Chapter 128. The Past, Tian Mi'er...
Tian Mier followed behind Nu Enluo, walking up the stairs and into the dimly lit corridor.
Memories of being covered up and carried through this corridor in the past instantly resurfaced.
Her steps froze instantly, she stood rooted to the spot, her whole body trembling uncontrollably, frozen in place, unable to take another step.
When she sensed the contract within her body, and its increasingly faint breath, Tian Mi'er closed her eyes, pursed her pale, bloodless lips, and mustered her strength to follow again.
The room at the end of the corridor had its door wide open. The 3-meter-long bed that had been in the center had been moved aside, revealing a secret passage underneath.
Following the dark passage down, after passing through a short, dark section of the building, after seven or eight minutes, a faint blue light could be seen.
Stepping out of the staircase, one is greeted by rows of cylindrical glass pillars that extend from the top to the floor.
Each pillar was filled with a light blue nutrient solution, and a blue lamp was placed at the bottom inside the pillar. Floating inside were creatures with closed eyes, whose appearances resembled deities from ancient mythology.
When Tian Mi'er saw these pillars, she couldn't help but tremble. She was reminded of her experiences from many years ago.
Deceived by her best friend, she was sent to Nuenro's experimental table.
If it weren't for some events that occurred in the middle, revealing that her abilities were somewhat useful to Nuenro, she might have already become the so-called living dead experimental subject, the Wild God.
Recalling this point, she stood at the entrance, a mocking smile on her pale lips, but her voice still trembled uncontrollably: "Nu Enluo, give Yuan Tai back to me."
This place terrifies her because it reminds her of the agonizing, devastating pain of being dissected while fully conscious, with her internal organs exposed.
Nu Enlu's voice came from all directions through the loudspeakers in the experimental exhibition hall, his tone very warm: "Xianhua'er, as a collaborator and an old friend, it's been so many years since we last met."
“Going to someone else’s territory in such a huff to confront them is not the behavior of a lady.”
Tian Mi'er trembled all over, and even though her teeth were chattering, she still chose to repeat what she had said before: "Give Yuan Tai back to me. Our deal is now complete."
She was met with silence.
In this special exhibition hall, the lighting relies entirely on these cylindrical pillars and small, spaced-apart incandescent round lights on the ceiling.
The light did not illuminate the entire interior space, and visibility was limited in the darkness. Tian Mi'er could only stagger into the room based on the limited memories in her mind.
We passed by more than a dozen cylindrical glass capsules containing non-human creatures, and walked to the innermost part.
Inside, they found several egg-shaped machines filled with special nutrient solutions, and several figures were inside, including Yuan Tai, who was shirtless.
Yuan Tai's body is connected to many wires, one of which is a semi-transparent tube about the size of a thumb, connected to his heart and constantly drawing energy from his body.
Tian Mier rushed to the egg-shaped glass capsule, her hands surging with energy, and bombarded the glass capsule surface in circles.
He unleashed dozens, even hundreds, of punches, fueled by energy, but the deck glass was made of a special material that remained completely unmoved despite the barrage of attacks, not even cracking.
A dozen minutes later, Tian Mi'er lay on the glass surface of the cabin, her eyes bloodshot and glistening with tears. She knelt weakly on the ground and said, "Atai, it's my fault. I couldn't save you."
Just as Tian Mi'er lowered her head, Yuan Tai slightly raised his eyelids, his mouth slightly opening and closing, as if to say: 'Mi'er, go, leave this place.'
A moment later, Tian Mi'er, who was lying on top, said in a hoarse voice with a desperate determination: "Nu Enluo, you release Atai, I'll lure Lin Xiaoxiao here, and you can drain her energy."
Hearing this, Nu Enlu couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Hahaha, Xianhua'er, you truly are my creation. Even though you've been away from the organization for many years, you're still rational and realistic."
Tian Mi'er's face was streaked with tears, and her expression was no longer innocent as usual. She was expressionless, and her eyes were dark and sinister, appearing particularly eerie under the blue light: "Just tell me, will this be enough to let Atai go?"
Tian Mier didn't notice that the machine in front of her had stopped, and Yuan Taiye's eyes widened a little when she said this.
Although this opening of the eyelid might only be 3 or 4 millimeters, for Yuan Tai, who was on the verge of death, the action of raising his eyelids almost exhausted the last bit of strength in his body.
Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi, covered in blood, had already entered the underground experimental hall when Tian Mier planned to trick her into coming to exchange for Yuan Tai.
Standing at the entrance of the stairs, when he heard that Tian Mi'er was going to exchange her for Yuan Tai, he was first stunned, and then he gave a self-deprecating smile.
She didn't think she had treated Tian Mier too badly, and she had tried her best to protect her during the battle of the God Hunting Era. She never expected that in the end she would be treated as a resource that could be exchanged.
At this moment, Nuenro's voice rang out again in the space: "Flower, I agree to your exchange. She is right behind you now. You have six hours to complete the deal."
"Of course, as a former partner, you can command the Wild God in the exhibition hall. As long as you can win, I can return Yuan Tai to you."
Tian Mier slowly stood up, looking at Lin Xiaoxiao's distorted figure through the transparent glass chamber, her eyes flashing with cold light, and yellow-green energy surging in her hands.
Lin Xiaoxiao smiled self-deprecatingly, her eyes dark, as she gripped the lightsaber tightly.
Xiao Weizhi stood in front of Lin Xiaoxiao with a cold face. The energy staff in his hand had been replaced by a silver-white spear. He looked warily at the dozen or so experimental subjects carrying strangely shaped humanoid creatures.
He had an almost intuitive feeling that each of the dozen or so humanoid experimental subjects below was stronger than all the monsters above combined.
'ka.ka.ka.ka……' A stiff, mechanical voice sounded as the nutrient solution inside the glass chamber was rapidly extracted, and then the hatch opened.
The tree-man created using Fan Ying as a vessel was the first to awaken. Its originally dull emerald eyes lit up, gleaming with a bluish-green light.
It opened its mouth and let out a silent cry. Countless vines stretched out from its body, twisting and rapidly approaching Lin Xiaoxiao.
At the same time, the other test subjects who were originally in a dormant state also woke up and attacked Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi together.
Lin Xiaoxiao supported herself on her right leg and gently tapped her left foot on the ground three times.
A magic circle, about 6 meters in size and radiating dazzling golden light, quickly appeared on the ground with her at its center, and golden energy shimmered around her.
Then the figures of the four guardians gradually materialized. The first thing they did upon landing was to raise their weapons to block the sharp nails and vines that attacked them...
Tian Mier, who was among these experimental subjects, was wearing a pair of special gloves crocheted from tiny energy flowers.
Tian Mier held a dagger made of fresh flowers in her hand, which looked more like a toy than a weapon.
This dagger, with a blade 27 centimeters long, is curved and thin like a crescent moon. It is pieced together with flowers of various sizes and colors, making it seem completely harmless.
However, when the dagger clashed with the lightsaber in Lin Xiaoxiao's hand, it produced a unique metallic clanging sound.
Lin Xiaoxiao gripped the lightsaber with both hands, rapidly changing her movements to block the daggers in front of her, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Why?"
Tian Mier clenched her left fist, and as she swung it, some tiny flowers about 2 millimeters long fell, aiming straight for Lin Xiaoxiao's face. Her voice was calm and indifferent: "There's no reason why. Everyone looks out for themselves. I just want Atai to live well. Even if you are the savior in the prophecy, it has little to do with me."
Lin Xiaoxiao quickly turned her head to dodge several attacks. For attacks she couldn't dodge, she would conjure an octagonal energy shield the size of her head to block the punches.
She seized the opportunity and swiftly slashed her sword towards Tian Mi'er's heart.
Tian Mi'er created a large energy shield in front of her, but Lin Xiaoxiao's sword energy not only shattered the energy shield, but also cleaved a noticeable crack in the flower armor on her body.
If Tian Mi'er hadn't retreated quickly and created several energy shields to block the attack, she might have been directly cleaved to the bone by that sword energy.
Immediately afterwards, a man who looked like an ape, covered in hair and wearing a helmet with bull horns, wielded a meter-long hammer crackling with lightning and swiftly struck at Lin Xiaoxiao's face.
Lin Xiaoxiao glanced at the enemies on either side of her out of the corner of her eye. To her left was Tian Mier, to her right was a mermaid with a beautiful blue fish tail swimming in mid-air, and in front of her was a gorilla.
