LWGP - Chapter 228
Chapter 228: The Female Prisoner
Deep underground, where groundwater trickled, the blood was thick. But the moment it flowed from her body, it was swiftly devoured by a black mist. Perhaps out of sheer greed, the mist frantically burrowed into Wang Jiu's bleeding form.
When the black mist had vanished completely, Wang Jiu's eyes snapped open. Her first instinct was to touch the wounds on her body.
The wounds were still there, but not a single drop of blood remained.
It had flowed back, into her back.
The very place where the black mist had converged.
"The presence of a Witch?" Wang Jiu subconsciously scanned the subterranean space but saw nothing—only some ancient remains and, not far off, an unconscious Mecha Warrior.
Wang Jiu was initially wary, but she quickly cast Holy Light on herself to recover before inspecting it.
Dead?
Just like that?
Wang Jiu quickly understood why the Mecha Warrior was down. "This must be its smart chip. It's completely unresponsive."
Wang Jiu tapped the mechanical casing beneath the Mecha Warrior's mask. She transformed Gilded Abyss into a small knife and dug for a while before prying open a layer of the metal shell to reveal the chip underneath.
Clearly, the chip's intelligent program had stopped running.
"It's not dead, more like dormant. Once it's back on the surface, it could reactivate."
A mecha like this would have been difficult for Wang Jiu to destroy even at her peak, let alone now. Still, she gave it a try.
Swoosh. The Mecha Warrior could actually be stored in her inventory.
Wang Jiu was surprised. After a moment of contemplation, she said thoughtfully, "So, there's a power deep underground with the same origin as the System? And this power suppresses the mechanical intelligence of the Eternal Night Race."
The System was shocked, but it kept its mouth shut.
Oh, just as I thought.
A little secret she had now confirmed with one hundred percent certainty.
Wang Jiu didn't press the matter, instead choosing to recover on the spot.
System: "You're not going to delve deeper?"
Wang Jiu: "I can't even handle what's on the surface, and you want me to go underground to die? I don't want to stay in this godforsaken place for another moment."
System: "But there are so many secrets down there. Maybe you could..."
Wang Jiu: "The eighteen levels of hell have plenty of secrets too. You want to go?"
Having nearly died several times in less than twenty-four hours in the Fourth Spacetime, Lao Wang was perhaps a little irritable, fierce, and vicious.
System: So frustrating. It seems I'll never get to see this damn woman in a sorry state because of greed. And yet, she's so damn charming.
Wang Jiu ignored the System. As soon as her physical injuries had recovered, she immediately activated some kind of teleportation.
The reason for her haste was her realization that the black mist that had entered her body might be the same kind of entity as the Witch from Miao Mountain in the third spacetime. If not a Witch, then something similar. What exactly was hidden ten thousand meters beneath the surface?
Even if she were still at her peak with her energy reserves full, she would have absolutely no desire to provoke it, to say nothing of her current state with her spirit power nearly depleted once more.
Go!
Wang Jiu urgently activated the teleportation. A few seconds later, she vanished. In the exact instant she disappeared, she thought she saw an ancient roar emanate from a fissure below, along with a burst of golden light and a mass of purplish-blue energy...
Whoosh!
A second later, and she would have been devoured.
After Wang Jiu was gone, the two masses of energy circled the space as if searching for something. Soon, they began to converse.
"Mo Ya has escaped."
"How lucky, running into a poor wretch who fell down here to escape the Eternal Night."
"Ah, to be able to attach to a flesh-and-blood body and see the dazzling world outside... how wonderful. I just don't know how long this poor wretch's body can endure..."
"Rest assured, Mo Ya won't get far. The Divine Lord will not allow any evil prisoner to return to the mortal world he has protected his entire life."
Aboard the main ship, Feng Liao had long since returned. The fleet had also used a space jump to escape the murderous intent of the Eternal Night Race. It had to be said, there was a feeling of having survived a catastrophe.
At the very least, it was the Young Prince's first time experiencing such an event, and he was so nervous his face was flushed red.
"Your Highness, the crisis has been averted."
The Young Prince seemed a bit embarrassed. He glanced at Saling and huffed, "I know. I wasn't scared."
Saling: "I never said you were scared, Your Highness."
The Young Prince: "You!"
You did! Your expression, your eyes, and your tone all said it!
The Young Prince puffed out his cheeks and said nothing more, lest he give himself away.
