93: Chapter 93 The Beast Tide and the Inside Agent

The assembly dispersed.

The plaza of the Myriad Races Market gradually emptied at dusk, with representatives from various tribes leaving in twos and threes, the sound of their discussions receding like a tide.

The pale blue shimmer of the Peace Barrier became more pronounced in the twilight, like a veil covering the entire open space.

Murong Xue stood alone at the edge of the Myriad Races Market.

The setting sun was like blood, plating her silver armor with a layer of dark golden light, as if burning silver, like the final sharp edge of the sunset.

Her Power of Holy Light spear was stowed behind her, her hands clasped behind her back, and her brown ponytail swayed gently in the evening breeze.

She looked down at her right hand.

That hand, the palm was still burning—not the heat of the Power of Holy Light, but a deeper residual warmth spreading from her palm to her fingertips.

That was the hand Wang Sheng had held at the entrance of the market; his warm palm had covered her cold, trembling knuckles, and that temperature had not dissipated for three days.

And today, the moment he stood before the giant boulder and shattered everything with one punch,

her heart beat like a war drum.

It was not admiration; admiration is looking up to the strong, a feeling of insignificance when gazing at the starry sky.

It was not gratitude; gratitude is repaying a benefactor, the moral duty of repaying a drop of kindness with a gushing spring.

It was...

It was something she had never felt on any battlefield, against any Savage Beast, or in any crisis:

a stirring of the heart.

It was watching a man stand in the rain of debris, golden light appearing like his crown,

and the moment he turned in that ruin and said, "The women of Guangming Village are mine," her heart, like light imprisoned for a long time beneath silver armor, finally...

cracked open.

The crack was very thin, like the fissure Chief Shi Ba had left on the giant boulder, so thin it was almost invisible.

But she knew that once that crack appeared, it would never close again. Just like the fissure on the boulder, it only needed one punch,

and it would shatter.

"Murong Xue,"

Wang Sheng's voice came from behind her.

She turned and saw him walking over, the setting sun behind him, his golden silhouette like that sun that had risen from his fist when he shattered the boulder just moments ago.

"You, today—" Her voice suddenly caught. She didn't know what to say. Congratulate him for shattering the boulder? Thank him for standing up for her? Or...

"Thank you." Wang Sheng walked up to her, his voice gentle but serious.

"When Chief Shi Ba said those things, your first reaction was to draw your spear."

"That is because—" Murong Xue's voice was half a degree lower than usual, as if the silver Power of Holy Light had narrowed into the thinnest line in the twilight, "he insulted..." She paused, "insulted Guangming Village."

She did not say, "insulted me."

But Wang Sheng understood.

He looked at her, his brown eyes like two warm ambers in the setting sun, his determined face still retaining the sharpness from the battle just now,

but beneath that sharpness, like a gap in silver armor, there was a trace of imperceptible softness.

"Murong Xue..." His voice was very soft, just like the lightest breeze on the Lingxi River, "You don't have to always rush to the front to protect others..."

"I will also..." He looked into her eyes, his gaze like a silver nail, precisely piercing her iron-walled defenses,

"protect you."

Murong Xue's pupils contracted slightly.

On the Holy Light Knight's determined face, a tiny crack appeared—not of anger, not of shyness,

but a kind of softness she had never shown to anyone,

softness.

Like light imprisoned for a long time beneath silver armor, it finally shone through the crack.

She wanted to say, "I don't need protection." This was the instinct of a Holy Light Knight, the pride of a warrior, the iron wall she had built all along.

But those words were stuck in her throat and could not come out.

Because she wanted to say it.

She wanted to be protected. Even if just once. Even if just for this moment.

She took a deep breath, like a Holy Light Knight adjusting her breathing before a charge, then she raised her head, her brown eyes staring directly at Wang Sheng.

"I... will also protect you."

Her voice was not loud, but every word was like a silver nail, nailed into the air, into the sunset, and into Wang Sheng's heart.

This was not a confession, but it was heavier than a confession.

This was the vow of a Holy Light Knight, like her silver armor, like her spear—hard, sharp, and unyielding.

Just like the moment she drew her spear on the training ground, never hesitating, never retreating.

Wang Sheng looked at her. In the sunset, on the determined face of the silver-armored knight,

that soft crack was like a beam of light shining through the gaps of silver armor, just like an unsheathed silver spear, with a dewdrop condensing on the tip—sharpness and softness coexisting perfectly.

He reached out his hand.

Murong Xue looked at his hand, hesitated for less than a second, and then,

she placed her hand on his.

It was not a comrade's handshake, but a softer, warmer touch, like silver Power of Holy Light merging with golden radiance.

His palm was warm, her fingertips slightly cool; the temperatures converged in their palms, like two streams merging into the same river.

"Let's go. We need to return to the camp before dark."

