Chapter Forty-Two: Resurrection, Then a Scolding

The clock turned back to 9:59.

Within the belly of the Celestial Dragon.

Shi Yuling and the Calamity of Glass had both departed, and the immobilized Dragon Devotee vanished with them into the light. The pure white narcissus flowers gradually faded away, leaving the underground chamber utterly barren. Only a lifeless corpse remained.

Gongsun Ce lay motionless in a pool of blood.

Click, click.

In this vast space devoid of any life, the mechanical hum of gears and levers echoed. The sound came from a door—an entrance leading to the interior of a colossal white tower aboveground. It was the heavy steel door that Gongsun Ce and Shi Yuling had previously bypassed with their abilities.

Almost the instant the door opened, two shadows shot forth, appearing beside the corpse in the blink of an eye. Their speed was so extreme that an ordinary person’s eyesight could not hope to follow, leaving not even an afterimage—perhaps only a bio-enhanced Hawk with sharpened vision could have perceived what just occurred. Were that Hawk able to speak, it would describe the scene thus: a masked woman sprinted at breakneck pace, dragging a man by the arm with utter disregard for his comfort, like a tyrannosaurus carrying off its prey!

Their velocity broke the sound barrier, and a deafening sonic boom resounded in the subterranean chamber. The masked woman halted beside Gongsun Ce’s corpse and released her companion’s arm. The poor man collapsed to the ground without a word—not out of jest or mischief, but because the sheer speed had been too much for him. He might have likened the sensation to being strapped to the side of a roller coaster during a launch.

“Please,” she said.

“Leave it to me,” he replied.

Ordinarily, he might have seized the chance for a playful jab, but now was not the time for levity.

Shi Yulian pulled off the glove from his right hand, revealing the back of his hand, concealed all this time beneath white fabric.

He had never revealed it in public, and those who knew him had never thought much of it, assuming that a man so refined would naturally have elegant hands.

But the truth was quite the opposite. His hand was covered in scars—puncture wounds, burns, cuts from sharp objects, chemical burns—there was not a patch of unblemished skin, only layer upon layer of ancient, overlapping scars.

Ugly to the point of revulsion, almost intolerable to the eye.

There was nothing beautiful about what these hands represented; yet the man in the suit showed not the slightest dismay, for this was a necessary step, like a prelude, to invoking the Law of Impermanence.

“The price is one month of memories spent with a friend; the reward, a five-minute delay of death.”

He placed his scarred hand gently on his dead friend’s face and spoke softly.

“Aspect of Calamity—Manifest. Hotsuin Ritual: Curse of the Heavenly Scales.”

Shi Yulian was a practitioner of the Calamity Aspect, possessing the power to alter fortune, influence destiny, and rewrite causality. It was a force that could bring death, yet also restore life.

As reality shifted, the corresponding price was exacted. Cherished memories vanished, unforgettable moments were erased, vivid images dissolved from his mind, leaving no trace. Though he had paid such prices before, he still felt regret—in truth, it was sorrow.

Yet the melancholy passed in an instant, and he never once felt remorse. Memories mattered only because of those with whom they were shared. If a friend was lost, then the experiences together lost all meaning.

“—Cough!”

Warmth returned to the corpse’s skin. The deathly pale young man with gray hair gagged and spat blood as life surged back. Shi Yulian slipped his glove back on and smiled. “It’s been three minutes and forty seconds since your last death. The operation was a success. You have another minute and twenty seconds before you die again.”

“Thank goodness,” the masked woman visibly relaxed, hearing the revived psychic stir.

“Dragon… disaster…” the first words from his lips.

She couldn’t help but feel exasperated at her friend, though at the same time, she thought, this sort of foolishness was just his way. The masked woman replied softly, “Yan Qi is above—no one has died.”

“Good…” The would-be corpse, with just over a minute left to live, mumbled, “Hand… help… uh…”

The masked woman lifted the mortally wounded student and placed his hand on the gaping wound in his chest.

White matter appeared in Gongsun Ce’s palm.

It was unmistakably his familiar power for battle—the other side of the Instant Spiral, the white substance that stood in opposition to invisible forces.

