...
When Shen Tang woke up, she was already back ho.
She looked at the familiar setup of the bedroom in front of her, yet felt an unreal sensation.
A sharp pain in her mind, fragnted mories surged back like a tide.
Late night... agreent... volcano... Earth Core... assassination... farewell with an arrow...
Was she dragged back from the gates of hell, or was it just a nightmare?
"Tangtang, you’re awake, that’s great!"
Xiao Jin sat by the bed, his eyes bloodshot, seemingly having not slept for several nights.
He wanted to embrace her excitedly yet feared it might discomfort her, so he just held her hand tightly and anxiously asked, "How do you feel now? Is there any discomfort? How long was I gone and you ended up like this, almost losing your life, what on earth happened?"
Jia Lan brought over a bowl of dicinal soup and scolded, "You silly leopard, why are you so anxious? Tangtang has just woken up, how can she answer so many questions."
With that, he turned to Shen Tang, exhibiting an unusual gentleness on his cold and delicate face, "Drink the dicine first."
Lu Xiao sat by the bed, touched her forehead, and whispered, "Female Master, tell us if there’s any discomfort."
Xue Yinzhou held her in his arms, filled with guilt and self-bla, "Sorry, it was my dereliction of duty, I couldn’t protect you."
After receiving the ssage from Lu Xiao, he, like Xiao Jin, rushed back from afar.
Unexpectedly, in the days he was away, such an incident happened.
If he had known about the impending accident, he would never have left.
Shen Tang looked numbly at the Beast Husbands who were concerned about her, a sting at her nose, and tears uncontrollably streaming down.
Lu Xiao half-knelt beside the bed, wiped away her tears, and softly comforted, "It’s okay now, everything is over, the best thing is that you ca back safely."
Shen Tang held his arm, choking as she shook her head, "No, there’s still Shen Li, have you seen him? Didn’t he co back with ?"
Lu Xiao and Jia Lan exchanged glances, not knowing what to say.
Finally, Jia Lan spoke up, unwillingly, "Tangtang, when we went, we only found you, Shen Li was not found."
Lu Xiao handed her a letter, "This is the letter Shen Li left that night three days ago. After knowing you disappeared, Prince Jia Lan and I imdiately set out to search..."
He told Shen Tang the entire story, "Initially, we wanted to enter the volcano’s interior to find soone, but encountered a volcanic eruption, so we had to retreat first, apologies."
In the end, even Lu Xiao’s tone couldn’t help but be low; spending so much ti together, they had already regarded Shen Li as family, occasionally getting jealous, bickering, or fighting, but if anyone truly left, they would feel bad too.
The atmosphere on site was indescribably quiet and dead, as if ti had frozen.
Shen Tang held the letter in her hand, grasping it until it wrinkled, her whole body turned cold.
Can anyone survive in an erupting volcano?
Shen Li was a Fire Elent High-level Beastman, but still rely mortal flesh.
Xiao Jin held her hand, cold as ice, "Tangtang..."
He was extrely worried but was at a loss for words on how to comfort, afraid of saying sothing wrong and making her feel worse.
At this point, what good is nice comfort?
No one present was a fool.
Even Lu Xiao remained silent, Shen Tang needed not comfort now, but rather to face facts and calm down.
"...I understand." Shen Tang closed her eyes and asked the system, "Is Shen Li still alive?"
The system responded softly, [The system cannot detect Shen Li’s life signs, and his information on the system interface also shows no further updates, Host... do you want to unbind?]
"..." The system’s words were quite tactful.
Shen Tang only felt her heartache intensifying, her nose stung, and tears fell again. Back then, she could save Xiao Jin, but she couldn’t save Shen Li.
"Do not unbind."
[Okay, Host, there is one more thing to tell you.]
Under usual circumstances, the system would have been excitedly announcing rewards, but now it was influenced by the Host’s sorrowful mood, speaking quietly, [At the mont Shen Li took an arrow for the Host, his affinity broke through to deep love, rewarding the Host accordingly.]
[...Congratulations to the Host for earning a reward, the Superpower Awakening Book. The Host can awaken new superpowers using this item.]
[Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the Magic Puppet Making Skill, by learning this skill, the Host can learn to make puppets, feel free to explore its specific use.]
[Congratulations to the Host for acquiring the Destiny Scissors. This scissors can sever the Host’s ties with anyone, please use it cautiously as once cut, it cannot be restored! Rewards have been distributed into the system pack, please check them yourself!]
These rewards were abundant; under normal circumstances, Shen Tang would have been overjoyed, eagerly researching the use of items. But now, she had no mood for it, her heart ached like stabbed by knives, and her mind was chaotic.
Shen Tang struggled to clear her thoughts, reviewing the whole process before and after, always feeling sothing was odd.
Opening the envelope and seeing Shen Li’s handwritten content only intensified the oddness.
It seed like a thread in her mind was connecting mories, but sothing was still missing that left her unable to find the reason.
...
In the three days that Shen Tang was unconscious, the erupting volcano in Wind Roar City returned to slumber once more.
In dozens of miles around the volcano, wherever covered by lava and volcanic ash, nothing grew, desolate and barren, all living creatures dead.
It would take at least decades to regain vitality.
Once the environnt near the volcano beca safe for normal people to enter, Lu Xiao also led a team into the volcano’s interior to initiate search and rescue operations.
Everyone on-site knew well, after prolonged volcanic eruptions, survival was unlikely, but the missing person was His Majesty the Emperor’s Beast Husband, at least sothing must be found, even remnants would do.
Shen Tang returned to the volcano, holding on to slim hopes, and joined the troops in the search.
She even personally entered the volcano mouth, having Lu Xiao take her to the deepest area.
The volcano bottom, faintly illuminated by the firelight, was full of ruinous rubble.
She moved stone by stone.
Her fingers were cut, swollen, and bleeding from the stones, but she didn’t stop. Shen Tang silently cleared the ruins below according to the rembered route.
Seeing Shen Tang like this, Lu Xiao couldn’t bear to stop her, silently standing by her side, helping to clear the collapsed stones.
Xiao Jin, Jia Lan, Xue Yinzhou, none of them spoke, leading teams to clear the rubble too.
Alas!
Alive, they want to see the person, dead, they want to see the body.
If they could find the body, bury it, it would at least be so solace.
But after digging for three days and nights, nothing was found.
Engulfed by the high-temperature lava, nothing was left.
Destined for the bones to leave no trace.
"Look here, there seems to be a path underneath!" Soone in the troop shouted.
How could there be a passage under the volcano?
Lu Xiao and the others also paused their work, went over to check. In the collapsed debris, there indeed seed to be a faintly visible passage!
Shen Tang commanded, "Keep digging!"
The Beastn dug harder, moving stones.
After another half-day of digging, they finally cleared the ruins near the passage.
It was the entrance to an underground secret realm.
Shen Tang ordered the troops to camp outside, bringing Lu Xiao and others into the passage.
The passage was also filled with much debris, Xiao Jin and others cleaned it while walking and spent another half-day before finally finding a secret chamber.
This secret chamber, not knowing what kind of stone was used to build it, remained intact although everything else outside had turned to ruins.
The altar from mory was still there, but the Earth Core was nowhere to be seen!
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