Tomb Raider: What the hell is this strange commission?

Cleaning up the battlefield has always been a troublesome task, but the system never requires Chi Yu to worry about it.

Chi Yu observed the entire map from a bird's-eye view. He took away those items that needed to be kept. After confirming that there were no other issues worthy of attention, he walked slowly to Jie Yuchen and left the place with him.

Before that, Xie Yuchen's eyes swept across the mess in the cave.

He looked at the large piece of broken jade that was almost unrecognizable as it was half submerged in the earth-colored tide, and then looked at the body of the stone-faced man that swelled and then shrank again after his life came to an end. Finally, he sighed softly.

"Eternal life..."

According to the display of Mo Yu's commission, Chi Yu's mission is still in progress. Simply going all the way to this most important secret place will not allow the core goal generated by the system to be achieved.

Therefore, Xie Yuchen did not set out on the return journey directly as he had thought before, but was taken by Chi Yu to tour the small but complex underground palace.

"Is there anything else you want to find in this underground palace?" Xie Yuchen asked, "You don't look like you are interested in the remaining artifacts."

Chi Yu glanced at the "Core Goal Achieved" that just popped up on the system interface, and lightly skipped the topic: "Nothing."

He said to Xie Yuchen: "I just think that from a rigorous point of view, if you want to conduct a complete investigation and exploration, you should visit every place here."

"But now, I have taken you to every secret room here without missing anything, so you can think carefully about the information you need after you go back."

"So that's how it is." Xie Yuchen said, "I thought you were not satisfied with what I said, so you are going to take me to personally choose a tomb that suits your taste."

Chi Yu smiled and said, "Do I look that scary?"

During this short exploration, the rate of erosion of Chi Yu's blood had long since returned to normal. Both the obvious snake pupils and the winding horn feathers had regressed in the process.

Most of those inhuman characteristics disappeared, and more of the human parts returned to him.

But Xie Yuchen knew that those things did not disappear completely, they were just... completely covered under the other party's exquisite skin.

Xie Yuchen looked at Chi Yu, thought for a moment, and then said, "I'm looking for the answer. In fact, I already have a rough guess about the person before."

Chi Yu said "Hmm?" and waited for his next words.

Xie Yuchen rarely followed his lead and continued, "I'm still not sure whether those guesses are correct, so give me a little more time to figure it out."

As he spoke, Xie Yuchen staggered a bit, but quickly regained his balance. Chi Yu looked at him and found that Xie Yuchen's lips had turned incredibly pale without him noticing.

Chi Yu opened the system interface puzzledly and called up Xie Yuchen's status details.

He looked at Xie Yuchen's health bar which still had at least 70% of his health left, and then looked at the other party who looked like he was about to faint at any time. He fell into deep thought for a moment, but when his eyes touched the debuff bar belonging to Xie Yuchen, he suddenly realized something.

Too much blood loss, great consumption of physical strength, difficulty in recovering qi and blood, well, he does look quite weak.

So Xie Yuchen chose to follow him all the way under such circumstances?

Chi Yu blinked.

He thought that based on the normal thinking patterns of those people, Xie Yuchen would propose to retreat or rest after discovering that his condition had declined, instead of forcing himself to continue.

Even if it was A Ling, who he had only known for a short time, he would choose to express his dissatisfaction to Chi Yu directly: "I'm injured like this, why are you still dragging me to keep going? I need to rest!"

Stubborn child. Chi Yu thought, not like him at all.

However, considering that the core goal has been perfectly achieved, he can still provide some preferential treatment to his client.

Chi Yu found a support first aid kit from the system and clicked to use it.

The recovery of the health bar never means that the terrible wounds that have already formed will heal immediately, but when a steady stream of warmth continues to emerge from his body, Xie Yuchen knows very well why all this is happening.

Xie Yuchen glanced at Chi Yu, who was still walking forward silently, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

They said nothing, or perhaps they didn't need to say anything, just as history will never tell itself to future generations, but the stories that happened here will be quietly imprinted in the hearts of those who see it.

The sandstorms in Lop Nur seem to never stop, and so does the pale city standing in it. The cold moonlight is covered by clouds, bringing hazy colors.

Chi Yu jumped out of the sunken sand pit and returned to this world full of ultraviolet rays. He looked up at the sky which had a noticeably different color, stretched out his hand, and smoothed his messy hair.

Xie Yuchen also jumped up following the footsteps he had left, but his footing was not very stable and it looked like he would collapse again, so Chi Yu pulled him up.

The rose-red light fell on them. Xie Yuchen couldn't help but look up at the sky and exhaled, "It seems that we have been in there for a long time. It seems that we have encountered a special time."

"It's been like this all this time."

Chi Yu said casually, "This is the only time that suits your plan best. The temporary loss of communications will not affect the progress of the mission - as long as they are strictly following your instructions to execute the plan."

Xie Yuchen smiled and said, "I'm not complaining to you about this."

He looked at Chi Yu, his dark eyes reflecting the aurora in the sky, "I just think that the sky looks beautiful right now."

The figure in the eyes moved and faced Jie Yuchen.

Xie Yuchen has a special little courtyard in his heart.

He placed all his favorite beautiful and romantic things in it and admired them while sitting alone in the courtyard where no visitors would ever come.

That was a secret garden that belonged to him alone.

And outside the garden fence is the turmoil of the world, the desolate quagmire, and the boundary of isolation.

Xie Yuchen just sat on the other side of the fence, watching those things that he did not accept gradually lose their vitality, rot, and sink into the swamp, day after day, year after year.

It started when someone passed by his garden and dropped a packet of seeds.

At that time, Xie Yuchen didn't care much about these seeds, because their final destination was the same.

But to Xie Yuchen's surprise, the seeds sprouted - even in the barren quagmire, they were able to absorb rotten nutrients and bloom into beautiful flowers.

From one or two flowers, to five or six flowers, and then to all over the mountains.

They grew wildly in places that were difficult for Jie Yuchen to reach, gradually replacing the wasteland outside Jie Yuchen's courtyard and becoming another beautiful scenery worth appreciating.

Xie Yuchen looked at the flowers.

Reason told him that a heart could not carry two gardens at the same time, as that was an extension of uncontrollable emotions.

Beneath that beautiful scenery are the mottled white bones of others, the gorgeous petals are watered with blood and flesh, and the charming fragrance is the source of danger and suffering.

There is no benefit for him, so before the bitter consequences come, Xie Yuchen should ruthlessly drive it out of his territory, or in order to protect his garden from being harmed, he should be ruthless and eradicate it completely.

but……

Xie Yuchen walked to the fence and quietly watched the visitors who politely knocked on the door.

He had no way to argue about the outcome of that game; the battle between reason and emotion always ended with an overwhelming victory for one side.

Some people are completely defeated, while others seem unaware of it.

So he opened the door and took a flower from it.

That's it.