Chapter 1598: Wait For Me

T/N: This is the final chapter of the story, but don’t worry, there’s an epilogue chapter

17 days until the final day.

When the losers’ bracket matches of the WEL preliminaries began, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue didn’t show up just like the day before. As a result, Ancient Sword’s first seed was disqualified from the competition.

However, Ancient Sword’s second seed—the team made up of Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and more—displayed extraordinary prowess and crushed every opponent they encountered. Li Chengfeng especially rarely encountered anyone who was worthy of being his opponent. In fact, during the surprise encounter with Ancient Sword’s third seed in the preliminaries—It was the Soul Battle Robes team made up of God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire, Ringwraith and other familiar faces—Li Chengfeng had won both his rounds and crushed Song of Ice and Fire in a dominant fashion using the Xuanyuan Sword.

……

15 days until the final day.

At the sunlit courtyard, I was sitting in a recliner and drinking a fresh cup of coffee. Unfortunately, I could no longer smell or taste it anymore. Just a day earlier, the virus had robbed me of these two senses.

The landlord was enjoying the fan while staring at the blue sky above our heads. He complained, "I can’t believe how hot it is. Summer has just begun. By the way, where is your family, Lu Chen? You’ve been here for two weeks already. Aren’t they worried about you?"

I smiled while holding the cup in my hand. "They have their own things to do, and I’m here to enjoy a relaxing holiday. That’s why they didn’t come to find me."

"I see. What would you like to eat for lunch? I can roast us a pair of fish if you’d like. My fish-roasting skills are amazing, you know? It’s something I had to learn when my wife passed away."

"Sure. Thank you, uncle."

"You’re welcome!"

……

13 days before the final day.

I had become so weak that I couldn’t even lift my Alienware notebook[1] anymore. Moreover, the suppressants Gui Guzi had been delivering me everyday were nearly useless at this point. My condition was growing worse and worse, and since the summer season was approaching I couldn’t even cover up my body with towels and long-sleeved shirts anymore.

Du du du…

My phone rang. I accepted it immediately when I saw that it was from Xu Ning—

"How is it, Uncle Ning?"

Xu Ning was breathing heavily on the other side of the call. "I just came back from a meeting. According to the latest news, after gathering at the University of California and spending 9 days working on your virus, the experts from all across the world have finally pushed the progress of the gene analysis to 87.2%. Stay calm and continue using the suppressants, no matter how ineffective they’ve become. You must live so that our efforts are not in vain. Also…"

I said, "Is it bad news? I can take it, Uncle Ning. Just tell me honestly…"

Xu Ning said, "What? No. I just want to tell you that, the past couple of nights, at least several hundred players have gathered at the entrance of our headquarters to pray for your safety. I want you to know that you are not alone in this fight…"

My heart grew warm as I replied, "Please thank them on my behalf, Uncle Ning. I would thank them in person, but I’m in no condition to do so anymore."

"Got it. By the way, if you don’t mind me asking… How bad is your condition right now?"

I suppressed the bitterness in my heart and mumbled, "It’s not too bad yet. I can’t taste or smell anymore, but I can still hear clearly, and I still feel pain. My vision is growing blurrier though…"

Xu Ning replied, "Understood… one more thing. I went to visit the big miss the day before yesterday. There is not a day that passes by without her crying for you to come back. She even…"

"Even what?"

"A few days ago, she ordered a driver to take her to your hometown thinking you might be there. When she scoured the whole place to no avail, she cried for a long time inside the car. Don’t… don’t you think our current arrangement is a torture both for you and for her…?"

I sucked in a deep breath. "I know, Uncle Ning, I know… but I still can’t show myself to her, especially now. She will be frightened if she sees me in my current state[2]…"

"I understand. I’m in no position to judge if your decision is the correct one," Xu Ning chuckled. "Stay strong, Lu Chen. You are our pride. You must live for not only Xinran, but also the entire China server."

"Yeah, I will…"

……

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

9 days before the final day.

I hadn’t been able to sleep properly the whole night. My skin felt like the surface of an erupting volcano. When I woke up the next day, I discovered that the bed sheets had become drenched in purple blood[3]. My skin was beginning to show signs of deterioration as well.

When Gui Guzi came through the door and saw my appearance, he immediately lost his composure and started shedding tears like crazy. Despite that, he kept quiet and injected me with another suppressant. After that, he said in a quiet voice, "Can you still hear me, Boss Broken Halberd?"

I nodded. "Sure I can. In fact, you could keep it down a little…"

"Heh…"

He turned around and took out a book from his bag. He said, "Boss Eve wants me to give you this. Well, she wanted to pass it to you personally, but I turned her down and… she actually tried to tail my car on my way here. I managed to shake her off at the Wujiang roads though…"

"..."

I received the book. It had a pure white cover with the title "Life Is Like the Flower of Summer" on it. I flipped it open and found a passage written by He Yi herself on the title page. It said, "Life is as dazzling as the flower of summer. How can you leave when summer hasn’t yet passed? We are all waiting for you to return, Lu Chen”.

I closed the book and stayed quiet for a while. I couldn’t even begin to describe my feelings.

