Asura in Arknights

While Li Ang and Shining were talking, Zofia and the other two were not idle either. They even pulled Adele aside to discuss how to resolve the issue of the manor.

As for Li Ang's question about Shining... it was clearly not appropriate to discuss it in such a chaotic place.

"Okay... So when are you planning to talk again?" Shining seemed a little anxious.

The sooner they get that information, the sooner Liz's condition is likely to improve. It's no wonder Shining is anxious.

However, to her surprise, Li Ang didn't say anything and simply tossed the USB drive to Shining.

“Let’s wait a couple of days. You’re not in a hurry to leave the Grand Knight Territory, are you?” Leon said calmly. “I have some other things to take care of, so let’s leave it at that for now.”

"...Aren't you afraid that I'll get the information and just leave?"

"Would you do that?" Li Ang countered.

If what Shining did before was somewhat forgivable, if she were to do something so treacherous now, the first person to object would probably be her companion, Margaret.

Shining was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

"Then that will work."

After Li Ang resolved the issue with Shining, the Nearls finally reached a conclusion, and Margaret, representing the three of them, stepped forward to Li Ang.

She said with utmost seriousness, "Mr. Li Ang, I know this request may be a bit unreasonable, but I still hope that you can keep this manor for the time being and not sell it to anyone else."

“I will… earn enough money as soon as possible, and I hope that you can resell the manor to me then.”

“If that’s all there is to it, then I have no objection,” Li Ang replied.

After acquiring the estate, Li Ang originally planned to sell it and use the proceeds as funds for his and Adele's future activities.

However, after Li Ang became a director of 'Boer Pharmaceuticals', he received another source of income, so there was no need to sell the manor for the time being.

Now that Margaret wants to redeem the manor, Leon has no reason to refuse. Even if he and Adele want to live in the Grand Knight Territory, they wouldn't choose to live in this manor... it's just too big for the two of them.

They will stay here temporarily until they find a suitable place to live.

“However, Miss Margaret, you should think this through.” Leon paused, then continued, “Although I can help you preserve this manor, the price of the manor… cannot remain unchanged forever.”

"I think you should know the value of this manor."

"...I understand, this is the price we have to pay."

Even if Margaret was the champion of the previous tournament, it would be very difficult for her to earn enough money to buy the estate on her own... Moreover, given her personality, she is unwilling to collude with those in the business alliance, making it even more difficult for her to earn money.

Before she earns those tens of millions, the price of Lingguang Manor will probably multiply several times due to inflation.

By then, redeeming the manor would probably be an unattainable goal. Since Margaret was so confident, Li Ang didn't voice this speculation to discourage her.

The turmoil caused by Li Ang's return had mostly subsided by then, and it was already quite late.

Before returning to his room to rest, Leon said to Adele,

"Tomorrow... let's go see Brother Renn together."

Chapter 5 You seem to have gained weight?

More than a week ago, Li Ang had already released all the souls that had been enslaved by Adams.

Those whose bodies were still alive had their souls returned to their bodies under Li Ang's protection, while those who had already died had their souls returned to the Originium Will.

Among these, Renn's soul was the one that Li Ang focused on taking care of. He was quite certain that Renn's soul had not been harmed in any way during its return to the body.

But according to Adele, Raine has not yet woken up.

It's possible that because his soul has been away from his body for too long, the compatibility between his body and soul has become problematic. So Li Ang plans to check on his condition as soon as possible and resolve the issue quickly. Ryan has been unconscious for so long, and Sarah must be incredibly worried.

This time, only Leon and Adele went.

Although the Lin Guang family and Renn have some connection, their relationship is not particularly close.

Moreover, with Margaret's return, her family has many things to discuss, leaving them with even less time. However, if Raine really wakes up, they will definitely come to visit him.

As Leon and Adele left, the three of them were still fiercely debating the next steps. Manna, who was nominally the clan leader, was sidelined by them, but Manna certainly wouldn't care about such a trivial matter.

After that, they said goodbye to Nearl and went to the hospital where Raine was.

The ward remained as deserted as ever, with only a few medical staff occasionally coming to check on Renn's condition.

When Li Ang and his team arrived, Sarah was lying on a deck chair on the balcony, enjoying the relatively warm midday sun in winter. Sarah was almost six months pregnant, and various symptoms were beginning to appear on her body, which was what Li Ang was worried about.

