My starting summon is a small skeleton - Chapter 441: 438 Resurrection

Chapter 441: 438 Resurrection

Leaving from Lu Wu’s side, Zhang Chen held that one fragment and returned to District 1, returning to this place he had not visited for decades.

No one is born destined to be someone, and neither was Zhang Chen born destined to be the First Envoy of the Zero Organization.

Before becoming the First Envoy of the Zero Organization, he was an ordinary person who wasn’t even a summoner.

Living in a small city in District 1, he ran a fruit shop and managed a small family of three.

If his life trajectory hadn’t deviated, he might have spent his entire life in that fruit shop, tending to his wife and children.

Such a life, for the current Zhang Chen, was something desirable but unattainable.

However, for the Zhang Chen of that time, it might have been slightly mundane.

He occasionally thought it would be great if he could become a summoner, if he could become powerful, if he could have thrilling adventures and a magnificent life.

Indeed, living in that era, which man could genuinely content himself with watching others lead exciting lives while resigning himself to mediocrity?

Even if resigned to his fate, he still had his fantasies.

Like those adults who loved sports esports, knowing they couldn’t compete but still finding ways to indulge themselves.

Zhang Chen’s way of indulging himself was through collecting.

Well, to be precise, collecting summoner items.

He used to save some money each month to go to specific markets in the city to collect various items.

Thı𝗌 ₡hⱥp𝕥℮r 𝖎𝗌 p𝗼𝕤ƚ𝗲𝕕 b𝑦 𝓀𝖎𝓉𝗲𝓃Օ𝘷ᥱ𝕝

Those so-called specific markets were actually black markets.

Markets tailored for ordinary people.

The items sold there were remnants from summoner battles.

Special personnel would collect them through specific channels, such as logistical support from secret realm agencies, competition agencies, even from battle sites or law enforcement logistics.

Through various channels, items that were useless to summoners were collected and sold at these black markets.

These markets held no value in the eyes of summoners but were relatively high-end and filled with dreams and miracles for ordinary people.

People often found treasures in these markets and made a fortune overnight.

Zhang Chen used to frequent these markets daily, partly due to his longing for the world of summoners and partly harboring the fantasy of becoming rich overnight.

Perhaps the earnest are rewarded by fate.

Or maybe it was the onset of misfortune.

Zhang Chen, who frequented these markets, indeed stumbled upon his own rare encounter.

While browsing the market, an object inadvertently entered his body, and he could clearly feel its presence.

He could even feel power surging within his body.

Caught up in ecstasy at the time, he didn’t think much further and hurried back home, fearing others might notice his abnormality.

Once home, Zhang Chen began to research the strange encounter he had gained.

This research irreversibly thrust him into a profound abyss.

To this day, he had completely forgotten what had occurred that day.

Partly because the time was too distant, and partly because his brain deliberately blocked that painful memory, he only remembered that his house had been stained red with blood that day.

It was also on that day that he lost his family, and he himself became a wanted person by the Alliance.

From that day, he began his flight, and he embarked on the adventurous, impressive life he had initially longed for.

In just a few decades,

He went from being an ordinary fruit shop owner to becoming the First Envoy of the Zero Organization, a figure of absolute prominence within the entire Alliance.

One could say he had fulfilled all his initial fantasies.

But having achieved all this, he was not happy.

Especially in recent years, with the disappearance of the Zeroers and as he reached the pinnacle of the Zero Organization,

Zhang Chen felt not the thrill of absolute power but an indescribable loneliness.

On the other hand, there were matters he had to face as an Evil Summoner.

As Evil Summoners, their power grows extremely quickly, easily reaching heights in a short time that others couldn’t reach in a lifetime.

But there lies a problem.

As Evil Summoners grow, evil energy continuously erodes them.

This erosion accumulates over time, becoming increasingly terrifying later on.

As time progresses, Evil Summoners need to find ways to maintain their sense of self amidst the evil energy.

