Military headquarters.
Although Chu Rong said the examination could continue tomorrow, his expression was too terrifying. Everyone was afraid of the possibility of a familiar person suddenly turning into a controlled puppet. Therefore, they all voluntarily gathered and followed to the military headquarters. Under Xiang Lingyun’s arrangement, they started the examination overnight.
On the other side, Chu Rong sat in the guard room. After listening to Lin Zhen’s report, he waved his hand in approval of Xiang Lingyun’s arrangement. Then, he stepped forward, grabbed the still unconscious Xiang Hui, and directly delved into his consciousness with his spiritual power.
Xiang Hui’s spiritual sea defense line was unexpectedly fragile, and even the slightest resistance could break through it.
Chu Rong forcefully searched inside with his spiritual power, but found no mental locks, only traces of drug control, and it seemed to have been a while. Unable to hold back a cold snort, he threw Xiang Hui onto a chair, then turned to Long Baorou, who was still entangled by Qiuqiu’s vines.
“Let her out.”
He commanded in a deep voice, and Qiuqiu, upon hearing the order, moved to obediently loosen its vines. Afterwards, the swollen vines quickly withered and shrank back to their usual size — it had exhausted its strength after enduring for so long.
Frowning, Chu Rong bent down, picked it up from the withered vines, and stuffed it into his pocket. He also tossed a vial of Yellow Leaf Tree potion to it. Then, he looked at Long Baorou, still bound by a vine rope, his brows furrowing even tighter.
Although Long Baorou was brought out of the secret passage by Qiuqiu, the layer of vines binding her closely was enchanted by Qiao Zhiya’s magic. With Qiao Zhiya absent, these vines couldn’t be removed for the time being.
“Sir, do you want to forcefully break it?” Lin Zhen approached and asked considerately.
Chu Rong shook his head and directly extended his spiritual power towards Long Baorou, who had only partially revealed her face from within the vines.
Unlike Xiang Hui’s very fragile spiritual sea defenses, Long Baorou’s spiritual strength had actually improved a lot compared to before, and her defenses were very tight. It took him quite a bit of effort to break through.
Moreover, as soon as he entered, even before he could begin his search, a familiar and fierce spiritual force rushed at him actively. It seemed to carry the sharp mockery of its owner within the attack.
Sure enough, Long Baorou had a foreign power within her body.
With a glint of murderous intent in his eyes, Chu Rong drove his spiritual power to withstand the fierce force and continued to probe into Long Baorou’s mind. He used offense as defense, displaying a completely reckless posture.
As the two immense forces clashed, the airflow in the guard room began to billow without wind, and indoor items shook and rattled from the collision of the two forces. Lin Zhen couldn’t withstand the impact and activated the protective shield on his wrist.
Xiang Hui, who was unconscious on the other side, looked uncomfortable, but no one attended to him. Long Baorou, who was directly bearing the impact, began to struggle. Her face quickly paled, and signs of unstable spiritual power appeared on her body.
The fierce force seemed surprised that Chu Rong would directly confront it, and after failing to break through for a while, it suddenly split into two parts. One part continued to charge towards Chu Rong’s spiritual sea along with his spiritual power, while the other swiftly returned to Long Baorou’s spiritual sea, attempting to destroy her brain and memories.
Chu Rong detected its intent and completely ignored its attack on himself. Instead, he pursued the force that was delving deeper into Long Baorou’s spiritual sea. Suddenly, it felt as if his mind had been blasted, and a surge of power emanated from his body. Long Baorou, who was struggling, suddenly stiffened, and then blood started flowing from her seven orifices1two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth as her body went limp.
“Sir!” Lin Zhen stepped forward worriedly.
Chu Rong suppressed the unstable and erratic force. Just as he was about to speak, Long Baorou, who had been unconscious, suddenly shook and opened her eyes. With bloodshot eyes, she stared at Chu Rong and a terrifying smile spread across her face. In a tone that was slippery and unforgettable, she said, “Do you like this gift? This is just the beginning… just the b…eginning…”
As she was speaking, Long Baorou suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and then her body completely collapsed. At the same time, the vines on her body all turned into points of light and disappeared. Then, the points of light spun around once and shot towards Chu Rong’s brow.
Chu Rong’s initially grim expression softened slightly as the points of light approached. His mind was filled with a jumble of chaotic images, memories he had seized from the mysterious individual just before Long Baorou’s mind was destroyed.
Furrowing his brow, Chu Rong suppressed the discomfort in his spiritual sea. He waved his hand at Lin Zhen and ordered, “Take Xiang Hui to custody and check his body for any teleportation devices. As for Long Baorou… have someone collect her body and search for the transmission device that must be inside her corpse. Dig it out, clean it up, and hand it over to me.”
Corpse?
Lin Zhen paused, his gaze shifting to the now particularly grim and disheveled Long Baorou. He furrowed his brow, then averted his eyes again.
Later, Chu Rong called in a team of professional psychological projection extraction experts. After they equipped him with the necessary devices, he closed his eyes and laid down in a secure chamber. Then, he had all the memories transferred from Long Baorou’s mind projected and recorded.
With things just settled on this end, Chu Rong hadn’t had a chance to carefully review the recorded memories yet. Suddenly, Fan Xiangnan, who had gone to assist Xiang Lingyun in checking the mental locks of others, hurriedly rushed in. He quickly said, “Madam is fine, and the baby is fine too.”
Chu Rong moved for a moment, his expression relaxed.
“However…. Qiao fainted after saving the baby. He now had a persistent high fever. His situation has not improved.”
