When Cen Yao fell, Zhu Lingxi was the first to rush forward.
She had only recently taken off her mask, and the residual energy from invoking the god had not yet completely dissipated, leaving her legs somewhat weak.
But the moment she saw Cen Yao collapsing forward, Zhu Lingxi did not hesitate for a second. She grabbed her skirt and lunged over.
“Miss Cen!”
Zhu Lingxi knelt on the ground, letting Cen Yao lean into her embrace.
Cen Yao's strength seemed to have been completely drained.
Her spine, which had been held ramrod straight while drawing the array, now slumped limply, and her wand rolled away to the side.
Her face was terribly pale, and the stray hairs on her forehead, long soaked with sweat, clung to her pale cheeks.
During the three hours she spent drawing the Karmic Retribution Array, her magic had been completely drained three times.
Each time the magic in her body was wrung dry and then forcefully filled to the brim by an advanced recovery potion, a near-tearing shock would surge through her meridians.
Yet she had stubbornly gritted her teeth and refused to stop.
Only when the final stroke fell and the array was completely closed did the tightly wound string inside her finally snap.
Cen Yao's entire body went limp.
There was a faint scent of incense on Zhu Lingxi.
It smelled of damp wood after rain, clean paper ash, and a wisp of warm fragrance that lingered even after burning out.
Leaning in her arms and breathing in this scent, Cen Yao's chaotic mind gradually quieted down.
Pei Tinglan rolled his wheelchair over, but he was a step too slow after all.
He stopped beside Zhu Lingxi, his fingers tightly gripping the armrests of his wheelchair.
The sight of Cen Yao collapsing just now had indeed given him a fright.
But the worry on his face only lingered for a brief moment before it was quickly suppressed by his usual coldness and gloom.
“Cen Yao.”
He called out.
Receiving no response, he frowned and added, “Are you dead yet?”
Zhu Lingxi looked up and glared at him.
“Mr. Pei.”
Her voice was not loud, but it carried clear disapproval. “Do not say such unlucky things.”
Pei Tinglan fell silent for a moment.
He had wanted to say that if she were really that easy to kill, she wouldn't have risked her life to draw that damn array just now.
But looking at Cen Yao's bloodless face, he ultimately chose not to say it.
Zhu Lingxi lowered her head, softening her voice. “Miss Cen, are you alright?”
Cen Yao kept her eyes closed. Only after a couple of seconds did she silently shake her head.
Right now, even speaking felt like too much effort.
Every bone in her body felt as if it had been disassembled and carelessly pieced back together. Her head throbbed painfully, her temples pulsed, and her legs were so weak it felt like she was stepping on cotton.
But she was indeed mostly fine; it was just a severe magic overdraft. She just needed to lie down for a bit to recover.
Zhu Lingxi, however, didn't quite believe her. “Don't lie to me.”
Cen Yao barely managed to flutter her eyelashes.
Zhu Lingxi's expression was very earnest. Her black hair fell over her shoulders, and her eyes, reflecting the faint light of the array, shone with clear worry.
She wanted to say she was truly fine.
But the moment she opened her mouth, a string of numbers flashed through her mind.
Cen Yao could not help but frown.
Zhu Lingxi instantly grew tense. “Does it hurt somewhere?”
Cen Yao paused in her attempt to shake her head.
She slowly raised her hand, weakly pressing it against her chest.
Thinking Cen Yao was experiencing chest pain, Zhu Lingxi's face paled.
Pei Tinglan also immediately looked over.
Cen Yao closed her eyes, weeping silently.
Heartache.
Absolute, crushing heartache.
That was a whopping three million shock points!
An advanced recovery potion cost one million points each. She had downed three of them, and they hadn't even left her the bottles.
The orb's System Mall was practically highway robbery.
She still wanted to save up to buy the Learning Space and the Compilation of Intermediate Witch Magic. All of those combined would cost hundreds of millions of shock points. She had to budget carefully.
Tomorrow, she absolutely had to make a massive scene.
Otherwise, the loss would literally keep her up at night.
Cen Yao gnashed her teeth inwardly.
Still, heartache aside.
Now that the array was complete, she did not regret it.
She hadn't gone to all this trouble just to let the owner die an easy death, nor was it simply to clear the dungeon.
She wanted to drag every single hidden evil in this coffee plantation out into the light of day.
She wanted those lives that had once struggled in cages, screamed under electric currents, and died in the dark to personally speak the words they deserved to say.
