After the Immortal Disappeared

Hee Lingchuan followed close behind, only to realize something was off.

'How did she get here so fast?'

'He and the monster had been tearing through the area, one chasing the other, faster than rabbits and vaulting over countless obstacles. How could an ordinary person possibly keep up?'

'Besides, he had been keeping his ears open during the fight. The dense fog hadn't fully cleared, but he hadn't heard a single sound of her approach.'

'It wasn't just him, either. The two monsters clearly hadn't heard her, or else how would they have fallen for her attack?'

Now that his suspicions were aroused, he sized up Sunx Fuling's clothes again. Not a single drop of hot water or green fluid had splashed onto them.

It had been a violent struggle—even his own clothes had been corroded with several small holes from the acidic green liquid—yet she had remained completely spotless.

'Is she really just a simple teacher from the Shumin Academy?'

Sunx Fuling paid no mind to his inner turmoil. She entered the house and pointed at the floor. "Look."

A senior woman lay on the ground. A look of terror was still frozen on her face from before she died, but her body was completely shriveled, just skin and bones, as if it had been vacuum-packed.

A large hole had been torn in her neck as well.

Hee Lingchuan crouched down for a closer look. "Her flesh and blood have been completely drained. It seems the monsters feed on humans."

Sunx Fuling added, "The owner of the house you rushed to earlier was a young mother. Her body looked just like this."

'So there were two of them. They must have snuck into separate homes to feed. I discovered one, so it ran to meet its partner and fight back?'

"How could a monster like this appear in Panlong City?" Panlong City was one of the few peaceful places on this turbulent continent. The rules were strict, but the security was also top-notch, allowing its people to live and work in peace.

Sunx Fuling asked him, "What are you going to do now?"

Before she finished speaking, the outer door creaked open and four or five people rushed inside.

Hee Lingchuan started walking out of the house and came face-to-face with several constables.

"What's going on here?" No one could possibly ignore the monster on the ground, and the men were all taken aback.

They had been patrolling nearby. The commotion from Hee Lingchuan's fight with the monster had been so great that alarmed residents had gone to report it.

They had assumed it was a simple domestic dispute. They never expected to walk in and—whoa!

Hee Lingchuan was on leave and not in his Patrol Guard uniform, so he took out his Divine Bone Necklace and flashed it at the men. "About forty breaths ago, we heard a child's horrific scream on our way home. We found two monsters attacking people. We only managed to catch this one. The other escaped."

To the people of Panlong City, the Divine Bone Necklace was an undeniable symbol of identity. The men immediately asked, "Which direction did it flee?"

"East," Hee Lingchuan said, pointing. "It's fast." Three of the men immediately took off in that direction.

The remaining two Patrol Guards entered the house. When they saw the desiccated corpse on the floor and heard Hee Lingchuan mention two other victims nearby, their expressions grew even more grim.

They questioned the pair in detail, asking for a repeated account of the events, before saying, "We need to report this immediately. Please leave for now. We'll find you for further questioning if necessary."

Just as Hee Lingchuan nodded, Sunx Fuling suddenly cried out, "Quick, look!"

The monster's screeching had weakened. Everyone looked down and saw that its body was shrinking at an astonishing rate.

It had originally been nearly as tall as Hee Lingchuan, but now it was shriveling up, shrinking down to the size of a fist right before their very eyes!

This wasn't much bigger than a newborn kitten.

Once miniaturized, it looked less terrifying, but the scene was even more bizarre than before.

Even the constables were dumbfounded. "This... this is...?" 'Are we supposed to take *this* thing back to make our report?'

Sunx Fuling poked the creature with a twig. "It's alive. Still breathing. I think it's a juvenile, not fully developed."

"A juvenile..." Hee Lingchuan's expression darkened. 'Did I almost lose to two underdeveloped infant monsters? That's beyond humiliating.'

'If the young are this ferocious, what would the adults be like?'

"How could something like this get into the city?" The gates and checkpoints of Panlong City were exceptionally secure.

Sunx Fuling sighed. "Let's go. We should let the officials handle this."

The two of them walked out the door to find a crowd of onlookers had gathered. The moment they appeared, people started peppering them with questions.

Sunx Fuling fobbed them off with a few quick words.

They walked home in silence.

The bizarre appearance of the monsters seemed to cast an ominous cloud over both of them.

They arrived home.

Sunx Fuling didn't push open her own door. Instead, she glanced at his back. "You're injured. Aren't you going to take care of that?"

"Uh..." He hadn't been too concerned. After all, he could just exit the Dream Realm and re-enter, and his body would be good as new—he could even come back from death. But now that she mentioned it, he felt the pain again. "I'll go have Aluo take care of it."

Sunx Fuling hesitated a moment before saying, "I can apply the medicine for you, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind." Hee Lingchuan scratched his neck. "Of course I don't mind. Please, come in."

The two of them walked into Hee Lingchuan's small courtyard.

His house was too small for them to move around in, so they went straight to the kitchen. Sunx Fuling moved a small stool to the well-lit window and said, "Sit."

Before Hee Lingchuan could get a good look, Sunx Fuling had already lit the brazier, adding two small lumps of charcoal and a bundle of kindling.

The frigid room began to warm up, little by little.

