Asura in Arknights

As soon as Li Ang found the mansion, he saw Xuan Cheng.

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It was already late at night, but Xuan Cheng was wide awake and paced anxiously back and forth in the room.

"What should we do...? What exactly happened in Gouwu City?"

Although Xuan Cheng concealed his identity and worked secretly here, it did not mean that he had lost contact with the outside world.

He received the news the moment the wanted notice was issued, but Xuan Cheng tried to contact Jing Zhe using several different methods without receiving any response. He realized that something extraordinary must have happened in Gou Wu City.

But he couldn't leave this place easily.

Once Xuan Cheng leaves here, all the preparations he made before may be in vain. Besides... if even Jing Zhe, with her strength, encounters danger, wouldn't it be like sending him to his death if he went alone?

Asking for help from the outside world is pointless. Those who can help will naturally receive the message, so there's no need to ask for help. And for those who can't help, it's pointless to write to them.

So Xuancheng could only stand there anxiously, not knowing what to do.

Two days have passed, and Xuan Cheng has decided that if there is no news by tomorrow, he will have no choice but to go to Gouwu City in person to check.

"You seem to be in a hurry. It seems I've arrived just in time."

Li Ang didn't linger outside and went straight into the courtyard.

Upon seeing Li Ang push open the door and enter, Xuan Cheng was first stunned, then overjoyed.

"Mr. Li! You've finally arrived!"

Xuan Cheng wished he could rush up and hug Li Ang. He had a whole host of questions he wanted to ask Li Ang.

"What exactly happened in Gouwu City? What's the story behind your arrest warrant? How is the Minister of Justice doing now?"

"Calm down first. Things are a little complicated. I'll explain it to you slowly."

Li Ang held Xuan Cheng down to prevent him from getting too agitated. "Anyway, we've run into a bit of trouble, but it's nothing serious."

"This is not the place to talk. Come with me."

With that, Li Ang untied the scroll from his back, preparing to take Xuan Cheng into the world within the painting to discuss the matter further.

Looking at the painting, Xuan Cheng felt it looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

When Li Ang opened the entrance to the world in the painting, he finally recalled a similar record from the corner of his memory.

"A world within a painting? This is... the power of the Sui Beast incarnate?" Xuan Cheng couldn't help but exclaim.

"Oh? You actually know this?" Li Ang seemed somewhat surprised.

To recognize the origin of this ability with just one glance, Xuan Cheng really has some discerning eyes.

“Of course I know him, Mr. Li. Have you forgotten my identity? I saw the relevant records in the Ministry of Rites,” Xuan Cheng reminded him.

It was only then that Li Ang remembered that this guy seemed to be the son of the Minister of Rites.

The impression Xuan Cheng left on them was so deep that no one would have guessed he was also a high-ranking official's son.

He and Jingzhe were, respectively, the son of the Minister of Rites and the closed-door disciple of the head of the Celestial Master's Mansion. The Ministry of Rites and the Celestial Master's Mansion were indeed closely related, and it seemed that they had been entangled together for a long time.

“Now that you know, it’s much easier to explain. Everyone is in this painting now. I’ll take you to see them.”

"The world within the painting... I've heard that the avatar of the Year Beast who possesses this ability has a rather bad temper. I never expected that Lord Zhang would bring her here this time."

She has a bad temper...

Li Ang was speechless for a moment, but... what he said seemed to make sense? Xi's temper didn't seem to be very good, and the reason she acted so well-behaved was because she was with him.

"Alright, don't worry about the details, come with me."

As he spoke, Li Ang's figure disappeared in front of the painting. Xuan Cheng didn't hesitate much and followed Li Ang into the painting.

The world spun around him, and when he came to his senses, Xuan Cheng found himself in a completely new world.

Even though he already knew about this ability beforehand, Xuan Cheng was still deeply shocked after experiencing it firsthand.

This ability... is something that human beings simply cannot achieve, and he finally understood why the Ministry of Rites was so wary of the incarnation of the Year Beast.

If one of them already possesses this earth-shattering ability, what about the remaining eleven?

“Miss Nauman, it’s been a long time.”

Xuan Cheng's Adam's apple bobbed as he greeted Miss Caprini, whom he hadn't seen for some time. Then, his gaze fell on the dragon woman who seemed rather bored to the side.

Is she the incarnation of the Year Beast? She doesn't seem to have anything special about her.

Perhaps sensing Xuan Cheng's gaze, Xi glanced at him coldly but made no further move.

