Zero opened his backpack and found the Tenseiga.
Just as he was about to take out the item and try again, the Chief Strategist crouched down, gripped his shoulder hard, and whispered, "Don't take that weapon out again…"
Zero slowly lifted his head and looked at the subordinates nearby.
They stared at him, their eyes the same as before, burning with passion and trust that had been twisted from reverence.
Zero wanted to say, don't look at him like that.
At least right now, don't look at him like that…
He tried to push himself up from the ground with his hands, forgetting for a moment the stickiness in his palms, leaving behind nearly congealed, dark red bloodstains on the floor.
The Chief Strategist came closer, propped him up by the arm, and only let go after making sure he was steady.
Zero took a deep breath and looked his subordinates straight in the eyes.
One of them, visibly emotional, suddenly drew his sword and handed it toward Zero, just about to say something,
But Zero cut him off.
He said, "This matter doesn't need to be brought up again. I'll think of another way."
Without looking back, Zero walked out, leaving the others where they stood.
He faintly heard the Chief Strategist's agitated voice speaking, "I thought he was already inhuman enough, but I didn't expect you lot to surpass even him?"
"You're all insane! Even if, even if he were stronger, could he really kill his own subordinates with his own hands?!"
"Don't you think your thoughts and demands of him are far too much?"
Zero sighed inwardly. 'What a day, it must be raining blood from the heavens, for him to actually hear the Chief Strategist praising him.'
He went off alone, found a secluded empty room, sat cross-legged on the ground, removed the 'Mara-struck Body' debuff that boosted the Xianzhou, tore off the ginkgo leaves sprouting from his arm and chest, and opened his backpack.
Once freed from the negative effects of 'Amnesia' and 'Emotional Instability,' Zero's mind became exceptionally clear.
He could even recall things he had once forgotten.
He forced himself to remember those scattered fragments, only to realize that he had once met with 'Erudition' in a dream.
At that time, Zero had just become general of Yaoqing. After seeing the high-value talents around 'Erudition,' his heart itched to recruit them.
He revealed to them the three Great Calamities of the game and invited them to join in resisting the disasters about to befall the universe.
'Erudition' said, "And you are the Fourth Calamity, with a 99.99% probability of leading the entire universe to its end."
Feeling annoyed, he feigned surprise and said, "Thank you for the warning. As expected of the Aeon of 'Erudition.' I will certainly give it my best shot."
…Then he was kicked out.
Zero tossed the matter aside, opened the sheet of paper scribbled with childish handwriting, and lingered on the last two sentences that had been ticked off.
[To anger all the cats and dogs was actually to share with them the most romantic scenery]
[To climb to the highest branch of the tree, to share with them the most romantic scenery]
Suddenly, a suspicion arose in Zero's heart.
He began checking item descriptions one by one, trying to find something that could resolve his subordinates' troubles.
By the time the Xianzhou was about to transform into a Roc, Zero finally found an item called 'Featherdust.'
From the description, it seemed to belong to the same otherworld as some of the other items in his pack?
Unfortunately, he couldn't use 'Featherdust,' and neither could his subordinates.
So Zero could only turn to the items left behind by Fuli and chose to use one.
Not long after, the Aeon of 'Remembrance' appeared.
He spoke slowly, addressing Fuli, "Now it's your turn to fulfill the promise."
That featureless face turned and said, "The price you've offered is not enough for me to do this for you."
Hearing this sentence, something he himself had once said, and which fit his own character, Zero immediately understood and couldn't help but laugh, "So this is the kind of relationship between you and me. We must be close friends, huh..."
Then, as if chatting with an old friend, his tone affectionate, "I know you have a way. And as your closest friend, of course I'll agree to any request you make."
Fuli was stunned.
Just as the Aeon was about to leave, Zero suddenly smiled, his tone cheerful, "For that 0.01% probability, you absolutely must keep to our promise."
As he expected, the blurry phantom paused almost imperceptibly.
If not for Zero's sharp eyes, fixed on the figure the whole time, he might have missed that detail.
So the two high-level NPCs were indeed in cahoots.
It seemed his constitution really was unusual.
Zero recalled various details from before.
For example, the so-called Paths in the game had nothing to do with him.
When the Chief Strategist ate the fruit and bled from every orifice, collapsing on the spot, he himself had merely coughed up some blood at the brink of death, but could still move freely.
