Chapter 43 – Astray Demon Lord’s Son (1)
Knowing that catching up wouldn’t be just catching up, Chen Luosong nodded, agreeing to go for a drink.
When they said “a drink,” he really only had one drink, slowly nursing the not-so-full glass of liquor from start to finish.
The man sitting across from him indeed had more on his mind than just catching up; he mainly brought up recent events at the bureau. Strictly speaking, the man wasn’t a bureau employee, but due to their close relationship, he had the right to be informed and was well aware of the bureau’s affairs.
At least more than Chen Luosong was.
The man mentioned that recently some employees had been transferred from frontline duties to administrative roles.
Frontline employees referred to those who entered the book worlds to complete tasks. It was said that the transferred employee had unexpectedly died during a mission and woke up midway through. After an evaluation by the bureau, it was determined that this employee could no longer undertake any missions, thus necessitating the transfer to an administrative position.
When carrying out missions, employees enter the mission world and assume specific identities, becoming a person within that world. Naturally, they would also experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, as well as the possibility of accidents. However, due to their knowledge of the settings and plots, most accidents could be avoided. This particular employee was the first to die accidentally during a mission.
It was precisely because of this employee that the bureau finally confirmed that accidental deaths in the mission world could indeed cause harm to employees in the real world. The resulting harm didn’t significantly impact their daily life or physical health but did cause enough psychological trauma to render them unfit for future missions.
Chen Luosong listened to the man across from him speak. When the man finished, Chen Luosong smiled and asked, “Why bring this up to me?”
The man’s gaze lingered briefly on Chen Luosong’s slightly upturned lips before shifting away. He replied, “Just worried you might do something reckless.”
Chen Luosong didn’t think he would do anything reckless. Setting down his glass, he glanced at the time and then said, “It’s getting late. I’ll head out now.”
The person sitting across also glanced at the time, stood up, and said, “Let’s go to my place.”
“Your place is too far from here. My place is closer,” he said. “The hospital is nearby too, so we can stop by there before work tomorrow morning.”
His place was indeed close, within walking distance, just two streets away from the community gate.
They went upstairs, opened the door, and turned on the lights.
After changing into slippers, Chen Luosong followed him into the house. The man led him into a room and said, “This is your room. There are pajamas in the wardrobe. I had prepared them earlier, thinking you might stay here for a couple of days. Don’t worry, they are new.”
Chen Luosong thanked him and then noticed a stack of papers wrapped in red velvet and adorned with pressed dried flowers on a cabinet nearby.
Following his gaze, the man smiled and said, “You probably don’t remember, these are the invitations we prepared earlier.”
He said, “I’ve been busy since the wedding was canceled and forgot to deal with them.”
Chen Luosong indeed didn’t remember. Since he wasn’t familiar with the details, he hadn’t been involved much in the wedding planning, leaving it all to the hired coordinator and the other party.
He stayed there for the night and left at dawn the next morning.
It was still early, so he stopped by the hospital for a quick visit before heading directly to work.
Although he had gone to bed late the previous night, he had rested enough. Plus, he hadn’t drunk too much, so he felt clear-headed and ready to think and work.
When he returned to the office, the documents for his next assignment had already arrived.
One hand propping up his face, he looked down at the screen, watching the words and images flash by. The corners of his eyes drooped slightly, and his eyebrows twitched.
——
A rainy night.
The sound of rain was everywhere, wind rustling the trees. In the darkness, the rain was accompanied by scattered footsteps. The footsteps were faint, easily drowned out by the rain.
Above the forest, several shadows quickly skimmed through the air, the sound of their passage rippling through the atmosphere and fading into the distance.
The shadows vanished from sight in an instant. The person stumbling through the forest lost all strength and fell heavily onto the muddy ground, mixed with fallen leaves. Blood and dirty water blended together completely.
The rain hit the body, but it no longer elicited any sensation. The pain gradually faded away, along with any sense of temperature. The person lying on the ground, eyes wide open, had pupils that were dilating, unable to focus anymore.
He knew he would die here.
Even with consciousness fading, the person on the ground was acutely aware that he was going to die.
The sound of wind and rain in the wilderness seemed even more pronounced. The sky was overcast, darkness engulfing everything in sight, finally swallowing the faintly breathing life entirely.
“Plop—”
In the last moment of fading consciousness, a faint warm light appeared in the blurry vision, and the sound of rain seemed to be blocked out by something.
Just before the eyes closed completely, the blurry vision cleared for an instant, and the person on the ground saw a swaying lantern in the wind, with eyes reflecting light behind it.
“……”
Amidst the torrential rain, in the dark forest, a lantern swayed, passing through the woods and the fields.
The wind and rain didn’t stop all night, and by early morning, the sky was still dark and overcast.
The wind and rain battered the windows, while inside, the room was warm and bright.
The person lying in bed opened his eyes. Once his vision cleared, he saw an entirely unfamiliar scene.
