Chapter 221
Li Yue ended her private chat with the Hair Gel Man in the Sky and turned her attention to the Chat Group.
[Meme Lord: Speaking of the other newbie, why are you hungry? Are you having a really tough time?]
[I am hungry: Is this a question for me?]
[Meme Lord: That's right, I'm asking you. This is the first time I've encountered a newbie who can't even afford basic necessities.]
[The Perverted Scum Man: No, no, no, there was actually a period when I struggled to even make ends meet.]
[So Arrogant! You were completely clueless about how to survive in Otherworld in the early stages, which led to you not having money for food, right? That's a completely different story from this newbie.]
486 and Kazuma's daily interruptions.
[I am hungry: As for me, it's because Mr. Shōgen is always in such a hurry that I never have time to eat my fill.]
[The Perverted Scum Man: Huh? Mr. Shōgen? Who's that? Your friend?]
[I am hungry: Mr. Shōgen was my facilitator.]
Okay, now we know who the other newcomer is.
[Meme Lord: I never expected it to be him.]
[I am hungry: Hmm? Does the Group Leader know Mr. Shōgen?]
[Meme Lord: Well, I wouldn't say I knew him personally, I just know he died rather casually.]
[I am hungry: Huh?]
[The Fat Woman in Black Stockings: You know her?]
[Meme Lord: Hmm, this child's name is Chizuru Kayo, and he should only be 9 or 10 years old this year.]
[I am hungry: My name is indeed Chizuru Kayo, and I'm 10 years old this year. I didn't expect the Group Leader of this Otherworld to know me.]
Gin from the Conan World immediately narrowed his eyes. Sure enough, he could know the other person's name and age even across different worlds.
"Boss? What's wrong?"
In the driver's seat, Vodka, who was eating ramen, noticed Gin's sudden serious expression and was somewhat puzzled. Gin had just been thinking for a while while holding the ramen and then handed him the seafood ramen, telling him to eat it. Vodka was already a little hungry, so he happily accepted it and started eating.
"Shut up, Vodka, eat your ramen."
"Oh."
Vodka nodded quickly, then focused on eating his noodles. And let me tell you, the noodles were really good!
[I am hungry: Mr. Group Leader, what was the meaning of what you said before about Mr. Shōgen dying so casually?]
[Meme Lord: I don't know what you guys are doing right now, but soon you'll receive a quest where you'll encounter a terrifying enemy. Isuke Kagetane die at their hands, and you'll be surrounded by Gastrea and die from the high Gastrea Virus infection rate.]
[I am hungry: So this is how things ended between me and Mr. Shōgen? What a pity.]
[The Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Wait, didn't you feel anything when you heard about your own death?]
Kasumigaoka was a little confused when she saw the message from Chizuru Kayo.
10 years old? How could a 10-year-old child be so calm after hearing the news of his future death?
[I am hungry: Because we, the Cursed Children, are destined to die soon, so when I heard the Group Leader say that I would die in the future, although I was a little surprised, I was only surprised that the Group Leader knew my future.]
Chizuru Kayo's words completely shocked Kasumigaoka.
I'm destined to die soon, what is this...?
[The Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Li Yue?]
[Meme Lord: Yes, everything she said is true.]
396. Preparing to seize the Pitch-black World
[Meme Lord: Her world is different from everyone else's in the group. Her world is filled with darkness and despair; to sum it up in two words: apocalypse.]
[Fat Woman in Black Stockings: A post-apocalyptic world?]
[Meme Lord: To be precise, it's the world after the first wave of apocalyptic attacks.]
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: What exactly happened?]
In this post-apocalyptic world, Aizen is very curious about what kind of things exist in this world.
[Meme Lord: The gist is that humans discovered a powerful virus, began researching it, and conducted human experiments on young girls. The result was that the virus went berserk, and the girls all turned into incredibly powerful monsters.]
[Meme Lord: These girls transformed into incredibly powerful monsters, each carrying a massive amount of virus. This virus, along with the actions of the transformed girls, began to spread worldwide. All animals, including insects, and even humans, were affected by the virus and rapidly assimilated into monsters within minutes or even seconds. Then, these monsters and humans began a war that led to the apocalypse. After the war, only one-tenth of the Earth's original population remained.]
[Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Are you kidding me? 90% of the people died?]
[I am hungry: It's true, and the remaining 10% are still dying.]
