Chapter 59: Test

Feng Yan picked up the wine gourd and took big gulps, then hung the wine gourd at his waist, wiped his mouth, his complexion looked somewhat grim, then he slowly leaned on the stick and slowly stood up, preparing to move forward again.

The soul, seeing Feng Yan's state, hurriedly said, "You can't go on any further—stop!"

Feng Yan ignored the soul's words, trudging forward with difficulty as his old wound reopened—the wound left from the bounty hunters' attack, though not fatal. Yet before that he had forcibly wielded the black sword to drive away the prince; his injury had neither worsened nor improved, but now several of his wounds began to slowly ooze red blood. Feng Yan poured alcohol on the bleeding spots, then took another big gulp of the drink. Finally he stowed the wine gourd—still holding a little less than half—and hung it at his waist, saying, "I know, but... about her, I truly can't just ignore her."

"No, she's an enemy!" the soul shouted.

"I know, but she's also the person I like, right?" Feng Yan said with a smile, replying to the soul.

Feng Yan trudged on with the stick, feeling his body grow heavier and heavier, exerting every ounce of strength, his mind holding only one thought—he could not lose to Yang Xin!

Holding that thought, he trudged step by step, but eventually he could no longer bear it; he walked all the way, leaving a trail of red specks of blood—some dried, some just fallen—until Feng Yan could no longer hold up, collapsing before a stone cave with a thud, hitting the ground hard.

"Can't hold on anymore?" the Red-clothed Devil laughed, observing Feng Yan, pleased with his state, then turned his head to look at another boy standing there, seemingly making a very difficult choice.

Chen Hao stood blankly at the edge of the large pond, which was several mu of field contracted by the villagers; later, as the price of lobsters rose, a few people had the idea, he dug his own land into a pond, persuaded the neighboring residents to rent him those plots of farmland, that very day he called in an excavator, dug the farmland into a pond, filled it with water, bought shrimp fry, and began his plan.

But that day, Chen Hao saw a child whose hands kept slapping the water surface, making splashing sounds; he realized the child had fallen into the pond!

Chen Hao was a non-swimmer; he fetched anything long enough, but none could successfully help the child. Panicking, he spotted a nearby wooden boat, steeled himself, jumped aboard, cast off the rope, and rowed straight toward the boat's center, his heart full of anxiety, rowing faster and faster—yet the boat, as if under a spell, merely drifted slowly forward.

"No!" Chen Hao shouted, "Come quickly! A child has fallen into the water!"

The child had gradually stopped struggling; Chen Hao continued rowing to the center and reached out, but the child had no strength left, already sunk to the pond bottom; after a moment, the body floated to the surface. Seeing the corpse rise, eyes wide open and staring at him, Chen Hao let out a startled "Ah!" and immediately sat back in the boat, which, shaken by the force, kept rocking and nearly capsized.

Chen Hao breathed a sigh of relief, turned to look at the child—yet there was no trace! He also felt puzzled, but then noticed the child's parents had already come ashore, surrounding the child and wailing, "My son, why did you just leave like that!"

Only then did Chen Hao realize he was no longer on the pond but on solid ground; seeing him, the child's mother had red eyes with tears at the corners, she wiped them away and asked sorrowfully, "Why?"

Chen Hao lowered his head, not knowing what to say.

The woman grabbed Chen Hao's collar and shook him, demanding loudly, "Why? Why didn't you save my child? You're an adventurer, aren't you? You could have saved him—you killed my child! Give him back, return my child!"

Chen Hao's mind went blank, not knowing what to do; he let the woman shake him, but the moment she said he had killed her child, he instantly understood—he realized he had failed to save the woman's child. Chen Hao wrenched free of her arm and replied, "What do you want me to do? Trade my life for his? I'm just someone who happened to pass by; I'm also a non-swimmer, I never wanted to avoid saving people—look over there, I've already thrown nearly everything that can float into the pond. I understand your family's grief, and you're angry at me, I've even been called a murderer, do I have to pay with my life? Tell me why."

Chen Hao nearly shouted back; seeing his state, the woman was also startled. The couple looked at Chen Hao—before them was just an ordinary person who also had his fears; seeing the child's corpse, they too felt sorrow. Chen Hao struggled to compose himself and said, "I know you're heartbroken, but I also haven't seen my parents in a long time."

The couple bowed to Chen Hao and said, "Sorry."

Chen Hao was about to say something when the surroundings fell into darkness again, then a beam of light shone directly onto him, and a voice asked, "Chen Hao, how does it feel to be relied upon by others? Isn't it extremely painful? Come, hand over the Adventurer Badge, and you can go home."

Chen Hao took off the Adventurer Badge, loosened his grip, looked at it—the word "dream" entered his sight; after thinking, he put it back on and said, "Sorry, I still choose to continue."

The night's golden phoenix-tree forest was especially lively, with dwarves dancing and singing around the bonfire; by day they had defeated the Profit State's army, withdrawn their troops, and left the defeated's corpses, from which they found a large sum of money. The dwarves handed the money to Jin Meng, indicating he should use it to buy things to celebrate; after a while Jin Meng returned with a great quantity of supplies, and the crowd also cheered.

"The wizard's prophecy is not wrong—adventurers can lead us to freedom!" a drunk dwarf shouted, his face flushed.

"Adventurers will surely lead us to independence, no longer enslaved by beastmen!" the crowd shouted.

Jin Meng suffered some minor injuries; after applying the dwarves' medicine, his wounds scabbed over that night. He felt his purse, knowing it was still there, and rested easy against a tree to sleep.

At the same moment, Chen Hao had just come out of a hole, saw Feng Yan lying on the ground, rushed over and shouted, but Feng Yan showed no reaction. Chen Hao looked at the ground—it was all Feng Yan's bloodstains—and felt he could still crawl up, so he hoisted Feng Yan onto his back.

Then he smiled and said, "He will surely wake up—I believe it."

Huh?