Chapter 164 A Long-Awaited Reunion, Protected by a Nation...
Judging by the time, I should be waking up soon.
Zhong Li sat back down on the edge of the bed and gazed at Mainkuen’s sleeping face.
Tranquil and serene, with a slightly grayish complexion and overly delicate features, she didn't look like a real person at first glance, but rather like a stone statue sculpted by an artisan with the utmost dedication—a lifeless beauty.
...
No, no.
Zhong Li refuted this in his heart.
Stone statues don't cry, they don't bang their heads against the wall, and they don't sob so violently that they faint. Alas, may the Rock King protect him and let Mr. Kaedehara Manyo arrive before he wakes up.
Prince Yan is truly beyond appeasement.
Things didn't go as the gods wished. Rock's heart skipped a beat. Zhongli watched helplessly as the lynx fur on the cat's ears trembled slightly and then slowly stood up.
“…Zhongli…Good morning…” He opened his eyes groggily, his pupils slowly shrinking into ovals as the light shone through. Mainkun habitually propped himself up on the bed with his right hand.
It all came to nothing again.
……！
As his head slammed back onto the pillow, Mainkun immediately recalled all his memories, and the pain instantly shattered all the languor he had just awakened.
"Aww—"
Trembling, Mainkun looked around but couldn't see Wanye. "It's over! They must be dead!! Dead at the hands of General Thunder!"
Tears welled up in his eyes in an instant, and the gray stone statue quickly came to life, groaning and screaming in agony.
"It's all...my fault! It's my weakness and incompetence..."
Zhongli skillfully got out of bed and helped him sit up, leaning against her shoulder—lying down and crying would only make him breathless. "You'd better replenish your energy and fluids first. Your body is still tired after just waking up, so it's best not to get agitated or overexert yourself..."
"Waaaaah!"
...Okay, I still can't persuade them.
Zhongli could only hug the cat, his eyes wide open, sobbing with a helplessness and urgency he had never felt in a thousand years, desperately hoping for the arrival of hope.
"Zhongli! We're back—"
The traveler felt a chill run down his spine as he stepped into the house, and when he looked up, he met Zhongli's pleading gaze.
"Who are you?"
Unlike the all-powerful Morax!
"Come over here quickly, don't linger at the door," Zhongli urged calmly.
"Mr. En!"
Wan Ye reacted quickly, running into the house in a few steps.
"Look here, we're right here, nothing's wrong!"
"Wan, Wanyu!"
The crying stopped abruptly, and Zhongli felt a lightness on his shoulder. The cat was sitting up unsteadily, looking at Wanye in disbelief, as well as at the traveler and Youren behind him.
"You're alright, you're all still alive."
"Sigh, you're still worried about this?"
With a wry smile, Wan Ye stepped forward, trying to reassure Mainkuen, "Nothing's wrong, we..."
*Smack*
Before he could finish speaking, Wan Ye suddenly felt a chill on his hand. The handcuffs, formed from black mist, were already fastened to his wrist, while the other end was gripped in Mainkuen's only remaining left hand.
"...Mr. En, you...?"
"Don't leave."
"Wait, no? You?"
Wan Ye tried to shake the chain several times, but couldn't break free.
"Don't leave."
Taciturn but clear in his meaning, Mainkuen straightened his frail back, his expressionless face exuding a domineering air of a king.
"You are not allowed to go to Inazuma," he commanded.
Although I don't know why Kaedehara Manyo didn't set off while I was unconscious, since he left an opening, he shouldn't be thinking of going to his death. As for the Thunder General, I'll figure out how to deal with him...
“But, Mr. En, Inazuma, we…”
"You're not allowed to go! You're not allowed to go!"
With a slight gasp, Maine tried to wipe away her tears, but her left hand was already bound by chains, so she could only laboriously lift her stump and rub her face with the remaining half of her forearm.
"Human life is important, yet fragile."
"But……"
"Give up resistance and accept your fate."
Mainkuhn turned his head slightly, avoiding his eyes, his heart as ruthless as iron.
"Hate me, for I will never let go of you, even if it kills me."
Freedom or death, which is more important? Ha, someone like Manyo would definitely choose the former without hesitation.
But that's because they don't understand their own value, and they are completely unaware of their own vulnerability.
"But, Mr. En!"
Stop shouting. My mind is made up. No one can disobey the king's command...
"We've already been to Inazuma!!"
...
?
Confused, Mainkuen blinked his vertical pupils and tried his best to explain to the boy whose wrists were locked.
"We not only went to Inazuma, but also defeated General Raiden. The Grand Master has promised to abolish the Eye-Hunting Edict and the Seclusion Edict, but there wasn't enough time. We returned before we could even tell her about you..."
Mainkun listened for a while, then nodded silently.
"Did you hear me clearly?"
Yes, I heard that right. Three days to defeat Inazuma, what a resounding victory!
"Now that you understand, please let me go."
Man Ye shook the chain, both amused and exasperated.
"What kind of talk is this... Wait, why are you wrapping it even tighter? Didn't you hear me clearly?"
"Um."
Listen carefully, Wan Ye, in your pursuit of freedom, you've reached the point of speaking recklessly.
They defeated General Thunder and stuff...
I don't believe it.
An unprecedented wisdom shone in the cat's eyes.
Don't try to fool me with nonsense!
I am no longer the easily fooled person I was in Fontainebleau. How could the King of Sumeru be so easily deceived? Only a fool would believe such a clumsy lie!
"They didn't even reply. Ha, they're really too smart for their timing."
A young, steady voice came from behind the door. It was the head of discipline, who had arrived a little late after completing the port entry procedures with the soldiers.
"Sino!?"
