Skinwalker Belle – Chapter 239 – Fellow Villagers Meet

The hall fell silent.

Su Yue withdrew with the ledgers, and Su Xiaoxiao led the exhausted-looking Long Yan to a guest room in the side courtyard.

On the large white tiger-skin chair, Lin Fan shifted into a more comfortable position. Her long, black-stocking-clad legs were casually draped over the armrest, and her pure gold Dragon horns gleamed faintly under the light.

She fished out a Huazi cigarette from her System Space, stuck it between her lips, and a cluster of white flame flickered at her fingertip.

Tss.

The cigarette was lit. Lin Fan took a deep drag and slowly exhaled the smoke.

That familiar smell of nicotine diffused throughout the hall.

Standing to the side, Lu Yuan’s nose twitched.

He stared at the long, thin cigarette in Lin Fan’s hand, his Adam’s apple bobbing. His eyes screamed with craving.

“What are you looking at?” Lin Fan shot him a sideways glance.

“N-nothing.” Lu Yuan quickly averted his gaze, but his eyes couldn’t help drifting back to the cigarette.

Ever since he fell into this godforsaken place a few months ago, this ten-year chain-smoker had been forced to quit cold turkey.

The feeling was beyond miserable.

Now, seeing someone smoking a Huazi—and a Dragon Clan girl who looked to be sixteen or seventeen at that—the sheer contrast was enough to kill him.

“Alright, stop pretending.”

Lin Fan scoffed and flicked her finger.

A fresh Huazi cigarette cut through the air, flying precisely to Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan caught it with lightning speed. Looking at the cigarette in his hand, so familiar it made him want to cry, he was overcome with excitement.

“Is… is this really for me?”

“Nonsense,” Lin Fan said, blowing a smoke ring. “But let me be clear. I swiped this cigarette from Shi Ming. When you get back to Magic City, remember to give it back to him.”

“Shi Ming?!” Lu Yuan’s eyes widened. “The Second Brigade’s Captain Shi Ming?”

“How many other Shi Mings could there be?” Lin Fan tapped her ash.

Lu Yuan sucked in a sharp breath.

Of course he knew Shi Ming. He was the captain of the Magic City Defense Force’s Second Brigade, a peak level-five Evolved being. Although he wasn’t a man of many words, his strength was definitely top-tier in Magic City.

Yet this “Dragon Clan girl” before him could casually mention Shi Ming’s name and even swipe Huazis from him…

She was definitely a fellow from Blue Star, no doubt about it.

“Light it,” Lin Fan said, raising her hand to conjure a flame.

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Lu Yuan paused for a moment, then quickly leaned in and lit his own cigarette with her flame.

He took a deep drag.

That long-missed acrid sensation rushed into his lungs. Lu Yuan’s whole body relaxed, and he almost fell to his knees on the spot.

“Ahh…” He closed his eyes, a look of pure bliss on his face.

Lin Fan watched his pathetic display and shook her head.

The two of them smoked in silence, one in front of the other.

Smoke slowly rose in the hall.

After a long moment.

Lin Fan was the first to speak. “There are so many people in the First Brigade. You’ve been here for over a month, and you haven’t run into a single one?”

Lu Yuan exhaled a puff of smoke and shook his head with a bitter smile.

“Not a single one,” he said, his voice a bit hoarse. “When the Rift opened, everyone was teleported randomly. I had bad luck and was thrown directly into the wilderness outside Border Dragon City.”

“To avoid being discovered, I could only move around the vicinity of Border Dragon City. I didn’t dare head toward the center of the continent.”

Lu Yuan paused, his tone growing even more bitter.

“Besides, Border Dragon City is just a small, remote city, far from the continent’s center. Even if others from the First Brigade were teleported here, they most likely wouldn’t be in this area.”

Lin Fan nodded and didn’t press further.

She flicked her ash away and suddenly asked, “Do you want to go back?”

Lu Yuan’s body stiffened.

“Of course I do,” he blurted out. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have desperately charged into the Rift when it opened last time, only to get slapped and seriously injured by that Long Teng. I had no choice but to run and hide in the Swamp of Death.”

At this, Lu Yuan’s eyes dimmed.

Lin Fan looked at him, a slight curve forming on her lips.

“Alright then.” She flicked her cigarette butt away and crushed it with the tip of her foot. “Next time I go back to Border Dragon City, I’ll take you with me.”

“What?!” Lu Yuan shot his head up, his eyes wide.

“You heard me.” Lin Fan stretched lazily, her golden vertical pupils glinting dangerously in the candlelight. “I need to make a trip back to Border Dragon City when the Rift opens. I can take you along.”

Lu Yuan’s breathing quickened.

Go home!

He could finally go home!

But then, a key question occurred to him.

