Chapter 1583: Even If You Were Shusheng

It felt like I was returning from a nightmare when I awoke once more. My mind felt muddled, and there were tubes in my nose. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was He Yi sitting next to me with bloodshot eyes.

My arm seemed to have lost all of its strength. I had to really exert it to finally grasp He Yi’s hand. When she saw that I had opened my eyes, she immediately burst into tears and shivered like a leaf once more.

……

The sick ward looked fairly comfortable. He Yi was the only one inside the room right now.

"What happened to me?"

"Nothing much…" He Yi said while wiping her tears, "It’s just that… your condition has worsened a bit more…"

I smiled. "I thought that might be the case. What is this place, Eve?"

"Eternal Moon headquarters."

"Oh. Did everything go well?"

He Yi replied quietly, "Other than your blackout, everything went fairly well. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Beiming, Lian Xin and the others nearly went mad with worry…"

I sucked in a deep breath. "I didn’t want to worry everyone either, but this body just refuses to stay strong for a bit longer. It almost feels like this body isn’t mine. What could I do…"

He Yi nodded. "Give me a moment to call the doctor."

"Sure, but I don’t think there’s any point in calling them over. They’re no genetics or biochemistry specialists. There’s nothing they can do to help me…"

"At least you haven’t lost your ability to talk shit…"

"Yes, yes. Now go get the doctors…"

"Mn!"

A while later, a couple of doctors came in and gave me an inspection. One of them was a middle-aged woman, and she said to He Yi, "Have him rest often and do not let him linger around noisy places for too long. The good news is that these symptoms are just temporary flashes and aren’t doing any permanent damage. He’ll recover his strength very soon."

He Yi thanked her repeatedly.

Suddenly, the door to the sick ward opened. Xinran rushed inside and hugged me tightly. "You scared me to death, big brother…"

I caressed her head while smiling. "I’m fine. I’m fine, see?"

She looked up from my chest. Her tear-soaked eyes reminded me of black diamonds. "They said you will die, that you will disappear from this world. What will Xinran do if you disappear from her world, big brother? Xinran only came to this world because of you. You cannot abandon me now, big brother…"

My heart ached as I held her tightly. "I won’t. I will always be with Xinran…"

I shot He Yi a glance, but she had turned her face away to wipe the tears.

……

Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and the rest of the gang stood at the entrance but didn’t go in. I shot them a glance and said, "Come in already. Aren’t you guys embarrassed about blocking the corridor?"

Li Chengfeng strode in and said, "Don’t worry too much, Lu Chen. We’re thinking from every possible angle and using every resource we can find to analyze the abnormal substance in your blood. We’ve conquered countless obstacles up until this point, and I’m sure it will be no different this time. We all believe that the Heavenly King of Heavenblessed will not collapse so easily!"

I smiled. "I won’t!"

Gui Guzi clenched his fists as he said, "Boss Broken Halberd…"

I immediately chided him, "Don’t cry, Little Gui! When are you going to get a wife if you keep crying at the smallest things?"

Gui Guzi gritted his teeth and held the tears back.

Beiming Xue walked up to the other side of my bed and held my hand. She then said in a small voice, "Please don’t leave us, big bro… Please recover soon…"

I nodded. "I will. I will…"

Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue, Moonlight Stone and more simply stood where they were as quiet as death. It was almost funny that I, the man who was near death, was the one consoling them one by one. That was just how distraught they were. Maybe it was because they were used to having me as a constant part of their life. If I were to be gone, they might really feel half their world had crumbled.

……

A while later, I heard a commotion outside the room.

"Now what?" I asked.

Li Chengfeng answered, "It’s Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, Blazing Hot Lips. Some other guilds have come too. They’re all here to see you. Is that fine?"

I smiled. "Sure. This VIP sick ward is as big as a meeting hall anyway. It can fit everyone."

"Mn."

A while later, Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, October Rain, Ye Yuse, Tear Stain, Rose Thorn and more walked into the room. Their expression turned pained and sorrowful the moment they saw me.

October Rain was pinching her nose and just barely holding back the urge to burst into tears. She sniffled, "Be strong, Lu Chen… I never imagined that the invincible Little Heavenly King would one day become this… fragile. I…"

Warsky put an arm on her shoulders and said, "Enough, Little Rain…"

Candlelight Shadow walked up to me next and said, "Lu Chen, you are the strongest rival I have ever met in my life. A long time ago, I couldn’t understand why the heavens would set up Falling Dust as my rival after leading me back to the China server. And now, after more than a year in the world of conquest, I think…"

He bowed his head a little before continuing, "The ambitions and hegemony I have been striving so hard to achieve almost seem meaningless now. Perhaps the saying that there were no eternal games, only eternal friends was true after all. Will you accept me if one day I would like to become your friend, Lu Chen?"

I smiled. "We’ve been friends since the day we joined forces to fend off powerful enemies, man. If Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Snowy Cathaya hadn’t killed all those Indian and Japanese players in the battle of Swallow Ear Canton, how could Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Blazing Hot Lips possibly have swept four main cities in a row? Our achievements were built atop your shoulders. A large majority of the glory belongs to you all as well!"

Candlelight Shadow nodded before asking quietly, "What are your chances of recovery, Lu Chen?"

