Picked up by the Protagonist of a Tormented! MC Novel

Translator: Piper Panda

Editor: Kleep

TLC: Sen

Tang Yu was clearly taking advantage of the situation, demons were so willful that she was even too lazy to bother covering it up.

When Tang Yu's hand touched Zeno's clothes, she suddenly felt a pain in her wrist and quickly pulled back.

Taking advantage of her painful hand, Tang Yu jumped back in a vigilant manner. It was then that she saw who came.

It was Xi Wei!

Tang Yu frowned and asked, “Aren't you stuck in a dream?”

Xi Wei did not want to say more than he had to, so instead he just asked, “What were you going to do?”

Tang Yu blinked, “He was exhausted by his fight with the Nightmare Demon. I simply wanted to take him to a safe place.”

It was unclear just how much of her words Xi Wei actually believed, but he was preoccupied with Zeno’s situation. For that reason, he did not stay to tangle with Tang Yu, but instead squatted down to make sure Zeno was safe.

Right now Zeno was just out of spiritual strength, and Xi Wei's frowning brows slightly loosened. He picked up the fainted Zeno and went back to where he fell into dreamland, where Evan, Xiao Wu, and the Temple Knight were.

Tang Yu stared at Xi Wei for a while, muttering. “Weird, how could you wake up so fast?”

Going back to when Xi Wei was in the dream, a group of dancers were writhing provocatively in exposed dresses. At that time Xi Wei was lying on his side while drinking, completely drunk.

However, he had an indescribable fear. It was as if there was a gaping hole in his heart, with air gushing out of it. The more drunk he got, the stronger he felt that fear that seemed like he lost something important.

What did he lose? Xi Wei did not know.

However, even if his heart was uneasy, he still looked calm on the surface.

That was until a graceful dancing enchantress seductively approached. Her slender jade arm toasted him with a glass of wine, and her red lips closed onto Xi Wei to 'share' the sip. Xi Wei finally burst. He pushed the dancer to the ground and said coldly, "Get lost."

The dancer stumbled as she ran off.

At that time, the nightmare demon felt that the fruit was almost ripe. He was about to pick it, ready to enjoy Xi Wei's fear.

A phantom of the nightmare demon appeared in Xi Wei's dreams and its claws extended towards Xi Wei.

At that moment, Xi Wei opened his eyes and whispered, “Finally appeared.”

The plague demon was shocked, “You are not lost, that's impossible.”

Xi Wei replied, “Nothing is impossible.”

Nightmare demons pull people into a dream as a way to stimulate the most fearful things in their hearts and to feed on that fear. Their victims would die because of extreme fear.

That was written in the 'Demon Encyclopedia'. However, as long as that fear was overcome, the spirit of the Nightmare Demon could be damaged and an opportunity to defeat him could be found.

The disruption of Xi Wei’s at that time was what broke the mentality of the Nightmare Demon. Zeno then seized that opportunity and defeated the Nightmare Demon in one fell swoop.

After defeating his inner fear, Xi Wie woke up and felt strong spiritual fluctuations. He walked in that direction and managed to stop Tang Yu just in time.

Although Tang Yu did not know what exactly transpired, she also knew that to overcome the fear while lost in one's dreams could only be done by those who only had great strength of will.

Her attitude towards Xi Wei became serious.

Xi Wei was holding Zeno, yet moved so fast that it was like he flew, while Zeno was frowning in his coma. It seemed that he was in a nightmare. If they had not seen the nightmare demon being defeated, they would have assumed that he was the one defeated.

Having returned to the magic transmission array, Xiao Wu and the rest had already woken up but their expressions were all a bit bitter and depressed. It made sense that someone who just woke up from their scariest nightmare would not have been in the happiest of moods though.

Catching sight of Xi Wei and co. returning, Xiao Wu shook her head and walked over dispiritedly. She had just woken up from a nightmare in which she was no longer part of the justice faction, but had fallen to become half-demon. Her spirit had not quite recovered from that yet.

“What happened to Zeno?”

“Fainted.”

“Oh, then are we continuing or taking a break?”

Except for Tang Yu and Xi Wei, the rest of the group were still in a stupor, walking around listlessly, looking like a group of losers.

Xi Wei thought for a moment. The nightmare demon had just been defeated, so with the remnants of power left over from the fight other lesser demons should not dare to come close. Their current location could be regarded as a safe place to rest, so he decided to rest there for now.

They had just entered the city, yet they were already badly hurt, and the road forwards would only become more difficult.

Tang Yu stared deeply at the unconscious Zeno. In fact, she had not intended to take him away at that time. For one, the ring was still not found, and for another, Zeno was unwilling to cooperate so she was only scaring Zeno a bit earlier.

The most important thing to do now was to find the ring and then bring the ring and the half-demon back to the family.

However, where was the ring?

The demon catalyst could not leave the ring for more than five years, otherwise it would wither away. Seeing that Zeno was so lively and well, the ring must be on him.

Zeno had been unconscious until midnight. When he woke up, he felt a little thirsty. A water jug was brought to his lips. After licking his lips, he gulped down the water.

His hazy consciousness cleared up a bit, then realized he was lying on Xi Wei's lap. Xi Wei shook the jug and listened for sounds. He determined that there was no water left, and put the jug away.

