Chapter 926: I've Got My Eye on You

Perspective shift.

Qingque sits on the stone steps at the edge of the plaza, the stone slab beneath her butt is ice‑cold and biting; the chill climbs up, making her involuntarily pull her neck in.

She stares blankly at the "kneeling ceremony scene" before her, dozens of shadowy bodies kneeling neatly around a dried stone well, their posture so devout it looks like a massive religious gathering, missing only a glow stick to turn it into a concert.

The air carries a burnt smell and a metallic scent, mingling to make her nose ache; the evening light stretches everyone's shadows long and thin, like black paper cutouts pressed against the stone floor.

Qingque props her elbow on her knee, hands cradling her chin, her emerald eyes filled with "Who am I, where am I, what the hell is going on."

Sitting beside her is Huo Huo.

No, not Huo Huo.

It's Huan Long.

Extinction Great Lord Huan Long.

Qingque spends several seconds chewing over that information in her mind before swallowing it, only to have it choke in her throat.

Just now, this "Ten Kings Office Apprentice Judge" with drooping ears and a timid, soft appearance suddenly spoke in a lazily incongruous tone, "Let me reintroduce myself: I am Huan Long. Extinction Great Lord, Huan Long."

Qingque's reaction was to blink, then let out an "oh."

She felt that "oh" was too calm, so she added a nod afterward.

Huan Long didn't really mind, even finding Qingque's "brain still loading" expression rather cute.

So she kindly added a few more explanations, why the illustrious Extinction Great Lord would disguise himself as a Ten Kings Office Apprentice Judge to infiltrate Luofu; she breezed through that part, focusing on why she chose to reveal her true identity to Qingque.

"Because I have taken a liking to you."

That was Huan Long's exact words.

Qingque's mouth twitched at the line, thinking it sounded like a street thug flirting with a respectable lady, but coming from an Extinction Great Lord it turned completely, shifting from "flirtation" to "threat," its lethality multiplying by more than tenfold.

When Huan Long said this, a faint yellow glow emanated from deep within his emerald eyes, his lips curved just enough to sit between "friendly" and "dangerous," his tone like appraising a newly acquired collectible: "Falling into a shadowy body yet retaining self‑awareness is already rare enough. Then I probed your consciousness space—good grief, Abundance pollution and Patrol Hunt's blessing both inhabit your body, the two forces wrenching you to the brink of death, and you still manage to hop around the streets alive."

She tilts her head at Qingque, the drooping ears swaying slightly with the motion, "I've lived this long and it's the first time I've seen this."

So she extended an invitation to Qingque.

"Join our Destruction faction; the benefits are great, high pay, meals and lodging included, plus the five insurances and one fund. Most importantly, you won't have to worry about being chased and hacked by the Cloud Cavalry, because you already are a target the Cloud Cavalry would chase and hack."

Huan Long sits beside Qingque, the Command Flag casually laid across his knee, and begins a rather sincere persuasion.

When she speaks, her voice is soft, still Huo Huo's throat, but the composure in her tone, deft and unhurried, is entirely different from Huo Huo's naturally timid demeanor.

Qingque listens to that familiar voice emerging from Huo Huo's mouth yet using Huan Long's manner of speech, the dissonance almost seems ready to burst out of the Heavenly Spirit Dome.

"You know the answer yourself, right? You understand shadowy bodies better than I do. What's the protocol when a Xianzhou person encounters a shadowy body? As a Tai Bu Si Diviner, do you still need me to teach you?"

Huan Long turns his head toward Qingque, those emerald eyes glowing faint yellow sweeping over Qingque's battered frame, "You can still sit here dazed because the quarantine zone is filled with shadowy bodies like you; they won't attack you. But if you leave this zone, do you think the Cloud Cavalry will listen to your explanation?"

She pauses, giving Qingque time to digest, then adds the crucial line: "Have you ever heard of a shadowy body reverting to an ordinary human?"

Qingque opens her mouth slightly.

In her mind, she rapidly scans all the Tai Bu Si archive records on shadowy bodies—none, not a single case.

A shadowy body is a one‑way street; once you step in, you can't turn back.

She shakes her head blankly, her twin ponytails swaying at her shoulders with the motion.

Of course, all the above scenes exist only in Qingque's own perception.

In Huan Long's view, the person sitting beside her is not a brown‑haired, twin‑ponytail, cyan‑clad Xiao Bu Zhe at all.

She is a woman with ash‑gray hair falling to her waist, skin cold‑white like ash, emerald eyes dull, gray‑green floral branches sprouting from her shoulders, half‑withered gray‑purple buds hanging on the branches, petals curled blackened, occasional one or two falling onto the torn cuffs of her wide sleeves.

That asymmetrical attire has the left sleeve torn away for most of its length, the ragged edge hanging unevenly; the right shoulder's silver chain that once held a garment is broken, a single strand dangling alone; the three‑layered skirt of sheer fabric is stained gray; the mist‑gray over‑knee sock on her left leg is riddled with holes, exposing the same cold‑white skin beneath.

This appearance belongs to the same species as the shadowy bodies kneeling in the plaza.

Yet this woman, saturated with Abundance pollution, looks as if she just crawled out of battlefield ruins; now she props her cheek in worry, muttering incomprehensible gurgles, expressing emotion solely through body language—shoulders slumped, head tilted, heels scraping the stone floor back and forth, exuding an aura of "I'm so unlucky, I'm so distressed" from head to toe.

Huan Long watches the scene, the smile at the corner of his mouth curving a few degrees higher.

A shadowy body with a complete Reason String, rich emotions, and independent thought is far more interesting than any Giant Tree Rebirth.

Qingque's mind hasn't finished turning yet.

She doesn't want to believe.

She really doesn't want to believe.

All the talk of shadowy bodies, Abundance pollution, the inability to speak—it's all lies spun by the big con artist wearing Huo Huo's skin opposite her.

When she previously looked into the mirror, seeing the unfamiliar woman reflected in the mercury glass, her first reaction was "This mirror's broken."

She bent down to examine her own hands, turning them over repeatedly; the skin was pure white, the fingers the same few digits, the joints the same few joints—no floral branches, no withered buds; weren't these just her own hands?

But Xue Yi had indeed pierced her with a broken demon spear.

And she shouted "Abundance Offspring."