Chapter 1345: Can't Go Back

"Why worry about me?"

Chen Ling, locked in Jian Changsheng's arm, had no intention of resisting. He said leisurely, "I am the King of the Ghost-Mockery Abyss; I was born to be here... This is my home.

What is there to worry about when coming home?"

"We had a dream two days ago where you slapped each of us in the face." Jian Changsheng seemed to recall something and questioned Chen Ling.

"……That was just a small accident, it's already been resolved."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Then you still can't stay here." Jian Changsheng pointed his chin at Sun Bumian, who was still retching in the corner. "Clubs said this place is a place of great misfortune. If you stay here, bad things will happen."

A place of great misfortune?

Chen Ling looked at Sun Bumian.

Sun Bumian finished retching and happened to look up at Chen Ling. The two looked at each other across the distance... A glimmer of golden light flashed imperceptibly in Sun Bumian's pupils.

The next second, Sun Bumian froze in place.

"Say something, Clubs!" Jian Changsheng urged, seeing Sun Bumian stunned.

Sun Bumian looked at Chen Ling, his expression changing, and finally, a hint of complexity flashed in his eyes...

"Yes... great misfortune."

"See!" Jian Changsheng let go of Chen Ling's arm, put his hands behind his back, and strolled around the restaurant like a leader inspecting, making tut-tut sounds from time to time,

"Red Heart, it's not that I'm saying... but this place of yours really won't do."

"It's cold, it's dark, and there's no sunlight all year round. I'm telling you, if you live here for a long time, even if you don't have bad luck, you'll definitely get rheumatism."

"And look at these walls, how long has it been since they were maintained? They're damp... the infrastructure is too poor, there isn't even an electric light. If you don't light these candles, you can't see anything at all... I think your palace, other than being big, has nothing good about it."

After picking out a bunch of faults, Jian Changsheng stood still in front of Chen Ling, proudly putting his hands behind his back, looking at him with a smile, almost hanging the words "I have a surprise" on his face.

Chen Ling was confused by his inexplicable nitpicking, but shook his head and explained:

"The Ghost-Mockery Abyss is a Calamity territory, not a human domain. There are no good architects, and there is no electricity supply... This is all there is here."

"Hehe, guess what?"

Jian Changsheng's eyes shone like stars. He pinched a document from his chest with two fingers, the corners of his mouth unable to stop rising,

"I happen to have a pardon signed by the Xuanyu Domain government here... It not only wipes out all the 'crimes' of a certain person in the past, but also specially invites that person to become a citizen of the Xuanyu Domain, and includes a three-bedroom, one-living-room, finely decorated apartment in the city center...

Call me Big Brother Jian, and I'll tell you who this person is. How about that?"

Jian Changsheng had never been so proud. It was as if he hadn't pulled out a document, but a "Red Heart Worship Voucher." The moment he pulled it out, he had already imagined Chen Ling's shocked expression!

Pardoning the notorious "Red Heart 6" and giving him a legal domain citizenship...

In the whole world, besides him, Jian Changsheng, who else could do it??

With this, Chen Ling could leave this dark, broken underground insect cave and live with them in the Xuanyu Domain, never having to live in fear or be chased by everyone again. The grievances he had suffered would also have a chance to be cleared.

Originally, Jian Changsheng intended to tease Chen Ling first and pull out this grand gift at the end, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't wait to see Chen Ling's expression after receiving this gift.

And Chen Ling, just as he had expected, froze on the spot.

Looking at Jian Changsheng's proud and arrogant smile and the document signed by the Xuanyu Domain in his hand, Chen Ling suddenly understood what the deal between Jian Changsheng and the Xuanyu Domain was...

A long-lost warmth and emotion emerged from the bottom of his heart, but following it was a heavier pain and bitterness.

Chen Ling just looked at Jian Changsheng quietly.

His gaze was incredibly complex...

After a brief silence, Jian Changsheng shrugged unhappily,

"If you don't want to call me Big Brother Jian, you should at least praise me a couple of times? What's the meaning of staying silent?"

The bright red opera robes remained silent, not even intending to reach out and take the document...

For some reason, Jian Changsheng suddenly felt a little scared. He muttered something and stuffed the document directly into Chen Ling's hand:

"You Red Heart, I went through so much trouble to get this for you, and you won't even call me something nice... Forget it, forget it, I'll give it to you. Pack your things and come with us in a while... okay?"

Jian Changsheng was like a child who had made a mistake. He looked into Chen Ling's eyes, and when he said the last two words, his voice even carried a hint of pleading.

Chen Ling looked down at the pardon in his hand with the name "Chen Ling" written on it. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't say anything.

At this moment, even someone as slow as Jiang Xiaohua felt that the atmosphere was a bit off.

He looked at Chen Ling and Jian Changsheng, who were at a stalemate, and then at Sun Bumian, who had a complex expression on the side. Just as he was about to step forward to say something, Jian Changsheng's angry voice suddenly rang out.

"Not Red Heart!! What the hell do you mean?!"

"Do you know how much effort the three of us spent to get this document?? We finally got it for you, came all this way to take you back to enjoy life, and now... you're just playing dumb and silent?!

Take off this ugly mask of yours and speak!!"

Jian Changsheng's chest heaved violently. He reached out like lightning to grab Chen Ling's mask, wanting to take it off, but he didn't expect the material of the mask to be so fragile. With a little force, it shattered in the air!

A cold wind from nowhere blew through the dim restaurant, causing the torches along the wall and the candlelight on the table to sway violently.

In the flickering shadows, a pitch-black, eerie face appeared before the three.

The three were stunned at the same time.

Shadow-like skin kept falling off that hideous face. One could barely see human features on this face, only an eerie and sinister quality that made one's scalp tingle... This was the face of a Calamity.

Chen Ling stood there quietly, his bright red opera robes swaying gently in the wind.

He looked at Jian Changsheng, who was close at hand, and a bitter smile appeared on his pitch-black lips. But no matter what his emotions were, this smile only looked creepy and eerie on this face...

"Red Heart... your face..." Jian Changsheng finally realized that the face he had seen before was not a hallucination.

Chen Ling sighed softly:

"Spades..."

"I... can't go back."