Chapter 43#

The Naive Apocalypse Celestial Master#

Lu Heng sat on a tree branch, gazing through the gaps in the branches at a sky made as clear as water by the bright moon. At the celebration banquet that evening, Lu Heng had gotten his wish and tasted every kind of canned field ration. Besides luncheon meat, there were actually canned braised pork and pork meatballs; though the taste certainly couldn’t compare to freshly cooked food, to his current body it tasted so good he nearly swallowed his tongue.

As a result, Lu Heng had eaten too much. While wandering around to aid digestion, he came upon this old tree that looked to be several hundred years old. As it happened, he was also a little tired, so Lu Heng leaped onto a branch and found a spot to rest for a while. Just as he was growing drowsy, voices came from beneath the tree.

“A Mu, what’s going on with you and Xiao Le? I didn’t want to meddle in your private affairs, but today it affected the entire team, so I can’t just ignore it.” It was Qin Yi and Mu Fei.

Lu Heng struggled internally. Eavesdropping on others wasn’t good, but this might let him gather more information related to Jiang Sile. While he was conflicted, Mu Fei spoke.

“Xiao Le has never liked me looking after Rongxi. I explained the reason to him, and he barely accepted it at first. But for some reason, more than two months ago, his hostility toward Rongxi suddenly deepened again.”

“And what’s the story with this Pan Rongxi? When you first brought him into the team, you only said he was your junior schoolmate. I can see you’re quite invested in him.” Qin Yi frowned. When it came to awakening Pan Rongxi’s ability, Mu Fei could be said to have done everything he could; whenever there was a suitable crystal core, he would give it to him at the first opportunity.

“Rongxi is really too pitiful. His father is a drunkard. When he was little, his mother couldn’t stand the domestic abuse and ran away, leaving him alone to face that drunkard of a father, getting beaten up for no reason at all. Even so, he still worked hard on his own and got a full scholarship all the way through graduate school,” Mu Fei said. “He and I were under the same advisor. After I learned all that, I couldn’t help but look after him a bit more.”

Qin Yi knew in his heart that Mu Fei was just that kind of hopelessly good-natured person, always loving to take care of others since childhood. But back when Mu Fei looked after the bullied kids in the compound, Jiang Sile had never seemed this averse to it.

“But even if you do look after Pan Rongxi a bit more, Xiao Le’s reaction is a little excessive. It’s not like he’s your wife—why is he sticking his nose into your friendships?” Qin Yi said.

“……”

Mu Fei was silent for a moment. Just as he seemed to have made up his mind and was about to say something, Qin Yi interrupted him again.

“Sigh, I was talking nonsense. Don’t take it to heart. You’re both men—what wife or not wife! Go back first and call Xiao Le over.”

Mu Fei swallowed the words that had reached his lips and turned to leave.

Lu Heng now had no intention of making a sound. He shrank further into the dense leaves and restrained his breathing. This Qin Yi was probably a straight-as-an-arrow guy who hadn’t caught the unspoken meaning in Mu Fei’s words.

Lu Heng, already bent as a mosquito coil, had caught it: Mu Fei and Jiang Sile were a couple. Combined with the rough information on the reborn person he had seen before, the interloper was probably Pan Rongxi. Judging from Mu Fei’s words, Jiang Sile’s rebirth must have occurred about two months ago.

Comparing it with the time the spirit source was stolen, Jiang Sile’s suspicion increased a few more degrees. It seemed he would have to find an opportunity to test him.

While Lu Heng’s thoughts turned, voices drifted up from below again.

“Brother Yi, what did you want to see me about?”

“Regarding today’s matter, according to team rules, you’re docked one thousand contribution points and demoted three levels,” Qin Yi said.

“But we got the supplies smoothly, didn’t we? I admit I did wrong, but Brother Yi, your punishment is too heavy…” Jiang Sile became anxious.

The one thousand contribution points were nothing much, but a three-level demotion was a very serious matter. After being demoted three levels, it meant that for a long time to come, Jiang Sile would not be allocated high-level crystal cores of level five or above. He wasn’t a combatant; relying on himself to kill zombies was simply impossible. And high-level crystal cores were too important to him now.

Qin Yi swept a glance at him, and Jiang Sile fell silent.

“The result of getting the supplies and the mistake you made are two different matters. Have you ever thought about how serious the consequences of your impulsive behavior today would have been if Yun Lan hadn’t joined us halfway? Even if we had safely withdrawn before the explosion, the zombies drawn by the sound would still have caused unnecessary casualties to the team. No one should have to pay with their life for your impulsiveness and willfulness.” Since they were childhood friends, Qin Yi still patiently explained a few more things.

Seeing Qin Yi’s firm attitude and stern expression, Jiang Sile had no choice but to accept his punishment.

“What conflict do you have with Pan Rongxi?” After finishing official business, Qin Yi asked again in the role of childhood friend.

“He…” At the mention of Pan Rongxi, Jiang Sile was filled with fury, but when it came to actually explaining, he had no reason. After all, the current Pan Rongxi’s attitude was extremely friendly; even when provoked for no reason, he yielded to Jiang Sile and never bore a grudge.

