Chapter 35#
Luo Mingshan raised his gun expressionlessly.
The flirtatious smile on the man’s face froze for a moment.
“Bang!”
The moment the gunshot rang out, the man’s wings suddenly spread wide. He leaped into the air with lightning speed, executed a somersault, and finally landed lightly on a rock by the lake on one foot, dodging the attack.
The smile still hung on his face, but the slight stumble under his foot added a touch of awkwardness to him.
He said, “…I don’t think I did anything wrong, did I? Why are you treating me like this?”
Luo Mingshan put away his gun and stood upright to look at him: “Just testing you. You’ve got good moves.”
The man: “…”
The man: “You should be able to sense that there’s an aura on me that shares the same origin as yours, and I bear no ill will toward you at all.”
Luo Mingshan let out a scornful laugh, his eyes full of contempt: “So what? That doesn’t stop me from disliking the way you talk.”
The man: “…”
Wait.
How was this little Earth Spirit different from the one in the video?
In the live broadcast video from yesterday during the day, this little Earth Spirit had been following F101 ever since he appeared. Although he was silent and his movements were ruthless, the man could sense a kind of obedience radiating from the Earth Spirit from the inside out.
He was clearly much more powerful than F101, yet he had almost become F101’s blade. Though he claimed to be a teammate verbally, he always acted according to F101’s requests, almost following orders without question.
He perfectly matched the legendary persona of Earth Spirits as “beautiful, obedient, and innocent.”
—Completely different from how he looked now.
The man slightly restrained the frivolous expression on his face and, with a very gentlemanly gesture, handed Luo Mingshan a black-gold metallic business card: “Hello, let me formally introduce myself. I am Yulis, one of the investors of the show 《F101》.”
Luo Mingshan took his card without saying a word.
Yulis: “Was it you who gave F101 the Blue Divine Light Blessing?”
Luo Mingshan immediately looked up at him, his gaze vigilant and tinged with a hint of ruthlessness.
Yulis sighed: “An underage Earth Spirit daring to casually give someone the Blue Divine Light Blessing… Are you really not afraid of death?”
After a pause of two seconds, he leaned in again, looking extremely curious: “When did you give him the Blue Divine Light Blessing? What state were you in afterward? How did you survive?”
In fact, if it hadn’t been for watching the live broadcast replay on the spacecraft, Luo Mingshan wouldn’t even have known that he had ever given Zhao Xing the Blue Divine Light Blessing.
He didn’t even know that he belonged to the “Blue Star People.”
Luo Mingshan’s past was actually quite simple.
Before the age of five, he had always thought he was an ordinary child growing up little by little under the protection of Brother A’xing.
After the age of six, he learned that he was actually a non-human monster.
And the year between the ages of five and six was a period of chaotic nightmares.
Falsely accusing Zhao Xing of pushing him downstairs was the stupidest decision Luo Mingshan had ever made in his life.
Under his lies, Zhao Xing stayed.
But he ignored him.
On the way as Zhao Xing was being taken by his mother to the “Children’s Education Room,” Luo Mingshan happily approached, wanting to greet him.
Zhao Xing, however, threw a stone at him, his eyes red, his gaze as fierce as a wolf cub’s: “Get lost!”
At first, Luo Mingshan didn’t know why Brother A’xing suddenly stopped talking to him and even threw stones at him.
Until one day, he sneaked to the Children’s Education Room.
Through the crack in the door he had forcibly pried open, he saw Zhao Xing standing straight as a rod, but his voice was tinged with sobs.
“Mom, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have pushed Luo Mingshan down! I know I was wrong!”
“Slap!” The electrified ruler struck Zhao Xing’s palm. Zhao Xing trembled in pain but shouted his vow loudly—
“I am an Earthling. I am a higher life form. I should possess a soul as brilliant as the sun. I should remember the Earth’s mission. I must not harm my fellow humans. I repent.”
It was from that moment that Luo Mingshan finally understood what he had done wrong.
Standing outside the door, tears suddenly streamed down his face in big drops.
His whole body trembled, feeling an unbearable pain—more painful than the gnawing and splitting sensation in his bones in the darkness.
When the electrified ruler descended from the air again, about to strike Zhao Xing’s palm, Luo Mingshan grabbed the door tightly, his mind screaming frantically: Stop! Stop! Stop!
An unknown power burst forth from within him. Then, the lights in the Children’s Education Room, the lights in the corridor, the lights on the entire floor began to go out one by one. Next came the entire building, the entire district, the entire K13 zone.
That day, the entire power system of K13 zone fell into paralysis.
And Luo Mingshan, in the boundless darkness, once again perceived that pain that even made his bones ache.
His entire being sank downward, sinking into the ground, sinking into the unknown darkness, and gradually lost consciousness.
When Luo Mingshan woke up, he found himself in a cave underground.
There was no light here, yet Luo Mingshan couldn’t feel pain.
Because his body was emitting a faint glow.
At the same time, he also acquired a part of his inherited memories.
It turned out that he was not human.
He was merely an unknown monster that grew underground.
