He pulled Qin Chu, who was tense all over, into his arms and sighed contentedly, murmuring, "It's so good... You were so heartless before, leaving me all alone behind. Now we can finally leave together."
As the man finished speaking, Noah cried out in Qin Chu's mind, "Sir! It's too late!"
The countdown on the black box reached zero, and a blinding burst of fire surged forth in an instant.
The intense heat and pain assaulted him, but the image that remained before Qin Chu's eyes was still that pair of enigmatic peach blossom eyes. In the instant his body was torn apart by the force of the explosion, Qin Chu felt a gentle touch on his earlobe.
A sigh tinged with laughter pierced through the sound of the explosion, kissing my eardrum:
"It's an honor to meet such a real person like you in this fake world."
"I'll be waiting for you in the next world."
The aftershocks of the explosion still echoed in my ears, but the deep red wine swirling in the glass was elegant and serene, exuding a rich aroma.
Bright but not glaring light streamed down; it wasn't the pale golden sunlight outside the plane, but rather the light emanating from the crystal chandeliers on the ceiling of the Royal Palace.
There were only three people in the huge living room: the butler, the prince, and the man in black robes sitting on the sofa.
The unbelievable story came to an abrupt end, and the cold tone that had echoed in the living room of Roy Palace also disappeared, leaving behind a heavy silence.
The old-fashioned cleaning machine, with its palm-sized wheels, circled the gleaming, star-studded floor before hitting a heavy table corner, where it got stuck and made a squeaking sound.
The butler woke up with a start, quickly moved the cleaning machine away, and looked at the man in black robes sitting on the sofa, asking a familiar question: "That's... all?"
The man in the black robe moved his hood slightly, as if he had turned his head to look, but his attitude clearly indicated his consent.
Hearing these kinds of poorly-ended stories all the time isn't good for an elderly person's heart. The housekeeper clutched his chest, feeling as if he had a breath stuck in his throat.
After hesitating for a moment, he still asked, "Is that how the merchant is..."
The man in black robes gave a cool "heh," and said succinctly, "Dead."
He glanced up at the person opposite him as he spoke, and his tone was far from pleasant.
Levy put down his glass, finding the look quite amusing. He chuckled and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? Cursing me?"
Upon hearing this, the steward clearly sensed that the man in black robes was not in a good mood. He twitched his suspended foot, as if he really wanted to kick their Crown Prince's handsome face.
However, for some unknown reason, the man in black ultimately did not kick him.
He nimbly jumped off the sofa, turned around and glanced at Levi, saying, "Keep the payments from last time and this time."
This was a unilateral announcement, and the person left no room for refusal before walking directly out of the Royal Palace.
Perhaps it was a matter of practice makes perfect, because this time Qin Chu didn't spend too long telling the story.
But he was still in a bit of a hurry, having spent too much time on the black market and on the road, and he clearly didn't have much room to linger at Roy Palace.
As Qin Chu was pondering where to hide his robe, he stopped at the exit of the reception room.
A gate had silently closed down in the corridor, with two soldiers guarding behind it. All the other exits from the living room were also sealed off, and the smart windows were closed, turning the entire large reception room into a magnificent but airtight cage.
The Crown Prince, who had been leisurely lounging on the cushion, stood up and stretched like a star beast that had just woken up, his stretched body exuding extreme power.
He walked slowly but happily toward the thin man in black robes, and reached out to grasp the man's wrist.
His Highness the Crown Prince smiled and bent down, meeting Qin Chu's eyes hidden under his hood: "The reward can be saved up, but the story... could you tell it all at once?"
Author's Note:
Would I say I was so engrossed in writing that I forgot to update?
Regarding the timeline, this book doesn't tell a story by traveling back from one world to another. It begins with Qin Chu and Levi already having traveled back from the virtual world, and then Qin Chu recounts his past experiences to him one by one.
Chapter 52 Puppet
"Let go."
Qin Chu looked at the strong knuckles on his wrist and felt a headache coming on.
Sure enough, people who love to cause trouble never tire of it, and he can't expect to return to normal once he gets back to the real world.
"I won't let go." Levi blatantly acted shamelessly.
He clutched his frail wrist, feeling a sense of incongruity. This young man in the black robe spoke coldly and was somewhat strange, yet his every move exuded an aura that Levi was very familiar with.
Calm and composed, even in this trapped state, there is no panic or unease.
It sounds simple, but it's a rare state of mind. People with this mindset are often very confident in their abilities and shouldn't have such a fragile and easily broken constitution.
This is not his body—Levy became increasingly certain of this guess.
He became even more interested.
Qin Chu looked up and stated calmly, "You can't stop me."
“Oh? Then…give it a try?” Levy smiled.
The next second, the body shrouded in black robes suddenly rose up, using a clever trick to twist Levi's arm at an extremely unbearable angle, forcing him to let go.
His Highness the Crown Prince chuckled softly and praised, "Not bad."
But before Qin Chu could land and regain his freedom, his ankle was easily grabbed again, and then, in a flash, he was thrown onto the sofa by his shoulders.
A gap in pure strength, a chasm that skill cannot bridge.
Qin Chu's face did not show any frustration or resentment at the result. He just frowned slightly and turned to look at the person who was holding him down.
