Heart of the Dragon Slayer

The three returned to the base with Drake's blood, and Xiahou rushed to his room, unable to wait.

Abigail and Hannibal didn't pay him much mind. Xiahou did too many strange things, anyway. Carrying the blood, the two found Field in the laboratory, drawing with his daughter.

Abigail said to Field, "Field, we've brought Drake's blood back. Take a look. Will this do?"

Hearing this, Field reassured Zoe, then came over with his white cane.

Abigail hurried forward to support her and handed her the container of blood.

Field took the container, opened it, and gave it a sniff. "This should do. Please go get Hedges for me. I need him to help me study it."

"I'll get him. Wait here a moment," Hannibal said, already walking out of the room.

After his bath, Xiahou felt ready again and opened the lottery interface.

Looking at the number one displayed next to his random draw attempts, he pressed his palms together in prayer and clicked to confirm the draw.

The slot machine's images spun wildly once again. When they stopped, a picture of a hand holding a heart appeared in the center. The heart gave off a blue glow.

Heart of the Dragon Slayer (special bloodline):

Grants the mana attribute upon use and gradually increases physical stats.

"I cannot make amends. Rather, perhaps I am the one who burdened him with a tragic fate. Even so... I still have one life that I ought to offer him."

Xiahou looked at the item description and thought, This feels so familiar. But I've gotten something good from the random draw twice now. Maybe I should just use it from now on?

After claiming it, he looked at the heart in his inventory. How am I supposed to use this thing? Surely it won't replace my own heart? But then he looked at the description saying it granted the mana attribute and gradually increased physical stats.

He steeled himself and chose to use it. It was his in-game body, anyway. So what if he had to replace his heart? What was the big deal?

Xiahou felt a pain in his chest, and a steady ache came from the right side in particular. The thirty-percent pain feedback did nothing to lessen the sensation.

It kept getting worse, too. The pain began spreading throughout his body until everything went black. He fell to the floor and lost consciousness.

After seeing Xiahou return and disappear into his room without coming back out, Hannibal thought he would come chat with him and see if something was wrong.

But after knocking for a long time without getting any response, he broke down the door and rushed inside.

He saw Xiahou lying face down inside, wearing a pair of shorts, and his heart began pounding. He hurried over to check on him, then went to fetch Field after confirming that he was still breathing.

When the others saw, they followed them to Xiahou's room.

After examining him, Field said to everyone, "He should be fine. He's just unconscious and will wake up in a little while. It's just..."

Abigail hurriedly asked, "Just what? Tell us!"

"It's just that I think I heard two heartbeats. That means Xiahou has two hearts," Field said hesitantly.

The others instantly breathed a sigh of relief. They had thought it was something serious, but he just had two hearts! In that case, everything was fine.

"Since he's fine, everyone can go back to what they were doing!" Abigail told the people present.

Everyone left to do their own thing. Hedges took Field back to continue studying Daystar, Little Black dragged Hannibal off to play basketball, and Abigail stayed behind.

After leaving, Hannibal whispered to Little Black, "I'm telling you, the boss is definitely interested in Xiahou! Look, she's still in there!"

Little Black whispered back, "It's enough to know. Let's just eat melon seeds and watch the show."

"By the way, do you have a girlfriend?" Hannibal abruptly changed the subject.

Little Black: ...

After everyone left, Abigail stared blankly at Xiahou as he lay on the bed. A trace of pain still crossed his face from time to time.

She wondered, He isn't handsome at all, so how did I fall for him? Without realizing it, she brushed the sweat from his forehead.

Meanwhile, Xiahou was having a strange dream. In it, all kinds of people were begging one person for help, and no matter what they asked of him, he did his best to grant their requests.

Gradually, their demands became more and more unreasonable. In the end, they even asked him to die!

And that person lived up to their expectations, agreeing to their demand and granting their wish with his own death. In the end, he died alone on a deserted mountain.

Xiahou watched the person in the dream, shouting all the while, "Don't listen to them anymore! Live for yourself! They aren't worth it!" But he received no response.

The scene in the dream gradually faded, and an illusory figure appeared before him!

"Live for myself?" the figure slowly asked, a trace of confusion in his voice.

"Then why live? My life will only bring tragedy to others!" the figure continued.

Xiahou immediately retorted, "Then change that! Don't let other people's opinions hold you back. They only use those high-sounding demands to make you get what they want for them!"

"Then you can live on in my place. All my skills have already been infused into it. Take my heart and live on for me!"

"Remember my name, Siegfried..." After saying this, Siegfried vanished before Xiahou's eyes.

"Siegfried!" With a loud shout, Xiahou sat bolt upright in bed.

Abigail, who had been watching over him, jumped in fright. But when she saw the tears flowing from Xiahou's eyes, she hurried forward and embraced him.

"What's wrong? Who is Siegfried?" she asked, gently wiping the tears from his face.

Xiahou looked at Abigail as she held him, while feeling the heart on the right side of his chest beating noticeably stronger than the one on the left.

"A person who lived only for others, so kind it was almost unbelievable. He gave me his heart and his power!" As Xiahou spoke, he touched the right side of his chest. The heart beat even more strongly.

Abigail looked at Xiahou's hand on the right side of his chest and remembered what Field had just said about two hearts. "Is that why you fainted?" she asked.

"Yes, and I even saw part of his life in my dream! A noble knight." As Xiahou spoke, he felt another pang of loss. That was why heroes were respected.

But he wasn't cut out to be a hero. He would let Siegfried live another life through him in a different way, even if it was in a game.

Remembering that he was in a game, he looked at Abigail, who was holding him.

"Beautiful, I appreciate you comforting me, but how long are you going to keep holding me? Besides, I did say we weren't right for each other!" Xiahou teased her.

Hearing Xiahou's words, Abigail felt another pang in her heart. This was the second time he had clearly rejected her.

At that thought, she said, "You were crying so hard that I just felt sorry for you! What are you thinking?"

With that, she turned and ran out of the room.