After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 64.2

The old advisor angrily sought out the organization.

However, he was met with collectively helpless looks.

The old advisor felt something was wrong and frowned, asking, “What’s going on?”

The leader replied helplessly, “It’s Abyss Lord Buer who wanted this to be made public worldwide, as one of the conditions for assisting us.”

The old advisor was dumbfounded, completely at a loss.

Abyss Lord Buer… what was Her purpose?

What scheme did She have?

****

Meanwhile, Xiu Si continued reading the news for about ten more minutes. He still felt something was off, but this was imperial news after all, so perhaps it was really like this?

It seemed that Abyss Lord Buer was quite observant of contracts.

He nodded silently, his impression changing.

In a place he hadn’t noticed, a previously unseen kitten appeared in the corner of the bookshelf.

It was clearly a short-legged cat with short blue and white fur, known as a Munchkin cat on the Blue Star.

It hid behind the bookshelf, timidly looking at the black-haired youth, its pale green eyes slightly glistening with tears.

It seemed to want to approach very much, but was too timid, hesitating to get close.

Its brothers and sisters were too mean, actually hiding information about their father.

Its Father, the father it had missed and longed for for so long, seemed to have really returned!

But after so long, would Father still recognize it? It was so useless, small and weak, the weakest among its siblings. With such a low presence, had Father already forgotten about it? Even if it appeared again, Father might not recognize it.

The little cute cat took a step forward, then timidly retracted its paw, shrinking back, its heart full of trepidation.

It was a timid child, often mocked by other brothers and sisters for lacking courage.

Even after thousands of years, its personality hadn’t changed at all.

Father surely wouldn’t like it. Father had so many children, how could he like it? Thinking of this, Celerios’s eyes welled up with tears, almost starting to sob.

Suddenly, the young man who had been focused on reading raised his eyes and called out to the darkness.

“Celerios.”

The little cute cat’s fur stood on end.

“Have you come back?”

It lifted its head, its large cat eyes reflecting the young man’s figure, then it could no longer hold back and quickly pounced towards him.

“Meow meow!”

“There, there. Are you alright?”

Xiu Si picked up the little short-legged cat.

At this moment, the three demons and one god sealed in the space looked at each other.

Beelzebub turned his gaze. “Buer, it’s all your fault.”

Buer replied nonchalantly. “It’s just one more, isn’t it? Celerios misses Father so much, what’s wrong with letting Him see Father?”

Aelioge: “Heh, this is how a demon’s bottom line keeps dropping.”

The little black bird weakly said, “Um… we’re locked up here, shouldn’t we figure out a way to get out?”

Celerios’s domain was completely sealed. It wasn’t that there was no way to break through, in fact, they could force their way out, but that would inevitably harm Celerios.

Their fights were mostly minor scuffles, rarely getting serious with siblings, let alone causing real harm.

After all, they were siblings, it was impossible to really fight to the death unless it involved a matter of principle.

And their matter of principle was none other than their attitude towards their father.

Beelzebub: “I originally wanted to settle scores with the Goddess of Fortune, but now it seems we’ll have to wait.”

Buer looked at Him in surprise upon hearing this, “You’re finally taking your curse seriously?”

Beelzebub paused.

He always took small matters lightly, and hadn’t been very aware of this. After being told repeatedly, he appeared indifferent on the surface, but was actually reflecting a bit in his heart.

“Who wants to be cursed? Back then, I just burned a few sets of Her clothes.”

Aelioge turned his gaze, not yet saying anything.

Buer exploded first, “You burned Her clothes!”

He seemed to empathize, his cheeks puffing up in anger.

Beelzebub looked calm, “So what?”

Buer punched the air, “That’s why I say you guys are unreliable!”

You’re the top in terms of being unreliable.

The three demons exchanged glances, but knew it was meaningless. They’d wait for Justin to recover before saying more.

****

Elsewhere, seemingly in someone’s dream.

Past events shattered, bizarre scenes flashed by, countless human faces overlapped and scattered, as if the timeline had been disrupted.

Consciousness was as muddled as paste, will flickering like a flame.

In the haze, a fragment of memory lit up. It was a quiet summer day, with the empty and cool sound of cicadas constantly ringing in the ears, the nostrils filled with the natural smell of flowers, grass, and earth mixed together, and a temperature that made one sweat profusely.