“Awake?”

Zeno nodded. His head rubbed Xi Wei's thigh back and forth with his nodding motion causing Xi Wei's body to become stiff.

Xi Wei pushed Zeno's head further down on his lap.

Now was not the time to do anything crazy.

At that time, everyone else was already asleep. Zeno looked around and saw that Tang Yu was also asleep, and that he had not been taken away. He sighed with relief.

He whispered to Xi Wei, “You have to be careful with Tang Yu.”

Xi Wei massaged the back of his neck, “I know.”

Xi Wei was no longer on the list of male gods by the students of Providence College, but no matter how Zeno looked at it, he thought that title could not have been more appropriate.

Such an outstanding person was the one dearest to him. If it were a dream, he would be smiling himself awake.

After smiling senselessly for a while he thought to ask, “Where are we now?”

“Next to the magic array.”

“Oh, what dream did you have?”

Originally, Zeno only asked casually. Who could have known that Xi Wei's expression would suddenly sink, causing Zeno to regret. The dream created by the Nightmare demon was the deepest fear of the person, and now he definitely poked a bad button.

Zeno was silent for a while before carefully holding Xi Wei’s hand and raising it up to his chest. He looked up, “No matter what dream you had, I will always be with you.”

The two stayed just as they were, one with his head lowered and one looking up, simply gazing at each other. There was no ambiguous atmosphere at that moment, only the complete trust flowing between them.

Yes, Xi Wei could overcome that fear because of his trust in Zeno. That child would never leave him.

The indifferent, cold-hearted person finally found a partner who could be trusted, at last finding the home where his heart belonged.

Therefore, he would never let it go.

Xi Wei pulled out his hand and covered Zeno’s eyes. His voice was cold, yet Zeno heard had gentle tone, “Go back to sleep.”

After a day of rest, everyone was full of energy like they were resurrected. They continued on their path toward Ye Sa City.

Having experienced the nightmare demon scare, everyone was extremely paranoid. However, even up to just outside of Ye Sa City, they had not encountered even a lesser demon.

If there was an abnormality, there would be a demon. Looking at the dilapidated city gate of Ye Sa City, everyone went silent.

Especially Zeno, Xi Wei, and Xiao Wu—this was the city they grew up in. Although it was already a dead city, they would always have mixed feelings upon seeing it.

Xiao Wu thought about the little girl she could never see again. She bit her lip and felt a little sad. If she had known earlier, she would have taken that little girl with her when she left, no matter what.

The past was over, and it was useless to regret it. She could only hope that the family who adopted her would treat her kindly.

Tidying up their emotions, everyone entered the city that housed the plague demon.

There were bones and desolation everywhere.

The evil pressure the mountain in the distance gave off could be felt, even from so far away.

Passing through the dead city, standing at the foot of the familiar snow-capped mountains, the snow on the mountain unchanging all the year round. Its ice looked like glittering jade.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, and there was one more person in front of everyone.

A beautiful woman stood in the air. Her transparent wings gently trembled, and her long green hair was fluttering in the wind.

A white snowflake landed on her, yet remained untouched. Her pointed ears trembled, and revealing a beautiful smile she said, “Long time no see.”

Xiao Wu was frozen for a long time. From her appearance that had increased by several times, and her wings and long, green hair, she was able to recognize her identity.

“You…you…” She could only keep uttering 'you' without being able to follow up with anything else.

Xi Wei stepped forward till he was standing in front of Zeno and he called out her identity, “Hua Li.”

Yes, the beautiful elf was Hua Li, the elf queen who used to be a tiny fairy.

When Ye Sa City became a ghost town in the past, Hua Li clearly went up Nice Snow Mountain with them, but she vanished there in the snow-capped mountains.

To suddenly appear at that time, on top of already being freed from her seal, there was something strange about it.

Hua Li said, “Although I want to reminisce with you about the old days, I am afraid you aren't in the mood for such idle talk at the plague demon's doorstep.”

“What do you want?”

Hua Li curbed the smile on her face, looking in Xi Wei's direction, “Give me the ring. I'm not here to stop you from courting death.”

Xi Wei gravely replied, “I don’t have any ring.”

Tang Yu was shocked. She took a closer look at Hua Li. She only hesitated for only a moment before becoming sure what Hua Li had said was true. The ring must be in Xi Wei's hands. No wonder she could not find any clues from Zeno.

The frequency of the flapping of Hua Li's wings increased a little, "Little beggar, I can ignore the things you did to me that year, but the ring is not something I can leave.”

Xi Wei raised the Chen Yuan Sword in his hand and pointed it at Hua Li, “Not having it means not having it.”

Hua Li's complexion changed, and her aloof expression stiffened, “Where is Asil, and why is the Chen Yuan Sword in your hands?”

Why was the sword Asil personally forged in the hands of a little beggar?

Kleep: I robbed Piper of her chance to say anything here. I’m a bad banana. We are busy working on the next few chapters, so hopefully you won’t have to wait too long. Even though I said I’m a banana just now, I’m more like a blobby jellyfish on land. I’m not operating at a terribly high level. Good thing for good help. Have a great week everyone!!!