Chapter 135: Anomaly

Chapter 135: Chapter 135: Anomaly

Seeing Phoenix had no intention of speaking, Jeremy briefly summarized the recent situation.

After listening, Leon fell silent for a long time.

He sat on the ice, one leg drawn up, elbow resting on his knee. The cut on his cheek had scabbed over but hadn’t healed; every time he gritted his teeth, the scab cracked open a little.

Finally, he dropped a rather unfriendly sentence: "...Not dying can be considered lucky."

The anomalies occurring in succession made him feel exhausted. Leon glanced at the group, speaking bluntly:

"The Caelum Jade and Nyxfrost have already appeared. We arrived a whole distance behind the others, and don’t have an accurate direction. Meaning we’re out of options. No need to stubbornly take risks anymore. Right now everyone is injured, let’s just stay here and recuperate for a few days, then figure out the next step."

His attitude this time was very resolute. Even his usual choppy way of speaking was cut out; every sentence was concise and definitive.

Having determined the risks far outweighed the benefits, Jeremy also had no mind to compete with those over a thousand people: "Alright. Then it’s settled."

The remaining three had no objections.

The atmosphere sank back into stillness. Outside the barrier, snow continued to fall steadily, gradually covering the bloodstains they had left when they first arrived here.

Jeremy took out over a dozen bottles of magic potions and provisions prepared before the trip from his spatial bracelet. Red-corked for treating external wounds, white-corked for magic power recovery, and flat glass tubes for emergency hemostasis — he separated them into three groups so no one had to ask.

Finished, he wrapped them in magical water bubbles and placed them in the middle of the vine bed, signaling that whoever needed them could take them.

Only then did he go to the other side and sit down.

Originally intending to adjust his breathing to recover magic power, he suddenly remembered something and turned his head to look behind him.

From earlier until now, Lucius hadn’t said a single word.

That was the real anomaly. That guy normally opened his mouth even more than Leon, the only difference being he spouted things no one wanted to hear.

After waking up, he merely sat quietly in the corner, his back against the ice wall, abnormally still.

Could the injuries be too severe?

He lowered his head; Jeremy couldn’t see his face clearly.

He decisively walked over and sat down beside him: "How are the injuries, are they serious?"

Lucius didn’t answer, as if he hadn’t heard anything, in a state of blank absentmindedness.

The magical fluctuations around him were unstable — swelling up at times, then dropping completely, like a candle caught in a draft. The bloodstain on his face remained unwiped.

Thinking the blows he took in the storm earlier weren’t easy to heal, Jeremy took out a bottle of high-tier healing potion and handed it over.

But the moment his fingers touched Lucius’s hand, Lucius swatted it away as if electrocuted.

The potion bottle rolled twice on the ice and stopped.

The resistance was so clear it couldn’t be misunderstood.

"..."

Jeremy glanced at the hand that had just been swatted away. The force wasn’t strong, so he couldn’t say if it hurt or not. It was just a reaction beyond expectation.

On the other end, Leon looked up, gave a glance, then lowered his head to continue wiping his lunar blade, pretending not to have seen anything.

In a bad mood?

He picked up the potion bottle, casually placed it next to Lucius, and didn’t bother him further.

But just as he turned around, his sleeve was pulled back.

Simultaneously, the fox tail followed its usual habit and crossed over, wrapping tightly around his waist.

"?"

What did this guy want exactly?

Forced to stop, Jeremy turned to him: "What’s wrong with you."

Lucius slightly raised his head. One hand pulled the sleeve dragging Jeremy towards him, the other dug tightly into his own temple, knuckles pale. His voice was hoarse:

"...Sorry. Headache, a bit agitated. Not on purpose."

"Doesn’t hurt, right?" As he spoke, a tail lightly brushed across the back of Jeremy’s hand. "If it’s uncomfortable, you can hit back."

"?"

Jeremy was speechless.

This guy truly had bizarre hobbies.

Just as he was thinking that, Lucius added: "I won’t hit back."

