Legend Management Bureau Chapter 409

[ … words ]

A small, thin figure slowly materialized in the corner of the room, her hair and clothes caked with dust and sand.

“Xiao… Xiao Qi?!” Shiranui Jinjiro froze. Although he was not very familiar with this girl, he had indeed seen her at the Legend Management Bureau.

The Seven Holy Heroes all revealed expressions of pleasant surprise.

It had been ten years since they had seen anyone other than themselves.

Xiao Qi’s eyes darted around frantically, as if she were calculating something. In the next second, taking advantage of everyone’s distraction, she broke into a run toward the exit.

A Can was quick on the draw, reaching out to grab her, but Xiao Qi’s reflexes were incredibly fast. With a few bizarre twists of her body, she evaded A Can’s hand.

However, no matter how agile she was, she was still just one person. Just as she was about to reach the exit, a mystical Array Formation locked her feet in place, rendering her completely immobile.

The group approached her in confusion. A’xiang was the first to ask, “Sister Xiao Qi, why are you running? Don’t you remember us?”

Only then did Xiao Qi turn her head with an awkward expression. She flashed a strained smile at everyone and stammered, “Oh? It’s… it’s you guys… Wow, what a coincidence…”

“I… I…” Xiao Qi knew her excuse was terribly flimsy, so she could only stammer, unable to form a coherent sentence.

“Sister Xiao Qi… how did you survive?” Shiranui Asuka asked again. “And why have you been hiding here without coming to see us all this time?”

Xiao Qi realized she could not hide it anymore. She let out a deep sigh and admitted, “Actually, I’ve been hiding nearby this whole time. A couple of days ago, I followed Golden Dragon-jiro here and saw him using the Jinjiro Scissors along the way…”

“Wait, wait a minute…” Jinjiro looked a bit bewildered. “What the heck are ‘Jinjiro Scissors’ and ‘Golden Dragon-jiro’?”

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Xiao Qi said apologetically to Jinjiro. “I haven’t opened my mouth to speak in ten years, so my tongue is a bit clumsy. But seeing you all… my feelings are very complicated. I’m both scared and happy…”

Shiranui Asuka rushed forward and hugged Xiao Qi, exclaiming, “Sister Xiao Qi, this is wonderful! No matter what, you’re still alive!”

Xiao Qi shook her head helplessly. “Even though I’m alive, other than Du Yu, you absolutely, positively cannot tell anyone else I’m alive! After all, I’m not familiar with any of you, and I don’t know who might want to harm me…”

“What are you talking about? We’re the only ones left in the world. Who could we even tell?”

Watching the group chatter noisily, Du Yu fell into a daze.

Yes, even if they were the only ones left in the entire world… that would be enough.

‘If I really became Saint, I wouldn’t choose to interfere with Du Yu. If the world is doomed to end sooner or later… I would choose to live a good life with them,’ Du Yu thought, shaking his head with a bitter smile. But it was all too late.

In the past, so many people had offered Du Yu countless opportunities to choose, yet as if cursed by destiny, he had chosen the wrong options every single time.

The group slowly exited the room and moved the stone slab back to block the opening.

They still hadn’t figured out how to use the equipment. Descending into Legends wasn’t difficult, but any slight mishap could result in another casualty among their few remaining numbers.

Just as they were about to head back, they noticed Du Yu standing not far away, leaning against a ruined wall and staring at them.

“Ah? Du… Senior Saint…” Shiranui Asuka stammered. “When… when did you get here?”

Saint did not answer. Instead, he shot a faint, indifferent glance at Xiao Qi.

A glimmer of expectation flickered in Xiao Qi’s eyes, as if she wanted to say something to Saint, but he quickly looked away. With a look of disdain, he scoffed, “What the hell… there’s still someone alive…”

A’xiang felt that Saint was crossing a line and said angrily, “Senior Saint, what kind of attitude is that? Finding Sister Xiao Qi is a good thing! You should be happy!”

“Happy…?” Saint let out a cold laugh. “Liu Ling, do you have any more wine?”

“I do.” Liu Ling pulled a wine bottle from his robes and tossed it over to Saint.

Saint caught it smoothly and said expressionlessly, “‘Happiness’ is an emotion exclusive to humans, isn’t it? But what am I now? I’m not human, not a god, not an immortal, not a demon, not a ghost, and not a devil. I am an anomaly forgotten and despised by this world. I am the ‘leftover’ one!”

Saint tilted his head back, taking a massive gulp of wine, and smiled bitterly. “I have broken through the boundaries and ‘ascended to a leftover’! Hahahahahaha!”

The group watched Saint’s manic expression in complete silence.

Shiranui Jinjiro furrowed his brows and asked, “You keep calling yourself a ‘leftover’… so that’s what you meant? Are you trying to say… the world has abandoned you alone?”

“Hasn’t it?” Saint swayed slightly as he stood up straight. “Because I alone made the wrong choice, everyone else died in my place. Yet I survived. Isn’t that the greatest irony in the world?”

“What are you saying?!” Shiranui Jinjiro retorted, clearly angered. “You say you’re a ‘leftover,’ but what does that make the seven of us? Over the past ten years, haven’t we given you enough face? Have you seriously never thought about changing all of this?”

“Seven people…” Saint repeated Jinjiro’s words. “What a colossal joke… what can you seven possibly accomplish on your own…”

“What’s wrong with seven people?!” Xiao Nian couldn’t listen to this anymore. “There were seven Calabash Brothers, and didn’t they save their grandpa in the end? There were seven dwarfs, and didn’t they save the princess? Even our ancient history has famous groups of seven! The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, the Seven Heroes of Jiangnan… aren’t they all formidable figures?”

“Hahahahaha!” Saint laughed even louder. “Just you lot? Two foreigners, two vagrants, a fiercely devoted woman, an actor, and a drunkard? Are you trying to save your grandpa or save a princess? Hahaha! You rattled off all those groups of seven, but only the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove actually existed! Don’t make me laugh.”

Liu Ling felt that Saint’s words were simply too harsh, so he stepped forward to argue with him. “Saint, even if the ‘Seven Heroes of Jiangnan’ are fictional, their other name, the ‘Seven Freaks of Jiangnan,’ has appeared in many literary works. Xiao Nian just wanted to inspire your fighting spirit. You shouldn’t speak to her like that.”

Saint raised his cold eyes to look at the group and sneered. “Fine. Since I am the ‘leftover’ one, then you ‘remaining seven heroes’ can now be called the ‘Seven Leftover Heroes’. You have a name, and you have enough people. Go ahead, change the world. Go and save everyone.”

He waved his hand at the group in extreme impatience. “Go on! Didn’t you gather seven people?! Go put an end to this godforsaken apocalypse!”

“Go!!”

Saint’s furious roar caused the group to lower their heads in helpless resignation.

Although the slogan sounded bold, everyone knew that this plan was as difficult as scaling the heavens.

“Talking about ‘cheering me up’…” Saint sneered. “You guys just wanted me to come up with an idea, so that if it failed, you could justifiably push the blame onto me again. Unfortunately, I’m tired. I can’t shoulder the responsibility of destroying the world and then saving it all over again.”

Saint turned around and waved dismissively at the group. “I’m going to sleep. Little Zhongli is still waiting for me. We have a lot to talk about tonight… Come hang out when you’re free.”

Watching Saint’s receding figure, not only the Seven Holy Heroes, but even Du Yu was stunned.

Would he really become so bitter and caustic after turning into Saint?

Would he completely disregard the feelings of his comrades?