Chapter 341
Chapter 341
Chapter 341
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 341 – Lan Qi’s Moment of Peace
Northern Border of the Protos Empire.
Dandellen City, situated between the Empire’s Northern Border Province and the Snowfield Province, rests on a snow-covered plain between two towering mountain ranges.
This independent city spends most of the year blanketed in snow, with shorter daylight hours and nights longer than days—like most city-states in the northern borderlands.
Thanks to its abundant surrounding resources, scholars, hunters, prospectors, and adventurers from the Snowfield Province often stop here to rest.
In the center of town, near a small plaza, stood a three-story building made of dark wood and gray stone. Its cone-shaped roof was thickly layered with snow, like a silver-white cloak, and wooden wind chimes hung from the eaves, clinking dryly with the wind.
This was the best inn one could find in the city.
Inside one of the spacious rooms on the third floor—no matter how the wind and snow howled outside, the interior remained quiet under soft, natural light.
Only the occasional sound of turning pages at a round, high-legged wooden table broke the silence—and, even softer, the sound of Sigrid’s breathing under the heavy blankets.
Her face looked completely at ease, her eyelashes faintly trembling.
No one knew how long she had lain like this before she finally opened her eyes.
The winter on the northern border was so bitterly cold that most interiors here were decorated with raw wood or warm, plain colors.
Sigrid soon spotted the tall, elegant figure sitting on a nearby chair, holding a book in one hand, looking like some old headmaster.
In the dim light, he appeared exceptionally composed, dressed in a traditional dark suit, the outer coat perfectly pressed, every line neat. His downcast eyes were deep, carrying a blend of experience and wisdom.
His left hand held the book’s spine firmly. After a while, he turned a page with a slow, steady motion, and in the wooden room, that sound felt especially clear—as though the entire world existed between those pages.
He turned his head slightly.
“Cat Boss went out to buy groceries.”
Lan Qi had a rough guess that Sigrid’s sleepy gaze meant she was hungry, but lunch wasn’t ready yet.
Sure, they could just buy lunch from the town shops—but Cat Boss insisted that outside food was unhealthy and only the meals it made were nutritionally balanced.
Right now, Sid was still recovering from his severe injuries, and Cat Boss had begun to take care of Sigrid as well, even overcoming its fear of her.
Even if Sigrid said nothing, Cat Boss could tell she was far tougher than she appeared.
Her wounds weren’t failing to heal—they were repeatedly regenerating and tearing open, canceling each other out, forcing her to endure unimaginable pain constantly.To keep such a calm expression was something few humans could manage.
“Sigh… without strength, my body feels so heavy… like I can’t move under the blanket.”
Sigrid murmured softly, wrapped in the warmth of the heavy quilt.
The last time she’d fallen asleep, it had been night. Now it was already day.
She could hardly believe she’d slept nearly ten hours straight just because of the cold weather, completely dead to the world with no alertness at all.
Each day, to ensure she got good rest, the Holy Son and the little black cat would find a town to stay in whenever possible.
You didn’t notice it out on the street—but lying here inside, looking out the window, the drifting snowflakes looked beautiful.
Soon, she believed, these cotton-like snowflakes would turn the whole town white.
“If you’re tired, just sleep. I’ll wake you when Cat Boss finishes cooking.”
Travel wasn’t recommended in this weather.
In the Empire’s far north, more residents died from winter weather in late and early months than from bandits or beasts.
“Mm.”
Sigrid murmured, curling up under the blanket, half covering her face.
The Holy Son’s already gentle voice now sounded even more like a lullaby.
She closed her eyes—but didn’t fall asleep right away.
“Holy Son… can you still use that big explosion again?”
She had kept this question until now, not asking when the little black cat was around, so as not to scare it.
The further they traveled, the closer they’d come to the Annihilation Branch’s blockade.
Even just reaching the Snowfield Province was going to be difficult—not to mention breaking through the blockade of the northern provinces.
But on the bright side—this man was the governor of the Snowfield Province.The Annihilation Bishop would never guess that the true identity of the Ba'tian Holy Son was the very governor of the province.
Once they reached the Snowfield Province, they’d be in Lan Qi’s territory.
“Still needs about ten days to recover.”
Lan Qi casually took out the orange Epic card and showed her the still-recovering [Nuclear Fusion Wolf].
Right now, [Nuclear Fusion Wolf] was unusable.Every time it self-detonated, it needed a full month to repair itself.
And any unbound, encapsulated rare purple cards that got caught in its blast were reduced to ashes.
Even if he could use it again, he didn’t have anything like the Abyssal Black Worm, which was as powerful as uranium-235 for fuel.
Nor did he have much other fuel left.
“Then… can you beat a Sixth-Tier now?”
In the past, Sigrid had felt that as long as she was around, the Holy Son’s strength was enough to face anything from Fourth to Sixth Tier.But now, with him as the pillar holding everything up, she suddenly realized how big the gap between tiers really was.
“I can deal with Fifth-Tier opponents. Sixth-Tier? No chance.”
If Sid—who was roughly Fifth-Tier—were fighting alongside him, together they could take down an average Sixth-Tier.
But if it were someone like the Saintess of Destruction or the Son of Annihilation—those top-tier Sixth-Tier monsters—there was no way they could win head-on.
[Nuclear Fusion Wolf] was strong, but its cooldown was simply too long.
[Great Poet of Love] wasn’t around right now—and honestly, it felt quieter without her.
The real Talia wasn’t all that impressive, and the knock-off version was even more useless.
If he could use Great Poet of Love as fuel for [Nuclear Fusion Wolf] one day, that wouldn’t be bad—she’d be quiet for a month afterward.Two birds with one stone.
But if he really did that, she might never listen to him again.
“What if the Son of Annihilation finds us?”
Sigrid knew better than anyone how powerful the former Ba'tian Saintess was—and anyone who had beaten her had to be even stronger.
“Then I’ll just have to… pray to a god.”
Lan Qi sighed softly, closing his book.
For a moment, Sigrid couldn’t tell what he meant by “pray to a god.”
But she could vaguely sense that…he didn’t need that god’s permission to “pray.”
“Then I really want to see which god you can summon when the time comes.”
That was just how her Holy Son was—he hadn’t panicked before the Annihilation Bishop or the Black Robes, and now, even with the Son of Annihilation closing in, he still remained calm.
Though following him felt like living on the edge of life and death—she strangely found herself enjoying it.
That was just one more reason to like him.
(End of Chapter)