Hee Lingchuan asked her, "Do I need to take off my shirt?"

"No need." Sunx Fuling looked at his back. "The scab is stuck to your shirt. It wouldn't be good to just rip it off."

She went into the inner room to fetch scissors and some topical medicine. Walking up behind Hee Lingchuan, she said, "Tell me if it hurts."

He soon felt the cold touch of metal on his back. Hee Lingchuan knew she was cutting away the fabric stuck to his wound.

The monster's sharp claws had torn long gashes into his back. The two wounds were nearly parallel, the flesh peeled back, and the blood seeping out was a light, foamy green.

"You've been poisoned." After cleaning the wound, Sunx Fuling held out a Pill to him in her palm. "You'll need at least two Antitoxic Pills—one to take internally, and one to apply externally."

Hee Lingchuan looked at her hand and said nothing.

"What's wrong?"

"This isn't my Pill, is it?"

"It's mine. Well, my brother's." She crushed another one and applied it to the wound. Hee Lingchuan felt a sudden chill on his back. He was about to shiver when it instantly turned into a searing heat.

Ice and fire. A world of ice and fire.

"HISSS—" It burned so hot he felt like his flesh was cooking. He couldn't recall ever having a medicine this potent.

Sunx Fuling pressed down on his shoulders to keep him still. "It's very effective. Just bear with it."

True enough, the burning sensation quickly faded, replaced by a pleasant coolness that greatly eased the pain. Sunx Fuling wiped the foam from the wound, and the blood that now welled up was bright red.

Then she deftly applied the Antiseptic Medicine.

Hee Lingchuan could feel her cool fingers pressing lightly around the wound. She leaned in close, her warm breath tickling his back.

From entering the house to treating his wound, this Miss Sunx had been unexpectedly deft and efficient.

He said, just to break the silence, "How do you think those two monsters got into the city today?"

Sunx Fuling didn't look up. "They probably couldn't have gotten in on their own."

"Right. If they really are just juveniles, it's almost certain they were smuggled in," Hee Lingchuan said in a low voice. "That thing was fighting on pure instinct, and it was still an even match for me. I can't imagine the combat prowess of a fully grown one."

"I'm more worried that there are more than just one or two of them," Sunx Fuling sighed. "We stumbled upon two just on our way home. What about everyone else?"

'A monster that can shrink... hiding in a city as vast as Panlong City, they might as well be invisible. How could anyone find them?'

"We handed the one we caught over to the officials, didn't we?" she said softly. "Hopefully, they'll figure out a countermeasure soon. There—"

She patted Hee Lingchuan's shoulder. "All done. Don't get it wet for the next day or two, and don't sleep on your back. Got it?"

"Got it, Doctor Sunx," Hee Lingchuan chuckled. "Your technique is just as good as Aluo's."

'Although Aluo is much rougher.'

A light laugh seemed to come from behind him.

Sunx Fuling then disposed of the bloody water and soiled dressings, washed her hands, and finally let out a yawn, a weary look on her face. "All done. I should go back and get some sleep."

"Be careful. Call me if you need anything."

"Mhm." She picked up her book as if to leave, but then seemed to reconsider. She turned back and handed the book to Hee Lingchuan. "You can borrow this. Just toss it back into my courtyard when you're finished." With a wave, she pushed open her door and went inside.

Only after hearing the creak of the wooden door next door did Hee Lingchuan open his own palm to look.

His female neighbor's hands were elegant, her fingers long and slender, quite beautiful—they almost seemed to glow in the dim room. But when Sunx Fuling handed him the Pill, he had clearly seen a thin layer of calluses on the pads and base of her right-hand fingers—

Just like his.

'His were from practicing martial arts. But hers? Were they from chopping firewood, cooking, and doing chores?'

'Hah. Impossible.'

'He thought back to the fierce battle with the two monsters. It was Sunx Fuling who had provided the crucial assist. Without it, he would have been locked in a life-or-death struggle.'

'He hadn't even noticed her approach.'

'Besides, what girl wouldn't turn and run at the sight of a monster like that? This Miss Sunx was surprisingly calm in the face of danger. Was it a case of courage born from skill?'

The more Hee Lingchuan thought, the more he felt his neighbor was shrouded in mystery.

The two books she lent him were right beside him.

He picked them up. The title was Strange Tales of the Middle Ages, in two volumes.

He flipped one open and began to browse. The book was a collection of various legends, anecdotes, and strange events from the Middle Ages, all of questionable authenticity. Even the author had noted that the tales were merely collected, not verified, and that readers should just enjoy them for what they were.

The world-changing cataclysm served as the dividing line. The era before it was known as the Ancient Times, and the era after was the Middle Ages, which extended until eight hundred years ago.

After that point, the Human Kingdom truly matured and prospered, while the Daoist Sect declined in tandem, no longer holding a dominant position.

This meant the Middle Ages had actually spanned a long period of over two thousand years. It was now difficult to verify much of what had happened during that time.

Hee Lingchuan hadn't expected that a prim and proper teacher like Sunx Fuling would enjoy such frivolous books.

'Oh well. He had nothing better to do at home. He might as well use these two books to pass the time.'

To his surprise, once he started reading, he became completely absorbed, not even stopping for a sip of water.