AEKMEM chapter 63

Chu Heng was startled. Already badly injured, he nearly coughed up blood.

Why is Qiao Qiao here?

An Qiao shouldn’t have seen him hurt himself, right?

“Qiao…” He was about to say, Qiao Qiao, why are you here?

An Qiao cast a healing, light-attribute magic spell to stop the bleeding. His hand trembled as he did so. Unable to contain his anger, he said, “Who hurt you?”

He was fine when he left, so why is he injured so soon after returning?

It looks like he’s seriously injured!

Chu Heng: “…

Of course, he wouldn’t dare say that he injured himself.

If An Qiao knew how he got hurt, he would probably be so angry that he wouldn’t want to talk to him anymore.

He injured himself to see if he could access more of the Dragon Clan’s memories after being injured. That would help him find a way to break the Demon King’s curse on An Qiao. That was something he absolutely couldn’t let An Qiao know.

“It was an accident,” he said vaguely.

“What accident?”

An Qiao quickly walked over and half-squatted in front of Chu Heng. His brows were furrowed as he gently pressed his hand against the spot on Chu Heng’s chest where the bleeding had just stopped. His palm condensed light-attribute magic. ”

—This is the wound. It needs more careful treatment.

He had treated Chu Heng once before. This time, however, Chu Heng’s injuries hadn’t healed. To avoid being disturbed while “beating someone up,” he had forcibly created a 3S-level energy “barrier,” which had caused the injuries to flare up and lead to vomiting blood.

Last time, the injury was relatively minor, but this time it’s much more serious.

The bleeding had just stopped.

However, the lingering smell of blood in the air was still strong.

His palm was stained with wet blood on Chu Heng’s chest. The bloodstains weren’t noticeable on the black clothes, but the cold, bright red blood stood out sharply against his snow-white hands.

He was accustomed to bloodshed and death. He could remain calm and collected, even amid carnage on the battlefield. Yet, at that moment, his hand trembled uncontrollably.

Chu Heng was somewhat stunned.

Through his clothes, he could feel An Qiao’s hand gently pressing against his chest and trembling slightly.

—A dazzling youth with pure, proud, and handsome features trembling at the sight of his wound?

Because of worry, because of concern, because… fear?

In a flash, Chu Heng’s pupils widened as if he had understood something.

It really wasn’t just worry and concern for a friend and partner.

Did An Qiao feel the same way about him?

Their feelings for each other were mutual?

His heart pounded wildly.

Chu Heng grabbed An Qiao’s hand, unable to suppress a smile. “Qiao Qiao, are you worried about me?”

“You’re still smiling!” An Qiao glared at him.

“You’re injured! Don’t you know that? Can’t you take your own injury seriously?”

Chu Heng: “… ”

“Yes, it was my fault.” He quickly tried to salvage the situation, attempting to appease An Qiao. “I should have taken my injury more seriously.”

An Qiao was even angrier. “You’re just giving me the runaround! You don’t even realize you’ve done anything wrong!”

“I…”

An Qiao withdrew his hand and stood up, still angry. “If you don’t want to tell me how you got injured, I’ll go ask Lieutenant Jiang.”

Chu Heng’s injury had already been treated and didn’t need further attention. For the next period, he only needed to nurture the injury with light-attribute magic. Although the injury could recover slowly without nurturing, it wouldn’t heal as quickly.

Chu Heng: “!!!”

An Qiao was going to ask Jiang Qi about it, but wouldn’t his injury give him away easily?

“Qiao Qiao…” He was just about to tell him not to ask Jiang Qi.

At that moment, hurried footsteps approached the doorway. “Your Highness, Marshal, I’m almost frantic with worry. You—”

Yun Jianchen’s voice abruptly stopped.

He saw that Chu Heng’s crown princess, An Qiao, was also in the study and immediately realized that he had probably interrupted them.

He truly couldn’t be blamed for lacking tact!

The study door was open, and Jiang Qi had said that Chu Heng wanted to see him. That was why he had come!

“You should greet your guest first,” An Qiao said calmly, turning and leaving.

Chu Heng: “… ”

He watched his departing figure, almost wanting to punch Yun Jianchen.

He had planned to feign weakness again because An Qiao seemed to find it appealing.

He was injured and, even though An Qiao had mostly healed his injuries, he might still experience aftereffects, such as mental fatigue. An Qiao might take pity on him, seeing him so “weak.”

But…

But Yun Jianchen just happened to show up at that exact moment!

**

Yun Jianchen looked at Chu Heng, who exuded murderous intent, with a hint of fear in his eyes.

“This really isn’t my fault!” He quickly raised his hands to protest his innocence. “I didn’t know your dear Crown Princess was here.”

Chu Heng knew he couldn’t blame Yun Jianchen.

Slightly toning down his terrifying aura, he used his personal terminal to send Jiang Qi a message, reminding him not to speak carelessly. In a deep voice, he asked, “You came to find me because of the elves?”

“Hurry up and finish, so I can go find my Qiaoqiao.”