She quickly threw out a handful of experience coins, but the gorilla man in front of her was very agile. Before the experience coins exploded, he had already swung his hammer and smashed the handful of experience coins away.
Dozens of experience coins exploded in mid-air, and smoke enveloped the space.
Quan Zhi's voice rang in her mind again: "The mermaid on the right: 2 inches above the belly, 1 inch above the left elbow, the back of the head, and near the fins, are all inlaid with special crystal cores."
"After you pry it all out, cut it in half at the waist, and you can kill it."
"Xiao boy, that bear in front of you..."
"Kitty, the thing in front of you..."
...
Following Quan Zhi's command, Lin Xiaoxiao, Xiao Weizhi, Sicily, and others, who had been suffering repeated defeats, launched a fierce counterattack.
Lin Xiaoxiao first used a feint to defend herself, and then, seemingly unintentionally, dug out several broken divine cores from the mermaid's body.
Then, taking advantage of the movement of bending down to dodge Tian Mi'er's punch, he unexpectedly swung his sword and cut the mermaid in two.
The mermaid turned into two lumps of soft flesh and fell directly to the ground, unable to get up and move again.
[Lucky Goddess's Agent: Lin Xiaoxiao, Execution: [Wild God (Special Form: Mermaid) - Zhenbao], Obtained: Shattered Ancient God Core]
...
After slaying the mermaid, Lin Xiaoxiao could hear a soft sigh. The girl's voice was gentle, as mild as a refreshing sea breeze: "Thank you. I'm finally free from this disgusting body."
[Congratulations on receiving: A wisp of divine insight from Zhen Bao, former agent of the Sea God. Thank you for freeing her imprisoned soul.]
{Divine Enlightenment: These are the insights about deities gained by each agent after advancing to demigod status. They are exceptionally precious knowledge. Legend has it that with enough divine enlightenment to consult, there is a high probability of advancing to true godhood (this information comes from surviving ancient books).}
Lin Xiaoxiao, without even checking her newly acquired divine insights, immediately engaged in battle with the enemy in front of her once again.
Meanwhile, Nuenro sat inside a giant machine, connected by numerous cables, with dozens of light screens appearing in front of him, spectating Lin Xiaoxiao and Tian Mier, as well as his most satisfying experimental subject, in battle.
However, upon sensing a certain peculiar energy, he unusually showed a surprised expression.
Then, as if provoked, he leaned back in his chair and burst into wild laughter, though the laughter sounded extremely bitter: "Wrong, Atums, we all went to the wrong place, hahaha... Who would have thought it would be done through temporary storage... Hahaha, fate is cruel..."
After four and a half hours, Lin Xiaoxiao was covered in wounds of all sizes. Her left foot was on Tian Mier's waist and abdomen, and the tip of her sword was pressed against Tian Mier's neck, leaving a wound.
Bright red blood slowly slid down Tian Mi'er's neck. There was no fear of death on her face. She just turned her head slightly towards Yuan Tai's direction, her eyes showing regret: A Tai has not been rescued yet.
Yuan Tai, in the incubation chamber, lifted his eyelids through the glass and looked at the disheveled Tian Mi'er on the ground. A pang of heartache flashed in his eyes, and he stared at her for a long time, as if trying to etch that look into his soul.
As his bedmate, Yuan Tai could not possibly be unaware that beneath Tian Mi'er's innocent face lay a dark soul. Yet, even so, he still loved her; she was a radiant flower that bloomed from his dark, rotten soil.
A moment later, his eyes gradually lost their light, and his beating heart slowly stopped.
[Yuan Tai, the agent of the God of Darkness, voluntarily sacrificed himself and chose Lin Xiaoxiao, the agent of the Goddess of Fortune, as the victor.]
The moment Yuan Tai lost his breath, Tian Mi'er went berserk, throwing Lin Xiaoxiao, who was standing on her, to the ground, and pounced on the incubation chamber where Yuan Tai was. She knelt down on it and kept pounding on the glass.
The voice was extremely shrill and piercing: "No, Atai, no!!"
When Lin Xiaoxiao was thrown into the air, she was caught by Xiao Weizhi who was standing nearby.
They looked at the devastated Tian Mier, and through the glass of the incubation chamber, they wept as they stroked the lifeless body of Yuan Tai inside.
