NHWSG chapter 43

Sheng Zhao blinked blankly for a moment before realizing who was speaking.

When he came to his senses, the thunder had stopped. Zhang Jian jumped down from the dragon, holding a bloody white tendon in his right hand. The dragon lay on the ground, only exhaling but not inhaling.

The dark clouds in the sky rolled, and the rain continued to fall, but it was no longer as terrifying as before. Sheng Zhao, still dazed, looked at Xing Yingzhu. He noticed that his clothes were slightly torn, his collar was open, and below his left collarbone, there seemed to be a small purple dragon hidden.

“…Who’s crying?” Sheng Zhao muttered, “I’m not crying.”

Xing Yingzhu found it amusing, withdrew his finger, casually flicked it, and then touched Sheng Zhao’s face with the finger that had wiped away tears.

“Well, well, isn’t that unusual,” Xing Yingzhu chuckled, “Is it raining hot springs from the sky? Is the rain warm?”

Just after experiencing a life-and-death situation, Sheng Zhao’s expectations and demands for Xing Yingzhu suddenly dropped to “just being alive is good.” So much so that he even felt that his boss’s lack of concern for the situation was oddly endearing.

Sheng Zhao’s face was a mess of tears and rainwater, making it impossible to discern anything clearly. He looked extremely disheveled, like a drenched chicken just pulled out of the water, with red eyes, resembling a pitiful little thing.

He was caught red-handed by Xing Yingzhu, staring with wide eyes, unable to say a word for a long time. He simply didn’t want to talk anymore, so he grabbed Xing Yingzhu’s clothes and bowed his head into his chest, not wanting him to look at him.

Xing Yingzhu clicked his tongue.

Actually, Xing Yingzhu didn’t care much about the thunder. At that moment, he was thinking, since that thing couldn’t kill him anyway, it didn’t matter if it struck him.

But he did hear how anxious Sheng Zhao was for him inside—he couldn’t blame himself for listening to the fun, it was just that this silly kid was making too much noise, and anyone could tell he was panicking.

Xing Yingzhu originally just thought of him as a worthless human, although he was usually quite amusing, he was no different from the countless other beings outside. In a hundred years, they would all be dust in the wind, and his relationship with him was just a few short years living in the same building.

But just now, when Sheng Zhao wanted to throw himself into the thunder for him, he unexpectedly felt a trace of genuine affection.

“This silly kid,” Xing Yingzhu thought, “really hasn’t made any progress. He can even cry over such a trivial matter.”

While pretending to be disdainful, Xing Yingzhu’s body was quite honest. Not only did he not push Sheng Zhao away, but he even imitated Sheng Zhao’s previous actions, patting his back.

“Sheng Zhao, Zhang Jian is coming over,” Xing Yingzhu “friendly” reminded him, “Hu Huanyang is also watching you from behind.”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

He let go of Xing Yingzhu’s collar, wiped his face with a slap, and finally, his rationality gradually returned.

“Are you okay?” Sheng Zhao asked.

“All limbs intact,” Xing Yingzhu smirked, his lips curling up as he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I was afraid you got eaten by it!” Sheng Zhao gritted his teeth.

Sheng Zhao’s anger rose, and he didn’t know which nerve had gone wrong, so he suddenly reached out and pulled open Xing Yingzhu’s clothes, poking his head inside to take a look.

In a flash, he noticed a palm-sized black wound on Xing Yingzhu’s side, as if it had been burned by lightning.

“Is this considered ‘okay’?” Sheng Zhao said, “With this… you could almost barbecue with some cumin!”

Xing Yingzhu found Sheng Zhao’s appearance of tooth and claw quite amusing, and couldn’t help but chuckle. He squinted his eyes, pinched Sheng Zhao’s chin, and said contemptuously, “Him? I could eat him without much trouble.”

“You’re just bragging,” Sheng Zhao, emboldened by his post-frightened courage, pushed away Xing Yingzhu’s hand, saying irritably, “Then why don’t you eat him? What, do some monsters just love being struck by lightning?”

Previously, Sheng Zhao had returned Xing Yingzhu’s sulky words verbatim, but Xing Yingzhu wasn’t someone who would just surrender. When it came to arguing, he had never lost to anyone.

“Why should I help Zhang Jian deal with the demon dragon?” Xing Yingzhu said confidently, “I’m their advisor. Helping them out is already going above and beyond, I’m not their thug.”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

Wow, that’s just plain ridiculous.

If someone else said that, Sheng Zhao would have thought they were crazy. But when it came from Xing Yingzhu, he strangely felt that there was nothing wrong with it.

Xing Yingzhuo valued his face more than anything else and would rather be struck by lightning than do someone else’s dirty work. Upon careful consideration, it was indeed something he would do.

Sheng Zhao felt extremely speechless and suddenly didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

But fortunately, Zhang Jian had already walked over, a scavenger, looking much worse than Xing Yingzhu. His clothes were tattered, his steps were unsteady, and his body was covered in small wounds, whether from the dragon scales or something else.

His left hand hung limply, seeming to have lost strength.

Hu Huanyang had been watching Xing Yingzhu and Sheng Zhao’s flirtatious behavior for a while, feeling like he couldn’t breathe, but now he finally saw a savior in his line of sight and hurriedly ran to Zhang Jian’s side.