Mainkun was startled when he saw him and instinctively hid his severed arm behind his back.
Why... are you here...?
"Is this important? Probably not as important as your hand, right? Why don't you explain it to me first, Your Highness?"
Seno knew everything that had happened and didn't need Mainkuen to explain, but he wanted to force out the king's helpless expression and see his soft earlobes soften as he showed weakness to his subjects.
"Please, please don't tell Elheisen."
"No, I won't keep it from you."
Seno showed no outward sign of anger, but inwardly he was furious, and his words were laced with resentment. "I'm not only going to tell him, but I'm going to exaggerate it, to make him so angry that he can't eat and keeps calling you an idiot. Not just Elhesen, I'm going to tell Nasita, Tinari, Kavi... I want everyone to feel the same way I do."
"...Don't do that, little Seno."
In just a few words, the king was about to cry again because of his ministers. He glanced at the quilt out of the corner of his eye, looking like he wanted to hide inside.
"Don't tell them..."
Elheisen often calls me stupid. If he finds out I didn't follow his orders again, will he be disappointed in me and never speak to me again? ...And Nasita, I used force to coerce her into submission, but now I'm weak and crippled. How will she treat me? Will she retaliate? I often harm her people in front of her...
How will the great beings of Sumeru deal with the powerless tyrant? Will I die in the wilderness like an old lion?
The once mighty have grown weaker, the once young have grown strong. Mainkuhn dared not look at Seno, for he feared that he would, as he had done years before, fearlessly take up his gun and challenge the new king to a duel.
This time, it will be Mainkun himself who will be defeated, crawling on the ground, looking up in awe.
"Waaah..."
But Mainkun heard no battle cries; instead, he felt his left claw being pried open, chains slipping out, and chess piece-shaped objects being placed down.
"Huh?" What is that?
“Turn around and look, Your Majesty.”
"The Grass God said that you returned the Divine Heart that was possessed by the Great Sage to her, so you must know what it is."
The fox, who had devoted himself to the cause of the gods, paid a heavy price in an attempt to quell the anger of Sumeru.
In conjunction with the upcoming rescue plan, we must do everything in our power to find out Mainkuen's family background... and the Heart of God is just the most insignificant part of it.
But it is indeed the most representative one.
"...Thor's symbol?!" The cat's ears perked up instantly. "Wait, why is it in Cyno's hands? Could it be... could it be..."
That absurd story of speedrunning Inazuma in three days is actually true?! And the reason it came true is...
“Wise King, don’t forget again.”
Dark hands clasped white claws, and Seno placed the Heart of God on the king's hand.
"If you are bullied, remember to say that you now have a whole country standing behind you."
...For me? To avenge me?
For my sake, he raised his sword against the seven gods of the mortal world, for a useless monarch...
“Sai, Saino…”
The black chains scattered in the wind, and the shimmering vertical pupils softened like honey.
"Sino!"
All the worries and sorrows, the inferiority and anxiety, suddenly vanished.
"Don't look at me like that. The victory was just a coincidence, a combination of favorable timing, location, and people."
"You're such a good child, waah!"
"Then show your arm to the good boy, you know which one I'm talking about."
"..."
"Don't hide behind them! ...Mr. Zhongli, please excuse my poor attempt to hide."
Man-yeo jumped aside as the chains dissipated, still shaken. "This is a development I never imagined."
"After all, it's a cat."
Paimon chuckled.
"Mr. En is probably the kind of cat that follows its owner when they get up to use the bathroom at night!"
"He wasn't that clingy; he used to be pretty cool."
Wan Ye laughed, recalling Mainkun's days as a wandering spirit, but hesitated when he saw Mainkun hiding behind Zhong Li.
"...Probably not."
"Whether they're clingy or not, cats are all stupid creatures."
He rolled his eyes without hesitation, and the stragglers stepped forward to snatch the Heart of Thor from Mainkun's hands.
"Alright, just take a look. This is the spoils of war that Yae no Miko promised me."
"Alas……"
Mainkun was actually a little reluctant to let go, "Shouldn't the spoils be given to the leader to choose first...?"
"What does it have to do with me? I'm not your subject."
The stragglers grabbed without hesitation, grabbing without restraint. "Sino, what are you looking at? Do you want to help him grab it?"
"I don't really want to get involved in wars between our own kind. I just want to remind you of one thing: skirmishers."
"explain."
“Nasita, I borrow your heart of the grass god and this heart of the thunder god. You can only keep one of them.”
"Why!" the soldier exclaimed incomprehensibly. "I obtained the Heart of Thor myself, and I didn't care how many years Nasita had held the Heart of Grass God in my hands. Why can't I have both?! This is what I deserve!"
"That's enough. You really want to possess two divine symbols all by yourself?"
Alright, more boring rules and face-saving. The stragglers, each with a Heart of God in one hand, were caught in an endless dilemma.
"I'm used to using the Grass God's Heart, and it's compatible with the main unit..."
"So that's the Heart of Thor?"
"Damn it!...Can't I have both?"
He grumbled and tried to negotiate with Sino, but then he saw Mainkuen staring at him from behind Zhongli, his ears bristling with fear as if he were looking at a fake.
"What are you looking at! What, you don't recognize me after not seeing me for a few months?"
"You're not a deserter!"
The cat screamed in terror.
"The skirmishers would have already started grabbing the two Hearts of God by now; they wouldn't waste time saying anything unnecessary to Seno!"
The skirmisher clenched his fists tightly: "..."
This patient is sick, we can't administer the injection. This patient is sick, we can't administer the injection...
Mainkun not only hid from the skirmishers himself, but also dragged others to hide with him, shouting, "Sino, stay away from him, it's dangerous."
...So annoying!!!
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