Saling didn't continue to tease him. Instead, she asked Feng Liao about the earlier fight, wondering how a figure that even he couldn't subdue directly had suddenly appeared.
"I don't know. This person seemed to appear out of nowhere. There were no ship trajectories nearby. Either she was hiding on the Sandworm Star all along, or she..."
Saling narrowed her eyes. "Followed our fleet here."
This time, the Young Prince caught on. "What do you mean? There's a traitor? No, wait. If there was a traitor like that, shouldn't they have come to kill me?"
The Young Prince certainly had a high opinion of himself, seeing himself as the fattest lamb for the slaughter.
Feng Liao: "Logically, that would be the case. But the outcome indicates the other party was not interested in you."
What, are you trying to humiliate me?
The Young Prince: "Hmph!"
Feng Liao described the opponent's strength. Saling fell silent for a moment, then reviewed some of the images Feng Liao had captured.
After just a few glances, Saling made a sudden judgment. "She's using a disguise. Based on her blade swings and dodging habits, her body's height shouldn't be like this."
An expert of this caliber would have long since optimized their attack patterns, and such optimization is calculable.
As a priest, she was also an expert with an extreme understanding of living bodies. The Fourth Spacetime was a world of advanced technology where the brain capacity of living beings was developed to its fullest. In a matter of seconds, Saling could draw upon the vast database in her mind, transforming this understanding into formidable experience.
Feng Liao was somewhat surprised but nodded in agreement. "This person has top-tier disguise abilities. However, the Eternal Night Race will likely hunt her down. After all, they have instruments to detect residual spatial energy. Once they determine her existence, they will immediately descend to pursue her. It's just that our four little kings..."
Saling shook her head. "That can't be helped. The most important thing right now is to continue screening the ship for any remaining personnel."
With that, she turned to go back to the screening, while Feng Liao remained in command of the main ship. The Young Prince, however, thought for a moment and followed behind Saling, claiming he wanted to supervise her screening to ensure no one slipped through the cracks.
Saling was noncommittal. She didn't check everyone one by one, but instead arranged for various departments to conduct detailed inspections and report the big data to her. However, after reviewing the reports from just two departments, she suddenly remembered something. She tapped the back of her hand, and a light-brain immediately appeared. It contained the surveillance system. She opened it and saw that the cameras in several areas were broken, likely destroyed during the earlier traitorous skirmish.
The Young Prince noticed Saling check a monitor for her medical bay.
He might have seemed young and naive, but he wasn't a fool. "What, you suspect that ugly-as-sin female prisoner?" he asked.
He said "female prisoner," not "female slave," indicating that deep down, he had no intention of taking her under his wing. His earlier words had just been to annoy Saling.
After all, plenty of women from privileged backgrounds throughout the empire would have loved to become the prince's female slave. He had no need to seek out a prisoner like her.
"It's not suspicion, just reasonable concern for a patient."
The hypocrisy of that statement was on par with a certain director's perfunctory "a doctor's heart is like a parent's." The Young Prince pursed his lips but said nothing, merely following Saling to her medical bay. They opened the main door, then a smaller door to a side room within. The prince followed Saling's every step, with an assistant trailing behind him. From the back, they could only see their chief medical officer standing beside a hospital bed.
Someone seemed to be lying on the bed, covered by a white sheet.
It was, how to put it, covered from head to toe.
The imagery was too damn strong.
Did we take a wrong turn? Is this the morgue?
The Young Prince tilted his head, his eyes wide. "She's dead?"
Of course, he didn't care about the life or death of a female prisoner. He was shocked that a prisoner personally supervised by Saling, the empire's top medical officer, hadn't even survived a single day.
Saling was also stunned. She had originally suspected something was fishy about this female prisoner, that she might be an infiltrator. Her vast experience allowed her to discern the woman's underlying beauty despite the nearly disfiguring injuries. A human woman of such stunning looks would either be kept as a pet or have been delicately raised. How could she possibly appear on such a remote and desolate Zerg mother planet?
And the surveillance camera just happened to be broken.
There shouldn't have been anyone inside.
But unexpectedly... there was definitely something strange afoot!
Saling narrowed her eyes. Spirit light flowed in her palm as she activated a dispel-illusion skill. She abruptly grabbed a corner of the white sheet and ripped it halfway off.
What was revealed was a living person—and a very living one at that.
