Chapter 145: The Second Great-Grandfather and the Lantern Bearer

Seeing that she was still tense and her vigilant, Chen Xiaobai couldn't help but shake her head and laugh. That smile carried a trace of apology:

"It seems I am too bad at expressing myself, or didn't explain clearly enough, making you unable to feel at ease."

She took a step forward, her tone becoming even more solemn:

"Then, I'll tell you another secret that might make you feel a little more at ease."

She looked into Xu Nuo's eyes and said clearly:

"That international neutral organization 'Shadow' you contacted, which promised to provide you with a new identity and safe passage..."

She paused, throwing out the final answer:

"It is itself one of the overseas branches under our Incense Gang's Zhi Gong Tang(overseas Chinese secret society), specifically handling certain special business and providing high-end asylum."

"That is why you were able to pass their review and get a promise so smoothly. Because from the very beginning, your file and evaluation had me paying attention and pushing it forward the whole time."

Xu Nuo stood blankly on the spot.

She was even more shocked.

It turns out... she had never truly struggled alone in the darkness.

There was always a pair of eyes, from a higher dimension, in a way she couldn't understand, both strictly polishing and carefully guarding her.

But... why?

Why does the Incense Gang pay so much attention to her?

Is it because of her father... or because of Teacher?

Although logically speaking, it was more likely her father had some connection with them, Xu Nuo stubbornly believed that all this was brought about by Teacher.

"Teacher..."

Deep in her consciousness, Xu Nuo's voice carried massive bewilderment and uncertainty,

"Can they... be trusted?"

On the other end of the screen, Xu Yunzhou rapidly integrated all the information—Chen Xiaobai's identity, the Incense Gang's origins, Shadow's connection, and that peaceful look in Xu Nuo's eyes in the future photo.

He took a deep breath and gave his judgment:

"No problem."

Mhm... Du Qinglan... is also a character from the later stages of this game?

So that's why she left a dying instruction to shelter Xu Nuo?

The black figures blocking the way ahead had, at some unknown time, quietly changed their formation, from encirclement to... a posture of escort.

Chen Xiaobai extended her hand to Xu Nuo:

"Now, Little Nuo,"

"Come with us."

"The helicopter is already on standby at the designated coordinates. What awaits you will be a brand-new future."

"As for the Crescent Group's mess here, naturally someone will come clean it up."

"Mhm, Little Sumire will also be sent back safely."

Right at this moment, the effect of the last five-minute experience card Xu Yunzhou redeemed ended.

"Ugh..."

Xu Nuo's consciousness instantly returned to dominance, but what followed was a dizzying vertigo.

That was because she had just burst out with strength far exceeding what her body could support, suffering multiple muscle strains, plus the effect of the knockout drug.

The scene before her eyes began to blur and shake. Her legs could no longer support the weight of her body, and she fell forward limply like a marionette with cut strings.

"Careful!"

Chen Xiaobai reacted extremely fast, stepping forward in a single bound and catching Xu Nuo's limp body in her arms:

"Alright, stubborn child... sleep."

"All suffering has ended."

"Aunt Lan, Second Great-Grandfather, and the family members of the Incense Gang now are all waiting for you, the Lantern Bearer, to return."

Xu Nuo could no longer hear it; she fell into a deep and exhausted coma.

But Xu Yunzhou outside the screen heard it clearly.

Aunt Lan I know, it should refer to the founder of the Incense Gang, Du Qinglan.

But Second Great-Grandfather?

Who is that?

...

The roar of the helicopter rotors drew near from afar, finally hovering overhead.

The cabin door opened, and a rope ladder was lowered.

Holding Xu Nuo, with the assistance of two men in black, Chen Xiaobai steadily climbed into the cabin.

Chen Xiaobai carefully placed the still-unconscious Xu Nuo on a stretcher bed lined with a thick blanket and fastened the seatbelt.

An accompanying medical personnel immediately stepped forward, skillfully and quickly checking Xu Nuo's vital signs.

Then, he took out a specially made light blue injection from his portable medical kit and injected it into the vein of Xu Nuo's arm.

