Tomb raiding: Today is another day I don't want to go home.

Chapter 178 "Bedtime Story"

The sky was like a gradient of colors, quickly changing from light to dark. Firelight ignited under the banyan tree, illuminating a small open space.

The jade tablet had almost completely absorbed the blood and innate energy in his body, but Yan Huai still stayed in the hot fountain for a while before getting up. He rummaged through the space where there was nowhere to stand, found a set of clothes, changed, and then walked to the campfire that had been lit.

Zhang Qiling leaned against a banyan tree not far away, his eyes closed, his breathing even, as if he were asleep.

Yan Huailong stealthily lowered his steps and movements, and as he walked over, another blanket appeared in his hand.

A soft, light touch covered his neck and moved downwards. Zhang Qiling's hands, which had been holding the black gold ancient sword, quickly warmed up, followed by his slightly bent legs...

After tidying up the blanket at the calves, Yan Huai looked up and unexpectedly met a pair of clear, deep eyes, which showed no sign of sleepiness.

"!"

Yan Huai's kneeling body stiffened slightly, his gaze somewhat unnatural: "...Aren't you asleep?"

Do you want me to fall asleep? Zhang Qiling's eyes clearly conveyed the meaning.

Yan Huai sighed inwardly. He suppressed his embarrassment at not knowing how to start the conversation and sat down next to Zhang Qiling.

What followed was a brief silence, both of them feeling heavy-hearted.

The night wind swept through many times, the fire raged and dissipated, and also dispersed some of the lingering bloodstains on Yan Huai's body. He looked into the darkness beyond the firelight, where the shadowy branches of the banyan tree became indistinct and unsettling.

"Let me tell you a bedtime story..."

Zhang Qiling sensed that Yan Huai's "bedtime story" wasn't what it seemed, so she softly hummed in agreement and gently rubbed her hands under the blanket.

"There was once a villain who had lived countless lifetimes. Each time he was reborn, he would lose the memories of his previous life, but he was unaware of it. Thus, each life became a brand new and ignorant beginning."

"Until one lifetime, after he realized that his existence could also have a positive impact on others, something that called itself an auxiliary system appeared in his mind. However, the system at that time was interfered with by the world and did bad things with good intentions, allowing the beast that had been lurking in the shadows to successfully attack the villains."

"But the villain didn't die. The system promptly transported him to another world... a strange and unfamiliar world to him. And then the same thing happened again; he lost all his memories once more..."

"When he woke up again, the villain was lying in a mud house. It smelled terrible and was very fishy. He almost lost his temper. Fortunately, the system stopped him. Otherwise, he would have broken the rules as soon as he arrived in a new world."

"Later..."

Yan Huai's voice slowly stopped, his pupils reflecting the firelight not far away, and he seemed slightly lost in thought.

Those fleeting memories in my mind seem like they happened a very long time ago, but whenever I try to recall them, they all come rushing back at once.

He met a number of people, each with their own agenda: some were cunning, some were two-faced, some were loyal, and some... were quite unique. The villain, driven by instinct, drew near to the person he found special, and slowly came to understand the indescribable attraction he felt. That was the first time he experienced the feeling of liking someone...

"Later, as the villain stayed in this world for a long time, he discovered that he still had relatives, friends, clansmen, and the past he was looking for... It turned out that everyone was working hard for him to come back, and everyone was waiting for him."

"But when he finally arrived at the places that could evoke his memories, he was not greeted by reunion and happiness, but by a fragmented truth. And the source of the truth was the betrayal of his own people, the invasion of foreign tribes, and countless days of imprisonment and enslavement... He was the biggest failure of that time."

"At the coming-of-age ceremony, he stood on a high place, where he could see the faces of all his clansmen and hear their voices, but he did not question the absence of his parents."

"Until the devastating news arrived, not only was he unable to arrange for his people to fight in time, but he also lost his mind because of a dragon horn filled with death energy. In the end, he was forced to flee in all directions, and his soul could only be split in two to save his life..."

"And the soul that was split in two, one half of perfect good and the other half of perfect evil... The original plan was to leave the soul of perfect evil behind to deal with the pursuit of the foreign races, but in the end, it was the half of perfect evil that was pushed into the other world, while the one left behind became the useless one of perfect good. This led to the situation where the evil people have been reincarnated for thousands of generations, while the perfect good has survived to this day."