After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 72.1

The little short-legged cat quickly hid back under its father’s clothes, like a soft, fluffy cotton ball forcibly squeezing into an adult’s coat.

Norman Til, sensing something, turned his head to look in the direction of the bookstore.

Since he had already walked a few steps, from his current position he could not see the front desk of the bookstore, only a few bookshelves inside.

The lighting in the bookstore was ample, as if carefully designed, giving people a good feeling.

Norman Til paused to observe, noticing the discussions of passersby at the entrance.

The passing citizens seemed to have a favorable impression of this bookstore.

Several women covered their faces with folding fans, their eyes full of smiles.

“Oh my, why did the little kitty hide?”

“What’s wrong, little cutie? Come out and let auntie see you~”

“It even hid under daddy’s clothes, how adorable.”

They seemed to be discussing the store owner’s pet?

Norman Til was a bit curious, and faint shadows of elves appeared around him.

The elves were of various colors, seven color systems in total, each from one of the seven elf nations. They flew back and forth around Norman Til, emitting laughter like silver bells. After a few seconds, they all got down to business, staring at the bookstore for a while.

Then, they didn’t discover anything.

Norman Til’s pupils constricted slightly as he muttered to himself. “Could my feeling have been wrong…”

A few seconds later, he turned and walked away.

At this moment, the little short-legged cat shook its body and tremblingly poked its head out from under its father’s clothes.

It was fortunate that its father was wearing a cotton coat today, otherwise it wouldn’t have known where to hide.

The little short-legged cat looked out and blinked, suddenly feeling a bit reflective. The other person was human, though big brother’s contractor, but wasn’t it big brother’s little sibling? Why should it be afraid?

It tried hard to think, then decided of course it should be afraid! Because it had also become an accomplice in hiding things from big brother, and big brother would definitely beat it if he found out.

Letting big brother’s contractor know was the same as letting big brother know!

“Meow-ow-ow.”

The little short-legged cat pursed its mouth, furrowing its brow into a bundle, as if already imagining that terrible scene.

Big brother was violent, beating demons fiercely. When it was young, it was thrown by big brother into a pile of giant demons, training harshly every day, almost dying.

It had neither strength nor dared to defy big brother.

“Ow-ow meow.”

It lowered its head, as if thinking of a solution.

Although it was a silly demon, it seemed to be trying hard now.

On the other side, Xiu Si, focused on work, didn’t notice its emotions.

He occasionally looked back, only seeing the little cat curled up, crouching on the chair, almost becoming a cotton ball.

How cute.

Xiu Si’s lips curved upward, his smile blossoming, as he casually stroked the little short-legged cat’s head.

The little short-legged cat was worried, but father patted its head.

It followed Xiu Si’s movement, raising its head, stretching its neck, paws scratching, being extremely obedient.

Never mind, never mind, after all, it was something big brothers and sisters started first, big brother definitely wouldn’t blame it.

“Meow meow~”

It nuzzled against its father’s hand, almost pressing its entire body against it.

****

Meanwhile. Half a day earlier.

After saying goodbye to Xiu Si, Justin arrived at Buer’s domain space.

Just as he said when saying goodbye, he came to find Luo Jie.

Setting aside the time of the seal, for him, Luo Jie was a good friend he hadn’t seen in over a hundred years.

For Luo Jie, he was a good friend not seen in two to three thousand years.

This time difference was somewhat difficult to reconcile.

“Luo Jie, you’ve really aged.”

Justin moved a chair to the bedside and sat looking at Luo Jie on the bed.

Luo Jie still couldn’t move, couldn’t even turn his head, and could only look at Justin through the slits of his eyes.

Seeing his long-unseen hero friend, Luo Jie managed to squeeze out a faint smile, “You’ve come back too?”

Actually, Buer had just thrown some information to him, letting him know about Justin’s return and various circumstances about Justin.

Justin smiled, “This is all thanks to the nephews and niece.”

Luo Jie lifted his eyelids, “So you know everything too.”

Justin: “Yes, I was severely shocked.”

“Ha, when I learned about Their identities, I almost doubted my entire life.”

Though Luo Jie’s body couldn’t move, his speech was fluent.

He looked at Justin sideways.

Justin also looked at him.

Two souls aged, but with temporarily youthful appearances, gazed at each other.

After a few seconds of silence.

Luo Jie’s gaze fixed on the ceiling, his eyes filled with complex emotions, “No matter what, Brother Xiu is still alive, that’s reassuring at least.”

Justin asked curiously. “Did you also go to the abyss every year to look for Brother Xiu later on?”

Luo Jie answered almost immediately. “Yes.”

Justin couldn’t help but say, “You’re really persistent.”

Luo Jie glared at Justin, “Aren’t you the same?”

“Haha.”

Justin laughed somewhat carelessly.

