Chapter 144: The End and Another Beginning

As that trace of shyness faded away with time, Jiang Wan's brow began to knit slowly. She reached out, her gaze fixed upon the center of Chen Qing's brow.

The wound there made half of his face appear somewhat ferocious, yet upon closer inspection, the injury seemed inconsequential. No wonder she had mistakenly thought he was completely uninjured at first glance.

"This eye of yours..." She touched the area around his brow with her outstretched hand, where tiny bursting bubbles—or what could be called eyes—had left behind pitted scars.

She had witnessed this sight before. "Was the opponent very strong?"

"Mhm."

She looked at Chen Qing's half-finger-wide vertical pupil, the shocking cracks running across it. "Was this... an injury caused by him?"

"It was me." He shook his head and continued, "I couldn't beat him; it was almost a one-sided steamrolling. But upon reflection, his mental state seemed a bit off, so I hit him with a vicious blow. However, it seems..."

He paused to catch his breath, the pain between his brows interfering with his words. "Although I scared him off, the actual damage was practically zero."

"You... you've been turned into this." She looked at the person before her, trying to lift Chen Qing's arm. The limbs that had lost all voluntary control had become unimaginably heavy, and a troubled look crossed her face. "And you merely scared him away?"

"Can you still move?" She looked at Chen Qing, her voice low.

"Mhm..." He rummaged inside his mouth, fishing a piece of milky-white flesh from beneath the root of his tongue.

"You... what are you doing?" Jiang Wan looked on, feeling a mixture of surprise and disgust.

The object looked like a piece of boiled, pure white animal fat, yet it was far smoother and more translucent than ordinary fat, lacking even the tiniest layers of grease.

She watched, her brow furrowing slightly.

"Hold this in your mouth." He looked at Jiang Wan with a somewhat solemn expression. "However, the side effects of this non-hereditary artifact are immense. You... must not swallow it."

"Just hold it in my mouth?" She hesitated for a moment, then heard Chen Qing speak again, "I will hold it with my fingers, and you can guide my hand to your lips. The moment you lose consciousness... I can pull it right out."

"Can you still move?"

He thought for a moment. "Trust Newton."

She let out a soft laugh and placed his fingertips, along with that piece of pure white flesh, into her mouth. She felt her consciousness being instantly yanked away, feeling the world before her transform into an entirely different realm.

She gazed at a pitch-black world wherein a single figure stood.

The person's face was obscured, but an instinct told her that this person was none other than herself.

She watched herself standing there and spoke softly, "You..."

"Shh... shh..." The figure didn't reply, instead gesturing at Jiang Wan. The index finger she raised tapped lightly against her lips, and she began to walk step by step, causing Jiang Wan's brow to furrow slightly.

She watched the version of herself approaching, dressed entirely in white, yet she still could not make out that face. The upper half of the face seemed to be blotted out by ink.

She watched herself arch her waist slightly. Standing right before her, that self tapped a finger gently against her lips. "Do you think you are truly yourself? You are merely an incomplete version of you..."

She spoke softly, but Jiang Wan watched as the world before her gradually grew faint. The dark curtains shrouding the world were like a thin layer of dried ink that scattered at a breath of wind.

She watched the light return before her eyes, revealing the figure of Chen Qing.

"Just now..." She murmured softly, her eyes filled with confusion.

"It was an illusion." He smiled faintly.

She lowered her head, scanning her body. Seeing that all her wounds had healed, she clicked her tongue in amazement. "Such a powerful non-hereditary artifact..."

"It can also cost the user their life, though..." He said softly, allowing Jiang Wan to hoist him onto her back.

She thought for a moment and agreed with Chen Qing's words. "Can't it heal your eye?"

"No." Chen Qing thought about it. "Probably because its tier is too low."

"Yet with you in this state..." Jiang Wan furrowed her brow. "You could only force the opponent back?"

"It shouldn't have been fought that way to begin with." Chen Qing smiled softly, appearing much more relaxed upon Jiang Wan's back. They paused twice on their way toward Zhang Tingyun—stopping at the locations etched in Chen Qing's memory where those two non-hereditary artifacts had been placed.

He watched as Jiang Wan searched around for a moment; the Grand Theater was found quite easily, but when it came to finding the second item, she groped about for quite a while.

"Isn't it here?" Chen Qing asked, somewhat puzzled.

"How would I know?" She gave a helpless, wry smile and shook her head.

"Sister Zhao, care to lend a hand?"

"You rascal... you only ever call me 'sister' when you need a favor." Beside them, Bu Zhaozhao's gaze swept around as she searched the area. As the corpses around them began to gradually manifest their forms, her brow furrowed slightly.

"That's not right... I can't sense it." She frowned, her gaze lingering on Chen Qing for a moment. "It has to be you. But with you in this state..."

He fell silent for a long moment before finally hitting upon an idea. "Contact Kalans."

"Kalans?"

"Professional matters must be handled by professionals. If we let the police collect the bodies, I'm afraid they might accidentally trigger a non-hereditary artifact."

She nodded. The scenery around them began to materialize fully, exposing the corpses that had been concealed by the Grand Theater—from a few exposed fingers to their limbs, the greater part of their bodies was now laid bare.

They turned their heads to look nearby; traces of human activity seemed to be reappearing on the streetscape.

A gentle breeze swept past, carrying the chill of the night.

That breath of cool wind whipped up some fallen leaves and a few discarded sheets of paper lying in the street, drifting past the three of them.

"You'll probably need to contact your colleagues soon." He felt the chill upon his body, his senses signaling that the Grand Theater's effect was receding.

Roughly half an hour later, as the effects of the Grand Theater completely dissipated, a vast expanse of corpses abruptly materialized before everyone's eyes, striking terror into all who saw them.