Chapter 131: Awakening

Everything she stood for had been an encouragement to Xiaolei, keeping her company as she slowly grew up. How could she possibly abandon her now?

"Heal, Heal..."

Drinking bottle after bottle of the blue potion Kong Zhe handed her, Xiaolei wiped away her tears. Enduring the turbulent flow of magic power within her, she cast the spell repeatedly.

A pure white light flickered on and off over Tuan Tuan’s body. With every pulse, Tuan Tuan’s complexion seemed to improve, as if the pain were being momentarily lifted. However, the moment Xiaolei stopped, Tuan Tuan would revert to her previous state.

Thus, Xiaolei could not stop. Under the pained gazes of Xue Feifei and Kong Zhe, she gritted her teeth and waved her hand forward again and again.

"You are the luckiest woman in this world..."

In that forest, the girl who called herself "Future" had once said those words to her.

*God, if that is true, please share some of that luck with this girl. Please, let her wake up...*

*Wake up...*

"Ugh..."

A faint, weak sound emerged from the lips of the girl whose eyes remained closed.

"Tuan Tuan!"

Xue Feifei gasped, thinking she had misheard. Everyone crowded around with expressions of astonishment. They had all assumed there was no hope left, yet Xiaolei had actually managed to bring her back!

Even Xiaolei covered her mouth, unable to believe what she was seeing. Had God truly heard her prayers?

A moment later, Xiaolei snapped back to reality. She hurriedly quickened her pace, disregarding the waste of magic power, and poured endless healing spells into Tuan Tuan.

Under their expectant gazes, Tuan Tuan’s fingers twitched, and then she slowly opened her eyes.

"Tuan Tuan!"

"Ugh..."

"Tuan Tuan, it’s okay, it’s okay..."

Seeing Tuan Tuan open her eyes, the tears Xiaolei had been holding back finally spilled over, and she sobbed uncontrollably. It was all right; her efforts had not been in vain. She had finally managed to help Tuan Tuan.

As if her strength had been drained in an instant, Xiaolei’s body went limp. She collapsed to the side, caught in Kong Zhe’s arms.

"Good job, Xiaolei. You’ve worked hard!" Kong Zhe patted her back, offering comfort.

Xiaolei’s healing magic was clearly of a very high level. While it might not look different from low-level healing in terms of data, the difference became apparent at a moment like this. Tuan Tuan, who had shown no signs of illness upon examination, had been brought back to consciousness by her sheer persistence.

"Cough, cough..."

The weak sound made everyone tense up again, and they all looked toward Tuan Tuan, who lay in Xue Feifei’s arms. Although Tuan Tuan had opened her eyes, they remained unfocused. She turned her head slightly, surveying the group, until her gaze finally landed on Xue Feifei’s face. After a moment, her pupils finally sharpened.

"Sister..."

This call hit Xue Feifei like a lightning bolt, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

*Sister...*

How long had it been since she last heard that title? It felt like an eternity, so distant that she could only find traces of it in the dust-covered corners of her memory—so long that the title itself felt almost foreign. Did she truly deserve to be called a sister?

"Sister, is it really you?"

Her clothes were being tightly clutched. Tuan Tuan’s tearful voice finally brought Xue Feifei back to her senses.

"Yes... it’s me! Don’t be afraid, Tuan Tuan, Sister is here!"

"Ugh... wuu wuu..."

Tuan Tuan’s nose crinkled, and she suddenly began to wail. Xue Feifei grew frantic. "Tuan Tuan, what’s wrong? Does it hurt somewhere?"

"Wuu wuu, Sister, you finally came back. I... wuu wuu, I missed you so much!"

Tuan Tuan remained incredibly weak, her pale body unable to move in Xue Feifei’s arms, but tears streamed down her face. It was as if she had finally found her anchor, and she was pouring out all the grievances she had suffered over the years.

"I... I..." Xue Feifei covered her mouth, at a loss for words, tears swirling in her eyes.

"Sister... where have you been all these years? Wuu wuu... the Angelic Saintess took over your body. Even though you two looked the same, I knew she wasn’t you. She wouldn’t tell me stories, and she never smiled at me... She was obsessed with studying light magic all day... The birthday gifts she gave me were just perfunctory, and she wouldn’t even care when I was sick... she was always scolding me for being troublesome..."

Every word Tuan Tuan spoke felt like a knife cutting into her heart. Xue Feifei lowered her head, unable to stop her tears from falling. What had she done all these years?

