It was not surprising that they thought so. A grown man wearing a blue leather suit, covered so tightly from head to toe that only his face was exposed.
If it were just that, at most he would be considered someone with a peculiar fashion sense. But the problem was that this armor, which had transformed into a leather suit, fit perfectly with his skin, to the point where it seemed to have fused with Chen Long's skin.
Although the special material of the armor allowed for various physiological functions to operate while being worn, because the leather suit was full-body coverage, the fitting parts were naturally close together, giving him a rather awkward appearance.
It was no wonder the female nurse looked at Chen Long as if he were a pervert.
To avoid further misunderstanding, Chen Long tried every method to remove the armor, but all ended in failure.
The armor seemed to be one with Chen Long. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't remove it. He couldn't even damage it with external force.
Xiao Yu's coma lasted for three days.
During these three days, Chen Long never left the hospital room. Every time he saw Xiao Yu lying unconscious, he blamed himself. If he hadn't brought Xiao Yu into the Black Hand building, or if he had handed her over to the agents outside, perhaps what happened afterward wouldn't have occurred.
On the morning of the fourth day, Xiao Yu slowly opened her eyes. The first person she saw was a white-haired old man. The old man was also looking at her. Their eyes met, and the old man's eyes held an indescribable gentleness.
The old man placed the back of his hand on Xiao Yu's forehead. After a long moment, he nodded with satisfaction and stood up.
Xiao Yu also tried to sit up, but her limbs felt numb, and her entire body lacked strength.
"Little girl, you mustn't move around. Although you have woken up, you are still very weak and need rest."
Xiao Yu lay down obediently and turned her head. She saw Uncle Long asleep on a stool. Although the leather suit he was wearing looked strange, Xiao Yu could tell that Uncle Long had worked hard while she was unconscious.
Speaking of unconsciousness.
While she was unconscious, Xiao Yu had a very long dream. In the dream, sometimes from a first-person perspective, and sometimes from a third-person perspective, she witnessed the rise and fall of an empire.
The protagonist of this dream was the Sacred Lord.
In the dream, the Sacred Lord ruled over humanity as a great demon. However, it was not the scene of indiscriminate killing and widespread destruction one might imagine. Instead, the country developed in an orderly manner under the Sacred Lord's rule. Although there was starvation and corruption, from a modern perspective, these were normal phenomena, until the appearance of Lope.
Lope led the so-called oppressed people to revolt, and under the banner of justice, sealed the Sacred Lord.
Lope, who sealed the Sacred Lord, was hailed as a hero and a Saint Warrior by the people.
Lope, who was highly respected and beloved, should have naturally become the new king of the country. But Lope did not; he chose to wander the land and uphold justice.
This seemed legendary but was an extremely irresponsible act.
As the saying goes, a country cannot be without a ruler for a day. With the Sacred Lord sealed and Lope wandering the land, the position of the monarch became vacant. To become the new king, the powerful noble families and generals began to fight and kill each other.
The result of the war was that a general who defeated all his rivals ascended the throne. But behind this were the displaced people, famine, and widespread death due to war, leading to the outbreak of plague from unburied corpses, which claimed even more lives.
Some might think these were merely the pains of a regime change and that everything would get better once the new monarch took office.
The opposite was true.
As the saying goes, it is easier to conquer a kingdom than to govern one.
The new monarch was originally a general. He was capable of riding horses and wielding swords to conquer, but he was incompetent at governing the country and handling state affairs. He was the type who got a headache just by looking at a memorial.
This ultimately led to corrupt officials gaining power, severe corruption, people living in misery, and many starving to death.
In total, the number of people who died during the Sacred Lord's reign was less than a fraction of those who died in these two periods.
At first, Xiao Yu didn't understand what the Sacred Lord had meant. Now, she saw that it was indeed true. Even after so many years, the only lesson humanity had learned from history was to learn no lessons.
Wars continued to erupt worldwide. War, death, and refugees remained the theme of the world. Ironically, all of this was not caused by demons, but solely by human infighting.
"Is humanity truly just?"
When Xiao Yu began to ponder this question, it meant that Bai Qi's offensive had taken effect. Xiao Yu's heart had begun to waver, and the seed had been sown, which would eventually grow into a towering tree with time.
With the Sacred Lord's revival and Xiao Yu's coma, one misfortune after another befell them. Although he was reluctant, his father knew he had to swallow his pride and seek help from those stubborn old fools.
The old man Xiao Yu saw was one of the helpers his father had found. This person was not only a master of qi magic but also proficient in traditional Chinese medicine. He was also the only one among those old guys with whom his father had a decent relationship.
Despite his advanced age, with the treatment of traditional Chinese medicine, the old man's eyes were sharp, his hearing was good, and his physical strength was even better than that of some young people.
Xiao Yu's murmured words were not loud, but the old man heard them all.
Recalling what this young girl had gone through before, the old man couldn't help but frown.
"Old Goat, come out with me for a moment."
The old man called his father, who was standing nearby, out of the hospital room. He inquired in detail about Xiao Yu's condition outside. After learning that Xiao Yu was his father's disciple, his heart eased a little, but he still reminded his father to constantly monitor Xiao Yu's psychological changes.
Although the old man and his father jointly researched and found no trace of magic on Xiao Yu, they could not rule out the possibility that the opponent had used some magic unknown to them, as they were dealing with a demon and could not be careless.
"Ah!"
Just as the two old men were discussing, a cry from the hospital room startled them. They thought the Sacred Lord had made a surprise return and rushed into the room.
The Sacred Lord had not come.
With Chen Long's help, Xiao Yu was leaning against the hospital bed, her head covered in a dense array of silver needles. Her face was filled with fear, and she wanted to pull out the needles but dared not.
"Dad, what's wrong with me!?"
Seeing that it wasn't a demon's attack, the two old men relaxed.
Looking at the frightened Xiao Yu, her father calmly said, "Don't make a fuss. This is Old Niu's acupuncture."
Old Niu walked to Xiao Yu's side, gently fiddled with the silver needles on her head, and nodded.
"Almost done, they can be removed."
With that, Old Niu took out a piece of rolled-up cowhide, spread it on the table, and quickly removed all the silver needles from Xiao Yu's head.
His hand speed was incredibly fast. By the time Xiao Yu reacted, Old Niu had already collected all the needles into the cowhide, rolled it up, and put it in his embrace.