Boring. I Want to See Rivers of Blood

This was the answer Raiden Mei had arrived at. The Past's Paradise was such a simple story.

The Flame-Chasers were merely ordinary people with flaws.

They had their own selfish desires and mostly could not be said to possess any great love for humanity. Yet, moved in a moment or acting on a whim, they would still do impulsive and extraordinary things.

"You're right... I think the Mei of today can face my ending with calm acceptance now."

The two opened their hearts to each other, treating one another with honesty. Mei would not hold Elysia's little lies against her. Elysia...

"When you called yourself the vice leader of the Flame-Chasing Heroes, I never let my guard down. Likewise... the title of 'Thirteenth Herrscher' will not make me see you differently."

"Even if you became a Herrscher... so what? Aren't I a Herrscher too?"

Elysia smiled.

That girl whom people always believed had "[ulterior motives" had perhaps, from beginning to end, done and said everything before Mei solely for this one "answer."

In that distant past; on the night she wore pure white and, adorned in the only bridal finery of her life, walked toward her end...

Had she received the "answer" she wanted? Even if... she had become a Herrscher?

These descriptions... seemed like scroll after scroll of beautiful brocade, laying the scene before their eyes.

Beautiful.

It was their only impression.

They could almost see Elysia standing with her hands behind her back, too embarrassed to meet their gaze, seemingly absentmindedly voicing the little thoughts of a young girl...

This was Elysia's "vulnerable" side.

Until now, the viewers' impression of her had been that of a playful girl, someone with mischievous little schemes who was good at teasing others... and more.

But now, they instead felt that beauty was doomed to die young.

Elysia would care about what you thought of her enough to tell a tiny lie...

That did not damage her perfect character setup. It did not even count as a minor blemish.

Instead, it brought her closer to them.

Yes, this was what a person was—not merely a character created for the sake of being perfect.

Every beautiful thing they could imagine seemed to awaken at this moment.

Elysia's image had completely turned around, and as the world's finest Miss Pink Fairy, she truly entered their hearts.

Drawn in by her looks, won over by her personality, awed by her talent, devoted by her kindness, and finally convinced by her character...

Even those who had originally felt nothing were moved.

Those who had still been doubtful could finally set their hearts at ease.

Their emotions were elevated in that instant.

However, cheeky Elysia was not about to let this opportunity pass.

"Even if you became a Herrscher—"

"Hm?" A familiar voice pulled Mei back to reality.

She followed the sound. Beneath the setting sun, Elysia's smile was pure and sweet. Light fell across her cheeks and flowed down along her fair skin...

It curved around her soft figure, and through the haze, something flickered in and out of sight behind her. It was... a loudspeaker.

Without changing her expression, Elysia played back everything Mei had just said.

"It even has a recording function?"

Raiden Mei had never dreamed that Elysia would pull such ridiculous little tricks at such a romantic moment.

Nor had she expected that when Elysia kept her hands behind her back, she had actually been operating the loudspeaker's recording function.

Originally, Mei had thought spending three Crystal Flowers on a loudspeaker was somewhat expensive compared to a tool for finding people, and she could not quite understand it.

But looking at this loudspeaker now, it was absolutely worth the price!

For Raiden Mei, however, it was not very friendly.

"Elysia—!!"

The somewhat heavy atmosphere was shattered in an instant.

Whenever the mood became so swollen it seemed ready to infect the audience, miHoYo always liked to use some small incident to break it.

Kevin's "Red Ice" had been the same. After sensing Chijie was still alive on the battlefield, Heavenly Fire immediately transformed into an entrenching shovel, and Kevin dug Chijie out.

Such little interludes cleverly dispersed the originally solemn atmosphere.

They also allowed the story to continue.

It was a good thing for viewers to immerse themselves in the plot.

It was as though Elysia herself had teased them into experiencing such wonderful emotions.

But if negative emotions became too intense, they would often feel uncomfortable as well.

As long as the atmosphere had been built properly, that was enough.

After all, this was a happy segment.

"Contestant Su Nian has handled emotional shifts very well. Stirring emotions is certainly important, but blindly pursuing the same emotion for too long, without any rises or falls, can easily become tiresome."

Eden discovered that Su Nian's story really could serve as a model example.

Every aspect of it was worthy of praise.

Its pacing was extremely comfortable, and its character settings were excellent and distinctive.

It truly was a rare masterpiece.

It was like savoring... the finest wine in the world. Reading and analyzing it felt like sitting with Ai Li, taking small sips and passing a quiet afternoon together.

Naturally, the world was vast and there were many people; this story could not possibly be loved by everyone.