This person was incredibly tall and possessed extraordinary strength; he had never seen such outstanding physical abilities in the entire Imperial Military.
Qin Chu was able to tie up the bald stall owner in the black market using his skills, but he couldn't escape even a fraction of the Crown Prince's clutches.
"What? Not jumping anymore?" Levi teased the person on the sofa, then started being sarcastic again, "Call me Your Highness, and if you're satisfied, I'll let you have it?"
These words were so shameless that even the butler standing to the side couldn't help but turn his face away.
Upon hearing this, Qin Chu raised an eyebrow and looked at him indifferently: "Okay, then come here."
As soon as Levi got a little closer, Qin Chu swiftly reached out, grabbed the man's slightly disheveled hair, and slammed his knee into the Crown Prince's handsome face.
"Ugh..." Levi was hit squarely in the cheek, but luckily he turned his head in time, and his straight nose was spared.
"You brat..." he sighed softly, covering his face, "Don't you know you shouldn't hit someone in the face?"
Qin Chu's knee strike was powerful; the kneecap throbbed with pain. But the person who was hit was unharmed; aside from a red mark on his face, there was no other visible injury.
Qin Chu muttered a curse under his breath, feeling somewhat annoyed. What kind of freakish physique is this?
Despite being punched in the face, Levi still held onto Qin Chu's ankle tightly with one hand.
His Highness covered his face and shrugged for a while before raising his eyes and giving a mocking glance to the small, thin body on the sofa. He shook the ankle he was holding, as if he were lifting a defenseless little insect: "You were able to escape just now, but... you're very afraid of getting hurt."
Qin Chu didn't refute it. To be precise, at this moment he didn't care about the person who restrained him at all. Instead, he frowned and looked at the huge pendulum hanging on the wall.
The minute hand moved another tick, making a soft "click" sound.
Qin Chu's expression changed slightly, and he nimbly sprang up from the sofa, rushing towards the nearest window.
Levy had clearly anticipated his move. Like a cat playing with a mouse, he first released his grip on Qin Chu, and then easily grabbed the frail body again with a long arm.
But His Highness the Crown Prince soon realized something was wrong.
The next second, the thin, black-robed man was thrown in the opposite direction by the force of his movement.
But there was no exit in this direction, only a clean floor and an old-fashioned cleaning machine parked to the side.
Levi frowned and withdrew his strength, but his body, shrouded in black robes, suddenly went limp and fell powerlessly onto the cold, hard floor, like a puppet with its strings cut.
"What...what's going on?"
Seeing the man in black robes collapse to the floor, the steward was startled and rushed over: "Your Highness, what did you do to him?" He mustn't have killed him...
Levi laughed angrily: "Can't you see what I'm doing?"
The two walked toward the man in black robes lying on the ground. The butler hesitated whether to call for medical personnel, while Levi squatted down with great interest.
"You've already fainted?"
He reached out and pulled off the black-robed man's hood, revealing an ordinary-looking young man lying underneath, pale and thin, appearing malnourished.
The black-robed man, whose hood had been pulled back, had his eyes tightly closed. The mysterious and aloof aura he had exuded vanished completely as the robe was lifted.
Levy frowned and stared at it for a while, but quickly lost interest.
He stood up, yawned listlessly, and said to the butler, "Have someone take him away. Wake me up when he wakes up."
As he spoke, he turned and walked towards the bedchamber. After a few steps, he seemed to remember something and walked back to the sleeping boy's side, reaching out to take the black robe off him.
The old butler watched silently as this act resembled a robbery, his expression indescribable...
-
It was very bright and a bit hot.
Lanny drifted off to sleep, instinctively reaching for the temperature control button in the sleep pod, but after a few moments, he found nothing. He struggled to lift his eyelids and saw a layer of colorful murals.
The scene made Lanny subconsciously feel like he was still browsing in a virtual network. He raised his hand to rub his eyes before he was fully awake.
He lay on a comfortable bed, with a high and distant dome in front of him, painted with ancient and mysterious murals that seemed to depict a scene of a beast tide.
During class, Lanny, who had been fascinated by these star beasts as a child, quickly recognized several S-class star beasts on the mural. He sat up and glanced around, noticing that it was a large, empty room.
There are two cabinets against the wall, one of which has a white half-body sculpture on it.
Completely disoriented, Lanny thought he had fallen asleep or clicked on some page, leading him into this virtual exhibition hall. Just as he was about to bring up the control panel of the virtual network, he turned his head and saw his own reflection in the glass door of the display case.
This isn't the skin he uses to browse the internet; it's how he looks in the real world.
Lanny panicked for a moment. Shouldn't he be lying in the sleep pod?
Why am I in this unfamiliar place?
He quickly raised his hand to check his personal terminal, only to find that the terminal he always wore on his wrist had been removed, leaving it empty without even a trace.
Just as Lanny was at a loss, the door to the room opened, and an elderly butler bowed to him: "Sir, you're awake. Would you like some food first?"
-
When the steward arrived, Levi was tinkering aimlessly in his bedchamber.
He disassembled some equipment from the Royal Palace, reassembled it, and made a simple signal transmitting device.
In the past, it wouldn't have been so complicated; you could just contact someone using their phone number. But now, except for special areas like gathering areas, medical facilities, and laboratories, all communication networks have been cut off.