Chapter 384: Implicated
Chapter 384: Chapter 384: Implicated
Lan Xin was still in his half-man, half-snake form. With a wave of his hand, the soldiers who had been loosely surrounding the area instantly snapped to attention, forming a tight, impenetrable perimeter around the training grounds. The atmosphere grew murderous, and the very air seemed to freeze.
Lan Xin’s cold eyes narrowed, a faint, cruel smile playing on his lips. He gracefully swept a hand through the air, and a blue mist rose before him. When it dissipated, he had manifested a pair of human legs.
"You’re his Contractor? Impossible. You’re so young, how could you possess such powerful spiritual power? You’re lying to me." Yan Hezhen’s vision had grown dim. She could no longer see Ning Xuan’s face, only a bright, burning flame.
"Save me! I don’t want to die! He Jing! Zhang Yu! Where are you? Help me!" Yan Hezhen could no longer stand and collapsed to the ground. She felt her body heat draining away as boundless fear welled up within her, and she began to scream for help.
Zhang Yu and the others sensed an immense pressure emanating from Ning Xuan. The Companion Spirit behind her radiated an extremely dangerous aura, sending a chill down their spines. When they met Ning Xuan’s gaze, they couldn’t help but retreat half a step.
"I don’t care who you are, you can’t just go around killing people! Boss Yan is an SS-level Controller, protected by the laws of the Federation and the Controller Protection Association! If you do this, you will be sanctioned by the law!" Zhang Yu stammered to Ning Xuan, her voice trembling.
"Restrain them," Ning Xuan ordered Lan Xin.
"Yes, Master." Lan Xin glanced back at his subordinates.
Zhang Yu and her group were immediately surrounded.
"General, Zhou Shi has entered a berserk state! The situation is critical, he needs a Spiritual Power Soothing Master to calm him!" the officer in charge of the wounded said anxiously.
"See? In the end, they still have to beg us—" He Jing said smugly, but before she could finish, Ning Xuan produced a bottle of shimmering, iridescent medicine and tossed it to the officer. "Give this to him."
The officer stared at the medicine, his hands trembling. Most of the medicines he had seen before were murky and dull; he had never seen a potion so pure and beautiful. He looked up at Lan Xin. "General!"
"Hurry," Lan Xin commanded.
"Sir." The officer hesitated no longer and poured the medicine into Zhou Shi’s mouth.
Just then, Yan Hezhen, who had seemed on the verge of death, suddenly showed a glint of life in her eyes. She staggered to her feet, the iron rod that had impaled her still protruding from her chest. "To be able to produce medicine of that grade... and just give it away... you must have more for healing. Give it to me! The poison... in Lan Xin... only I... have the antidote. If I die... he will surely... die with me," Yan Hezhen said haltingly, taking one step after another toward Ning Xuan.
Lan Xin instinctively moved to shield Ning Xuan, his gaze toward Yan Hezhen filled with disgust.
Ning Xuan pushed Lan Xin aside. Her hand shot out, and she yanked the iron rod from Yan Hezhen’s chest, tossing it to the ground. She clapped her hands clean and remarked, "You talk too much."
"I have plenty of life-saving elixirs, but I’d never use one on you. With your pathetic level of skill, you think you can take my man down with you? Do you take me for some ornament? I removed your poison from him long ago. How else do you think I lured out the pink butterfly? Right?" As she spoke, Ning Xuan took the butterfly from the Crystal Bottle. The pink butterfly was already dead.
"You..." Yan Hezhen stared at the bloody hole in her chest and collapsed again. This time, she did not get back up.
As Yan Hezhen fell, Zhou Shi regained consciousness.
Although Zhou Shi had been unable to control his own actions, he had not lost his senses. He was perfectly aware of everything that had happened. He knew that when He Jing and the others saw his condition, they had no real intention of calming him; their so-called soothing was just for show. He had been certain he was doomed to suffer a total collapse of his spiritual power, but against all odds, he had been saved.
Zhou Shi struggled to sit up. The aftermath of his frenzy left his body utterly exhausted. His bones ached as if they had been pushed past their limits, and every inch of his muscles screamed in protest, feeling as though he’d been dismantled and pieced back together. The simple act of sitting up caused cold sweat to bead on his forehead.
"Thank you... for saving me, Miss," he said, his voice hoarse as he gave Ning Xuan a deep bow.
His once-crimson eyes were now crystal clear, still holding the dazed look of someone who had just survived a catastrophe.
"Major General Zhou fights for the Federation. You deserve to be treated well and protected. There’s no need for such ceremony."
"Lu Yan, since you’re here, come over and introduce your team," Ning Xuan said, glancing toward the medical personnel waiting outside.
"Right away! Greetings, soldiers. We are the field medical team dispatched from the Medical Relief Center. Our duties include treating wounds and illnesses, detoxification, providing restoratives, performing spiritual power soothing, and clearing Mutated Values. From now on, if any of you feel unwell, you can come to us for treatment." As Lu Yan spoke, she was already performing a spiritual power soothing for the soldier nearest to her.
The other female Doctors in the medical team also began tending to the wounded on their own initiative, providing soothing treatments.
The soldiers gave the arriving field medical team a warm welcome.
With Yan Hezhen dead, Lan Xin had He Jing’s group and Le Ling’s group detained. He then arranged for female officers from his corps to interrogate them separately, recording a mountain of testimony.
Le Ling and her companions confessed everything about Yan Hezhen’s plot. Yan Hezhen’s attempt to poison Lan Xin had been carried out in secret, but Le Ling had discovered the truth on the final day. This discovery was what led to the incident where the other Calming Masters were forced to choose sides.
Le Ling and four others had been unwilling to conspire with Yan Hezhen, so they had been placed under guard by her subordinates. For this reason, the five of them were quickly released. Le Ling then requested to join the garrison’s medical team and asked to see its captain.
Through subtle inquiries, Le Ling learned that Yan Hezhen’s plan had failed because it was exposed by the medical team’s captain—the very same captain at whose hands Yan Hezhen had died.
Le Ling was intensely curious about this captain. Yan Hezhen may have been a terrible person, but her power had been immense. Furthermore, killing an SS-level Controller was guaranteed to bring a lot of trouble. ’Just who is this captain,’ she wondered, ’to act with such decisiveness?’
As a Major General, Zhou Shi had his own quarters in the garrison. Today, however, he stubbornly refused to return to them. Instead, he stood guard outside the medical team captain’s room, insisting he was there to protect her.
"Master, I was careless. I allowed myself to be harmed by her schemes and have implicated you in this matter. My failure is unforgivable. Master, I will turn myself in to the Inspection Bureau. I’ll confess to killing Yan Hezhen. Everyone who was here can act as a witness," Lan Xin said, kneeling beside Ning Xuan.