Chapter 29-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
After being chased to a large plaza by the flood, Percy and the others watched as the torrent receded like an ebbing tide. Percy gasped for breath and looked around, spotting several faces that were both familiar and unfamiliar.
"Lin Xingxing?" Percy asked, unsure, staring at a brown-haired boy sprawled on the ground, panting.
The soaked, disheveled boy immediately jumped up from the ground. Percy confirmed that this person was Lin Xingxing, the captain of the First Academy in the upper district. The last time they had met was at the Crown Prince's banquet.
"Percy? Is that really you?" Lin Xingxing ran a hand through his wet hair and stared at the people around him with a tight-lipped smile. "And a few people from Divine Academy are here too? This is great."
He excitedly clapped Percy on the shoulder and then lightly punched him in the stomach. Percy let out a groan.
"Do you have any idea what I've been through for the past few hours? The shadows of your two teams took turns serving our helpless little team. Our academy was only ranked seventh in the last stage of the competition; who did we ever bother?"
While the First Academy in the upper district had the title of "First," its overall strength was mediocre. Unlike the Royal Academy, which required both family background and ability, this academy was for rich kids who could afford to get in. Their team lacked fighting spirit; in Percy's opinion, they were just there to get their credits.
Percy rubbed his nose. He finally knew who was screaming before. It turned out that before they had found their current location, it was the First Academy team that had been dealing with his shadow and the shadows of Bai Muqing and Yin Kong.
He allowed Lin Xingxing to vent his frustration with a few harmless punches. Just as he was about to speak up to comfort him, he suddenly frowned as he realized a problem and looked around.
There were a few white figures in the plaza, easily identifiable as Divine Academy uniforms. In addition to Bai Muqing and Yin Kong, the rest of the Divine Academy team had also suddenly appeared here.
He also had an impression of the First Academy's team and counted that they were all accounted for. As for his own team... Percy's expression darkened. Where was Zhao Mei? Had something happened to him?
Percy knew Zhao Mei had his own hidden trump card, but he had already expended some energy to cover their retreat earlier. And he looked so frail; it was impossible not to worry about him.
Although Zhao Mei was also a water ability user, could that little bit of a stream have protected him from that flood?
Percy supported his head, a headache forming. The strangest thing was that all the black shadows had also disappeared.
What was the purpose of this flood? Everyone here was a participant. Their goal should be to destroy the Demonic Domain to earn points and win the championship.
But the person who created this flood had an unclear motive to Percy. That familiar, 'off-track' feeling crept into his heart again.
"Roy, Lucy, Caleb, let's go find Zhao Mei now, he's..."
Percy's voice suddenly trailed off.
He looked up. The white dome that had covered the area had disappeared at some point. The evening sky was a magnificent fiery red.
The usually calm and composed young man showed an expression of disbelief, his blue eyes widening as he looked at the sky, which had returned to normal.
"Oh my god! The Demonic Domain is gone?"
"What happened? Did the Knights come in?"
"Another team must have entered besides us! Are they playing 'the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind' (a Chinese idiom for a schemer being outsmarted)?"
The teenagers in the plaza all noticed this shocking discovery. Percy was suddenly surrounded by voices of suspicion, anger, and noise.
Percy's mind was buzzing. Except for Zhao Mei, all the participants were here. So who just destroyed the Demonic Domain?
If he wasn't mistaken, destroying this Demonic Domain required eliminating all the black shadows, something that not even Bai Muqing's [Divine Domain] could accomplish in a short time. And Bai Muqing had been with them the entire time.
An absurd guess surfaced in his mind, but he quickly suppressed it. Even if Zhao Mei hadn't been here, it couldn't have been him.
Even if Zhao Mei's ability combined healing and attack, powerful healing could not coexist with powerful offensive abilities, just as a veteran doctor could never be a seasoned general at the same time.
Powerful healing abilities not only relied on talent but also required a lot of time and energy to practice.
Based on Zhao Mei's proficiency in healing, his primary focus was healing, and his offensive power was at most on par with Lucy and Caleb.
Percy silently clenched his fists. Even with his dual abilities, his commonly used [Metal Transmutation] was much stronger than his other ability, despite his efforts to secretly train it.
Gradually, the young man exhaled. It could only be Sykes. Perhaps he had also entered this Demonic Domain, and only the strongest person of the young generation in the empire could have eliminated so many replicas in a short amount of time.
"Is everyone okay?"
In the midst of the clamor, a gentle and caring voice sounded, light and slightly out of place.
Many people stopped talking and turned to look in the direction of the voice.
With the Demonic Domain gone, the hazy white dome in the sky disappeared, and the warm light of the sunset poured onto the black-haired, green-eyed young man without reservation. The young man, bathed in the brilliant twilight, looked even more ethereal than the sunset behind him, as if he were just a warm phantom.
Percy's expression was a little stunned.
It wasn't until Zhao Mei's hand rested on the wound on his shoulder, and a healing itch spread through the stinging wound, that Percy came back to his senses, finally feeling a sense of reality.
