Bai Qiu tilted his head, then suddenly remembered there was an unlucky guy with a broken leg yesterday.
He immediately said, “No, she’s resting. Do you need something?”
Bai Qiu spoke from outside the door.
From inside came a surprised voice:
“You’re a man? Great! Could you do me a favor?”
Bai Qiu hesitated and asked cautiously, “What kind of favor?”
“That… bro, could you come inside? I want to keep my voice down…” Li Shi said awkwardly from inside the room.
Bai Qiu: “…”
A few minutes later, Bai Qiu stood outside the bathroom, listening to the excited voice coming from inside.
“You’re that big shot people were talking about in the channel, right? When I woke up today, I saw it. Tons of people were reposting your one-versus-four—no! One-versus-six thing!”
Bai Qiu thought, technically it was one-versus-seven, but he didn’t plan on dwelling on that topic.
Instead, he asked, “Really? It wasn’t much. I don’t have anything worth saying about it. But you—what do you plan to do from now on?”
There was a short silence from inside the bathroom.
Then Li Shi let out a bitter laugh.
“I probably won’t be able to fight anymore. If I were a ranged class, maybe. But I’m a close combat unit. How the hell am I supposed to ride without a leg? Sigh… I’ll just see if I can do some work for the [Supporters]. If that doesn’t work, I’ll help others with small errands. As long as I can earn enough for food and lodging, that’s enough.”
As they talked, Li Shi’s previously gloomy mood suddenly rose again.
He said excitedly, “Brother Bai Qiu, let me tell you this secretly—people like Guinelia and the others are real people. They’re not system-made NPCs!”
“Uh… I’ve known that for a long time.” Bai Qiu was speechless.
It was so obvious—he knew the moment he first came here.
Li Shi finished relieving himself, then hopped out of the bathroom.
Bai Qiu supported him by the shoulder and helped him outside the potion store.
“Let’s go. I’ll take you to get a cane or something. When Guinelia wakes up, I’ll ask her if she can make a prosthetic leg for you,” Bai Qiu said.
“Really? Thank you so much, big bro! I feel… I feel really bad making you do so much for me!” Li Shi said emotionally.
Bai Qiu was quiet for a moment, then asked, “You don’t hate me?”
“Huh?”
“Strictly speaking, those monsters were drawn over because of me. Which means your broken leg—I have indirect responsibility.” Bai Qiu said plainly.
It was the truth.
Even if he’d had Zhang Shiyao warn them in advance, it didn’t change the fact that some might not have realized the danger.
“Oh, that? To be honest, at first I really did resent you. But last night I thought it through. This all happened because I overestimated myself. Even if I died, that would’ve been on me. Everyone—including me—knew monsters could show up, yet we still ran out there to act tough.” Li Shi sighed, deeply regretting his own stupidity.
“And besides, it’s called a Safe Zone because when things get dangerous, it protects people like us. You must’ve run back because something dangerous was happening. That’s perfectly natural!”
After hearing Li Shi’s words, Bai Qiu slowly nodded and stopped dwelling on the matter.
Supporting Li Shi, he brought him to a general store, bought some sticks, and made a simple crutch.
Then he brought him to Wang Renfeng’s place and treated him to a meal.
“Hey! Thanks so much for today! Big bro, I can walk on my own now. Go do your own thing. Don’t waste your time on me. I mean, it’s not like I need you following me around while I look for a job, right?” Li Shi laughed.
He seemed genuinely happy, as if losing a leg didn’t bother him at all.
Bai Qiu nodded calmly and said, “Alright. Take care of yourself. Oh, add me as a friend. If you ever need help, message me. If I can help, I will.”
“Haha, sure!”
And so, the two added each other as friends.
Bai Qiu left, and Li Shi was still trembling with excitement.
His impression of Bai Qiu completely changed; he had become Bai Qiu’s number-one fan.
In the area chat and cross-zone chat, whenever he saw someone badmouthing Bai Qiu or questioning his character, he would instantly jump in and flame them!
Of course, Bai Qiu himself had no idea.
…….
Bai Qiu arrived outside the residence of the [Sage] Onipur.
Looking at Onipur, who was pretending to be an NPC while standing there, he said,
“About what happened early yesterday morning, I think you owe me an explanation.”
Onipur gave a bitter smile.
What was coming had finally come.
“What do you want to ask?”
“Everything,” Bai Qiu said.
He knew very clearly that yesterday, when he was isolated and left without support, it must have been this old bastard who meddled with things.
The others could be ignored—they were too weak and might not even be able to hit a Cavalry Monarch from inside the Sanctuary Barrier.
But Zhang Shiyao was different.
Her level wasn’t low, and she had a C-rank quality mithril shortbow.
With her ability, she should’ve been able to support him.
But she didn’t—and she even inexplicably fell into a strange sleep…
“Sigh…”
Onipur let out a long breath.
This kid’s mind was way too sharp.
So he had no choice but to recount everything that happened inside the barrier yesterday.
Ten minutes later—
After hearing the explanation, Bai Qiu still wasn’t sure whether Onipur had lied, but at least he understood the general situation.
After all, if someone wants to lie, they still need to mix some truth into it, right?
If he didn’t speak any truth at all, Bai Qiu could just find a random player on the street and ask.
And if that happened, he’d definitely tear off the roof of Onipur’s house!
Anyway, first things first—go find the mage merchant!
Bai Qiu stormed toward the mage merchant.
This time, he directly ignored the line and said,
“What’s going on with that kid now? You’d better give me an explanation!”
“Hey hey! Big bro, calm down!”
“Yeah! Let’s talk this out peacefully!”
Bai Qiu’s outfit was too eye-catching—everyone recognized him, but no one dared complain about him cutting the line.
The only issue was that yes, he cut in, but from his expression, it looked like he was about to beat the mage merchant senseless.
“Hahaha…”
The mage merchant laughed and waved a hand at the crowd.
“She’s fine. This was a trial specifically prepared for you. I interrupted her attempt to use the Noble Phantasm yesterday.”
“So as compensation, I granted her a blessing. The longer she sleeps, the greater the blessing she receives. As for her safety, you don’t need to worry at all.”
Bai Qiu frowned but reluctantly accepted the explanation—after all, it was the same thing Onipur had said.
He asked the mage merchant, “Regarding this trial you arranged for me, I won’t pursue it further. Anyway, judging from the result, it turned out fine. My question is: for the task you gave me, if I use potions that increase elemental affinity or learn relevant skills—will kills achieved that way still count?”
“Of course! The essence of magic is the pursuit of its roots. Any attempt you believe can strengthen yourself to complete the mission is acknowledged!”
“The task requires you to unleash the greatest possible power of magic to slay your enemies. As for how you increase that power—honestly or through unconventional means—it’s all part of your journey of exploration.”
The mage merchant explained.
To be honest, he was very satisfied with Bai Qiu’s current performance.
It was only the third day, and he had already completed two-thirds of the task.
With his aptitude, as long as he didn’t get stuck on something trivial, completing the mission was practically guaranteed.
— The end of the Chapter–
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