Becoming Their Guiding Spirit

# Chapter 75: Everyone’s smiles... Talulah’s sudden late-night visit left Alina stunned.

If it had been a few days ago, Alina would have gladly accepted and chatted with her best friend about the future until dawn. However... not now.

Mr. Reeve was attached to her.

What if Talu found out? If that happened, Lucas Reeve would disappear!

Lucas Reeve had helped her so much. She absolutely could not let Mr. Reeve disappear because of her! Absolutely not!

”Hmm?”

”Alina?”

Talulah also noticed Alina’s abnormality. She rarely made requests like sleeping together, but Alina’s hesitant reaction just now made Talulah extremely puzzled.

What was going on?

Alina was definitely Alina, that was for sure.

But... what was going on...

Talulah always felt that something was not right, that Alina was hiding some huge secret from her.

Although Talulah’s strength was not as great as the humanoid monster Patriot, nor as great as FrostNova’s, she was much stronger than elite operators like Franka and Liskarm. In addition, her natural racial talent as a Draco made Talulah’s perception very keen.

For some reason.

Inside Alina’s room.

Talulah always felt the fluctuation of another person.

However.

This idea was immediately dismissed by Talulah.

In this place of ice and snow.

How could a stranger’s aura possibly appear? And... the area around the village she was in was patrolled 24 hours a day by Patriot’s Guerrilla Squad. It was impossible for a stranger to get in. Strange....

However.

The more she thought about it, the more determined Talulah became that she had to stay here for a night.

These past few days, Alina had felt a little different than before, which made her a little worried.

”Please come in, Talu.”

Afraid that her hesitation would be seen through by her best friend, Alina immediately invited her in.

Alina’s wooden house was not large; it could even be described as simple and crude.

The faint candlelight cast a warm, orange-yellow glow, enveloping one side of the wooden house. Outside, the wind and snow howled, which was normal for the icy plains north of Ursus. Talulah’s fire Originium Arts, combined with her powerful Draco physique and bloodline, made her completely unafraid of such cold. But Alina couldn’t handle it.

She was just an ordinary person.

She had never received any training.

Even though the fireplace in the wooden house was constantly burning, the temperature inside the wooden house was still incredibly cold.

It had been a long time since Talulah had been to Alina’s room.

Or rather.

Ever since the two of them started taking in Infected from all over, they had been swamped with work. It had been a long, long time since the two of them had truly found time to chat and talk heart-to-heart.

Alina was like a gentle lady from a good family.

Even though her clothes were simple and she came from an ordinary background, it still couldn’t hide her innate temperament.

Talulah looked around the room and then her gaze fell on a pile of manuscripts on the wooden table next to the bed.

These manuscripts were all rough drafts of the greenhouse design. Some parts were so complex that even Talulah couldn’t quite understand them.

”Alina, when did you learn so much?”

Talulah was a little curious. She sat on the bed and studied the manuscripts with interest.

Alina smiled and explained, ”Talu, don’t I like to read books in my spare time? You even taught me how to read before. Later, I started to like reading all kinds of books, and this is what I learned from them.”

Talulah smiled and nodded.

In fact, a thought flashed through her mind.

Alina was lying to her...

Setting aside everything else.

This was not a city in Ursus. Books were scarce in the countryside. Talulah knew exactly what kinds of books were available, and there were absolutely no books related to these manuscripts.

Talulah continued to look through the manuscripts while chatting with Alina about past events.

However... one page of the manuscript made Talulah frown slightly.

The content on the manuscript was a blueprint for the future development of the Reunion Movement, but... this handwriting... Talulah didn’t recognize it!

This handwriting was definitely not Alina’s...

Hiss!!

Someone else had definitely been with Alina.

This handwriting on the manuscript was a bit ugly. It wasn’t FrostNova’s, nor was it Senior Patriot’s, and it was even less likely to be Alina’s own. After all, Alina could never write so poorly.

Talulah pretended not to have noticed anything unusual and continued to look at the other manuscripts with a normal expression.

In fact, her mind was already racing.

At first, Talulah was just suspicious, but now, she was certain that something was definitely wrong with Alina during this period!

She would absolutely not let anyone harm Alina!

