Chapter 1124 - 811: Because... Affection?
"Who—"
"Come with me." A stranger’s voice came, deep and unfamiliar.
Shen Tang felt a faint musk scent from the person’s chest, where her back was pressed against.
The scent was somewhat familiar, causing her heart to tremble and she suddenly stopped struggling.
He took her to a secluded corner, and no one was around; it seemed to be a blind spot for surveillance too.
He fumbled for a mechanism somewhere. There was a slight click, and a concealed stone door appeared on the wall in front of them, quickly pulling Shen Tang inside.
As soon as they entered, the door closed quickly behind them, as if nothing had happened.
It was an extremely hidden dark room, no more than forty or fifty square meters, with only a simple chair, sofa, and bed, without even connecting the power supply.
A few glowing stones that could self-illuminate were hung on the wall, like weak candle flames, barely lighting up the room enough not to leave everything obscure.
Only then did Shen Tang clearly see the person’s face beside her.
She truly had never seen him before; the youth had brown hair and gray eyes, with a face that was delicate and upright, dressed in ordinary guard clothes, appearing nothing special, easy to overlook in a crowd.
But the smile in his eyes allowed her to immediately see through his true identity.
"Shu."
Not a question, but a statement.
She knew it was him, she wouldn’t mistake him.
"Long time no see." Shu seemed surprised she recognized him so quickly, looking pleased.
He explained, "The Divine Hall has special energy barriers, I couldn’t take you directly outside. Here is a hiding place I secretly prepared before, and there’s a hidden passage connecting near the Divine Hall’s exit. Although it can’t directly send you outside, the passage can bypass the checks at the entrance."
He seemed to notice the female’s tense body still alert and cautious, chuckling lightly in his throat, bending a finger to flick gently at her hair ends, "Don’t worry, this place was specially arranged by me; apart from you and me, no third person knows, those outside shouldn’t find it for a while."
Only then did Shen Tang breathe a sigh of relief, her tense nerves suddenly relaxing.
For some reason, she seemed to have an instinctual trust in his words.
Probably because he saved her several times before.
Shen Tang looked at the youth in front of her, pressing her lips together and awkwardly said, "Thank you for saving me again."
"You’re welcome, my pleasure."
The youth looked at her, smiling contentedly, "As long as you’re safe, that’s enough."
Shen Tang looked up at him, meeting his gentle and humble gaze, seeming to glimpse deeper emotions.
Her heartbeat skipped abruptly, and an inexplicable thought flashed in her mind.
Shu saved her multiple times; she always thought he saw profit in her—for after all, they had a common enemy, so they were friends based on interest.
𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
This wasn’t repulsive to Shen Tang; as long as the other was trustworthy and wouldn’t betray halfway, interest-based relationships were actually the most reliable.
But at this moment, Shen Tang suddenly became unsure.
Shu helped her so many times, without ever asking for anything or demanding any actual payback.
Could it be he...
Shen Tang blurted out, "Why are you saving me?"
The youth raised an eyebrow and said matter-of-factly, "Because... I like you."
"What?" Shen Tang’s expression froze suddenly, suspecting she might have misheard.
The youth lowered his head looking at her, seeing her face full of shock, her moist, jet-black eyes widened, with a hint of confusion, seemingly a bit flattered; really~ quite adorable.
"Hard to understand? A male’s... admiration for a female."
He raised his hand, gently touching her delicate, beautiful face, her moist, charming black eyes, her prominent nose, and her rosy lips.
The pad of his finger seemed to brush lightly over the fine fur on her cheek, still able to smell the faint fragrance she emitted, enough to ensnare a young male in love.
His deep, melodious voice seemed to carry a fascination, "You are beautiful, I fell in love at first sight, can’t bear to see you die, want to help you escape... Is that reason convincing enough?"
Shen Tang only felt an itch on her face, stepping back to dodge his hand, "Don’t joke."
"I wasn’t joking." The youth also felt he overstepped, retracting his hand, crossing his arms and leaning lazily against the wall.
"I have no ties to that leopard, originally not planning to help him; whether Xiao Jin, Shou Jin, or any new experimental subject, it makes no difference to me. Just for your sake, I reluctantly gave him a hand."
He looked at her and said earnestly,
"You like him, and I don’t want to make you sad."
"..." Shen Tang suddenly didn’t know what to say.
She could tell he wasn’t deliberately teasing; he truly thought that way.
She was about to say more, when the youth’s expression suddenly changed, face instantly pale, brows knit in pain.
"Damn it... Didn’t expect it so soon!"
His face tense, jaw clenched, no longer chatting with Shen Tang; he quickly retrieved an Identity Card from space, stuffing it into her hand, "This is a decrypted version of the Universal Identity Card, able to unlock most access in the Divine Hall. But if the system upgrade detects the loophole, once maintained again, this card might be invalid, there’s a time limit... Hurry and leave!"
Shen Tang put the Identity Card into space, watching him worriedly, "Are you okay...?"
"Don’t worry about me! Leave quickly!"
The youth’s face grew paler, seemingly using his last strength to pull her to a wall. Trembling fingers found a switch, the wall opened in response, revealing a hidden passage. He pushed her in, swiftly pressing the switch, the door slowly closing.
"Shu!"
She watched the youth cough up blood, fall to the ground, his body quickly withering and decomposing, turning into a puddle of blood and disappearing.
The entire process took only a few seconds!
Shen Tang instinctively wanted to rush back, but the door had already closed completely.
"System, what happened? Why did Shu suddenly... die!?"
[Host, to be precise, this was just an experimental subject, Shu’s body hasn’t died. But the sudden demise of the experimental subject is indeed related to the body.]
The system guessed, [Probably something happened on his body’s side, making it impossible to maintain the experimental subject’s operation. He likely didn’t want the Divine Hall to discover anything amiss, directly activating the lab’s self-destruct procedure to prevent leaving other evidence.]
Listening to this, Shen Tang became more anxious, "Could it be that Shu was discovered by the Divine Hall?"
[Currently, it seems quite possible.]
"The Divine Hall’s method of dealing with traitors is extremely ruthless; if it’s found that he betrayed the Divine Hall, Shu’s certainly doomed... worse than death!"
The system noticed the thought flashing in the host’s mind, its spirit jolting, quickly advising, [Host, don’t worry about other things, let’s hurry up and leave! That’s the Divine Hall’s internal affairs, unrelated to us!]
"But I’m worried about Shu; just leaving like this, his fate will surely be miserable." Shen Tang thought of how Shu helped her so much, even saving her life, her savior, and could almost feel her conscience being chastised for just walking away.
[But even if the host goes over now, can you really save him? You might miss the opportunity in vain and lose your life along with it, not worth it.] The system advised sincerely.
Shen Tang knew the system made sense; no matter how worried she was, she couldn’t save Shu when she couldn’t even protect herself.
She clenched her fist, calming her mood, then turned and continued along the tunnel.
Near the entrance, Shen Tang saw a tall, elegant figure through the system map.
So familiar it made her breath stop!