Chapter 92

The newly freed phoenix was still soaring through the night sky when several streams of light landed outside Lin Kunshan’s villa. These lights revealed themselves to be Sun Daguai and his son Sun Jintang, both clad in S-class battle armor; the S-class General Wei Jian, who was on vacation; S-class instructor Fu Sui from the First Military Academy; and S-class General Yuan Changhai, who had recently returned from the coastal base with Wei Jian.

Yuan Changhai also happened to be Lin Wen’gui’s father-in-law.

Out of courtesy, the group didn’t land directly inside the Lin family villa.

Lin Kunshan was still underground, so Lin Lie instructed Qin Chi, Xu Qiao, and Meng Qiuyan to rest in the villa’s hall while he went to meet Sun Daguai and the others alone.

Sun Daguai glanced at Yuan Changhai and pointed to the phoenix in the distant sky, asking, “Is that…?”

Lin Lie replied, “It’s Wen’gui. Ten years ago, he suddenly fully beastified. I thought he was infected by a mutant beast and kept him locked underground with my father personally guarding him. Tonight, we invited Xu Qiao to help treat him and initially restore the rationality of Wen’gui’s phoenix spirit. But it has been confined for too long, so I let it out to fly for a while. I will explain everything to the public later. Please rest assured.”

Sun Daguai exclaimed, “He beastified ten years ago?”

Yuan Changhai’s brow furrowed as he coldly asked, “Didn’t the old man say he was sent on a secret mission?”

Ten years! Lin Wen’gui had been missing for a full ten years. Fortunately, Yuan Changhai’s daughter was a battle maniac and didn’t care much about Lin Wen’gui. Otherwise, these ten years without a husband would have been extremely lonely for her.

Lin Lie apologized, “Sorry, our family was wrong in this matter. We owe you and Xiao Yue an apology.”

Yuan Changhai, knowing Lin Lie well, glanced at the still-smoking pit behind the Lin family villa and coldly snorted, “You don’t need to take the blame for someone else. This is something only the old man could do.”

He had agreed to the marriage back then because of Lin Lie, but if it had been just Lin Kunshan, he wouldn’t have agreed.

Thinking of his daughter who was still fighting sea beasts at the coastal base, Yuan Changhai asked, “Beastification usually happens when life becomes difficult. I remember Wen’gui was very cheerful before. Did he become more silent after marrying our Xiao Yue? Does he dislike her so much that this marriage caused his beastification?”

Lin Lie replied, “Xiao Yue is wonderful. The problem lies with Wen’gui.”

Yuan Changhai, initially confused, noticed the glances exchanged between Sun Daguai and his son and suddenly realized, “You mean, Xiao Yue is great, but Wen’gui just doesn’t like her, right?”

Lin Lie couldn’t deny it.

Yuan Changhai laughed angrily, “If he didn’t like her, why agree to the marriage? I remember clearly that it was your old man who proposed the marriage first. I wasn’t the one desperately trying to marry my daughter into your family, right?”

“Lin Lie, let me tell you plainly: I don’t care about Wen’gui’s illness, but your family tricked us into marriage and deceived us for ten years. In any reasonable situation, you’re at fault. If I don’t do something tonight, your Lin family might think I’m easy to bully!”

Before he could finish, a hundred-meter-long great white shark spirit appeared over the Lin family villa and heavily slammed its tail down on the villa.

With a “bang,” the shark’s tail struck a massive turtle shell.

Yuan Changhai retracted his spirit and glared at Sun Daguai, “This is a private matter between our families. Stay out of it!”

Sun Daguai responded, “If you want to fight, do it outside the base. Inside the base, you have to listen to me! You’re not young men in your twenties anymore. Have you no regard for the nearby residents or the laws of the base?”

Sun Jintang, Wei Jian, and Fu Sui, being younger and belonging to a different generation, stayed silent.

Yuan Changhai glanced at the thousands of lights below the mountain, his anger gradually cooling.

The Lin family might be the marshal’s family of the southeast base, but the base belonged to all its residents, whether ordinary people or ability users. Everyone contributed to the base’s development, including Yuan Changhai and his family, who diligently cleared the surrounding mutant beasts.

