Chapter 27
The moment Zhou Yi Chen collapsed into Zhao Yuanzhou’s arms, the entire chamber froze.
Blood stained the front of Zhao Yuanzhou’s robes.
“Yi Chen!”
His voice cracked for the first time.
Behind them, Qing Geng’s expression changed.
She immediately turned to flee.
“Stop her!” Wen Xiao shouted from the tunnel entrance.
Qing Geng’s figure blurred.
But before she could escape-
A silver umbrella flashed through the air.
Zhao Yuanzhou hadn’t even looked at her.
Yet his attack struck with terrifying precision.
The umbrella pierced through Qing Geng’s shoulder.
“Ah!”
Blood splattered across the stone floor.
Qing Geng staggered forward, crashing against the wall.
For a brief moment everyone thought she was finished.
Then black mist gathered.
A familiar figure appeared.
Fei.
The plague demon stepped out of the shadows.
His expression remained sorrowful.
Almost resigned.
“Qing Geng.”
He caught the injured woman before she fell.
Qing Geng clenched her teeth.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
Fei smiled sadly.
“And leave you behind?”
Zhao Yuanzhou narrowed his eyes.
“Fei.”
The plague demon met his gaze calmly.
For the first time there was no hostility.
Only exhaustion.
“You have what you came for.”
His voice was quiet.
“Let us leave.”
Before anyone could stop him, black mist erupted through the chamber.
The two demons vanished together.
Zhao Yuanzhou wasn’t paying attention anymore.
His entire focus was on the omega in his arms.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
He lowered his gaze.
Then froze.
Small crimson spots had begun appearing along Zhou Yi Chen’s neck.
Like blooming flowers beneath pale skin.
His temperature was rising rapidly.
Burning.
Far too hot.
“Yi Chen?”
No response.
The young commander’s breathing had become shallow.
Uneven.
Zhao Yuanzhou touched his forehead.
His hand immediately recoiled.
“He has a fever.”
Wen Xiao’s expression changed.
“What?”
Bai Jiu rushed forward.
The young doctor knelt beside them.
The moment he saw the red marks, his face paled.
“That’s not normal.”
“No kidding,” Ying Lei muttered.
Bai Jiu ignored him.
The marks continued spreading beneath Zhou Yi Chen’s skin.
Like veins of crimson light.
Then suddenly-
Zhao Yuanzhou felt a sharp sting.
He frowned.
Looked down.
And saw identical red spots forming across his own hand.
Everyone fell silent.
Bai Jiu stared.
Wen Xiao stared.
Even Pei Sijing looked concerned.
Zhao Yuanzhou slowly turned his hand over.
More marks appeared.
One after another.
His golden eyes darkened.
“This…”
Bai Jiu swallowed.
“That’s impossible.”
“What is?” Wen Xiao demanded.
The young doctor looked between them.
Then at the identical markings.
And suddenly seemed very nervous.
“Those aren’t plague symptoms.”
Everyone froze.
“Then what are they?”
Bai Jiu hesitated.
For once, even he seemed reluctant to answer.
The marks on Zhou Yi Chen’s neck glowed faintly.
The same glow appeared beneath Zhao Yuanzhou’s skin.
As if the two were somehow connected.
Linked.
Bound.
Bai Jiu finally spoke.
“…I think whatever happened inside that chamber…”
His gaze moved between them.
“…happened to both of them.”
Zhao Yuanzhou looked down at the unconscious Zhou Yi Chen.
The young commander’s face was pale.
Yet his body burned like fire.
And for reasons he couldn’t explain-
the red marks appearing on Zhao Yuanzhou’s own skin hurt far less than seeing them on Zhou Yi Chen.
That realization unsettled him more than anything else.
Very slowly, he tightened his hold around the unconscious omega.
His voice became dangerously quiet.
“Whatever Qing Geng did…”
Golden light flickered in his eyes.
“…she’d better pray Yi Chen survives it.”
❄️❄️❄️❄️✨✨✨✨✨⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️
Zhou Yi Chen’s condition continued to worsen.
Even unconscious, his body trembled with fever.
The crimson marks spread slowly beneath his pale skin, crawling across his neck like blooming flowers stained with blood.
His breathing grew increasingly uneven.
Zhao Yuanzhou remained beside him the entire time.
His hand rested against Zhou Yi Chen’s forehead.
“Why isn’t the fever breaking…”
The ancient demon rarely sounded worried.
Now he could barely hide it.
Nearby, Bai Jiu and Ying Lei were completely stunned.
Because Fei had suddenly appeared carrying the injured Qing Geng.
Qing Geng’s shoulder was still bleeding from Zhao Yuanzhou’s attack.
Fei immediately knelt beside her.
“I’ll treat your wound.”
Qing Geng turned her head away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Fei froze.
Before the awkward silence could continue, Bai Jiu marched over.
“I’m a doctor.”
He snatched the medicine tray directly from Fei’s hands.
“You’ll only make things worse.”
Fei obediently stepped aside.
Bai Jiu carefully began treating Qing Geng’s wound.
For a long time, nobody spoke.
Then Qing Geng suddenly sighed.
“You all deserve the truth.”
Everyone turned toward him.
Even Zhao Yuanzhou finally looked away from Zhou Yi Chen.