Luo Jie and Justin actually didn’t get along well, whether at the beginning or later, their personalities were definitely not compatible.

When the two of them were together, it was often silent staring, with nothing to talk about.

When Luo Jie was young, he had a spirited young man feel, grinning and laughing, with a particularly clear kind of stupidity.

At least that’s how it seemed to Justin.

Conversely, in Luo Jie’s view, Justin was an introverted troublesome person, looking weak and indeed being weak, but seemingly meek on the surface, yet if you really said something in his minefield, he would immediately become like a hedgehog, coldly staring at you.

He was a fellow who was troublesome, gloomy, and inconsistent inside and out.

Perhaps because Luo Jie was born in the countryside and only moved to the city to study in his teens, he was particularly averse to those wealthy peers raised in affluence.

And Justin happened to be exactly that, exuding an air of preciousness from head to toe, and choosing the profession of a fragile healer, it was really too much.

Of course, when first getting to know people, there are often various prejudices that don’t match reality.

Later, Brother Xiu discovered that they didn’t get along, especially when they were in a team and would sabotage each other.

For instance, he would deliberately be a few steps late, making Justin anxiously beg for rescue.

For instance, Justin would deliberately delay healing time, causing him to howl in pain.

Although not fatal, it seemed like the friction that 18 or 19-year-olds would typically have, but Brother Xiu was particularly concerned.

— “Battle is not child’s play, how can you behave like this?”

Back then, Brother Xiu called them out separately to talk and educated them.

Thinking back today, Luo Jie realized he seemed to have been a bit unconvinced at the time.

That classic rebelliousness of “Who are you?” and “What right do you have to lecture me?”

He was really young then, and when he acted up, he said some very harsh things.

It was indeed youthful impetuousness, emotional, and speaking without filters.

He even said things like Brother Xiu was just relying on Wang Chang’er as a backer, ah, thinking about it now, it’s all embarrassing history, he really wanted to travel back in time and kill his past self.

It was only much later that he came to appreciate that Brother Xiu not getting angry with them was truly a rare thing.

Even though he had lived for so many years, he hadn’t seen many people willing to be so tolerant of others.

Most people are born narrow-minded, growing up to form their own cocoons of thought, constantly adding mental stamps to their brains, rejecting, questioning, and attacking others.

Tolerance? Forgiveness? All jokes.

Especially in this otherworld where strength is supreme.

Just thinking about it made him want to kill himself over the embarrassing history.

As Luo Jie grew older, he actually became more and more humble.

People’s personalities do indeed change.

But his change was in the opposite direction of Justin’s.

Back then, he was the first hero to propose destroying humanity. Yet after many twists and turns, he instead became the hero who protected humanity until the end.

At that time, Justin said that was too chaotic evil, not worth taking such anger out on humanity. And now? Justin had let go of such notions thousands of years ago.

After all, Justin was in the healer profession, a profession that often witnesses many partings of life and death.

Luo Jie also never imagined that he would become the most constrained one.

One can only say… fate really likes to play jokes on people.

The two old men were silent for a few minutes, then suddenly both showed murderous intent in their eyes.

Because they both thought of the same thing.

Luo Jie cursed. “This is really enough, what the hell is messing with us?”

Justin raised his head. “You don’t have any ideas?”

Luo Jie’s gaze turned cold. “How could I not have ideas? If I catch It, I’ll tear It to pieces.”

They cursed vehemently, but the topic eventually returned to the key issue.

Luo Jie: “We need to find a way to get Brother Wang and the others back.”

Justin: “The kids are looking. The problem is there aren’t many useful clues.”

“You were captured for thousands of years, and you really can’t think of any information?”

Luo Jie questioned.

Justin snorted, “You try being captured for thousands of years? Locked in a coffin without seeing daylight, you’d go crazy in less than a few days.”

Luo Jie confidently. “I think I could handle it.”

Justin scoffed. “Boasting.”

They couldn’t help but argue again.

However, Justin was certain that the mastermind behind the scenes would definitely make new moves.

He analyzed. “The destruction of the Divine Kingdom is an opportunity. If I were them, I would definitely try to contact Federi, using others as a weapon.”

Luo Jie: “Of course.”

Rats in the gutter can always come up with some insidious methods.

Justin pondered. “Should we tell the kids about this?”

Luo Jie’s tone was flat. “They should be able to figure it out, right?”

Justin shook his head. “That’s not necessarily true. Even the wise can have blind spots in their thinking. They’re smart, sure, but there are more or less some areas where they’re negligent.”

“Negligent?”

“More or less, yes.”

Luo Jie paused, silent for a few seconds, “Then we should probably tell them.”

****

Real-time, Oedipus Imperial City.

Under Levin’s introduction, Norman Til gradually became familiar with Oedipus.

