Picked up by the Protagonist of a Tormented! MC Novel

Translator: Piper

Editor: Kleep/Sen

TLC: Sen

Zeno had been in a coma for more than half a year, which was simply inconceivable. With the strong recovery power of the Shadow Race, comas that lasted for more than a month could be considered very serious, let alone half a year. The moment he became kaput, Tang Yu would be at a dead end – he had no clue on the ring's whereabouts.

Either way, Tang Yu wasn't worried. Anyway, he had already waited for two epochs. The Demons could still afford to wait. Once Zeno returned to the family, it would be impossible for him to leave, knowing his father's temperament. When that happened, Zeno would only have value as a sacrifice. He'd only be recovering from his wounds if he returned, and he was still only recovering while outside, so there was no difference. In any case, there wasn't anything to be done until the boy woke up.

That was the only way Tang Yu would be able to show off how satisfactorily he accomplished his job, no?

Half a year later when Zeno finally woke up, Suji was ecstatic. She immediately dropped all the miscellaneous alchemy supplies in her hand, “Little master, you're finally awake!”

Zeno’s eyes were still a little vacant, his long coma had made his reaction a bit slow. When he finally identified the person in front of him he called, “Suji?”

Suji nodded desperately, “It’s me, it’s me! The little master scared Suji to death.”

Zeno tried hard to get up without much success, “Was I in a coma for a long time?”

Suji held him down and said solemnly, “Little master must not recklessly move, your body is too weak.”

Zeno felt his internal situation for a moment. His spirit was hollow, and he felt a splitting headache when he tried to move. In fact, he couldn't feel any trace of magic power in him from head to toe. His condition was absolutely atrocious. He mulled it over in silence for a second before asking, "What's the situation outside…?”

Suji tilted her head, playing cute and dumb, “The little master brought back half of the president’s token, but Thunder didn't want to recognize only half. He said that only the person who turned in the complete token could be trained as the next candidate. So everyone went to find the other half of the token. Then Thunder announced that the person who found the other half would compete with the young master and the winner becomes his successor.”

Suji thought, and asked more carefully, “Where did Master go?”

Zeno's head suddenly started ringing and his nails dug into his palm. After enduring this bout of pain, he wasn't sure if the pain had been from his hand or from his heart, but he replied dryly, “He encountered some trouble, so he went into seclusion.”

There was a master-servant contract between Suji and Xi Wei, and the contract was still intact, which indicated that Xi Wei was not in danger. Plus, the little master said he was fine, so Suji didn't doubt him one bit.

Under the constant supervision and treatment of Suji, Zeno’s body improved day by day. During that period, many people came to visit him, yet he refused to see them. He only saw three people apart from Suji, and sent the others away under the pretext of health concerns.

The first person who came was naturally Tang Yu. Tang Yu looked at his cheap cousin, and his curiosity was off the charts. He still had the appearance of a beautiful girl as he circled twice around Zeno’s bed sighing, “You're really talented! How could you wreck yourself to this point and still not be dead?”

Zeno’s mouth raised into a stiff smile. “The Demon of Envy was out to kill me, what was I to do? I'll gladly take being able to retain this small, insignificant life of mine.”

Tang Yu's speculations were confirmed. As he'd thought, they'd really gone and done a 'I can only live if you die' over that pain in the ass of a Stone of Destiny. This cheap cousin had won, and it was also a terrible victory.

Tang Yu glanced at him sympathetically, and then mentioned his real business, “You finally woke up, so now you and the ring are going to return with me to the tribe, right?”

Zeno stared blankly for a moment in silence. Then, he innocently stated, “I’m afraid there's a bit of a problem.”

Tang Yu was at the end of his tether. He raised a slim and pale finger and pointed at him and warned, “Don’t play tricks!”

Every person had their own bottom line. If Zeno dared to play any tricks on him, then he couldn't be blamed for ignoring the personal relationship between them. Zeno shook his head. “Why is Cousin so angry? I'm really not trying to fool you. Didn't you ever wonder how I survived such a serious injury? Did Cousin think that the healing power of a half-demon was more resilient than that of the pure-blooded demon from the shadow race?”

Tang Yu frowned. “What do you mean?”

Zeno replied, “The reason I was hanging on by a single breath was because the power of the ring protected me, or with my ability alone, did you think I'd be able to take on Belle and win? And why else could I wake up after such a severe injury?”

Tang Yu realized angrily, "You mean to tell me, the ring has integrated itself with you?”

Zeno thought for a moment then nodded, “I’m afraid so.”

