Hero Zihan

After Shangguan Li and her companion returned from observing Ning Rongrong, they told their family about their experiences in the Otherworld.

"I want to help them once I become a god." Shangguan Li's mind had not changed. She did not notice Qiao Di and Little Pear frowning in the corner at all.

Little Pear spoke with rare seriousness. "Sister, I already told you that world is extremely dangerous for you. So what if you become a god? Our system is different from theirs, and there's an enormous gap between our powers. What if you..."

As though he had recalled something terrifying, Little Pear began trembling all over. Shangguan Li said gently, "If it frightens you this much, stop thinking about it. We can discuss this after I become a god."

"Not even after you become a god. That world is far too dangerous."

Shangguan Li thought Little Pear lacked faith in her strength. Although she ranked among the strongest on the Douluo Continent, she might not amount to much on that continent. But he should not forget that she also had the system. With the system's cheats, she would certainly grow even stronger.

Shangguan Li nodded and stopped bringing it up. She turned and said goodbye to Yun Ming and Ya Li. Opening the Spacetime Tunnel had been exhausting, and she had barely rested over the past few days, leaving her utterly drained by the time she returned. Then, hearing about Ning Rongrong's unusual behavior had stirred a little worry in her, and she had spent another day watching Ning Rongrong.

Now she had no energy left. All she wanted was to go back and lie down, without even thinking about cultivating.

Yet just as Shangguan Li sank into a deep sleep, the golden shard of light that had followed her from the Otherworld to the Douluo Continent slipped into her mind.

Shangguan Li's consciousness suddenly found itself in a dream. Shouldn't I be asleep? Where on earth is this?

The surrounding structure looked like a laboratory, but even more like a cage. The entire room was pure white, with only one person sitting in its center. He had long golden hair and beautiful blue eyes, but there was no light in his gaze. He looked no different from a lifeless object.

"What on earth is going on?"

"This is where I was born." A voice came from the golden shard.

Shangguan Li looked toward the source of the voice in confusion, but there was nothing there. "Who exactly are you? Why are you showing me this? And what do you mean, this is where you were born?"

"Hello, Miss Shangguan. I suppose this counts as our first meeting. I sensed your wish, which is why I followed you to this world."

"My wish? Could those villagers be...?" A suspicion formed in Shangguan Li's mind.

"Indeed. They are my descendants, and I am their ancestor, Hero Zihan. This is my birthplace."

Shangguan Li gazed at the expanse of white around her, unable to believe that someone so powerful had been born in such a tiny, monotonous room.

"Back then, the Demon Race was immensely powerful, while our people were still called the Human Race. The Human Race and the Demon Race stood against each other, but the Demon Race possessed a special energy. Throughout history, the Human Race always ended its battles with tremendous losses."

"But we of the Human Race never gave up. After enduring a thousand hardships and ten thousand trials, we finally captured a demon at the cost of one brave warrior's life. Since the demons had killed so many of our warriors, we felt no anguish when we experimented on that demon's body."

As Zihan spoke, the scene began to change, shifting from the empty white laboratory to a battlefield. Two armies clashed. The Human Race was far too weak, while the Demon Race possessed both powerful bodies and formidable innate abilities. Naturally, the Human Race was no match for them.

After countless sacrifices, an outstanding soldier gave his life to bring a weak demon into the Human Race's territory and imprison the captive. At first, the demon could easily break free, but the Human Race discovered what appeared to be a weakness: blood from the heart. Cruel as it was, an ordinary person's heart blood would not work. Only the heart blood of someone with a sufficiently strong physique could do it.

It was by exploiting this weakness that the soldier sacrificed himself, pouring his own heart blood into the demon. The demon lost those supernatural abilities and grew weak, leading to the captive being taken into the Human Race's laboratory.

Through unrelenting effort, the Human Race finally discovered a way to fight the Demon Race: using demonic bloodlines to strengthen their own. But the first test subject soon died. To keep the research going, the Human Race continually pressured its warriors to train their bodies, then exchange their lives for precious demonic test subjects.

At first, everyone opposed it, but for the Human Race's victory, these people had no choice but to go to their deaths.

"Although it was a brutal method, we finally took our first step toward fighting the Demon Race. That was also the year I was born as a member of the Human Race. No, perhaps I shouldn't count as human. In terms of race, I should be half demon and half human."

"Half demon? You mean one of your parents was a demon? Aren't demons supposed to be vicious and cruel? How could one fall in love with a human?" Shangguan Li could not help marveling. It seemed anyone could be bewitched by love, even a savage demon.

"I don't know either. My mother was a soldier, but she lacked a strong physique, so she could only serve in a medical unit behind the lines. But being a soldier was never that simple. One time, the base where my mother was stationed was destroyed. The demon leading the troops then seems to have been my father."

"My father was taken with my mother's beauty and imprisoned her. Afterward, during her captivity, they came to know each other and fell in love, and then I was born. In preparation for my birth, my father even arranged a false identity for my mother so that I could live as a member of the Human Race."

"At first, my father didn't want me to be born into the Human Race, since half my bloodline was demonic, after all. But the Demon Race places tremendous importance on bloodlines. A demon with impure, mixed blood like mine would be bullied even if I lived among them. I might even have been killed by demons my own age when no one was paying attention."

"With her false identity, my mother gave birth to me as an ordinary villager. Because of my demonic bloodline, my features were unusually refined. Anyone with discerning eyes could tell I was different from the Human Race."

"But my mother treated me very well. She told me about my father and their relationship, and she taught me how to be a good person. Yet, whether it was a curse brought on by carrying demonic blood, I don't know, but my mother suddenly died when I was three. Just the day before, she had been perfectly healthy and had even told me where we would go traveling the next day. Then, the following day, she died as though every last bit of her vitality had been drained away. And all of it was my fault."