Alina and Talulah continued to chat.

Meanwhile, Lucas Reeve was thinking about what to do if this peer of his came looking for trouble. Should he just devour him directly?

The two girls chatted for a long time, mostly about things from the past. They rarely deliberately talked about the Reunion Movement. It seemed that only at this time were the two of them chatting as best friends, and not as the two founders of the Reunion Movement.

However.

During their chat.

Lucas Reeve also captured a very valuable piece of information.

Lungmen...

Talulah used to be in Lungmen!!

She wasn’t born and raised in Ursus. And she seemed to have known Officer Ch’en of the Lungmen Guard Department since they were children. However, he didn’t seem to know about Officer Ch’en’s current situation. But that was normal. Terra’s communication was far less developed than Earth’s. Many places were like ancient times, completely unaware of the outside world for years on end. That was why the messenger profession had always thrived.

This chat continued late into the night.

Only then did Talulah and Alina slowly fall asleep.

However, only Lucas Reeve knew.

Talulah wasn’t asleep at all. She had been pretending to be asleep to sense the situation around her.

As expected...

She was suspicious.

Suspicious of whether there was someone around Alina that she didn’t know about. And.. Talulah also didn’t seem to know about the other peer fused within her own soul. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have failed to consider that it might be a soul attached to Alina’s body.

A night passed.

Talulah didn’t find anything unusual. When she left in the early morning, Alina finally breathed a huge sigh of relief.

She hadn’t actually slept much either, afraid that Lucas Reeve’s situation would be discovered.

Lucas Reeve hadn’t slept either, afraid that an accident would happen while he was asleep.

And so..

For an entire night.

Three people, three hundred ulterior motives, all pretending to be asleep.

For the next few days.

Talulah started seeking out Alina more and more frequently, so Lucas Reeve also became as cautious as possible.

And the greenhouse in the design drawings had already begun construction as planned.

The wooden house used to place the greenhouse was simply chosen to be the conference room used by the high-level members of the Reunion Movement. This house was relatively large and met the requirements. Anyway, they could hold meetings anywhere; they could even sit in the snow.

And under Lucas Reeve’s guidance.

Alina was in charge of supervising the work, plastering the walls of the wooden house with mud as an insulation layer, drilling small holes for ventilation, and then continuously burning charcoal for heating the wooden house. After that, the small greenhouse was built inside the wooden house. Soil was selected and spread on the floor of the wooden house, and after watering and fertilizing, the seeds were buried directly in it, and Alina began to catalyze them.

Everything seemed to be thriving.

And.

The first batch of vegetables also reached maturity under Alina’s daily catalysis. Although the quantity was not large, it was barely enough for every member to get some fresh vegetables.

Alina could never forget the scene when these comrades, who had suffered so much, took their first bite of fresh vegetables.

Many of them even cried.

Even Lucas Reeve couldn’t help but feel a little touched.

Suffering... sorrow...

This was Lucas Reeve’s assessment of this entire organization.

They just wanted to live. They would be satisfied with just barely filling their stomachs. Such a simple request was still difficult to achieve.

If his soul hadn’t awakened here by a stroke of luck.

Probably.

When the Ursus soldiers came before, the Reunion Movement would have been forced to leave and continue their journey of exile.

Compared to these people.

The standard of living of even the most ordinary commoners back in Columbia was no different from heaven for them.

Sigh~

Lucas Reeve didn’t know what to say for a moment.

The bonfire in the center of the village burned slowly.

Alina sat next to Talulah, drinking fresh vegetable soup and looking at the long-lost smiles on the faces of her comrades around her. A certain idea became even more firm in her heart....

However...

With the sound of a wooden bowl falling to the ground.

Alina fell to the ground.

The pain coming from within her body made her tremble all over.

Talulah beside her, and even Lucas Reeve, were startled.

Surrounded by everyone.

Talulah quickly carried Alina into her room.

This symptom...

They were all too familiar with it.

Oripathy outbreak...

For every Infected.

An Oripathy outbreak was just a matter of time. Every acute Oripathy outbreak was a walk on the razor’s edge of death.

Either die...

Or even if they survived, the severity of their Oripathy would increase a little, and the next outbreak would be more ferocious than the last, and the danger even more severe.

