“Why are you hunting us down?”
Lin Gui asked.
He truly couldn't understand it.
They had only met once in Moonshadow City, yet she had chased them all the way here. He refused to believe there wasn't a specific reason behind it.
It couldn't... really be because he had humiliated her back then, could it?
Had she flown into a rage and traveled across vast distances just to get even?
...
Surely not...
The more Lin Gui thought about it, the less confident he felt.
He didn't even dare to ask out loud. What if that really was the case, and in a fit of rage, she struck before he could even react? That would be the end of him.
Shadow Blade Lynn chuckled softly upon hearing his silence.
“Don't worry, I bear no malice toward you two.”
Feeling the cold edge against his neck, Lin Gui grumbled inwardly.
Indeed, no malice.
You just want to kill us, that's all.
He closed his eyes and sank his mind into his storage space.
The spatial teleportation scroll was far too precious—a trump card originally reserved for the Voiceless Abyss. But now, the situation left him no choice.
Just as he prepared to activate the scroll, the surrounding temperature plummeted.
A wave of soul force so immense that even Lin Gui could feel it clearly... began rising frantically from all directions!
Lin Gui opened his eyes in astonishment and looked around.
Only then did he realize that, without him noticing, the inside and outside of the post office had been completely covered by dense clusters of spirits.
Within the vision of the Eyes of the Netherworld, tens of thousands of spirits... silently stared down Shadow Blade Lynn.
Their soul light fluctuated violently, reflecting ferocious, angry faces.
As it turned out, the moment Lin Gui and Eve were taken hostage, the spirits that had accompanied them to the post office had fled at top speed to spread the news throughout the entire city.
A human mage who helped forgotten spirits return home almost free of charge. Every single spirit in Blackwater City knew about this.
Although Lin Gui hadn't helped every last one of them, they had all witnessed everything he did.
In some imperceptible way, they had come to view Lin Gui and Eve... as one of their own.
As the only light that had ever shone into these dead, silent years.
Consumed by "The Silent End" and turned into wandering specters... they had already died once.
They had once torn apart those minor nobles who failed to escape, fueled purely by rage. And this time, they didn't mind risking everything once more... to tear apart this outsider elf.
There were over one hundred thirty thousand spirits in Blackwater City in total. At this moment, nearly all of them were present.
The massive spiritual pressure condensed from such an enormous number of spirits... surged like a tangible tide, crashing through every inch of space.
Even Shadow Blade Lynn—whose soul force had reached High-tier Transcendent and whose Epic-tier assassination skills allowed her to suppress Legendaries—felt a tremor of pressure deep within her soul.
The mental fluctuations of countless spirits gathered into a roaring warning:
“Release the Messenger—!”
“You're not allowed to hurt him—!!”
Their voices dripped with undisguised protection and towering rage toward Shadow Blade Lynn.
That rage was so pure it bordered on losing control.
Shadow Blade Lynn rapidly evaluated the situation.
The crucial premise behind her ability to break down the Legendary Eve's defenses with her skills was that spirits were immune to physical and magical attacks.
However, when facing creatures that were also spirits, that advantage vanished.
Furthermore, while these individual spirits were weak, their numbers were staggering. The combined soul force gathered here far surpassed her own.
Relying on her speed, she could escape.
However...
Shadow Blade Lynn's gaze fell upon the black-haired human beneath her right hand.
If she fled, her only hope might be gone forever.
She suddenly chuckled.
“Looks like you're quite popular.”
“I don't doubt for a second that if I killed you... they'd swarm forward without a care for their own lives and tear me to shreds.”
Lin Gui didn't respond.
He merely kept his eyes glued to Shadow Blade Lynn's hands, which loosely held the daggers.
At the slightest sign of movement, he would activate the scroll immediately.
Yet after a few seconds of deadlock, the cold edges pressed against their necks suddenly relaxed.
Shadow Blade Lynn casually tossed both blades onto the ground.
Then, she intimately draped her arms around Lin Gui's and Eve's necks, her face blooming into a smile so brilliant it was almost radiant.