After Fan Xiangnan finished reporting the situation while catching his breath, Chu Rong’s demeanor, which had just calmed down, immediately tensed up again. He pushed aside the military doctor who was ready to treat him and strode out forcefully.
Qiao Zhiya once again felt the burning pain similar to the one he experienced after exhausting his power last time, but this time the situation was clearly much worse — he found that he couldn’t control his own body.
Qiao Zhiya’s consciousness could vaguely hear the anxious conversation of Chu Huai, Chu Yan, and others, but he still couldn’t feel the presence of his own body. He couldn’t summon the emerald jade to replenish his energy on his own, nor could he speak. It felt as if someone had extracted his consciousness from his body, encasing it in a layer of confinement, leaving him entirely at the mercy of others.
So painful….
He wanted to struggle and call out, but he couldn’t control his body.
In the isolated section of the Gu Family Hospital’s special ward, Chu Huai and Chu Yan emptied all the emerald jade they had on them, piling it around Qiao Zhiya. They also fed him all the spiritual purification liquid and various medicines that could replenish his strength, but Qiao Zhiya’s condition showed no signs of improvement.
“How could this be? The color of the emerald jade hasn’t faded at all. He’s not absorbing these energies,” Chu Yan said anxiously, wishing he could crush all these emerald jades into powder and force-feed them into Qiao Zhiya’s body.
Chu Huai didn’t know what to do with the current situation. He dialed Chu Rong’s communication line again, but the other party never answered.
In the haze of his consciousness, the vine pattern on his wrist suddenly warmed up. With this warmth as a reminder, Qiao Zhiya finally sensed the presence of his own body again. Instinctively, he began to absorb the surrounding energy, and the burning sensation in his mind slightly subsided.
“He’s starting to absorb the jade! Hurry! Ship some more jade here! Ship more!”
Chu Yan, who had been staring at the chamber, suddenly became excited and rushed outside, shouting loudly. Although the Gu family members waiting outside were puzzled by his request, they quickly turned around and began to make arrangements.
Chu Huai, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly removed all the ink jade clan emblems and buttons from his body and placed them next to Qiao Zhiya, fearing that he might need more strength later on.
Ten minutes later, Chu Rong hurriedly arrived. By this time, Qiao Zhiya’s condition had stabilized. Although the high fever had not subsided, the emerald jade was rapidly absorbed. The other indicators of his body were slowly returning to normal.
Chu Rong first assessed Qiao Zhiya’s condition and then lifted him out of the chamber. He placed him on top of a top-grade emerald jade and proceeded to feed him all the Yellow Leaf Tree potions he had on him one by one. Skillfully, he removed the fever-reducing equipment from Qiao Zhiya’s body.
“Dage, you go and see Dasao. Xiao Yan, you should also get some rest,” After finishing those, Chu Rong said to his brothers, frowning slightly as he spoke. His complexion also appeared somewhat pale.
Chu Huai noticed his poor complexion. He was very worried. “What’s wrong with you, why is your complexion so bad? Your strength also seems to be unstable.”
“I’m okay, just need rest.” Chu Rong didn’t say much, continued to rush them to rest, and was very insistent.
Chu Huai sighed helplessly, unable to argue further. He decided not to disturb him and stayed by Qiao Zhiya’s side. He patted Chu Yan on the shoulder and then left with him.
As the room quieted down, Chu Rong looked at Qiao Zhiya, who was lying peacefully. He let go of the calm facade he had been maintaining in front of his brothers and buried his face in Qiao Zhiya’s neck. He felt his steady pulse and slightly elevated body temperature, letting out a long sigh of relief.
It’s good that he’s all right.
He hugged Qiao Zhiya, his heart filled with blame and guilt.
Although his rationality knew that even if not today, the manipulated Xiang Hui and the long-waiting Long Baorou would eventually find an opportunity to harm the Chu family. Still, he still couldn’t overcome the emotional hurdle.
If he hadn’t insisted on checking everyone’s mental locks today, if he hadn’t arranged the inspection location at the Presidential Palace, if he hadn’t been fully prepared, none of this would have had to happen today.
“Sorry.”
He kissed Qiao Zhiya’s closed eyes, his straight back bent slightly.
Qiao Zhiya found himself standing once again in that pitch-black space, but unlike before, there were now vine patterns appearing beneath his feet. These patterns were slowly spreading outwards from him, with him as the center, and extending in all directions.
‘What is this?’
He moved hesitantly, then a green light suddenly emerged, gently but firmly trapping him in place, preventing him from moving freely.
“Dad?” He immediately recognized the familiar sensation of this power. He stood still and looked down at the light band that bound him. Feeling joyful, he asked, “Dad, have you and Mom come to see me in my dreams again?”
After asking to the thin air, he froze for a moment, his eyes confused.
Strange, how did he suddenly start dreaming? No, wait, what was he doing before falling asleep…
The green light seemed to notice his distraction and gently wrapped around him, then slowly covered his eyes, indicating that he should sleep.
Qiao Zhiya blinked, looking through the green light at the seemingly-dreamlike pitch-black space. He glanced at the vine patterns still spreading beneath his feet, faintly feeling that the forming pattern seemed somewhat familiar.
‘Is it a magic array? But what kind of array is it? Why can’t I remember suddenly…’
The light band seemed helpless with his disobedience, so it lifted him up with a hint of indulgence. Then, it separated a strand of power and covered another layer over his eyes. Consequently, everything within his field of vision was shrouded in a thick layer of green, obscuring his sight completely.
With a slight hint of stubbornness, he shook his head, but couldn’t shake off the drowsiness that suddenly enveloped him. He let out a small yawn and finally, as if fulfilling the light’s wish, slowly closed his eyes.