Qing Geng stared at the ceiling.
As if remembering another lifetime.
“Long ago…”
“I lived in Lingxi Villa.”
“The people worshipped me.”
“They called me the Goddess of Health.”
Her voice was quiet.
“I protected them.”
“They offered prayers.”
“Offerings.”
“Faith.”
“Then Fei arrived.”
Everyone looked toward the plague demon.
Fei lowered his head.
The sadness in his eyes deepened.
“He never wanted to hurt anyone.
“But wherever he went…”
“Plague followed.”
“The town suffered.”
“The villagers became afraid.”
“And fear quickly became hatred.”
The room fell silent.
“They blamed Fei.”
“They blamed me.”
“They said their goddess had failed them.”
Qing Geng laughed softly.
“They were probably right.”
“When the Baize Goddess arrived…”
“She discovered that my power could suppress Fei’s plague.”
“So she sealed us both inside Lingxi Villa.”
“To protect the town.”
Wen Xiao slowly nodded…
Qing Geng’s gaze darkened.
“We remained there for centuries.”
“Until someone arrived.”
Zhao Yuanzhou’s eyes narrowed.
“Li Lun.”
Qing Geng nodded.
“He told me obtaining your inner core would break the seal.”
The chamber instantly grew colder.
“I believed him.”
“That’s why I targeted your team.”
Zhao Yuanzhou’s expression became dangerous.
“Of course.”
“Everything comes back to Li Lun.”
As Qing Geng recovered, Fei quietly began telling the rest of the story.
When he first arrived in the town, he hid inside caves.
Terrified of infecting others.
Terrified of himself.
Yet loneliness eventually drove him out.
The first person he met was Qing Geng.
Unlike everyone else…
Qing Geng hadn’t feared him.
The two slowly became friends.
Then companions.
Then something neither dared name.
But the more time Fei spent outside-
the more plague spread.
And eventually tragedy followed.
By the time Fei finished speaking, nobody interrupted.
“Qing Geng.”
The latter looked up.
“What?”
Fei raised a hand.
A brilliant light emerged from his chest.
The light intensified.
His inner core slowly appeared.
Qing Geng immediately struggled to stand.
“Stop!”
“For the first time…”
His voice trembled.
“I can finally give you freedom.”
The light erupted.
Everyone shielded their eyes.
A warm breeze swept through the chamber.
Then-
Nothing.
The plague demon was gone.
Completely.
Only a small bronze bell remained on the ground.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Qing Geng slowly walked forward.
Her hands shaking.
She picked up the bell.
Held it tightly against her chest.
At first no tears came.
Then suddenly-
They wouldn’t stop.
The sound of the bell echoed softly as tears streamed down his face.
For the first time since meeting him-
Qing Geng cried.
Not as a goddess.
Not as a prisoner.
Simply as someone who had lost the person they loved most.
Nearby, Zhao Yuanzhou looked away.
His expression unreadable.
Yet when he glanced toward Zhou Yi Chen-
still burning with fever-
something tightened painfully inside his chest.
Wen Xiao eventually broke the silence.
“This wasn’t your fault.”
Qing Geng lowered his head.
“The fault belongs to Li Lun.”
Everyone agreed.
Zhao Yuanzhou approached Qing Geng.
The mark behind her ear was still visible.
Li Lun’s possession.
Without hesitation, golden demonic energy gathered in his palm.
“Hold still.”
The power struck.
Qing Geng cried out.
Black smoke erupted from her body.
A fragment of Li Lun’s power burned away completely.
Far away, somewhere in the darkness, Li Lun would undoubtedly feel the damage.
Zhao Yuanzhou smiled coldly.
“One piece at a time.”
“I’ll destroy every trace of him.”
After the possession disappeared, Qing Geng seemed different.
Softer.
Kinder.
Almost like the person she had once been.
She finally revealed the rest of the truth.
Years ago, during the plague outbreak, she had willingly accepted the Baize Goddess’s seal.
Together, she and Fei protected the town.
Together, they endured centuries of loneliness.
Until Li Lun arrived.
He gifted her eyes that could see through all illusions.
Slowly poisoning her thoughts.
Slowly widening the distance between herself and Fei.
Until everything fell apart.
Wen Xiao squeezed her shoulder.
“Then blame Li Lun.”
“Not yourself.”
Qing Geng lowered her eyes.
❄️❄️❄️✨✨✨✨⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️
But before anyone could continue-
Bai Jiu suddenly shouted.
“Wait!”
Everyone turned.
The young doctor’s face had gone pale.
He was staring at Zhou Yi Chen.
The crimson marks had spread even further.
His fever was rising again.
And now-
The same marks remained on everyone who had entered the villa.
Bai Jiu frantically flipped through several ancient medical texts.
Then suddenly froze.
“I found it.”
“What?”
He pointed toward a drawing.
“A Qing Geng Bird Tree.”
“The bark neutralizes plague curses.”
Without wasting a second, Bai Jiu mixed the bark into medicine.
The moment the herbal catalyst touched the brew-
golden light spread through the liquid.
Everyone stared.
Bai Jiu immediately poured the medicine into Zhou Yi Chen’s mouth.
The effect was instant.
The crimson marks finally began to fade.
And for the first time in hours-
Zhao Yuanzhou felt hope…