Chapter 584: Section 372: You are my… redemption!
Amidst Lan Zao’s chaotic nightmare, he and Huang Zao both questioned the gods at the same time.
“Why won’t you save me?!”
“Why?!”
“Oh gods, how great you are, that you don’t even need to lift a finger to save my life.”
“Why won’t you save me!?”
“For I have faith in you.”
In a daze, Huang Zao’s face turned into Lan Zao’s.
Lan Zao pressed his own head fiercely against the scalding gravel.
The rage in his heart made him grind his teeth, his eyes bloodshot.
He strangled his own neck tightly, then suddenly pulled himself out with force, questioning, “Why won’t you save me?! Why won’t you save me!!”
Lan Zao, pulled from the gravel by his own hands, couldn’t catch his breath.
He was gasping for air, weakly replying, “Because…”
“I want to live too.”
Such self-talk, however, was met with Lan Zao’s rage.
He choked himself, gasping for breath, and screamed with all his might, “Yes, I want to live! Yet you do not save me, why won’t you save me!”
“If you won’t save me, I’ll kill you!”
Lan Zao tightened his grip on his own neck and then pressed himself back into the gravel.
“Save me, save me!!” he shouted for help, but he was killing himself.
And the other Lan Zao’s eyes, nose, and mouth were buried in the gravel; before long, the latter couldn’t hold on anymore, beating Lan Zao’s arms forcefully, signaling a plea for mercy.
Lan Zao was elated and quickly pulled himself out, “You’re finally willing to save me?”
But the Lan Zao that was pulled out had a different face.
He had turned into the Net Goddess.
The Goddess’s face was dull, just like a statue.
Lan Zao was furious, “You won’t save me!”
He pressed the Goddess into the gravel, and soon, the Goddess began beating on his arms.
Lan Zao was overjoyed and pulled out the Goddess, “Are you finally going to lend a hand?”
The Net Goddess turned into the God of Water Waves, expressionless.
Lan Zao exploded in anger, “You won’t save me!”
He also pressed the God of Water Waves into the gravel, then felt someone slapping his shoulder.
“Are you going to save me?”
He pulled up the God of Water Waves, only to see that he had turned into the Elf’s deity—the Forest Mother.
The Forest Mother wore a frozen smile, unresponsive no matter how desperately Lan Zao pleaded.
Lan Zao pressed the Forest Mother back into the sand, and when he pulled her up again, she had become Huang Zao.
Huang Zao smiled at him, “Brother, you’ve already killed me, do you want to kill me a second time?”
Lan Zao’s body trembled violently, and in his panic, he abruptly let go, as Huang Zao fell onto the sand.
The gravel turned into quicksand, slowly swallowing Huang Zao.
Lan Zao screamed, “No, don’t!”
He reached out to grab Huang Zao, trying to stop him from sinking.
At the same time, he loudly explained, “I didn’t mean to kill you.”
“I really didn’t do it on purpose!”
He wailed, desperately digging, his hands bloodied, but Huang Zao had completely vanished into the quicksand, leaving no trace.
Lan Zao completely fell apart, covered his face with his hands, wailing incessantly.
Reality.
On the dock.
“Did you make it?” Dwarf Menshi, covered in soot and dirt, had regained his strength after the explosion and stood upright.
The right side of the Triangular Love Ship’s hull had been burned down by a large measure.
The pit created by the explosion on the sea’s surface was rapidly refilling.
The surrounding seawater replenished the area, creating a giant wave.
The wave slammed into the badly damaged hull, and one such wave poured directly into Lan Zao’s cabin.
Most of the flames inside the cabin were quenched, but Lan Zao, who had passed out, caught the brunt of the seawater slap.
Afterward, he fell into the sea through the broken gap in the cabin, carried by the backflowing waves.
This change was reflected in his nightmare.
Suddenly, a pair of hands sprang from the quicksand and grabbed Lan Zao’s arms.
With a fierce jerk,
Lan Zao was pulled into the quicksand.
Darkness, boundless darkness.
Heavy pressure came from every direction in the darkness, pushing and crushing him.
Lan Zao foresaw his own death.
He struggled desperately, grabbing the hands and pulling hard, bringing the culprit who had dragged him into the quicksand to the front.
Lan Zao looked closely and suddenly let out a scream of shock.
This time, it was no longer Huang Zao or any other deity, but the Dragon-man youth.
“Lan Zao, are you going to kill me?” the Dragon-man youth quietly gazed at Lan Zao,
And he was smiling.
Lan Zao’s eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the Dragon-man youth.
His bloodstained hands, with the fierce aura of a murderer’s weapon, slowly stretched towards the Dragon-man youth’s chest.
In reality, Lan Zao was sinking into the water.
He couldn’t breathe, the sea water sealed his nostrils and rushed in desperately.
The feeling of suffocation made the veins on the nightmare Lan Zao’s face bulge, making him look like a demon.
The claw of the demon reached for the Dragon-man youth’s chest.
Meanwhile, the Dragon-man youth, as if oblivious, spoke calmly and kindly, “I’m very sorry, Lan Zao, it was I who gave you the Magic Potion.”
“Ah—!” Lan Zao opened his mouth and let out a roar of extreme anger, “You killed me!!”
The Dragon-man youth’s face bore a look of mercy, “Yes, I killed you.”
