Chapter 20: A Breeze of Scent
When Beichen, Xiangying and Yaye returned to Elytheon, Yagard seemed to have been waiting in the underground teleportation room for a long time.
"Miss Beichen, Lord Xiangying, Lord Yaye, I hope you are all safe."
Beichen helped up the saluting Yagard and turned around to look - he was the only one who came to greet him. Even the usually clingy Black Disaster Sujie didn't show up. It seemed that the situation was indeed serious.
"How is Xifeng's injury?"
"It's under control. He just woke up."
"Well, anyway, let's go check on Xifeng first!"
Yagad nodded, and walked quickly to Xifeng's room with the three of them in silence.
“…West Wind!”
Seeing the figure lying on the bed, not only Beichen, but also Xiangying and Yaye were shocked.
Xifeng, always energetic and sharp-eyed, now had a sullen complexion and his eyes had lost their usual brilliance. He leaned against the backrest of the bed, head bowed, lost in thought. His chest was wrapped in thick bandages that covered almost his entire upper body. Beside the bed lay a dozen empty bottles of Protoss mineral solution, with faint traces of golden blood seeping through the bandages—one could imagine the severity of his injuries.
"...Zefeng?...I'm back. Are you okay?"
In the room, Hei Huo, Su Jie, Gu Yinyue, Atlas and Xiao Ying were all there, but they seemed to know that now was not the right time to reminisce or greet Beichen, so they just quietly made way for him by the bed and let him walk over.
Xiang Ying looked at Gemini and gave him a worried look, while Gemini walked to Xiang Ying and patted his shoulders soothingly, but for some reason he sighed inexplicably.
Xifeng was awake and should have heard Beichen's call, but he just acted as if he didn't hear it and continued to sit in bed.
Seeing this, Yaye on the side snorted helplessly.
"Alright, alright, the real boss is here. What are we, the light bulbs, still standing around for? How can someone act like a spoiled child in front of so many people? Go away, go away, all of you follow me! You should explain everything that has happened recently to me!"
As he spoke, he grabbed Heihuo and Sujie by the collar and threw them out the door. He nodded to Gu Yinyue, then waved to Atlas, called him over like a puppy, and touched his head as a reward. Finally, he kicked Xiangying in the calf and kicked him out as well.
Now, besides Beichen and Xifeng, only Xiaoying and Yagard were left in the house.
"Although we don't want to be a light bulb, we will feel uneasy if we leave without explaining some things clearly at the first time." Xiao Ping stretched out his hand to tidy Beichen's hair with some fatigue:
"Elysion, I wonder how many days of peace will remain."
Beichen nodded seriously, expressing his understanding:
"Well, Xiaopeng and Yagad, tell us one by one."
"The first thing is, the Soul-Slaying Blade hasn't been found yet. Glenshe is still leading a city-wide search. Other towns and settlements have also been cordoned off via emergency dispatch. The thief is probably still in Elysien."
"Why are you so sure? What if the other party uses the spirit crystal to escape?"
"The Soul-Killing Blade has been fed with Glenshe's blood for so many years. It can't stay away from Glenshe, its 'owner', for too long. If it leaves, it will 'die' and become useless."
"Hmm... This way there's still a chance of getting it back. So what's the next thing?"
"It's about someone framing Gu Yinyue's mother, Lady Fang Ai. Also, Fei Bai's departure caused the base to lose a lot of research data. Although these materials are backed up, it can now be said that some of the technology has been leaked. It was my negligence, Miss Beichen."
Afterwards, Yagad briefly explained to Beichen what had happened recently. At the end, seeing that Yagad was about to kneel down because of self-blame, Beichen grabbed him and said:
"I had a premonition of Feibai's departure. Facing him..." Beichen said with a wry smile, "I knew he would hit me with a club, but if I didn't plan to erase his memory and imprison him... I was bound to get hit sooner or later, and there was no way to avoid it. We should be thankful that at least no one was killed. He just took away some of our skills."
She reached out and took Xifeng's hand.
"It's a pity that Xifeng was implicated."
"But—"
"Ah, I know that sometimes, things like 'technology' can harm more people... But even knowing this..."
At this moment, I just kept feeling thankful that Xifeng was still alive.
──Beichen swallowed these words bitterly.
Yes, in fact, she had long ago placed them in a realm far above anything else in her heart. Wasn't this Elysion established for this purpose? She had always been a little afraid of Xifeng and had been hesitant to get close to him, but now seeing him lying in bed, she realized that in her mind, Xifeng was... the same as them.
