Chapter 192: Why Help?

Chapter 192: Why Help?

“What are you going to do?” Watching Zheng Yichen draw out a wisp of Gray Mist Power from the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, the little girl took two small steps back. A hint of panic broke through her cold expression. “Am I going to die?”

“Huh? Which eye of yours saw me trying to kill you?” Zheng Yichen waved his hand impatiently. The little girl was like a wild squirrel—no matter what, she couldn’t warm up to him. If he weren’t a dragon and tried to grab her, she’d probably bite him. “There’s something wrong with your body. I’m going to fix it.”

“…I don’t believe you!”

“Hehehe, you’ll have to believe me whether you want to or not.” Zheng Yichen pinched both of the little girl’s calves with one hand, forcing her to sit on his claw. Thinking she was truly about to die, the little girl’s expression turned cold again. She raised her small hand and swung at Zheng Yichen’s face, but only hit empty air.

“If your arms are short, don’t think about slapping a dragon’s face. And why won’t you believe what people say?”

“You are an Evil Dragon.”

“Nonsense! I’ve never seen a dragon kinder than me!” Zheng Yichen rolled his eyes slightly. To keep the little girl from struggling, he waved his hand, and several Mana Threads wrapped around her, binding her. Compared to the Saintess’s golden Light Ribbon, Zheng Yichen’s Mana Threads were like fine hair against steel bars—no match at all—but they were enough to restrain an ordinary person.

Just in case, Zheng Yichen didn’t affect the little girl’s entire body. Instead, he started with a small, unimportant patch of skin on her arm. Even if something went wrong, he could simply cut it off cleanly. As for healing? A Healing Magic spell would do.

Seeing Zheng Yichen’s careful and focused manner, the little girl’s cold expression softened slightly. It seemed Zheng Yichen really didn’t intend to kill her. But… was there truly something wrong with her body?

The little girl felt puzzled. Unable to move and noticing Zheng Yichen’s concentration, she didn’t speak, only quietly watched his subsequent actions. After all, she couldn’t resist anyway.

Perhaps because those forces were in a hidden state, the wisp of Gray Mist Power in Zheng Yichen’s hand didn’t clash with them upon contact. Of course, it could also be that the power fused into the little girl’s body was extremely faint. Only upon actual contact did Zheng Yichen realize that even the small amount of Gray Mist Power he had carefully gathered was somewhat excessive.

Calculated based on the amount of power fused into every cell of her body, this wisp of Gray Mist Power could account for almost one-third of the total strange power within her…

Well, faint was faint. No conflict was a good thing. Zheng Yichen tried to make the Gray Mist Power under his control assimilate the power fused into her cells. During the assimilation, he simultaneously relinquished control over the assimilated power. What seemed quite difficult turned out to be surprisingly simple.

This assimilation was similar to grabbing, except that because it came into contact with his own special power, it automatically included an extra absorption step. As long as Zheng Yichen actively skipped this step, the assimilation effect was almost like grabbing. The assimilated and absorbed power aside, the grabbed power wouldn’t change in nature at all—only its control was transferred to Zheng Yichen.

It wasn’t that Zheng Yichen didn’t want to wait a while, gather more information, and then do this. He was worried that after a few more days, this power would completely fuse and disappear without a trace. If that happened, he wouldn’t have the chance to use this grab-and-replace method to remove what was likely a hidden danger.

After spending an hour on one arm, Zheng Yichen was basically sure there were no major harmful effects, so he gradually sped up the process. However, for the remaining head, he returned to his original pace, even slowing down further, mainly to prevent any issues—after all, it was the head. Without a Soul, this might become the most important hardware.

Fortunately, adjusting here was no different from the other parts of the body.

“Are you done?” The little girl looked at the rising sun in the distance, then gave Zheng Yichen a strange look. This dragon… really seemed a bit crazy. He had simply lightly tapped her arm with one claw and held that pose like a statue, stubbornly maintaining it all night.

“Mmm~ Done.” Placing the little girl on the ground, Zheng Yichen rubbed his head and let out a long sigh. “Hmm~ The hidden danger in your body should be gone. In about ten days to half a month, you’ll be completely fine.”

To achieve a sufficient grab effect, Zheng Yichen had added quite a bit of extra Gray Mist Power. After he slowly relinquished control over that Gray Mist Power, it became nourishment for the power fused in the little girl’s body, causing that fused power to grow five times stronger… Although the quantity was still pitifully small, logically speaking, with the nature of this power, even one-fifth of the amount would be enough to take an ordinary person’s life.

As for the little girl, aside from looking more energetic, she was completely fine. Of course, her physical strength hadn’t changed at all. The strengthened strange Gray Mist Power remained hidden.

As for whether this assimilated power had any backdoors, Zheng Yichen didn’t sense even a trace. Apart from being vaguely aware of the little girl’s presence… Well, he could sense her even with his eyes closed and without active perception. Anything else? Zheng Yichen wasn’t the Undying Witch. Even if he had grabbed a small amount of her power, it didn’t mean he possessed all the skills she mastered… and even if he did, he wouldn’t know how to use them.

That was just as well.

“……”

“What’s wrong?” Noticing the little girl staring straight at him, Zheng Yichen slightly pursed his lips and asked.

“Why did you do this for me?”

“Sympathy, and because I could do it relatively easily.” Zheng Yichen shrugged, tucked the Lollipop he had put away earlier back into her arms, tossed her into a basket he had woven earlier, grabbed it, and jumped straight up from the spot, leaving the area. During this time, Zheng Yichen never stayed in one place for more than a day. If he exceeded that, people from the Sanctuary Church would always track him down. The last time he left a bit late, he was almost caught… Why wasn’t he caught?

Oh, that was because the group chasing him coincidentally discovered the Undying Witch committing a crime, so she perfectly drew their fire. Zheng Yichen seized the chance and bolted without a word. Although two of his Propulsion Devices overloaded and exploded afterward, it was still better than being caught, right?

After that, Zheng Yichen never stayed in one place for more than eight hours. “Also, you’re just a kid.”

Kids—as long as they aren’t bratty—always get extra sympathy when they’re in a pitiful situation, and Zheng Yichen was no exception.