Xuan Cheng didn't know if the other party had a good temper, but seeing the scene before him, he could tell that the other party was definitely a very cold-hearted person.

So, Xuan Cheng also withdrew his gaze.

"Where is the Minister of Justice? Is she here too?"

Li Ang sighed and said, "She... she probably hasn't woken up yet."

Li Ang pointed to the house on the open ground next to him, which was obviously out of place with the surrounding style, and said, "Now I can tell you, Jingzhe was attacked in Gouwu City and was seriously injured. She is receiving treatment there now."

"And I was accused of being the murderer who attacked Jingzhe. That's about it in the wanted notice you saw."

Chapter Forty-Seven: The Wound

"This is utterly ridiculous!"

Xuan Cheng was extremely angry after hearing this.

The prefect of Gouwu actually named the two as suspects without any evidence and issued a nationwide arrest warrant. If an ordinary person were in this situation, they would probably be dead by now and would not have any chance of reaching Tianyue City. It was only because Li Ang was strong that he was able to fight his way here.

"No, I'll get the warrant withdrawn for you right away."

As he spoke, Xuan Cheng couldn't wait to get moving. Although his official rank was not as high as Jingzhe's, his father was one of the six ministers. As long as he explained the situation here, it wouldn't be too difficult to withdraw a warrant through his father's connections. Moreover, the person who was wrong was the prefect of Gouwu.

But after taking two steps back, he realized that he didn't seem to know how to leave.

"...How do we get out of here?"

"Actually, you don't need to be in such a hurry. I think it might be better to leave that arrest warrant hanging."

Instead of answering Xuancheng's question, Li Ang said thoughtfully.

"Hmm? You're not withdrawing the warrant?"

Xuan Cheng paused for a moment, looking somewhat surprised.

“Actually, you see, even if this wanted poster is on the list, it doesn’t seem to have much of an impact on me,” Li Ang said, shrugging. “Ordinary people can’t find my trail at all, and besides, I don’t think anyone can catch me, so it’s fine not to withdraw the wanted poster.”

"If the warrant is withdrawn, it's like sending a signal that you're sneaking around because you don't want to be noticed by those people?"

"..."

Xuan Cheng was somewhat persuaded. He took a deep breath and said, "If that's your decision, then I have no problem with it."

Since Li Ang, the person involved, has already stated that he doesn't mind, what else can he say? In short, as Li Ang said, ignoring the existence of the arrest warrant might be safer.

"How is Lord Tingwei? I'd like to see her condition."

“She’s over here, come with me,” Li Ang said.

"I won't go. Just come find me if you need anything, brother."

With that casual remark, Xi turned and walked towards her thatched hut.

“Then I’ll go keep Miss Xi company too,” Adele said.

If everyone goes to see the Awakening of Insects, Xi will be all alone outside.

"Brother?"

Xuan Cheng looked at Li Ang with great surprise, clearly puzzled by Xi's way of addressing him.

Since explaining this matter was too complicated, and Li Ang himself only half understood it, he simply pretended not to hear Xuan Cheng's question and led him towards Jingzhe's ward.

Fortunately, Xuan Cheng's way of thinking was quite direct. He was only puzzled for a moment, and seeing that Li Ang had no intention of explaining, he put this unimportant question out of his mind.

The nurse, who called herself Mulberry, led the two of them to Jingzhe's ward and explained, "The patient's condition is relatively stable. She should regain consciousness in two days. However... her wound is a bit complicated. There is a lot of missing soft tissue, so I plan to perform a skin flap transplant in the next two days."

Thanks to Originium Arts, the difficulty of surgery in Terra has been greatly reduced. As long as the patient is not killed on the spot, even major surgeries such as organ transplants can be performed on the battlefield. Problems such as wound infection can be solved with a single spell.

Compared to major surgeries, flap transplantation is a very minor procedure, even less difficult than postoperative scar repair. Therefore, even someone like Sang Shen, who has only been working for a short time, is fully confident in completing this surgery.

"Let me check the wound first," Xuan Cheng said. "If there are no problems, I can perform the surgery."

Xuan Cheng also had some knowledge of medicine. In the past, when he was on missions, he mostly played the role of a medical or support staff member. Although the surgery was minor, Xuan Cheng felt that he had to participate.

Then, they went to Jingzhe's bedside.

