Chapter 1944 - 1943: Trouble on Beidao

"But if I leave, I can't be sure what kind of punishment the people of the Divine Realm will receive. If something happens to them, what should I do?"

Fang Fang was still torn over whether seeing Tang Lei was more important, or the lives of the common people were more important.

"Do as you like. This place probably won't hold out much longer. If you want to come out, then hurry. If you don't want to, then you'll have to sacrifice yourself for the common people, and you won't be able to be with my dad for the rest of this life."

Tang Rao had said all he could. After speaking, he huffed and puffed, ready to withdraw his Divine Sense.

"Wait, I'll go out with you!"

Everything Fang Fang should worry about, she'd already worried about. Some things really weren't for her to be thinking about right now. After all, there was something Tang Rao said that was right: sometimes you worry about others, but they might never have thought about you at all.

In that last step before the door, Fang Fang ran out from underground along the Teleportation Array.

After so many years, to see the light of day again, to see so many people again, this was a feeling Fang Fang had never experienced before.

"Mom?"

When Tang Rao saw Fang Fang, his first feeling was amazement, and his second was: is this still my mom?

A few days ago he'd only seen Fang Fang in Illusion City. He'd thought she was beautiful, sure, but still lacked some spirit. Until she came out—only then did that lively aura return, making it impossible to look away.

"Rao Er, my Rao Er!"

Fang Fang hugged Tang Rao. That feeling of losing and then finding again could only truly be felt by Fang Fang herself.

"Rao Er, how sick is your dad, what exactly is going on? Take me to see your dad, hurry!"

The years of feelings between Tang Lei and Fang Fang hadn't been for nothing. The two of them weren't like others, needing to fuss over each other every day. They looked like an old married couple, as if there wasn't much affection left. But when something really happened to one of them, the other would be anxious, worried, scared out of their wits. They lived for each other. That feeling of living for the other person—that was true love.

As soon as Fang Fang came out from underground, the ground began to shake, even showing signs of collapsing. Tang Rao grabbed Fang Fang and started running, and while running he was still worrying about whether the women and Wu Suowei had managed to keep up.

"Mom, let me carry you!"

Fang Fang had been locked in a relatively small space. After such a long time, with not enough movement, it was very hard for her to keep up with Tang Rao and the others' speed.

At first Fang Fang didn't want Tang Rao to carry her, afraid he'd get tired and be held back. Who knew Tang Rao didn't even ask her opinion, just squatted in front of her, hoisted her onto his back, and ran.

慈母山 disappeared as soon as Fang Fang left; that little mountain from before seemed as if it had never existed.

Fortunately, Tang Rao and the others ran fast, otherwise they would have vanished along with 慈母山 right before their eyes.

"Rao Er, that mountain just now… how did it just disappear?"

Fang Fang still hadn't recovered from the thrill and danger just now. It was hard for her to imagine that if she hadn't left so fast—or if she hadn't left at all—she would already have been buried underground, never to get out.

"It's gone. You saw it yourself. If you hadn't left just now, you really wouldn't have been able to see my dad again."

Tang Rao also felt it had been unimaginably close. He wasn't a Prophet; he didn't know if he'd be able to successfully rescue Fang Fang. Only when Fang Fang came out did he finally feel a lingering fear.

"You said your dad is sick and might be gone any moment. Let's hurry back. We can't let your dad have regrets—absolutely not!"

Fang Fang gripped Tang Rao's clothes tightly, urging and pushing him to hurry back.

"If I didn't say that, how would you possibly come out?"

Tang Rao came clean with Fang Fang. If he confessed now, he could still be forgiven. If he waited until they got back to confess, he'd not only be scolded by Fang Fang, he'd also get beaten up by Tang Lei. That delightful sourness of getting beaten—Tang Rao felt he could still remember a bit of it.

"So you were completely lying to me just now. Your dad is perfectly fine, isn't he?"

Fang Fang's hand was still clutching Tang Rao's clothes. If Tang Rao said one wrong word, the beating he'd get… would be quite something.

"Yeah. Or did you actually want something to happen to my dad?"

Of course she didn't. Asking that was all nonsense, wasn't it?

"Mom, I think you'd better still go back and check on him. When I went to save you, my dad was strongly against it, so I did something to him. I don't know if he's woken up yet."

The things Tang Rao said, and the way he joked, really weren't funny at all. Who treats his dad like that?

"Did something to him," just what had he done to make it so that Tang Lei might still not be awake even now?

Fang Fang was afraid Tang Rao had gone too far, so she hurried toward the Tang Family estate.

Right now she only wanted to get back as soon as possible, to see whether her Brother Lei was still safe.

The Tang Family home was unusually quiet. When Tang Rao found Tang Lei, Tang Lei had already woken up. He was sitting on the bed in the room, staring motionlessly at the doorway.

"You got her back?"

Only when Tang Rao appeared did Tang Lei finally speak. Before that, he hadn't wanted to say a single word.

"She's back. My mom is right behind me, take a look."

He stepped aside, revealing Fang Fang's face. Seeing Fang Fang, his mood relaxed quite a bit.

"Brother Lei, you're okay. It's good that you're okay!"

Fang Fang was saying things Tang Lei couldn't understand. Hearing these strange words, Tang Lei immediately knew that Tang Rao must have said something wrong in front of Fang Fang.

"I'm fine. What about you? All these years, I've always wanted to bring you out, but unfortunately I failed every time. Do you resent me?"

Tang Lei had never told Tang Rao the reason he didn't want Tang Rao to go rescue Fang Fang.

Over all these years, Tang Lei had tried many ways to rescue Fang Fang, but every attempt ended in failure. And every time he failed, his body would suffer backlash. Only when, later on, he could no longer endure such torment did he finally give up that idea.

Tang Rao wanted to rescue Fang Fang, and although the method he found this time was different, whether it would succeed was still an unknown. If Tang Rao's body suffered backlash, the problem would be far from minor.

"How could I possibly resent you? You only became like this because of me. If I resented you, wouldn't that make me completely heartless?"

Fang Fang and Tang Lei had too many things to say to each other. They weren't like what Tang Rao imagined, coming back only to criticize Tang Lei first. Instead, they poured out their hearts to each other and directly forgot Tang Rao to the ends of the earth.

Tang Rao quietly backed out. Waiting at the door for Tang Rao was Wu Suowei, whose face didn't look as good as before; there was even a trace of worry hidden in it.

"Look at you, what's happened?"

To be honest, he'd never seen Wu Suowei this melancholy before.

"Tang Rao, you haven't looked at the content inside Illusion City?"

Wu Suowei spoke very cautiously, afraid that once he finished, Tang Rao wouldn't be able to handle the shock.

"Inside Illusion City?"

Reminded by Wu Suowei, Tang Rao finally went into Illusion City to take a look.

He hadn't known before he looked; once he did, he almost felt a murderous impulse.