Chapter 1275: Han Meng's Explanation

Chen Ling stared at Han Meng for a long time before finally letting out a soft laugh:

"...After all this time, you haven't changed a bit."

Chen Ling wasn't surprised by Han Meng's answer. Back in the Aurora Realm, he had even dared to question Aurora City, where Tan Xin and the others were; naturally, he wouldn't easily trust the Fusion Faction, whom he had never met... He had been in contact with Chen Ling, a member of the Twilight Society, for so long, yet he only trusted him, not the entire Twilight Society.

Thud—thud...

Bursts of roaring sounds echoed from outside the prison. It must have been the Pu family's reinforcements arriving, attempting to break open the [Tribunal] from the outside. The entire chimney-shaped building was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Han Meng scanned behind him calmly, then raised his black gun barrel and pulled the trigger toward the ground in front of him.

Puff—

As the aura of the Seventh-Stage erupted, the ground in front of Chen Ling and Han Meng seemed to melt directly. A bottomless black hole not only pierced through the earth dragon of the Sixth-Stage from earlier but also extended deep into the ground, leading to who knows where.

"You should go." Han Meng said calmly. "I can't help you open the gates, but I can send you away from here."

"Then how will you explain it to the human realms?"

"I couldn't beat you, and I let you escape."

Chen Ling smiled. "That's reasonable... though you might have to add a few wounds to yourself, otherwise it won't look real."

"I know."

The roaring outside the prison became more frequent; even Han Meng couldn't maintain this domain for too long.

Chen Ling didn't hesitate any longer. Two red-paper pythons extended from his cuffs, hugging Xiao Tao and Xiao Bai respectively and lifting them to his side...

"Then I'm leaving."

"Hmm."

"I hope that next time we meet, we'll have the chance to sit down and have a proper chat... instead of continuing to play 'police' and 'fugitive'." Chen Ling said half-jokingly.

But Han Meng paused seriously for a long while before nodding:

"I will do my best."

For Chen Ling, it was just a casual remark, but for Han Meng, it was a heavy burden. After all, it wasn't they themselves who decided their conflicting identities, but the human realms... Only when the human realms accepted Chen Ling would Chen Ling no longer have to hide and run.

Chen Ling waved his hand, then jumped directly into the pitch-black hole with Xiao Bai and Xiao Tao, disappearing from sight.

Thud—thud—thud...

The roaring outside the prison was like thunder, continuous and loud. Han Meng, however, did not pull the trigger to leave wounds on himself. Instead, he turned around calmly, facing the direction of the prison gate...

Amidst a loud crash, the [Tribunal] exploded into pieces. More than a dozen figures broke through the outer wall of the prison and landed slowly in the area.

Among them were several Seventh-Stages. Most of the elders of the Pu family had come, along with many Sixth-Stages, and Pu Chunshu was among them... Even beneath the clouds not far away, the Pu family head, radiating an Eighth-Stage aura, gradually took shape.

It was the combined effort of several Pu family elders that had just managed to break a gap in the [Tribunal]. These people seemed not to have expected that Han Meng's [Tribunal] would be so tough, and their expressions toward Han Meng were somewhat subtle.

Everyone scanned the dilapidated prison but did not see Chen Ling's figure.

"Officer Han Meng, where is Chen Ling?" Pu Chunshu asked immediately.

"He's gone."

"...Gone?"

The gazes of the Pu family members and the many officers fell on Han Meng, but they didn't see the slightest trace of a battle...

Pu Chunshu's expression was a bit strange. He seemed to have guessed something and spoke, giving Han Meng a suitable way out:

"You didn't beat Chen Ling, and you accidentally let him escape... is that right?"

"No."

Han Meng raised his gun barrel, aimed it at the ground, and pulled the trigger gently.

Bang—

The next moment, the newspapers and judgment results scattered all over the ground seemed to be sentenced as guilty, and bursts of flames swallowed them up.

Fireballs burned amidst the dilapidated ruins. With the judgment of justice, all the slander and accusations were burned to ashes in full view of everyone!

In the countless astonished gazes, the Law Enforcer's trench coat was illuminated by the firelight, flickering between light and shadow. Han Meng slowly raised his face, those sharp eyes seeming to contain the spirit of a fearless, unyielding lion:

"I let him go on purpose..."

"Chen Ling is innocent."

……

Chen Ling's figure shuttled through the pitch-black cave.

Han Meng's shot had purely cleared a path through the ground, vertically piercing through the earth of the Nanhai Realm. But that certainly wouldn't be enough to shake off those enemies. Chen Ling directly controlled dense crimson tentacles to dig another tunnel deep underground, extending toward another direction on the surface.

Chen Ling didn't know how long Han Meng could stall for him. If he were only playing the part of a wounded man, he should only be able to stall for a few sentences at most. Fortunately, those Book Divine Path users shouldn't be good at digging and chasing, so he still had some time.

"Chen Ling... Big Brother..." Xiao Tao's weak murmur sounded in his ear.

"Xiao Tao, you are seriously injured right now, don't speak."

Chen Ling turned his head to say to her.

Xiao Tao's skin was charred, her delicate body helplessly supported by red paper, as if she were on the verge of death... But she still turned her head to look at Chen Ling, her pair of dark, bright eyes filled with pain.

"Big Brother... I want to smoke."

"..." Chen Ling was speechless. "You're in this state, and you still want to smoke?"

"It's not that, Great King." Xiao Bai immediately explained from the side. "The disaster Xiao Tao fused with usually suppresses the secretion of specific hormones in her body, making her feel pain more easily than ordinary people. Even a fall feels like a broken bone... So Teacher Ye specially made medicine for her, which she inhales regularly to alleviate the pain."

Chen Ling was stunned and immediately controlled the red paper to take a cigarette from Xiao Tao's inner pocket, put it in her mouth, and lit it.

No wonder Xiao Bai could still kill someone himself after suffering so many electric shocks, but Xiao Tao was already in critical condition after being shocked only two or three times... No wonder Xiao Bai was heartbroken and furious when he saw Xiao Tao being tortured, because all the pain felt by Xiao Tao was doubled.

For a child of ten or so, that level of pain was simply unimaginable.

Xiao Tao took a deep drag of the special cigarette. As the orange flame burned, her complexion finally recovered a little, and a glimmer of light appeared in her eyes as she looked at Chen Ling.

"Thank you, Big Brother." Xiao Tao squeezed out a faint smile with her pale lips.

Seeing this, Chen Ling felt uncomfortable in his heart.

If he hadn't asked Xiao Tao to play the role of a member of the Twilight Society to connect with Pu Jianyue, the subsequent events wouldn't have happened, and she wouldn't have suffered such pain... And now Xiao Tao also knew the truth: he had never saved Aurora City, nor had he saved her brother... Chen Ling himself had experienced such things, and he knew how painful Xiao Tao must be feeling right now.

"Sorry." Chen Ling looked away.

"I let you down... I was never any kind of hero."