Chapter 93: Love Lost II

Chapter 93: Love Lost II

Outside the game, before An Zhi's return.

"An Zhi is gone!" Ju Lang was frantic, muttering sword formulas as he instantly appeared in front of Qin Huai. "Find him! Quickly, tell me where he could have gone?!"

Qin Huai reassured him, "You two have a Divine Aid Bond. You should know his whereabouts better than I do."

He guided Ju Lang to sit on the sofa and then prepared a soothing cup of red tea with milk for the anxious young man, followed by lighting a calming incense stick.

Qin Huai advised, "Calm down first, gather your thoughts, and sense him carefully. You'll find him soon."

Closing his eyes, Ju Lang tried to sense An Zhi for a while before giving up hopelessly. "The place he's at is very strange. I can't locate him!—"

Qin Huai asked, "How so?"

Ju Lang replied, "He's close by, maybe even in your room, but…" He looked around. "There isn't a trace of him here."

Qin Huai muttered to himself, "Why can't we see him?…"

After a moment of contemplation, he suddenly realized, "He's currently in the game!"

The two of them rushed to the computer and opened the game folder.

A system message popped up: "Sorry, you do not have permission to access this software. To gain access, please contact the administrator to remove the restrictions on this software."

Qin Huai slammed his fist on the desk, a mix of frustration and self-deprecation in his voice. "I, as the client, don't have access rights? Haha—"

"It must be Wen Yan," Ju Lang said.

"Exactly!" Qin Huai didn't doubt for a second that Wen Yan was behind this. "As a game planner, he could easily manipulate things to deny us access."

"In the realm of the divine, one cannot interfere with the spirits of the deceased. The tomb is the resting place for the dead. Since An Zhi has returned to his grave, I am powerless to stop him," Ju Lang, the emperor, felt helpless and terrified for the first time. "What should we do? I have a feeling that if we can't find him this time, we never will."

Silently, Qin Huai opened a drawer, took out a set of keys, unlocked a secure compartment, and retrieved a golden USB drive.

Inserting the USB into the computer, he extracted its contents.

Moments later, a brand new game interface appeared before the two of them.

"{Ju Lang} wondered, "What's this?"

{Qin Huai} explained, "After learning of {Wen Yan}'s intentions, based on my understanding of him, I knew he wouldn't give up easily. So, I urgently backed up the game and imported it into this computer. In other words, the game that {Wen Yan} set access permissions for is actually a backup, while the real game..." Saying this, he reached out and tapped the computer screen, "Is right here."

"Y-You..." Before {Ju Lang} could finish his sentence, {Qin Huai} interrupted him and continued:

"We three grew up together. Later, I spent the most time with {Xiang Yan}. Though I never fully understood his thoughts, I do know something about his style of doing things."

He patted his chest proudly. For a brief moment, {He Mengfang} appeared within {Qin Huai}, "Moreover, this land beneath our feet used to be under my jurisdiction. I'm well aware of such tactics."

{Ju Lang} attempted to enter the game but was repeatedly rejected.

"Unauthorized intruder. No record in the system."

"The system has denied access."

{Qin Huai} caught {Ju Lang} as he was being expelled by the system, "How can this be?" This situation was truly unexpected.

{Ju Lang} regained his balance, "You know {Xiang Yan}, and likewise, {Xiang Yan} knows you."

"What about An Zhi? !" Qin Huai, with no other options, was even more anxious than Ju Lang had been earlier.

After some thought, Ju Lang asked, "Can we manipulate the game in reality?"

"Yes," Qin Huai nodded. "As long as we can access the game interface and enter it, we can observe everything An Zhi experiences in real-time."

Ju Lang continued, "Can we influence the game characters?"

"We can, but not to the point of disrupting their character development," Qin Huai replied, aware of what Ju Lang had in mind. "Most characters in the game have their own objectives. Nobody would act solely for An Zhi's sake."

Ju Lang declared confidently, "There is one. There is someone who would."

Hearing this, Qin Huai immediately understood. He confirmed, "The real Fu You?"

Ju Lang nodded. "That's right."

...

Inside the game, within Jiu Li's Iron Prison.

"A single and a half person?" An Zhi was utterly perplexed.

Moments later, that one and a half person appeared within their line of sight.

"Fu You!" An Zhi's gaze bypassed the young man accompanying him and locked onto Fu You.

"My lord!" Fu You replied in an extremely robotic manner.

Indeed, he didn't seem like a human; more like a walking corpse.

An Zhi grasped the meaning behind Xia Huan's peculiar phrase about being "half a person."

He was delighted by Fu You's rebirth but also puzzled. "It's great that you're back. But how did you find your way back to your body?"

Fu You spoke slowly and deliberately, "I'm not sure myself. I was in a daze for a long time until I heard someone guiding me. I followed that voice and then woke up in my own courtyard."

An Zhi muttered, "But there's a barrier set by Zishi's Misfortune in your yard. It couldn't have been broken without your presence..." He then asked, "How did you get out?"