"This is an antidote specifically for neutralizing the residual effects of Qiluo Incense,"

The medical personnel explained to Chen Xiaobai,

"It can accelerate the metabolism of the drug in her body and reduce subsequent effects on the nervous system. She will naturally wake up in about six to eight hours, without any sequelae."

Chen Xiaobai nodded, her gaze never leaving Xu Nuo's face.

Even in a coma, the young girl's brows were slightly furrowed, as if still struggling with the darkness in her dreams.

Chen Xiaobai's eyes were complex, with gratification and emotion.

And also a kind of... trance and sense of destiny as if penetrating the long torrent of time.

The roar of the engine, the regular slight vibration of the fuselage, the rapidly retreating sea of clouds gradually lit by the morning light outside the window...

All this seemed to bring her back to many, many years ago.

That year, she was eight years old.

Following her father, who had tossed and turned to arrive at San Francisco's Chinatown to avoid disaster, they walked into an ancestral hall-style building with an ordinary storefront but a whole different world inside.

The air was filled with the curling smoke of incense sticks and the quiet smell of old wood.

Her father changed into clean clothes. With an unprecedentedly solemn expression, he held her small, cold hand and walked step by step toward the main hall.

Incense smoke curled in the hall. What was enshrined was not ordinary gods or Buddhas, but a huge portrait with exquisite mounting, its colors slightly somber due to age.

There were three people in the portrait.

In the center was an exceptionally young-looking man.

His posture was tall and straight like a green pine after snow, his face handsome and clear, revealing an age-surpassing detachment and insight between his brows and eyes.

On the right was a woman wearing a simple and elegant ruqun, looking about thirty years old. Her appearance was dignified and gentle, yet her eyes were resolute and spirited. She turned sideways slightly, her gaze respectful and focused on the young man in the center, her posture respectful, like facing a teacher.

This was the founder of the Incense Gang, respectfully called "Aunt Lan" by all juniors, Du Qinglan.

And on the left...

That was a young girl who looked no more than a few years older than her at the time.

In her hands, she held an antique-styled glass storm lantern.

The wick was meticulously painted by the artist, emitting a warm and bright golden halo, becoming the most vivid and eye-catching stroke in the entire somewhat quiet picture.

The young girl's smile was clean and clear, full of a vigorous hope unexperienced in worldly affairs and infinite longing for the future.

The young Chen Xiaobai was entranced watching it. She couldn't help but tug at the corner of her father's clothes and asked softly:

"Dad, the big brother in the middle... is he Aunt Lan's husband? The little sister holding the lantern on the left... is she their daughter?"

Hearing this, an expression of almost awe flashed across her father's serious face.

He lowered his voice, explaining with an unprecedentedly solemn tone:

"Don't speak nonsense."

He pointed to the young man in the center of the portrait:

"This one in the middle is Second Great-Grandfather. He is Aunt Lan's benefactor-mentor. Although his appearance remained young, his wisdom was like an ocean. The reason he is called Second Great-Grandfather is an honorary title chosen by the family to distinguish him from Aunt Lan's father."

Then, his gaze also landed on the portrait of the lantern-holding girl, his eyes becoming distant and full of a fatalistic expectation:

"As for this one on the left..."

He paused, his voice even lighter, as if afraid of disturbing the century of time solidified in the painting:

"She is not Second Great-Grandfather and Aunt Lan's daughter."

"She is the Lantern Bearer."

"Lantern Bearer?" The young Chen Xiaobai didn't understand.

"Mhm."

Her father nodded, his gaze staring at that storm lantern that seemed to have burned quietly in the painting for a century:

"According to the dying instructions left by Aunt Lan..."

"This Lantern Bearer is not a figure of their era."

"She will, in an extremely special year, the year 1999, that year of era transition containing the ultimate numbers of heaven and earth."

"Be born into the world."

Speaking of this, her father raised his eyes and looked at his ignorant daughter. His eyes were incomparably serious, like reading some sacred prophecy:

"When that year comes, she will carry this lantern heralding light, cross the long time, reappear, and guide the Incense Gang toward the bright path of the next century."