Chapter 52: Honored Guest in the Inner Chamber

"Wake up! Shen Xing?"

An unfamiliar female voice roused Shen Xing from unconsciousness.

Feeling the dampness at his lips, Shen Xing abruptly opened his eyes.

"Don't move around. Your current condition is quite poor. Drink this bottle of energy beverage, and I'll take you out of here. Oh, right, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Bai Ying, and Officer Ouyang Lin sent me to rescue you."

A young woman in camouflage military uniform came into Shen Xing's view.

Judging by her appearance, she was around twenty years old, but her demeanor was sharp and capable—clearly not a rookie like him.

At this moment, she had placed Shen Xing on her lap. Despite the intimate posture, it felt entirely natural and unforced.

"There's someone else. Take her with us too," Shen Xing said softly, pointing toward Xu Minghui, who was unconscious in the distance.

"We can, but only after your condition stabilizes. The officer's order is that bringing you out is our top priority. Everything else takes a backseat," Bai Ying stated matter-of-factly, her tone bordering on cold.

"Why... did it take you so long to get here?" Recovering a bit of his energy, Shen Xing finally couldn't help asking.

"You'll understand the specifics once we get outside. The truth is, there are still many people trapped just like you. If not for your connection with Officer Ouyang, you might have been among the ones abandoned. Tianhe City is in complete chaos right now," Bai Ying said after a brief silence, her voice tinged with sorrow.

Shen Xing was momentarily stunned. From these brief words, he instantly captured a wealth of information.

Without a doubt, something major had happened outside!

So much so that even Ouyang Lin had taken the field personally and had no time to spare for him?

After a short while, Shen Xing was able to stand with support.

Seeing this, Bai Ying walked over to tend to Xu Minghui.

She checked Xu Minghui's carotid pulse and frowned, "Her condition is more severe. I was in a rush and didn't bring many supplies. I can only stabilize her slightly and send her to a hospital once we get out."

Shen Xing nodded. "That will do. Give her some water; she should wake up."

During the wait, Bai Ying suddenly spoke up: "Actually, I thought it was completely hopeless, but Officer Ouyang was extremely insistent that you were still alive, so I had no choice but to make this trip specially. I didn't expect you to actually hold on until now. Though it might be presumptuous, could you tell me how you managed it?"

Naturally, Shen Xing couldn't expose his secrets, so he brushed it off evasively: "Is it that strange? Just good luck, I suppose. The only things that wandered in were goblins. Aside from there being a few too many, they weren't worth mentioning."

Bai Ying narrowed her eyes and said pointedly, "Oh? You brush off the terrifying traits of goblins so lightly? You might not know this yet, but the difficulty rating of this dimensional gate has been elevated to C-rank. That means it normally requires a standard five-person team of level 15 warriors to guarantee a clear. The two of you are merely level 10 novice warriors, yet you somehow managed to hold out for two days. The secret behind this is quite intriguing, isn't it?"

Shen Xing's expression turned serious. He stared straight at Bai Ying and said expressionlessly, "Before I figure out your relationship with Ouyang, I think it's best we maintain basic courtesy. Aren't you afraid I'll report you for prying like this once we get out?"

Bai Ying curled her lips and let out a huff. "Look at you getting all high and mighty. Actually, even if you don't say it, I already know."

Shen Xing was taken aback, narrowing his eyes as he asked, "Oh? Then I'd really love to hear it."

"It's very simple. It's quite obvious your relationship with Officer Ouyang is unusual. At first, I thought you were one of her relatives, but the moment I saw you, I changed my mind. Given your age and looks, the possibility of a different kind of relationship is much higher."

Bai Ying didn't spell it out too bluntly, but Shen Xing understood.

"I see. You think I survived this long simply because Ouyang Lin gave me some life-saving artifacts."

"Did I guess wrong?"

"No, you hit the nail on the head. A woman's intuition for these matters is truly astonishing." Shen Xing admitted it outright.

"Living off a woman yet remaining so unyielding... You really something else." Bai Ying gave Shen Xing a speechless thumbs-up.

"Ugh!"

At that moment, Xu Minghui groaned and struggled to open her eyes.

"Great, let's go now." Shen Xing finally let out a sigh of relief.

Bai Ying directly shoved the remaining beverage into Xu Minghui's hands for her to finish herself.

Then, she drew a gleaming, bright longsword from the scabbard on her back.

"What are you doing? Didn't you bring a collapse gun?" Shen Xing asked in surprise.

According to the courses he had studied, when people were trapped inside a dimensional gate and unable to leave, rescue teams from the outside could bring in a collapse gun.

A collapse gun was a weapon specially developed to destroy dimensional gates.

Fired from inside a dimensional gate, the dimensional space would rapidly become unstable, thereby forcing a new exit gate to appear.

However, using this weapon had two major drawbacks:

First, the process was irreversible. Once the dimensional gate was destroyed, it could never be reopened. To a certain extent, there was a possibility of saying goodbye to that world forever. This ran contrary to the overarching theme of the era of high martial arts, which advocated exploration and acquiring external resources by any means necessary.

No one could be certain whether the world lost forever might have contained something of immense help to warriors.

Therefore, although collapse guns existed, their use was officially discouraged.

The second drawback was the cost.

The collapse gun was a signature application following breakthroughs in spatial technology.

It was powerful, but its manufacturing cost was equally astonishing.

Unless in an extreme emergency, its use was generally not approved.

Simply put, it all depended on the status of the trapped individuals.

As two novices, Shen Xing and Xu Minghui obviously didn't carry that kind of weight.

"You expect me to use a collapse gun—meant for destroying C-rank dimensional gates—to rescue you two? Shen Xing, do you think that because you've become Officer Ouyang's favored guest, your value equals hers? Do you have any idea what kind of status a person needs to have in order to get approval for the use of a collapse gun of this caliber?" Bai Ying held the sword with both hands, slowly raising it above her head while mocking Shen Xing.

Shen Xing remained unperturbed; he felt no sting from such minor aggression.

However, Xu Minghui, standing nearby, was stunned.

The words "favored guest" struck her body like a heavy sledgehammer.

Subconsciously exerting force, she crushed the nearly empty beverage bottle in her hand into a crumpled ball.

This was the first time she had heard the name Ouyang Lin, but she committed it to memory instantly.

She furrowed her brow as a sharp pang suddenly pierced her heart, bringing a dull ache and discomfort.

Some dark substance slowly welled up from deep within her heart.

"Hah! Moon-Wheel Slash! Break for me!"

The next moment, Bai Ying's voice rang out from ahead.

A brilliant flash of white light instantly illuminated everything around them!