Pei Tinglan shifted his gaze away from Cen Yao and looked toward the completed array not far away.
Pei Tinglan watched Cen Yao frown imperceptibly. Thinking she was uncomfortable, his expression grew even more grim.
“What kind of array did you just draw?”
Cen Yao had no energy to pay him any mind.
Pei Tinglan waited for a couple of seconds. When no answer came, his lips twitched, but he ultimately chose not to press further.
He turned his head to look at the newly completed grand array.
The Karmic Retribution Array lay quietly across the scorched earth.
The outermost dark red runes had already faded from view, leaving only an extremely faint, ghostly glow that flowed silently beneath the soil like magma buried deep underground.
The scale totem in the center of the array flickered on and off.
On the left side were countless tiny paw prints.
On the right side was a human hand wrapped in black mist, its five fingers twisted.
Enveloped in thick black mist, the fingers of that hand were stiff, and its knuckles were hideous.
It looked as though it wanted to break free from the scale.
Yet it was firmly pinned in place by countless dark red chains.
Occasionally, the hand would twitch.
With every twitch, the temperature in the air would suddenly plummet by a few degrees.
The surrounding civet cats had been resting quietly near the edge of the Soul-Condensing Array.
Upon sensing that chill, a few of the more timid ones immediately curled into tight balls, wrapping their tails closely around their bodies.
But they did not run away. Instead, they stared warily at the black hand.
It was as if they knew that what was trapped inside was the very thing that had once harmed them.
Pei Tinglan stared at the array for a while, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
He had seen plenty of arrays.
Sealing arrays, teleportation arrays, summoning arrays, and sacrificial arrays in dungeons, and even taboo arts that players forced out using their own flesh and blood and items.
But this array was different.
It possessed no offensive capability.
At least, it didn't display any aggression for now.
It just sat there quietly.
Yet the more it did so, the more uncomfortable it made one feel.
It wasn't the kind of fear one felt when facing ghosts and monsters.
Rather, it was as if something were scrutinizing you.
From your skin to your very bones.
It felt as though the moment one stood near the array, every single deed they had committed in their lifetime would be dragged out and accounted for, stroke by stroke.
Pei Tinglan's face darkened slightly.
Zhu Lingxi, however, followed his gaze.
She did not understand magic arrays.
But she could feel the emotions within this one.
Zhu Lingxi said softly, “It is waiting.”
Pei Tinglan turned his head. “Waiting for what?”
Zhu Lingxi shook her head. “I don't know.”
She paused, then looked back at the souls that were gradually stabilizing. “They are waiting too.”
Within the Soul-Condensing Array, countless spots of light bobbed up and down.
Compared to when they had first been summoned by Zhu Lingxi, they had stabilized significantly.
Under the gentle power of the array, some souls that had once been reduced to mere fragments of light began to coalesce into blurry outlines.
There were little cats curling their tails, little dogs with drooping ears, and some that had clearly suffered severe injuries, their soul forms still incomplete.
They did not approach the Karmic Retribution Array.
Yet they all gathered quietly around its perimeter.
Like a group of children who had suffered endless bullying and had finally found someone willing to bring them justice.
In the three live streams, the audience had already exploded.
[Oh my god, my Lady Witch looks so weak!]
[Waaaaah, this is the first time I've seen her so fragile. Just a moment ago, she was a great demon king wading through mountains of blades and seas of fire, but now she looks so small leaning in Sis Nuo's arms.]
[Fragile Witch unlocked! I want to pet her!]
[Are you sure about that, person above? She literally minced the cat-headed and dog-headed employees in a single move just now. If you go near her, she might casually slice you into a spicy rabbit head.]
[No, I don't care, she's a little kitten in the rain right now.]
[Zhu Lingxi caught her so fast! Even though she's super weak herself, she rushed over instantly.]
[Sis Nuo is really so gentle... She held Cen Yao so carefully.]
[Pei Tinglan asks "Are you dead yet," but his wheelchair was spinning so fast it almost left afterimages.]
[Is Siren a bit of a tsundere?]
[What do you mean tsundere? He's just purely toxic-tongued, don't try to defend him.]
[But after he said that, his face did look really awful.]
[My blind guess is he's just afraid Cen Yao will die and there'll be no one left to give him delicious food.]
[I think so too.]
[Pei Tinglan: Mute yourselves, you guys are completely ruining my reputation with the audience.]
Rate on N.U.
