Chapter 212: Dust Clouds: Part 3
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The chill of the desert night was bone-biting.
The Steel Lord sat by the fire as he looked at the little girl who Ishak had brought along.
Fear was etched on her face as two lines of tears cut through the muck on her dirty face. She was no more than nine years old, her frame small and skinny. Not only she had a broken arm, but she also had no tongue. She could not speak.
“Do you fear death?” Valgariah asked, his voice flat.
The girl simply stared at him, not understanding what he was trying to say.
“Forget that.” Valgariah did not pursue the matter. He was a noble of Blackfeather City, the patriarch of his proud lineage, these sort of tragic scenes, was all too common for him.
If not for her eyes that looked like his son’s, if not for his master’s orders…
“War…” Valgariah looked at the burning bonfire and recalled the first time he stepped into the battlefield. The people within the chaos of war would inevitably hope against hope, and those who survived were usually very strong-willed.
And this was the reason why the Steel Lord chose to set up a branch of the sanctum here.
“Sleep…” But for some reason, when he saw the girl, he was reminded of his son.
…
Lin Sheng slowly woke up from his dream as his consciousness returned to his body.
Inside the dark dormitory room, the three other dorm mates were still sleeping with their snores in rhythm.
Lin Sheng got up and saw his phone lit up. There was probably a missed call or an unread message. So he flipped the phone and saw missed calls from Adolf and Maier. Maier even sent him a message.
Lin Sheng opened the phone to take a look.
“The people from Xilin are here to look for you. They’ve found your parent’s shop.”
“Hmm?!”
Lin Sheng frowned. The place where his family had moved was only known to a select few. He looked at the time of the message. It was sent yesterday at 11, and it was already 5:21 the next day.
As he pondered, Lin Sheng replied, “You know who they are?”
The response was almost instant. “No idea, but they do have precise knowledge of your family.” Maier was clearly on the night shift again.
“Can you arrange a meeting?” Lin Sheng quickly asked.
“Okay, let’s meet at Alamee’s Crepe Shop in a bit,” Maier replied.
“Sure.”
Lin Sheng locked his phone screen and got out of bed as he changed into his outdoor garb. He gave his hair a few combs to keep it somewhat tidy before grabbing his key and stealthily left the room.
From his school to Alamee’s Crepe Shop, it took about fifteen minutes by foot.
Maier had clearly considered the distance Lin Sheng needed to travel for him to arrange the meeting at such a close-by place.
Dawn had just broken as Maier, Lin Sheng, and another bald man gathered at the entrance of the shop. Maier was treating so he brought them into the shop and requested a private room.
“This crepe shop is a little special. The customers will be the ones cooking their own crepe. So you can make it however you like, whatever you like.” Maier sat on the main seat as he smiled at the two.
“Mr. Xiao Weiqi, please have a seat. Lin Sheng, you too.” He motioned for the two to start making their own food.
“You guys go on with your talk, I’ll head out for a puff.” Maier, ever perceptive, quickly found an excuse to leave the room, leaving the two inside the private room.
Lin Sheng sat on his seat as he measured the bald man.
He was a typical Xilinite, black eyes, thin, tall nose with a slightly sunken chin.
“Mr. Lin Sheng right?” The bald Xiao Weiqi was clad in a black shirt and pants, as he sat opposite Lin Sheng, and bade him respectfully.
“Yes, anything?” Lin Sheng flatly replied.
Xiao Weiqi smiled.
“Mr. Lin Sheng, for your family to move to Xylond, it was a good choice, but you really think that you’ll be safe here? That you and your family are safe here?”
“What do you mean?” Lin Sheng stared at the former.
“I, Xiao Weiqi, represents the Ocean’s Heart, formally extend our invitation to you.” Xiao Weiqi smiled. “We hope that you would return to Xilin, and aid your country.”
“Impossible,” Lin Sheng flatly rejected him. “I don’t know what Ocean’s Heart group you’re talking about, and I have no idea why you’ve come looking for me. If there’s nothing else, you may leave.”
“Mr. Lin, don’t be so obtuse.” Xiao Weiqi continued, “You were born and raised in Xilin, you still have many ties there.”
“What are you trying to imply?” Lin Sheng imperceptibly frowned.
“Your relatives, and that lady who helped you to escape to Xylond. We have managed to rescue them and send them somewhere safer,” Xiao Weiqi went on.
“What are you thinking of doing?” Lin Sheng was impassive as he asked.
“The top brass of Ocean’s Heart hopes that you could speak to your master, and help us out. Also, you need to compile the entirety of your sacred power training methods and send it back to Xilin. Thirdly, you will need to send a million dollars to the account we have indicated every month,” he said as he held his hand out and gently patted Lin Sheng on his shoulder.
“If you could do these three things, not only we won’t harm your relatives, we will take care of them well.”
“It seems like the country has gone to hell…” Lin Sheng said as he looked at the latter’s somewhat manic look.
“Gone to hell?” Xiao Weiqi laughed as he drank a whole glass of tea down. “Redwin took nine cities yesterday, and the battle cost us hundreds of dead and wounded. So what do we have to fear at this point?”
Lin Sheng did not say anything. He only sipped his tea.
“So, what do you say?” Xiao Weiqi smiled.
Lin Sheng did not reply and only placed the empty glass onto the table.
*Hiss…*
He turned the glass upside down and slowly pushed it to Xiao Weiqi.
“When a glass is upside down, it is no longer a glass. And when the glass has lost its original use, what we need to do is to crush it…”
“So… what are you trying to say?” The smile on Xiao Weiqi’s face slowly faded.
“Don’t you think that both… you and I are just like this glass?”
And through the pristine glass, Lin Sheng’s irises slowly turned gold.
“You…!!?” Xiao Weiqi suddenly realized he was in trouble, and quickly dashed out of the room in fear.
Only Lin Sheng remained in the room, as he sat down with his hand pressing against the glass.
Minutes passed by.
“Is that alright?” Maier walked in, as he looked worriedly at Lin Sheng.
“They will forgive me.”
Lin Sheng’s expression was calm.
“Plus, do you think that I have totally broken off contact with my country?”
“Then that person…” Maier heaved a sigh of relief.
“One two three, three to one, one two three four five six seven…” Over on the opposite street, the sweet laughter of a young girl could be heard.
Maier looked over and saw a young girl in a white lace dress as she trotted along in her small shoes. For some reason, he felt that the girl looked rather familiar.
Then, he squinted.
He saw it… The object spinning in the young girl’s fingers was the bunch of metal keys hanging from Xiao Weiqi’s body earlier.