...
When Shen Tang woke up, she was already back home.
She looked at the familiar setup of the bedroom in front of her, yet felt an unreal sensation.
A sharp pain in her mind, fragmented memories surged back like a tide.
Late night... agreement... volcano... Earth Core... assassination... farewell with an arrow...
Was she dragged back from the gates of hell, or was it just a nightmare?
"Tangtang, you’re awake, that’s great!"
Xiao Jin sat by the bed, his eyes bloodshot, seemingly having not slept for several nights.
He wanted to embrace her excitedly yet feared it might discomfort her, so he just held her hand tightly and anxiously asked, "How do you feel now? Is there any discomfort? How long was I gone and you ended up like this, almost losing your life, what on earth happened?"
Jia Lan brought over a bowl of medicinal soup and scolded, "You silly leopard, why are you so anxious? Tangtang has just woken up, how can she answer so many questions."
With that, he turned to Shen Tang, exhibiting an unusual gentleness on his cold and delicate face, "Drink the medicine first."
Lu Xiao sat by the bed, touched her forehead, and whispered, "Female Master, tell us if there’s any discomfort."
Xue Yinzhou held her in his arms, filled with guilt and self-blame, "Sorry, it was my dereliction of duty, I couldn’t protect you."
After receiving the message from Lu Xiao, he, like Xiao Jin, rushed back from afar.
Unexpectedly, in the days he was away, such an incident happened.
If he had known about the impending accident, he would never have left.
Shen Tang looked numbly at the Beast Husbands who were concerned about her, a sting at her nose, and tears uncontrollably streaming down.
Lu Xiao half-knelt beside the bed, wiped away her tears, and softly comforted, "It’s okay now, everything is over, the best thing is that you came back safely."
Shen Tang held his arm, choking as she shook her head, "No, there’s still Shen Li, have you seen him? Didn’t he come back with me?"
Lu Xiao and Jia Lan exchanged glances, not knowing what to say.
Finally, Jia Lan spoke up, unwillingly, "Tangtang, when we went, we only found you, Shen Li was not found."
Lu Xiao handed her a letter, "This is the letter Shen Li left that night three days ago. After knowing you disappeared, Prince Jia Lan and I immediately set out to search..."
He told Shen Tang the entire story, "Initially, we wanted to enter the volcano’s interior to find someone, but encountered a volcanic eruption, so we had to retreat first, apologies."
In the end, even Lu Xiao’s tone couldn’t help but be low; spending so much time together, they had already regarded Shen Li as family, occasionally getting jealous, bickering, or fighting, but if anyone truly left, they would feel bad too.
The atmosphere on site was indescribably quiet and dead, as if time had frozen.
Shen Tang held the letter in her hand, grasping it until it wrinkled, her whole body turned cold.
Can anyone survive in an erupting volcano?
Shen Li was a Fire Element High-level Beastman, but still merely mortal flesh.
Xiao Jin held her hand, cold as ice, "Tangtang..."
He was extremely worried but was at a loss for words on how to comfort, afraid of saying something wrong and making her feel worse.
At this point, what good is nice comfort?
No one present was a fool.
Even Lu Xiao remained silent, Shen Tang needed not comfort now, but rather to face facts and calm down.
"...I understand." Shen Tang closed her eyes and asked the system, "Is Shen Li still alive?"
The system responded softly, [The system cannot detect Shen Li’s life signs, and his information on the system interface also shows no further updates, Host... do you want to unbind?]
"..." The system’s words were quite tactful.
Shen Tang only felt her heartache intensifying, her nose stung, and tears fell again. Back then, she could save Xiao Jin, but she couldn’t save Shen Li.
"Do not unbind."

It would take at least decades to regain vitality.
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