He wasn’t dead; he was still alive.
Zhou Ji couldn’t sit up. Any movement pulled at his wounds, rendering him completely immobile and without strength. He could only remain in his current position, continuing to lie there.
His memory lingered on being chased to the desolate wilderness last night. He still remembered the cold rain hitting his face, the stinging sensation as it dripped into his eyes.
Now, however, it was very warm. The walls and wooden cabinets within his field of vision looked old but clean, clearly indicating that someone lived there regularly.
“Awake?”
A voice came from behind, a gentle voice.
Zhou Ji couldn’t turn his head, only shifting his eyes slightly to see a figure walk into view.
The person was wearing an utterly ordinary long robe, but it was worn in a rather unusual, almost haphazard manner, just enough to look presentable.
As their eyes met, Zhou Ji saw light-colored pupils with a slight smile. Last night’s memories came flooding back.
It seemed he had been rescued by this person standing before him.
He wanted to say something, but not only could he not move his body, he didn’t even have the strength to speak. He could only move his cracked lips, unable to utter a word.
“If you can’t speak, then don’t try.”
After glancing at the wounds on the person’s face lying in bed, Chen Luosong turned and fetched some ointment from a wooden table nearby, placing it beside the bed before applying it gently.
On the bright side, the previous occupant of this place was chronically ill, so the house was well-stocked with various medicines, including those for injuries and common ailments like colds. The medicines were neatly categorized and ready for use.
The person lying in bed had a face that still bore traces of youth, despite having an expression of unnatural numbness and lifelessness for someone of that age. It was clear that he was still quite young.
He appeared even younger than Zhou Xiaokai when Chen Luosong had first met him.
After applying the ointment, Chen Luosong stood up and headed to the kitchen.
Everything here was unfamiliar, but following the descriptions in the books, he managed to do simple tasks like lighting a fire and cooking.
However, the books didn’t explain how to properly wear clothes. The clothes he had worn last night were soaked, so he changed into another set, but not knowing how to wear them correctly resulted in his current appearance.
The fire in the stove burned steadily, and the smell of smoke wafted out, causing Chen Luosong to cough twice. These coughs seemed to trigger something in his lungs, leading to an incessant coughing fit, with a burning pain spreading through his chest.
He truly was a sickly person.
When the coughing finally subsided, he added two more sticks of firewood to the stove and stood up to check the pot.
The porridge seemed to be ready.
He filled a bowl with porridge and returned to the bedside, pulling a stool over to sit down. He asked, “Can you sit up?”
“…”
The lifeless dark red eyes met the lightly smiling pale pupils. The person lying in bed remained quiet for a moment before slowly moving, propping himself up and sitting up slowly.
Sitting up was difficult but not impossible.
Chen Luosong praised his effort, then cooled the porridge slightly before handing it to the person sitting on the bed.
Zhou Ji glanced at the person sitting beside him.
No matter how he looked at him, this person had no aura of spiritual energy or demonic energy; he was simply an ordinary human.
Those people, or rather the demonic cultivators chasing him, likely wouldn’t bother associating with a mere human.
Chen Luosong held the bowl of porridge patiently, waiting as the person in bed pondered.
It was natural for him to be hesitant.
According to the books, this person was the son of the Demon Lord, or rather the former Demon Lord. The Demon Lord had been betrayed and overthrown by his subordinates, who then wouldn’t leave the Demon Lord’s heir alone, sending people to hunt him down. He had been hiding and fleeing for several years, often deceived by others, so his wariness was understandable.
In the storyline, it was said that years later, after being injured again and rescued by someone by chance, it took him a long time to lower his guard.
The highly vigilant son of the Demon Lord took his first bite of porridge, seemingly without much hesitation.
“……”
Chen Luosong thought that perhaps the book’s content was inaccurate.
After taking the first bite, the person sitting in bed, whose lifeless eyes were half-open, slightly widened them and looked down at the seemingly normal porridge.
There was nothing wrong with the porridge, so the problem must be with him. Perhaps due to his injuries, his sense of taste was off.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have tasted such a complex mixture of flavors in a simple bowl of porridge.
Meeting the gaze of the person holding the porridge bowl, and not wanting to refuse his kindness, he cautiously took a second bite.
Then a third bite.
“……”
Struggling to sit up, he collapsed back onto the bed and didn’t move again.
Chen Luosong, holding the bowl, said, “Hmm?”
The person who collapsed didn’t move for several days.
When Zhou Ji opened his eyes again, the previously ingrained complex taste was gone from his mouth.
He had no idea how much time had passed. His vision was still blurry, but the incessant sound of rain was gone, and he could vaguely see warm light streaming in, whether from the window or the door.
The sky had cleared.
As his vision gradually cleared, he heard the rustling of clothing. He turned his head, and his dark red pupils unexpectedly saw a full head of flowing long hair and a slender, pale back.