They are the ones who make her ignore the lives of others and only think of the selfish idea that "at least he is still alive".
Beichen slapped his forehead, trying to come back to his senses.
"However, even though that's what I said, it's better not to leak the information if possible. Should we send someone after him?"
"Yes, Li Ye and I each sent a small group of Night Cavalry soldiers and the Dark Fallen Troops to track him down. It was the people I sent who discovered Xifeng who was knocked down by Fei Bai."
Xiao Ping glanced at Xifeng, and a look of helplessness flashed in his eyes.
"But Feibai is very cunning. Not only is he very powerful in combat, but his ability to self-replicate has tripped up our pursuers countless times. He's tricked many of our warriors, and now only three or four are still following and in contact."
Beichen frowned in confusion: "Didn't they say they copied Xiangying...how did they become so strong?"
"Miss Beichen, according to Mingxi, we first accelerated his level to August for the purpose of transformation. So, during the transformation process, he may have used his clone to pretend to be asleep, while his main body secretly familiarized himself with other equipment in the base and performed other additional transformations on himself. As a result, his abilities were much higher than expected. But..."
"but?"
Yagad hesitated for a few seconds before finally speaking. "The transformation I arranged for him won't affect his body. It's the best transformation plan supported by a large amount of data. But if he undergoes additional self-transformation... while his strength will increase dramatically, the strain on his body will also be enormous. It's like asking a warrior skilled in quick attacks to engage in high-speed combat with heavy weapons. If this continues for a long time..."
The knight paused again.
"I'm afraid my life span will soon be over."
“…It’s not white…”
Beichen lowered her head and called out the bitter name with a complicated expression - but now that things had come to this, she couldn't catch him back and talk to him immediately, so she could only shake her head and tell herself not to think about it for the time being.
"Send more people to stop him. But since Feibai is so powerful, tell the soldiers to be careful and not to waste their lives in a reckless fight. Bring more special spirit crystals, such as black fog, phantom poison, and rebellious bone, and use clever means to capture him."
"yes."
Yagad immediately nodded and accepted the order.
"Also... that leaked information... doesn't include the weapon duplication technology and the level cap breakthrough technology that's currently being researched?"
"No, these are all extremely confidential. Even if Fei Bai has the ability to copy, he can't enter those special research laboratories. What was leaked are some war weapon modification technology, sharpening technology, level generation technology, and some research reports on 'Violent Iron Ghost' and Star Spirit Ore."
Beichen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard what Yagard said.
"It's a blessing if those two haven't leaked yet. In any case, it's better not to leak this information out... If it falls into Su Mo's hands..."
Thinking of what Su Mo said at Sai Yan's embassy, Beichen couldn't help but shudder.
Holding Beichen's hand, Xifeng noticed the slight tremor and finally reacted. He turned his head and looked at her.
As if he understood the look in Xifeng's eyes, Xiao Peng twisted his lips and nudged Yagard with his elbow.
"Well, we've pretty much finished explaining and reporting. We'll both be leaving then."
"Miss Beichen, please allow me to take my leave. However, please allow me to remind you that Master Xifeng... No, Master Xifeng's current physical condition is not suitable for sharpening the blade."
“…”
“…”
Beichen twitched his lips, and the calmness on Xifeng's face collapsed for a moment.
So, in the eerie silence, Xiao Ping rolled his eyes and pulled away Yagard, who had a puzzled look on his face as if to say "Did I say something wrong?", and closed the door, leaving Beichen and Xifeng looking at each other in bewilderment.
After a short stalemate, Beichen spoke first:
"Uh, Xifeng...does the wound still hurt?"
"What do you think? The crystal core is exposed."
Seeing Xifeng speak, Beichen was stunned for a moment, then wanted to touch Xifeng's chest with a bit of heartache, but withdrew his hand for fear of hurting him.
Xifeng immediately snorted in dissatisfaction, so Beichen quickly sidled over to the bed and sat down.
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"I don't feel comfortable anywhere."
"...Would you like to eat some edible crystals?"
Noticing that Xifeng's complexion looked a little better, Beichen secretly admired the person who discovered that crystals could be fed to war weapons, saying he was a great hero of the universe. At the same time, he took out the thing that always worked to coax war weapons and stuffed it into Xifeng's hand.
As a result, the magic weapon (? ? ) that always works no longer works.
Xifeng's attitude, which had just improved, inexplicably changed 180 degrees. With a sour face, he stuffed the crystal back into Beichen's hands and turned his head.
"I'm going to go to bed."
"Huh? Ah...I see."
