Chapter Ninety-Two: Departure

At Lin Heng’s question, Gray Shadow’s face did not reveal much of anything. As a gray dog, it had never possessed much expression to begin with.

“That girl... oh, you mean your girlfriend?”

Hearing a gray dog openly using a term that belonged wholly to human society, Lin Heng felt a faint, strange discomfort.

But the words Gray Shadow said next drew in all his attention, and that fleeting sense of strangeness was cast to the winds in an instant.

“That human female... if I remember correctly, she should be dead, right?”

“...Dead?”

Lin Heng felt as though struck by lightning, his pupils shrinking in an instant.

His body began to tremble uncontrollably.

“How could she... impossible... I’m still alive, aren’t I? I should have been the one closest to the center of that explosion... Why am I the one who survived, while Xi Xi died?”

There was already a trace of doubt in the way he looked at Gray Shadow.

“That’s just how it is in this world. Some dogs are still alive, and some dogs are already dead. Human society is the same.”

Gray Shadow let out a deeply philosophical sigh, solemn as a divine statue despite its canine body.

Then, from beneath itself, from that fluffy place hidden there, it pulled out a mobile phone.

With only human imagination, one could never have guessed where that phone had been kept before. But Lin Heng had no mind for such things.

Almost like a robbery victim snatching back stolen property, he took the phone from Gray Shadow’s paw and quickly lit the screen.

But it was locked.

Gray Shadow slowly took the phone back, entered the password key by key, and handed it once more to Lin Heng.

Lin Heng drew a sharp breath, looked at the screen, and his body froze.

“Earlier today, a truck accident occurred on Crane Cloud Road in our city... At the scene, at the center of the explosion, the truck driver and one pedestrian died on the spot, while another pedestrian was critically injured and sent to the hospital for emergency treatment.

“The deceased pedestrian was a doctor at the city’s People’s Hospital... Her name was Shen Yunxi...”

At the very bottom of the report, photographs of the two dead were displayed. One was a picture of an honest, plain middle-aged man; the other was a smiling woman.

Lin Heng stared fixedly at that photograph.

He did not dare look away for even a moment, as though the instant he did, it would become a final and complete declaration of Shen Yunxi’s death.

His feet were planted on the ground, yet it felt as though he were standing in quicksand; his body trembled ceaselessly, as if being electrocuted.

Though this was a fact he had already sensed the moment he awoke, when it finally stood wholly before him, his heart still sank, completely and utterly, into an abyss without bottom.

“I...”

He opened his mouth. For a long while, it seemed as though he wanted to say something, but in the end not a single word came out.

After a long silence, a hoarse voice finally emerged from Lin Heng’s throat.

“...Why was I the one saved?”

Gray Shadow shook its head.

“Because you were the only chosen one. I only have the authority to make one person extraordinary.

“And besides, by the time I arrived, your girlfriend was already dead.”

Lin Heng listened quietly to Gray Shadow’s words, his eyes still fixed on the phone.

Because of the glow obscuring the screen, and because he had his head lowered, with the phone blocking most of his face, Gray Shadow could not make out the expression there.

Not until Lin Heng lowered the phone and handed it back before Gray Shadow.

“Please take it back, Divine Envoy. I understand everything now.”

Gray Shadow carefully took back the phone and examined Lin Heng’s face with caution for a moment.

Yet by then Lin Heng had already become expressionless, leaving Gray Shadow unable to tell what he was thinking.

Not that it would have mattered much; Gray Shadow was only a dog, and not especially familiar with the subtleties of human expression. Even if it had been a person, it would probably have been unable to read anything from Lin Heng’s stone-hard face.

Taking the phone, Gray Shadow asked tentatively, “Are you going to seek revenge now?”

“Revenge... You mean against Yang Luo? Divine Envoy, did you choose me to become extraordinary so that I could oppose Yang Luo?”

Lin Heng looked straight at Gray Shadow without courtesy, and there was no emotion in his eyes either.

Gray Shadow had not at all expected Lin Heng to say something like that, and froze.

Only after a long while did it shake its head and say, “Of course not. I chose you because I believed you had greater potential.

“And as for Yang Luo, that fellow’s character is not very good, so... I thought choosing you was the righteous thing to do.

“But if you intend to take revenge on Yang Luo, then I have to advise you not to act so recklessly for now... You haven’t even begun bodily metamorphosis yet, while Yang Luo has already completed his spiritual metamorphosis and awakened his extraordinary trait.

“If you go against him now, you’ll probably be knocked down in no time at all. You’d only just lived once, and then you’d die again immediately—what a pity.”

Gray Shadow muttered a few sighs of lament from deep in its throat.

Yet Lin Heng’s face remained just as expressionless, as though he had put on a mask.

“Bodily metamorphosis... spiritual metamorphosis... I see. I understand. Thank you for your concern, Gray Shadow Divine Envoy.”

He turned away, his back to Gray Shadow, and asked in a heavy voice, “Gray Shadow, if I want to return to Clear Summer City, which way should I go?”

“Go straight that way, on your right. Just keep walking... But are you sure you want to go back like this? You’re still naked all over.”

Gray Shadow called after him.

Just moments ago, Lin Heng’s whole body had been charred black; and once the burned parts of his body peeled away bit by bit, what was left exposed was an entire human form.

And yet Lin Heng seemed entirely unconcerned, as though he intended to leave just like that. It was Gray Shadow who had to remind him, which was indeed rather strange.

“Naked? Thank you for reminding me. I understand.”

The next second, black hair began rapidly sprouting all over Lin Heng’s body, driven by some nameless stimulus from within his flesh.

In an instant, his entire body was completely covered in dark fur, looking like some forest ape, as though he had regressed into an ancient form.

Once his body had been enveloped by hair, Lin Heng let out a long howl, and with a sweep of his arms he strode away, like a true primordial ape. Watching his departing figure, Gray Shadow slowly widened its mouth, a hint of bafflement in its eyes.

“Strange. Since when did I not know that after absorbing the elixir, simple physical evolution could let one control body hair to this extent?

“...Unless...”

As though suddenly thinking of something, faint shock appeared in Gray Shadow’s eyes.