Max Level Return—I'll Protect That Fragile One

The year Lin Piaopiao passed away, he was only 14 years old and still studying in the Capital City.

Xu Xingguang had a surprising guess in his mind, ”Are you... Yuanhang?”

He Yuanhang was the child adopted by Lin Piaopiao. His father was He Yue, the captain of the scouting team for the Lin Family Army, who fell into an enemy minefield during a chaotic battle.

He died a tragic death, and even after his demise, not a single intact piece of clothing could be retrieved.

Lin Piaopiao carried the urn of Captain He Yue’s ashes to his hometown to deliver the sad news, only to find out that his wife had long passed away during childbirth due to amniotic fluid embolism. Seeing He Yue’s elderly parents and the six or seven-year-old He Yuanhang, who had just started first grade, Lin Piaopiao’s eyes brimmed with tears.

Three years later, when He Yuanhang’s grandparents passed away one after the other, Lin Piaopiao brought He Yuanhang back to live in the Capital City.

He Yuanhang became her adopted son.

When there were no wars, Lin Piaopiao stayed in the Capital City to educate He Yuanhang. When the situation on the battlefield became urgent and required her presence, He Yuanhang would be taken to the King’s Mansion, where the Divine Hidden Crane would watch over him strictly.

Strictly speaking, He Yuanhang was a child jointly adopted by Lin Piaopiao and the Divine Hidden Crane.

Hearing the name Yuanhang, the elderly Ming Feng, like a child, leaned his head against Xu Xingguang’s arm and cried out. ”Mother, I am Xiao Hang!”

Fearing that Xu Xingguang would not believe him, He Yuanhang urgently unbuttoned the meticulously worn jacket of his suit and pulled out a fine yet sturdy chain from underneath his inner shirt, revealing a small pendant at the base of the necklace.

On that small pendant was a golden Longevity Bean, a gift found by his father’s comrades in his dormitory after He Yue’s death. It was something he had purchased intending to give to He Yuanhang as a birthday gift.

Ming Feng held the golden bean that he had polished until it gleamed and told Xu Xingguang, ”This Longevity Bean was a gift from my mother on my 12th birthday. You said it was a keepsake from my father and that I must carry it with me always, as it would protect me with peace and longevity.”

”All these years, Xiao Hang has always worn it, never daring to take it off.” Ming Feng bent down and placed the Longevity Bean on Xu Xingguang’s wrist. ”Mother, you can feel it and see if it’s real or fake.”

Xu Xingguang picked up the Longevity Bean and felt some shallow engraved marks on its back.

Ming Feng hurriedly explained, ”This is the Peace Seal you engraved on it together with the Monarch. It’s just that after so much time, the Peace Seal has become blurred.”

Xu Xingguang nodded, ”Mm, I still remember this Peace Seal.”

In Ancient Xia Country, children couldn’t celebrate their birthdays until they turned 12, as celebrating would attract Demons’ attention. When a child turned 12, their family had to prepare a feast and invite relatives and friends to celebrate with them.

Such a feast was called the ’Demon-breaking Day.’

On Demon-breaking Day, they would roll a Demon-breaking Egg, soaked in potion, slowly from the last vertebra of the child to the top of their head, chanting words of longevity and peace as they went.

On this day, parents would also give the child a gift that carried auspicious meanings.

He Yuanhang wasn’t the biological son of Xu Xingguang. He had his own parents, so on his 12th birthday, Xu Xingguang gave He Yuanhang the Longevity Bean that He Yue had left behind.

Moreover, she personally etched the Peace Seal, symbolizing longevity, on the back of the Longevity Bean. The Divine Hidden Crane accidentally caught her carving the seal and jokingly said that since he was practically a half-elder to He Yuanhang, he took the carving knife from her and completed the final two strokes.

This thing couldn’t be faked.

In this world, besides Xu Xingguang, the Divine Hidden Crane, and He Yuanhang, no one knew about the Peace Seal on the back of the Longevity Bean, let alone that it was engraved by Xu Xingguang and the Divine Hidden Crane together.

Xu Xingguang was filled with disbelief.

She stared at Ming Feng’s aged face and was silent for a long while before asking, ”How are you still alive?”

Ming Feng still sat cross-legged like he did as a child, speaking to her with his head held high. ”Mother, you left early and didn’t know what really happened after the meteorite fell, but I witnessed that transformation clearly.”

Xu Xingguang looked down at him, her gaze warmer than before. ”Tell me in detail.”

Ming Feng told her, ”After you died, the Monarch held your body for an entire day without letting go. He turned gray-haired overnight and became the first person to awaken a superpower.”

”What kind of superpower does he have?”

Ming Feng frowned, ”I’m not sure either, but the Monarch’s fighting ability has increased significantly, and he now wields a bamboo-style Divine Hidden Sword by his side.”

Even Ming Feng didn’t know what superpower the Divine Hidden Crane had?

”And what happened after that?”

Ming Feng said, ”The Monarch returned to the Capital City with your body, refusing to bury you, insisting on preserving your body by freezing it.” Ming Feng frowned as he told Xu Xingguang, ”He even thought about resurrecting you, believing that if your body was preserved for hundreds of years, advances in medical technology would enable your revival.”

Xu Xingguang raised an eyebrow, ”Then why not just make a clone?”

Ming Feng’s eyes filled with resentment, ”How do you know he hasn’t already?”

Xu Xingguang: ”...”

”He did, and not just one. But even though they looked exactly like you, they still weren’t you.” Reflecting on those times, Ming Feng felt particularly heavy-hearted. ”During that time, the Monarch appeared normal but was, in fact, already insane.”

”Then how did he regain clarity?”

”Clarity?” Ming Feng said, ”He was always insane, never clear. He just forced himself to be a competent Monarch, forced himself to seem like a normal person. Secretly, he was searching for those Super Power Users who had awakened strange abilities, asking them about all sorts of peculiar things.”

”What types of Super Power Users was he looking for?”

”All sorts, like those who could foresee the future or communicate with lost souls, he found them all.” Ming Feng scoffed, ”He even sought fortune tellers and charlatans.”