Chapter 174: You Think You Know Better?

Chapter 174: You Don’t Know Him Better Than I Do

Meng Shu shuddered with a chill, wiped his face with his sleeve, and turned around stiffly. "Cat, why are you here?"

"Am I not allowed to be here?" Ling Qingjue’s gaze was dark, his arm tightening around Meng Shu’s waist like a cold, venomous snake.

Meng Shu quickly nodded. "Of course you can!"

"Didn’t I tell you to stay by my side?"

Meng Shu said honestly, "I told you yesterday that I was going to find Jia Zhao today. You didn’t say I couldn’t."

"Did I agree?" Ling Qingjue countered.

He hadn’t refused, but he hadn’t agreed either. Not agreeing is a refusal.

Meng Shu once again witnessed his irrationality. After a moment of thought, he tentatively asked, "I’m already out now… How about you just let me go?"

"Then why didn’t you wait for me? Why did you leave my sight? He’s a single wild fox—what’s the meaning of you meeting him in secret?"

A barrage of rhetorical questions caught Meng Shu off guard.

It took him a while to finally say, "I love you?"

It was a very strange thing to say.

Ling Qingjue was also taken aback.

Meng Shu said, "Is this how I make you feel better?"

Ling Qingjue couldn’t keep a straight face and let out a sudden, short laugh, then immediately turned serious again. "That didn’t make me feel better."

Meng Shu stared at him. "Then can we go find him together?"

"…That’s more like it." Ling Qingjue muttered softly, gently grabbed his hand, and strode forward.

"The Magic Forest is full of monsters. You’re unarmed—how did you dare to go to the Adventurers’ Guild alone?"

When he woke up and didn’t see Meng Shu, he immediately used Spirit Transmission to track his whereabouts, only to find this guy almost getting solo-killed by a Slime.

Meng Shu held his hand back, the tips of his ears slightly red. "You’re that worried about me?"

"…If you died, I wouldn’t bother saving you." Ling Qingjue refused to look at him.

A fine rain fell on their fingertips, cool to the touch.

Ling Qingjue had left in such a hurry that his hair was damp and sticky from the rain. He frowned slightly, then reached out and pulled Meng Shu closer by the waist, bent down slightly. "It’s raining. I’ll use the teleportation array to take you there."

He paused. "No matter where you want to go, you can always ask me for help. You don’t have to go yourself."

A magic circle appeared, and in the blink of an eye, the two stood before the Adventurers’ Guild.

Meng Shu knocked on the door. In a moment, it was opened, and Jia Zhao poked his head out, his eyes still covered with a white cloth.

He couldn’t see Meng Shu’s face, nor did he recognize him. His tone was cold. "Who is it?"

Meng Shu looked at his eyes, his throat tightening. "Jia Zhao, your eyes… are they still not better?"

"I haven’t heard your voice before. Who are you?"

Ling Qingjue interrupted, "Enough chit-chat. Let’s get down to business."

Hearing his voice, Jia Zhao instinctively felt fear. His fox ears sprang out, and he backed away several steps. "Ling Qingjue! What are you doing here? I haven’t provoked you, have I?"

"You moved him out of the Astrolabe. Now move him back." Ling Qingjue said succinctly.

Jia Zhao retracted his claws, looking baffled. "What Astrolabe? I moved him out of the Astrolabe?"

"You’ve lost your memory too?" Ling Qingjue understood. "Just as I thought, a useless prophet."

Jia Zhao swished his tail in frustration. "What exactly is going on? Astrological prophecy is no joke. If you don’t explain it clearly, I can’t help you."

At that moment, the master of the Adventurers’ Guild also walked out and patted Jia Zhao on the shoulder. "Go inside and activate the astral formation."

Jia Zhao wanted to say more, but finally nodded. "Alright."

After he left, the guild master said, "The summoned hero from another world—I’ve been waiting for you."

His sudden seriousness made Meng Shu look around to make sure no one else was listening. He laughed awkwardly. "Guild Master, there’s no one else here. Don’t put on airs. You’re trying way too hard—I’m not used to it."

The guild master immediately relaxed, slouching casually. "We really are old pals, huh! Lately, I’ve had a feeling that the Demon King’s Tower has opened, so I guessed a hero was coming. And here you are."

He grinned and took Meng Shu’s hand. "Come on, tell me—what level are you at now?"

Meng Shu: "Uh…"

Ling Qingjue snorted coldly. "At the level of being solo-killed by a Slime."

The guild master’s face fell. "With that level, how are you supposed to fight the Demon King?"

He shook his head, looking particularly melancholy. "Hero, you don’t know—the Demon King has already descended. We’re in deep trouble. Legend says the Great Demon King can destroy heaven and earth, that he’s cruel by nature—once he descends, the whole world will be destroyed by him…"

Meng Shu smirked. "Last time you said fighting the Demon King was just for show."

The guild master was taken aback. "What! You didn’t take the bait?"

He paced around anxiously. "Impossible! How did you figure out the secret of attacking the Demon King?"

Ling Qingjue looked disgusted and whispered to Meng Shu, "Your Adventurers’ Guild doesn’t have a bright future."

Meng Shu nodded in agreement—he thought so too.

After muttering for a while, the guild master coughed twice and tried to fool Meng Shu again. "Lord Hero, you don’t know this, but the Demon King is truly terrifying! Covered in slime, with tentacles everywhere, evil and hideous. Defeating him is every adventurer’s dream! You gotta work hard to break through the Demon King’s Tower and save the world!"

Ling Qingjue’s facial muscles twitched slightly. He couldn’t help retorting, "You’re the evil and hideous one. I’m covered in fur—where’s the slime?"

The guild master glanced at him and waved his hand. "When adults are talking, you little cat, keep quiet. You’ve never even seen the Demon King. How could you know him better than I do?"

Ling Qingjue’s forehead twitched, and he blew up. "Who are you calling names?"

The guild master wasn’t about to back down. "Don’t think just because you Cat Clan are rare animals I can’t handle you!"

Meng Shu quickly jumped in. "Stop! Stop! Guild Master, say no more!"

Then he turned to soothe Ling Qingjue. "Cat, be good. Go stand over there. Let me handle this, okay?"

Ling Qingjue looked so wronged. "He said I’m ugly!"

"He was cursing someone else, not you!"

The guild leader chimed in with a jab, "I was talking about the current Demon King, what's that got to do with you?"

Ling Qingjue's barely extinguished anger flared up again—what could be more vile than calling a kitten hairless and covered in slime?

Meng Shu grabbed his arm, pleading earnestly, "Stop it, he's not all there! He really isn't!"

If he had any sense, he wouldn't have run the Moon Bay Adventurers' Guild into bankruptcy.

The guild leader kept going on and on, "I'm the guild leader of the Adventurers' Guild! How could you know the Demon King better than I do?"

Ling Qingjue, unable to reach him due to Meng Shu's restraint, twisted his face and bit out each word deliberately, "You better know him better than I do."

Meng Shu tapped him on the back of the head, "Just shut up and behave."

Ling Qingjue reluctantly turned his head away.

Meng Shu said solemnly, "Guild leader, are you saying you already know that the Demon King has descended?"

The guild leader replied, "I have a vague sense that time is frozen, like this rain."

He looked up at the sky, squinting slightly, "It seems to have repeated itself hundreds of times."