Chapter Ninety-Three: Bloodline Arts

Even if she had not refined and absorbed it herself, given her nature she should have left it for Cloudy Daughter.

Why had it been given to him instead?

Yu Lei still had some self-awareness. Although his eldest sister had always doted on him and their second sister, no matter how close a younger brother and sister might be, they each had parents of their own to care for them. In Yu Yan’s heart, there was no way his position could surpass that of Cloudy Daughter, the child she had borne after ten months of pregnancy.

Thinking of Cloudy Daughter, Yu Lei finally remembered that he still had a niece.

It was just that he had been overwhelmed by too many shocks that day. After seeing his eldest sister, he had been busy rejoicing and worrying over his second sister, who still had not woken.

Yu Lei had truly forgotten to ask after Cloudy Daughter.

Now that he thought of it, he could not help asking, “Eldest Sister, where is Dodo?”

The reason he dared ask so directly was that Yu Yan looked to be in excellent condition.

If something had happened to Cloudy Daughter, Yu Yan could not possibly have seemed so calm when she saw him and their second sister, showing only delight and concern, with none of the grief or desolation one would expect. At the very least, she ought to have burst into tears, or fallen silent and withdrawn.

Yu Lei guessed that Cloudy Daughter must have been placed somewhere by Yu Yan.

After all, this was an S-rank instance, fraught with peril. Of the twenty-nine of them who had entered, only seven remained. If they had not run into their eldest sister, perhaps not even those seven would have survived. It was only natural that, fearing for Cloudy Daughter’s safety, their eldest sister would not keep her at her side.

“This place is too dangerous. I left Dodo in a safe spot outside,” Yu Yan’s answer confirmed Yu Lei’s guess. “Once I send all of you out and find our parents, I’ll bring Dodo to meet up with you. As for this blood crystal, since I’ve given it to you, it’s yours. Use it well.”

“Dodo and I have already refined one.”

“This thing can only be refined once in a lifetime. More than that does no good.”

“Oh.”

So that was why Eldest Sister had been so generous.

Well, what he meant was not that she was ungenerous. It was only that she had always been cautious and had a very clear accounting in her heart. Don’t be fooled by how Mother usually acted shameless and unruly; every time she went to Eldest Sister’s place, she could still manage to squeeze out a little food, drink, supplies, or even a few scraps of money from Eldest Sister.

Those were all things Eldest Sister had prepared in advance, expressly for Mother to “drain.”

Once the allowance was exceeded, no matter how much Mother exhausted her tricks, no matter how pitifully she cried and complained, she would not be able to pry another cent from Eldest Sister’s hands.

This included the school fees and living expenses for him and his second sister. Eldest Sister always calculated everything ahead of time.

Especially after they entered university, he and his second sister could apply for student loans.

Eldest Sister would only cover their housing costs, and even their daily living expenses were kept under a tight rein, just enough to ensure they would not starve. As for wanting to live a little better, or have an occasional treat, were there not work-study jobs at the university?

If all else failed, they could always go find a couple of part-time jobs!

Surely they could not expect everything to be handled by one miserable single mother, raising children on behalf of their parents? And not just one child, but two. Her frail shoulders could not bear that burden.

Every one of those words had come from Eldest Sister’s sharp, unforgiving mouth.

Yu Lei’s lips curved with a smile as he looked at his own “frail” eldest sister. Well, she did indeed look rather delicate. Before he had noticed it, even he had grown taller than her, while her figure still seemed as if a gust of wind might carry her away.

A highly deceptive doll-like face, a pair of large, bright eyes that blinked and fluttered.

No wonder Dodo, already well into her thirties and twelve years his senior, had still been able to find a fiance five years younger than herself.

And that fiance had treated her with utter devotion and obedience. What a pity... the instance world had descended upon them.

No one knew where that fiance had been cast adrift now, and Eldest Sister was probably not feeling too well inside.

For some reason, whenever Yu Lei thought of the way Eldest Sister would say with such solemn seriousness that she was “frail,” he wanted to laugh. In his heart, the externally delicate Eldest Sister did not resemble the word frail in the slightest; on the contrary, she was so strong and brave that he admired her for it.

Strangely enough, though Eldest Sister had rather average earning power and was often miserly to the extreme, she was like the very cornerstone of their family.

Wherever Eldest Sister was, Yu Lei always felt incomparably grounded and at ease.

Perhaps it was precisely because she knew herself so well. Eldest Sister never took on responsibilities she could not bear. She wanted to care for her younger siblings, wanted to be good to their parents, yet always acted within her means. Day by day, as her own life improved, she helped her younger siblings within the scope of her ability, and cared for their aging parents as they grew older and older.

And such an eldest sister, damn it, made Yu Lei deeply admire her.

If in this life he could become someone like Eldest Sister, then surely his days would turn out well.

And the people around him would surely live well too.

Just like now: with Eldest Sister here, he had escaped his predicament. Not only that, but Yu Lei felt as if life itself had become full of hope. Even though they were still inside an S-rank instance, and just not long ago twenty-two members of their group had perished here, he did not feel afraid at all anymore.

Yu Yan had no idea that her little brother held such a high opinion of her.

If she did know, she might feel a bit sheepish.

Because right now she was worrying over how on earth to get these seven people out of the instance.

Unlike Yu Lei and the others, who knew almost nothing about S-rank instances, Yu Yan was fully aware of the situation. If she wanted to bring Yu Lei’s group out of the instance, then including herself and Cloudy Daughter, they would need to kill a full nine instance monsters above the fifth rank. Though that number did not sound especially large, it depended entirely on the place.

If this were another instance, even an A-rank one, it would not matter.

At worst, Yu Yan would spend a bit more effort, luring out the fifth-rank-and-above instance monsters one by one and killing them.

But this was an S-rank instance, where one could wander around casually and still stumble into the territory of earth-rank instance monsters. That was a completely different matter. Mystical-rank monsters usually appeared in groups or nests; provoking one meant provoking an entire pack or a whole nest.

Yu Yan herself would still be fine, so long as she took care not to rouse any earth-rank instance monsters.

If she could not win, she could still flee with her shapeshifting skill. But bringing Yu Lei’s group along made things much harder.

Without battle, her shapeshifting skill could conceal the traces of their whole party without any problem. But once they became entangled in combat with an instance monster, divided attention would likely mean one or two of them being lost.

And no matter who was lost, that was not an outcome Yu Yan wanted to see.

Among the seven were her own brother and sister, and Yu Wan was still unconscious.

The remaining five had clearly shared life-and-death bonds with Yu Lei to be able to run for so long together. Especially the youth wielding the soft sword, who by the time he met her was already nearly exhausted, yet still had not abandoned Yu Wan on his back.

Whatever his reasons, Yu Yan had to appreciate it.

He was the lifesaver of her younger sister; that made him her lifesaver as well.

Besides, there was another troublesome matter.

She had not entered the instance together with Yu Lei and the others, so under the instance’s judgment, she did not count as a member of the same team. In that case, even if she killed nine fifth-rank-and-above instance monsters, she still could not bring Yu Lei and the others out of the instance.

Only if one or more of those seven personally killed enough fifth-rank instance monsters would it count.

The more Yu Yan thought about it, the more her head ached. If worse came to worst, she would have to use her stock of fire ox horn.

“Little Lei, has your bloodline talent awakened yet?”

If Yu Lei’s bloodline talent was strong enough, perhaps she would not need to waste the fire ox horn.