The next day, Zhang Cheng and Laity quietly got up early and made their way to the surface.
“Are we really going to do this? It’s very dangerous, isn’t it?” Laity held the small box containing the Celestial Fragment in her hands, her eyes fixed on Zhang Cheng, her voice full of worry.
“It’s fine, Qiu… Cecilia has already returned, and there’s no time left for other preparations. I’m a little different from the others. So you don’t have to worry—I’m confident I won’t get hurt.” Zhang Cheng said confidently as he took the box from Laity’s hands.
He had already repeated these words to Laity several times, but she still worried about him deeply. This touched Zhang Cheng, which was why he patiently reassured her again and again.
Laity’s concern stemmed from her understanding that a psionic outbreak could throw a person into chaos, causing indiscriminate attacks on everyone nearby. If the one experiencing the psionic outbreak was a mage, they might lose control over the magical elements within their body and suffer fatal backlash on the spot.
Even if they survived, for most fallen mages, it was like losing half their life—because surviving by a thread often left lasting side effects of psionic deterioration, making future magic control much more difficult.
Zhang Cheng understood this well, but in the Eternal World, knights, being more combat-focused, had much weaker psionic power compared to magic users. The psionic outbreak was more threatening the stronger one’s psionic power was. Since Zhang Cheng’s psionic power was relatively weak, the damage he took would be less severe.
Additionally, he brought many preparations from the game, including protective items related to psionic power that could keep his consciousness clear during a psionic outbreak. This protective item was his real trump card and the core reason the plan could work.
After all, under normal circumstances, once a person fell into a psionic outbreak, they would lose control of their consciousness, let alone execute a plan.
If Laity led Lu Qiuchen into her psionic space while Zhang Cheng lost consciousness due to the outbreak, making him unable to carry out the plan, that would be a disaster.
Zhang Cheng finally instructed Laity, “You must remember your lines perfectly. Absolutely no mistakes! If Cecilia’s issue goes beyond what we prepared for, just say you don’t know.”
Laity nodded worriedly. Zhang Cheng opened the box and took hold of the Celestial Fragment.
As soon as Zhang Cheng touched the Celestial Fragment, a painful expression flashed across his face in an instant. He hurriedly activated the protective item. As the effect took hold, the pain began to fade, and his expression relaxed considerably.
This isn’t like what Lu Qiuchen said! I felt intense pain the moment I touched it, like my head was about to split open. Zhang Cheng thought to himself, Could it be that Lu Qiuchen, being a dragon, is immune to this?
The psionic outbreak only lasted about ten minutes. Zhang Cheng dismissed these pointless thoughts, gestured to Laity, and began pretending to chase after her.
“Help! Save me!” Laity ran toward the underground city’s entrance, shouting in broken Dwarf language, attracting the attention of the Grey Dwarf guards.
Lu Qiuchen was awakened from sleep by a commotion.
“This is bad! That magic-using drow is in danger! Grab weapons and go to the surface to subdue that human boy!”
It was the time when the Grey Dwarves were preparing to go to work. With a loud shout outside, the residential area of the underground city was alarmed. The sounds of the Grey Dwarves rushing outside were nonstop.
Hearing that the disturbance was related to Zhang Cheng, Lu Qiuchen quickly crawled out of his sleeping bag. “Gift of Loael” transformed into a full set of clothing covering his toned body.
“What’s happening?” Lu Qiuchen pushed open the door and saw the Grey Dwarves running toward the passage connecting to the surface. He stopped a passing dwarf to ask.
The dwarf, pulling on a thick coat while running, glanced at Lu Qiuchen and tossed out a sentence before continuing to run with the crowd.
“It seems that human boy suddenly went berserk on the surface and is attacking that drow. Damn it! That’s our hope to get beer! Wait, you’re the human working with that drow? Come with me to stop that boy!”
Hearing Zhang Cheng’s apparent madness, Lu Qiuchen’s heart tightened. Following the contact from the contract, he activated spatial teleportation to Zhang Cheng’s location.
After the white light dissipated, Lu Qiuchen appeared on the snowy ground. Before him were gathered Grey Dwarves, and Laity sat panting in the snow, frightened, while a small box lay on the ground.
Seeing the box, Lu Qiuchen immediately understood. Recalling the sensation when he previously touched the Celestial Fragment, it was clear Zhang Cheng’s psionic outbreak was caused by the fragment.
“How could he be so careless!” Lu Qiuchen silently blamed Zhang Cheng, having already warned him.
But rescuing Zhang Cheng was the priority now. Seeing the agitated Grey Dwarves tightly surrounding Zhang Cheng with no gaps, Lu Qiuchen had to exert his strength to release pressure, floating up to fly over the heads of the dwarves who had just rushed out of the tunnel.
