Chapter 1568: Shen Qingzhu's Anger

Shen Qingzhu seemed to naturally possess a certain temperament that made people trust him and open up to him... At the very least, Chen Ling felt that this person was worth getting to know deeply.

"Thank you, Brother Shen."

"Don't call me Brother Shen, it's too formal," Shen Qingzhu waved his hand. "My brothers all call me 'Zhuai-ge' (Brother Swagger)."

"...Zhuai-ge?"

Chen Ling didn't quite understand the nickname, but he didn't ask further. After saying thank you again, he bent down and picked up the small piece of the fragment from the ground.

Before picking up the fragment, Chen Ling conservatively used his remodeling power to wrap a layer around the surface, reducing the contact area between the fragment and his fingers, making it look like a gray-and-red coin.

When Chen Ling held this coin in his hand, he felt a surging wave of Red Star wish-power flowing from the red part of the coin into his body, causing his mental power to grow continuously...

His mental power, which had only recently reached the mid-stage of the Seventh Rank, loosened under the scouring of the Red Star's power and began to grow steadily. The effect was like killing a Jiangtian Sect member every three minutes and absorbing the Red Star wish-power within them.

Compared to the explosive, suicidal growth of absorbing the whole fragment directly, this slow and steady method was clearly more suitable for Chen Ling right now.

Chen Ling played with the coin while looking at Shen Qingzhu with confusion:

"Haven't you tried absorbing it? With your power, you shouldn't be blown apart by it, right?"

Shen Qingzhu shook his head. "My power comes from the K-series meteor that invaded my world, while yours is a Y-series meteor. Meteors of different series are incompatible with each other."

"I see..."

This was the first time Shen Qingzhu had mentioned anything about his own world, and Chen Ling couldn't help but ask:

"You said last time that the K-series meteor's method of destruction was... Mythological Invasion?"

"Strictly speaking, Mythological Invasion is just one of the many ways the K-series meteor manifests."

"Since the meteor in your world has been resolved, then... why did you come to our world?"

"..." Shen Qingzhu hesitated for a long time before sighing.

"Our Captain sent me."

"Captain?"

"Yes, he's the one who resolved the K-series meteor in our world," Shen Qingzhu looked into his eyes. "I should have mentioned it to you last time; there are only two people who have successfully counter-killed a meteor... and he is one of them."

"Is he even more powerful than you?"

Shen Qingzhu smiled.

"Our Captain is much more powerful than me."

In Chen Ling's understanding, Shen Qingzhu was already ridiculously powerful. If he weren't restricted to the Embers of Civilization, he could probably turn the human domains outside upside down all by himself... And the "Captain" he spoke of was even stronger than him?

Was this the kind of existence that could block a meteor shower across the myriad worlds of candlelight?

"If there's a chance in the future, I'd really like to meet him," Chen Ling said sincerely.

"I haven't seen him in a long time either. Let me think, the last time I saw him, it must have been..."

Hearing this, Shen Qingzhu seemed to remember something, and his hand, which was about to pull out a cigarette, trembled slightly.

His expression suddenly became strange.

"What's wrong?" Chen Ling asked in confusion.

"...No, nothing."

Shen Qingzhu lowered his head, silently puffing on his cigarette, and rubbed his fingers together. A wisp of flame silently lit the tip of the cigarette...

……

Shen Qingzhu's memory returned to the past.

That was back when he was still being rejected by this world, being randomly teleported around the human domains like a headless fly.

He remembered that he had just been about to walk into a shop in a domain to buy cigarettes. As soon as he stepped into the doorway, his entire body was teleported away by chaotic spatial energy... When he opened his eyes, he had already arrived above a gray mountain range.

In the mountains, there were many Calamities that looked like nothing more than skin. They seemed shocked to see him appear out of thin air and immediately scrambled to pounce on him.

At the time, Shen Qingzhu had no idea where he was or what these monsters were. However, with his strength, a casual wave of his hand was enough to clear out these small fries completely.

Then...

A piece of skin flew over from the other side of the mountain range.

Shen Qingzhu remembered clearly that the skin had many eyes on it. After staring at him for a long time, it descended, and then that strange skin folded and flipped, eventually turning into a figure draped in a dark red cloak...

It was an ugly, clumsy, and quite disgusting pseudo-human. But through some of its details, Shen Qingzhu could tell who it was trying to imitate. He was stunned on the spot, forgetting to move for a moment.

Then, the pseudo-human looked at him and walked toward him, shaking its head and using that extremely familiar voice:

"Zhuai-ge..."

"You... are too weak..."

"Weak, and without any background. The Night Watch team doesn't need a member like you... Go to that world yourself and stay there alone until you die... I'm going on vacation with Jialan, bye-bye..."

Shen Qingzhu: ???????????

……

Shen Qingzhu remembered clearly that on that day, he leveled the entire mountain range and tore that ugly skin into three pieces.

If he hadn't been teleported away by chaotic spatial energy at the last moment, leaving that damn skin with its last breath, it should have been made into a pair of leather shoes and been under his feet for who knows how many years by now.

Shen Qingzhu exhaled a puff of smoke, temporarily throwing that infuriating memory to the back of his mind, and looked back at Chen Ling:

"Do you have anything else?"

"No."

"If not, then hurry up and leave," Shen Qingzhu pointed beneath his feet. "This place is the very core of the Embers of Civilization, and time flows very quickly here. One hour here is equivalent to several days outside... If you don't leave now, I'm afraid you'll miss a lot."

"What???"

Chen Ling knew that the time flow here was faster than outside. Last time he had stayed inside for only half a day, and Wu Yi had waited for nearly a week outside. But now, the time flow difference in their current location seemed even more exaggerated—one hour was equivalent to several days??

Chen Ling calculated. Since he had entered the outskirts of the Embers of Civilization and gradually made his way to the core, it should have been nearly 30 hours. Including the time flow difference... although he couldn't calculate it precisely, at least a month must have passed outside.

"Thanks for the reminder!" Chen Ling was about to turn and leave, but seeing the Red Star fragment out of the corner of his eye, he hesitated for a moment.

"Zhuai-ge, I'll leave this fragment with you for safekeeping for a while... I'll come back to get it when I need it."

Shen Qingzhu nodded. "No problem."

Chen Ling didn't waste any more time. He turned and flew rapidly toward the outside of the Embers of Civilization. At the same time, Shen Qingzhu seemed to remember something else and shouted:

"Next time you come, bring me a few more packs of cigarettes!"