"Zhao Mei, where did you go just now? We were about to look for you."
"I'm sorry. A lot of ordinary people were injured just now, so I went to take care of them first." The black-haired, green-eyed young man smiled apologetically.
It was very much in character for Zhao Mei. Percy had more questions he wanted to ask, but a teammate jumped out and interrupted their conversation.
"I thought you had been swept away by the flood, Babe-Mei! That flood was so terrifying; even I almost couldn't outrun it..."
Lucy was always the most energetic in the team. She hugged the young man's arm and complained in a cheerful tone. Percy looked at them and felt there was no place for him here.
He sighed. The first battle of the third stage of the competition was already so full of mysteries. He could only wait for the official committee to investigate the truth.
Percy waved to his teammates. "You all should go back and rest first. I still have to turn in the records to the committee."
He looked down at his collar. A small badge was pinned to it. Even after the fierce battle, the badge was still firmly attached to his collar. This was a tool that every team captain was required to wear. It recorded everything that happened in the Demonic Domain to facilitate the official judgment and scoring.
"Percy, I might have to leave for a while tonight."
Percy looked at the young man's somewhat pale face, his tone caring. "Are you too tired today? It's okay, Babe-Mei. If you're not feeling well, you can rest for a few more days. It's a huge favor that you're here to help us."
Listening to his captain's considerate words, the young man's green eyes filled with a gentle smile. "Of course not. Being with you all is my greatest gain."
A few other teammates also gathered around, and the atmosphere became warm and lively. Amid their caring gazes, the young man smiled, waved, and left, his back quickly disappearing from view.
[The 200 action points from the 20,000 popularity are gone again... You're not even a 'moonlight spender' (living paycheck to paycheck); you're a 'daylight spender' (spending all your money in a day).]
"Huh? Are you okay?" Ye Zheng moved agilely and lightly through the streets, turning left and right, like an untraceable black cat.
[Why do you sound like you're hoping something happened to me?]
"I was prepared to be without you. Welcome back, System."
At first, the System felt that what Ye Zheng said was a little touching, but on second thought, her "prepared to be without you" probably just meant she was ready to lose it as a cheat code.
Soon, Ye Zheng stopped in front of an inconspicuous house, took out a key, opened the door, and went inside. She then seemed to lose all her strength and collapsed onto the sofa in an ungraceful posture.
The System saw Ye Zheng's state and knew she was genuinely tired. This girl usually even put on a good act when no one was around, and she always slept with her hands crossed over her abdomen.
[So what plot did you change with those two hundred action points? You spent them all at once.]
"Oh, I just eliminated all the black shadows. I didn't leave any for the others." Ye Zheng's tone became sluggish as she murmured with her eyes closed.
The System's voice rose in disbelief.
[No way, sis, you're ridiculously strong! In the original plot, it took three teams working together to deal with all those shadows!]
[No wonder you used up all the action points. You changed the scenes of several important characters!]
"Yeah, I didn't expect it either. With the dragon bone's blessing, I could do something like that."
Ye Zheng slowly rolled over on the sofa, from lying on her side to lying on her back, opening her eyes to stare at the ceiling.
"The legends never mentioned that the dragon bone had this kind of effect besides just being a deterrent."
At the time, she discovered that the power overflowing from the dragon bone seemed to be absorbable. For the purpose of research, she tried to absorb the power of this bone, and then, by accident... she killed all the black shadows she had marked with her stream.
Ye Zheng recalled the feeling at the time. An overwhelmingly immense power rapidly filled her body. She felt like she was going to inflate and burst at any second, yet because of the unprecedented power, her heart was filled with a light, intoxicating pleasure.
The arrogance brought by the power made her feel at that moment that killing Sykes would be no problem.
Even now, she hadn't fully recovered from that dangerous and addictively mesmerizing feeling.
Lying on the sofa, she held up the black bone with both hands and carefully observed it again in the light.
Such a small piece of bone, and just an incomplete replica at that, actually possessed such power.
The Royal Family and the Sei Curia were lying. They had woven a web of deceit around the dragon bone to fool the public, but the truth and purpose behind the lies remained hidden in the mist.
But Ye Zheng was certain that these people definitely did not simply bury the dragon bone underground to protect the people as the legends claimed.
With the power the dragon bone possessed, she wouldn't believe for a second that those high-and-mighty leaders weren't tempted.
"It seems it's necessary to pay a visit to Sykes's team."
Ye Zheng sighed softly. She placed the dragon bone beside her, then crossed her hands over her abdomen and slowly fell asleep on the sofa.
The System was about to remind her that the manga had a new update and the forum was arguing about her again, but seeing her quiet appearance, it didn't make another sound.
It glanced at the popularity value and saw that the action points Ye Zheng had spent had been replenished due to a rapid surge in popularity, making it feel even more relieved to let her rest.
It's strange. It seemed to have lost its doubts about Ye Zheng, as if it could always trust that everything was under the control of this girl.
Author's note:
You should be happy to have a host like this!
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