The Frail Guide Who Devoured an Entire Pollution Zone

Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Embarrassed! Can You Let Me Go?

’Die! Lu Jingyu is mine! No one is going to take him from me!’

Li Yaru screamed in her heart, thrusting her weapon downward without hesitation.

CLANG!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out, accompanied by a shower of sparks. Li Yaru’s weapon had hit a dagger.

Li Yaru’s figure trembled. She staggered back a few steps, her weapon falling from her grasp, and looked up into a pair of frigid eyes.

In the Sea of Consciousness, a person and a snake were enjoying a rare moment of peace.

Suddenly, the person and the snake opened their eyes at the same time.

They exchanged a glance as the world around them began to collapse.

Then, the two people on the great turtle’s back opened their eyes simultaneously.

Xu Qingsui started to move, but Lu Jingyu pulled her into a tight embrace.

At the same time, he raised the dagger in his hand in a backhanded grip, and the sound of metal on metal rang out.

The clash drew the attention of the murmuring crowd, who then saw Li Yaru’s weapon lying on the ground.

Before they could figure out what had happened, Lu Jingyu’s cold voice cut through the air. ”You’re testing my limits again.”

Li Yaru trembled all over. Shaking her head, she stammered, ”N-No... It’s not... It’s not what you think!”

Lu Jingyu gave a cold laugh. ”Caught red-handed and you still dare to deny it? Do you only confess after someone is actually dead?”

Hearing Lu Jingyu’s words and seeing Li Yaru’s position and the weapon on the ground, everyone instantly understood what had happened.

As one of the few female Sentinels on the team, Li Yaru was willful, but everyone had always turned a blind eye and paid it no mind.

This time, however, what she did was truly indefensible.

Setting aside Xu Qingsui’s status as a high-level guide, simply based on the fact that she had repeatedly helped their captain and accompanied them into this instance, they should never have thought of harming her.

For a moment, everyone looked at Li Yaru with contempt in their eyes.

Li Yaru was still shaking her head in denial, but any refutation from her was useless now.

Lu Jingyu ignored her and said coldly, ”I won’t deal with you right now. We’ll settle this after we leave the instance.”

Hearing his indisputable tone, Li Yaru’s body finally went limp, and she collapsed to the ground.

”You can let go of me now...” Xu Qingsui’s awkward voice came from within Lu Jingyu’s embrace.

Only then did Lu Jingyu remember he was still holding Xu Qingsui.

His cheeks flushed hot. Lu Jingyu quickly let go of Xu Qingsui and averted his gaze, saying, ”Thank you. You saved my life again just now.”

The warmth from Lu Jingyu’s body hadn’t faded yet, and Xu Qingsui also looked a little uncomfortable.

”You’re too polite. I just did what I had to.”

Lu Jingyu wanted to say more, but he opened his mouth and then closed it without a word.

”Alright, everyone, take a short rest. We’ve been in this instance long enough. It’s time we got out.”

At times like these, everyone had an unspoken agreement not to bring up awkward topics.

They rested in silence for a while before preparing to search for clues to clear the instance.

After walking for more than half an hour, they reached the end of the great turtle’s shell.

After jumping off the shell, Xu Qingsui subconsciously glanced back.

’After all, I did take a tour through this big guy’s stomach. The least I can do is take a look.’

But that one glance made Xu Qingsui freeze in her tracks.

”What’s wrong?”

Since waking up, Lu Jingyu had been too embarrassed to openly watch Xu Qingsui.

But his attention had never truly left her, just in case someone got desperate and tried to attack her again.

So, the moment Xu Qingsui stopped, Lu Jingyu noticed her movement.

Xu Qingsui rubbed her chin and shook her head slightly, unsure how to answer.

Seeing this, Lu Jingyu could only call a halt to the others before he also looked toward the great turtle.

The forest of reef pillars had originally stood upon the great turtle’s shell.

As the great turtle moved, most of the reef pillars had broken or even vanished completely.

No one had paid much attention to this before.

It was only now, looking from a different angle, that they discovered a few reef pillars were still perfectly intact.

Just as everyone was commenting on how sturdy these few reef pillars were, Xu Qingsui stepped forward.

Not knowing what she intended to do, Lu Jingyu wanted to stop her but then decided against it.

Through their interactions during this time, he had come to realize that Xu Qingsui was an incredibly reliable person. She must have her reasons for whatever she was doing.

But, worried she might get hurt, Lu Jingyu still followed silently behind her.

Xu Qingsui walked to the foot of the great turtle and suddenly began to rub its shell.

Seeing no reaction, she tried infusing her spiritual power into the shell.

’Are you sure this will actually work?’

When Xu Qingsui first spotted the reef pillars, she had mentally asked the Golden Octopus for the answer.

But that stinking piece of seafood hadn’t given her a direct reply, only telling her to give it a try.

Xu Qingsui mulled it over and thought there must be some kind of mechanism on the turtle’s shell, so she fumbled around a bit.

When nothing happened, she felt that something was definitely wrong.

’Even if the mechanism is on the shell, a shell this big... how long would I have to search?’

She asked the Golden Octopus again, but it just told her to use her own power.

In this world, her Spiritual Power was what she relied on most, so her only choice was to try infusing it.

Just after she asked, she clearly saw her Spiritual Power coalesce into a physical form.

It spread upward along the patterns of the turtle’s shell, leading toward the still-standing reef pillars.

Immediately after, the reef pillars emitted a golden light, dispelling the surrounding cold and filth.

Seeing this, everyone’s eyes widened, their expressions filled with joy.

When the golden light blooms, the city will return to its former glory. Light them up!

Wasn’t this the fourth rule?

As long as the city returned to its former glory, they could clear the instance.

Realizing victory was within reach, everyone looked at Xu Qingsui with anticipation, waiting for her to light up the reef pillars one by one and lead them to clear the instance.

Hope rose in Xu Qingsui’s eyes as well. She continued to channel her spiritual power, lighting up the other reef pillars in succession.

But after lighting five consecutive pillars, Xu Qingsui’s Spiritual Power began to waver.

Unlike guiding a berserk Sentinel, lighting the reef pillars required a massive, continuous output of Spiritual Power.

Even though she had devoured the spirit bodies of several Mutants, with her current abilities, it was still quite difficult to light all the pillars by herself.

Before long, cold sweat beaded on Xu Qingsui’s forehead.

Lu Jingyu was the first to notice her predicament and guessed what was happening.

His own spiritual power wasn’t a strong suit, but it was better than nothing.

Without a second thought, Lu Jingyu walked directly to Xu Qingsui’s side and placed his hand on the turtle shell as well.

The two of them exchanged a glance, and Lu Jingyu began to release his spiritual power.

Sure enough, the light that had stalled in the shell’s patterns began to flow again, and everyone saw hope once more.