If Sarah is affected... that's an outcome no one wants to accept.

Sarah noticed the noise of the two entering the room. She slightly raised her head from the recliner, and when she saw that it was Leon and the others, Sarah's face lit up with joy. "Leon, Adele, you're here?"

Sarah struggled to get up from the recliner, and Adele quickly went over and helped her up.

"Sister Sarah, how is Brother Ryan doing now?"

“The doctor said he’s recovering fairly well,” Sarah replied with a smile, looking quite pleased. “He’s started responding to external stimuli these past few days, and the doctor said that at this rate, he should wake up soon.”

"I'm sorry you've spent so much money these past few days. Medical expenses here must be quite high, right?" Sarah said worriedly.

“It’s nothing, it’s what I should do.” Li Ang shook his head. “This money… is nothing to me now. You took me and Adele in back then, and now it’s just my turn to help you.”

Sarah reluctantly nodded after being persuaded by Li Ang.

"By the way, I heard in the news a while ago that you had an accident. Are you alright now?"

"No problem, everything has been taken care of."

"So... will you continue to participate in the Majors?"

Li Ang shook his head. "I won't participate. Besides, I've already missed the deadline and lost my eligibility to participate in the competition."

"Disqualified? Wouldn't that be terrible?"

"Actually, it's nothing. My goal wasn't to achieve a ranking in the Special Championship. Now I've achieved my goal in another way, so whether I can participate in the Special Championship or not doesn't matter."

"I see... then I won't say anything more." Sarah sighed, her expression showing some lingering resentment.

After all, participating in the Special Championship is almost every Kazimierz's dream, and Li Ang's nonchalant attitude left Sarah speechless.

Especially considering that her husband, Ryan, had been in a coma since a promotion match for a fourth-level knight, her feelings were even more complicated.

After composing herself, Sarah finally spoke, "It should be about time now. Would you like to go in and check on him?"

"That's why we're here."

Sarah then led them into Ryan's hospital room, where they saw Ryan lying in bed.

"I wonder when he will wake up."

Sarah's face fell slightly. She gently stroked her lower abdomen and whispered, "I hope he wakes up before the baby is born... We still need him to name the child..."

"Don't worry, Sarah, Brother Ryan will definitely wake up soon," Li Ang said with great certainty.

Rein looked to be in fairly good health and didn't seem to have any problems from being bedridden for so long. After all, Li Ang had spent a lot of money to arrange for him to stay in the best ward. With the physique of the Sarkaz, he could withstand being bedridden for several months.

Li Ang could sense that Renn's soul had returned to his body, but a barrier had formed between his soul and body. It was this barrier that prevented Renn from waking up for so long.

At a normal pace, it would take at least two or three months for Raine to wake up on her own, but neither Leon nor Sarah could wait that long.

So... Li Ang decided to manually speed up the process of Raine waking up.

His current state is similar to that of a person who is half asleep and half awake. He only needs a little external stimulation to wake him up from his dazed state.

However, what Raine needs is a stimulation of the soul, and very few people can master this method. As far as Li Ang knows, the only people who can do this are himself and Adams, who has already turned to ashes.

Under Li Ang's manipulation, the killing intent surged into a thin line, which he gently poked at the barrier.

That was enough. Almost as soon as Li Ang made his move, Ryan on the hospital bed reacted.

Because of such a tiny gap, the barrier crumbled instantly. Renn practically jumped off his hospital bed, gasping for breath as if he had almost drowned.

Seeing Ryan suddenly regain his senses, Sarah was so overwhelmed with emotion that she couldn't say a word. She could only cover her mouth tightly with her hands and let the tears stream down her face.

After taking a dozen deep breaths, Renn's heartbeat gradually calmed down.

When he and Sarah by the bed looked into each other's eyes, Leon thought they were about to say something touching, but then he heard Ryan remain silent for a moment before speaking.

“Sarah…”

"You... seem to have gained weight?"

Chapter Six: The Uninvited Guest

There was a moment of awkward silence.

None of them expected that the first thing Ryan said after regaining consciousness would be this.

Sarah had so much to say to Ryan, but those few words choked her back.

Li Ang didn't know what to say. If what Rein said just now was unintentional, then... he was actually quite impressive.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Sarah finally came to her senses. Her face turned bright red, whether from anger or some other reason, it was unclear.

