Chapter 134: The King Calls

The news of Yang Yi's return instantly became the top trending topic.

Whether it was search engines, real-time breaking news, or the hottest post on some Xia Kingdom blog, Yang Yi's return was undeniably the biggest traffic draw. Any new photo of Yang Yi could rack up hundreds of thousands of views; people craved the latest news of her like leeches thirsting for fresh blood.

A blogger in Zhongyuan City used a high-definition camera to capture Yang Yi dealing with the Void-Devouring Beast — barely half a minute of footage, yet it instantly shot to the top of the trending videos on blogs, Douyin, and Kuaishou.

In the video, amid the surrounding chaos of crying and screaming, someone suddenly shouted, "Look! Yang Yi is back!" The camera jerked and swung toward the sky, finally catching that tiny figure in the air.

In the background, people cried out in delight; amid the crowd's ecstatic shouts, the video's owner was also overcome with excitement, yelling over and over, "It's her! She's come to save us! Yang Yi…" The trembling camera suddenly zoomed in, and Yang Yi's figure slowly grew larger in the frame.

In that fleeting shot, the camera finally captured her — she was wearing a men's casual blazer, light blue, oversized and ill-fitting, with a white silk camisole underneath, her hair loose, falling naturally over her shoulders.

Her expression was calm; her flying figure didn't even pause for a moment — she simply brought her hands together lightly, and the rampaging Void-Devouring Beast was slapped into a thin sheet by an invisible, mighty force, reduced to ash on the spot.

Then her figure vanished into the sky, and a sonic boom rang out.

"She broke the sound barrier!" the video's owner shrieked, the frame shaking violently as he could no longer contain his excitement. "Oh my God! Oh my God… breaking the sound barrier with a physical body — that's terrifying…"

Then the video ended.

The video had only been uploaded a few minutes, and the comments had already surged past ten thousand.

"The God of the Mortal World has returned!"

"Waaah — that's wonderful, we're saved! The world is saved! She's our savior! She's our Republic's guardian deity!"

"What's so strange about breaking the sound barrier with a physical body? She can even survive a nuclear blast!"

"To the commenter above, objectively speaking, Britain only nuked the Wenbury Giant Hole — that's the passage to another realm. Yang Yi was already in the other realm at that point, so whether she could actually withstand a nuke is still up for debate."

"Rational centrists, get lost! Yiyi is the best! The strongest in the world! No question! Forget nukes — no weapon on Earth can harm her! She truly deserves the title — God of the Mortal World!!!"

"My Yiyi (screaming) (squirming) my love (twisting) (convulsing) I love you (wriggling) please take pity and look at me (squelching darkly) I've gone mad for you (rolling) I'm bewitched by you (crawling frantically) I bang my head against the wall for you (roaring) (eerie low growl) (crawling) (splitting) (crawling ashore) (twisted walk)"

"Thank goodness she's still alive! Half a month ago our village already enshrined her statue in the temple, and the incense offerings have been thriving (laughing and crying at once) — looks like we'll have to take it down now."

"That Void-Devouring Beast didn't even get the chance to fire its Annihilation Light before she slapped it flat! From 3D to 2D — so freaking cool aaaah!"

"Rational discussion: why can't the Void-Devouring Beast's scarlet light, which can annihilate everything, annihilate her telekinesis? Can anyone explain?"

"How did she get back? Has she already mastered the ability to open spatial passages? And the place she appeared was Rossi City outskirts, a thousand miles from London!"

"The jacket she's wearing looks like a men's one? Whose is it?!!!!! Comrades, there's a situation!!!!"

"It's this man's! (URL link) The first time she appeared after her return was at Rossi City outskirts, right next to this man — he took off his coat and handed it to her! And she actually put it on as if it were the most natural thing!!!"

"Who is that man! (screaming) (manically squirming) Three minutes — I want this man's information right now!"

—

Thomas had just returned to Tims Village and hadn't even had time to settle in when he received calls from various British upper-echelon figures, all probing openly and covertly about his relationship with Yang Yi.

"No comment!"

After hanging up on Duke Lytton's call, Thomas simply switched his phone to silent. Standing in the living room in disgust, he shouted, "These damned, sycophantic flies!"

"Mr., keep your voice down!" Miranda hastily tugged at his sleeve, signaling him to be careful.

Servants bustled around them, carrying things from the car back to their places, pretending not to have seen or heard a thing.

"Which bastard uploaded our video to the internet without permission? Get the Essex Group legal team on it right now — I'm suing him for violation of portrait rights and privacy!" Thomas tossed his phone onto the sofa and paced furiously around the living room.

The phone screen kept lighting up — calls from different people pouring in: relatives he hadn't spoken to in centuries, old schoolmates, business acquaintances, nobles he'd met only once at social events, and various political figures.

Thomas ignored them all, turned on the TV, and switched to the international live news.

Yang Yi had already finished off the last Void-Devouring Beast; her figure abruptly vanished above Fox City in Canada, whereabouts unknown.

Had she gone back to the Xia Kingdom?

Would she… come back again? Did she still remember Tims Village? Did she still remember… me?

Thomas snapped out of it, realized what he was thinking, and jumped to his feet, startling the maid who was sorting things beside him.

He paced in circles on the spot: whether she comes back or not is none of my business! Come back or don't, I don't care!

And besides — look at things now — because of her, his entire life had been ruined by her! Those flies catching the scent had shattered his peaceful, reclusive life — it was a complete mess!

Just as he was fuming inside, Miranda came hurrying over with the phone, one hand covering the receiver, urgently whispering, "Mr., it's His Majesty the King!"

Ha, now even the King had been drawn over because of her, Thomas sneered inwardly.

But the call had to be answered. "Your Majesty, good afternoon! This is Thomas Essex." He greeted the new King with impeccable courtesy.

"Thomas, come on, when have we ever been this formal?" the new King — who had been a Prince just a month ago — laughed familiarly. "We were drinking together only two years ago!"

Yes, two years ago! And we weren't even that close back then! Thomas snidely muttered in his heart.

Sure enough, after the pleasantries, the King finally got to the real purpose of the call and asked about Yang Yi.

Thomas had already prepared his answer: Tims Village had a tiny population, everyone knew everyone, and a strange Eastern girl suddenly appearing — even if her face didn't look exactly like Yang Yi's — anyone with eyes could guess that girl was Yang Yi. There was no hiding it no matter what, so he might as well tell them everything that was easy to find out.

So he told the King that a month ago he had taken in a strange girl, that she had been working at his house the whole time, and that he had only learned a few hours ago that she was Yang Yi — he was still astonished himself.

The King probed again, obliquely, about their relationship. Thomas replied flatly, "Just an employer-employee relationship, that's all. She worked here before, helping my housekeeper with some household chores."

After finally getting rid of the King, Thomas sat holding his phone, thinking.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning lit up his mind — he remembered that day when Yang Yi had asked him whether her blood had been cleaned up.

He hurried to the kitchen, grabbed a stain-removal spray, and ran to Yang Yi's room, spraying frantically.

Miranda asked in surprise, "What's going on?"

"Quick! Quick! Miranda, before those black rats from MI6 get here, wipe away every trace of Frisa!"

Miranda seemed to realize what was happening too, and immediately ran to the storage room to get disinfectant.