A fragrant, living beauty capable of melting bones.
It both confirmed her previous judgment and exceeded her imagination.
Saling froze for a second, but she quickly reacted, hearing the unusual breathing of a certain young prince and his assistant behind her. Swish!
The white sheet was swiftly replaced, once again covering the head.
Oh, so she's dead again?
"Uh, she is...?!" The Young Prince's mind was still replaying the fleeting, stunning glimpse.
The woman was lying on her side, her ink-black hair draped over her shoulders. The thin, simple red-and-white patient gown had slipped off one shoulder. It probably wasn't because the fabric was too fine or smooth, but because of her skin... her very flesh and bone, in that revealed, vibrant corner, seemed to exude a wisp of fragrance that seeped deep into the soul.
Pale. She was very pale, lost in a deep slumber, her brow furrowed, looking weary and fragile. Yet her features were not delicate. On the contrary, she gave off a sense of being both restrained and expressive, intense yet reserved. At first glance, she was like a cup of strong liquor beneath a frozen pond.
You might hope to use the ice's chill to temper her fierce potency, fearing she would be too much to handle, too much to bear. But the result is that you lose even the chance to taste her.
A thousand miles of ice, a hair's breadth from intoxication.
Separated by just that tiny distance... The Young Prince subconsciously took two steps around to the side of the bed, wanting to get a closer look.
Saling said, "Your Highness, you still haven't done today's coursework."
The Young Prince froze completely, staring at Saling as if looking at a demon.
Saling was detached and cool, her picturesque features exceptionally merciless. "You didn't do yesterday's, either."
The atmosphere was terrifying. The assistant wanted to sink into the floor.
The Young Prince finally erupted. "Did you pick this woman to present to my father the king to curry his favor? You were so afraid I'd find out that you used that ugly female slave as a cover. You're despicable! Good thing I'm smart enough to have discovered your secret!"
Saling was taken aback for a moment. She couldn't help but study her empire's young prince and think to herself: Even if his natural talent can't compare to His Majesty's, his wild imagination is more than enough to make up for it.
"Your Highness is truly clever."
The Young Prince's eyes widened. So it's true!
"Don't even think about it! I won't let you succeed. Where's the next stop? Morning Star? Throw her off there! My fleet will not carry a flower vase who serves with her looks and harbors ill intentions!"
The slacker prince had actually managed to use two idioms in one go. The assistant silently applauded.
After speaking, the Young Prince left in a huff, failing to notice the way Saling's brow relaxed behind him. She gestured for the assistant to leave as well. Once the door was closed, she lifted the white sheet. Her fingers, glowing faintly, reached out, intending to thoroughly examine Wang Jiu's physical condition.
Just as her hand was about to land on Wang Jiu's body.
The "ugly female slave" opened her eyes and watched her quietly. Later, when Saling recalled that gaze, she would remember it as one that was delicate, fragile, and so bewitching it could make a person drown.
A pity it was a disguise.
Half an hour later, Saling left the medical bay. She paused to look at the location of the surveillance camera. It had been destroyed from the external hallway, not from within.
It seemed flawless.
Was she being overly sensitive?
It was two days later that Wang Jiu left the medical bay, as they were approaching the interstellar trade hub, Morning Star.
The assistant, who had secretly disdained the "ugly female prisoner" on the first day, had a change of heart after two days of applying medicine and examining her. Now, the assistant couldn't bear to see the prisoner leaning against the window, arms crossed, quietly gazing at the starry sky outside.
Even though not a single word had been spoken, the assistant was hopelessly trapped in the mindset of, "This peerless beauty with her melancholic aesthetic, quiet and gentle, filled with a strong sense of tragedy, is so damn pitiful! I have to help her!"
"Do you want to go for a walk? The next stop is Morning Star. On the way, we'll pass the Starfall Rain Bridge, one of the ten great interstellar sights. It's very beautiful."
The tragic beauty seemed to return to her senses. She turned her head to look at her, one side of her face bathed in the dazzling azure halo of the starry sky outside the window, the other steeped in the cold white light of the medical bay.
"Will it be a problem for you?"
Cool yet gentle.
Hearing her voice for the first time, the assistant's heart melted. "It's fine, it's fine! Lord Saling is actually very nice, not fierce at all."
"Is that so." The beautiful woman frowned slightly, as if remembering something. Her hand involuntarily touched her chest, but she said nothing more.