She lunged forward, grabbed a pillow from the side, and smashed it over Raine's head. She was so fast that even Li Ang didn't have time to stop her.

"I told you not to joke! I told you not to joke!"

Ryan was immediately beaten and begged for mercy, repeatedly shouting, "Wife, I was wrong! I shouldn't have joked like that!"

It took Leon and Adele a lot of effort to finally get Sarah to stop. She threw her pillow on the bed and walked away angrily. It seemed she wouldn't be paying attention to Raine anytime soon.

Adele was a little worried about Sarah's condition, so she took her to rest aside. Now only Leon and Ryan were left in the ward.

"Sorry... I made you two laugh at me." Ryan scratched his head.

Li Ang was speechless. "Isn't this something you asked for?"

In that situation, there was no better way to put it than to say something that left people unsure how to respond.

"I didn't expect Sarah to react so strongly..." Renn said awkwardly.

"Anyway, it's your fault no matter what. Go apologize to Sarah later."

Renn nodded in deep agreement.

“Let’s put this matter aside for now,” Li Ang said. “How are you feeling now? Is there anything wrong with your body?”

After gently rubbing his hands together and thinking for a while, Ryan replied, "My strength seems to have decreased a bit, but other than that, I don't feel any different."

"You're exhausted because you've been sleeping for too long!" Li Ang thought to himself.

"In that case, Brother Renn, do you know what happened to you? Whatever you remember, please tell me the whole story, Brother Renn. It is very important to me."

“What happened? I only remember… I think I had a very, very long dream,” Renn said, frowning.

Raine wasn't completely unaware of what happened during his coma; he still retained a vague sense of the outside world and knew roughly what had occurred.

The cause of the incident was not much different from what Li Ang had guessed. Ryan was anxious about advancing to the next round, and Adams liked to target people like that.

Raine was intimidated by the reputation of Paul Pharmaceuticals, which is why he was willing to believe the medicine they provided.

After trying it once, he found that it was indeed very effective. So, after each day's match, Ren would secretly inject himself with the drug until his body could no longer withstand the side effects.

“When I was fighting Byron, it felt like…like a lot of people were teaching me how to fight,” Renn said somewhat uncertainly. “I can’t really describe what that feeling was like.”

Perhaps... it was the souls of other victims who were helping Renn? That's why he was able to use so many completely different sword techniques back then?

Could Adams really do something like that? But he was merely an ordinary person, not even an Apostle. If Adams was already this strong, what about the real Apostles? And what about the gods hidden in the mists of history... just how powerful would they be?

It seems that perhaps it's not that the Originium Will has no demands on him, but rather that Li Ang's current strength is insufficient to deal with those monsters who have usurped power for hundreds or thousands of years.

Seeing that Li Ang was deep in thought, Renn stopped and waited for Li Ang to come back to his senses before continuing, "I don't remember very clearly what happened next. After the match, the people who had helped me on the field came to pick me up. I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but I just went with them."

"It's as if they took me to a place that's very, very far away."

After arriving there, Renn's memory became very vague. He racked his brains but couldn't recall much. He just felt that the place was very comfortable, and he would not feel any dissatisfaction even if he stayed there forever.

The word 'home' would be a perfect description of the place. Ryan looked somewhat confused; he didn't know why he felt this way.

It seems that Rein has no recollection of that memory within the Originium Will, but this is a good thing for him. Leon is also unsure what the consequences would be for ordinary people coming into contact with the Originium Will.

"Alright, now that you're alright, don't think about those unnecessary things." Li Ang cut off his inappropriate thoughts. "Brother Renn, you've been unconscious for over a month. Let me tell you what's been going on lately."

So Li Ang briefly told Renn about the recent events, including the changes at Pol Pharmaceuticals and their current situation, which left Renn speechless.

“I see… It seems I’ve missed quite a few things lately,” Ryan said with a sigh. “What about Byron? How is he doing?”

Besides his own family, Byron is now most concerned about his long-lost friend.

Ryan had used some underhanded tactics to defeat his opponent, which made him feel somewhat guilty, which is why he immediately inquired about Byron's situation.

"...You mean him? He's in incredibly good shape right now," Li Ang shrugged and replied. "Byron has already made it into the Major main draw, and if there aren't any other dark horses, he'll most likely be the champion of this Major."

"Perhaps when you see him again next time, you should call him 'Blood Knight'."