Only in complete darkness could he grow and gain power.
Only by obtaining enough power could he leave the underground.
But before he had fully matured, he had been disturbed by a human construction crew.
He was forced to stop growing, turned into a human child, and stumbled into the prison of K13 zone.
It turned out that every time there was a power outage, the pain in his body was a “growth,” as well as a call for him to return to the darkness.
Luo Mingshan tentatively used his power to return to the subsurface and saw Zhao Xing.
He had been “unconscious” for almost a year, and now Zhao Xing was about to leave.
Having gained inherited memories, Luo Mingshan became a bit smarter. Not only did he once again realize what a stupid thing he had done, but he also gained the power to leave this place together with Zhao Xing.
But he didn’t.
Because he had no reason, no standing, and most importantly, Zhao Xing didn’t like him.
He stood in a corner, watching Zhao Xing leave little by little.
He thought hard: What could he give to Brother A’xing?
A voice echoed in his mind—Blessing.
He closed his eyes and devoutly offered a blessing to Zhao Xing.
Brother A’xing, I bless you—I wish that you will never encounter another fool like me in this life, because people like me only bring harm to you.
Brother A’xing, I bless you—I wish you strength, that you will never be defeated by anyone, that you will never be hurt by anyone.
Brother A’xing, I bless you—I wish you health and longevity, far from illness and pain. I am willing to dedicate all the good parts of my power as a monster to you…
Luo Mingshan did not complete the final part of the blessing.
Because he felt an immense force suddenly being drawn out of his body, as if several parts of his soul were being devoured in that instant.
Accompanied by a tearing pain in his body, he sank back into the ground, into the boundless darkness.
…So that was the Blue Divine Light Blessing.
But at that time, Luo Mingshan, who had only recently come into being, was too weak. His blessing did not grant Zhao Xing freedom from disease and pain forever, nor did it immediately make Zhao Xing strong and impervious to harm, nor did it give Zhao Xing his monster’s power.
It only granted Zhao Xing lifelong immunity to poison gas and anesthetics.
At that moment, Luo Mingshan suddenly thought—If he became stronger, could he give Zhao Xing a stronger, more useful blessing?
“So how exactly did you survive? Did you get help from your parents? Your parents must be very powerful, right? Are they also collateral branches of the royal family?”
Yulis was incredibly curious, the desire for knowledge practically overflowing from his eyes.
“Do your parents know that you came out from underground before coming of age? Do they know that you’ve made yourself so…” Yulis paused, his gaze shifting to Luo Mingshan’s right ear, “…scarred and battered?”
“You’re so noisy,” Luo Mingshan looked up at him, sneering mercilessly, “Is it because birds all like to chirp and make a racket?”
Yulis: “…”
He shook his head and sighed: “Little Earth Spirit, you really are—”
The luxurious black-gold business card he had just handed out was suddenly thrown back at him, landing squarely with a “smack” on his lips.
The metal card even carried a strange electric current, making his lips go numb.
“Luo Mingshan, that’s my name.” Luo Mingshan looked at him coldly, his tone full of menace, “Call me that disrespectfully again and I’ll kill you.”
Zhao Xing also liked to give Luo Mingshan random nicknames.
But even when Zhao Xing called him “little slave” or “little dog,” Luo Mingshan liked it.
But Yulis repeatedly calling him “little Earth Spirit” was disgusting.
Yulis: “…”
Yulis ground his teeth, took the card off his lips, and smiled with a forced politeness: “I advise you not to use your abilities recklessly anymore. As an Earth Spirit who came to the surface before reaching adulthood, you’re only getting weaker day by day. If you keep using your abilities like this, you might die without even knowing when.”
He changed the subject: “However, if you would introduce me to your parents, I might consider helping you find something to replenish your body and let you reach adulthood as soon as possible…”
Although Luo Mingshan didn’t know if he was really the “Earth Spirit” Yulis was talking about, he did feel that after coming out from underground, he had become somewhat weak, especially prone to drowsiness and fatigue.
Besides that, every time he used his power, his heart felt like it was sinking, as if every organ in his body was desperately calling him to return to the safety of the underground.
As he pondered, Luo Mingshan suddenly felt a numbness in his fingertips.
He looked down and saw that the part of his wrist exposed between his glove and sleeve had gradually become transparent and blurry, no longer resembling human skin and flesh, but more like a mass of white light and mist.
As if, with a gust of wind, it would dissipate into nothingness.
This wouldn’t do.
…With a body like this, staying by Zhao Xing’s side, he wouldn’t be able to protect him; instead, he might become a burden.
He looked up at Yulis, his expression thoughtful: “You said earlier that you are one of the investors of the show 《F101》?”
When Zhao Xing woke up, the sky was faintly lit with dawn.
He yawned and opened his eyes, only to find that he was alone in the cave.
Zhao Xing froze for a moment, touched the hay beside him—it was cold.
He hastily stood up and looked around, finally spotting a breakfast on a rock not far away.
On the breakfast box was a card with sharp, unfamiliar handwriting—
【Goodbye.】
The signature was: D066.