“I just can’t stand him.” After a long while, Jiang Sile squeezed out a sentence.

“Xiao Le, you’re not a child anymore. For the sake of your own preferences, you’ve affected your more than ten years of feelings with Mu Fei, and today you even affected the safety of the whole team.” Qin Yi sighed somewhat helplessly. “You should grow up. Mu Fei has always taken care of you; it’s normal for you to rely on him like an older brother. But he’s also an independent person with his own friends. He can’t just revolve around you alone.”

“No, Mu Fei and I…” Before he finished speaking, Jiang Sile realized he couldn’t let Qin Yi know about his relationship with Mu Fei.

Seeing that Jiang Sile couldn’t come up with a proper explanation after a long while, Qin Yi told him to go back and think it over. He also warned him that if he disobeyed orders again and made this kind of mistake that put the whole team in danger, he would stay at the base doing logistics work.

After Jiang Sile left, Qin Yi sat down with his back against the tree, feeling somewhat weary. What kind of mess were these domestic trivialities? Back when he led a special forces squad in the army, if comrades had conflicts, they’d settle it with their fists; after the fight, they’d be good brothers again.

Suddenly, Qin Yi sensed something foreign coming at him from above. He leaped up abruptly and reached out to block it. A red strip-like object bounced off his palm and fell to the ground. That was… a ham sausage?

Qin Yi reflexively looked up. What met his gaze was that baby-faced young man draped in fragmented moonlight, his amber eyes even clearer than the sky overhead.

Lu Heng looked at the ham sausage on the ground and felt somewhat annoyed. He had clearly eaten himself stuffed at dinner—why had he still casually stuffed a ham sausage into his clothes? Now he had been caught red-handed eavesdropping.

The scene was a little awkward.

“What are you doing up in the tree?” Qin Yi didn’t ask anything else, only smiled at Lu Heng.

“Sleeping,” Lu Heng instantly thought of a perfect excuse.

“…” Qin Yi probably hadn’t expected anyone to have such a peculiar hobby, but when it came to Lu Heng, it didn’t seem too strange.

“You’d better go back to camp to sleep. Sleeping on this branch must be quite uncomfortable.” Qin Yi thought for a moment, then added a bargaining chip. “I have a new down mat stashed away, soft and warm. You made a great contribution today, so consider this a personal reward from me.”

Deep into the night. At the edge of the camp, the two people on night watch chatted idly, trying to drive away drowsiness. But for some reason tonight, sleepiness swept over them, and the two had no strength to resist their eyelids’ love for each other. In the end, they fell into a deep sleep.

Lu Heng walked out from the side, holding a crushed pill in his hand. He casually rubbed the pill into powder and scattered it on the ground. The yellow powder immediately merged with the soil, leaving no trace distinguishable.

Lu Heng slipped into the tent where Jiang Sile was. The several people inside had all inhaled the sleeping pill Lu Heng had just crushed and fallen into a half-comatose sleep. Even if someone beat gongs and drums by their ears, they would not wake.

Jiang Sile was sleeping near the entrance. Lu Heng pulled out the object hanging inside the red string around his neck. It was a jade tablet. The tablet looked unremarkable, but that was normal. This jade tablet was merely a medium for entering a mustard-seed space; it didn’t require any special material, at most it had been tempered to be incomparably sturdy and hard to shatter.

Lu Heng tried to send a thread of spiritual energy into the jade tablet. He wanted to confirm whether the tablet used simple blood-binding ownership or soul-binding ownership. If the former, removing the ownership state wouldn’t take much effort; if the latter, things would be troublesome.

With soul binding, unless the owner willingly allowed it, no one could take out what was inside. Even if the jade tablet’s owner was killed, the mustard-seed space would be destroyed along with them.

The spiritual energy had just touched the jade tablet and hadn’t yet penetrated deeper, when Jiang Sile’s eyes suddenly flew open. His eyes actually radiated a blood-red light in the darkness. Without a word, Jiang Sile reached out to grab Lu Heng, cold light flashing from his five fingers. In that instant, his fingernails grew several inches, like five daggers, striking at Lu Heng’s chest.

Lu Heng reacted extremely quickly. The wooden sword on his back instantly fell into his palm. Lu Heng held the wooden sword horizontally in front of his chest to block. A huge force directly pushed him out of the tent. In order not to harm the sleeping people in the camp, Lu Heng led Jiang Sile out of the village.

Although Lu Heng was fast, the person behind him was even faster. Just as he left the village, Lu Heng felt wind coming at the back of his head. He tilted his head and dodged to the side along the movement. The sharp claws barely grazed his cheek, cutting a few strands of hair.

A demon. Unlike those demonic humans infected by demonic qi, this was a demon from the demonic creature plane, pure in bloodline. How could there be a demon on Jiang Sile? The passage between this world and the demonic creature plane had been sealed for tens of millions of years. Although it had recently been damaged, causing demonic qi to spill everywhere, it should still be more than enough to prevent demons from sneaking through.

