Wei Bai stood there in a daze for a while.
Once the silence of the night swallowed him again, he sat on the ground.
His body was already heavily injured, and he had only recovered some mobility through the temporary effects of **[Instant Healing]**.
Forcing himself to use **[Wind Rise]** on top of that had left his current condition far from optimistic.
Everything hurt.
His chest was the worst; now that the **[Healing Art]** had worn off, the pain surged like water from a wellspring, spreading from his heart to every corner of his body.
“If only Anthony were here. I could ask him to help me get some medicine.”
Wei Bai couldn’t help but wonder where Anthony had gone all day.
The entire bird was nowhere to be found.
“Should I just go to sleep? I’m exhausted,” Wei Bai said.
He felt waves of sleepiness hit him, and his two eyelids were fighting to stay open.
However, he couldn’t just sleep in the middle of the street.
He didn’t want to wake up the next morning and have a crowd of people staring at him like a monkey in a zoo.
Just as Wei Bai was swaying dizzily, preparing to crawl into some nearby bushes to settle down for the night, he heard footsteps behind him.
Was it a city-state guard? Why were the steps so light?
Wei Bai instantly became alert, forcing back his exhaustion to turn and look.
He really didn’t want to run into a city-state guard or anyone like that right now.
In his current state, meeting them would be nothing more than walking straight into their hands to help them meet their quotas.
“Wei Bai…”
Before he could see clearly, a voice filled with doubt and heartache reached him.
“Mi Da?”
Wei Bai was somewhat surprised.
The girl standing before him was the same one who had been casting flirtatious glances at him earlier.
“What are you doing here so late instead of sleeping?”
“If I hadn’t come, would I have even seen you like this?”
Seeing Wei Bai covered in blood, Mi Da cast aside her usual reserved nature, her voice tinged with anxiety.
She had woken up shortly after Mo Baiwei sent her home, only to realize her mouth was completely numb.
Confused, she eventually found the mint candy thrown in the trash.
The moment she saw the candy, a startling thought flashed through her mind.
‘Could Wei Bai actually be Mo Baiwei?’
No, that couldn’t be right.
Mi Da shook her head, dismissing the idea.
She believed the probability of Wei Bai and Mo Baiwei being friends was higher than Wei Bai actually being Mo Baiwei.
Otherwise, where did that candy come from? That kind of candy couldn’t be bought in Caven City; she had only ever seen it in Wei Bai’s hands.
Carrying this doubt, Mi Da had walked out her door, feeling lost.
She wanted to find that girl who had sent her heart racing.
At the very least, she had to ask Wei Bai for the truth.
As it turned out, she hadn’t gone far before she saw mist rising in the distance, accompanied by the sound of violent wind.
Driven by curiosity, she quietly approached the source of the noise, only to find Wei Bai standing by the road, covered in blood.
“Were you planning to just die one day without me ever knowing?” Mi Da’s tone was very resentful.
“…”
Wei Bai remained silent at her words.
It was true.
If he died one day, how would Mi Da feel? She might be sad for a while, but after some time, she would recover and move on with her life.
However, that was only if he remained in his human form.
If Mi Da saw his other body — his elf body — what would she think then? Perhaps she would angrily demand why he had lied to her and then sever all ties.
Wei Bai believed Mi Da wouldn’t report him to the city-state guards to have him arrested, but he was terrified that their relationship would plummet to rock bottom.
Aside from business relationships, she was his first truly meaningful partner.
Wei Bai had invested a lot of emotion into Mi Da.
He had always treated her like a younger sister because he was afraid of losing one of his few companions.
While Anthony was his most reliable and trustworthy partner, they were different species, after all.
Anthony couldn’t provide him with the same feeling as human companionship.
“It’s fine…”
Wei Bai thought for a moment and gave Mi Da a small smile.
Then, enduring his exhaustion, he used his longsword as a cane and began walking toward his home.
He couldn’t sleep in the bushes in front of Mi Da.
She would never let him stay outside like that.
“I’m talking to you! Can you stop trying to be so tough?!”
Mi Da was angry.
She was furious at Wei Bai’s attitude.
It was his own body, yet he didn’t cherish it at all.
“You’re coming home with me!”
Mi Da stepped forward, grabbed Wei Bai’s arm, and started pulling him toward her house.
Exhausted as he was, the sudden tug caused Wei Bai to stumble, nearly falling onto Mi Da.
Sensing his condition, Mi Da immediately softened her pull, but she gripped his arm even tighter.
Usually, Mi Da needed Wei Bai’s help even to carry groceries, yet now she could pull him to a stumble.
This told Mi Da that the youth before her was extremely weak.
Likely, even a common street thug could kick him over.
The thought of Wei Bai being beaten like this made Mi Da’s heart ache.
She completely forgot about the girl who had been lingering in her mind.
She only wanted to take care of Wei Bai, fearing that something else might happen to him.
“I don’t want to go…”
Wei Bai mumbled as he was dragged along.
“What did you say?”
His voice was too low, making his words sound garbled to Mi Da.
“Nothing.”
“Then just come with me.”
Along the way, Mi Da half-dragged and half-carried Wei Bai back to her home.
