The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 400 The Silent Cave

The moment he cried out in surprise, Liu Chuang's eyes reddened, and he was about to rush forward without hesitation, but was suddenly pulled back by Luo Mi.

"What are you going to do?"

"Let me go, something's happened to Xiao Pi!" Liu Chuang roared.

Lomi gripped Liu Chuang's hand even tighter instead of letting go, saying, "If you go over there now, you'll just end up lying there like it."

"The spirit eater is unconscious; don't you know to forcibly retract the star veins?"

Liu Chuang was stunned for a moment before realizing that he had been so concerned that he had almost forgotten even the most basic things.

He glanced gratefully at Lomi, then tried to pull the unconscious Pi back into the Star Vein.

But a moment later, his expression turned ugly.

"Little Pi... is resisting my recycling."

"How is that possible?" Lomi stood there, stunned.

How could a comatose food spirit resist being recycled?
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but look in Xiao Pi's direction.

Little Pi remained motionless in the position of lying on the ground, but when Lomi shone the flashlight around Little Pi's body, she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "How could this be?!"

The black energy that was originally attached to the metal door now rushed towards Xiao Pi at an extremely fast speed, like iron filings meeting a magnet, and quietly disappeared into Xiao Pi's body.

Liu Chuang's eyes reddened as he tried once again to retrieve Xiao Pi without success. "Xiao Pi! Xiao Pi, wake up, Xiao Pi!"

Seemingly hearing Liu Chuang's shout, Xiao Pi's body trembled slightly, and then slowly floated back into the air from the ground.

The next moment, it opened its eyes.

The moment Liu Chuang met those eyes, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

That wasn't Little Pi's gaze; it was blood-red and filled with a strong sense of madness, instilling fear and despair in anyone who looked at it.

"Danger! Run!" Lomi exclaimed, trying to pull Liu Chuang away, but it was too late.

“Hiss!!!”

With a roar, black energy surged out of Xiao Pi's body, instantly enveloping Luo Mi and Liu Chuang.

The next moment, both of them rolled their eyelids back and fell heavily to the ground.

After doing all this, Little Pi seemed to have lost all his strength and collapsed to the ground again, falling into a coma.

The cave fell silent again, with only wisps of new black mist silently seeping out from the cracks in the doorway.
-
"Qin Lang, should we tell Di You about this?"

On the way back to the hotel from Xu Guang's house, Cao Dongdong suddenly spoke up.

Qin Lang paused for a moment, then shook his head. "Let's not talk about it for now."

It's true that they are friends with Di You, but Di You and Wei Shasha are also friends, and their relationship is clearly closer.

If Di You finds out about this and tells Wei Shasha, their search for the truth will likely face another obstacle.

“It’s not too late to tell Di You after we find out the truth,” Qin Lang said softly. “He is more familiar with Wei Shasha, so we can ask him to tell the Wei family and see their attitude toward this.”

Everyone nodded. Just then, Fatima, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, "I'm afraid we can't hide it from Di You anymore."

Before anyone could ask why, Fatima pointed to a spot not far ahead and said, "He's already here."

Following Fatima's gaze, downstairs at their hotel, stood Di You, pacing back and forth with a worried expression. "This..." Qin Lang hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward with a wry smile, "Di You, didn't you take Sasha home?"

"Why are you here?"

“I did take Sasha home,” Di You said, his expression turning serious as he looked at Qin Lang and the others. “But I can’t go back yet.”

“Sasha is quite easygoing. She didn’t take the previous incident to heart and almost forgot about it when she got home.”

“But…” Di You paused, “If I’m not mistaken, you went to find Xu Guang after you separated from us, right?”

Although it was a question, Di You's tone was very confident.

"Sasha and I are friends, but I'm friends with all of you too, so can you tell me what happened?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Lang hesitated for a moment, and finally sighed.

"You'd be better off not being so smart."

"Let's go upstairs first; this isn't the place to talk."
-
"Could the legend of the Hero of Light be false?"

Upon hearing everyone's description, Di You's brows furrowed instantly.

His first reaction was naturally disbelief, but when Qin Lang took out the torn photos, Di You also had some doubts.

“No wonder you’ve been so cautious about this matter,” Di You sighed. “Now I understand.”

If Qin Lang and the others were to expose this matter, not only the Wei family, but even ordinary residents of Lanqiu City would not welcome them.

"Di You, you grew up in Lanqiu City. Do you think this legend might be false?" Qin Lang asked seriously. "Or, is there any substantial evidence to prove that it is true?"

“The legendary era is too far removed from the present.” Di You shook his head. “There were no reliable ways to preserve evidence in that era; all that has been passed down are fragments of information.”

"If we have to say what concrete evidence there is to prove that the Hero of Light really defeated the Evil Nightingale, it seems that the only way is to find the place where the Evil Nightingale was sealed."

"After all, according to legend, the evil nightingale was too powerful, and even Wei Ran could not kill it, but could only seal it away."

"As for where the seal is located..."

Di You shook his head. "Nobody knows the answer to that."

"As for what that Xu Guang said, there are multiple versions of the legend of the Hero of Light, and some of them conflict with each other..." Di You paused for a moment, "Do you remember what Sasha said?"

"Because Wei Ran saved Lanqiu City, the people of Lanqiu City admired him and fabricated many heroic stories, making him the protagonist."

"Over such a long period of time, it has become difficult to distinguish between fabricated stories and the truth, and they have gradually evolved into different versions of legends."

"So, based solely on this point, I don't think the evidence is sufficient to conclude that the legend of the Hero of Light is false."

"That torn page must be real, right?" Zhao Qian couldn't help but ask.

Hearing this, Di You paused for a moment, "That's also why I'm wavering, after all, it might really be something Xu Baichen left behind."

“Furthermore, if…” he paused, “I mean, if the legend of the Hero of Light is false.”

"I think the Wei family is very likely innocent as well."

“Wei Shasha and I grew up together and have met many people from the Wei family. I can confirm that they truly regard the legend as truth and are filled with admiration and respect for their ancestor Wei Ran, taking pride in it.”

"So they are very likely also the ones who were kept in the dark."

(End of this chapter)