That substance took the shape of a pure white heart.

“…”

Forming the white heart seemed to drain the psychic of all remaining strength; he could utter no more words. The masked woman placed her hand over his, guiding the new heart into his chest.

At that moment, the white matter revealed a property far removed from hardness: it fused seamlessly with the damaged blood vessels, filling the place where his heart once was, and began to beat within Gongsun Ce’s body, letting the two hear the unmistakable rhythm of a living heartbeat.

“Ugh!” The gray-haired youth spat blood again, which, for reasons unknown, struck Shi Yulian’s funny bone—he nearly burst out laughing.

After coughing up blood, Gongsun Ce felt strength slowly return to his body. At last, he began to feel truly alive again.

With fresh white substance, the psychic filled and sealed his wounds. Now, except for his pallor and the white patches on his chest and back, he no longer resembled a corpse.

Unsteadily, Gongsun Ce was helped to his feet by the masked woman—though he nearly slipped in his own blood. He held up a thumb to his chest and shouted to his companions, “Resurrected! I patched myself up with white matter!”

The masked woman let go, and the gray-haired youth promptly collapsed to the ground with a thud. Shi Yulian finally couldn’t hold back his laughter.

“Haha.”

The psychic protested, “Could you be a little more considerate toward a critical patient?”

He rolled over and happened to see the woman behind him remove her mask, revealing a face as flawless as a doll’s—expressionless, yet exquisite.

Qin Qianbai placed one hand on her hip, looking down at him from above. “Idiot, fool, utter dunce.”

He was left speechless.

Ordinarily, he would have immediately retorted.

But as someone who, mere minutes ago, had his heart ripped out by a self-assumed companion, as a former corpse rescued by his friends, he had neither the standing nor the reason to argue with being called an idiot.

So, all he could do was cradle his head in his hands and say, “Thank you both for saving my life.”

“Look at that, look at that, that’s the look you give an idiot,” Miss Qin showed no intention of letting him off easily. “We both gave you our advice, and yet you insisted on going along with that woman. If this is your idea of flirting, it’s certainly ahead of its time. Is this your grand plan to redeem a bad woman, devised all on your own?”

Disaster.

Fresh from genuine death, his mind wasn’t running at full speed—he struggled to keep up with what Miss Qin was saying.

“I really didn’t expect her to be a wanted criminal…” he replied, trying to buy time while he quickly sorted out his thoughts.

What had Qin Qianbai just said…?

He recalled their conversation at the sewage treatment plant.

—

A girl so eager to fight she was nearly ready to start on the spot, and a psychic who realized it.

—“Hey, psychic, we just gave you advice.”

He still didn’t know why Yan Qi and Qin Qianbai were acting together, but he’d heard their suggestions.

What had his best female friend said to him before that?

—“If you leave quietly now, there’s no need for a fight. If you can’t decide, you’re welcome to wait until they return.”

Walk away, or wait for Yan Qi to return—these were the options Qin Qianbai wanted him to consider. At first, he hadn’t realized who the masked woman was, but once the fight began in earnest, he recognized her.

Otherwise, how could he have fought so half-heartedly?

She had said those things for his sake; Gongsun Ce sensed her care for him. Still, what he really wanted—though he’d never say as much to Miss Qin—was the opinion of a true expert… that is, the arrogant man behind the mask, Yan Qi.

Unfortunately, that advice was useless, and he could not allow himself to quit halfway.

So, Gongsun Ce chose to stick to his own course of action.

—“As I said, I’m going to keep investigating with Miss Alice.”

—

“You know what I’m like—I can’t just walk away from something like this…”

“You ignored my advice, you ignored Yan Qi’s advice, and look where you ended up.”

Gongsun Ce rubbed his head with a pained grin. “I really didn’t expect her to be a wanted criminal. I thought, at worst, she was just a free agent posing as a Hunter, and if things went south, I’d just fight her at the end and call it even…”

The expressionless girl nodded. “Miss Alice was so good to you. How could she possibly harm you?”

The psychic covered his face.

Please stop.