The assistant saw her body language. As a fellow woman, she had an epiphany—Lord Saling must have been too rough and cold while examining this woman's body, hurting her and perhaps even leaving her with some psychological trauma.
With the assistant's help, Wang Jiu walked out of the medical bay and onto the main ship's deck. The System couldn't hold back any longer: "Aren't you afraid of divine retribution for acting like this?"
Wang Jiu: "I've never been struck by lightning before. What's this compared to that?"
She was just short of calling the System worldly-unwise.
The System was speechless. But just then, the roar of thunder suddenly echoed.
Wang Jiu's brow twitched slightly as she looked up.
The fleet was still in space, but overhead, thunderclouds roiled. The lightning was terrifying, but also exceptionally beautiful. At least, Wang Jiu—who was born with little aesthetic sense but had since cultivated a discerning eye—found it beautiful.
She was naturally indifferent to man-made arts like music or painting, but she adored this kind of brutal, dangerous beauty.
Thunder crisscrossed the starry sky for thousands of miles, the phantoms of lightning forming a dreamlike web.
Wang Jiu stared up for a long time, but then she sensed another's gaze and the assistant's nervous breathing. Turning her head, she suddenly saw Lord Saling standing not far away.
No makeup, a white coat fluttering in an unseen wind, with trousers and a short-sleeved shirt underneath. The tailored fit accentuated not only her elegant, cold figure—like a frosty pear blossom—but also her indifference and professionalism.
Lord Saling was undoubtedly one of the empire's renowned great beauties, but unfortunately, her reputation was somewhat terrifying. Known as the Sacred Hand that even the dead feared, she didn't inspire the same romantic allure as other imperial beauties upon hearing her name.
Of course, she also possessed many of the traits common to elite physicians: "picky," "fussy," "a neat freak," "sharp-tongued," and most importantly, "vastly knowledgeable."
She watched with cold eyes as Wang Jiu, who had attracted the gazes of countless imperial soldiers the moment she appeared, leaned against the railing and spoke softly with the assistant.
Seemingly due to her weakness, her tone was very slow. She wasn't asking questions; it was mainly the assistant initiating conversation, and she was responding out of politeness and gentleness.
But in essence, she seemed to be a person who didn't talk much.
To be able to charm my assistant like this without even talking much... this woman is a bit dangerous.
At this thought, Saling began to walk over. Many people saluted her along the way, to which she merely gave a faint nod.
They used a military salute. Strictly speaking, she had indeed come from the military in the beginning.
The assistant also saw Saling and froze, but she instinctively moved to stand in front of Wang Jiu. She proactively approached Saling to apologize, tactfully explaining that she was worried keeping the patient cooped up for too long would be detrimental to her recovery, and that she would stay with her to make sure nothing went wrong.
Saling shot her a look but didn't respond, only sizing up Wang Jiu from a close distance. "You've got some nerve," she said.
The words were pointed.
It seemed she still hadn't let go of her suspicions about Wang Jiu.
The System thought Wang Jiu would play the innocent damsel, either going the amnesia route or the "so pitiful it inspires affection" route.
Unexpectedly, it was neither.
She didn't answer, merely offering a silent smile.
It was the kind of polite smile that was hard to describe, the kind belonging to someone who preferred not to speak.
The person asking would get the subtle feeling of being ignored or brushed off.
It wasn't a strong feeling, but it was enough to make someone powerful and self-aware take subtle notice.
Saling did indeed take notice. She glanced at the assistant, who had just been happily chatting away. The assistant: "???"
"Go back." Saling didn't ask any more questions. She knew that with a female prisoner who was slightly suspicious yet utterly flawless, the more contact she made, the more opportunities she gave the other party.
This was definitely a troublesome person.
Saling made another preemptive judgment. The assistant was helpless but didn't dare disobey, looking slightly troubled, as if feeling sorry for a certain female prisoner. Fortunately, Wang Jiu was compliant. She reached out and gently patted the assistant's shoulder, as if to comfort her and express closeness. The assistant immediately blushed and whispered words of comfort to Wang Jiu.
She even forgot her own superior was standing right beside them.
So foolish, she doesn't even realize she's been bewitched.
Saling watched with cold detachment, the corner of her mouth twitching with impatience. Click. She took out a lighter and a cigarette. She lit it and had just placed it to her cool lips when the troublesome woman who had seemingly bewitched her assistant stopped and turned back to look.
