Book 4: Near Blood - 48: The Truth
Book 4: Near Blood - 48: The Truth
Zhu Xianyao slowly came to in a room on the west side of Castle Garrison.
Upon opening her eyes, she was greeted by a elegant, beautiful face, one that had appeared many times in her memories.
“Yue Longsha!” She immediately sat up.
“You just woke up. Don’t be in such a hurry,” Yue Longsha said with a slight smile as she brought a bowl of medicine over to Zhu Xianyao.
Zhu Xianyao didn’t take it. She glanced at her surroundings, then at Yue Longsha apprehensively. “Where am I right now?”
“You’re in the Castle Garrison, where else?” Yue Longsha replied.
“Why would you be here?”
“We were chasing after a target from the Immortal Temple. Oh, that’s right, I’m now a part of Long Sang Country’s Secret Task Force. Logically speaking, you belong to a nobility clan from another country. Sneaking in is a violation of our borders,” Yue Longsha laughed.
Zhu Xianyao harrumphed and didn’t bother responding to that.
In this current day and age, the Beast Race threat was still present and the five races still dominated. As such, even though the human race had fragmented into seven countries, these countries were still friendly with one another because of the need to face a common enemy. Otherwise, Zhu Xianyao couldn’t possibly have made a move so simply.
Zhu Xianyao said, “Then where is Su Chen?”
“He handed you over to me so that I will tell you the truth of what happened back then, then went to take care of his own business.”
“You?” Zhu Xianyao laughed scornfully. “Why should I trust you? You and Su Chen were the ones who lied to me back then! I want to recover my memories, not be told another story!”
By the end, Zhu Xianyao’s tone was borderline hysterical.
Yue Longsha replied, “I promise that this time everything will be true.”
Zhu Xianyao harrumphed, “Why should I trust you?”
“Because the story is extremely terrible, so terrible that...... you will probably wish that it weren’t true.”
“......”
......
......
“......and that’s basically what happened.”
After telling the story in a decently short period of time, Yue Longsha concluded, “This the truth. Whether or not you believe it, I’ve already told it to you. What you should do next is also up to you; if you want to add me into the list of people you want to take revenge on, I don’t particularly care.”
Zhu Xianyao remained silent.
To her, this probably was a story that was so terrible it couldn’t possibly get any worse.
Everything was as she had feared – she had fallen for Su Chen’s trap, causing Uncle Eleven to die and the Zhu Clan to be caught in a skirmish with the Immortal Temple and the Six Great Bloodline Nobility Clans. Even more, she had taught Su Chen all of the secrets related to the Zhu Clan’s secret techniques, allowing him to have complete control over all kinds of the Zhu Clan’s techniques.
That really was so terrible that it couldn’t get any more terrible.
Even so, Zhu Xianyao still felt like there was something missing from the story.
This was a feeling somewhere in her heart that she just couldn’t quite put a finger on.
Zhu Xianyao believed that Yue Longsha hadn’t lied this time and had told her the full truth, but she still felt like something very important was missing here.
One thing that perhaps even Yue Longsha wouldn’t know about.
She fell into a long period of silent contemplation.
“Do you have any more questions for me?” Yue Longsha asked when she saw Zhu Xianyao acting like this.
Zhu Xianyao thought for a moment, then replied, “I want to see Su Chen.”
“Is there a need? The current you is not his opponent,” Yue Longsha said with some curiosity.
“I don’t want to fight him. I just want to ask him a few things.”
“I’ve already told you everything.”
“Then do you know what I like to eat? How many times a day I usually like to take a bath? The way that I tend to speak with other people? What I talked about with Su Chen exactly? Did he tell you about all of these petty, unimportant, unassuming matters?” Zhu Xianyao asked.
Yue Longsha was taken aback.
Of course there was no way for her to know these things.
All she knew about was the crafty tricks and schemes Su Chen had used, not these seemingly trivial details.
Zhu Xianyao said, “I want to know.”
“Why do you want to know these things?” Yue Longsha couldn’t help but ask.
“That’s none of your business.”
“...... I suppose so.” Yue Longsha glanced outside the window.
Off in the distance, smoke was billowing out from the castle as flashes of lightning could be seen pealing through the sky.
“They’ve returned to reality,” Yue Longsha said. “Going to look for them now is the best time.”
She didn’t say anything about who had won or lost.
Neither Yue Longsha and Zhu Xianyao were worried about the outcome of this battle.
Indeed, on their way to West Laina Castle, they saw Pall beating a hasty retreat from the castle, his followers straggling behind.
“He’s still alive,” Zhu Xianyao said with some surprise.
“Perhaps because Su Chen doesn’t want him dead. Pall is the leader of the Sand Race, after all; if he dies, it could stir up a lot of trouble.”
“But if that’s the case, we will definitely be attacked by the Sand Race on our way back.”
“Isn’t that pretty good? Then the Zhu Clan and the Immortal Temple won’t be in such a hurry to get back at each others’ throats,” Yue Longsha replied.
Zhu Xianyao asked after a long moment of silence, “Do you think that he even thought of this?”
Yue Longsha laughed. “Would you rather it be this way? Or not?”
Zhu Xianyao didn’t reply.
When they came to West Laina Castle, Zhao Jingwen came to greet her. “Young Miss, it’s good to see that you’re alright.”
“Where’s Su Chen?”
“He’s inside discussing with everyone how we’re planning on leaving,” Zhao Jingwen sighed.
At this point in time, he also knew now that the fake You Tianyang was actually Su Chen. He had no words that he could say.
Zhu Xianyao strode quickly into the room.
Zhao Jingwen said, “Prince You was returned to us. Do you want to go see him?”
Zhu Xianyao stopped in place. She replied after thinking for a moment, “Let him get some rest...... Him and I are only friends, got that?”
“Yes ma’am!” Zhao Jingwen lowered his head.
Since the You Tianyang who had won her heart wasn’t the real You Tianyang, all of Zhu Xianyao’s feelings for him had vanished like a cloud of smoke.
All of the members of the Zhu Clan who had been waiting for them to get together this whole time could only sigh.
Upon entering the main hall, she found Zhu Baiyu, Shi Mingfeng, Su Chen, and some others sitting there and discussing their situation.
When Zhu Baiyu saw Zhu Xianyao return, he sighed in relief. “Xianyao, you’re back? That’s good to hear.”
The reason he had been waiting here was for Zhu Xianyao.
“Since the Young Miss has returned, then what I have promised I have done. We can go now, right?” Su Chen asked.
“I didn’t say you could leave!” Zhu Xianyao stared at Su Chen angrily.
“What? You want to renege on your debt?” Su Chen laughed in response.
“No, I just want you to keep your promise all the way to the very end.”
“Did she not tell you the truth?”
“It’s not enough!” Zhu Xianyao said as she advanced. “I need to know everything that happened in the Hidden Dragon Institute back then no matter how great or small! That, and only that, is the full truth.”
“No matter how great or small? Everything that happened?” Su Chen was dumbfounded. “That’s not something that I could tell you with just a few sentences.”
“Then you can tell me as we go!” Zhu Xianyao replied.
Tell me as we go?
Everyone was dumbfounded.
They were going to travel together?
“What? You aren’t brave enough to go with me?” Zhu Xianyao asked.
“...... Of course not.”
Even though he didn’t want to, Su Chen hardened his forehead and agreed.
Only Zhu Baiyu was frowning as he watched this unfold.
For some reason, he had an unpleasant premonition about this whole situation.