Chi You's roars gradually weakened, and the entire cave began to collapse.
"Run! This place is coming down!" Ye Li shouted.
Everyone sprinted toward the passage they had entered through. The space behind them kept shrinking, and the tunnel rapidly began to close.
Clearly, the exhausted Chi You intended to drag them all down with him.
Seeing the passage about to seal shut, Bronya decisively summoned Heavy-duty Bunny, aimed its cannon forward, and blasted open the closing flesh walls.
Everyone ran with all their strength. The passage behind them had completely collapsed, and the crushing sounds of the flesh walls drew ever closer.
"There's light ahead!" Kiana suddenly shouted.
The four quickened their pace and finally rushed out of Chi You's body at the very last moment.
The instant they escaped, the passage behind them sealed completely. Chi You's enormous body let out an earth-shaking wail, then slowly sank to the seafloor, turning into ruins.
Everyone stood in a safe spot, panting heavily as they looked at the devastation before them.
"We... succeeded?" Kiana asked in disbelief.
"Yes, Chi You has been destroyed." Raiden Mei answered with a smile.
Ye Li gazed into the distance and silently said:
"Jilin, your sacrifice was not in vain... Thank you for protecting the land of Shenzhou all these years... We will meet again."
The wind swept across the land, as though carrying Jilin's soft reply.
The image slowly began to darken.
Seeing the progress bar nearly at its end, viewers flooded the screen with comments----
Huh? I haven't had enough yet! Is it already over?
Jilin (sunglasses.JPG), my Jilin (sunglasses.JPG)
MiHoYo's writers, do you even have hearts?! Can't you give Shenzhou's guardian a better ending?!
More than that, I'm actually curious about the relationship between Ye Li and Jilin. From their conversation, there's obviously some foreshadowing!
Wait, don't panic, there seems to be an after-credits scene!
Then the camera shifted, and the image slowly descended through the seabed, arriving inside Chi You, which had already sunk into the abyss.
It was pitch-dark here. Remnants of Honkai Energy drifted through the air, while the surrounding flesh walls rapidly decayed, giving off a nauseating stench.
Amid these silent ruins, a figure quietly appeared.
It was a black-haired man wearing a tattered long robe, his features cold and profound.
His steps were light, as though this Honkai-corrupted space had no effect on him.
His gaze swept over the surroundings before finally settling on the shattered black longsword on the ground----the weapon Black Jilin had once used.
It was the last trace of her existence in this world, as well as the symbol of her former role as Shenzhou's guardian.
He bent down, his long fingers gently picking up the longsword. The blade still retained the lingering warmth of Honkai Energy.
His movements were gentle, as though he were touching something precious.
"Jilin..."
He murmured softly, his voice carrying a trace of barely perceptible sorrow that soon vanished.
The man raised his right hand slightly and released a certain power of nothingness, transforming the black Xuanyuan Sword into a stigmata.
"Wait for me..."
He spoke in a low voice, which echoed through the empty ruins. "I will bring all of you back."
His figure was gradually swallowed by darkness, as though he had never appeared at all.
The camera pulled back once more. Chi You's remains completely sank into the earth, and calm returned to the surroundings.
Yet beneath that calm, a far greater storm seemed to be lurking.
MiHoYo, you really know how to hide things!
An ordinary person might have closed the video right there. Good thing I'm not ordinary.
You're a Class Two person.
Get that homophone pun out of here!
Good news: Jilin apparently doesn't have to die. Bad news: she apparently fell into the villain's hands again.
We can't see that man's face, but judging by his sheer presence, he's probably the final boss, right?
I'm so looking forward to what comes next! MiHoYo, I command you to update immediately! Hurry, hurry, hurry!
The King of Hurry has arrived, huh!
See? You're hurrying again!
In the real world, inside an apartment.
After watching the video, Ye Li and Fu Hua both fell into a brief silence.
The reason for that silence was simple.
Fu Hua said nothing because she had fallen into her memories.
Jilin's crazed appearance in the video left her at a loss.
When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you.
And in the end, those who fought against the Honkai could not escape its corruption.
Thinking back to her days on Taixu Mountain, Fu Hua was grateful that Ye Li had always been by her side.
If he had not been there back then, what would have become of her? The consequences were too dreadful to imagine...
Meanwhile, after watching the Nine Nether Chapter, Ye Li was equally speechless.
For no other reason than that it was simply too embarrassing.
Damn it, Ai-chan really had a death wish.
That cabbage-headed brat had actually exposed even that. Then what he was about to do next definitely would not escape exposure either.
The thought that his insane plan from back then would be made public at some point in the future—
Ye Li could already imagine the bloody turmoil it would stir up in this world.
"So, back to the same question: should I flee to the Moon, or Venus?"
"Or should I just escape onto the Astral Express?"
The next day, Ye Li still got up early and went to school as usual.
Don't get the wrong idea. He was the only one going to school.
Though she had been extremely reluctant, Fu Hua was still persuaded by Ye Li to go back.
There was no other reason.
Mainly, if Fu Hua really stayed overnight, he would probably be targeted by a powerful being known as "censorship."
As for whether it would be dangerous for a girl like Fu Hua to go home late at night, Ye Li was not worried in the slightest.
What a joke.
As Shenzhou's former guardian deity, our flat—
No...
Our Immortal Crimson Kite, even after losing most of her supernatural power, was still not someone ordinary people could mess with.
So rather than worrying about Fu Hua encountering some pervert late at night, it was better to worry about whether that pervert would be beaten half-paralyzed by Immortal Fu's inch force skull-cracker.
After arriving at the school gate,
Ye Li did not swagger into campus as he had before. Instead, he cautiously hid by the entrance and observed the area.
After all, the commotion he had caused with Fu Hua after school yesterday was still fresh in his mind. Ye Li did not want to be stuffed into a sack, abducted, and thrown into the river the moment he entered campus.
Or find himself eating scissors, cleavers, and other such weapons in some corner.
Fortunately, there did not seem to be any problem. The "forgetting" curse on him was still in effect.
Some students remembered that Fu Hua had left school with a boy from their class, but they did not remember that boy's name or appearance.
That allowed Ye Li to breathe a sigh of relief and enter his classroom.
He had expected the classroom to be empty, only to discover that someone had arrived before him.
However, the moment Ye Li saw the early arrival's face, he felt utterly miserable.
Because that person was none other than----Jilin.
Before you continue