Xiao Weizhi gently raised his staff, preparing to deliver the final blow to Tian Mier.
But Lin Xiaoxiao stopped her. She looked at Tian Mier, who was kneeling on the glass cabin and unable to do anything except cry, and gently shook her head: "That's fine. Go find Nu Enluo."
Given Tian Mi'er's current condition, even if they don't kill her, she might not live much longer.
Shortly after the two of them turned and left with the other four guardians, Tian Mi'er, her face streaked with tears, knelt on the ground and stared blankly at Yuan Tai floating in the nutrient solution through the glass, the light in her eyes quickly dimming.
Past memories slowly surfaced like a revolving lantern:
{The glory and excitement of Tian Mier at the age of 5 when she became an agent of the Goddess of Flowers as a favored citizen;}
{Tian Mi'er was spoiled and pampered from a young age. At 15, she experienced a shocking change when she was betrayed by her friends and put on a modeling experiment. Ultimately, she survived because it was discovered that she could sense information through flowers and made an unequal pact with Nu Enluo.}
{The first person Tian Mi'er saw when she was rescued was Yuan Tai; he was shining brightly in the darkness.}
Even though everyone says Yuan Tai is a mouse hiding in the dark, he is her hero. In his presence, she would rather remain that innocent and naive 15-year-old girl forever.
{The first time a message was transmitted through flowers, they assisted Nu'enro in capturing a certain god as an experimental subject; blood stained the land.}
{So dirty, her body was covered in the blood of sin, but that day, Atai held her and said, 'My honey, you are not dirty, you are a vibrant, radiant flower.';}
Later, as her level increased and her abilities expanded, she could communicate remotely with flowers in other secret realms and receive information.
{She grew tired of such deals, and her last deal with Nuenro was: to observe and monitor the newcomer, the Goddess of Fortune's agent, who, after the transfer, only had Lin Xiaoxiao at level 0.}
{From level 0 to eighth job advancement, everything that happened to Lin Xiaoxiao over those few years was recorded and handed over to Nu Enluo;}
On the day her mission ended, the century-old contract dissolved, and she thought it would be a new beginning for her…
In the last second of her life, a tear slid down Tian Mi'er's cheek, and her extremely soft voice quickly dissipated into the air: "I'm sorry, Xiaoxiao."
[Tian Mi'er, the agent of the Goddess of Flowers, voluntarily sacrificed herself and actively chose Lin Xiaoxiao, the agent of the Goddess of Luck, as the winner.]
When Lin Xiaoxiao received this notification, she stopped walking in her tracks. Her throat felt dry, hoarse, and itchy, as if something was stuck in it.
Xiao Weizhi looked around warily and asked in a hoarse voice, "Is there an enemy?"
Lin Xiaoxiao shook her head, forcing a smile, but couldn't manage it: "No, I just remembered something. Let's go."
After saying that, the two continued walking along the corridor.
This corridor is over 120 meters long and 2 meters wide. It has an arched top, and every 1.5 meters at the top, there is a palm-sized incandescent light bulb for illumination.
As they walked through the corridor, the two men, weapons in hand, warily eyed the enormous machine that occupied most of the room, and the man named Nuenro sitting in the very center of the machine.
He sat facing the entrance, with many wires connected to his body that were constantly transmitting energy.
In addition, in one corner of the room, there was a brown solid wood round table with a five-tiered dessert tower on it, and two people sitting next to it.
One of them was Mishu, whom Lin Xiaoxiao knew, and the other was a lovely woman with long brown hair, freckles on her face, and a wreath made of wheat ears on her head.
There was an empty chair next to them, with three cups of black tea that had long since gone cold in front of them, as if they were attending a tea party.
Noticing Lin Xiaoxiao's discreet gaze, Nu Enluo also swept his gentle gaze over the woman, then chuckled, "I thought that before I died, I would never be able to fulfill my wish of meeting the all-knowing you."
Lin Xiaoxiao looked at Nu Enlu warily. What did he mean? "You who know everything?"
Not long after she finished speaking, an energy vortex the size of a grapefruit formed automatically in front of Lin Xiaoxiao, even though there was no wind in the room.
Two minutes later, Quan Zhi, whom we hadn't seen for a long time, appeared. It floated slowly in mid-air, its eyes indifferent as it looked at Nu En Luo, who was too weak to move.
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