Chapter 57

Back at the rented house, Zhu Lin walked in and found that the Hua siblings were having a meeting in the living room. Hua Xi saw her, patted the seat beside her, and said, “You can really come back by yourself.”

Sitting down on the couch, she shook her head and said, “Someone lead the way for me.”

Hua Xi looked at her curiously, and asked, “Who? Captain Ye? Deputy Captain Zou?”

“Another person.”

Hua Xi waited for more answers, but Zhu Lin already looked at the desk full of documents, and asked, “What are you guys doing?”

“We are planning what we should prepare, counting materials and crystal nuclei.” Hua Dong answered her.

She raised her eyebrows and asked, “Are you planning to leave this base too?”

Hua Nan put down his pen and notebook, and said, “We’ll be leaving with you.”

“I see.”

She sat there and listened to their discussion for a while before asking, “Have you discussed with Ye Yu and the others? Will you join his base?”

“Yeah. We asked Brother Ye Yu before, and he agreed.” Hua Bei said.

After thinking about it, she finally remembered the scene of meeting them in front of the old boarding house building. Seeing the long list on the paper, she looked at it and asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Hua Nan looked at her with a smile and said, “The preparation is almost ready. We know you are very busy these days and don’t want to bother you with these little things. When it’s time to go, we’ll go together.”

“Um.”

Seeing that they were busy, she got up and said, “Then I’ll rest first.”

“Okay.”

Looking back at the busy Hua siblings, she went to her bedroom and closed the door. After collecting crystal nuclei for a few days, she finally has free time. She wanted to absorb the high rank crystal nuclei while she was free to recover faster. Sitting cross legged on the bed, she opened the Qiankun bag she used to store those crystal nuclei, and poured out the contents.

When she poured out everything, a small mound appeared on her bed. She separated the crystal nuclei according to the ranks, and then put all the crystal nuclei below the fourth rank into the lake inside her inner palace. The moment those crystal nuclei sinked into the lake water, they disappeared instantly and turned into strings of spiritual energy.

She looked at the hundreds of fourth rank crystal nuclei and a few fifth rank crystal nuclei left on the bed, and sighed. After deliberately looking for those high rank zombies, she only got one hundred and twenty five fourth rank zombie crystal nuclei and four fifth rank zombie crystal nuclei.

Picking up a fifth rank crystal nuclei, she closed her eyes and began to absorb it. Just as she was concentrating on absorbing the spiritual energy in the crystal nuclei, a slight change occurred under the lake in her inner palace.

At the bottom of the lake, the transparent barrier began to crack again. The tiny cracks that had previously occurred grew longer and deeper. A mirror inside the barrier suddenly shattered and turned into a stream of light, flowing out from the barrier. The light soared into the sky in her inner palace, turning into countless light particles.

Outside, Zhu Lin suddenly felt a headache. She refocused on absorbing the crystal nuclei, but the pain grew worse within seconds until she was forced to stop. Groaning, she hugged her head as she fell onto the bed. When the pain became unbearable, a memory flashed through her mind.

She stood in front of a lantern booth in the Mortal Realm, and when she looked back, there was a man approaching her from behind. He walked to her side and said, “Lin’er, did you already choose the one you like?”

His deep and magnetic voice made her heart ache. In her heart, there was a deep longing for this man. Unknowingly, tears flowed down from the corners of her eyes, slid down her face and dripped into the bed cover.

Looking back at him, she smiled and reached for his outstretched hand. Holding his big warm hand, she looked up at him. “Ah Yu, I want a rabbit shaped lantern.”

He looked down at her with his gentle eyes, fondling the tip of her nose lovingly. “I knew you would choose the rabbit lantern. This is for you.”

Looking at the beautiful white rabbit lantern in his other hand, she tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek. “Ah Yu is the best.”

“Silly Lin’er.” He caressed her cheek like a gentle wind.

Waking up from the memories, Zhu Lin was a little dazed. She knew that the woman in that memory was her. 

But… who is that man? Why can’t she see his face? Does she really have a lover like Tu Tu said? Why did she feel so sad when she heard his voice?

Curled up in the bed, she fell into a deep sleep with countless unanswered questions. Deep down in her heart, she knows she really loves him. Whoever he is.

******

The next day, she went to see the skinny man again. This time, she took Hua Nan with her. Opening the door of the warehouse, she walked into the dark room. The man who never spoke first was already waiting for her.

Seeing her bring another person over, he said, “I’ll give you a different answer today.”

Putting down the basket full of food and water, Zhu Lin nodded, waiting for him to continue. The thin man opened the basket cover, took out the water bottle and took a sip. After drinking it, he felt much more comfortable in his throat. Putting down the bottle, he looked at her calmly.

“Give me the antidote, and I’ll go with you. I want the real antidote.”

Seeing his pale face, she flicked her fingers and took out a small jade bottle. She looked at him and said, “I want you to sign a contract with me first, before I give you the antidote.”

He leaned against the wall and asked, “What kind of contract?”

The corners of her lips were slightly raised, and she said, “Blood contract.”

He didn’t know what the blood contract was, but he could guess part of it from the name. Knowing that anything related to blood is not a good thing, he thought about it seriously. Seeing his serious face, Zhu Lin just stood there quietly with Hua Nan, waiting for his answer.

After a long silence, he finally spoke. “Alright, I will do that blood contract. But before we sign it, I want to know what the contract is about.”

“Fair enough.”

She nodded, touched her chin, and thought about how to keep this favorite son of the Heavenly Dao from threatening her and her friends. After thinking about it, she looked up at him and said, “There is only one clause in the contract. You will never harm me, nor anyone who has the slightest good relationship with me.”

Hearing this clause, the thin man frowned. “What if they want to harm me instead?”

“Then just add a second clause. If that happens, you can retaliate.”

After thinking about it, he agreed. “All right.”

Getting the answer she wanted, she said, “Then I will start.”

Zhu Lin handed the jade bottle containing the antidote to Hua Nan, and then stood in front of the thin man. She made intricate hand seals, then cut her finger to draw a drop of blood. She did the same to the thin man. When two drops of blood floated between them, a formation formed under them.

The bloods merged and penetrated into the formation, while she repeated their agreement of the blood contract. After carving the content of their contract on the formation, she made another set of hand seals. A second after she finished the hand seal, the formation shines brightly and two dark red chains emerge from the formation, wrapping around their wrists.

The chains disappeared after a few seconds, and the formation gradually dimmed. When the formation completely disappeared, the chains turned into runes and were printed on their wrists before disappearing. The thin man looked at his wrist, then raised his eyes to stare at Zhu Lin.

Hua Nan was also surprised when he saw what happened just now. But knowing her mysterious background, he returned the jade bottle to her without saying anything. She poured out a pill and handed it to the thin man.

“You can follow Hua Nan from now on. He will arrange a place for you to recuperate until we leave this place.”

The thin man nodded, but still stared at her without speaking. She looked at Hua Nan and said, “I’ll hand him over to you.”

“Mhm.”

Hua Nan looked at the thin man and said, “My name is Hua Nan. What’s your name?”

“Yuan Yan.”