Lu Qiuchen’s gaze swept over the heads of the Grey Dwarves and landed on Zhang Cheng, who was being pinned to the snow by several strong dwarves. His face was flushed red, and he roared like a beast while struggling under their grip.
“Ice Seal!” Lu Qiuchen chanted the spell’s name. Sudden ice spikes erupted from the ground, freezing Zhang Cheng in place.
Seeing this, the Grey Dwarves quickly parted to give space and retreated, glancing warily at Lu Qiuchen floating in midair.
Lu Qiuchen crouched beside Zhang Cheng, placing his hand on the immobile man’s head. He carefully input psionic energy to check his condition.
The moment Lu Qiuchen’s psionic power touched Zhang Cheng, he felt his own psionic energy disturbed, showing signs of outbreak. His heart sank, and he quickly retracted his energy.
“What’s going on with him?” Lu Qiuchen frowned and turned to look at Laity, who was slowly making her way here through the dwarf barrier, clutching the small box.
“We felt the air was fresher on the surface yesterday. This morning, we wanted to see the snow again. Childes has been teaching me Dwarf language these days… just now, when he was teaching me the word ‘sky,’ he mentioned something about the Celestial Crystal and said he sensed its aura from me… I couldn’t resist his request and showed it to him. But Childes suddenly snatched the box away and then he became very scary!” Laity’s voice trembled with tears as she confided in Lu Qiuchen.
“He lunged at me, pulling on my clothes. I was so scared I ran away quickly. Luckily, we weren’t far from the entrance, and those dwarf brothers were nearby…”
Lu Qiuchen had been focused on Zhang Cheng and only now noticed Laity’s clothes were torn in some places. His gaze darkened slightly with displeasure.
Looking down at Zhang Cheng, he found that in his chaotic psionic state, Zhang Cheng was not responding to Laity’s words.
It seemed Zhang Cheng had been anxious due to his urging yesterday? Could this be like liquid courage—things one wouldn’t dare to do under normal circumstances but reveal their true nature during a psionic outbreak? He would definitely ask Zhang Cheng about this once he woke up!
Lu Qiuchen felt some guilt for pushing Zhang Cheng yesterday, but there was also a trace of inexplicable anger.
“Miss Cecilia… could you please help Childes?” Laity stopped sobbing, her face a mixture of worry and shyness. Her petite frame and tear-streaked eyes made her look incredibly vulnerable.
Lu Qiuchen sighed. Zhang Cheng’s thoughts were still unclear, but the drow girl was truly moved by his kindness, even after his rough treatment of her.
He nodded, not wanting this girl to worry, and comforted her, “Don’t worry, I have a way.”
Standing up and looking around, Lu Qiuchen saw the Grey Dwarves subdued by his aura and acting quietly. But considering that he needed a quieter place to treat Zhang Cheng, he activated spatial teleportation.
A white light enveloped Zhang Cheng lying on the ground and Lu Qiuchen. In the blink of an eye, the two vanished from the snowy field.
“That was terrifying! It’ll shock my mother for a whole year!” A Grey Dwarf, seeing Lu Qiuchen finally leave and feeling the oppressive aura vanish, relaxed his tense muscles and shouted loudly in the snow.
“Who would’ve thought that human girl was a legendary powerhouse? Maybe we’ve lived underground too long and fallen behind the world’s changes…” muttered another Grey Dwarf.
Another nearby dwarf nudged him with an elbow. “Don’t you know? She’s not even human! She’s a dragon! I saw it with my own eyes last night…”
“So that explains it. Not surprising at all. But to think there’s a giant dragon among us…”
The surrounding dwarves began to argue excitedly, but Laity remained unaffected. She stood silently, thinking: What’s going on? The plan’s only halfway through. Why did Cecilia and Childes suddenly run off?
And they left without taking her. Then she wouldn’t get to see Cecilia’s expression later!
She still had many lines left to say, and needed to guide Cecilia into Childes’ psionic space.
Worry crept into Laity’s heart. Without her guidance, how would Cecilia solve the problem? Would Childes’ plan fail? Hopefully, nothing would be exposed.
Still, she was annoyed! She had agreed to Childes’ plan because she wanted to see Cecilia get jealous as she and Childes grew closer during the plan. Plus, the shock when Cecilia learned the truth at the end.
She was just a little naive, not truly foolish. Though she was moved by the love between the two, she wouldn’t do anything without personal gain.
You messed with me before! I’ll make sure you know elves hold grudges just like dwarves do! Laity had thought then, joining Zhang Cheng’s plan.
But during the plan, the annoying silver dragon never showed any jealousy. Her expression remained indifferent, making Laity start doubting whether Childes had been lying all along.