This is an exceedingly difficult task, which is why for over a hundred years, the Zero Organization has had only five powerful individuals at the Envoy level.

Indeed, over a hundred years, the Zero Organization has created at least a hundred epic-level powerhouses.

But these powerhouses either end up killed by their own kind, the Zeroers, or die amidst the evil energy, with only a few still surviving.

The reason Zhang Chen survived was because he had a talisman against the evil energy.

His talisman was his inner sanctuary.

That was his family.

That broken family from decades ago.

That warm little family was the sanctuary of his spirit, his last line of defense against the invasion of evil energy.

With this sanctuary, Zhang Chen resisted the invasion of evil energy again and again.

One could say, without this sanctuary, he wouldn’t have survived to this day.

But even so, that sanctuary couldn’t last much longer.

The erosion by evil energy was getting more severe.

Now, the only way for him to survive was the Gate Fragment he had obtained from Lu Wu.

Now, holding that fragment in his hand, he was essentially gripping his hope for survival.

At this moment, he had two choices.

One was to make a direct wish to resolve the problem of evil energy erosion from his body.

This was the most direct and effective method.

But when Zhang Chen wanted to do so, something inside him was stirred.

He suddenly had the idea of using the Gate Fragment to bring his wife and child back to life.

This was not a rational decision.

But once this idea emerged, Zhang Chen couldn’t suppress this thought.

This was the aftermath of relying on his inner sanctuary to resist evil energy for decades.

Deep inside his heart, there seemed to be a voice telling him that this was almost his only chance to save his wife and child.

If he gave up this chance, not only would he have no opportunity to save them in the future,

He might even gradually forget about them as the threat of evil energy dissipated.

Once forgotten, they would truly die from this world.

Torn between himself and his family, Zhang Chen wavered for a while but eventually, he resolutely and irrevocably chose his family.

Thus, he returned to District 1 with the Gate Fragment.

He returned to this place he had not seen in decades.

He found it—the grave of his wife and children, which he hadn’t visited in decades.

…

In a cemetery in a small northern town of Area 1.

Zhang Chen stood excitedly in front of two tombstones, one large and one small.

“It’s been decades, and I have finally returned.

Wife, son, have you been waiting long? I am going to bring you back to my side.”

As he spoke, Zhang Chen took out a Gate Fragment with trembling hands.

The refined fragment emitted a captivating light.

Holding it, Zhang Chen’s expression shifted from rapture to determination, and he finally pushed the fragment forward, uttering each word with resolve, “Gate, I make a wish, I want you to resurrect my wife and children!”

Following Zhang Chen’s wish, the Gate Fragment in his hand lit up.

Mysterious light spread out, and an indescribable power burst forth during this process.

At the same time, the two tombstones in front of him started to tremble.

Something seemed to be struggling to break free below.

Seeing this, Zhang Chen hurried forward, carefully clearing the tombstones and opening the graves.

As he removed all unnecessary shackles, two figures, one large and one small, stood up from the graves.

At first, they were just two vague shadows, unrecognizable.

But quickly, under the influence of the mysterious power, the ashes beneath the shadows began to coalesce.

In less than a few minutes, two skeletons, one large and one small, appeared.

After the skeletons formed, an indescribable power erupted once again, and Zhang Chen’s face revealed wild joy; he could already sense the life force of his wife and son in those energies.

They were about to be alive.

Indeed, what followed was an even more astounding transformation from skeletal remains to flesh and blood.

The two skeletons rapidly filled out.

Soon, two figures, one large and one small, appeared before Zhang Chen.

This was the moment Zhang Chen had dreamt of for decades.

Seeing this dream turn into reality, Zhang Chen’s face showed wild joy, and he lunged forward, about to embrace his wife and son.

This should have been a beautiful moment.

The people he had yearned for, for decades, had returned, a family once broken now reunited.

Such a scene was just like a fairy tale.

But the more beautiful something is, the more some people want to shatter it.

Like now.