"Sister, you won’t leave again, will you?" Tuan Tuan seemed to regain some strength, her voice becoming agitated as she gripped Xue Feifei tightly, as if afraid she might run away. "Sister, I don’t want you to leave. Promise me you’ll never leave me again, okay?"

"Of course... Sister will never leave you again..." Xue Feifei wiped the tears from her face, kissed Tuan Tuan on the forehead, and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Never again... Sister promises! I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again... absolutely!"

Kong Zhe watched the scene with a faint smile, feeling a sense of relief. Regardless of everything, after this, the relationship between the two sisters had finally thawed.

"That’s wonderful! Wuu wuu..." Beside them, Xiaolei clutched her mouth, watching the scene with teary eyes, whispering to herself. It was unclear if she was celebrating Tuan Tuan’s recovery or the fact that the sisters had finally set aside their grievances.

Behind them, Hong Ling and the Fatty were also unusually quiet, watching the heartwarming scene with moist eyes. Further away, Yang Fang and her students stood silently, no one daring to break the hush.

From the fragments of conversation, everyone understood what had transpired between them. Watching the two sisters sobbing in each other’s arms, many students silently shed tears, perhaps reminded of their own families and wondering if they were safe.

The atmosphere turned somber. Kong Zhe shook his head and, without disturbing anyone, quietly left the area to head toward the location of the Inheritance Crystal.

Things here had reached a conclusion. Although Tuan Tuan had not fully recovered, she was at least awake. As for what to do next, they would have to take it one step at a time.

Failing to capture those two individuals was a regret, but with the combat experience gained today, Kong Zhe was confident he could capture them alive next time. He would have to extract the information from them then.

Now that the matter was settled and the gold had been obtained, it was time to proceed with the original plan—identifying the Tarot cards.

As he approached the soccer field, Kong Zhe felt two scorching gazes lock onto him. Looking up, he saw that it wasn’t just the arrogant raccoon cat; even the woman who had previously been so gentle was now glaring at him with fury, making his scalp tingle.

He knew exactly why their attitudes had shifted so drastically.

NPCs had an invisible evaluation standard for every Awakened, commonly known as "favorability." This rating determined how NPCs treated you, and even affected the level of quests and rewards they offered. Consequently, many people spent great effort farming favorability with NPCs before accepting quests to increase their chances of getting high-level missions. Conversely, if you offended an NPC, your favorability would drop, and they would make things difficult for you in various ways.

Unfortunately, attacking an Inheritance Crystal was one of the surest ways to anger an NPC. Even showing the intent to attack would earn their disdain, let alone the fact that Kong Zhe had blown the crystal to pieces with a single shot. He figured these two NPCs probably hated him to the bone.

He shook his head, but there was nothing to be done. He wouldn’t have offended the NPCs if he had a choice, but he hadn’t had one at the time.

He curled his lip; since he was already here, he couldn’t retreat. He braced himself and walked up to the raccoon cat.

"I need to identify something. The grade is unknown!"

Upon hearing his voice, the raccoon cat opened one eye, glanced at him, and said flatly, "Unknown, huh... six hundred gold coins!"

"Six..." Kong Zhe froze, then nearly jumped up in anger. "Didn’t you say five hundred yesterday?"

"Yesterday was yesterday, today is today. If you’re not happy about it, you’re welcome to go find someone else." The raccoon cat crossed its arms and closed its eyes, looking entirely indifferent. Kong Zhe’s eye twitched. If not for the "invincible" status icon floating above the creature’s head, he would have punched it already.

He sighed, realizing that the raccoon cat was clearly gouging him because he had smashed the crystal. It was taking advantage of the situation to extort him, but he had no choice. He had finally gathered the gold and found an appraiser; if he missed this chance, who knew when he would find another? His Tarot cards needed to be identified as soon as possible.

"Fine. Six hundred it is."

Kong Zhe sighed and took out all the gold he had found at the gold bank from his ring. "Take a look and tell me how much this is worth."

Seeing that Kong Zhe hadn’t produced gold coins but rather a pile of raw gold, the raccoon cat didn’t seem surprised. After all, in the early days of this apocalypse, obtaining six hundred gold coins was nearly impossible. Even the most powerful Awakened didn’t have that kind of time. It had expected the raw gold from the start.

The raccoon cat stroked its chin, weighing each piece of gold in its hand. After a moment of silence, it said, "Six hundred and fifty gold coins!"

Kong Zhe nodded. It was about what he had estimated. It seemed that while the raccoon cat was angry, it had only taken its revenge on the appraisal fee and hadn’t actually cheated him on the value of the gold itself.