Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 585 - 527: Night Watch

"Mm."

Li Ang nodded. He didn’t have any corresponding memories in his mind, so he was especially curious about Lu Yunan’s experiences.

"Died of illness. Liver cancer."

Lu Yunan said indifferently, "When I was young, my family wasn’t well-off, and I had younger siblings; we couldn’t afford everyone’s tuition fees. So I had to study very, very hard, winning scholarships every year just to keep attending school. I studied and studied, going from key middle schools to key high schools, then to a top university, and finally landed a job at a decent internet company where I earned a good salary. Guess you could say I was a small-town academic grinder. The price I paid was working overtime every day. Before too long, I suddenly felt a pain in my abdomen, went for a check-up, and found out it was mid-stage liver cancer."

She spoke calmly, "My parents came to the city and rented a place next to the hospital to take care of me. They were in tears every day, worrying about the dwindling numbers in their bank account as they made phone calls behind my back, borrowing money from relatives and friends. As for me, I would say out loud that if it couldn’t be cured, then don’t bother treating it, but deep down I still wanted to live. I gritted my teeth through surgery, targeted drugs, and jaundice; when my abdomen swelled painfully, I relied on painkiller injections to cope, and whenever I saw something funny on my phone, I had to hold back laughter—I was afraid it would make it difficult to breathe. Then one day, my eyes closed, and that was the last I knew."

"..."

On hearing this, Li Ang fell silent for a moment; he was acutely aware that the real suffering of late-stage cancer patients was far greater than what she had described.

Lu Yunan noticed Li Ang’s silence and smiled, "After all, it was more than a decade ago. No matter how intense it felt back then, it’s a bit blurry in my memory now. So, what about you?"

"Me?"

Li Ang thought for a moment, then replied truthfully, "I remember that I was a doctor."

Lu Yunan waited for a moment. Seeing that Li Ang had nothing more to say, she raised an eyebrow and said, "You were a doctor, then what? Your life experiences, how you died."

"I forgot."

Li Ang scratched his head. "I really don’t remember. Unlike you, my memories of the Otherworld, uh, my previous life, are fragmented. Aside from remembering I was a doctor, the rest are all vague. Including how exactly I transmigrated."

"Hmm..."

Lu Yunan said with confusion, "Why would that be?"

Li Ang thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I hit my head before transmigrating? Or perhaps I was already an old man with Alzheimer’s by then?"

"That doesn’t seem likely; you were catching onto the slang too smoothly, so you should be about my age."

Lu Yunan rubbed her chin, then suddenly asked, "What era is it,"

Li Ang subconsciously completed the sentence, "That we’re still smoking traditional cigarettes?"

Lu Yunan nodded with satisfaction, then asked another question, "What’s Meng Lei doing?"

Without hesitation, Li Ang answered, "Teacher Meng is playing as an ultimate hunter, sneaking towers."

Lu Yunan snapped her fingers. "Right you are, but..."

Li Ang said helplessly, "’*Genshin Impact*’ is a new open-world adventure game produced and published by Yin City Mihayou Network Technology Co., Ltd. The game takes place in a fantasy world called ’Tivat’..."

"Isn’t that the case then?"

Lu Yunan slapped her uninjured thigh and laughed, "Even if you were an old man, you’d be a trendy old man, one who surfs the web and is worthy of a ’meme connoisseur’ certificate. Maybe even a Touhou fan."

"’The Vietcong Peekaboo,’ right?"

Li Ang massaged his temples, a headache forming, and complained, "I really don’t want that ’meme connoisseur certificate’ or anything of the sort."

Lu Yunan slammed her fist into her palm. "Then ’meme kiddo’ it is."

"Hey, hey, hey, we’re all-ages material here," Li Ang said with a half-lidded gaze, "Mind the censors."

The two of them sat at the bottom of the valley, leaning against the cliff face, recovering their strength while making small talk. Too many memories had no outlet, and once they started talking, the words flowed endlessly. As they spoke, they gradually drew closer—the temperature around them fell.

WHOOSH—WHOOSH—

The cold wind howled through the valley floor. Lu Yunan rubbed her hands together, her body huddling into a ball.

She lifted her head to glance at the thick fog above and whispered, "It must be nighttime now, right?"

"Mm."

Li Ang extended his hand to feel the wind speed and temperature. "We’ll get hypothermia if this keeps up. We need to pitch a tent. Where’s the parachute pack?"

"Here."

Lu Yunan picked up the parachute fabric that was weighed down with a rock, opened it up, and let out a surprised cry, "Huh?"

Li Ang, whose vision was impaired, anxiously asked, "What’s wrong?"

"The Ghost Shovel corpse that was inside is gone."

Lu Yunan hesitated. "There are only bloodstains, bone fragments, and a bronze fragment with Taotie patterns left. It looks like... the Ghost Shovel corpse devoured itself."

A bronze fragment?

Li Ang felt a stir within his heart. He had Lu Yunan pass him the Bronze Fragment, feeling its texture and patterns in his hand. They were somewhat like that piece he had acquired in Qi Shui Village.

Could there be some connection here?

"This must be the Mutated Object that Ghost Shovel mentioned, the one that granted him the ability of Devouring Heaven and Earth."

Li Ang pondered, "If this thing hasn’t completely lost its vitality at the bottom of Li Yuan, it’s definitely not simple. How about we wrap it with the parachute fabric for now?"

"Alright."

Lu Yunan nodded her approval. The two used the Triangular Spear to cut a piece of the fabric and wrapped the Taotie Bronze Fragment.

Then they found a place where the wind was a bit weaker. Using the rocks as support, they dug holes in the rocks and cliff face with the Triangular Spear, stuffing the corners of the large piece of fabric into them, propping up a rudimentary temporary tent.

They took shelter inside the tent. Thanks to Mo Si’s thermal insulation properties, the temperature inside rose significantly.

Lu Yunan suggested that they take turns keeping watch, so Li Ang let her sleep first, and they would switch after she woke up.

"..."

The sound of the wind was faintly audible outside the tent. Li Ang watched Lu Yunan sleep with his blurry vision.

The casual conversation earlier had indeed been joyful. He had too many secrets deep down that he couldn’t share with others, so after talking with Lu Yunan, he felt a sense of relief, as if he were reconnecting with a long-lost friend.

But... a fellow transmigrator?

Li Ang shook his head inwardly. He could sense the girl’s earnestly expressed kindness and enthusiasm, perhaps even too much enthusiasm—which made it all seem a bit odd.

Was everything really as she had said? Back in Suzhou, in Chang’an, she never revealed her identity to protect her clan? Then why did she help me against Zhao Ming? Whether it was sending out the letters about the Plague Demon Talisman or having Galuo meet me in the valley, wouldn’t all of that increase her risk of exposure?

Harboring similar doubts, Li Ang held the Bronze Fragment wrapped in the parachute fabric, silently waiting for the girl to wake up.