was already forgiven? Wasn't this too cheap?!
Lin Yan Ming could not control the expression of heartache forming on his face. Poor little thing, why are you so gullible! He took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Don't worry, in the future, with me around, I won't let others bully you anymore!" Lin Yan Ming's eyes shone with a strong maternal glow.
The insect curling up in Shi An's sleeve: "……"
Heh, human, you really are too naive.
Creatures like dragons were narrow-minded, petty and vindictive, but also unreasonably strong. There's only them bullying other people and magical creatures, never themselves being bullied!
Whereas Shi An ……
He wore an angelic shell, but was a demon in the core.
The insect would never believe he would let himself suffer even if it was beaten to death. After Lin Yan Ming drifted back into dreamland, the insect quietly crawled out from Shi An's sleeve. It curiously glanced at the backpack, "Lord Dragon …… what did that human offer to you?"
Shi An propped up his chin in boredom and unzipped his backpack with one hand, "Well …… bread, jerky, canned food, drinking water一but no chips or jelly ……"
Insect: "……"
Because no one would trade points for that kind of snack. Period.
Shi An's hand felt the bottom of the backpack. Only the sound of a slight rip was heard, and the bottom of the backpack was ripped in a corner. Immediately after, Shi An pulled out his hand, and in his palm was an inconspicuous little gray paper bag, "Oh, and this."
Insect: "???"
It crawled into the bag and sniffed, then the human face on its head displayed a shocked expression: "This- this should be a spice to attract high-level magical creatures. This guy is trying to entrap you!"
Shi An brightened up, "Really?"
Insect: "????"
Sorry what?
Shi An said, "Even if I don't release the magic field, those magical creatures instinctively did not want to approach me ……"
He sighed somberly, "You see, I can't even be a bait!"
Insect: "……"
I think you're just craving for those two days of free food and drink!
Shi An cheered up. "But this time with this, we should be able to find the Gray Crow nest!"
The insect was silent. Fuck.
You are really fucking gunning for this!
Suddenly, the earth trembled violently for a moment without prior signs. Lin Yan Ming was shaken awake from the vibrations and he jumped up in shock, "What's going on?"
Shi An was stunned. He turned his head and looked in the direction of the scorched earth area. The edges of the dark night lit up with a strange crimson color, like an eerie eye quietly looking down below. It was as if the ground scorched by fire seemed to be slowly undulating, bulging, as if it had life, and emitted a strange, ominous feeling.
*
The third round of the practical combat test required a long time, usually taking up more than a week. Since Mu Heng usually had important business to handle, he didn’t attend the evaluation very often. He basically only showed up on the first day, and then he was called away again on official business.
Recently, there had been a significant increase in the traces of abyssal species in the city, indicating that an abyssal rift had opened up nearby. The people from the Magical Creature Bureau had already searched the entire city, but there was still no trace of the said rift.
During this time, Zhuo Fu's research on the sword also stalled. It remained silent for a long time, and did not move no matter how many experiments and tests were conducted on it. It was almost indistinguishable from an ordinary dead object. Zhuo Fu even mentioned once to Mu Heng implicitly, hoping he could rest more and give himself a break.
一Maybe he was too tired and hallucinated.
Mu Heng sat in front of the table, his eyes scanning over the thick stack of reports on the table.
It's not that he didn't need to rest. But if a crack was not closed in time, and the abyssal rift absorbed too much magic, it would continue to invade the surface world. If the situation continued to worsen, a small abyss may be created on the surface. If that kind of thing really happened, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Mu Heng moved the paper with his fingers, slowly turning it over, his focused gaze falling on every area that had been patrolled. Which places hadn't been searched?
Or ……
There was a location with reasonably compliant magical power fluctuation somewhere, thus masking the anomaly? Mu Heng was stunned and jerked his head up. The report clattered and slid down from his fingertips, scattering all over the desk.
He grabbed his coat from the back of his chair and put it on, walking out of the office with quick strides.
Wen Yao stood up, "Sir?"
Mu Heng: "Contact the Ability Academy, immediately."
*.
Shi An slowly tilted his head and took a deep whiff of the air.
A cold, dark, and highly toxic scent was spreading silently from afar.
So comforting, so familiar, so ……powerful.
He opened his eyes, the scarlet vertical pupils flickered under his long eyelashes, and a layer of smooth dragon scales faded in and out on his cheeks.
It was the smell of the abyss.