I beg you, please stop!

Shi Yulian’s laughter grew even louder, and Gongsun Ce snapped, “Quit laughing! You recognized her from the start, didn’t you? Otherwise, why would you have shown up at the ramen shop and warned me to keep my mouth shut?! If you’d just used your telepathy to tip me off, I wouldn’t have ended up like this!”

Shi Yulian cleared his throat. “Sorry, sorry—my own plans were disrupted, too. But honestly, I can’t understand why you didn’t listen to Mr. Yan Qi’s advice.”

The psychic retorted, “Did you even hear what that guy said?”

—

What he really wanted was Yan Qi’s advice, hence their conversation before the official battle began.

Or rather, a clarification of the situation.

—“I’m an expert.” That was Yan Qi’s self-introduction, and Alice claimed the same.

—“An expert, are you? I can’t trust anyone who won’t even tell me their name.”

Alice had shown too many suspicious traits, arousing the psychic’s doubts. To Gongsun Ce, a Hunter he’d only just met wasn’t trustworthy; he wanted the aid of a true expert.

Asking for help in front of the Hunter might arouse suspicion, hence his earlier meeting with the information broker.

After all, as Alice herself had said:

If all he needed was information, a text or phone call would suffice—why bother meeting in person?

So, through Mo Yuankai, he contacted Yan Qi.

—“If you want to judge if someone’s trustworthy, you first need to understand their motives and position.”

Clearly, that self-important middle-aged man wasn’t omniscient—he hadn’t figured out the Hunter’s identity at that point. So Yan Qi gave him a lecture, which was useless under the circumstances.

Then Yan Qi said to Alice—or rather, Shi Yuling:

—“You say you want to stop the dragon’s summoning, but how do I know you’re not going to use this secret to curry favor with the Kingdom?”

—“All that talk of confirming motives and working together is nonsense.”

He emphasized that the “Hunter” was not to be trusted; up to this point, it was all useless chatter, a performance only the two of them could fully understand.

Once they had confirmed their mutual understanding, the expert presented the solution to the impatient youth:

—“Why don’t you both just die?”

To put it plainly—

It was simply not something he could do.

—

“Yan Qi’s suggestion was for me to kill Alice—no, Shi Yuling! Completely useless. At that point, neither of us knew the true identity of the ‘Kingdom Hunter.’ Attacking a comrade, based solely on my own suspicions, is a ridiculous suggestion!”

Gongsun Ce slapped his thigh, trying to stand, but only managed to half-rise before collapsing back down.

Opposite him, Miss Qin nodded as before. “How could Miss Alice possibly attack a comrade?”

“Please… stop…”

Shi Yulian finally stopped laughing and shook his head. “Gongsun, you’re too naïve.”

“I—”

“Even if you couldn’t bring yourself to kill, attacking together with Qin Qianbai would have been your best move. With me and Mr. Yan Qi present, no matter how powerful her Impermanence Law, she couldn’t have taken both of you down instantly.” Ignoring his friend’s protests, the young man in the suit delivered his judgment without mercy. “But you let the chance slip by, choosing to continue alongside ‘Alice,’ whose allegiance was uncertain. Beyond your confidence in your own abilities, I suspect you also trusted her. And in the end, the Gongsun who didn’t kill her also believed she would never kill him—am I wrong?”

He had no response.

Too naïve, too confident, too arrogant.

He’d thought he could handle everything alone, and this was the result.

A youth too trusting of others, and in the end, he suffered for it.

But…

“Take this as the self-justification of a friend who cares about appearances, but what you said isn’t the whole reason for my decision.” The psychic closed his eyes in resignation. “The real reason I acted as I did was you and Yan Qi.”

Even the ever-composed Shi Yulian was taken aback.

“Me and Mr. Yan Qi?”

“You showed up first, clearly aware of the details and ready to back me up. When you spoke to me with your ability at the sewage plant, it was obviously because Yan Qi had noticed something—am I right?”

“That’s true… But what are you getting at?”

“Exactly what you think. That infuriating man anticipated my every move, which is why things turned out this way… Tch! Everything that’s happened since was probably within Yan Qi’s expectations!”

