Chapter 19: The sun god Ra (4)

“Interesting. That bullet just now almost blew your head off. Even then, you didn’t plan on summoning me, yet here you are, having brought me out.”

A blurry phantom, composed of dark gold light particles, had leaned against a similarly stationary rock beside him at some unknown point.

The phantom’s silhouette bore a striking resemblance to his own, but its dark gold pupils flickered with an inhuman, cold, and eerie light.

No. 2 tilted his head, his gaze shifting past Lin Yu to rest on Christina, who lay in a pool of blood.

“Is it because of her?”

He wore a mocking expression, his dark gold pupils appearing exceptionally sinister.

Lin Yu did not speak; he only stared at the phantom that shared his appearance.

Seeing that Lin Yu had no intention of responding, the phantom did not feel awkward.

Instead, he continued to talk to himself.

“Long time no see. You were the one to take the initiative and summon me this time, my dear Number One.”

With a light wave of his hand, eighty-three dark gold copper coins hovered in the air.

“According to our agreement, I have regained the right to appear. So… shall we continue our deal?”

This time, his words finally had an effect.

“Save her. Can you do it?”

Lin Yu asked, pointing at Christina.

“Alright, alright, don’t be so obsessed with that. While it is true that I am not omniscient or omnipotent, I can still accomplish most things, my dear Number One.”

“Then save her and take us away.”

No. 2 paused, his dark gold pupils scanning the entire frozen battlefield like a player inspecting a chessboard.

“How about this? A flat price. I will do my best to save the six survivors of your squad—including yourself—as well as that Tang Rou girl. I will help you clear out all the enemies along the way, take the Eye of Ra, and ensure your safe return to Thanatos Academy. Fifteen Chips. Do we have a deal?”

“The Divine Artifact and the others have nothing to do with me. I only want you to guarantee her safety and mine.”

“Oh? You’re going to leave your own teammates to die?”

No. 2 arched an eyebrow in feigned surprise, the mockery in his tone growing even thicker.

“How… truly cold-blooded and heartless. Fine, fine. Then for your life and hers, seven Chips. Deal?”

Lin Yu looked up at him, his gaze frozen.

“You don’t have much time to consider. This isn’t exactly a time stop; I’ve merely slowed down time within this range. Something incredible is happening outside. People are dying every second, and your senior sister’s life signs are weakening. Just a special reminder: I don’t have the power to bring back the dead.”

No. 2 shrugged and met Lin Yu’s gaze, speaking with an air of indifference.

Lin Yu’s gaze swept over Christina’s pale face.

He reached out into the air, grabbed the floating dark gold copper coins, and “threw” them toward No. 2.

“The deal is struck!”

No. 2 snatched the incoming “Chips” out of the air, a genuine smile of malice and satisfaction spreading across his face.

“Then, as you wish.”

No. 2’s figure became more solid.

He turned toward the suspended rain of bullets and the enemies behind them, whose faces still held ferocious or cold expressions.

For the first time, a cold and blazing flame ignited within his dark gold pupils.

Within those flames lay a bone-deep hatred toward a certain existence, accumulated over countless years.

He snapped his fingers, the sound exceptionally clear in the dead silence of the space.

In the next moment, time resumed its normal flow.

The barrage of bullets eerily rebounded toward the people who had fired them.

The men pursuing them were instantly struck by the reflected bullets, collapsing one after another.

“And now, since you want to save her…”

No. 2 pointed at Lin Yu.

“[God’s Will: Resurgence]. You can heal any living being you touch, including yourself. A very gentle, very… ‘healing’ ability, isn’t it? I hope it slightly improves that cold-blooded personality of yours, my dear Number One.”

A warm current flooded into Lin Yu’s limbs.

An indescribable sensation of resonating with life gathered in his palms.

He immediately rushed toward Christina in the pool of blood.

“How do I use this Divine Sense?”

he asked, feeling a bit lost.

“Touch her and imagine her body is self-healing.”

Lin Yu followed No. 2’s instructions, gently placing his hand on her shoulder while trying his best to visualize her body healing itself.

Roughly thirty seconds passed.

“Is it working?”

Lin Yu asked No. 2, looking at Christina, whose face remained deathly pale.

“It has already taken effect. Her injuries have stopped worsening, and certain parts of her body have begun to mend. As for the effect not being obvious, that is simply because your Will is too weak,”

No. 2 explained lazily, leaning against the rock wall.

“What do we do next?”

“Leave her here. We are going to deal with something interesting.”

“I told you, I only want you to take her and me away safely.”

“And I just told you, something incredible is happening outside.”

An icy gaze met a playful one, and the air grew heavy.

“How about…”

Leaning against the rock wall, No. 2 threw up his hands helplessly.

“Why don’t you go check the cave entrance?”

Having no other choice, Lin Yu walked slowly toward the entrance.

The gloom inside the cave made the light outside seem exceptionally piercing.

He poked his head out, and within his narrow field of vision, he actually saw— A Second Sun.

A small sun hung high in the sky.

The overlapping light from the two suns made it almost impossible for him to keep his eyes open.

“It’s not just that sun.”

Beside him, No. 2 had put on a pair of sunglasses at some point, and he pointed lazily in a certain direction.

Following the direction he pointed, Lin Yu could only see a golden mass growing larger and larger under the blinding light.

He shrunk back into the cave and finally saw clearly— It was a swarm of those damn insects.

The reason he felt they were growing larger was that the swarm was flying straight toward him.

He turned and ran back into the cave without looking back.

However, compared to those golden Scarabs, his speed was far too slow.

In the blink of an eye, the insects had reached his back, and a massive humming sound echoed from behind.

He didn’t know how close the insects were, but he didn’t dare look back.

“Do something!”

he roared at No. 2.

But No. 2’s phantom simply drifted along at the same speed as him, a leisurely expression on his face, showing no intention of acting.

‘Damn it,’

he cursed in his mind.

The deafening hum drew closer; he could even feel the air currents from the insects’ wings.

Just as he felt the insects were about to consume him, his body instinctively turned around, his hands coming up to block them.

The expected consumption didn’t happen.

The eerie swarm of insects stopped less than 1 centimeter away from him.

It was as if they had encountered something terrifying and were desperate to avoid it.

Some insects couldn’t stop in time and touched his body, but instead of a collision, they simply vanished in a bizarre fashion.

“Hahaha! It turns out you’re actually quite afraid of dying.”

No. 2’s mockery followed immediately.

Ignoring the laughter, Lin Yu stood dazed for a moment before suddenly realizing something.

He tried to proactively touch the golden insects.

The swarm actually began to retreat.

Because the swarm was so dense, some insects couldn’t pull back in time; the moment they touched him, they also vanished strangely.

These Scarabs felt an inexplicable fear of him, and… they seemed to be just phantoms.

“Just because these things are useless against you doesn’t mean they don’t exist,”

No. 2 explained, seemingly reading his mind.

“If you don’t believe me, you can experiment with that Chris-whatever girl. I won’t be responsible for the consequences, though.”

“Why? Can’t you make her immune to these things too?”

“I think you’ve misunderstood something…”

“The fact that these things have no effect on you has nothing to do with me.”

“Nothing to do with you?”

“Yeah. Maybe you’re a once-in-a-century genius, or maybe you’re the protagonist of some novel or movie. Either way, these things are useless against you.”

“However…”

No. 2 paused, his tone shifting abruptly from lazy to serious.

Lin Yu stared at the face that was identical to his own, waiting for the answer.