Murong Xue turned around quickly, her brown ponytail whipping an arc through the air, like the final silver flash of a silver spear being sheathed.

Her steps were still brisk, the clatter of her silver armor still crisp,

but Wang Sheng noticed,

her ears were completely red, like two small flames ignited by the setting sun.

In the camp.

The night was like ink. The Myriad Races Market became much quieter after nightfall. The pale blue shimmer of the Peace Barrier was like a huge dome, isolating the noise of the day.

Wang Sheng's party rested at a temporary camp near the market. The glimmer of the bonfire swayed in the night wind, like the only lighthouse on the savage land.

Liu Ruyan emerged silently from the shadows.

The Phantom Assassin's figure was like a wisp of smoke blown apart by the wind and then re-condensed.

Her smoky, misty eyes were like two stars shrouded in fog in the glimmer of the bonfire, calm but revealing a hint of urgency.

"The Shadow Clan contact point was abandoned on the day of the assembly." Her voice was ethereal like smoke, but every word was like a cold knife, precisely cutting into the air.

"They detected my reconnaissance, but I made a discovery."

She took a piece of bark from her bosom.

On the bark were carved the characters of the Shadow Clan, the dark purple strokes looking like burnt scars, gleaming with a faint, dark light in the glow of the bonfire.

"I found this set of Shadow Clan characters on the wall of the abandoned contact point." Liu Ruyan handed the bark to Wang Sheng. "Zhao Linger should be able to translate it."

Wang Sheng took out the communication spirit stone. A silvery-blue shimmer overflowed from the spirit stone, like moonlight falling into the night.

"Linger."

Zhao Linger's voice came from the spirit stone, carrying a hint of hoarseness. She must have been monitoring for several hours continuously; the continuous operation of Spirit Sound Affinity had caused her mental energy to be quite overdrawn.

But her voice was still clear, as if the Spirit Sound Master had tuned all her senses to the sharpest state.

"I saw the image sent over by Liu Ruyan," although her big, round eyes could not see,

the Spirit Sound Master's perception could capture blurred visual signals through the communication spirit stone.

"That is the Shadow Clan's military code. I have heard similar encryption methods in my monitoring before."

She was silent for a few seconds. The Spirit Sound Master's full perception was like the most precise decoder, searching for patterns between the dark purple strokes.

Then,

"I have translated it."

Zhao Linger's voice changed; it was no longer the calmness of intelligence analysis, but a tense urgency, as if the Spirit Sound Master had lost her precision on the most critical note.

"The text content is: 'Chief Shi Ba is in position, execute after the assembly, target: Guangming Village, method: Beast Tide and Insider.'"

Beast Tide...

Insider...

Wang Sheng's eyes were like ice.

The light of the bonfire danced in his pupils, like a spark of fire in an abyss, but that fire was not warmth; it was a cold warning.

Chief Shi Ba was not just arrogant with his words; he and the Shadow Clan already had a substantial action plan.

"Execute after the assembly" meant there wasn't much time left.

"Beast Tide" matched the "act" command Zhao Linger had monitored earlier; the Shadow Clan intended to use the Beast Tide as a means to attack Guangming Village.

And "Insider,"

these two words caused a chill to rise up Wang Sheng's back—not the cold of the savage night wind,

but a sense of crisis, like being stared at by a poisonous snake, spreading from his spine to his scalp.

Had someone inside Guangming Village been infiltrated by the Shadow Clan?

More than a hundred people, the transmigrators; they had come from the same university, theoretically knowing each other inside out, but theoretically...

He clenched his fists involuntarily.

"Wang Sheng," Zhao Linger's voice came from the communication spirit stone, carrying a hint of softness, as if the Spirit Sound Master, in the most tense movement,

had secretly left a gentle note for him, "You today, shattering the giant boulder, I heard it, so cool."

Her voice was very light, as light as the petals of a spirit flower falling in the night wind, but that word "cool," like a small sun, ignited a trace of warmth in the cold intelligence.

Wang Sheng's mouth curved slightly; the arc was small, but in the night, it was like the warmest ray of light beside the bonfire.

"I'll listen to your compliments when I get back. Now," his voice returned to the steadiness of a chieftain, like a boulder at the bottom of the Lingxi River,

"I need you to continue monitoring the Shadow Clan's communications. Any information about an 'Insider,' no matter how vague, notify me immediately."

"Mm!" Zhao Linger's voice returned to seriousness, as if the Spirit Sound Master had tuned all her senses to the sharpest state, "Rest assured."

The light of the communication spirit stone slowly dissipated, like moonlight hiding behind clouds.

Wang Sheng stood in the center of the camp, his gaze like a cold star.

Chief Shi Ba's Beast Tide, the Shadow Clan's secret lines, and that "Insider" hidden within Guangming Village,

were like poisonous snakes, closing in on Guangming Village.

And he must, before the poisonous snakes struck,

slay the snakes.