Miss Qin glanced between the two, realizing she didn’t understand what they were talking about.

Yan Qi and Shi Yulian had met—so what?

Luckily, she didn’t need to wrack her brain; she could just ask the gray-haired, bespectacled riddle-monger herself.

Tap, tap—Miss Qin knocked on the psychic’s shoulder.

Gongsun Ce hunched his neck and replied, “From my perspective, it’s simple logic. After the two of them met, Yan Qi would have enough information—he’s more than capable, as much as I hate to admit it.”

“After updating his intelligence, Yan Qi would naturally reach a new conclusion—different from his previous absurd ‘kill her now’ advice, or perhaps an even more decisive ‘take her out here and now.’ Either way, with the reminder, I could have acted accordingly.” The psychic’s eye twitched with repressed fury at the absent Yan Qi. “So what did Yan Qi do after our fight?”

Qin Qianbai tilted her head. “He didn’t do anything—he just left.”

Yan Qi had done nothing, and left immediately.

Shi Yulian had not appeared.

In the end, Takizawa Yoshihisa had been taken away by Miss Qin.

From a friend’s perspective, Qin Qianbai considered the situation.

Yan Qi was formidable, Shi Yulian reliable. If those two, having exchanged information, said nothing and left together, what conclusion would the psychic draw?

Gongsun Ce pounded his leg in frustration. “Rather than trusting the bad woman, I trusted my friends! Neither of you said a word before leaving, so of course I assumed Alice Aidal wasn’t some insane criminal. You two must have had something more important to handle and left me to deal with things here! How was I supposed to know Shi Yulian knew the truth and told me nothing? Shi Yulian, you’d better have a good explanation!”

The young man in the suit managed a rueful smile. “Mr. Yan Qi wouldn’t let me say anything…”

Gongsun Ce shouted, “I knew it! So you’re really blaming me for this? Who knows what that bastard was plotting—he played me for a fool!”

“Even so, Gongsun, your lack of caution is still too naïve—a fact that cannot be changed.”

While she said this, the expressionless girl made a silent vow.

—Once this is over, I’m going to help Gongsun beat up Yan Qi.

“This time, I really messed up… Tch.”

The gray-haired youth leaned on the floor, failing several times to stand.

The girl crouched down.

“No choice—lean on my shoulder.”

With her help, Gongsun Ce finally stood.

He heard her ask, “By the way, though we discussed it earlier, when exactly did Yan Qi give you his advice? Was it that cryptic challenge for the small fry to start a fight?”

“Yes. Yan Qi texted me this afternoon—he only came here to find me.”

Miss Qin fished his phone from his pocket and pulled up the latest message.

[I am Yan Qi. Gongsun, it’s about time you died once, too. I’ve sent the information to Mo Yuankai. Whether you use it is up to you.]

She blinked, comprehension dawning.

“Oh. So you planned to die today, which is why that message meant you were to kill Shi Yuling.”

He’d meant to put it off until evening.

He told himself it wouldn’t be true death, but who could know how things would turn out? In the end, to achieve something at the cost of death—even temporary death—was never easy. Supernatural powers could perform miracles—but miracles were never free.

“Who could have predicted things would go this way, half a day ago? Could you check the pocket watch for me?”

With a click, the pocket watch snapped open in Qin Qianbai’s hand. The dial was intact, the hands ticking steadily forward—it thankfully survived the recent chaos.

The time was now 10:03:40—five minutes since Gongsun Ce’s “death.”

Shi Yulian smiled gently. “The effect of the Curse of the Heavenly Scales just ended. Need more rest, Gongsun?”

“Five minutes is already too long for me.”

Now, at last, his mind was back to normal.

Within him surged gratitude to his friends, relief at surviving calamity, self-reproach for his own arrogance, concern for the situation outside.

And a wrath, burning like never before, reserved entirely for Shi Yuling.

“Let’s go, you two. Yan Qi can’t handle everything alone. It’s time to end the Calamity of Glass…”

The psychic clenched his fists.

“It’s time to wake Alice from her beautiful dream!”