Saling narrowed her eyes, meeting Wang Jiu's gaze. She was slightly surprised but sensed that the other woman's attention wasn't on her, but rather... She remained slightly aloof, but saw that the other woman was not at all intimidated by her coldness. Instead, she slowly walked back in her slippers, drew near, and asked in a low, hoarse voice, "I'm sorry, this may be presumptuous, but... could I have a cigarette?"
Wang Jiu was genuinely surprised. She hadn't expected to see cigarettes in the Fourth Spacetime.
Speaking of which, she hadn't smoked in a long time.
She didn't actually like it, but it had been a way for her to vent her emotions in the past.
And her emotions stemmed largely from two sources: first, the black mist from ten thousand meters underground that had entered her body and now lay dormant in her back, its origin unknown; second, her renewed search for the Bloodthirsty Beast, which would sometimes disappear and sometimes reappear, always at a great distance.
These two situations worried her, which was why she had decided to approach the empire's highest center of power. It was dangerous, but she could leverage this platform's advanced technology to understand the secrets of her own body, scheme for some mecha resources to increase her strength, and ideally, get a decent spaceship to find that Bloodthirsty Beast. With her original, inferior flying device, she'd probably be shot down before she even arrived.
This was very dangerous; she was bargaining with a tiger for its hide. But mostly, she was anxious.
She could feel that after the black mist entered her body, the condition of her back had worsened. The delaying effect of the last "offering" she had fed it seemed to have been nullified.
This also meant she had even less time.
So, she was on edge.
Saling didn't know Wang Jiu's thoughts. She only knew that this female prisoner was truly bold—impossibly so.
Has my reputation improved?
No, she probably just doesn't know who I am.
"Do you know who you are?"
"Of course. My surname is Ma, and my given name is Lisu."
"I know your name. You told me two days ago. I'm asking about your identity."
Saling still remembered asking for some information two days ago while examining the delicate female prisoner who had just woken up. The moment the name "Ma Lisu" had floated from the other woman's lips, she had felt an extreme sense of dissonance.
A woman like this should have a mysterious or elegant name.
This current one just felt plain and unsophisticated.
Saling felt her pickiness acting up again, but she didn't believe her, which was why she was asking about her identity again today.
It was a bit forceful.
Wang Jiu seemed to ignore the pressure. Instead, her lips curled slightly as she let out a soft sigh. "Honorable Lord Saling, are you running a background check on me?"
Countless people had called her Lord Saling, but this time, Saling suddenly felt goosebumps rise on her skin. Even the fingers holding her cigarette tingled.
Her gaze sharpened. Saling pursed her lips around the cigarette she was holding. The fingertips of her other hand twitched, and a retro cigarette case opened. Before she could make another move, Wang Jiu reached out and plucked one out with two fingers.
Saling glanced at her, took the cigarette from her lips, and held it in her hand. With her other hand, she coldly offered a matching retro lighter. But... the person two steps away had already closed the distance by one step. A hand lightly clasped Saling's wrist. Saling was startled—she could have dodged, but she was curious to see if this woman could no longer hide her purpose, so she allowed it. To her surprise, the other woman merely lowered her head slightly.
Silken hair slid over a slender shoulder, partially concealing a delicate, graceful neck. Her lips, perhaps slightly moist, half-held the slim ladies' cigarette. Its tip touched the lit cigarette in Saling's hand, a contact that "kissed" it alight with a tiny spark and a curl of smoke.
She stood sideways before Saling. At first glance, it seemed as if she were nestled in an embrace, yet she maintained a controlled distance.
A hair's breadth of distance, an endless fragrance, a half-hidden, half-revealed subtlety that stopped just at the right moment. Before Saling had time to ponder whether the woman's hand was soft or cool, she had already released her grip with pale, cold fingers, taken a step back to her original position, and taken a light drag. Then, she turned her face toward the thunderous, starry sky beyond the railing.
The main ship was completely sealed, with a transparent barrier overhead. There was no wind, but the beautiful woman's graceful figure, her loose-fitting robes, and her subtle, not-quite-hidden allure... as she turned her head to the side and quietly, elegantly exhaled loneliness toward the view outside, she gave no one any time to prepare before unleashing her sex appeal to its absolute peak.
It was almost brazen.
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