Thinking that more sleep would indeed help the injured person recover, Beichen did not object, but just reached out and pulled the quilt for Xifeng.
"Then Xifeng, you can go to sleep. I'll stay here with you."
"Oh, I don't want to sleep again."
...Xifeng, are you pregnant?!
Beichen twitched his lips and looked embarrassed for a while. Finally, as if he suddenly remembered something, he took out the laptop that Xifeng had given him from the storage space and leaned towards Xifeng.
"Then let's play a game to distract ourselves! The pain won't go away if we're distracted!"
“…”
Uncle Xifeng, whose mood was unpredictable, finally did not object this time, so Beichen quickly moved the wireless mouse and opened the partition dedicated to games - he found that it was full of "Sex Alert X", "StarCraft 3", "Cunter-Striker", "Mass Effect", "Black Party", "TA" and other games that were either war or shooting games, or dark and violent games.
──Xifeng, do you really want to train me to be a destroyer? Beichen helplessly rummaged through the folders and finally found a folk modified PC version of "Monster Hunter" that she could play.
"How about this? I can play with Xifeng online? Xifeng can use the controller and I can use the keyboard."
"Okay. Go fight the Boom Dragon. But you're not allowed to wear the high-end suit."
“…”
"You are not allowed to bring recovery medicine either."
“…”
"I won't save you if you die. I'll even kick your corpse and crush the cat you brought with you."
“…”
"Also, I'm used to playing ranged, so you go be a tank and draw away the enemy's firepower."
“…”
So, an hour later, Beichen's character in the game, who had been beaten countless times by Honglong, lay on the chair in the meeting room on the screen and refused to get up. Beichen also completely collapsed on the bed, with his mouth twitching constantly.
"Please spare me... I can't wear high-level suits and I'm not allowed to bring medicine. I can't withstand a hundred of them. My operating skills are very poor. And Xifeng, you often deliberately shoot the crossbow at me! Wuwuwu..."
"Useless guy."
Uncle Xifeng, who was injured by Feibai and took out his anger on the Dragonite, seemed to be in a much better mood. He kindly quit the game and looked down at her.
"I'm hungry."
"Ah? Do you want to eat the crystals?"
Beichen took out his "magic weapon" again, but was glared at by Xifeng again:
"You want me, a wounded patient, to eat by myself?"
"...You can even play games... so eating should be okay, right?"
"What did you say?"
"No, I didn't say anything. ...Then, should I feed you?"
Xifeng snorted, reluctantly agreeing to let her serve him - but when Beichen handed the spirit crystal to Xifeng's mouth, she refused to speak.
Beichen was silent for a while, and Xifeng also stared at her in silence for a while.
The stalemate finally ended with the poor Wasteland Queen's surrender. She gritted her teeth, forced a flattering smile, and said:
"West Wind, ah—"
So Uncle Xifeng finally condescended to speak and took the crystal into his mouth, allowing Beichen to breathe a sigh of relief - but the good times didn't last long.
"My hands are sore."
"...I'll give you a thump."
"The cushions behind are crooked."
"Okay, I'll help you fix it..."
"The carpet was soiled by those two idiots, Black Plague and Suchie."
"Then...then I'll go clean it up."
"A bug just flew in through the window."
"I'll catch it right away!"
"Come here and let me hold you for a while."
"Okay! ...Huh."
Beichen, who was dizzy from the tossing of the west wind, was stunned when he heard the last sentence.
"Come here, didn't you hear?"
"I heard it, I heard it!"
The patient is the most important! ──So although Beichen blushed a little embarrassedly, he still crawled back to the bed and nestled into Xifeng's arms consciously ──because he rarely took the initiative to do so, she felt that the atmosphere was a little weird.
But...wait?
Beichen suddenly looked up as if he had discovered something:
"Xifeng, are you...acting like a spoiled child?"
"Don't tell me you just realized now that your head is filled with pudding."
“…”
"Who do you think I was injured so badly for? It's all your fault for raising a bunch of naive idiots who don't want to kill anyone."
The golden-eyed Star Vein complained coldly and mercilessly, but his hand was slowly stroking Beichen's back.
Startled by the rare gentle movement, Beichen looked up at his expression in surprise.
"……sorry."
"ah……"
In the end, what Beichen waited for was an apology murmured in a very soft voice with a hint of self-blame.
Xifeng apologized? This sadistic Xifeng, who always treated people coldly... who was extremely awkward even when expressing kindness...?
"I made a strategic mistake. I didn't keep the information, and was defeated by Fei Bai."
Seeing Beichen's surprise, Xifeng couldn't help but explain in a low voice.