"...Are you sick." Jeremy unconsciously swatted the fluffy tail away.

It didn’t hurt. Just a bit itchy.

But in the moment Lucius looked up earlier, he seemed to see a layer of blood glistening in the other party’s pupils.

An illusion?

After pushing the tail away, Jeremy leaned down slightly to look closely, only to realize it wasn’t an illusion.

Rather, his pupils had inexplicably started bleeding at some point, the blood now ready to spill from the corners of his eyes.

His complexion was pale. The red streak at the corner of his eye was even more pronounced. The spreading blood dyed the entire area around his eyes a sickly red.

The condition was even worse than during the Wasteland training, when he collapsed in the middle of the training ground and Griffin had to personally drag him up.

Thinking back now, in the storm earlier, he not only blocked the wind blades but also shielded Jeremy from the entire damage of the magic tools Jeremy detonated. Five layers of shields shattered consecutively; each layer shattering was a backlash recoiling into the person who erected it.

Could he have sustained internal injuries from that moment?

Jeremy’s chest tightened for a beat. He pointed at the potion bottle next to him: "Drink it first."

Lucius didn’t move, merely looking up at him: "Are your injuries better?"

"Yeah, no major issues." Jeremy replied perfunctorily.

Thanks to Evelyn and Leon’s treatment plus the magic potion, the external wounds had healed more than half. But internal injuries still needed time, they couldn’t be fixed overnight.

Regardless, there was no need to deliberately speak of such things.

Just as Lucius was about to speak again, Jeremy cut him off: "Stop talking nonsense. If you don’t want to bleed to death, drink the potion."

Faced with that commanding tone, Lucius paused for a beat. The corners of his lips slightly curled up, then dropped.

He gave a hmph, then... obediently complied.

A moment later, as the magic potion took effect, the blood hue in Lucius’s pupils dissipated. The eyes that had been dyed red returned to their original clear icy blue.

The only thing was, his overall appearance still exuded a sickly, lifeless look.

But what Jeremy could do also stopped at this point.

Jeremy used magic power to erect a bubble layer around him, isolating the bone-chilling cold outside: "Rest. I’ll take the watch tonight."

Lucius gave a soft affirmative response.

Seeing that condition, Jeremy didn’t find it appropriate to say more. He leaned against the vine bed and sat down, shifting his gaze to the others.

Phoenix was also very heavily injured this time. He was asleep, his hat pulled down covering his face entirely, but his breathing was shallow and intermittent.

It was unclear how he managed to construct a dual teleportation matrix in such a short time. But one thing was certain: his injuries were much more serious than they appeared.

Naturally, with his personality, asking wouldn’t wring out a single word.

At this point, the best approach was indeed as Leon said: rest here for a few days to heal completely before figuring out the next step.

Nyxfrost was considered entirely abandoned. Whether Griffin would punish them for failing the objective was no longer important. Having just dragged themselves back from death’s door, gambling their lives again would be sheer madness.

But even giving up the objective, they couldn’t leave immediately.

The secret realm gate opened randomly.

The only way to leave this place was to wait until it automatically opened again and forcibly pushed them out.

Griffin had locked in three months, so they would stay here for at most three months.

Besides the Caelum Jade and Nyxfrost, this secret realm wasn’t devoid of other serendipitous encounters. Once their injuries healed, as long as they avoided the crowd chasing the Caelum Jade, who knows, they might scoop up quite a bit.

The tactile sensation from his waist was incredibly clear. Jeremy retracted his gaze, looking down at the fox tail still wrapped around his waist.

It tightened a bit, then loosened again, perfectly in sync with its master’s breathing.

To be honest, right now he felt that compared to a fox, Lucius resembled a snake that liked clinging to people more.

Since the day he sprouted a tail, that guy had never stayed put.

Considering that even if he removed it, it would just wrap around again, Jeremy decisively ignored it, closed his eyes, and began to adjust his breathing.

Whatever happened, he only hoped the coming days would be a bit less turbulent.