142: Chapter 142 The Disappearance of Chu Xiuxiu

Xia Yunchi was slightly surprised...

If he remembered correctly, there should still be four War General Realm individuals in the city...

You can't tell me that it was my future son-in-law who took them all out, right...?

Speaking of which... how did this guy reach the Meridian Opening Realm?

He dispersed the Great Sun behind him.

The phantom image of that golden Great Sun slowly dissipated in the air, and the afterglow of the Great Sun Divine Furnace receded from the street.

Xia Yunchi's aura dropped visibly to the naked eye, but it still stabilized at the early stage of the War King Realm...

The bloody gash on his face, sliced open by sharp claws, was still oozing blood, and half of his scorched skin was exposed through the burnt fingertips of his right glove.

"This breakthrough was too rushed..." Xia Yunchi flexed the fingers of his right hand, his joints cracking twice, "Making up for the foundation later is going to be a real pain."

He exhaled a breath of stale air and brushed the dark purple moss he had picked up from the northern Wasteland Zone off his shoulder.

Then he looked up at the people around him who were still standing.

"Tell me, what happened here."

Commander Ji Yunlan looked at Lu Cheng with a complex expression...

From the moment she met this guy, she knew he wasn't someone who would stay trapped in a small pond, but she never expected him to progress so quickly...

She answered truthfully, recounting how Black Snake and Saliva Shadow had pursued Xia Xi, Lu Cheng, and the others, and then how Lu Cheng had come to support them.

After listening, Xia Yunchi's expression changed; he turned his head and looked at Lu Cheng.

"You brat..." Xia Yunchi looked Lu Cheng up and down...

"You really have brought me quite a few surprises."

No... this wasn't a surprise anymore... it was a shock.

A Meridian Opening Realm practitioner killing a War General Realm one—who would believe that if it were told?

Lu Cheng scratched the back of his head, the scales of the Holy Dragon Armament making a faint clicking sound against his scalp.

"Just luck!"

Xia Yunchi chuckled... Luck... Can you really get lucky with something like that?

"Then why didn't I have that kind of luck when I was in the Meridian Opening Realm?"

Lu Cheng thought for a moment and replied seriously, "Maybe it's because you didn't know me back then."

The several Hua Hai Realm officers nearby turned their faces away in unison, their shoulders shaking.

The corner of Xia Yunchi's mouth twitched, and just as he was about to say something, the sound of running came from nearby.

Xia Xi rushed out from the corner of the street, her school uniform stained with spots of Pollution Beast blood, her face covered in patches of gray and black, and she threw herself directly into Lu Cheng's arms.

The force was so great that Lu Cheng took a half-step back, and the scales of the Holy Dragon Armament collided with her forehead with a dull thud.

"You're okay... that's so good..."

Xia Xi buried her face in Lu Cheng's chest, her voice muffled and trembling with tears.

Her fingers gripped the scales of the Holy Dragon Armament on Lu Cheng's back, her knuckles turning white, and she was trembling all over.

Lu Cheng looked down at her, and when Xia Xi lifted her face, tears and snot were smeared all over him, leaving several wet streaks on the golden-white scales of the Holy Dragon Armament.

"If you hug me any tighter, I might actually be in trouble."

Xia Xi abruptly let go, stepped back half a step, and looked him up and down with red-rimmed eyes.

Her gaze landed on his chest, where the scales of the Holy Dragon Armament had several cracks; although Holy Radiance Regeneration was already repairing them, black traces of Black Snake's martial will erosion still remained on the edges of the cracks.

"Here... and here..." Xia Xi's fingers hovered over his chest, not daring to touch, her fingertips trembling...

"Are you seriously hurt...? I felt your aura break, it broke more than once!"

As she spoke, her voice began to choke up again, and tears rolled from her eyes, carving two white tracks through the dust on her face.

"I'm too weak... too weak..." She bit her lower lip, "If I could be stronger, this wouldn't have happened..."

Xia Yunchi rolled his eyes from the side.

He turned around and waved to the few Defense Bureau officers who were trying to hold back their laughter so hard that their shoulders were shaking violently.

"Stop watching, clear the area where needed, and get the statistics done." He walked with long strides toward the Defense Bureau, his voice steady and powerful,

"Have all Pollution Beast corpses hauled to the incineration point outside the city, report the civilian casualty statistics within half an hour, and have the cleanup team prioritize the Eastern District and the commercial district for the pollution residue on the streets; those areas are densely populated."

The officers immediately stood at attention, their military boots clicking together with a snap.

"Yes!"

Xia Yunchi walked two steps, then looked back.

His daughter was clutching Lu Cheng's arm, tears streaming down like they were free, and she was almost crying snot bubbles.

As for this side, let's leave it to Xia Xi for now.

Anyway, that brat is tough-skinned and thick-fleshed; a little crying won't do any harm.

Qian Shuying stood a dozen meters away, leaning against a wall that had been cracked by the shockwave.

She watched Xia Xi sobbing in Lu Cheng's arms, and for some reason, she felt a dull ache in her heart.

She turned her face away and shifted her gaze to the burning wreckage of a vehicle at the street corner.

The firelight reflected in her eyes, hiding the indescribable emotions in the depths of her gaze.