Lan and the Chief Strategist had once burned the divine fruit he had given them, yet nothing happened.
Moreover, he could even break the 'Immortality' debuff.
And now, even an Aeon could reveal a flaw in front of him.
It seemed the power of high-level NPCs didn't affect him much.
Looking at it now, 'Erudition's' judgment was wrong.
He wasn't the Fourth Calamity. He was the 'High-Dimensional Invader.'
And the energy of a lower-dimensional world barely affected him.
It all made too much sense.
Fuli's subtle pause fully confirmed Zero's suspicion. In an instant, he understood something.
He had already used the Aether Resonance Engine at least twice.
Once, to draw the hatred of Aeons and extract their power, so the Xianzhou people could ascend to a higher plane.
And another time, to extract from the so-called 'Tree'?
Two ascensions, but not once had it fulfilled the game's clear condition.
It seemed he needed a different method…
With the help of the system, Zero added a line beneath the words on that paper, [To climb the highest branch of the tree alone]
As for whether to add the second half, whether to pull the whole universe along to see the most romantic scenery, that would depend on how the gameplay experience went.
And the check mark would be added only once the goal was achieved.
Seeing the matter resolved, Zero felt refreshed. But when he opened the system messages, his smile instantly froze.
[Xianzhou: Yaoqing]
[As the Marshal of the Xianzhou, you succeeded in leading the people of the Xianzhou to immortality]
[Yet still attracted the external enemy, the 'Wingmakers']
[At this moment, Luofu runs red with blood]
Zero, "…"
Wait, how much game story had he just skipped?
Wasn't it just one night?
He had only taken off the boost effect for the Xianzhou for one night.
Zero hurriedly re-equipped the 'Mara-struck Body' debuff.
He opened the long-unchecked UR panel and saw that Lan and the Emperor of Flames were bound together, in a special state of being parasitized by Ghosts.
Zero, "..."
This guy, so after Lan fought down and returned with the special material, he hadn't actually died?
Zero was shocked at his tenacious vitality, then stood up, patted the dust off his pants, and went out to find the Chief Strategist.
The subordinates and the Chief Strategist were in a fierce argument, seemingly about the situation in Luofu. When they saw Zero enter, they immediately fell silent.
"I know, Luofu's in trouble. Muster the troops, we fight."
Zero paused, then added, "I'll go ahead first."
The Chief Strategist stared at him and asked, "Are you sure?"
Zero nodded and said, "I need to keep my promise to her. One way or another, I've got to land at least one punch on Lan's face."
Unfortunately, once he arrived at Luofu, he wasn't able to replace Lan's mother and punch that unfilial son.
Lan's HP bar was about to bottom out, there wasn't much time left.
With the UR location marked on the map, Zero walked briskly toward his target, passing countless wounded along the way.
The numbers once seen only in dossiers were now made flesh before his eyes.
He lifted his gaze toward the Jianmu once seen as a divine miracle, his mind crowded with thoughts.
Back then, the Xianzhou people had worshipped it as holy, often looking up to that tree whose branches stretched toward the sky.
Neither Zero nor the Xianzhou people had realized the hidden problem. None of them had imagined what price the future would demand.
The tree had not brought life, it had instead parasitized the flesh of the Xianzhou, constantly draining their vitality.
Now, the tree was no longer worshiped. All that remained were barren branches, what looked like black scorch marks, and scattered sparks of fire that had yet to go out.
Zero halted, looking at the people of Luofu.
They ran about, refusing to yield even before overwhelming foes. Their brows were furrowed, but their eyes shone brilliantly.
They swore to break free of invisible shackles, to dig the tumor out from their own flesh, to deliver their enemies the heaviest blow.
Zero glanced at the map and quickened his pace. When he reached Lan's marker on the system map, and saw the barely human-shaped wounded figure on the ground overlapping with it, he fell silent.
He avoided the flames, took off his coat, laid it over Lan's gut-split body, sat cross-legged on the ground, glanced at the blood-soaked hem, and asked, "Do you want to live? Open your eyes for yes, blink for no."
Lan slowly blinked once.
"…Fine."
Zero pulled out the last 'Abundance' fruit in his backpack and casually tossed it into the burning fire beside him.
