The moment the spear was pulled out, the enormous, gruesome wound in the black-haired young man's left chest rapidly closed, vanishing without a trace in an instant.
Color slowly returned to his pale cheeks, and life suddenly surged back into his deathly still body.
"Whoa, what kind of heaven-defying vitality is that? His heart was gone, and he could still recover?"
Billy was dumbfounded, staring at the black-haired young man as though he were a monster.
Anby could hardly hide her surprise either. She had never heard of a creature in this world that could come back from the dead.
Before Nicole and the other two could even feel glad, the situation took a sudden turn.
The Ethereals that had been kept out by the golden light sensed the barrier disappear. They surged forward like a raging tide, surrounding the three of them in an instant.
Billy rubbed his nose. "Hey, friends, I think we can work this out. What do you say?"
On the computer screen, Xia Linxi had started fighting monsters again. She chatted away as she controlled Billy.
"Whoa, did you see that? That handsome black-haired guy can actually revive! With a revival ability like that, he's bound to be strong if he makes it into the gacha!"
The comments:
[666, here comes the Reanimation Jutsu.]
[Doesn't anyone think this handsome black-haired guy is terrifying? Imagine you ripped your enemy's heart out, and the next day he came grinning right back up to you...]
[Scared me to tears, Lord Dragon Emperor.]
Billy pulled the trigger and poured out a barrage of fire, giving a helpless, bitter smile.
"Good grief, we really shot ourselves in the foot! That barrier's gone, so now we have to fight them all over again!"
Nicole swung her weapon and smashed an Ethereal lunging at her away. She turned to glare at Billy, her voice resolute.
"Even if we have to die trying, we can't let Lord Dragon Emperor be trapped on that cross again!"
Electricity crackled around Anby's twin blades as she darted about, cutting down swaths of Ethereals with each flash of her swords. Deep worry appeared on her face.
"This was a one-way passage to begin with, and now the Ethereals have sealed off the exit. If we don't break through soon, all of us will die in the Hollow."
Behind Nicole and the other two, the black-haired man had fully revived.
He slowly raised his lowered head, his eyes still closed.
His arms tensed, and his limbs broke free of the restraints holding them in place. He swayed, nearly staggering to the ground.
Just as his knees were about to buckle beneath him, a brilliant strand of golden light suddenly caught his body and held him steady.
Lu Yingheng: ٩(*´◒`*)۶
That was a great sleep.
He immediately saw the three members of the Cunning Hares before him by releasing his mental power, and understood at once that his script had gone off without a hitch.
In that case, it's time for my character to make his entrance.
From now on, I'm an amnesiac!
Lu Yingheng's eyes remained tightly shut, yet he seemed to perceive everything around him.
He looked down at his hands in bewilderment, then turned his gaze toward the three struggling fighters and the densely packed Ethereals.
After a moment, he slowly raised his right hand, a trace of confusion appearing on his face, as though even he didn't understand why he had made the gesture.
Lu Yingheng: Keep up the Tang act.
The battle continued ahead. The red-scarfed Bangboo had been left alone in the rear, making strange movements from time to time.
The three were running out of stamina and ammunition, and Billy's gunfire gradually grew sparse.
"I'm almost out of bullets. If something doesn't turn this around, I'm afraid we're done for."
Anby shook her head gently. She remained calm, though worry lurked in her eyes as she looked at Nicole.
"Things have come to this. All we can do is fight to the end."
Nicole didn't answer. Her attacks grew fiercer and sharper, and she was determined to fight to the death, killing as many as she could.
Lu Yingheng: (/≧▽≦)/~┴┴
It's finally time for my entrance!
Now I'll unleash a Word Spirit, show off in front of everyone, and harvest a huge wave of Emotion Points!
Just as despair closed in on the three, an indescribably immense force suddenly swept across the entire area.
The countless Ethereals were utterly helpless against it. In an instant, every one of them burst apart and disintegrated.
The comments:
[Whoa, Lord Dragon Emperor's divine power!]
[That scared me to tears. He raised a hand and killed them all instantly.]
A system notification sounded: 160 million Emotion Points harvested.
Lu Yingheng: Σ(ﾟ∀ﾟﾉ)ﾉ
That many Emotion Points?