Fu You replied woodenly, "The door opened on its own."

"How could that be..." An Zhi found it hard to believe.

Fu You continued, "After the door opened, the voice that led me to find my body told me that you were in trouble and needed my help. So, I followed its guidance to Jiu Li, and then..." He turned his neck, making a crisp sound of bone against bone, glancing at the young man beside him.

"I am Li Qing," he introduced himself, then added, "I was taken by Dian Shan to Jiu Li's palace. Normally, I'm rarely allowed out or can only leave with Dian Shan accompanying me. But on the day I met Fu You, Dian Shan unusually agreed to let me bring just one servant for a stroll outside the palace. That's when I encountered Fu You."

An Zhi examined Li Qing's face carefully. Then, he wondered, "Ruan Yong?"

"Dian Shan never calls me Li Qing; he always refers to me as Ruan Yong," Li Qing replied. "Do I resemble Ruan Yong greatly?"

Considering Dian Shan's twisted inclinations, it wouldn't be surprising if he had sought out Ruan Yong's reincarnation to continue tormenting him.

An Zhi studied Li Qing's face and nodded. "You do resemble Ruan Yong, and it's this resemblance that has brought you this calamity."

Hearing this, Li Qing raised his hand, gently caressing his cheek. "My body and skin come from my parents. I don't hate this face; I only hate Dian Shan for destroying my family and imprisoning me in this palace."

If Ruan Yong hadn't lost his parents at a young age, he would have grown up to be an ordinary, kind, and upright person.

The fact that Li Qing could see through Dian Shan, eventually leaving him, and feeling guilty about past wrongs was testament to his goodness.

Now, with Li Qing's family in harmony, he had grown into the genuine, unpolished gem he was at heart, nurtured by such an environment.

Li Qing turned to look at Fu You.

To be honest, Fu You had only returned to his body a few days ago and hadn't fully recovered. Then, An Zhi had forcefully torn off one of his arms, which had yet to regenerate. His appearance was ghastly, far from pleasant.

Staring at his face, Li Qing said, "On the day I left the palace for a stroll, people from the capital were rushing back, screaming about a monster. I'm not a brave person, but at that moment, a voice whispered to me that this monster could help me escape Jiu Li. So, I went to find you. When I first saw Fu You, I wasn't frightened; instead, I felt I had found the right person, and a strange joy filled my heart."

An Zhi continued, "You brought him back to Jiu Li's palace and hid him without Dian Shan noticing. Later on, I returned to Jiu Li's Black Iron Prison."

"Indeed," Li Qing said, pulling out a set of keys that, surprisingly, fit perfectly into the lock of the Black Iron Prison door.

He entered the cell and retrieved a book from his chest, handing it to An Zhi. "A long time ago, I stumbled upon a copy of 'Divine Assistance' in a drawer of my palace. After reading its contents, Ayuan, I felt compelled to entrust 'Divine Assistance' to you."

An Zhi took the book, looked down, and confirmed it was indeed 'Divine Assistance'. He then asked, "Li Qing, where did you get the key to the Black Iron Prison?"

Li Qing simply replied, "Found it."

"Ahh? You... You found it? —!" An Zhi was taken aback and sought confirmation from Li Qing again due to the incredulity of it all.

Li Qing nodded, her expression earnest with a resolute and clear gaze, not resembling someone who was lying.

An Zhi chuckled. "With such luck, you'd be wasting your potential if you didn't buy lottery tickets."

"Isn't everything just too coincidental? And this 'Assistance of Gods' book as well." After flipping through 'Assistance of Gods' carefully, An Zhi confirmed that it was indeed written by Ruan Yong. "Dian Shan is cautious by nature; he wouldn't leave behind a book that could be used against him in the palace."

Seeing the skepticism towards Li Qing's claim, Fu You spoke up, "I can vouch for Li Qing; she's telling the truth."

An Zhi was also aware that Fu You viewed Shen Yuan as "a nobleman arriving, dressed in luxurious silk and fox fur." He possessed both the pride of a scholar and some worldly vices—he loved wealth and sought fame and status.

But did he truly love these things?

Was it only because he wanted his talents to be recognized and not be buried beneath them that he pursued these?

In the end, he remained true to his heart, choosing death over betraying Shen Yuan.

Given that one fact, whether he loved wealth, fame, or status no longer mattered.

Six thousand years ago, Shen Yuan had doubted him. This time, An Zhi replied with unwavering conviction, "Here, I can trust only what you say without condition. Since you've spoken, I believe that Li Qing didn't deceive me."

"Thank you, thank you, Milord!" Fu You was immensely relieved.

For six thousand years, his body had been under Zhe Dan's control. Now that he had just regained possession of it, he couldn't immediately adjust, causing his face to twitch from the immense emotional upheaval.

Li Qing said, "We shouldn't tarry. We must leave this place quickly."

Xia Huan clasped his hands together in a gesture of farewell, "From here on, the world is vast. If fate allows it, we shall meet again."

"Goodbye," An Zhi bid him farewell with a brief nod.

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