Gui Guzi patted me once on the shoulder and asked, "Do you miss her?"

I clenched my fists. My body trembled, and tears were welling inside my eyes. "I would be lying if I said I didn’t. In the past year, I have never been away from her for so long. It’s funny how humans only tend to realize how precious certain things are when they’re about to lose them. I regret not giving her the love she deserved, and failing to make her realize the depths of my love…"

Gui Guzi smiled. "You still have a chance to make things right, boss. You will have all the time in the world to make things right if you live through this. As I see it, the countdown to your death is irrelevant. The only countdown I need is the only toward the completion of your virus’s analysis. Once that reaches 100%, I’m sure scientists will come up with plenty of ways to cure you permanently. After all, many of them are Nobel prize winners, and some have even been featured in the Times magazine…"

I nodded. "I know, I know… Say, how is your team doing in the WEL? The final battle should be close, right?"

"Yeah. Things are going fairly smoothly. We’ve encountered some difficult opponents, but none were strong enough to deal us the fatal blow. Li had defeated Song of Ice and Fire in just 17 seconds after getting your equipment. That is all you need to hear to know how strong he’s become. Right now, his biggest goal is probably to defeat Candlelight Shadow in the national finals[4]."

I smiled. "Yeah. That is what I wish to see as well. Only by defeating Candlelight Shadow can Chengfeng truly surpass his limits just like I had!"

"Yeah…"

……

5 days until the final day.

My vision had finally gone from blurry to an impenetrable gray haze. I could barely see anything now.

This time, it took Gui Guzi until past 4 pm to finally show up.

"Boss Broken Halberd, your eyes…" Gui Guzi let out an uncontrollable sob the moment he saw me. "Can you… can you not see me anymore? I…"

I smiled while holding the back of my chair. "So what? It’s nothing to cry about. Anyway, I guess you would like to give me another suppressant?"

"There won’t be a suppressant anymore, boss. The doctors said that the existing suppressants are completely useless now. What the fuck are the Americans doing anyway? They should’ve made a breakthrough by now!"

I said, "Patience. These things need time…"

"There are only five days left, and your body has already deteriorated to this extent! You don’t have much time!"

"Enough, Little Gui. I would like you to go home and give me some peace and quiet. Also, you can stop coming over since the suppressants no longer work on me. I’ll be fine. Uncle can take care of me…"

Gui Guzi’s voice grew urgent. "I cannot possibly do that!"

I chided him, "Are you a man or what? Even if you continue to visit me everyday, there is nothing you can do to improve my condition, is there? What you should do right now is focus on the WEL. Even if I die, I need you and Chengfeng to hold the banner of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls high. Don’t forget the oath we swore back then. A life may end, but our dreams will forever live on. With some luck, I may yet live in your hearts after I’m gone…"

Gui Guzi retorted while crying, "Who the fuck would want a dude’s spirit in their heart!? We only accept pretty ladies, so you’d better stay alive if it’s the last thing you do, you hear me? Don’t let us down, boss. We are all waiting for you to come back!"

I patted him on the shoulder and said, "Yeah. Now go. I promise you I will go home alive and continue conquering Heavenblessed with everyone…"

"Yeah…"

Gui Guzi left the room reluctantly. It wasn’t until ten minutes later before I finally heard the engine of a Buick being started.

……

3 days until the final day.

My body was near the state of total collapse. I was sitting beneath the shade of a tree, but I could neither feel the cool brush of a wind nor feel the burning pain of the sunlight. My vision had become so dim that I could barely see anything besides darkness and shadows.

I could feel my last bit of vitality departing my body. I closed my eyes and felt like crying all of a sudden. Perhaps a silent passing would be beneficial for me and everyone else.

But… but I couldn’t let go of the threads of fate connecting me to everyone, even at the end of my life. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Xinran, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, everyone… I just couldn’t let them go.

……

Pa…

My arm fell off my lap and brushed against a few shoots of grass. I could no longer muster even the strength to raise it back to my lap.

Is this how it ends? Tears started rolling down my cheeks profusely.

It was at this moment I heard the gate opening with a creak. Is it uncle coming back from somewhere?

Suddenly, I felt someone grabbing my hand and lifting my drooping arm back to my lap. I opened my eyes and tried to identify the person standing in front of me to no avail. I murmured, "I…"

Drip…

Hot tears dripped against the back of my hand, but they weren’t mine. Albeit faintly, amid the sobbing I could make out the words, "Little Cheat…"

1. T/N: Little Gui, dude, you bought a fucking Alienware notebook for him? Seriously? ☜

2. T/N: honestly, I wonder if Xinran could’ve worked her goddess powers on him somehow. But at this time no one knows that the game "Eternal Moon" is a real universe—future novel spoilers—yet, so it’s a moot point ☜

3. T/N: poor landlord. Imagine taking a dude who, to be fair, paid you a lot of money for one month's stay, but looks like a walking sack of transmittable diseases the more time passes ☜

4. T/N: What the fuck? I remember the local competition of the first WEL ending in just 2 or 3 days before moving on to the internationals super quickly. Did it get extended or something? ☜