Just as Zhang Chen was about to embrace his wife and child, a figure suddenly appeared, snatched the fragment, and struck Zhang Chen with a backhand blow.

The attacker was both abruptly appearing and striking; Zhang Chen couldn’t react at all.

Faced with this situation, Zhang Chen only had one choice—to save the fragment or save his wife and children.

He hesitated for a moment, and in that moment of hesitation, Zhang Chen once again watched his newly resurrected wife and child die before him.

“No!”

A hysterical scream burst forth.

Zhang Chen’s eyes instantly turned blood red as he stared intently at the fleeting silhouette of the person who had appeared and then vanished.

Despite the fact that the opponent was fleeting and chanted with all his might, Zhang Chen still recognized a familiar aura on him.

“Is it him? Tie Xiong, I want you dead!”

Amidst the roar, Zhang Chen leaped into the air and chose a direction to chase after.

Not long after Zhang Chen had given chase, a figure appeared where he had originally been, clutching a fragment in his hand.

On closer inspection, who was this person if not Lu Wu?

Clearly, it was he who was driving everything from behind.

In fact, from the moment Zhang Chen first saw Lu Wu, he had already fallen into Lu Wu’s control.

Although Zhang Chen was an Epic 3-star fighter, his type of Epic 3-star differed from Zhao Xue’en’s, as he was piled up with evil energy, with his body and mind constantly eroded by it.

This type of Epic 3-star posed no threat to Lu Wu.

If he wished, he could at any time trigger the evil energy within Zhang Chen’s body and then kill him.

But Lu Wu did not do so.

Instead, he followed Zhang Chen’s plan.

Lu Wu had only one goal in doing that: to guide Zhang Chen step by step into a state of spiritual collapse and direct his hatred towards Tie Xiong.

Everything went very smoothly.

From the moment Zhang Chen received that fragment, his mind had been controlled by Lu Wu, and the medium of that control was the fragment itself.

Zhang Chen thought he had really cleared the energy Lu Wu placed on the fragment, truly mastered the fragment, and even used the fragment to really resurrect his wife and child, but all of it was just an illusion.

With Lu Wu’s current power, along with the power of the fragment in his hand,

Controlling a Zhang Chen, who was constantly eroded by evil energy, was an extremely easy task.

“This way, a pawn has been successfully cultivated. Now, there’s no need for me to look for Tie Xiong myself; he will do everything he can to help me find him!”

Watching Zhang Chen disappear into the distance, Lu Wu nodded to himself.

Overall, Lu Wu was very pleased with his own maneuvers.

But while Lu Wu was satisfied, the old father who followed him was not.

Although Lu Wu eventually proved that his methods were beyond his imagination, the old father was very dissatisfied with the means Lu Wu used.

This playing with people’s hopes, breaking families, and treating people as pawns was something the old father could not accept.

After all, he did not come from a world that grew through various manipulations and intrigues.

He had lived in a relatively closed, relatively happy world.

So he could not accept Lu Wu’s methods, nor could he accept allowing his precious daughter to follow someone like Lu Wu.

In the eyes of the old father, such a person was utterly deplorable.

“Let’s go back, go back and tell your wife not to let Ilya go out!”

Saying this, the old father stood up to leave but noticed some activity near Lu Wu.

Lu Wu walked to the two graves Zhang Chen had disturbed, fixed the graves properly, and then stood between them for a moment before slowly saying, “Sorry, I thwarted your chance of resurrection.

But I think, for you, being resurrected might not have been a good thing.

He was only using you as a means to resist the invasion of evil energy and wanted to save you because of my influence. If he truly saved you, he wouldn’t live peacefully with you after that.

He would only blame himself, feeling you robbed him of a chance for release.

Besides, death and loss are inevitable parts of life; you have to learn to accept!”

Hearing this, the old father somewhat changed his view of Lu Wu, thinking this young man still had some substance.

After saying this, Lu Wu turned, looking at the fragment in his hand, his lips curving into a smile: “Now, Dudu is one step closer to resurrection!”