Looking at the extremely pained Alina on the bed.

Talulah and FrostNova next to her were heartbroken.

Alina was like an angel in the entire Reunion Movement, loved by every member. And when they learned that these fresh vegetables were all made by Alina using her Originium Arts, their reverence for Alina grew even more.

So.

When Alina’s Oripathy flared up.

Almost all the members of the Reunion Movement came to Alina’s wooden house to pray, hoping she would pull through.

”As expected... it’s from using.. Originium Arts too much recently...”

Patriot said slowly.

In fact, he had long anticipated it. Oripathy gave the Infected a stronger talent for Originium Arts than ordinary people, even freeing them from the restriction of staves. In return, every frequent use of Originium Arts could potentially worsen the severity of Oripathy.

This was also the first time Lucas Reeve had experienced the ferocity of Oripathy since coming to Terra. As a remnant soul bound to Alina’s soul, at this moment, Lucas Reeve could deeply feel the pain inside Alina’s body. That despair, that feeling of sharp, pointed Originium crystals constantly stimulating Alina’s internal organs, like countless needles stimulating every cell. This kind of pain was unimaginable for an ordinary person.

”System... I want to use one chance for help. Is there an ability to treat Oripathy?”

However...

This time, for the first time, the system disappointed Lucas Reeve.

[This treatment method is of too high a level and cannot be provided for free. The host needs to exchange for it through Prayer Power...]

Actually, Lucas Reeve had already guessed it.

Because the abilities provided by the system for free would not be of too high a level. They were either single abilities or a part of a high-level ability or weapon’s power, like the projection of the Holy Lance.

And when Lucas Reeve saw the amount of Prayer Power required for the exchange, he became a little anxious, because the amount required for this ability was no less than what he would consume to condense a physical body.

That is to say...

Lucas Reeve was now truly powerless.

A difficult problem stood before Lucas Reeve.

Once he had enough prayer power, should he condense his own body first or exchange for the Oripathy treatment method first? This question became a choice for Lucas Reeve now...

Fortunately.

After a night.

Alina successfully survived this round of Oripathy outbreak, but the Originium crystals on the surface of her body were much denser than before.

The next morning.

Alina seemed to be completely drained, her face pathologically pale, her forehead covered in dense beads of sweat as she lay leaning against the bed.

Only then.

Did Talulah breathe a huge sigh of relief.

She was truly afraid that something would happen to Alina just now, because... this was not the first time Alina had an Oripathy outbreak. Strictly speaking, it was the third time... Each Oripathy outbreak was more dangerous than the last. If a fourth one were to happen, with Alina’s current physical condition, Talulah didn’t quite dare to think about what would happen.

”Are you okay... Alina....”

Talulah gently wiped the sweat from Alina’s forehead, asking with concern.

”I’m fine...”

Alina forced a smile.

”I won’t be defeated so easily...”

”...”

A flash of pain crossed FrostNova’s dim eyes, but there was nothing she could do...

”Alina, don’t use your Originium Arts anymore...”

Talulah said seriously.

”But...”

Alina sighed. She wanted to see the smile on every comrade’s face. It was... so close to being realized, but her body was so...

”Don’t be stubborn!”

This was the first time Talulah had spoken to Alina so loudly.

After she said it, she lowered her head with some regret.

”Sorry...”

Alina smiled faintly.

She reached out and patted Talulah’s head.

After a while.

Everyone in Alina’s room left, letting Alina rest well. And just as everyone left, Lucas Reeve floated out of the bracelet. Looking at Alina’s weak figure at this moment, she felt a pang of heartache.

”Sorry... Alina...”

”Regarding Oripathy, I’m also a little powerless right now...”

Alina didn’t expect Lucas Reeve to apologize to her. She quickly forced herself to sit up straight from her weak state, wanting to touch Lucas Reeve, but her hand passed through his body. Just as she was about to fall off the bed, Lucas Reeve quickly materialized his upper body and wrapped Alina in his arms, preventing her from falling to the ground.

Alina’s pretty face instantly turned red, and she hastily retorted.

”Don’t apologize!! Mr. Reeve!! You’ve already helped me so much! I won’t let you apologize!!”