Chapter 73: The Radiance of Vitality

Tian Sheng clutched his abdomen, lying in an empty ward, gasping for air in great heaves.

A scorched wound on his abdomen slowly oozed blood; he could only treat it slowly with a simple restoration spell, but recovering within a short time was far too difficult.

In the battle against those black-robed figures, he had lost, as expected.

Originally, a two-on-one fight was already impossible for him to win; the opponents' spell reserves and mana capacity both exceeded his, and their numbers held the advantage. They only needed to suppress him with basic mana bullets, leaving him no chance even to peek out.

Moreover, enemies had rushed down from upstairs to reinforce them.

Facing an entire squad of black-robed figures at once, Tian Sheng had no means to fight back, defeated utterly.

The mana barrier he deployed was shattered in no more than two seconds; his own mana bullets could not break through the enemies' defense at all, easily repelled by their barriers. Finally, he could only think quickly and jump out the window to escape, yet in the instant he leaped into the air, an fireball pierced his abdomen.

The opponents gave him no chance to land and adjust; standing at the window, they rained a barrage of firepower down on Tian Sheng below, attempting to kill him.

Tian Sheng avoided most of the attacks, rolled along the ground, and charged back into the corridor, yet he was still struck by the remaining mana bullets during the process, collapsing to the ground, his life or death unknown.

His final position lay in the blind spot of the second-floor window's view, but the black-robed figures suspected Tian Sheng still had a breath left, so they sent two more down to verify the body. The others did not linger; after reporting the news, they pursued the direction Bai Jingxuan had fled.

Seizing this brief window of opportunity, Tian Sheng had already crawled and scrambled into an empty ward, finally managing to lie down inside.

The situation had become exactly this state.

To be honest, if the last medium in his hand had not been a restoration spell, he should already be dead.

Although relying on his greater familiarity with the terrain, he could now find a hiding place, the wound on his abdomen was fully sufficient to kill an ordinary person. Let alone the fact that two black-robed figures were outside the door conducting a carpet search; even though he left no bloodstains when fleeing here, those people would not take long to track him down.

Although he had acted the hero in a moment of hot-blooded impulse, that did not mean Tian Sheng had cast life and death aside; rather, he was still filled with the will to survive.

He did not want to die yet.

The savings in the bank were not spent, the materials stored at home still had a surplus, and the recruitment exam for the Strategy Bureau, prepared for over half a year, had not yet begun; if he died here, all these things would turn to nothing.

By any means, he had to find a way to live.

The three spell mediums he possessed had all been used; the barrier had been used most frequently, clearly producing a problem of reduced efficiency; the mana bullets were second, but the conversion efficiency remained at a normal level; the simple restoration currently in use was of no benefit in combat.

Struggling to sit up from the ground to prepare for the imminent resumption of battle, this motion tugged at his abdomen, causing his face to twitch in pain. He wanted to crawl under the nearby hospital bed to hide, but the injury no longer supported him moving further.

Hearing the noise outside the door grow closer, Tian Sheng clenched the die in his hand, preparing for a last stand.

The ward next door was opened one by one; he could vaguely hear the screams of the nurses and patients in the adjacent room. But those black-robed figures had little interest in the ordinary people in the wards; after searching, they left quickly, soon arriving at the door of his empty ward.

Suddenly, the door before him was pushed open.

Almost at that same instant, Tian Sheng forcefully output mana, activating the mana bullet medium in his hand; several gray mana bullets generated from the patterns on the die's surface and shot out, carrying tremendous destructive power.

Whoosh!

The mana bullets emitted a piercing shriek, blasting forth almost instantly, striking the enemy behind the door head-on; amidst the collision sound, a cloud of gray-white mana particles exploded outward.

At that very same moment, several mana bullets were fired at him from directly in front.

Clearly, the enemies had also been prepared to attack all along.

Prepared in advance, Tian Sheng deployed a mana barrier again; due to the medium's excessively low conversion efficiency, it instantly evaporated the last portion of his own mana. Seeing the barrier before him, its structure hanging by a thread, he felt a sharp pain in both his brain and heart, nearly crying out in agony.

But this was all he could do, he thought. If he were to grade his own on-the-spot performance, he would unhesitatingly give it a perfect score.

After all, the level of spellcraft was fixed here; achieving this much was already no small feat for him. As for the result, he could only leave it to fate.

The final barrier before him blocked the enemies' counterattack. Tian Sheng forced himself upright despite the pain, squinting his eyes. He looked behind the door; behind the light curtain created by the exploding mana bullets, two figures appeared and disappeared.

And as the light curtain dispersed, the expectation that had been on his face slowly sank.

His surprise attack had failed.

The black-robed figures had shown no flaw from beginning to end, because they were conducting the search while maintaining their barriers in an deployed state. Every time they opened a door, they were already fully prepared; there was simply no possibility of a successful ambush.

Tian Sheng's final attack, launched with all his might, merely created a few ripples on the barrier before them.

With no mana left to continue fighting, the mediums on his body had become dead objects. Tian Sheng no longer supported his body; like one accepting fate, he lay down on the ground.

Not far away, the black-robed figures had already stepped into the ward; with every step they took, his mood grew more depressed. They were like the Grim Reaper coming to harvest lives, arriving before Tian Sheng.

If he died here, what would happen to everyone in the hospital? Would Grandpa Li, who usually took care of them, be safe? Could that child, Bai Jingxuan, escape successfully?

Would his parents feel sorrow upon learning of his death? His close friends, waiting to play games together tonight, should know to clear his hard drive, right? As for his girlfriend... oh, unfortunately, he had no girlfriend.

Before death, these few thoughts flashed through Tian Sheng's mind.

But quickly, he mocked himself in his heart: So be it; what does this have to do with a dead man like me?

He released the die in his hand, closed his eyes, finally losing his last will to survive, and calmly welcomed his own death.

— "It's not time to give up yet, is it?"

But after Tian Sheng closed his eyes, such a voice suddenly came from beside his ear.

This made him snap his eyes open again, but he could only see a pale green radiance.

A small dancing shoe stepped beside his arm; immediately following, a figure lightly stepped forward from behind, emerging from the side.

He propped himself up sideways, tilted his head, and looked toward the direction of the newcomer; in a daze, he saw her face:

A stage costume primarily pale green, with the entire upper body white, yet the puffed sleeves were dotted with some pale green delicate patterns; the long gown almost dragged to the floor, yet maintained just the right height to not hinder movement.

A petite girl emerged from the radiance, holding a wand resembling a conductor's baton in her hand, which was covered by long sleeve arm warmers; her green side ponytail ended with a few streaks of white highlights, looking cute yet somewhat holy, faintly radiating the brilliance of vitality.

"Step back, Uncle Tian; leave these people to me."

Opening a pair of heterochromatic eyes, one yellow and one green, the girl raised her wand, pointing it at the several black-robed figures before her, and spoke in a voice that was somewhat soft yet quite firm:

"Magical Girl, Thin Snow, breakout operation begins."