Chapter 983: Recovery

Watching that staggering figure rushing into the battlefield, the usually carefree Xiong Hanzi actually slumped onto the ground, somewhat dejected.

His heart was torn.

At this moment, he felt like a useless good-for-nothing.

He had thought he would always stand in front of his companions.

At least, before his death, no one behind him would suffer any harm.

The helpless thing is.

He could stop Mo Ling, but he didn't dare.

Mo Ling is important, a trustworthy partner.

But Lin An is more important.

Just as Colonel Chu said.

Anyone can die, except Lin An.

He isn't afraid of death; he can even be said to face it calmly, after all his life was picked up again, and when Lin An needed him to sacrifice, he wouldn't hesitate at all.

He simply couldn't accept Mo Ling, who was like a sister to him, walking down this path.

He had thought he would never experience this feeling of helplessness again in this lifetime.

His clenched fists made a sound.

That sheet of paper, exchanged at a high price, now lay discarded at his feet like scrap paper.

It was filled with his crooked big characters, as well as Chu An's last reply.

Perhaps out of worry he'd act impulsively, perhaps symbolically to let him understand.

When Mo Ling left, he repeatedly 'wrote letters' to Chu An, trying to get a clear answer... an answer he could actually think of.

"Only Mo Ling can go in."

"If we drag this on, more Lin Ans from other timelines will be split off."

"Once the time period of the split Lin An exceeds the period when he had the problem, Lin An will never be able to return."

Although he didn't fully grasp Colonel Chu's meaning, Zhang Tie also realized that the problem Lin An faced was more serious than he had imagined.

That's how the Apocalypse is—no one knows what will happen in the next second.

Chu An seemed indifferent and unconcerned, but in reality he was like a machine; no matter how serious the problem, it wouldn't provoke any emotional response from him.

He slowly rose to his feet, and Zhang Tie stared dazedly at Mo Ling being repeatedly knocked to the ground by the shockwave.

That tiny figure was like a sailboat in a storm, as if it would be shattered in the next second.

Lin An was still a hundred meters away, and the heart of the battlefield another half kilometer beyond that.

But just that distance, for Mo Ling, each step was as hard as crossing a heavenly moat.

To go in and find Lin An, perhaps there is only one way,

that is death.

As the distance closed, Mo Ling silently watched corpses continually falling from midair, an indescribable feeling welling up in her heart.

She couldn't tell which one was Lin An, nor did she know exactly what to do.

Chu An merely told her, just go in.

Then what?

Will Lin An kill her? Will she become an Undead Lord?

What does death feel like?

Will she really die?

Becoming an Undead Lord... would it be ugly...?

She felt somewhat dazed.

Her steps grew ever more difficult; a Cain's Blade that had flown loose in the fierce clash cut off half of her arm.

It was too fast.

If it weren't for the fact that Lin An's army not far off wasn't paying attention to her, she would already have been dead beyond death.

Blood kept flowing from the severed arm, continually draining her vitality.

Her originally pale little face, from excessive blood loss, became like paper.

If it weren't for the special nature of the Undead Body, she might have already died from excessive blood loss.

Without minding her wound, little Mo Ling bent her waist and pressed toward the center, as if bracing against a gale.

Drop after drop of crimson blood fell from the severed arm, pooling into a slanted line.

It hurts so much...

She felt somewhat wronged.

Shrapnel kicked up by the battle's aftermath kept scraping her body like artillery shells.

Waves of pressure converging nearly left her breathless.

If she couldn't summon a spectral entity, relying on the navy-blue Undead to fend off some attacks, she even doubted she could get close at all.

The Undead summoned was like a flesh shield, helping her block most of the scattered aftershock.

At this distance, Mo Ling could already see the Human-Insects beneath the battlefield.

The Human-Insects, once troublesome and nearly immortal, had already been wiped out by more than half.

It wasn't truly exterminated in the literal sense.

Rather, their splitting speed could no longer keep up with their disappearance speed.

In the deep pit tens of meters down, intermittent howls wailed miserably.

"Hungry..."

"Hungry..."

These insect offspring often haven't finished speaking before being destroyed by the Lin An group above, leaving only the lowest-layer Human-Insects to split again and produce new insect offspring.

Breathing is difficult.

Watching the spirit-energy explosions continuously detonating before her eyes not far away, Little Mo Ling barely lifted her head, her dark, shiny eyes constantly trying to discern the familiar figure.

At this distance, she can no longer bear it.

Like a ten-thousand-jin boulder pressing on her body, the layered, overlapping domain presses so hard her bones creak.

The summoned Undead Body also faintly shows a tendency to dissipate.

Which one is the real Lin An?

She strains to distinguish.

Streaks of high-speed moving red dots leave afterimages on her retina.

Mo Ling struggles to search for traces that might be Lin An's true body.

It's not a white monster, nor the one wearing a mask...

There are too many of them.

Every Lin An has the same face, and even their auras are almost identical.

After a moment, Mo Ling desperately realizes she cannot find Lin An anywhere.

In her speculation, Chu An said Lin An's true body is probably mixed together with her own unified form.

Same attack method, same means, same appearance.

"Lin An!"

She took a deep breath.

Mo Ling clenched her teeth, trying to make a sound.

In the deafening sonic boom, her voice was quickly drowned out.

"Wake Lin An, wake Lin An, can you?!"

Tension, unease.

She wasn't sure if Lin An could hear her voice, or recognize her..

But, the next second.

Time seemed to quiet down.

Hundreds of gazes suddenly shot onto her.

It was as if the battle had ceased; the Lin Ans who had been fighting each other suddenly turned their heads, staring at her expressionlessly.

The entire atmosphere suddenly condensed.

Her expression froze.

Before Mo Ling could speak again.

In her imagination, perhaps Lin An would react after hearing her voice, or perhaps she could find the real Lin An among the many Lin Ans.

But imagination remains imagination.

Only seen, in the eyes of the nearest Lin An whose head was almost split in half, a white light suddenly flashed.

His wrist turned over.

A bloody sword arc instantly slashed toward her head.

That violent sword aura revealed a cold killing intent.

"Hiss!"

It spanned nearly a hundred meters.

One sword strike was unleashed.

There was no so-called awakening recognition, no stimulus received.

Her appearance seemed meaningless.

Her skull was cut open.

A faint blood line silently appeared on Little Mo Ling's forehead.

The words she had not finished speaking remained stuck in her mouth.

"I am.."

"Mo Ling..."

As the Lin An who had swung that sword turned away indifferently.

"Plop."

A small body slowly fell to the ground.

"Mo... Ling?!"

At the edge of the battlefield, Zhang Tie stared blankly as the black dot representing Mo Ling fell to the ground.

His hands and feet turned ice-cold, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head.

He had imagined this scene, but when it actually happened, the immense impact made it feel unreal.

"Mo Ling... just died like that?!"

No time to react, his whole body trembled.

The next second.

The sky, reddened by firelight, suddenly dimmed.

Darkness descended.

Only seen, darkness like a shadow rapidly spread from the high sky, then the scene froze, and the figures constantly fighting in the air were also frozen.

A shadow slowly rose from the corpse.