Caleb spoke no more and leaned down toward the unconscious Saintess.
At some point, a silver needle as fine as an ox hair had appeared between his withered fingers.
His hand moved like a flash of lightning, and the tip of the needle pierced a certain spot on Eve's chest with absolute precision before giving it a light flick.
A drop of blood, deep red with specks of golden light, was drawn out and remained suspended at the tip of the needle.
The moment the heart's blood left her body, Eve's already weak breathing nearly stopped entirely.
Her body twitched almost imperceptibly.
A faint trace of soul energy wrapped around the drop of heart's blood at Caleb's fingertips.
He combined its aura with a formless imprint and slowly drove it deep into the Saintess's soul.
Only after completing all of this did he put away the silver needle.
Just before his figure began to fade, he cast one final look at Lin Gui and asked,
“The reason you waited for me with the Saintess in No. 2 Mine was so I would ‘see clearly’ the soul weight she had after you disguised her?”
Lin Gui nodded, admitting it frankly.
“A good scheme.”
Caleb curled his lips into a smile that was hard to tell if it was appreciative or cold.
“My promise to you still stands.”
“Whenever you change your mind, you are welcome to join me at any time.”
Before he even finished speaking, his figure completely vanished, as if merging into the night.
Lin Gui immediately walked over to the Saintess and squatted down to check her condition.
“How much longer can you hold on?” he asked in a deep voice.
The healing magic Eve used to sustain her life was of a very high rank, even vaguely reaching the threshold of Legendary.
While its effect was powerful, its consumption was also staggering.
Once her mana was exhausted, she would die instantly.
Eve struggled to open a slit of her eyes.
Her lips moved, but she could only produce an extremely weak, airy whisper.
Lin Gui couldn't hear her clearly and instinctively leaned his ear close to her lips.
However, the expected whisper did not come.
Instead, he felt a cool and soft sensation against his cheek.
The Saintess had actually used up her remaining strength to give his cheek a gentle kiss.
This was by no means an accidental touch.
Only then did her voice, as weak as a sigh, reach his ear.
“This is... a reward for the hero...”
Lin Gui's heart skipped a beat for some reason.
He furrowed his brows.
Although Eve's gaze was unfocused, he could still see the subtle sense of intimacy within it.
But... why?
Lin Gui didn't consider himself particularly handsome.
How could a girl fall for him after only two days together?
Especially a Saintess with such an outstanding status, appearance, and ability.
He tilted his head to look at that pale face with a faint smile right next to him and asked directly,
“What is the relationship between the future me and you?”
Saintess Eve's lips curled into a subtle arc.
Her purple eyes flickered with emotions he couldn't understand as she whispered,
“Partners? Lovers? Accomplices? Someone I admire? Do you want to... take a guess?”
“...”
Seeing the Saintess starting to act like a riddler again, Lin Gui simply patted her face and asked,
“How much longer can your Transcendent Rank Radiant Resurgence last?”
“...”
“Five minutes.”
Lin Gui slapped his own forehead and complained,
“Then how do you still have the mood for these frivolous things! You're playing with your own life.”
“...”
...
Lin Gui carried the still weak Saintess on his back, manipulating his staff to fly at high speed.
Soon, he met Theia and Elvia outside the Royal Capital gates.
Both women clearly breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Lin Gui was unharmed and that even his clothes were relatively tidy.
Theia sighed in relief, patting her chest.
Elvia, however, had an undeniable look of frustration on her face after her initial relaxation.
Shortly after she had been hurried away by Theia, Theia had turned back alone, clearly on Lin Gui's orders to handle something.
This meant that she, Elvia, had been kept completely in the dark about the key parts of the entire plan.
This feeling of being excluded from the inner circle made her extremely uncomfortable.
She didn't understand. Her life was already in Lin Gui's hands, so why did he still need to be so guarded against her?
A faint sense of unease began to spread through her heart.
Lin Gui didn't stop at all, flying over their heads on his staff.
Saintess Eve's life was like a candle in the wind; he couldn't afford even a second of delay.
Theia gauged the timing and leaped upward gracefully.
She skillfully grabbed the end of the staff and landed steadily behind the Saintess.
But as soon as Elvia moved her feet, she saw the staff carrying the three of them accelerate away.
Her outstretched hand froze in mid-air as she watched the staff carry the three people into the distance.
It was as if there was no place for her at all.
A mixture of annoyance at being ignored and an indescribable sense of grievance instantly welled up in her heart.
However, just as this emotion rose, an invisible force gently wrapped around her.
It lifted her feet off the ground and caused her body to float forward uncontrollably.
That grievance vanished instantly.
She crossed her arms over her chest and gave a light huff, though her heart felt inexplicably more settled.
“This guy finally remembered I exist.”
Under the protection of the Shroud of the Gloomy Night, the four of them slipped into the Royal Capital silently.
They rushed straight to the Pariah Messenger post office located in the Seventh Ring.
In the post office attic, Lin Gui laid the Saintess flat on the bed.
Her face was as white as paper, and her breathing was weak.
“Theia, go to the commercial district and buy some blood-replenishing medicinal herbs.”
He quickly rattled off a few names and added,
“Be careful. If you run into anyone from the Holy Church, don't engage. Come back immediately.”
Theia nodded and took the pouch of gold coins Lin Gui handed her.
In a flash, her figure darted out of the window and disappeared into the night.
Lin Gui mounted the oak staff.
He intended to go to the Black Street to get a set of blood transfusion equipment.
The medical system of the Akara Continent was quite peculiar.
Priests and Priests who mastered Light Magic could quickly heal wounds and dispel diseases, granting them high status.
But for a situation like the Saintess's, where vitality was failing due to massive blood loss, the effects of magic were limited.
Mana could stimulate potential and accelerate blood production, but it could not conjure blood out of thin air.
Therefore, traditional physicians still existed.
They studied herbs and anatomy, and even cobbled together crude syringes and transfusion tubes.
In areas that magic could not reach, these ‘backward’ methods actually became the key to saving lives.
“Elvia,” Lin Gui turned to look at the other woman in the room, “you’re responsible for taking care of her.”
His tone was flat.
But before leaving, he stared at Elvia and added one more thing.
“Don't you dare try any tricks.”
He tapped his chest, his meaning clear.
“Your life is still in my hands.”
Elvia reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, immediately retorting in frustration,
“What kind of person do you take me for?!”
“What benefit would I even gain from harming the Saintess?!”
Lin Gui gave her a disdainful look and said no more.
With a slight movement of the staff, he floated out of the window and blended into the darkness below.
Elvia curled her lip at the empty window.
She finally understood why this guy, Lin Gui, had hidden things from her at every turn during this operation.
As it turned out, he had been guarding against her all along, fearing she would stab him in the back.
...
Well, although she did have a tiny bit of such an idea...
It was too late to say anything now.
She turned her head to look at the Saintess, whose breathing was as faint as a silken thread, on the bed.
She sighed helplessly.
Even if the Saintess really died now, without Caesar's group of rebels to splash dirty water on them, she would have died for nothing.
It would be of no benefit to Elvia.
Rate on N.U.