“Now, do you want to kill me?”
“Ah—!” Lan Zao opened his mouth, and once again, he let out a roar as if he wanted to perish together with the Dragon-man youth.
But the closer his bloodied hands got to the chest of the Dragon-man youth, the slower they moved.
The hands that were once splayed wide, gradually shrank and became powerless.
Thud.
When Lan Zao was one step away from the Dragon-man youth, he finally couldn’t hold himself up any longer, and his knees gave way, causing him to kneel at the feet of the Dragon-man youth.
His face was ashen, like that of a man on his deathbed, and he looked up at the Dragon-man youth with tears streaming down his cheeks, carving two deep tracks.
His hands, curled up like chicken claws, halted midway.
He cried out to the Dragon-man youth, “Squad leader, My Lord!”
“How could I dare to strike you?!”
The Dragon-man youth still looked at him silently, “But Lan Zao, it was I who gave you the potions. After you took the medicine, you were close to death. I am the murderer who killed you.”
Lan Zao sat paralyzed on the ground, still looking up at the Dragon-man youth.
Tears covered his face, “How could I ever raise a hand to you?!”
“You must be deceived, it must be Zi Di, it must be this ghost…”
But in the next moment, the Dragon-man youth interrupted him, “But what if I tell you that I did it on purpose? You must understand, the fewer people who know about the Mysterious Monster Island, the better. The wealth of Mysterious Monster Island, the fewer people there are to share it, the better.”
Lan Zao wept like a figure of tears, his hands curling up to his chest, always looking up at the Dragon-man youth, “Even if that is the case… even if it is so…”
“I am willing to die!”
The Dragon-man youth no longer spoke but silently looked down upon Lan Zao as if waiting for his explanation.
Lan Zao dredged up the deepest thoughts from within his heart, “My Lord.”
“It was you who saved me, on the Mysterious Monster Island.”
“My life was already saved by you, now returning it to you is only right.”
“I have committed an unforgivable mistake!”
“It was you who accepted me, it was you who told me I could move forward again!”
“Being able to follow you, even for just a part of the way, has been my greatest honor.”
“You…”
“You are my redemption!!”
Lan Zao’s words came in fits and starts, but as he reached the end, it was with all the force he could muster.
A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on the face of the Dragon-man youth.
Suddenly, his figure shot up, to ten meters, fifty meters, a hundred meters!
He turned into a giant.
Lan Zao at his feet looked as small as an insect.
The voice of the Dragon-man youth emerged, and at that moment, it was as loud as a bell at dawn or a drum at dusk, booming and boundless, echoing through this dark world.
The voice blasted in Lan Zao’s heart—”If that is so, why not kneel?”
Lan Zao’s expression became dazed.
Then, with grace coming over him, his chest-cramped claws slowly drew together.
He bowed his head in reverence, “My Lord, you are my master, your path is my path…”
He was dying.
Seawater poured into his chest and lungs in great quantities.
His body slowly sank into the sea.
Zi Di’s true body presided over the Deep Sea Monster Fish, witnessed this scene but didn’t send the Alchemy Puppet to salvage him.
Because the Dragon-man youth had already rushed to the dock.
Through the alchemy device, she informed the youth of Lan Zao’s peril.
The Dragon-man youth plunged into the swamp oil that had re-covered the sea.
The Ring Mound’s exploding Fighting energy behind him allowed him to catch Lan Zao successfully.
Spurt.
The next moment, he leaped up, bringing Lan Zao with him, out of the sea’s surface.
Jumping repeatedly, in just a few breaths, he stepped onto the deck of the Triangular Love Ship.
“Squad leader!”
“Squad leader, My Lord!!”
The crowd cheered in surprise.
The Dragon-man youth’s appearance greatly boosted the morale of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
To this day, the prestige of the Dragon-man youth had far surpassed that of Zong Ge and others.
The main reason was that he had slain Teng Donglang, making his name widely known. The feat of silver slaying Gold level was extraordinary, demanding attention from others.
A significant number of the newcomers to the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps joined because of the Dragon-man youth, wanting to serve under such a mighty figure.
This is the world of the strong.
The Alchemy Puppet pretending to be Zi Di had already taken out a Healing Scroll and potions, quickly approaching the Dragon-man youth.
Lan Zao was treated.
He opened his eyes and saw the Dragon-man youth standing before him.
He lay on the deck, while the Dragon-man youth looked down at him.
The burning sea reflected the towering blaze onto the Dragon-man youth’s back, casting him in a towering, awe-inspiring silhouette akin to the nightmare Lan Zao had.
“My Lord…” Lan Zao involuntarily called out, nearly bursting into tears again.
The Dragon-man youth smiled at him, “I’m so sorry…”
He did not finish his sentence as he abruptly turned around.
The next moment, a thick beam of white light swept across, freezing the surrounding sea of the Triangular Love Ship.
It was support from the Mage Tower!
The Swamp Oil Elements around the Mage Tower had all been frozen into a dense array of statues.
Once the situation eased, the Mage Tower immediately provided support to the docks.
After all, if the dock was burned down, the City Lord’s mansion would indeed suffer a heavy loss.
The thick beam of white light swept across four directions, extinguishing the fire wherever it went, instantly freezing the seawater and swamp oil.
The crisis of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was averted.