Su Wan stood on the other side; she had already retracted her Cold Soul Sword Cloak, and a thin layer of frost still remained on the sword blade. She looked at Lu Cheng's back with a complex expression.

Two months of cultivation.

Meridian Opening Realm, killing a War General Realm opponent while in the Meridian Opening Realm.

Is her own cultivation speed that slow?

Two months to reach the mid-stage of the Source Gathering Realm, enough to kill a Hua Hai Realm opponent—this combat power would have been unrivaled in her past life...

Why does it feel like I, a reborn Empress, am not as good as him?

Even that legendary Lu Changfeng is slightly inferior to her...

What is going on with this guy?

He's no longer a normal person...

Could it be that he is also a reincarnated person?

No, Lu Cheng died too early in his previous life; even if he were reincarnated, he couldn't possibly be this powerful.

Not a reincarnation...

Then could it be that someone has possessed his body?

Su Wan stared at Lu Cheng's back for several seconds.

If it were possession, it's unlikely; there is no abrupt soul aura on him...

If there were, she couldn't have failed to notice...

She needs to find a time to test this guy.

But there are more troublesome things at hand.

The next competition is in a week.

But with the competition coming up in a week... what is she going to do...

Lu Cheng was pulled and turned left and right by Xia Xi for a full three times, and only after confirming that he had no particularly serious injuries did he finally manage to calm her down.

He patted Xia Xi's shoulder, the scales of the Holy Dragon Armament making a faint rustling sound against her school uniform fabric.

"Xiuxiu is still inside." Lu Cheng pointed in the direction where he had placed Chu Xiuxiu earlier, "I'll go see what her condition is."

Xia Xi wiped her face with her sleeve, smearing the mixture of tears and snot all over the cuff.

She sniffled and nodded.

"I'll go with you."

When Lu Cheng returned to the original street, he discovered that Chu Xiuxiu was nowhere to be seen.

On the wall that hadn't collapsed yet, there was still a trace where she had leaned, and a patch of dust at the base of the wall had been rubbed away.

"This girl... where could she have gone?"

Lu Cheng squatted down to look at the drag marks.

After killing Saliva Shadow earlier, the energy in her body was almost bottomed out; in her state, she shouldn't have gone far.

He activated Seeking Good Fortune and Avoiding Bad Luck.

The threads of his sense of crisis extended in all directions; most directions had quieted down, and only the direction of the sewer entrance in the distance still had a trace of an 'auspicious' aura.

It's down there...

Lu Cheng walked over and completely lifted the sewer manhole cover; a damp, musty smell gushed out from the opening.

He looked back at Xia Xi, signaling her to wait above, and then jumped down.

It was very dark in the sewer.

The pipe walls were covered in dark green moss, sewage flowed slowly in the channel beneath his feet, and the air was stuffy and humid, carrying the sour smell of decaying matter.

Lu Cheng walked a dozen steps, turned a corner, and then stopped.

Chu Xiuxiu was huddled in a corner.

She was curled up, her back against the damp concrete pipe wall, her knees pressed against her chest, and both hands clutching her head.

Her tattered clothes were covered in stains from the sewer, and her hair hung down in strands, blocking her face.

Her fingers were trembling, her shoulders were shaking, and she was curled into a ball.

Lu Cheng's gaze suddenly froze.

On her exposed arms, wrists, neck, and even behind her ears, fine black runes and tiny, protruding tentacles were crawling all over.

The patterns were identical to those of that perverted War General "Saliva Shadow," slowly squirming under her skin like living things, emitting a cold, grayish-white fluorescent glow.

The only difference was that these runes were not fully activated; the lines were thinner and the color was paler, as if they were being forcibly suppressed by some power and hadn't fully erupted.

"Xiuxiu."

Lu Cheng lightened his footsteps and slowly took a step forward.

"Don't... don't look at me..."

Chu Xiuxiu buried her face in her knees, her voice small and hoarse, carrying a tremor of near-supplication.

Her fingers gripped her own hair, her knuckles turning white, and the runes on the back of her hands bulged and receded under her skin, as if something was trying to crawl out from within her flesh.

She didn't want to be seen like this.

Lu Cheng didn't move forward again; sometimes, one should give her some space instead of... forcing her to reveal her wounds when she was hurt.

He squatted down, the holy light of the Holy Dragon Armament slightly dimmed so as not to hurt her eyes with light that was too bright.

"Hmm..." He softened his voice, "Are you hungry?"

Chu Xiuxiu's shoulders trembled, but she didn't speak.

Lu Cheng took out compressed biscuits and bottled water from his storage space.

He placed the items on the ground and gently pushed them to Chu Xiuxiu's feet.

"Water and food, take them for now." He stood up, "I'll wait for you outside..."

He turned around and walked out, treading through the sewage.

"Big Brother Lu Cheng."

Chu Xiuxiu's voice came from behind, very small, almost drowned out by the sound of the water in the sewer.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

"No..."

Lu Cheng shook his head and said seriously...

"It should be us thanking you..."

When he climbed out of the sewer, Xia Xi was squatting by the manhole, looking anxious.

"How is it? Did you find her?"

"Found her." Lu Cheng brushed the dust off his body, "Let her calm down for a bit."

Su Wan had also walked over at some point.

She stood beside the sewer opening, looking at the pitch-black pipe below, her brows slightly furrowed.

This aura is...

An experimental subject?