Beichen understood immediately - these mistakes and failures might be just work errors for others, but for this proud Xifeng, they were probably an incredible humiliation - no wonder he looked so abnormal at first.
At a time like this, comforting him would have the opposite effect, wouldn't it? Beichen thought about it and rubbed his chin with the top of his head.
"Yes, it was indeed a mistake. So in order to avenge the previous shame, Xifeng must get better quickly and take back what Feibai stole."
Xifeng stopped stroking her back, then slowly moved to Beichen's waist - and finally suddenly pinched it hard!
“Wuwaa ...
Beichen almost jumped up in pain, but he managed to hold it back for fear of hurting Xifeng's wound.
"Xifeng, you...what are you doing!"
"Nothing, just being a spoiled brat."
“…Is there such a thing as acting like a spoiled child?!”
"If you haven't seen them before, you'll see them today. How was it? Did you sharpen your swords with them when you went out with Yaye and Xiangying this time?"
Beichen's eyes wandered with a guilty look.
"Hmph." Xifeng pinched Beichen's waist again. "You promiscuous woman, you can't help yourself when you go out. I've warned you a long time ago that your sex life shouldn't be so chaotic."
"I'm sorry, I was wrong..."
"Do you really know you're in the wrong, or are you just trying to cover it up? Are you still thinking about attacking me, your patient?"
"No, no, no, how dare I attack Master Xifeng? Hahahahaha..."
"...Oh, really? That's a shame. This is the only chance you have to dominate in bed. Since you don't want it, forget it. I'll slowly settle accounts with you after I get better."
“…”
Beichen's face immediately turned green - and then, as if to add insult to injury, Xifeng spoke to the outside of the window.
"Come in, Atlas."
Atlas is outside the window? When did it come?!
As Xifeng finished speaking, Atlas flew in from the window, came in front of Beichen and wagged its tail happily - it seemed that he missed her very much after not seeing her for so many days.
"Atlas, have you been okay these past few days?"
"Yeah. Okay. ...It's a mess, but I'm fine. I just miss Beichen."
As he spoke, he folded his wings and sat on the edge of the bed, with his tail wrapped around Beichen's arm.
After being frightened by Xifeng and then facing Atlas's coquettishness, Beichen suddenly felt that he was healed, so he touched the tail wrapped around his arm with a touched look on his face:
"I'm worried about Atlas too. He must be exhausted from running around with everyone lately."
"Not tired."
Atlas immediately shook his head and turned to look at Zephyr.
"I'm just a little worried about the west wind. It's only been repaired 35% now, which is really slow."
Beichen looked at this, then looked at that, and finally smiled knowingly at Xifeng:
"Zefeng and Atlas are very close, aren't they? Have they become good friends?"
But unexpectedly, Zephyr and Atlas shook their heads at the same time:
"It's just bad fate."
"Not a friend."
“…Huh.”
Atlas nodded happily: "Zefeng is not a friend, he is my brother. I am the older brother and I should take care of my younger brother."
So the expressions on Beichen and Xifeng's faces suddenly became very distorted and weird.
"Atlas, what nonsense are you talking about? Even if we are brothers, I should be the elder brother and you the younger brother, right?"
"Why?" The possessed Moon Envoy tilted his head in confusion. "Xifeng is younger than me, not as capable as I am, doesn't possess as much knowledge as I do, and has mysophobia. Moreover, despite his obvious mood swings, he refuses to admit that he likes Beichen. Xifeng likes to be upset. Only children are upset. I'm an adult, I'm not upset, I love Beichen the most."
As he said this, he put his arms around Beichen's shoulders ostentatiously, regardless of Xifeng's increasingly ugly expression.
Beichen looked at Xifeng with embarrassment, while the latter pressed his hand to his forehead out of embarrassment.
"Atlas, did Black Plague and Su Jie say something about me in front of you?"
"Yeah. How did Xifeng know? They asked me to be a reliable big brother."
After saying that, the tail that was wrapped around Beichen's arm loosened, and there was a flash of pride and excitement in its red eyes, a bit like a pretentious child who had been assigned a key task. It raised its tail straight up, which made Beichen laugh, and then Xifeng glared at him fiercely.
"Atlas, they are talking nonsense. I have no objection to you wanting relatives, but I must be the elder brother and you are the younger brother. Do you understand? There is no reason. This is the truth."
"……oh."
It turned out that Atlas seemed to listen to the west wind more than Black Plague and Su Jie, so even though the tail hung down very aggrievedly, he still said "Oh" very honestly and nodded.