“Oh my, it's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding~”
Her voice was bright and clear, as though the killing intent from just moments ago had never existed.
“Big sister here was just making a joke.”
Her smile unchanged, Shadow Blade Lynn kept her arms affectionately resting on their shoulders, turning her voice to address the surrounding spirits clearly:
“Everyone, don't get so worked up~”
“This little mage and I actually have a bit of history.”
She paused briefly, adopting a tone of deliberate familiarity.
“Clotina Shadow—you all know her, right?”
“That child is a fellow member of our Shadow Clan.”
“And I'm a Night Elf, belonging to the Shadow Clan as well.”
Her fingertips lightly tapped Lin Gui's shoulder, overflowing with smiles.
“This human helped Clotina find her father—I couldn't be more grateful. What just happened...”
She blinked, her tone as casual as if discussing the weather.
“...was merely a little 'joke' from our Shadow Clan.”
“Consider it a unique ritual... for us Night Elves to show 'respect' to honored guests~”
Naturally, such a clumsy lie couldn't fool over one hundred thousand spirits.
Troy's sharp, child-like voice exploded first:
“Fuck your mother!”
The little girl's soul bead bounced furiously in rage.
“To show respect, this old lady wants to put a blade to your neck right now, too!”
“Do you fucking dare to step over and try me?!”
The smile on Shadow Blade Lynn's lips stiffened imperceptibly for a moment.
She sneered in a low whisper audible only to those nearby:
“...Sharp-tongued little brat.”
Immediately after, she leaned close to Lin Gui's ear.
Her voice was pressed extremely low, yet carried an unmistakable warning:
“Make them leave.”
To her surprise, Lin Gui raised his voice almost without hesitation.
“Everyone, please calm down.”
His tone was steady, even carrying a hint of reassurance.
“This... noble elf is right.”
“We do know each other; it was just a misunderstanding.”
His gaze swept across the surrounding layers of spirits as he continued:
“I'm fine, and Eve is fine too.”
“Thank you all for rushing over, but please disperse for now.”
“I'll handle things here.”
His words flowed unbelievably smoothly, as if he hadn't been the one with a blade pressed against his neck just moments ago.
A trace of suspicion flickered in the depths of Shadow Blade Lynn's eyes.
Eve also glanced sideways at him, her purple eyes flashing with confusion.
As for the surrounding spirits, they found it even harder to accept.
Lin Gui, however, had already turned toward Shadow Blade Lynn, his tone even acquiring a touch of sincerity:
“Eve and I won't resist.”
“Can you let us go so we can talk inside the post office?”
He turned his head and looked directly into her eyes.
“I imagine you also have plenty of things... you want to discuss with me, right?”
Shadow Blade Lynn raised an eyebrow and stared at him for two seconds.
Suddenly, her face broke into a smile and she released her arms.
“Sure~”
She let go of Eve and Lin Gui, stepping half a pace back while holding up both hands to demonstrate her harmlessness to the surrounding spirits.
Meanwhile, Lin Gui quietly drew back the Gray Dagger he had been holding in a reverse grip all along.
His movement was natural, as though he were merely adjusting his cuffs.
Reaching the wooden door, Lin Gui raised his hand, invisible magic energy flowing.
Levitation delicately lifted his dropped oak staff, Eve's staff... and Shadow Blade Lynn's pair of pitch-black short blades from the floor, sweeping them steadily into a corner beside the counter.
The movement was fluid, as if it were nothing more than routine cleaning.
Afterward, he walked up to the post office's wooden door.
Turning sideways, he made a "after you" gesture toward Shadow Blade Lynn.
His face remained expressionless, his voice calm and flat.
“Come in and let's talk, Ms. Lynn.”
Shadow Blade Lynn raised her eyebrows slightly, the corners of her lips curling into a half-smile.
Without hesitation, she stepped toward the interior of the building.
Her heels struck the wooden floor, producing a clear, soft clatter.
With a single step, she crossed the threshold into the post office.
Rate on N.U.