Tang Yu destroyed all the furniture in the room, making the room look like it had been hit by a hurricane, but there was nothing he could do. What Zeno said was most likely true.

The demon catalyst was originally a sacrifice, with that ring as the medium. It was only through the ring that a new, more powerful tribe could come into being. Now the sacrifice and the medium are mixed together, what should he! Do! Now!

Tang Yu left in a huff. Since Zeno couldn’t run anyway, he'd think of ways to deal with Zeno later.

Zeno couldn’t help but be pleased. That was how you were supposed to make use of a golden finger. Knowing the weaknesses and goals of the characters in the book allowed him to stay one step ahead of them. So many years after transmigrating, he finally felt a sense of superiority, like when everyone was intoxicated while he was the only sober one.

Right after Tang Yu walked out, Xiao Wu walked in. She came to ask about Belle. In the beginning, the group of four entered Jade Overgrowth Wasteland together, but only Zeno returned half-dead. The rest were gone. Even the worst off of the other groups hadn't faced near-total annihilation like they had.

Xiao Wu was startled as soon as she entered the door. The room was a disaster. She carefully avoided the obstacles and saw the miserable state Zeno was in. She wasn't really suspicious of anything, she was just puzzled about what could possibly have happened, while simultaneously being worried Belle. Belle and Xi Wei had been at odds with each other to begin with. If one of them had an accident, it could be surmised that the other one had had a hand in it. For them both to have an accident at the same time, something else must have been at work.

As a saint, she could not compete in the mercenary's competition. She could only sit on the sidelines and worry.

Zeno didn’t want to lie to Xiao Wu. After all, Xiao Wu had shown them life-saving kindness and gave them relief in hard times. In addition, he still needed to borrow Xiao Wu's assistance in some matters. So half-truthfully and half-lying, he answered, “We met some demons. Xi Wei was pushed into the abyss by the demons, and Miss Belle, being no match for them, lost her life. I was also seriously injured.”

Hearing Xi Wei fell into the abyss, Xiao Wu’s face turned white, and when she heard that Belle was dead, she was even more shaken. Not liking Xi Wei when they were young had just been her childish mindset. Thinking back to that year after she'd matured, she realized how much she'd taken for granted and how ignorant she was to the plights of others. She had met many people in these years, but she hasn't seen anyone quite like Xi Wei. It was uncertain if he'd even live to see another day himself, yet he still cared for an infant young enough to still be swaddled, for so many years, uncomplaining, always thinking of him. Xiao Wu sometimes thought about putting herself in that situation, and she didn't think she had the perseverance and ability to do so.

She aspired to be a great hero like Xia Zuo, but had to admit that she was not on par with Xi Wei in that aspect.

Her words were always harsh, and she couldn't lower her pride enough to make friends with Xi Wei. However, in her heart, she still deeply cared about that old friend of the same age as her, making the shock of that fateful year all the more deeply rooted in her memory.

At the sudden bad news about Xi Wei, and the double-blow with Belle’s death, Xiao Wu could hardly bear it.

Fortunately, she had always been strong, and she would not fold even after being dealt a huge blow. She just firmly said, “You just take good care of yourself. Tell me which demons it was, and I will surely avenge them.”

Zeno finally showed his first sincere smile since waking up, “There will definitely be a day of reckoning. That demon's race was a hybrid from the demon's Shadow Race and a human.”

“A mixed race of– which, did you say?”

In an untimely interjection, Evan lifted his leg and swept the mess on the ground aside, “Kill the demons, count me in as well!”

Zeno’s smile turned a bit bitter, he didn’t know if he should feel happy with the fact that Xi Wei had sincere friends that were willing to avenge him, or worried because he has become the object of said revenge.

Zeno was still kind of listless. He hadn't been awake for long before he started feeling drowsy. Evan carried him to another room. He was actually calculating the time required for Xi Wei to merge with the Stone of Destiny. He was unconscious for half a year. So, there should be about three and a half years left at most.

When there was something on someone's mind, the most direct embodiment of it was how easily they dreamt about it.

Zeno flew in front while Belle followed, and with the red bead leading the way, they quickly found the location of the Stone of Destiny.

To Belle’s surprise, the Stone of Destiny that she yearned for even in her dreams was actually one large and one small stone, spinning in midair around a single person. She couldn't even see clearly what those two things looked like.

Carefully observing, Belle almost vomited blood. That person surrounded was exactly Xi Wei, who was critically injured by her. At that moment, he was being protected by the Stone of Destiny and looked like he was asleep.