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“Wait.” Lu Yuan stared at Lin Fan, his tone turning wary. “You’re a fellow from Blue Star, so how did you become a member of the Pureblood Dragon Clan? And the daughter of Border Dragon City’s lord, no less?”

This was illogical!

Completely illogical!

Lin Fan glanced at him and said coolly, “Don’t ask what you shouldn’t know.”

“Just say I’m good at disguises.”

Lu Yuan was speechless.

Good at disguises?

You call this being good at disguises?!

You can even fake a Bloodline aura?!

Lu Yuan opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t dare to press the matter.

Forget it.

As long as he could go home, nothing else mattered.

Seeing that he knew his place, Lin Fan nodded in satisfaction.

She stood up from the chair and walked to the window, gazing at the pitch-black night outside.

“Opposite Azurewood City is Blue Star’s Chuanxi Base.”

Lu Yuan was taken aback.

“So?”

“So,” Lin Fan turned, her golden vertical pupils locking onto Lu Yuan, “I need you to guard Chuanxi Base.”

“Guard?” Lu Yuan frowned. “What do you mean?”

Lin Fan didn’t answer immediately.

She walked back to the large chair, sat down again, and crossed her legs.

“Lu Yuan, do you know why Spatial Rifts appear in this world?”

“No,” Lu Yuan answered honestly, shaking his head.

“Then do you know how Blue Star’s apocalypse started?”

“I don’t know that either.”

Lin Fan smiled.

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“Then let me tell you.”

She lit a second Huazi, smoke curling around her fingertips.

“Blue Star’s apocalypse was orchestrated by the Dragon Clan.”

“They used the Spatial Rifts to pour Spirit Energy into Blue Star, create Zombies, and cultivate Evolved beings, treating the entire planet as a breeding ground.”

“And those so-called ‘enhancement potions’? They’re just concentrated Spirit Energy.”

“The Federation’s top brass? Heh, they were bought out long ago.”

Lu Yuan’s scalp tingled as he listened.

“Are you saying… the Federation’s leaders… betrayed humanity?”

“What else?” Lin Fan exhaled a puff of smoke. “Why did Magic City’s calls for help go unanswered? Why did the major military districts watch civilians die without lifting a finger?”

“Because they knelt a long time ago.”

Lu Yuan clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.

“Then we…”

“So, we have to save ourselves,” Lin Fan cut him off. “The Rift here in Azurewood City connects to Chuanxi Base. In the future, this place will become a transport hub between Blue Star and the Dragon Spirit Continent.”

“And Chuanxi Base will be the vanguard outpost of this hub.”

Lin Fan stared at Lu Yuan.

“I need someone I can trust to guard that place.”

Lu Yuan was silent for a few seconds.

“Why me?”

“Because you’re Blue Star’s only level-six,” Lin Fan said, holding up a finger. “You’re fast, you have strong attacks, and… you want to go home.”

“Only someone who wants to go home will desperately protect the path that leads there.”

Lu Yuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

“What do I need to do?”

“Simple.” Lin Fan tapped her ash. “Once Blue Star successfully analyzes a stable teleportation channel, I’ll give them the coordinates for the Space Stone. At that point, Chuanxi Base will become Blue Star’s transit station.”

“What you need to do is ensure that the teleportation gate is not destroyed by anyone.”

“Whether it’s people from the Federation or any other faction, kill anyone who dares to approach.”

Lu Yuan took a deep breath.

“Understood.”

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Lin Fan smiled with satisfaction.

“Very good.”

She stood up, walked over to Lu Yuan, and patted his shoulder.

“Oh, and one more thing.”

“What?”

Lin Fan narrowed her eyes. “When the time comes, twenty thousand low-level Demonic Creatures will pour out.”

“You and the people at Chuanxi Base are to collect all the Crystals.”

“Those are all mine.”

Lu Yuan was speechless.

He suddenly felt that this “Dragon Clan girl,” who looked to be sixteen or seventeen, was more terrifying than any real Dragon Clan member.

“Alright, go get some rest,” Lin Fan waved her hand. “There’s more to do tomorrow.”

Lu Yuan nodded and turned to leave the hall.

At the doorway, he suddenly stopped.

“Um… what’s your name?”

Lin Fan didn’t turn around.

“Lei Li.”

“Lei Li…” Lu Yuan repeated the name to himself before pushing the door open and walking out.

The hall fell silent once more.

Lin Fan sat back down on the white tiger-skin chair, looking at the half-smoked cigarette in her hand.

The smoke drifted slowly upward.

She closed her eyes, a cold smile playing on her lips.

“Ten days from now… let’s see just how many ‘gifts’ the Dragon Clan plans to send over this time.”

Outside the window.

The night was deep.

A Spatial Rift hung in the distant sky.

It was the gate to Blue Star, about to open.