Destroying the mountain and disturbing the nearby residents would make Yuan Changhai equally responsible.

Finally, he said, “No more words are needed. Let the two kids divorce. I’m sure both Xiao Yue and Wen’gui will agree. As for Ling Yan, she can choose where she wants to live. I will respect her decision.”

The Yuan family’s children, being water-attribute great white sharks, had difficulty getting along with the little phoenix. So, if the granddaughter chose to stay with the Lin family, Yuan Changhai could understand, as the Lin family’s phoenixes could better guide her.

Lin Lie apologized, “Sorry.”

Yuan Changhai snorted and flew away in his S-class battle armor.

Seeing no need to intervene, the Sun family, Wei Jian, and Fu Sui also left one after another.

The phoenix, after circling the sky three times, landed back at the Lin family villa and instinctively headed inside, sensing Meng Qiuyan’s presence.

Lin Lie blocked the phoenix and gently advised, “If you truly care about Meng Qiuyan, wake Wen’gui up. Otherwise, you’ll only make her more uncomfortable.”

He could reveal his son’s beastification but not the reason behind it, as it would hurt Meng Qiuyan and Meng Li even more.

The phoenix emitted a low, mournful cry towards the villa.

About ten minutes later, the twenty-meter-tall phoenix vanished, leaving a wounded Lin Wen’gui standing before Lin Lie.

Lin Lie retrieved a set of casual clothes from his space and dressed his son, who hung his head low.

Hot tears dripped onto Lin Lie’s sleeve.

Lin Lie paused for a moment, then awkwardly patted his son’s shoulder, “Recover well. Once you’re healed, you’ll be free to do whatever you want. General Yuan was here just now. He will probably send over the divorce papers on Xiao Yue’s behalf tomorrow.”

In the past few minutes, Lin Wengui had already understood everything from his spiritual form. He opened his mouth, struggling for a long time before he could finally speak again with difficulty: “I, I can’t face her.”

Regardless of whether his marriage with Yuan Yue ended or not, he had abandoned Qiu Yan that year and had deeply hurt her.

The phoenix was overjoyed by its father’s words, naively thinking that it could still pursue Qiu Yan. However, Lin Wengui knew very well that he no longer had the qualifications to make amends, and Qiu Yan would not accept him again.

Lin Lie said, “She’s already here. Knowing how seriously ill you are, letting her see that you’ve recovered and that you’ll cooperate with the treatment will give her peace of mind to leave.”

After fastening the last button for his son, Lin Lie stepped back a few steps and looked at his incredibly thin son, asking, “Try to see if you can walk normally.”

Lin Wengui looked ahead and then down at his feet, attempting to take a step.

He stumbled forward, but Lin Lie steadily supported him.

In the first-floor living room of the villa, Meng Qiuyan sat silently on the sofa, anxiously awaiting the results.

Xu Qiao was by her side, occasionally glancing at Qin Chi, who seemed to want to stand up at one point, followed by a thunderous noise above.

The fire dragon went out for a walk and returned disappointed: “A big shark and a turtle shell, both have left.”

Xu Qiao automatically envisioned the spiritual form of Yuan Changhai, the S-class strongman of this base.

The threat of sea beast tides at the Southeast Base was greater than that of land beast tides, and Yuan Changhai was the first S-class marine creature spiritual form ability user of this base.

Someone had once posted a video of Yuan Changhai fighting at the seaside on the forum. In the video, Yuan Changhai, wearing S-class battle armor, released water-based abilities in the air, while his S-class great white shark spiritual form rampaged through a group of sea beasts, making the viewers’ blood boil. The popularity of the great white shark spiritual form at the base was also unprecedentedly high.

It was not the right time to chat, so Xu Qiao shook his head at the fire dragon.

The fire dragon cooperatively returned to Qin Chi’s body.

Time passed in silence for half an hour until finally, footsteps were heard outside.

Meng Qiuyan stood up nervously, and Xu Qiao and Qin Chi followed her off the sofa.