From a reader's perspective, it might still be lacking just a little something. It was not as satisfying as the fast-paced stories they enjoyed.

But as everyone knew, popular works were not necessarily good works, and unpopular works were not necessarily bad ones.

In terms of writing technique, Su Nian fully deserved the evaluation of "model work."

They had initially thought Otto's words were merely an excuse to see Su Nian, but looking at it from every angle, it truly had not been false.

But they had not expected... Su Nian to wield all these techniques with such mastery.

What writing technique was there that he did not know?

Their question now was no longer what Su Nian could do, but what he could not do.

Could he truly be an all-round contestant capable of anything?

Boring, I Want to See Blood Flow Like Rivers

What other surprises did Su Nian still have that they did not know about?

The question surfaced in their minds once more. Su Nian was as mysterious as the deep sea, profound and bottomless.

As though the tides were gradually revealing each of his secrets before them...

He was almost too stunning.

With such command over words, if Su Nian wished to bloom like an epiphyllum, no one would fail to marvel when he blossomed.

But unlike an epiphyllum, which bloomed only at night and for a fleeting time, Su Nian's season of bloom would clearly last far longer.

There should originally have been people who disparaged him. After all, even world classics had people who disliked them.

With Su Nian's sudden explosive popularity, there would certainly be people who felt the praise was excessive and that his abilities did not match his reputation.

But as the judges praised him like this, breaking down his skills piece by piece...

Those voices became far fewer.

Now, it seemed Su Nian's meteoric rise had been entirely natural, something that had simply fallen into place.

It was not the result of luck.

Nor was it the result of him bribing the program's judges.

Once this content had been dissected piece by piece, someone immediately compiled it into a collection. Using Su Nian's work as a model, he truly excelled in every aspect.

His control of emotion, the richness of his character portrayals, the direction of the plot, the planting and payoff of foreshadowing...

All that could be said was that he was invincible!

Everywhere they looked, there was another surprise.

They stared fixedly at the big screen, afraid of missing even a single word.

"Alright, alright, I won't tease you anymore. After all, once Mei gets her answer, she'll be leaving. I wanted to keep a little memory of you too."

Elysia hugged the loudspeaker tightly, but her gaze drifted into the distance, settling on an island shrouded in fairy mist out on the sea.

Yet something was very strange. Elysia had clearly already prepared herself, so why was that island still cloaked in fog?

This tug-of-war had begun again.

The viewers suddenly understood. They had been wondering how Su Nian could possibly give up this kind of teasing suspense.

Only this time, the suspense unfolded again in a place none of them had anticipated.

Eternal Paradise truly did have a problem.

Every action of those Flame-Chasers proved it.

But what exactly was the reason?

It seemed that ever since Raiden Mei had entered The Past's Paradise, problems had frequently appeared here.

Su Nian could not possibly create settings without any clues, settings that existed solely to manufacture trouble. That would be far too low-level.

And Su Nian was the Pit-Digging Immortal. He had definitely dug another pit somewhere; it was merely too well hidden for them to have noticed yet.

Could it be Aponia? She could cause changes in the Elysian Realm.

Or perhaps Mobius? After all, Mobius had previously deleted the data for the entire space in order to kill Mei.

Elysia?... No, absolutely not.

She was so cute. How could she possibly be some mastermind behind the scenes?!

Wake up. The prettier a woman is, the better she is at lying.

I'd gladly be deceived by her! I advise you not to become Fahai.

Hmph, you're hopelessly obsessed. Nothing I say will help. Mighty Heavenly Dragon!

Throw Fahai out! This is the era of Miss Pink Fairy!

Some people held opposing views, still believing that Elysia was currently pretending to be a bad woman.

This was Elysia's mental world, yet Elysia's memory construct did not know what had happened in her own territory.

It was becoming truly baffling.

The questions raised by this incident remained unknown, so they could only keep watching.

"Mei, how do you see us?"

"Whether they were martyrs who sacrificed themselves early on, or pioneers who lived into the future... in the end, they are real existences unrelated to us."

"We who remain here are only a piece of the past, a shadow left behind in the past. We can only stay here. We cannot touch the reality where you are, nor can we accompany you into the future."

"After you leave here and return to your normal, real life... you know very well that everything that happened here is only a story, a virtual story."

"Perhaps before long, you will forget these things, forget these words, forget... that we existed. You will meet someone better than me, live your own life, and embrace the tomorrow that belongs to you."

"If that is the case, do our emotions, our thoughts, our will, our actions... truly still have meaning?"

"To you, to anyone... what do we mean?"

This was a question that broke the fourth wall.

It seemed to be asking Raiden Mei, but in truth, through Mei, it was asking the players behind her.

What did they think of this story?