Zeno retreated quietly and, as expected, saw Belle rushing towards the Stone of Destiny. She tried hard to get close, but was still unable to do so, despite giving it everything she had.

Belle was so angry she nearly went insane, pulling Zeno over to ask what was going on.

Zeno answered, “There is an enchantment outside the Stone of Destiny that is protecting him, it can only be undone with the power from the blood of a Demon.”

Belle sliced opened a wound that Zeno had that recently scabbed over without thinking twice about it. The blood sprayed out onto the enchantment, the enchantment flashed red, and became visibly weaker.

Seeing that it worked, Belle was desperately squeezing Zeno’s arm as if she wished to squeeze out all the blood in his body before she'd let him go. Not even the original source of Zeno's power was spared. With the ring clutched in his other hand, he drew out a meager amount of the same energy from within, and endured Belle's blood extraction without a word, not breaking away or putting up any sort of resistance.

Despite all that, the weakest part of the enchantment remained, no matter how much blood was spilled on it. Belle stopped and asked in a threatening manner, “What’s going on?”

Zeno could no longer stand steadily. He staggered trying to sit on the ground, holding back the vertigo caused by excessive blood loss, and answered, “The last layer needs human blood.”

As if seeing Belle’s suspicion, Zeno continued, “The Stone of Destiny is not for demons. It is naturally impossible to use only the power of the Demons to open the enchantment, and what's more, the remaining layer is barely one-tenth the strength of the previous layers I've unlocked. I am not dead from it, and you are stronger than me so it shouldn't be too dangerous.”

Belle switched to spilling her own blood over the enchantment while still half disbelieving, but sure enough the enchantment weakened further. Although it was already very weak, that change could not escape Belle’s eyes, so she increased her blood letting.

There was a slight smile on the corner of Zeno’s mouth. Belle, I didn’t force you, you dug your own grave.

Belle was sucked dry by the enchantment, and her whole person was pulled into it. She became an energy source of the Stone of Destiny, and therefore became a part of it. Since she was so obsessed with it, now she would never be separated from it, nor would it be seperated from her, ever again.

Zeno lied to her. The enchantment was not an enchantment, but the core system of the Stone of Destiny. It was constantly absorbing the free energy from the outside world to supplement itself. It was the lifeblood of the continent, nourishing the whole continent, and drawing energy from the continent to nourishes itself endlessly, in an eternal cycle.

It’s just that different core systems prefer different forces.

It would never be fully satisfied, but with the energy it got from Zeno and Belle, it acquired enough energy to successfully fuse with Xi Wei.

Originally, that energy was provided by the ring. However, in order to deal with Belle, Zeno stole the ring and used himself as a bait to trick Belle into sacrificing herself. Although it succeeded, the cost was also huge.

That blue bead was a fusion bead, which guides the fusion process.

The President’s token, two beads together, one to lead the way and the other to help fuse, cooperated with a deep mutual connection.

Over thousands of years, only Xi Wei was able to successfully be recognized as their master. Of course, others would not be able to comprehend the huge amount of luck required to take such items seemingly with ease.

It was only the protagonist of this world that possessed that kind of immense fate¹ to be able to integrate with the lifeblood of the continent.

Zeno took one last foolish, sentimental look at Xi Wei, who was still unconscious, and left without looking back.

When he woke up, he was a little bit lost. There were, at most, three and a half years left, and then his job there was done.

The countdown had started.

The author has something to say:

That's right, Belle finally went and GO DIE'd². The countdown to Xi Wei's blackening starting~

Piper: 6 months… I think that’s a new record for longest time to translate a chapter… A record I hope to never break again… Sorry for the long wait everyone! So much has happened in this time. For one I've picked up my own book, called Quick Transmigration: Male God, Come Here, go check it out if you haven't already (it's not BL tho) And I hope to see you again much, much, MUCH sooner than last time Orz

Kleep: There are chapters just waiting to get TLCed so hopefully they won’t take too long. Real life is too real though right now. Extras not included, four chapters remain. Thank you for reading!

1. In Chinese, luck is sometimes synonymous with fate in the word yùn (运), which can also mean to move/transport. To maybe help with getting all the implicit meanings in this one word, three example compound words that use this character are mìngyùn which means fate/destiny or your fortune in life (the force that moves your life); xìngyùn which means fortune/luck (the force that moves good fortune); and yùnqi, which is also luck but can be good or bad (the lucky or unlucky energy). ↩
2. The author’s note made me laugh, the characters mean “dog brings ___” in Chinese, but the pronunciation is literally a homophone of “Go Die” in English. ↩

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