Although the woman in the painting wasn't willing to elaborate on her association with Gu Qingcheng, Han Sen thought it might have been for the best . Gu Qingcheng was most likely watching his every move, anyway .
But Han Sen got ahead of himself, and it turned out she hadn't actually seen him enter the painting . She watched him intently, but she had only seen Han Sen standing in front of the stone doing absolutely nothing . She hadn't seen him enter the image on the rock, at all .
Han Sen spent much time mulling over the relationship between the green-clothed woman and Gu Qingcheng, but he couldn't come up with any plausible theories .
The next morning, Gu Qingcheng came looking for Han Sen in the garden . His heart leaped when he saw her, fearing she might have known about his brief stint inside the painting .
"I'm leaving the shelter for a while . For the duration I am gone, you'd best stay put in the garden," Gu Qingcheng said, surprising Han Sen .
"I'm stuck here . I don't know where I'd go even if I did leave . " Han Sen exaggerated a shrug .
"You know what I mean . " Gu Qingcheng turned to leave, not willing to spare time explaining things any further than that .
"Where are you going?" Han Sen asked .
Gu Qingcheng hesitated and answered, "To get something . If you can make the holy child revive, it'd be good for you and her both . But remember, you'll have to wake her up first . "
Before she left completely, she said one more thing: "While I'm gone, don't set one foot outside this garden . "
Han Sen knew what she was implying . There was every chance the Elysium might come for him wielding pitchforks in her absence, so it was best for him to stick to the safety of the garden .
Han Sen knew this was her way of being nice to him, but her absence still made for his best chance of escaping .
The next day, Han Sen decided not to follow Gu Qingcheng's commands . Instead, he slipped out of the garden and made his way to the geno core storage .
No one confronted him on his way there, and although the spirits looked at him with extra hostility, they did nothing . As usual, they simply tried to kill him with a nasty stare .
Han Sen went back and forth a few times from there . With no threats and nothing prohibiting his coming and going, he really did think this would make for the perfect chance to escape .
Many spirits and creatures were coming and going on the east side of Elysium Shelter . They did not belong to Elysium Shelter, and it seemed as if some manner of business had brought them hither .
Han Sen watched them for two days, and over the course of that time, he saw many more creatures and spirits than he had expected . There wasn't much in the way of security, either . Han Sen figured he'd be able to hide in the crowds to slip out . All he needed to do was pick the right opportunity for making a move, something he wagered would not be difficult .
"An emperor class shelter has this glaring vulnerability? No way . This has to be some sort of trap . Perhaps this is all a ruse established by the Elysium, setting me up for an easy excuse to take my life . If I stay, they'll have no reason or just cause for killing me . I'll be safe . If I leave, they'll undoubtedly cherish the ability to hunt me down," Han Sen thought with concern .
Han Sen hesitated to depart . It looked like a great opportunity for an escape, but it looked like a trap, too .
"You want to leave?" As Han Sen wondered what he should do, the green-clothed woman spoke to him from the stone .
"Why would I do such a thing?" Han Sen was shocked by the sudden question, and he quickly turned to deny what she had suggested .
"Whatever you're seeing is just a trap," the woman informed him, seeming to disregard what Han Sen had said .
Han Sen's face changed, and he didn't deny his desire to leave again .
She went on to say, "If you think you can trust me, I have a way in which you can escape . Would you like to give it a try?"
"Why would you want to help me?" Han Sen curiously eyed the lady .
The woman coldly answered, "I'm actually helping myself . I want to escape, but I want you to come with me . "
"Aren't you the holy child of the Elysium? Why do you want to leave?" Han Sen asked with surprise .
She fell silent for a little while, then said, "I am the holy child of the Elysium, but I don't want that title . I don't want any of this . I just want to be an ordinary, run-of-the-mill spirit . "
"Okay, and what does this plan of yours involve?" Han Sen was neither interested nor willing to hear whatever sad life story she seemed about to tell him . He wanted a way out, so he was going to get down to brass tacks .
The lady quietly murmured, "While Gu Qingcheng is gone, I can help you escape . But unless you can get me my spirit stone back, I'm not going anywhere . "
"Where is your spirit stone?" Han Sen didn't think she was the sort to lie to him . And if she had a way in which they could escape successfully, he didn't mind helping her out .
The woman in the painting said, "The spirit stone in the spirit statue is mine, believe it or not . "
"The spirit stone in the spirit statue is yours?" Han Sen frowned .
If her spirit stone resided inside the spirit statue, the only way she could get it back was if she pledged obedience to someone else .
The spirit hall would have many guards, however . Getting in would not be easy, and going for the stone would be a much harder method of escaping the shelter .
"If it's not my spirit stone, who else would it belong to? Gu Qingcheng is just a human, after all," the woman inside the painting said .
"Gu Qingcheng really is a human?" Han Sen had been wondering if she truly was .
He found it difficult to believe an entire spirit family like Elysium would willingly obey a human . And if Gu Qingcheng was a human, then why was the woman inside the painting a spirit?
The woman did not answer Han Sen directly, and when she spoke next, she actually mocked him . "You humans aren't afraid to die, are you? Even in the midst of all this, you're going to ask questions like that?"
"I was just asking . I want to help you get your stone back, but my powers won't take me any further than the gates . " Han Sen shrugged again .
"Who said you have to walk in through the front door?" The green-clothed woman smiled . "I told you the spirit stone in the spirit statue is mine . I can control the shelter, and that means I can send you to the spirit hall with ease . All you have to do is grab the spirit stone . "
Han Sen was wary of trusting her . If things were that easy, why couldn't she have gone and taken it herself?
"But there is one minor issue we have to deal with first . "
There was a catch, of course .
Chapter end
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