Chapter 582 - 361: Is This Heaven?

Chapter 582: Chapter 361: Is This Heaven?

Another one of her tribespeople was dead, from a group that had so few survivors to begin with. There had been over a hundred of them when they were expelled from the Underground City. Thirty-seven remained when they decided to seek refuge with Li Xiang in City No. 03. By the time they reached Yunnan Province, only twenty-one were left. And now, just twenty remained!

The Ice Claw Soul-Devouring Beast’s Gloomy Blue Shell gleamed with a cold, metallic light, its six spider-like Ice Crystal limbs digging into the rock wall. As Kanna thrust her Bone Spear toward the leader’s compound eyes, the beast’s head suddenly split into a three-lobed maw, spewing an icy mist. The young woman spun desperately to dodge, but frost still crystallized on the tips of her hair.

At the same time, two other Exotic Beasts clamped their pincers around the waists of two tribesmen, the chilling venom instantly freezing them into bluish-purple statues of ice.

’Damned Exotic Beasts!’ Two more tribespeople were gone. Now only eighteen remained!

Fire blazed in Kanna’s eyes. She lunged forward, battling the Exotic Beasts desperately. Unfortunately, the beasts were simply too powerful. Of the three that attacked, the weakest was Tier Six, while she was only Tier Five.

’If I were alone, I would have used Earth Escape to flee in an instant. But my people are right here beside me. Do I abandon them and save myself, or do I choose to die with them?’

Kanna didn’t hesitate. She would never choose the former!

"Run!" Kanna screamed, sputtering blood. She did her best to tie up the three Exotic Beasts, trying to buy time and space for her people to escape.

But in just a few short minutes, she had sustained over a dozen new wounds, one of them critical. An Exotic Beast’s claw had sliced open her thigh, and chilling venom seeped into her system. Luckily, as an Extraordinary Being, she had some resistance to poisons, but her thigh was still growing increasingly numb, losing all feeling.

SWISH! An Exotic Beast swung its massive claw. Kanna, unable to dodge, felt despair wash over her.

Meanwhile, the other two Exotic Beasts lunged toward her tribespeople, who hadn’t gotten far.

They were about to be completely wiped out!

’Li Sheng, I guess I won’t get to see you after all. I hope in the next life I get the chance to be your girl.’

Kanna couldn’t believe it. She had finally made it into China, her destination almost in sight, only to die here.

WHOOSH!

A sharp whistle suddenly tore through the air, and a figure appeared before her like a crashing comet. To Kanna’s astonishment, the three Exotic Beasts were all severed at the neck, their carcasses tumbling down into the frigid valley.

"You’re... Li Sheng?" Kanna stared at the Mysterious Armored Man before her, overcome with surprise and joy. The moment she relaxed, her wounds became too much to bear. Her head spun, and she collapsed.

Before she lost consciousness, she faintly felt Li Sheng pull her into his embrace.

...

Kanna didn’t know how long had passed when she awoke in a temporary Shelter. A fire blazed nearby, and she felt its warmth. A thick, soft wool blanket was wrapped around her body.

"Er...." Kanna sensed something was off. She lifted the blanket for a peek and saw that she was completely naked, without a stitch of clothing on. However, her injuries were fully healed, without so much as a single scar remaining.

’Did Li Sheng strip me naked to treat my wounds?’ While Kanna was in awe of Li Xiang’s power—to heal without leaving a single scar—she couldn’t help but feel a little shy. After all, her idol had undressed her and seen everything. ’I wonder if Li Sheng thinks I have a nice body.’

It wasn’t that Li Xiang had wanted to strip her naked. She hadn’t been wearing any underwear, and many of her wounds couldn’t be treated without removing her clothes. Besides, her jacket was so tattered and filthy that using it as a cover would have only risked infecting her wounds.

It wasn’t that Kanna disliked wearing underwear. The reason came down to one word: "Poor!"

Still, as an Extraordinary Being, she had an excellent figure.

"You’re awake?" Li Xiang walked in.

"You are Li Sheng? Lord Divine Envoy?" Kanna asked, her voice trembling with excitement as she sought confirmation.

Li Xiang nodded with a smile. "It’s me. I was just lucky. I was on my way to find you and happened to run into you right after I set out."

In reality, this location was five to six hundred kilometers from City No. 03. But to Li Xiang, with his speed of Mach 80, it truly felt like he had just stepped out the door—like he’d "barely taken a few steps."

His Nine Nether Falsehood-Breaking Gaze had detected the fight. He’d flickered, arriving in an instant at Mach 80 to save them.

"To find me?" Kanna seemed to recall something and began to tremble slightly. "You... you saw my email?"

"Yes. Your written Chinese is quite good," Li Xiang complimented her.

Kanna then realized Li Xiang was speaking to her in an Indian language. Writing the email in Chinese had been her own little idea, a way to show off the fruits of her labor in learning the language.

A "China-mania" trend was sweeping the globe, and in almost every Underground City, large numbers of people were learning Chinese. It was said that learning Chinese helped one gain a more thorough understanding of the Breathing Technique. And Li Xiang, along with many other instructors, taught his online mini-classes in Chinese.

Although translation software existed, the resulting sentences and vocabulary always lacked the precision and nuance of the original Chinese.

"You’re all grown up, but you still have some of that childhood look about you." Li Xiang glanced at Kanna’s exposed shoulder, a hint of apology in his eyes. He then retrieved a thermal combat suit from his system inventory and handed it over. "Kanna, I’m sorry. I had to treat your wounds, which meant... well, I had to be forward. I hope you don’t mind."

Kanna stammered, "I... I don’t mind." ’In fact,’ she thought, ’I’m honored.’

"Your people are all outside. Come out and get something to eat when you’re ready." With that, Li Xiang left.

A short while later, Kanna emerged, fully dressed. Her old, torn sackcloth clothes and hide boots had been damaged beyond repair, and with no other clothes to change into, they had become filthy during their long journey. Now, dressed in the combat suit Li Xiang had given her, she looked undeniably graceful and valiant, a truly heroic figure.