Yun Jianchen: “…”

Really? He’s showing off his affection in front of this lonely bachelor?

“Brother! I’ve been terribly poisoned by these strange insects! You have to save me!” Yun Jianchen cried pitifully.

Talking about insect poison made Yun Jianchen feel heartbroken.

He used to be a handsome, dashing, and charming man who was admired by countless people. After a trip to the front lines, however, he contracted a strange insect poison and his body ballooned rapidly.

He’s now so fat that he’s almost unrecognizable as human; he doesn’t even want to look at himself.

The typical beast form of the Yun family is the white fox, so almost every Yun family member possesses a remarkably handsome appearance. This also makes Yun family members extremely obsessed with their looks and extremely narcissistic and vain.

Back then, Yun Jianchen went to great lengths to befriend Chu Heng because he found his face handsome and pleasing to the eye.

The eldest Yun son was so narcissistic that he looked in the mirror dozens of times a day, and his storage space was filled with exquisite mirrors.

However, ever since he became obese due to the strange insect poison, he hasn’t looked in the mirror again.

When his political enemies mocked him as a “fat fox” and teased him about his fiancée’s elopement, he seemed calm, but he was bitter inside.

Despite trying every possible method and consulting the empire’s only 2S-level elf healer, he couldn’t cure the strange insect poison in his body.

He knew the elf was in Blue Star City and that Chu Heng had contact with the elf, so he rushed over immediately.

“You should know where that elf is, right?” Yun Jianchen looked at Chu Heng expectantly.

Chu Heng gave Yun Jianchen a strange, deep look.

He thought to himself, Of course I know. My Qiaoqiao—the one you just brushed past—is him.

Although he sympathized with Yun Jianchen’s situation, An Qiao didn’t want to reveal his identity as an elf just yet. He could only wait for An Qiao to appear again in his elf disguise. Alternatively, he could confess to An Qiao that he knew his elf identity and ask him to use his disguise to cure Yun Jianchen of the insect poison.

Of course, it all depended on An Qiao’s willingness.

“Anyway, being a little chubby shouldn’t be a big problem, right?”

“I don’t know where the elf is right now either,” said Chu Heng, shaking his head.

“But if I see the elf again, I’ll let them know for you.”

“You don’t know where the elf is either?” Yun Jianchen asked, somewhat disappointed.

But this answer was expected.

The elf’s whereabouts are too mysterious. It only appeared this time to expose the fake elf. Chu Heng had already seen and spoken to it, which was quite an achievement.

Yun Jianchen frowned, his expression unusually serious as he thought of something. “I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I feel like the insect poison in my body is acting strangely. At first, I didn’t feel anything, but lately, I sometimes feel like something is controlling my thoughts.”

“—I suspect it might be the insect poison in my body causing this.”

When he first contracted the poison, he was extremely worried. Later, he learned that the poison wasn’t fatal but would cause him to overeat and gain weight. Although he was eager to find a cure, he had to admit that he had underestimated the poison’s effects.

Had those around him not pointed out that he was acting strangely and teased him about being heartbroken over becoming a “fat fox,” he wouldn’t have noticed his changes.

Hearing Yun Jianchen say this, Chu Heng’s eyes immediately deepened.

“Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

Yun Jianchen nodded. “I’m not mistaken. My assistant and family have also mentioned that I sometimes act strangely, unlike my usual self.”

“Even if the elves hadn’t appeared, I still would have come to find you. You deal with the Zerg the most. Can you figure out what’s going on with this strange insect poison?”

Chu Heng recalled what Yun Jianchen had just said about the insect poison and tapped his fingers lightly on the edge of the desk.

“I don’t know what happened yet. I’ll have someone investigate later.”

“As for the insect poison in your body, I’ll find a way to get rid of it as soon as possible.”

**

After seeing Yun Jianchen off, Chu Heng immediately got up to find An Qiao.

An Qiao said he went to ask Jiang Qi how he got injured. Did Jiang Qi tell An Qiao anything?

However, Jiang Qi didn’t know how he got injured either.

He just didn’t know if An Qiao could guess. After all, given his current strength, it was nearly impossible for someone to hurt him.

Also, An Qiao seemed a little angry when he left. How should he appease him? While his injuries weren’t fully healed and his energy was depleted, should he feign weakness again? That should work, right? After all, An Qiao’s hands trembled when he showed him his wounds.

That’s it!

Suddenly, Chu Heng remembered the memories of the Demon King’s curse in the dragon clan’s inherited memories that he had gained in exchange for his injuries. He quickly began searching through his mind.

Hmm . . . The memories related to the Demon King’s curse seem to be right here.

After searching through them for a while, he finally found a way to break the curse and relieve An Qiao’s suffering among the mixed-up memories!

He examined it meticulously and seriously, as if it were the most important ceremony.

Hmm, how many steps are needed to completely break the Demon King’s curse?

The first step is offering the heart’s blood of the dragon clan.

The second step…

Upon seeing the last step, Chu Heng’s eyes widened in disbelief. His usually serious, handsome face flushed crimson.

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