Why was it so hot? It seemed they had gone to a location near the tropics, where it was unbearably hot, to the point of irritation. Along the way, there were also a bunch of low-level but very troublesome small monsters, fighting them easily made people irritable.

Justin was originally of a gentle nature, but in that excessively hot environment, he became irritable and spoke harshly.

In fact, after just one day, their small team had argued many times about which direction to proceed. Almost everyone had their own preferred route, claiming their chosen path was the most correct. The result was going in circles repeatedly, unable to escape that ominous tropical forest.

At that time, they had only been transported to this world for about a month and didn’t know each other well. His impression of Brother Xiu was limited to “a mild-mannered online friend,” and after meeting in person, he thought of him as a gentle friend in real life as well.

Amidst the repeated circular paths and steadily rising temperatures, they all harbored some anger in their hearts. They had argued several rounds, with people becoming increasingly irritable.

Yes, except for Brother Xiu.

That person remained extremely emotionally stable in any environment, as if nothing was a big deal, everything would work out naturally.

He once thought this was a facade, that it was fake. People couldn’t possibly be that emotionally stable, especially since that person was even the weakest among them in terms of ability. How could he be so carefree, without showing any emotion?

This seemed too fake, inconsistent with his view of people at the time. As someone who grew up under long-term domestic violence, he was accustomed to his parents’ various emotional outbursts, often becoming the victim of their loss of control.

Perhaps because of this, he paid extra attention to that person. On the surface, they got along peacefully, but deep down, in some dark corner of his mind, he hoped there would be a time when that person would lose emotional control.

This was an inappropriate thought. At least, people who knew him would think he was honest, gentle, and easy to talk to, even considering him meek and easily bullied, rather than believing he could harbor such thoughts.

At that time, after going in circles ten times, their conflicts erupted, with everyone insisting on their own views, believing they were right.

After a big argument, in the middle of the day, four out of the seven team members left.

He also felt disheartened, thinking there was no point in continuing with this team, and that it would be better to survive on their own.

In the end, it seemed only two people remained at the original campsite.

He casually found a lakeside spot and started planning how to survive alone in this otherworld. But as he thought about it, deep down, he couldn’t completely let go of the bond with his fellow countrymen.

They had been transported here together and had finally managed to reorganize the team after much friction. Would they really disband over a small conflict?

He stared at the lake, his emotions boiling like water, lost in thought, almost forgetting his surroundings.

Until a voice suddenly sounded beside him, he finally came to his senses, looking at his side in surprise.

“Are you alright?”

The black-haired young man had appeared at some point, looking at him with concern.

He was slightly stunned and instinctively replied, “I’m… I’m fine.”

“Have some water.”

Before he could react, the other person smiled and handed over a water pouch.

He had been so focused, sealed in his own world, that he had forgotten about his own thirst.

So when he came to his senses, he couldn’t help but accept the water pouch offered by the other person.

As he drank, he heard the other person speak softly, “Your profession is very important to the team, unlike mine. I’ve already persuaded the others to come back, only you’re left. Justin, can you come back?”

Hearing this, he almost choked on the water, taking a last rough gulp, “You… you persuaded them all to come back?”

The black-haired young man nodded, “Maybe it’s because they see me as older, they all gave me face. Now it’s just you left. Can you come back? The team can’t be without a healer.”

He was stunned and, unusually, didn’t immediately agree. For someone like him who appeared to be a nice guy, he should have nodded obediently, saying something like, “Is that so? I’m really sorry for causing trouble for everyone, I’ll go back right away.”

These words were indeed stuck in his throat, almost making him say them.

But perhaps his state of mind had shifted at that time, and he actually questioned the other person.

“After encountering so many things, don’t you have any emotions? Don’t you want to leave the team? This transportation has disrupted all our lives, everyone has lost their temper, but I’ve never seen you say anything. Why can you be so calm? Don’t you have even a bit of emotion?”

He looked into the other’s eyes, his tone carrying a hint of skepticism.

And the other person directly admitted, “I do.”

Just one word, and he was caught off guard, stammering.

“You say you do… but I’ve never seen you complain.”

“Is that so.”