[Meme Lord: Because those monsters kept spawning, and these monsters all shared a common characteristic: extremely strong regenerative abilities. Only when the remaining humans discovered a certain metal that could counteract the monsters' regenerative abilities were they able to survive. They then used this metal to create giant stone monuments, surrounding the remaining survivor points and hiding in safe locations to eke out a living.]
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: So, what does this have to do with the inevitable death of Chizuru Kayo?]
Aizen always manages to spot the key points at a glance.
[The key point is that among these surviving Meme Lord, some pregnant women absorbed viruses from the air during pregnancy. These viruses didn't infect the mothers, but interfered with the babies. These babies were born carrying the viruses, and all of them were girls. After birth, they possessed powerful strength and regenerative abilities due to the viruses. The different genes carried by each virus gave them different abilities, but they all shared one common characteristic: red eyes.]
[The Meme Lord: The virus within them grants them immense power, but every time they use that power, the virus spreads further. When the spread reaches 50%, their tolerance is exhausted, and they transform into monsters, wreaking havoc. Therefore, they are also known as the Cursed Children.]
[This Perverted Scum Man: So, this is why she said she was destined to die?]
[So Arrogant! If using power leads to death, does that mean not using power guarantees survival?]
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: You're thinking too simply. In a post-apocalyptic world, if humanity discovers individuals with power, there will only be two choices: either submit to the powerful individual and choose to rely on them, and that powerful individual will become the king of the people.]
This is the classic theory of Aizen.
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Another option is to control the individual with power, making those individuals with power his slaves.]
[Meme Lord: Obviously, the humans in that world chose the second path. These children possessed immense power from a young age, but even with this power, they were powerless against adults wielding weapons. They were captured, controlled, brainwashed, and trained to become weapons in the hands of humans to fight monsters.]
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Therefore, those forced to use their power will inevitably see their internal viruses increase with each use, ultimately leading to their rapid death.]
[Fat Woman in Black Stockings: This is disgusting!]
[This is Hip-Hop: Hmph! A bunch of weaklings actually try to control the strong!]
[Meme Lord: The reality is that the humans in that world did indeed control those children, and Chizuru Kayo was one of those controlled children. They were given the title of "Cursed Children," made slaves to humans, forced to fight monsters for them, and then die. They had no human rights whatsoever and were despised by people. Isn't that amazing?]
[This is Hip-Hop: If it were me, I would use my strength to show those people what they, without strength, should do!]
[Meme Lord: Madara, too bad that's not you.]
[Fat Woman in Black Stockings: So, there's no way to help her? (The rest of the text appears to be nonsensical and unrelated.)]
After learning about Chizuru Kayo's situation, Kasumigaoka became quite anxious. If she hadn't been affected at all when Subaru died during his livestream, she was now starting to worry because Chizuru Kayo was still alive.
[Meme Lord: Of course there's a way! Xia Shi has already joined our Chat Group and is now a member, so naturally we should help, just like we helped other group members before.]
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: What are you planning to do?]
[Meme Lord: The simplest way is for me to go over and stab her, that way she can get rid of the virus in her body directly.]
[The Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Huh? What do you mean, you're just going to spare her from suffering forever?]
Kasumigaoka thought that Li Yue was going to kill Xia Shi with a single blow, freeing Xia Shi from his suffering and causing him to die instantly.
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Li Yue-kun's knife can conceptually separate things, so he probably wants to directly separate the virus from her body, thus restoring her to a normal state.]
[The Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Isn't his knife a spatial ability?]
[Meme Lord: No, my ability is separation, but the most basic manifestation is separating space, so it just looks like a spatial ability.]
[I am hungry: So, are you going to come and cut me?]
[Meme Lord: Yeah, I'm definitely going to stab you, but before I do, I need to do something else first.]
[Fat Woman in Black Stockings: What do you want to do?]
[Meme Lord: That world has already experienced an apocalypse, and most of humanity is now barely surviving. For the people of that world, it's a matter of survival, but for the Teyvat continent where I currently live, it's not an environment where humanity is merely surviving.]
[The Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Could it be?]
[Meme Lord: That's right, I want that world!]
397. A meeting was held in the backyard of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor in the middle of the night!
Li Yue's words shocked everyone in the Chat Group.
One world! Or, for people in the Chat Group, one Earth is a more intuitive term.
[I am hungry: Is the Group Leader going to take over Tokyo?]
[Meme Lord: That's right, I'm going to take over Tokyo, and not just Tokyo, I want all of your territory.]
[Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Are you planning to become the Earth's governor?]
[Meme Lord: Well, my situation is a bit troublesome. The world I live in possesses considerable power, but it has a serious problem: it's doomed sooner or later, and it's always fraught with danger. I'm currently the king of a country here, so I have to consider the future of those behind me, right?]
[The Hair Gel Man in the Sky: So, is Li Yue-kun planning to lead a group to conquer Miss Xia Shi's world?]
[Meme Lord: That's right. I've actually formed an alliance of four countries and have the gods of five countries. Under the leadership of these five gods, taking Tokyo will be a piece of cake. Since the humans in that world have brought this upon themselves, making a mess of the world and enslaving those poor children, why don't I go and replace the higher-ups of that world and give it a better future?]
[This is Hip-Hop: Hashirama, you've really changed! If it were before, you would never have thought this way. You're much more pleasing to the eye now.]
Uchiha Madara was surprised and excited at the same time as he listened to Li Yue's words.
If it were the current Hashirama, she might understand his thoughts, and might even agree with his idea of wanting to save the world!
No, it's not certain yet. We need to see what the Hashirama does next before we test the waters.
[The Fat Woman in Black Stockings: It's rare for you to want to do something productive.]
[Meme Lord: Don't I usually do anything productive?]
[Fat Woman in Black Stockings: What do you think?]
[Meme Lord: I've done a lot of serious things, you know.]
Although he mostly did frivolous things in other worlds, Li Yue always did serious things in his own world.
[Meme Lord: Okay, that's enough. I need to go back to my own world and attend a meeting.]
Li Yue stopped chatting in the Chat Group. This was a big deal, a huge deal for Teyvat.
Li Yue had originally considered that if Teyvat really came to a head, he would take his people and run away. However, where to run to was actually a problem, because many of the worlds they encountered in the Chat Group were not suitable for running away with people. After all, the original worlds all had their own forces, and if Li Yue suddenly took a group of people there, there would definitely be problems.
The only world that's somewhat suitable for escaping is Subaru's Re: Zero world.
Things are different now. Now we have a world where we can run away without worry.
Li Yue directly created a Portal and returned to the Teyvat continent. As for telling Sasuke, Li Yue had no such intention at all. After all, he still had time to prepare for the next exam.
Back in Liyue, Teyvat, it was already late at night, but Li Yue didn't waste a moment. She jumped off Mt. Tianheng and fell straight down to the backyard of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Although it was night, Zhongli and Azhdaha, who were still drinking tea and admiring the moon, nodded and greeted Li Yue as usual when she returned.
"Zhongli, Azhdaha, it's perfect that you two are here. Gather all the high-ranking members of Liyue. I'm going to call those guys. Something very big has happened!"
"What happened? Is it that serious?"
Zhongli asked curiously, following Li Yue's old habit of always going to cause trouble for other countries during meetings. Of course, it wasn't in a derogatory sense; every time she went to another country, that country would become good friends with Liyue.
But we just went to Fontaine, does that mean we're going to go find Natlan now?
"I'll talk to everyone when they arrive. This matter is very important."
As Li Yue spoke, he directly drew his sword and slashed out Portal Sumeru. The second slash slashed out Portal to Inazuma, and the third slash slashed out a portal to Fontaine. As for the fourth slash, it did not go out because Mondstadt does not need to cut out Portal. Venti can know what is happening here through the wind, so there is no need to open the portal for him. He will come over on his own.
On the other side of the Portal, Nahida Raiden Ei immediately crossed Portal upon seeing Portal, while Furina was somewhat taken aback.
Furina stared at the Portal in front of her, momentarily bewildered as to how this could still be.
"What are you standing there for? Come here!"
"Uh... oh."
Li Yue shouted towards the Portal. Furina was lying in bed, ready to go to sleep, but had no choice but to get up and cross the Portal to the backyard of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
After her last trip to Fontaine, Furina naturally joined the Liyue Alliance and became a member of the alliance.
"Why is everyone here so late at night, calling me to cook?"
When Furina arrived, her first thought was to complain. She was having a very easy time and was just about to go to sleep when she was woken up. But when she came over and found Nahida and Shadow there, she immediately realized that something was wrong.
"Furina, please sit down first. Wait for a few more people to arrive, and I'll talk to you then."
Li Yue waved to the chair next to her, gesturing for Furina to sit down. Nahida and Ying, both experienced people, were already seated.