Chapter 127: Examination

"What are you looking at?"

Watching Mei’s gaze shift strangely between him and Ye Jingxuan, while occasionally glancing into the distance, Mo Chen couldn't help but ask.

"Looking at the protagonist!" Distracted, Mei answered truthfully upon hearing Mo Chen’s question.

The protagonist?

The others paused for a moment before realizing who she meant, and they, too, spotted Xiao Keran.

"Is this mission also part of the plot?" Seeing Xiao Keran, Mo Chen’s first reaction was that they had fallen into another storyline, so he immediately looked at Qu Wenxuan and asked.

But Qu Wenxuan shook her head with a puzzled expression. "This part isn't in the book! In the story, the antidote for the zombie virus was successfully developed using the spring water from the heroine’s interdimensional space. There was no need to send anyone abroad at all!"

"Does she really have such magical spring water in her space? Why doesn't she bring it out now? Why risk her life?" Lin Shaojie asked, confused.

"How would I know? Probably because no one is building up her image for her! After all, in the book, there was always a male lead cleaning up after her at any cost, which allowed the heroine to remain innocent and kind while gaining popularity without worrying about anyone targeting her. But in reality, with no one to help her or cover for her, any fool knows that 'an innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth'—unless she wants to be captured and studied," Qu Wenxuan analyzed after some thought.

"As for why she’s on this mission, I don't know. But in the book, the heroine’s intuition was always incredibly sharp. Usually, if she wanted to go somewhere, that place was bound to have good things! Remember that jade pendant I took from her before? That was something that belonged to the heroine in the book; it was said that the pendant more than doubled the size of her space and accelerated the growth rate of the plants inside." Qu Wenxuan paused and continued.

"In that case, she must be someone with extremely strong fortune. No wonder when she was in the snowy mountains last time, the others with her were all dragged to the ant nest by mutant ants, and only she was fine!" Mei said thoughtfully.

"What good is strong fortune? If you don't have the ability to protect it, can’t it still be snatched away?" Mo Chen said dismissively.

He still remembered Mei saying she was someone abandoned by fate, so he felt an underlying repulsion toward people who were naturally lucky.

"It’s different. Others can snatch away material things, but they cannot snatch away her inherent luck. Her luck can help her turn disaster into fortune and can also help her gain the assistance of many people. Look, even though they are all healers, the attitude others show toward her is clearly much better than toward the others." Mei continued to watch Xiao Keran, who was healing people in the distance.

It was the same healing work, yet Xiao Keran received significantly more gratitude than the other healers.

This might be related to her outstanding looks and pure, sweet temperament, but on the other hand, it also showed the influence of luck on those around her. Although this influence wasn't overwhelming and could potentially be broken by trivial matters, it did exist.

"So what? If something were to really happen, how many of these people would actually reach out to help her?"

"That doesn't seem to be her problem, does it? It’s more likely that there are just too few people in this world who know how to return a favor! In that sense, Ah Ye really is a rare, good person!" Mei sighed as she looked at Ye Jingxuan.

In the book, he helped the heroine regardless of the cost because of her help. But in reality, she had only done him a few small favors, and he was already risking his life to protect her.

A good person like him was rare in any world!

Ye Jingxuan hadn't expected to be handed a "nice guy" card, and a sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.

Did she really think he was only following and protecting her to repay a debt?

Ye Jingxuan wanted to defend himself, but remembering what Xiriel had said, he ultimately said nothing.

Forget it. There is still a long road ahead; he had plenty of time to make her understand.

Mo Chen looked at the tongue-tied Ye Jingxuan and couldn't help but feel a sense of schadenfreude.

Let Mei keep thinking that everything you do is just to repay a debt!

When Ye Jingxuan caught Mo Chen’s expression, he understood what the other man was thinking. Although his face remained expressionless, he became secretly vigilant.

He couldn't let Mo Chen instill any more strange ideas into Mei!

Yes, he must reduce the opportunities for the two of them to be alone in the future!

Mo Chen never imagined that his momentary impulse would cause him to lose all chances to be alone with Mei in the future. Every time he spent more than five minutes alone with her, he would encounter all sorts of interruptions, leaving him grinding his teeth in frustration!

After her musings, Mei turned her attention back to Xiao Keran.

Having heard Qu Wenxuan’s words, she was somewhat interested in Xiao Keran’s space with the magical spring water.

The energy she was searching for did not have a fixed form. Although the Source of Darkness appeared as a crystal, that did not mean the Source of Light and the Source of Life would be the same.

Could those two types of energy transform into a space and attach themselves to someone?

Thinking this, Mei decided to find an opportunity to test it.

That day, they did not encounter any further danger.

