Book 4 Chapter 1 – New Team

　　Inside a hotel suite, the survivors from the Shangbei domain gathered around a table. All seemed happy and were still in disbelief at their good luck. Qing Qiaoqiao was the only person who was not so relieved. She did not believe Li Yiming's explanation about Liu Meng's absence and instead judged it to be a pretense aimed at lessening the psychological burdens of those that did survive. The more she looked at Li Yiming,

　　"Eyegla.s.ses!?" Qing Linglong yelled out in horror; the vampiric virus was not something that was cured by at the end of a domain.

　　"Look at this!" Eyegla.s.ses played around with a black rock that hung from his neck. It was made of an unknown material, and the craftsmans.h.i.+p was rather crude. This was Eyegla.s.ses' reward: an adaptive guardian equipment.

　　"Shadowless Pearl?" Li Yiming knew exactly what the object was; the vampiric couple had told him about it. He was happy that Eyegla.s.ses had found just the right item right away.

　　"Yes. Ah, it feels good to be under the sun again." Eyegla.s.ses took a deep breath and sat down next to the window. Being bathed in the warmth of the sun seemed to bring great comfort to Eyegla.s.ses', at least judging by the expression on his pale visage. However, Li Yiming noticed that the rays of light did not produce a shadow beneath Eyegla.s.ses.

　　"What is done is done. We should make plans for the future now." Qing Linglong was planning ahead, as it was in her habit to do so.

　　"I want to rest." Big Beard took out a can of beer from the fridge, opened it by biting, and took a long sip.

　　"That's not what I mean, and you know it." Qing Linglong stared directly into his eyes.

　　"I know what you mean. Just give me some time to think." Big Beard took another sip.

　　"Can you find anyone better than Li Yiming?" Qing Linglong pressed on, determined to get an answer from Big Beard.

　　'Li Yiming…' Big Beard squinted as he pondered Qing Linglong's proposal. He looked at Li Yiming and tried to remember what happened in the domain, but his memories were cut off the moment he fell unconscious. What happened at the end of the Shangbei domain, he did not know, but one thing was for sure; Li Yiming was the last man standing, and Liu Meng was gone. 'He said that Liu Meng was gone for convalescence, but is that true? Regardless, the sage level Xiang Liu was slain, there's no doubt about that from what Heaven's Laws told me.'

　　"I agree too. We can make better use of our strengths as a team. I have a feeling that we'll be able to do great things." Eyegla.s.ses also had his eyes fixated on Li Yiming. "Li Yiming, you don't belong to a permanent team, do you?

　　"A permanent team?" Li Yiming snapped out of his reflections. He had been thinking about the seemingly cryptic exchanges between Qing Linglong and Big Beard.

　　"So you don't have one? Great. Let's make a team, and you'll be the captain, okay?" Qing Linglong said with a grin.

　　"How is it any different from what we did before?" Li Yiming asked.

　　"Of course. Permanent teams are recognized by Heaven's Laws. So in the future, whether it's a domain or anything else, we'll be treated as a single unit. That's a big difference from impromptu teams. Most guardians would usually join such a team to maximize mutual self-interest," Eyegla.s.ses explained.

　　"I used to be part of a team before, but after Qiaoqiao's awakening, I was told that the team wouldn't welcome newcomers, so I chose to leave them," Qing Linglong added and looked at Big Beard. On paper at least, to pool their power together and to work together for a common goal was a plan with no losses and only gains.

　　"I'm okay with it if you're all okay with it." Li Yiming nodded. 'It's way too hard to survive alone in a domain. I can tell first-hand how important it is to have a team to rely on.'

　　"What about you?" Qing Linglong looked at Big Beard, who had already finished two beers and was working on his third one.

　　"I accept." Big Beard put his beer can down. He threw an intense gaze at Li Yiming.

　　"I'm not actually insisting on being the team captain. I think that Big Beard could do it, since he was the captain of his own team before." Li Yiming caught the message.

　　"No, the captain has to be you. You're someone who's worth my trust. I was just hesitating because I missed the people from the old team. We've been together for quite many years after all," Big Beard sighed.

　　"If everything is settled, then we shouldn't delay any further. For now, the first thing on the agenda is a vacation to relax for a while," Qing Linglong said with a broad smile.