"Welcome to Honor of Kings! The enemy will arrive on the battlefield in five seconds. Get ready, all troops, attack!"
With the familiar game intro, the solo match officially began.
As the ultimate showdown of that solo tournament ten years ago, Yugong Youjing directly picked his signature hero, Ukyo Tachibana, wearing the Shura skin, while Su Hang also picked Ukyo Tachibana, wearing the Maple Frost's End skin.
Zhou Keyu walked over to Xue Ji and Zashiki-warashi and struck up a conversation, asking, "Who do you two think will win this solo match?"
Without hesitation, Xue Ji replied, " Your Youjing."
Zashiki followed closely behind. " Youjing."
"Huh?" Zhou Keyu's face darkened, and he sighed softly, "Let's put aside personal feelings and just look at it from a purely technical perspective."
"I can't let it go!" Xue Ji said with a slight glance. "If you're hoping to hear the answer that the Imperial Emperor will win from me, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. My loyalty is to Prince Youjing."
"I will always stand by Prince Youjing's side, no matter when or where."
"Does loyalty even exist in this world?" Zhou Keyu looked at Su Hang, who was calmly fighting, with pity in his eyes. "The last guy who believed in loyalty has been betrayed by everyone and has completely turned to the dark side."
" The Phoenix is loyal to the Imperial Emperor," Xue Ji suddenly said.
" Phoenix?" Zhou Keyu asked doubtfully, "Are you talking about Phoenix, the leader of the Imperial Crown Herald of Dawn Alliance?"
Xue Ji nodded, her beautiful eyes sparkling, and said, "It's that woman named Huyan Lan. Her loyalty to Su Hang is beyond question."
"You probably drew your conclusion about loyalty without knowing the inside story," Zhou Keyu said with a strange expression. "Phoenix learned of Su Hang's Emperor identity and angrily withdrew from the Junyu Team. In retaliation, she even led the team back to the Emperor's Crown."
Xue Ji recounted, "Back then, when Su Hang led the Third Deputy Captain Sovereign Dominion on a cross-border rescue of Liuli, I fought with Phoenix. I asked him about his betrayal of the Imperial Emperor. Although he lied verbally, his aura was very honest."
"During the nine years she was banished from the army by the Imperial Emperor, she never betrayed him in any way and remained utterly loyal to him. This is comparable to my absolute loyalty to Imperial Emperor Youjing."
Zhou Keyu was stunned, his eyes narrowing slightly as he said, "Could you possibly distinguish between lies and truths from changes in a stranger's aura?"
Xue Ji's beautiful eyes flashed with ruthlessness. "How did you know?"
"I guessed." Zhou Keyu touched the tip of his nose, smiled sheepishly, and thought to himself, "I can't exactly say that I have sharp ears and that I overheard all those whispers you and Yugong Youjing."
Xue Ji agreed, " Phoenix has remained loyal to the Imperial Emperor for ten years. I don't believe she would choose to betray him just because she knows Su Hang is the Imperial Emperor. On the contrary, her loyalty would be off the charts."
"Achieve the same [absolute loyalty] as me!"
Zhou Keyu's lips twitched as he frantically complained, "Absolute loyalty? That's a concept only found in a utopian world! Do you even know what absolute loyalty means?"
Xue Ji blurted out, "Never betray, not even in death."
"Exactly, who can guarantee absolute loyalty to someone for their entire life?"
Zhou Keyu offered his perspective, saying, "You were absolutely loyal to your brother-in-law before, and you are absolutely loyal to him now, but can you guarantee that you will remain absolutely loyal to him in the future?"
"It's the same principle as being in a relationship. How many couples are loyal to each other and vow to love each other forever? But are there any couples who actually keep their promises? No, not a single one."
I think my words have touched your soul.
Xue Ji remained silent. She had never considered betraying Prince Youjing, because she firmly believed that she would always be absolutely loyal to Youjing.
"Let's make a bet."
Zhou Keyu asked, "What kind of bet?"
Xue Ji said slowly, "I'm betting that Phoenix is absolutely loyal to Su Hang and has never betrayed him in any way."
"I really can't take it anymore~" Zhou Keyu covered his face with one hand. It turned out that after all his hard work, the other party still believed in the existence of absolute loyalty and believed that Phoenix had not betrayed Su Hang.
What's the stake?
Xue Ji- hime pointed to the side, " Zashiki."
"Is there something else about me?" Zashiki, utterly astonished.
Xue Ji continued, " Zashiki is a successor of the Yagyū Dual-Sword School and a seventh-dan swordsman. If you win, you can have Zashiki handle all the dirty work that can't be done in the light of day."
"I would never do anything illegal or disorderly, but..." Zhou Keyu examined the battered Zashiki, his face full of suspicion, "He looks like a seriously injured person."
"Don't even mention it," Zashiki grumbled, leaning on her cane. "I was seriously injured by the young master of the Kanzaki Clan a while ago, and I finally recovered enough to walk again, only to be betrayed by the traitorous Great Tengu."
Xue Ji glanced sideways and said, "And yet you still defended the Great Tengu in front of Prince Youjing?"
"Just because I was severely injured by Kanzaki Sakurazō back then, Great Tengu risked his life to save me, we should at least say a few good words for him. Besides..." Zashiki hesitated for a moment before saying, "He betrayed Youjing for someone else."
Xue Ji asked, "Who?"
"I don't know," Zashiki recalled. "Before the Great Tengu kidnapped Young Master Nishang and boarded the plane to defect, he yelled something at me with red eyes."
What did you say?
Zashiki frowned and recalled, "[I'll only be one person's scapegoat in this life], I only heard the first half of that sentence, I didn't hear the second half, 'whose scapegoat.'"
Zhou Keyu said half-jokingly, "It can't be Su Hang, can it?"
Xue Ji frowned and said, "That is indeed possible. After all, Great Tengu is a core member of the Imperial Crown Xu Dog · Hanlu, and the country he defected to is Huaxia. It is very likely that he came to help Su Hang."
"I was just joking, don't take it seriously," Zhou Keyu said helplessly. "If he wanted to help Su Hang, he should have voted against it when the vote was held to expel Su Hang from the team."
"And Young Master Nishang, I have a feeling he's in cahoots with the Great Tengu," Zashiki, stroking his chin. "Before he was taken hostage and put on the plane, there was no fear or apprehension in his eyes, only determination and courage."
Xue Ji said thoughtfully, "Perhaps Young Master Nishang came to Huaxia voluntarily with the Great Tengu in order to help Su Hang."
Zhou Keyu rolled his eyes and said, "If you guys keep analyzing things like this, then apart from Nurarihyon, none of the core members of the Imperial Crown have betrayed Su Hang."
"That's not true," Xue Ji shook her head. "Of the twelve core members of the Imperial Crown, the only one who has never betrayed Su Hang is Phoenix!"
"Oh my god~" Zhou Keyu sighed and chuckled, "We've brought up Phoenix again. Fine, I'll bet you. If you lose, I don't want anything. As for if you win, well, your chances of winning are less than one percent."
Xue Ji replied calmly, "I've won, so you must acknowledge that absolute loyalty exists in this world!"
Zhou Keyu gave an OK sign, "Okay."
At this moment.
A thrilling kill announcement rang out.
First Blood
Who won the 1v1 duel?
Zhou Keyu, Xue Ji, Zashiki all looked over at the same time, and when they saw the result, they were all stunned.