Jingzhe lay in bed, completely unaware of their arrival. Sangshen stepped forward, unwrapped the gauze wrapped around her abdomen, and prepared to take the opportunity to change the soiled gauze.

Xuan Cheng frowned deeply after glancing at the wound.

"Wait, when was the attack on the Minister of Justice?"

"Was it around nine o'clock the day before yesterday? I'm not sure of the exact time."

"Only two days?" Xuan Cheng looked at Sang Shen beside him and asked, "You used magic to completely heal your wounds?"

“No!” Mulberry shook her head repeatedly and said weakly, “I just used magic to stop the bleeding. The wound was already like this when the patient collapsed.”

"Oh right, I don't think I told you, this Miss Mulberry, she was the first witness to the Jingzhe incident, and she also performed the first aid at the scene."

“But this wound doesn’t look like it’s only been two days to heal,” Xuan Cheng looked at Sang Shen with suspicion. “It either took more than half a month to heal naturally, or you simply used magic to speed up the healing.”

His medical skills were quite solid; he could tell at a glance that something was wrong with the wound.

What Xuan Cheng couldn't understand was that even if the wound was completely healed by magic, it would create some difficulties for the subsequent skin flap transplant, but it wasn't a big problem. At most, it was just a small mistake made in a panic. This little girl named Sangshen looked very young.

But why does she insist on denying it?

"I……"

Mulberry suddenly felt utterly speechless.

Just as she was about to cry from feeling wronged, Li Ang patted Xuan Cheng on the shoulder and said, "Alright, she didn't lie. Think about it carefully, is there any need to lie about this kind of question?"

"But what if the wound was like this from the beginning..."

Li Ang's words were quite convincing, and Xuan Cheng basically believed him, then began to think about what had caused this strange injury.

“Right, I also think this wound is a bit strange. But last time Jingzhe woke up, she only had time to tell me your location in Tianyue City, without mentioning the specifics of her attack. If that attacker comes looking for us, it could be troublesome.”

Regardless of the type of wound, a portion of the subcutaneous tissue will be exposed, and it will take at least half a month for this part of the wound to heal.

However, the color of the tissue at the site of Jingzhe's wound was no longer significantly different from the surrounding skin. According to Sangshen, when she gave Jingzhe first aid,

"It's as if this part of the organization never existed in the first place..."

Xuancheng's soliloquy expressed the sentiments of everyone present.

Chapter Forty-Eight: Dream

The wound was in such a strange state that even these two medical workers couldn't figure it out, so Li Ang had even less to say. He just instinctively felt that something was wrong with the wound.

"In any case, since there are no problems, let's start the surgery now," Xuan Cheng said decisively. "The Minister of Justice needs to regain her mobility as soon as possible; there's no time to wait for her wounds to heal slowly."

After the skin flap is transplanted, magic will be used to accelerate the healing of the wound. At the latest, Jingzhe should be fully recovered by the time they enter the Tianyue Mountains. She is also an extremely powerful combatant, at least much stronger than Xuancheng.

Moreover... Xuan Cheng always felt that Jingzhe's injuries were not so simple. If they could be resolved in one go this time, it would also relieve him of a worry.

Sang Shen naturally had no objections; she was just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire, so she would just listen to whatever others said.

Li Ang agreed with Xuan Cheng's idea; the world in the painting was not indestructible, and at least regaining mobility would make it safer.

After making the decision, Xuancheng and Sangshen began preparing the medical equipment needed for the transplant surgery. Just then, Li Ang brought back this secret base, which basically had everything they needed, so they could proceed with the surgery once everything was ready.

There was nothing he could do to help here, so after asking Xuancheng, Li Ang left the ward for the time being.

Three hours passed in the blink of an eye. Feeling that the time was almost up, Li Ang prepared to go back and check on how the surgery was going.

His arrival was quite coincidental; Xuan Cheng had just come out of the ward, but his expression was slightly unpleasant, which gave Li Ang a bad feeling.

"How did the surgery go? Has Jingzhe recovered?" Li Ang quickly stepped forward and asked.

"The surgery failed." Xuan Cheng's voice sounded somewhat low.

"Failed? How is that possible? What happened to you?"

Li Ang was quite surprised that such a seemingly sure-fire minor surgery could fail.

Jingzhe's waist and abdomen were only missing a piece of flesh the size of a fist. Even without a skin flap transplant, the wound could be healed by using Originium Arts. It was just that Sangshen had some reservations and dared not make the decision for Jingzhe. How could such a simple operation fail?