“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” Hu Huanyang asked obsequiously, “Are you injured?”

Zhang Jian was startled by Hu Huanyang’s weird enthusiasm, subconsciously took three steps back.

Hu Huanyang: “…”

Not cooperating at all, not showing any teammate spirit.

Zhang Jian obviously noticed that his evasive action was a bit hurtful, so he forced himself to stop his steps, cleared his throat, and stammered, “N-nothing, it seems like I pulled a muscle when I was on the dragon just now.”

Zhang Jian had already come over, and Sheng Zhao obviously couldn’t cling to Xing Yingzhuo crying anymore. Fortunately, the rain was pouring heavily, and no one could tell if he had cried or not.

Sheng Zhao stepped back from Xing Yingzhu’s arm, turned around, and wiped his eyes.

He quickly regained his composure in just a few seconds, turned around, and waited for Zhang Jian to come up and speak.

“Thank you.” Zhang Jian’s eyes circled between Xing Yingzhu and Sheng Zhao, adding, “Both of you, thank you for your help on this journey. I thank you on behalf of my Tianshi family.”

“No need to put me on such a high pedestal,” Xing Yingzhu said lightly, “It’s just each taking what they need.”

Zhang Jian choked for a moment, probably realizing that Xing Yingzhu wasn’t very willing to associate himself with any sort of savior title, so he smartly changed his tone, “Of course, once I promise something, I don’t go back on it. But please wait for a few days. After I finish tidying up, and then we can go to Mount Longhu together.”

Xing Yingzhu knew that no matter how much Zhang Jian was touted as the “probable heir,” ultimately, Mount Longhu wasn’t something he could decide on his own. He had agreed to let him use the sacred artifacts of Mount Longhu as a stopgap measure. Now that things were settled, he would have to persuade his master sneakily.

“Okay,” Xing Yingzhu said.

Zhang Jian breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to look at Sheng Zhao.

He had many questions in his mind. He wanted to know how Sheng Zhao managed to find the demon’s inner core and why he was able to overlap other seals on the talisman he had already drawn.

But Zhang Jian was not just any inexperienced youngster; he knew what was important and understood that the timing wasn’t right. So he suppressed his doubts and smiled at Sheng Zhao instead.

“Thank you very much,” Zhang Jian said.

Sheng Zhao couldn’t boast about his accomplishments in front of Xing Yingzhu. He waved his hand busily and said a few words of refusal.

“There are still some matters to attend to in Shanghai, which I need to take care of,” Zhang Jian said. “You two have worked hard today. I’ll have someone arrange accommodations for you.”

In Sheng Zhao’s understanding, people like Zhang Jian should be ethereal and detached, leaving after completing their tasks, hiding their accomplishments and fame, relying on alms for a living. But who would have thought that he was even more generous than his boss.

After resolving the matters in the development zone, Zhang Jian called a car to pick them up and then arranged a top-class suite at the Park Hyatt in Lujiazui for them to stay.

Initially, Sheng Zhao thought this might be too extravagant, but when he asked, he found out that Zhang Jian and Hu Huanyang had been staying in the suite opposite for several days already.

“I told you earlier, they have connections,” Xing Yingzhu said. “It’s just a suite, he might not even have to spend any money.”

“No, did you see the price tag?” Sheng Zhao asked in shock. “It’s twenty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight per day, and this is the off-season!”

“So what?” Xing Yingzhu glanced at him and said with a subtle tone of how inexperienced you are, “Do you know how much he charges for a Feng Shui consultation? That’s enough to stay here for more than two months.”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

Sheng Zhao, who had just embarked on a moderately affluent lifestyle, was shocked by this statement. He was stunned for two seconds before slowly saying, “Boss… is it too late for me to switch careers and study metaphysics?”

Xing Yingzhu initially wanted him to recognize the situation early, but as the words were about to come out of his mouth, he suddenly remembered something and changed his mind abruptly.

“Instead, why don’t you tell me how you found the demon’s inner core?” Xing Yingzhu said. “Once we figure that out, I’ll do you a favor and find someone to teach you.”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

Sheng Zhao wondered how he knew, he still didn’t know whether the flash he saw was his imagination or what really happened.

“Forget it,” Sheng Zhao said dejectedly. “I’d better enjoy the twenty-eight thousand eight hundred suite while I can.”

Xing Yingzhu didn’t say anything. He patted Sheng Zhao’s chin playfully and then walked out of the elevator.

Unfortunately, before Sheng Zhao could enjoy the bed in the room that cost over twenty thousand, his phone rang.

Hu Huanyang’s name popped up on the screen. Sheng Zhao glanced at Xing Yingzhu subconsciously before pressing the answer button and turning to listen to the sound on the other end of the call.

Xing Yingzhu paused, and only then did Sheng Zhao press the answer button. He turned his head to listen to the movement on the other end of the phone call.

Sheng Zhao only responded with a few “uh-huh” and “okay” before hanging up the phone. Then he turned to Xing Yingzhu and said, “Hu Huanyang asked me to go over to his place. He said he and Zhang Jian need to talk to me.”

“Then go ahead,” Xing Yingzhu raised an eyebrow, took the room card from Sheng Zhao’s hand, and childishly waved it in front of him, “Then I’ll go enjoy it for you.”

Sheng Zhao: “…”