After finishing her day of healing work, Xiao Keran dragged her exhausted body slowly toward her cabin.

She walked while lost in thought.

She hadn't expected to meet An Ziyou here again—her male god!

After the Longsheng mission last time, although everyone had stayed at Longsheng, she hadn't run into An Ziyou even once. She had been thinking about him constantly, even though he had never truly spoken to her. But he was a male god, so that was normal, right?

She had always thought her feelings for him were just the infatuation of a fan for an idol, but seeing him again this time, she realized that didn't seem to be the case.

Ever since she saw him during the battle yesterday, her eyes had involuntarily followed his figure. Even after he left, her mind was still filled with him.

His hair had grown longer, making him look even better than before, and there was an ethereal, otherworldly quality about him.

Seeing him made her heart race.

Not seeing him left her listless, unable to find spirit in anything she did.

She thought she must have fallen in love with him.

Unfortunately, he never saw her!

A trace of sorrow clouded Xiao Keran’s brow.

Because she was distracted, she didn't notice the situation in the hallway. As she turned a corner, she bumped face-to-face into someone.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn't mean to, please forgive me!" Xiao Keran apologized immediately without even looking up.

"It’s fine! I’m okay. Are you all right?" the other person said in a calm tone.

Upon hearing the voice, Xiao Keran jerked her head up, staring at the person in disbelief.

"Brother An, it’s you!" Xiao Keran’s face lit up with surprise. She hadn't expected him to appear right in front of her just as she was thinking of him.

"Oh, it's Miss Xiao. I didn't hurt you just now, did I?" An Ziyou seemed to have just recognized her, his eyes showing surprise as he asked with concern.

Xiao Keran was incredibly excited, shaking her head vigorously. "I'm fine. It was my own carelessness. Brother An, why are you still outside so late?"

"Nothing much, just that the cabin was too small, so I thought I’d get some air on the deck. How about you?" An Ziyou asked casually.

"I felt a bit stifled too. May I go to the deck with you?" To spend more time with her male god, Xiao Keran lied directly.

An Ziyou acted as if he didn't notice her lie and nodded in agreement. "Of course!"

Xiao Keran followed An Ziyou toward the deck, feeling overwhelmed with excitement.

It was dark now, and there was hardly anyone on the deck.

An Ziyou led Xiao Keran, avoiding the people on the deck, and headed toward a secluded corner.

Xiao Keran was only focused on An Ziyou’s figure, subconsciously following him forward. She didn't notice where they were going, nor did she notice the black wall standing on their path.

An Ziyou led her forward without a moment's hesitation, passing directly through the black wall.

The moment she crossed the black barrier, Xiao Keran’s body went limp, and she fainted instantly.

A pair of hands reached out from the shadows to steady her, and then spoke to An Ziyou: "Xiao You, go out first and keep a lookout for me. Tell me if anyone comes!"

"Yes, okay!" An Ziyou turned and left the barrier to keep watch for Mei.

Mei sat Xiao Keran down and looked at her hand. According to Qu Wenxuan, her space came from an ancestral bracelet, which would merge into her body after forming a bond, leaving only a mark on her wrist.

Mei quickly found the mark and tried to channel her spiritual energy into it to probe.

The space was tightly bound to Xiao Keran and was extremely resistant to foreign power. Mei tried for a long time before she could finally penetrate it with a bit of her energy.

Xiao Keran’s space was indeed quite large, though most of it was taken up by soil. Xiao Keran had planted quite a few fruits and vegetables there. In one corner, besides a pile of harvested grain and produce, various collected supplies were stored.

Mei wasn't interested in what she had collected, so she skipped over it. She went straight to the only spring in the space and extended her spiritual energy into the water.

The spring water contained strong life energy and was mixed with a large amount of light-element energy. However, its concentration couldn't even compare to the energy within her own body; it couldn't possibly be formed by any of the energy sources she was looking for.

Mei withdrew her spiritual energy with a hint of regret and dispersed the dark barrier.

"Are you done checking? Is her space what you were looking for?"

"No! Her space is just a bit more special than the average person's; it’s not what I’m looking for!" Mei raised her hand and placed a leaf from the Tree of Life into Xiao Keran’s space. Although it was just a leaf, the life energy it contained was no less than the water in her space. It would serve as compensation for her rashly bringing her in. After all, her healing ability was closely related to the life energy in the spring water, and this leaf was enough to double the life energy in the water.

Having done this, Mei said to An Ziyou, "Let’s take her back."

"I'll do it!"

Afraid that Mei might get tired, An Ziyou reached out and took the person from her. The two avoided everyone along the way and delivered Xiao Keran to the door of her cabin. Watching her brother carry her inside, they then turned and left.