After several exchanges, Lu Heng noticed this demon showed signs of weakness. If it were a demon of normal strength, Lu Heng wouldn’t last a few moves under it. Because even though Lu Heng was powerful, the gap between a low-level plane and a high-level plane was like a chasm—impossible to cross.

Even so, Lu Heng fell into a bitter fight. The demon was already not weak, and Lu Heng was somewhat constrained, afraid that he might accidentally kill Jiang Sile’s body and cause the mustard-seed space to be destroyed along with it.

After several rounds, the demon finally caught a flaw in Lu Heng. The sharp claws were about to land on the spot behind Lu Heng’s heart.

At the critical moment, a sliver of dawn appeared on the horizon. Day had broken. The demon’s figure stiffened, and Lu Heng barely dodged. The demon did not chase further; it turned and ran back toward the camp.

When Lu Heng returned to camp, everyone was still asleep. He entered Jiang Sile’s tent and took a look, finding that he had returned to his ordinary appearance. But Lu Heng didn’t dare touch the jade tablet again, afraid of releasing the demon once more.

……

Lu Heng sat in the back seat of the car. Past Qin Yi in the middle, he secretly observed Jiang Sile, who was dozing against the window, from the corner of his eye. He seemed perfectly normal, with no demonic qi on him, not like someone possessed by a demon. Where had that demon come from? Lu Heng glanced at the position of the jade tablet and had a guess in his heart.

As he pondered, Lu Heng suddenly felt something stuffed into his palm. He looked down and saw it was a small packet of biscuits.

“Are you hungry? You’ve been looking around the whole time,” Qin Yi said.

“No.” It hadn’t been long since lunch—how could he be hungry? His stomach wasn’t a bottomless pit. Lu Heng felt a little helpless. Why was this person always seizing every chance to stuff food into his hands?

“It’s fine, eat it. Stick with me and you won’t go hungry.” Qin Yi took Lu Heng’s response as shyness.

Lu Heng had no choice but to open the package and put a piece in his mouth. Mm, so delicious!

Immersed in the delicious food, all the tense muscles in Lu Heng’s body relaxed. Just then, the driver in front slammed on the brakes. Lu Heng pitched forward. If Qin Yi beside him hadn’t promptly put out a hand to stop him, he would definitely have smashed his nose on the seat in front.

“What happened?” Lu Heng heard Qin Yi ask.

“For some unknown reason, a large number of zombies have gathered ahead,” the driver said after putting down the walkie-talkie.

Qin Yi closed his eyes and spread out his spiritual power. Ever since he learned the energy-circulation method Lu Heng had taught him, he had become even more adept at controlling this spiritual power.

“They’re all ordinary zombies. Let the newcomers practice on them.”

Lu Heng opened the car door and was about to get out, but Qin Yi stopped him with a hand: “What are you going for?”

“Newcomer.” Lu Heng pointed at himself.

“All right, you’re even a bit stronger than me. These ordinary zombies move slowly; they’re too weak for you. Just go down and take a look, get familiar with the team.”

Lu Heng climbed onto the roof of the car and found a spot with an excellent view.

Jiang Sile also got out of the car. “Brother Yi, I’ll go practice a bit.”

Qin Yi nodded. Jiang Sile did need some tempering. But previously he had always found zombies disgusting and been unwilling to get too close. Jiang Sile was a spatial ability user; as a logistics member, Qin Yi hadn’t demanded too much of him.

This time he brought it up himself, so Qin Yi also assumed that after this incident, he had gained some drive to improve. Mu Fei, however, was not quite at ease. He hurriedly got down from the front passenger seat and followed Jiang Sile to the front.

The battle was indeed nothing worth watching. Ordinary zombies were already stiff-limbed and slow-moving; in Lu Heng’s eyes, their movements were even slower than a snail’s crawl. After a few glances, Lu Heng found it boring and simply sat cross-legged on the car roof to cultivate. Seeing this, Qin Yi also climbed onto the roof and sat together with Lu Heng, closing his eyes and circulating his energy.

Before long, the zombies gathered ahead were all cleared out. Just then, Pan Rongxi ran over with an anxious face: “Captain Qin, something’s wrong.”

“What is it?” Qin Yi flipped over and leaped down from the car roof.

“Jiang Sile chased after a level-two zombie and ran off. I couldn’t stop him. Mu Fei also ran off to find him!”

That Jiang Sile, what kind of fool is he acting now? Qin Yi cursed inwardly.

There was still some distance to the small base ahead. If they traveled at full speed, they would only just make it before dark. This mission wasn’t considered dangerous, and they had brought some newcomers along. If they camped outside, it would be quite risky.

Qin Yi thought for a moment and called Yu Shan over: “Take the team and hurry to R Base. I’ll go find Jiang Sile and Mu Fei.”

Yu Shan obeyed and led the team away. Lu Heng voluntarily asked to stay behind. He didn’t want Jiang Sile to die in some accident.

Qin Yi had no objection whatsoever to Lu Heng’s request.

The two headed in the direction Pan Rongxi had indicated, rushing off.