Wait... I guess it really isn't that much. After all, each successive 10% of the bloodline costs five times as much...
He vaguely remembered that the final 10% of the bloodline seemed to cost 62.5 billion...
The sudden sight made Nicole and the other two freeze on the spot, completely stunned.
Billy trembled slightly. He could clearly sense that the power had come from behind him, but he didn't dare turn around rashly.
Nicole, however, turned without hesitation. The moment she saw the black-haired figure standing there, she hurried over and called out, "Lord Dragon Emperor!"
Lu Yingheng declared:
The performance has officially begun!
Lu Yingheng's eyes were still tightly shut, and his face was full of confusion. His gaze remained fixed in the direction of the pink-haired girl before him, as though he were struggling to make out her outline.
Nicole's heart tightened at the sight, and she couldn't help feeling a little panicked. She hurried half a step closer and asked softly, "Lord Dragon Emperor, what... what's wrong?"
Lu Yingheng's lips moved slightly as he tried to answer, but only a faint breath escaped his throat. The words caught there, and no matter how he tried, he couldn't get them out.
He shook his head gently, indicating that he couldn't speak.
Seeing him like this, Nicole understood and immediately softened her tone. "Are you unable to speak? It's all right. I'll ask the questions, and you only need to nod or shake your head."
She took a deep breath and asked her first question:
"Do you still remember who I am? Maybe you don't remember me, but back when you supported the orphanage, our eyes once met from a distance."
Lu Yingheng moved sluggishly, slowly shaking his head.
Nicole's heart sank. She suppressed the ache in her chest and continued:
"Then do you remember how you died?"
Lu Yingheng looked bewildered. He first nodded gently, then, after a moment, slowly shook his head.
Nicole sighed softly and made her voice even gentler.
"Then you still remember some things about your death, is that right?"
Lu Yingheng repeated the same gesture, nodding first, then shaking his head.
Anby had stood to one side, quietly watching the entire exchange. Holding her twin blades, she calmly suggested:
"Let's not stay here too long. Our first priority is to find the exit from the Hollow and leave.
Once we're out, we must find a safe place to hide Lord Dragon Emperor first."
She paused, her gaze sweeping over the traces left by the disintegrated Ethereals, and continued her analysis:
"Even now, we don't know which faction was responsible for murdering Lord Dragon Emperor.
Given Lord Dragon Emperor's strength, no single organization could have dealt with him. It's very likely that several factions joined forces and plotted this together.
If word gets out that the Dragon Emperor survived, the people behind it will surely strike again. We mustn't alert them."
Billy nodded in agreement beside her, his mechanical body tensing slightly as he warily scanned the depths of the Hollow for any remaining Ethereals or lurking enemies.
Nicole looked back at Anby, then at Lu Yingheng, who stood before her unable to remember or speak. With mixed feelings, she solemnly agreed to the plan.
The livestream:
As Xia Linxi played, she didn't forget to invite her best friend to join her stream.
Her best friend was also a streamer and part of the gacha-game community. The two had met through gaming.
"Lin Xingyao."
She was a streamer with a girlish figure and a soft, sweet voice, and she tended to dress in a cute, sweet style on stream.
But she had a particular passion for solving mysteries, especially digging up hidden information about characters, something she never tired of.
Xia Linxi looked at Lin Xingyao. "Yaoyao, did you learn anything from the story?"
Lin Xingyao smiled. "Isn't digging into character stories easy for me?"
"First, Lord Dragon Emperor could instantly kill Ethereals that all three members of the Cunning Hares couldn't deal with, which shows he's very strong."
"Second, Anby thinks it would take several factions working together to kill Lord Dragon Emperor, which shows he's very strong."
"Third, because he's handsome, he's very strong."
Xia Linxi rolled her eyes at her. How could she not know that her best friend was putting on a show?
Lin Xingyao smiled, finally turning serious.
"Actually, listen carefully to how they call him 'Lord Dragon Emperor.' It's obvious this handsome black-haired guy is an important figure, so he probably has a faction of his own."
"And from the way Nicole admires Lord Dragon Emperor, you can tell he's definitely very approachable. He probably isn't a villain."
"Besides, someone that handsome definitely can't be a villain!"
Xia Linxi started complaining. "You judge people's morals by their looks!"