191: Chapter 191 What Can You Use to Save Him?

The terrifying wound on his back and his caved-in chest both bore witness to the horror of that single strike.

Yet, the arm he had wrapped around her still did not loosen.

"Wh... why..."

Su Daji's lips trembled as tears rolled down frantically.

"Why do this, Great King?"

"You fool..."

Su Chen seemed to hear her voice. His unfocused gaze struggled to concentrate as he looked at her.

He smiled even as he coughed up blood.

"You aren't a fool."

"You, who defied My orders and acted on your own... you are the biggest fool..."

When Su Daji had acted on her own earlier, Su Chen had been truly startled.

If this big, silly girl had actually gotten herself killed, wouldn't this round of investment be declared a failure?

As for himself... he wouldn't die.

"Demon Concubine Su Daji..."

His lips moved slightly, his breath as thin as a thread; every word seemed to exhaust a lifetime of strength.

"Don't... cry..."

As his voice faded, his eyes closed tightly.

Only a final, thread-like wisp of breath remained.

"Hand him over to me."

At some point, Queen Jiang, dressed in her formal queenly robes, had appeared beside Su Daji.

While the guards didn't dare approach Su Chen, that didn't mean she didn't.

Though she usually presented herself as a weak woman from the Cold Palace in front of Su Chen,

at this moment, under circumstances where only she could save Su Chen,

she did not hesitate to release the aura of a high-ranking ruler.

The crowds on both sides involuntarily made way for her.

Su Daji was still holding Su Chen's broken body.

She seemed completely indifferent to her own injuries, instead pouring her cultivation into Su Chen's body without reservation.

"I... no."

"Great King... I have cultivation, I can save the Great King."

*Slap.*

A crisp slapping sound rang out.

Su Daji covered the fresh handprint on her pretty face with her delicate hand, looking at Queen Jiang in disbelief.

"You?"

"With what can you save the Great King?"

"Don't forget, your very life, Su Daji, was picked up and saved by me, Jiang Li!"

Queen Jiang sneered, taking the opportunity to support Su Chen's body.

Su Daji was stunned. She only wept silently, knowing she was in the wrong, and did not make a sound.

"If it weren't for you... how could he have been so heavily injured?"

Queen Jiang completely ignored Su Daji's pleading gaze, her phoenix eyes filled with heartache.

Looking at the terrifying, fatal injuries covering Su Chen's body,

her red lips, at some point, had moved close to Su Chen's ear.

"Great King... don't be afraid."

"Your concubine will heal you."

After saying that, she glanced back at Su Daji, who still seemed somewhat unwilling.

"Su Daji, I am the Queen."

"With the Great King unconscious, I am the one who can decide the national affairs of the Yin Dynasty."

"Moreover..."

"What does the ownership of a mere man matter?"

"Your injuries are not light. If you want to live, come to the palace where I reside after I have saved my husband."

Having said her piece, Queen Jiang no longer entangled herself with Su Daji.

Possessing no cultivation at all, she refused help from any guards.

All alone,

she carried the nearly 1.9-meter-tall Su Chen.

Step by step,

she walked toward the palace where she lived.

The blood flowing from Su Chen's body fell sparsely,

leaving a thin trail on the morning streets of Zhaoge City.

After letting out several sighs, the watching guards and commoners dispersed one after another.

Only Su Daji, who was also heavily injured, was left behind.

She knelt on the spot, sobbing incessantly.

"Great King..."

"Demon Concubine Su Daji doesn't want to be a burden to you anymore."

"Demon Concubine Su Daji... also wants to be someone who can help the Great King, someone who can stand in front of the Great King to protect him."

...

Su Chen's consciousness drifted in the darkness for a long time.

If the System hadn't guaranteed that someone was trying to save him and that this round of investment wasn't over,

Su Chen would have thought he was dead.

Fortunately, during the time his body was unconscious, the System conjured an e-sports room for Su Chen's consciousness.

Not only was there a bed and unlimited snacks and cola,

but there was even a computer with a 5090 configuration on the desk.

It even had every game on the Steam platform unlocked.

During this time, Su Chen played almost every game he had never played before.

[A man is a boy until he dies...]

One day, having had enough of single-player games, Su Chen started asking the System for maxed-out accounts for all gacha games.

The System's mouth twisted in anger, and it kicked Su Chen's consciousness out of the e-sports room.

[Your body is almost healed by someone else, hurry up and get back there!]

[You living ancestor, you've almost finished my fifty years of collections. Don't ever come back!]

After being kicked out of the small room by the System,

Su Chen felt his senses slowly recovering.

There were two different temperatures alternately soothing his cold temples, wrists, and heart.

One was gentle and long-lasting, cautious and careful.

The other was slightly impatient, almost reckless,

as if trying to wake him directly from this boundless slumber.

The sounds in his ears also gradually became clear.

It was the sound of water.

The subtle sound of a cloth being dipped into warm water and then wrung dry.

There was also the rustle of fabric rubbing together, and the low sobbing of a woman.

"Sister Li, the medicine is getting cold. Let's feed him again?"

It was Su Daji's voice.

"What's the rush? He just swallowed a dose of 'Life-Sustaining Powder,' and his blood vessels are currently being surged by the medicinal power. Feeding him again rashly would be too much for his weakened state and would harm his body instead."

Queen Jiang's voice rang out, still cold, but with a bit more of a healer's calmness.

"First, go change out of those wet clothes and re-bandage your wounds."

"If you collapse too, do you want him to wake up and see that, only to have his heart attacked by anxiety again?"

"...I'm fine. It's just a small injury; it healed long ago."

Having her weakness exposed, Su Daji's voice grew lower, carrying a sense of guilt.

"Small injury?"

Queen Jiang gave a cold laugh.

"Three broken ribs, displaced internal organs, your shoulder blades almost shattered, and the chaotic spiritual energy in your meridians hasn't fully settled yet—and you call this a 'small injury'?"

"If you ask me, you two really are a match made in heaven; you're even the same when it comes to being deathly stubborn."

"Su Daji, surely you don't think your meager cultivation and Hehuan Sect physique are really much stronger than his battered body that withstood 'Heaven's Punishment'?"

"I..."

"Go change."

"This is the Queen's order."

"Or are you not even going to give me this much face?"

There was a brief silence, followed by Su Daji's very light footsteps walking toward the inner chamber.

The sound of water rose again. A warm cloth gently covered Su Chen's forehead, meticulously wiping across his burning skin, along the bridge of his high nose, and down to his dry, peeling lips.

The movements were very light and soft.

Fingertips occasionally brushed against his cheek inadvertently, as if constantly confirming something.

Su Chen's consciousness cleared a bit more.

He gathered the remaining strength in this body.

Finally, with a tremble, he opened his eyes a crack.

Light and shadow gradually came into focus.

Su Chen saw Queen Jiang's profile right before him.