I thought for a moment before replying, "Probably less than 5%, and that is the most optimistic estimate, I think. It can be lower or even outright hopeless…"

He shuddered from head to toe and had to clench his fists to control himself.

……

Warsky walked up to me next and sat down beside my bed. He stared at me intently as he said, "The China server is not complete without Lu Chen. The world won’t be complete without Lu Chen. Most importantly, without a rival to chase after, Warsky Alliance will lose their motivation completely. That is why you must keep living not just for yourself, but for the rest of us…"

I let out a bitter chuckle. "Warsky."

He continued staring at me a while longer when tears suddenly welled in his eyes. He gripped his fists tightly as he continued, "I admit that I am an extremely ambitious person. I wish to become China's server number one, and you are my biggest rival. That is why I never stopped trying to defeat you by hook or by crook. I know that the game will not last forever, but…"

The dam finally burst, and his tears flowed down his cheeks profusely. "But if you continue to live, and we can continue this rivalry to the next generation, I would be fine with it even if you were Shusheng again, and I, Seven-Star Lamp…"

I trembled in my bed as a kaleidoscope of emotions choked me. Was there any opponent I couldn’t settle our differences with at death’s door?

Warsky abruptly rose to his feet and said, "I, Warsky, have never submitted to anyone, but you will be the first, Lu Chen. It is said that a man’s knees are padded with gold[1], but for you, I can do it. I have respected and admired you for a very long time, and you even became the symbol of an era the day you were exiled from the China server. You are our pride and faith, Lu Chen. You have done everything a man should’ve done. If you quit, then you must accept my knee. If you stay, then we are sworn brothers for eternity…"

Thud!

There was a soft thud, and the guild leader of Warsky Alliance, with tears still running on his cheeks, dropped to his knees before my bed.

Behind him, October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Farewell Song and more all dropped to their knees as well.

Candlelight Shadow stifled a sob, grabbed Blue Sky Scar’s arm and pulled them both to their knees as well. Suddenly, nearly every Chinese player in the room—Rose Thorn, Dominating Heaven Blade and more—had dropped to one knee as well. Outside the sick ward, the nurses were utterly flabbergasted by the scene.

……

I struggled to a sitting position and said, "Thank you for your acknowledgement, everyone… There is nothing I can say that will match the sincerity that you’ve shown today, so please stand up. Seriously, I don’t have the strength to pull all of you up to your feet right now…"

Warsky let out a laugh before rising to his feet like the others. He then said, "We shan’t disturb your rest any longer then. Please recover as soon as possible, okay? The next Nation War will be more brutal than anything before. The Northern Alliance and the Indian server are sure to pull every trick in the book to defeat us. We will lose without you!"

I nodded. "Got it. I’ll do my best to live until the next Nation War…"

"Haha, good! A nobleman's word is his bond!"

It was at this moment I heard another commotion from outside the sick ward. Gui Guzi said with a frown, "Boss Broken Halberd, Flowing Cloud and her bunch of asans[2] insist on meeting you. Should we let her in, or?"

I snorted. "Dude, you don’t think she’s going to kill me in real life, do you? Let her in. All people from distant lands are guests, and Flowing Cloud is our friend."

"Okay…"

……

It wasn’t long before the beauty of Elephant City walked in with her subordinates. She was carrying a thick stack of papers in her arms. Warsky muttered with a frown, "Hmm? What’s going on? Why is she carrying so many papers?"

Flowing Cloud walked up to my bed and greeted me, "Hi, Lu Chen. Do you remember me?"

I nodded. "Thank you for trusting me back in Final Duel Valley, Flowing Cloud. I may think that my actions had been justified at the time, but it doesn’t change the fact that I had let you down…"

Flowing Cloud smiled and replied in non-native Chinese, "Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to pay you back in the game. But to do that though, you must first be alive to accept my vengeance…"

She then motioned at the papers she was holding and said, "My uncle is a genetics specialist. Two days ago, I requested a sample of your blood and gave it to him so he might perform an analysis. He wasn’t able to analyze it completely because he lacked the advanced instruments necessary to do so, but after locking himself inside his lab for an entire day and night, he wrote down many formulae regarding your blood and isolated a total of 171 amino acids that, according to him, may be able to suppress your virus. They’re all in these papers. Also…"

She set the papers down on the bed and took out a red pendrive from her pocket before continuing, "He secretly copied a ton of top secret data from his company into this pendrive. Hopefully, they’ll be of use to you…"

He Yi whispered beside me, "I heard that India’s research has achieved some very unique advancements on genetic mutations in the past couple of years. Flowing Cloud’s gift may be even greater than we realize…"

I accepted the pendrive without hesitation and beamed at the Indian girl. "Thank you very much, Flowing Cloud!"

……

She simply smiled and said, "You’re welcome. We are friends, aren’t we?"

Then, she bent down and kissed me once on the cheek.

Warsky, Candlelight Shadow and more were so surprised that they had nearly forgotten to breathe in[3].

1. T/N: meaning that you must never kneel unless you absolutely must ☜

2. T/N: derogatory slang for Indians ☜

3. T/N: He Yi makes cute growling noises in her mind ☜

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