"Then Xifeng can't act like a spoiled child to Beichen. Xifeng is an adult."
"Then weren't you acting like a spoiled brat to this woman just now when you called yourself brother and sir?!"
"I'm not being coquettish, I'm being flattering."
"…You used the wrong word, idiot!"
"Well... I'm being cute."
"Things like acting cute won't work if you just say it out loud."
"seduce."
"What's with you seducing the woman I like in my bed?"
"bribe."
“…That’s a far cry.”
"Unspoken rules? Pillow talk? Compensated dating? Stealing food?"
"Atlas says not to use random keywords with high click rates!"
Beichen couldn't help but complain when she was sandwiched between two men - this posture gave her a very bad and subtle ominous premonition - and sure enough, Atlas immediately seemed to remember something and looked down at Beichen.
"Beichen Beichen, Beichen likes threesomes, right?"
“…Who said that?!?”
"Ya Ye and Xiang Ying said so. Hei Huo and Su Jie also agreed."
"Could this be why they asked you to come here? What the hell is going on?!"
"Beichen, it's okay. Although I don't want to see Xifeng's Armstrong cannon, I can endure it for Beichen."
"Listen to me!!"
Beichen screamed strangely, and Xifeng couldn't help but speak:
"You don't want to look at me, but I'm not used to having my body seen by others. Besides, if I have a psychological trauma after seeing the Gate of Truth under the Moon Envoy's shell, how are you going to compensate me?"
"My Armstrong Spin Cannon is not surprising. Zephyr is slandering me."
"Alright, alright! Atlas, stop lifting up your shell! Xifeng, stop talking about all that nonsense! Today is the day for Xifeng to rest up, so just cover yourself quietly and chat! I'll cut off ties with anyone who messes up!"
So Atlas sat beside Beichen with his tail in grievance and did not move.
Beichen, who had successfully avoided another threesome, was now ecstatic: Hahahahaha! See! I'm not some weird-tasting P-monster! I'm normal! How normal I am!
The three people in the room started chatting, and then turned the conversation to discussing Elysien's current situation. However, every once in a while, Beichen would interrupt someone's ambiguous proposal with a strange cry.
Outside the house, the eavesdropping Black Disaster and Su Jie could be heard muttering:
"Brother, are we bullying too much?"
"Yeah, yeah, if Little Loach really has a problem with threesomes, then we're both in trouble, right?"
"What a shame... Actually, I was thinking of throwing Yagad and Gu Yinyue together... The expression on her face would be really funny."
"But if that really happens, she will break up with us, right?"
"Yeah, that combination is a bit too explosive... Never mind, never mind. So, the best figures are still you and me, brother! No more, no less!"
"Will it?" A deep voice suddenly echoed from behind Black Disaster. "From a purely martial artist's perspective, Atlas should be the most perfect. After all, it can be considered an artificial creature."
The black and white twins immediately stopped eavesdropping like cats with their fur standing on end, then turned around slowly, a little embarrassed.
"...Hey, brother Yinyue...and Yagad, you guys are here too."
Gu Yinyue nodded calmly:
"We've all gone to do our own things. It's not good for you to be here doing nothing. I know you want to be guarding the door. After all, the situation is critical right now, and ordinary soldiers are not very reliable as guards. But please don't eavesdrop, and don't make any absolutely impossible and stupid plans."
It's over! The joke about throwing him and Yagad together and leaving them to Little Loach was overheard! The twins laughed dryly at the same time.
And Agard also gave an additional attack with an expressionless face:
"Although you think you have good figures, and that's certainly true, it's not the 'best' one. I grew up watching Miss Beichen, and based on her aesthetic standards, the looks of me and Gu Yinyue are exactly what she likes."
“…”
“…”
Actually, Yagad had misunderstood. Beichen's favorite type of opposite sex was the reliable, older brother-next-door type, a look very similar to Gu Yinyue's. That's why she couldn't resist Gu Yinyue's smile at her—but it had nothing to do with his physique.
But since she wasn't there, Gemini immediately took it seriously.
"Little loach, you damned heavy-handed person! What is it? It's just muscles! We can get them with proper training!" Gemini complained inwardly, grief-stricken.
However, in the current situation, there is really not much time for warmth and complaints.
Before Xifeng and the others who were waiting outside to complain about Beichen's service had a chance to enjoy the secret pleasure of being served by him, they received another piece of big information:
Someone came from Arcadia again, but this time they didn't come to invite anyone, but to send someone.
A person who was beaten all over and chained up with extremely thick iron chains - a mutated humanoid possessed by the Moon Envoy.
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