Stepping through the door, Wei Bai felt a bit helpless.
He had just left this place not long ago, and now he was back, invited by the owner herself.
“Alright, you can stop pulling me now. We’re at your house.”
Wei Bai felt that the strength Mi Da used to grip his arm hadn’t loosened in the slightest.
“Oh, alright then.”
Though Mi Da wanted to keep holding onto him, she realized she had no reason to keep pulling him now that they were home.
“Go wash up and sleep. I’ll just sleep on the couch,” Wei Bai said, pretending it was his first time there.
He looked around for a moment before locking his gaze on the sofa in the living room.
“How could that be okay? You’re injured! How can I let you sleep on the couch? You can sleep in my room,” Mi Da said.
She was incredibly displeased with his suggestion.
“Then where would I sleep? I can’t exactly fight you for the bed, can I?” Wei Bai asked.
He certainly wouldn’t take her bed.
“Besides, in this place, only a fiancé is allowed to sleep in an unmarried girl’s bedroom. Surely you know that?”
Hearing this, Mi Da’s small face instantly turned beet red.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that! I just don’t know much about those traditional customs.”
Mi Da felt extremely bashful, but she wasn’t lying.
Indeed, no one had ever told her about those customs.
“Well, now that you know, do you still want me to sleep in your room?” Wei Bai asked.
He assumed that once she knew the customs, she would stop preventing him from sleeping on the couch.
After all, he felt that as a man, it wasn’t right to sleep in a young girl’s room.
Even if no one else knew, Wei Bai still had his bottom line.
Since he viewed Mi Da as a sister, he had to treat her as one; he couldn’t be careless.
“It’s fine. Wei Bai is different…”
Mi Da said, her voice growing smaller and smaller.
She felt her cheeks becoming even hotter.
‘What on earth is she saying?’
Wei Bai looked at Mi Da in shock.
He noticed a faint, dangerous aura starting to emanate from her.
Could it be that her feelings of friendship were starting to change?!
Thinking of this, Wei Bai quickly dismissed the notion.
He couldn’t let Mi Da develop the wrong ideas.
She should find a man she truly loved and live out the rest of her life happily, not find a freak like him who didn’t even understand his own situation.
He would only bring her disappointment.
He imagined what would happen if he lived with Mi Da and his identity as an elf was exposed one day.
After the initial shock, Mi Da would be confused.
Then, after his explanation, she would certainly be angry.
Once their relationship shattered, there would be no way to fix it.
The scene of them having a huge argument and parting ways, never to see each other again, filled Wei Bai with a sense of dread.
He absolutely could not let that happen.
Even though he had met Mi Da as Mo Baiwei before, he’d had the cover of the ring then.
Mi Da didn’t know she was an outsider, which was why she had been at ease.
He had to make things clear to Mi Da.
Meanwhile, seeing that Wei Bai hadn’t responded for a long time, Mi Da felt a bit dejected and unsure of what to do.
Thus, she prepared to say her goodbyes to him.
“Cough, let’s not talk about that for now. I’m preparing to leave this place.”
The two of them spoke the exact same words at the same time, then looked at each other in surprise.
“Where are you going?”
“Are you leaving Caven City?”
Again, they spoke in unison.
They stared at one another.
“Is it because of what happened tonight?” Mi Da asked worriedly.
She was very concerned about what Wei Bai had gone through.
“Yes. I don’t think I’m suited to stay here anymore.”
To be honest, Wei Bai didn’t know where he could go.
If he left Caven City, he would probably rejoin the Adventurer’s Association.
“Who were they?” Mi Da asked.
She was truly curious about who could have beaten Wei Bai into such a state.
“Count Arni’s people, probably,” Wei Bai replied.
He didn’t want to reveal anything about the Holy See to Mi Da.
Sometimes, the ignorant people protected by the Holy See were truly happy.
At least they didn’t have to worry about their daily lives.
If he told Mi Da these things, it would likely have a significant impact on her.
After all, the Holy See was integrated into everyone’s lives.
Learning that the entity present in every corner of their world had such an internal side would surely cause Mi Da to panic.
Mi Da was already quite timid as it was.
“Is Count Arni really that bad? To think I thought he was a good person when we first met!”
Upon hearing Count Arni’s name, Mi Da agreed with Wei Bai’s words without a second thought.
She believed everything Wei Bai said.
If Wei Bai said Count Arni was a problem, then even if the Count did a good deed every day, Mi Da would still believe there was something wrong with him.
“Then where will you go in the future?” Mi Da followed up immediately.
She didn’t care about Count Arni; she only cared about Wei Bai’s future whereabouts.
“I don’t know,” Wei Bai replied, shaking his head helplessly.
“I don’t know where I’ll go in the future.”
“Then… can’t you just stay?”
Mi Da said subconsciously, before realizing she had misspoken.
Count Arni had already done this to Wei Bai.
How could he possibly stay? Besides, wouldn’t letting Wei Bai stay here only make his situation more dangerous?
***
(I updated late at night for the past two days, only to find in despair that my bookmarks and popularity were cut in half.)
(So, I’ll be updating at 9:00 AM from now on…)
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