At the hall’s entrance, Lin Lie walked in first, followed by the slender, haggard Lin Wengui. Although he had maintained his phoenix form for ten years, once Lin Wengui regained his human form, his hair had grown to the length of not being cut for ten years. He had evidently tidied up outside, with his long hair tied behind him, making him appear even more decadent and melancholic.

He merely glanced at Meng Qiuyan and then stood frozen, unable to take another step.

Meng Qiuyan turned her back to him.

Lin Wengui’s phoenix spiritual form emerged, a small one, roughly a meter long including its tail feathers.

It flew into Meng Qiuyan’s arms, rubbing its crest against her tears.

Meng Qiuyan held the phoenix and walked away, saying, “You all talk, I’ll wait over there.”

Lin Lie then led his despondent son to the sofa area and invited Xu Qiao and Qin Chi to sit.

Lin Lie explained the three existing treatment plans for beastification. After he finished, he looked at Xu Qiao.

Xu Qiao nodded, “That’s right, but I just advanced to A-class, and my mental strength is limited. I suggest you go to Professor Lu for treatment to ensure both the success of the treatment and the safety of the healer.”

Lin Wengui, with his head bowed, remained silent for a long time before saying, “I’ll choose the second option, not interfering with any memory fragments, just periodically clearing the black mist.”

He loved Qiu Yan, cherished the intense sweetness of having this feeling, and felt he should endure the bitterness that came with giving up on this relationship.

Marrying Yuan Yue was indeed against his emotions, but once married, it was done, and they had a daughter. Deleting or sealing the emotions from this memory would be irresponsible to Yuan Yue and their daughter.

Xu Qiao said, “Then discuss it with your spiritual form. If it agrees with your choice, you can go to Professor Lu tomorrow.”

Lin Wengui looked at her and said, “Thank you for the trouble over these past few days.”

Xu Qiao smiled, “It was indeed a bit unpleasant, but I’m glad to see you recovering.”

Lin Wengui glanced at Meng Qiuyan’s back and said bitterly, “Can I have a few minutes? I want to talk to her.”

Lin Lie immediately went to the second floor, and Xu Qiao and Qin Chi went to the front yard.

A few minutes can be long or short; no one knew what exactly was said between the two in the hall.

Xu Qiao only saw Meng Qiuyan come out looking relaxed, though slightly embarrassed due to a small, fiery red phoenix on her shoulder.

She said to Xu Qiao, “Let’s go. When the time comes, it will return.”

Outside the villa, Qin Chi summoned a car, and Xu Qiao thought about it, letting Meng Qiuyan and the small phoenix sit in the back to catch up, while she sat in the front.

The car was very quiet, and Xu Qiao politely did not look back.

When the black car was about to reach the villa community where Xu Qiao and Meng Li lived, the space in the back seat suddenly resounded with a phoenix’s sad cry.

Xu Qiao turned around and found that the phoenix spiritual form had disappeared, and Meng Qiuyan smiled at her, though tears once again slid down her face.

Xu Qiao handed her a pack of tissues and diverted her attention: “Did you mention Meng Li to him?”

Meng Qiuyan wiped her tears and said, “I did. Even if I didn’t, he would have found out. I just told him not to disturb Meng Li unless Meng Li wanted to see him herself.”

After sending Meng Qiuyan home, it was already past ten o’clock.

Xu Qiao asked Qin Chi, “Are you staying here tonight, or going back?”

It would take another half hour to drive back to the Peace Community in the second ring.

Qin Chi looked at her and said, “Stay here? Lin will see Professor Lu for treatment tomorrow morning, and Professor Lu might ask you to observe.”

That was what Xu Qiao had in mind as well.

For therapists, every case of beastification at this stage was precious, and Professor Lu had already taken her as a student.

Soon, the black car stopped outside Xu Qiao’s villa.

It was too late, and Meng Qiuyan and Lin Wengui’s story was not suitable for discussion, so after entering, Xu Qiao said goodbye to Qin Chi.

A small fire dragon suddenly flew out and landed on Xu Qiao’s shoulder.

Xu Qiao looked puzzled.

Fire Dragon: [I’ll escort you back to your room and return once you’re at your door.]