The mottled sunlight fell on the black-haired youth’s face, making him appear somewhat unreal. The youth lowered his gaze, as if deep in thought, and after a few seconds said, “I do complain, but I can’t complain in front of you guys, can I? I don’t have much talent or ability, I just want to try not to cause trouble for you, so how could I possibly trouble you in return?”

He listened, feeling stunned, unable to react for a moment.

“I’m not that calm, actually I’ve always been very scared, afraid that one day you’ll abandon me, after all I really can’t do anything.”

Perhaps to lighten the mood, the black-haired youth laughed and honestly admitted, “I was also worried you wouldn’t listen to me, after all I have the least say in the team. But, I sincerely hope you’ll come back.”

“… Is that so.”

He felt more and more dazed as he listened.

Then the other person said that one sentence.

“Seven of us came, so of course seven of us should return.”

“I hope no one will fall behind. If there are any difficulties, we few compatriots can work together to overcome them, can’t we? Because we are heroes, aren’t we?”

After saying this, the black-haired youth seemingly felt that this speech was a bit chuunibyou, so he could only laugh to break the awkwardness, but his slightly reddened face had already clearly revealed his state of mind.

It seemed that even he felt embarrassed to say it out loud.

But those words had truly touched him at that time.

It wasn’t simply an appeal to emotions, but more because… he realized that the other person had never been fake.

What he had thought was calm composure was actually a facade that the other person had struggled to maintain.

He had once darkly hoped to see the other person’s emotions, but the truth was, the other person always had emotions – nervousness, unease, hesitation – but had always kept them suppressed beneath a pretense.

Strength and fragility coexisted, fragility formed strength, and strength concealed fragility.

The other person was just such a living, breathing human, just like him, both living, breathing humans.

After realizing this, a feeling suddenly welled up in his heart, as if something had finally been unblocked, and his heart could finally sense the cold and warmth outside.

What had he answered then?

“…”

Justin allowed the fragments of memory to reassemble in his mind, piecing together their exchanged smiles after that conversation, and their casual chat as they walked back to the team together.

It was hard to say exactly how much space that brief adventure occupied in his life.

The most memorable part wasn’t even those life-and-death trials, but the casual chats after those trials.

He learned a lot about them, and they learned a lot about him.

… If it had been in their original world, they would never have had the chance to get so close to each other.

In this sense, this crossing over was a good thing, allowing him to gain something he had never had before, to experience warmth he had never imagined.

Later, they learned to find joy in hardship. Although they often encountered difficulties, they could always find ways to solve them, until – that person’s sudden disappearance.

It was as if someone had abruptly shattered a mirror, the surface instantly breaking into pieces, impossible to make whole again.

Justin’s pupils trembled, and he couldn’t help but give a bitter laugh.

“You said you hoped I wouldn’t fall behind, but you were the one who fell behind.”

“Without any warning, not even a chance to grab you, I could only watch helplessly as you fell, then the abyss closed, completely cutting us off, never to be seen again.”

Justin’s sea of memories continued to surge. He recalled too many past events, the long-cooled passion in his heart somewhat rekindling from the ashes.

Many things happened afterwards.

He couldn’t keep up, everything was a blur, until a white light flashed, and the scene before his eyes no longer seemed illusory, but fell into reality.

What came into view was a white ceiling, blindingly white.

“What, you’ve finally decided to wake up?”

Before he could fully come to his senses, a silver-haired, green-eyed woman appeared in his field of vision.

“Hero Justin, are you fully conscious? Can you remember things from before?”

Another youth approached, with a stern and dignified face.

“I think he’s awake.”

Another youth also came closer, his brow slightly furrowed, exuding a natural arrogance.

A small black bird landed on him, its bean-sized eyes looking left and right. For a bird, It was obviously too clever.

He was confused for a moment about who They were, and instinctively asked, “Who are you?”

Buer curved her lips into a smile, raised an eyebrow, exuding confidence, “Since you’ve asked so sincerely, I’ll be merciful and tell you.”

Justin felt inexplicably nervous from Her demeanor.

Buer continued to declare. “Hehe, I’m your Brother Xiu’s child, Abyss Lord Buer! They are my siblings, also Abyss Lords! Oh right, now all the Abyss Lords are Father’s children, twenty-four of them, plus a few gods, hmm, that’s how it is!”

Justin’s eyes widened, and he sat up in shock on the spot.