Watching the flames consume that divine item once worshipped by countless people, he turned to Lan and said, "Your mother, I raised her."
Lan, "…"
Immediately after, Zero watched as Lan's remaining time on the panel was instantly cut in half.
Zero, "…I was kidding. I didn't. It was the Chief Strategist."
Seeing the time drop sharply again, he quickly spoke faster to explain, "No, not like you're thinking. The Chief Strategist and your former subordinates often visited your mother. She didn't choose immortality, it was a happy death. No illness, no pain, she passed away peacefully in her sleep, without suffering."
After hearing this, Lan's condition stabilized.
If not for his severe injuries, Lan would really have wanted to ask his superior, 'Which language teacher taught you, exactly? That teacher would surely be a disgrace to the entire education sector.'
Zero let out a breath of relief, he had almost angered Lan to death.
He continued, "I had wanted to find her a planet where she could rest, but I asked around and gave up. She stayed in Yaoqing."
Zero added, "I tried to persuade her to remarry, but she refused. Ah, and she also asked me to beat you up, to make you cry. At worst, to just kill you outright, you unfilial brat."
Lan, "..."
He had made a deal with the Emperor of Flames, working together to destroy Jianmu and pierce the behemoth. After that, all emotions except hatred had been devoured.
So he could not shed tears.
Even the faint helplessness he felt was gone in an instant, swallowed up by the lingering Suíyáng in his body.
Even without strong emotion, he knew these words were definitely not from his mother.
Zero softly said, "She said, she didn't want to wait anymore. Didn't want to be anyone's wife, anyone's mother, just wanted to be herself."
When he finished, Zero fell silent. He opened his backpack, took out the Tenseiga, touched it experimentally, but it was still unusable.
He held the item, staring blankly at the countdown of Lan's UR life on the panel.
Listening to the increasingly weak breathing beside him, Zero asked, "Do you think I'm a qualified superior?"
Lan wanted to say, yes.
'No one can do it better than you.'
Zero watched the countdown gradually reach zero, then saw Lan's state change again.
[Aeon of 'The Hunt']
[He will eradicate the spawn created by the Aeon of 'Abundance']
Zero, '???'
'Damn it, cursed NPCs!'
How could you make his successor into an Aeon? Did they not understand how long he'd have to wait to farm someone like Lan, an all-around talent?
For a moment he lost control of his emotions, and leaves began sprouting from his arm.
Zero, "…"
So the spawn was himself.
This was Fuli's and 'Erudition's' scheme?
That was just laughable.
He hurriedly tore off the 'Mara-struck Body' debuff, ripping out the ginkgo leaves along with flesh and skin. A violent gust came sweeping in, forcing him to roll with it.
By the time he caught his breath and got back up, his HP bar was nearly empty.
Zero lifted his head, looking at the vast and shocking… centaur with built-in wheels above?
Lan, now elevated to an Aeon, had no face, but Zero could still feel His gaze on him.
Then, divine power surged forth, strong enough to instantly destroy his body.
Zero turned his head aside and quietly spat out a mouthful of blood. His opponent hesitated briefly, then slowed, continuing to deliver divine power. He left behind an arrow, then disappeared.
Zero picked it up, checked the description.
[A gift of divine power from the Aeon of 'The Hunt']
[This single arrow can ignite a star. Having ascended through 'Vengeance,' He chose you as His first Messenger]
Zero chuckled and chose to use it without hesitation.
As for the answer to the question? He already knew.
Ascended through 'Vengeance'? Not bad. Then he'd just draw some aggro from the Aeons and let Lan smack them around, also not bad.
It was just, He was his successor.
———
[Memory... Ends...]
Zero suddenly felt darkness overtake his vision, as if falling into a deeper dream. His limbs seemed pinned down by something, his body unbearably hot, only his cheek touched by a trace of coolness.
Instinctively leaning toward it, he forced his eyes open, and saw a white-haired, red-eyed beauty gazing back at him.
It was Jingliu.
The coolness he had been chasing was her hand.
Right now, Zero's face was pressed against her palm.
Expressionless, Jingliu withdrew her hand. She stared at his face, her tone subtle and meaningful, "Your face is very red."
Zero, "…"
He glanced at the culprit that had left him overheated and blushing, feeling genuinely puzzled.
Who the hell had tucked him in under three layers of blankets?
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