Norman Til originally wanted to walk around by himself, but King Levin’s enthusiasm was hard to refuse, and he proactively offered to show him around the imperial city.

Norman Til pondered for a moment and thought it wouldn’t hurt. So the two of them, under cognitive interference, strolled and chatted throughout various parts of the imperial city. Passersby couldn’t notice them at all.

“This place is really nice, no wonder it’s called one of the most livable countries.”

Norman Til had been touring for nearly half an hour and sincerely made this remark.

At this time, the sun was high, the temperature rising, and the streets and alleys seemed to be painted with golden light, as colorful as an oil painting, so bright it was almost dazzling.

Levin rubbed his neck and laughed. “Haha, I think it’s alright? Just that in some aspects… we still need to improve.”

As he laughed, he thought of something, and the corners of his mouth turned slightly downward.

Probably thinking about those deep-rooted mountains of the Oedipus Empire.

They had just arrived at a park.

Because it was the season of winter’s end and spring’s arrival, there were many withered trees in the park, a gloomy atmosphere, showing no sign of hope or vitality.

Norman Til glanced at him and comforted. “Progress always takes time, please don’t be discouraged.”

Levin was comforted by Norman Til, feeling deeply moved, and couldn’t help but say, “You truly deserve to be second ranked human.”

Norman Til said, “Isn’t there still the first? Haha, I heard that person is in Oedipus.”

Levin nodded repeatedly, almost about to leak information.

Suddenly, Norman Til stopped in his tracks, gazing at the already verdant grass within the railings.

“To be honest, when I heard I wasn’t ranked first, I felt relieved. It felt like the burden on my shoulders was suddenly lightened, as if there was someone stronger than me to bear the weight even if the sky fell.”

Levin was stunned, somewhat doubting his ears.

Had he misheard? That peerless genius, the unparalleled Norman Til, was willingly accepting second place?

Norman Til saw his confusion and smiled, “Surprised? Maybe you all think I’m very capable, able to bear anything, but no matter how strong a person is, they can’t protect an entire race alone.”

Levin suddenly understood, his pupils trembling, and said, “Is… that so.”

“Let’s not talk about that for now,” Norman Til put away his leisurely gaze and said seriously, “The eye of the storm on the continent seems to be in Hammurabi, but in my view, it’s actually in Oedipus.”

“Is… is that so.”

This statement was too sudden, a bit beyond Levin’s understanding, causing him to stutter for a moment.

However, perhaps due to his recent experiences, Levin had grown somewhat and wasn’t as easily startled anymore.

Thinking carefully, hadn’t he witnessed enough explosive events firsthand? He might even be the only person in all of humanity who knew the true identity of the first-ranked.

Levin inexplicably gained some confidence and said solemnly, “No matter what happens, I will do my best to protect the empire.”

Norman Til approved, “That’s a good realization.”

Levin was about to smile, but the next sentence scared him pale.

Norman Til turned his head, “But, do you really know nothing… about the human ranked first?”

Levin froze.

Norman Til’s gaze was friendly, as if he was just making casual conversation.

Cold sweat ran down Levin’s back, afraid that Norman Til would see through him.

He had been warned by those two cats not to reveal that person’s identity. If he did, he’d probably be eaten!

Levin tried to stay calm and said, “No… no, that person is too mysterious, how could I know anything?”

“Is that so.”

Norman Til withdrew his gaze, nodding thoughtfully, and said softly, “Indeed mysterious, suddenly parachuting at first place isn’t something an ordinary person could do.”

Levin had to change the subject, considering for a moment, he somewhat boldly asked, “Your Excellency Norman Til, may I ask you something?”

Norman Til said calmly, “You may ask.”

A gust of wind blew, making the tree branches creak.

Levin asked about something that most people in the world wanted to know.

“Your Excellency Norman Til, how did you become Agares’ student back then?”

Norman Til was legendary from head to toe, but the most legendary legend was his relationship with two Abyss Lords.

The Abyss Lord Agares was too special an existence, everything about Him was so mysterious, evoking both curiosity and awe.

Levin was often a fellow who spoke without filters, unable to grasp the appropriate extent of his words. If he weren’t a king, he might have died hundreds of times by now.

Sure enough, as soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it, anxiously watching Norman Til.

Norman Til didn’t mind, smiling faintly, “It was a long time ago.”

“Then…”

Levin was anxious.

Norman Til raised his gaze, looking at the distant horizon, and surprisingly answered, “Actually, it’s not as mysterious as everyone says. To make a long story short… I met Him in a dream. At that time, He hadn’t revealed His identity as an Abyss Lord yet, and appeared to the world as a human sage, in the form of an old man with white hair.”

Levin didn’t expect Norman Til to actually answer, and felt somewhat excited.

Norman Til was a heroic figure he had grown up hearing stories about. How could he not be excited to hear him recount history firsthand?