Defeat the system! Kiss my little monster!

The guards outside drew their longswords and, upon receiving the order, all walked straight toward Shen Yu. Shen Yu felt utterly weak. He looked up at the sky, where the black lines around the coal ball had regrouped and were now poised to attack, aiming at Shen Yu's brow.

Shen Yu's lips remained cold. He seemed to find it amusing, and he threw the blood-stained phoenix hairpin in his hand down and kicked it aside.

His hands got really dirty.

"kill him--"

Xuan Lin's furious roar filled the inner hall. Shen Yu grabbed a corner of the bed and, as he got up, vaguely smelled a faint scent of herbs hidden under the bed.

Those past events flashed quickly before Shen Yu's eyes, complex and varied, some joyful, some sorrowful, ultimately turning into fragments.

It's a pity... Shen Yu silently lowered his eyes. In the end, he only accompanied Wen Yu to this point.

What will become of him in the future, and what path he will take, will ultimately slip out of Shen Yu's control.

Blood trickled from the corner of Shen Yu's lips. His gaze swept across the crowd, finally settling on Xuan Lin. In just a second or two, he suddenly picked up a sharp blade and lunged at Xuan Lin again.

Even if he dies today, he will drag Xuan Lin down to hell with him.

Upon seeing this, the guards at the door lowered their hidden arrows, and at the same time, the electric current surrounding Coal Ball slashed straight down at Shen Yu.

"Urgent! Urgent! Urgent! Emergency Survival Shield Activated!"

A violent sound suddenly erupted from the center of the inner hall. The ground trembled violently, and Shen Yu felt as if all the space within his field of vision had turned blank in an instant. The moving crowd seemed to slow down, their movements gradually coming to a stop, as if they were completely embedded in the scene.

"Shen Yu! Let's go!"

A sharp crackling sound rang in Shen Yu's ears. He quickly gathered his thoughts, and the blank spaces in his mind vanished, replaced by the same scene as before within seconds.

"...To live a life of ignominy?"

The sphere, now more than ten times larger, was a massive black sphere that used its outer edges to block arrows and black lines from the outside. Without a word, it grabbed Shen Yu by the collar and deftly shoved him inside its defensive shield.

"What is this thing?!" Xuan Lin's eyes widened. He turned to look at the coal ball and saw that it had frozen in mid-air, and the black lines on its body were disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Danger detected! Alarm! Alarm! Beep—Low power, requesting headquarters support—Beep—Low power—Connection failed—"

With a cold snort, it charged headfirst into the coal ball without saying a word. The coal ball was thrown to the side and flew out, crashing into the wall next to it.

The creature, its yang energy rapidly depleting, swallowed Shen Yu whole and sped towards the exit. The walls of the inner palace were forcefully smashed open, and the creature soared into the air amidst the falling debris, flying with a clear goal: to escape beyond the palace walls.

Shen Yu felt as if he were sitting in a cabin. He was stunned by what he saw and subconsciously grasped the empty air beside him.

"……Do not touch me."

A faint, mosquito-like sound rang out beside Shen Yu. Shen Yu was startled upon hearing this. He turned his head and saw another person inside the sphere.

He looked like a wooden mannequin, with half-curled white hair drooping down his sides, pale lips, and unusually bright golden eyes. His entire body, including his face, was covered in open wounds, and his neck and head looked as if they had just been attached, mechanically turning in different directions, the broken lines of his neck not even aligned properly.

Shen Yu had never seen a human like this before. He withdrew his hand and took a few steps back, saying, "Sorry."

The man shrank around the corner and stopped speaking. Still clinging to life, it continued to fly outwards, but as its yang energy was depleted, the body of the person inside the space rapidly decayed and cracked.

Shen Yu vaguely sensed something was amiss. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard an explosion from Gou Qiechoing's body.

The entire space inside the sphere was shaking violently, and alarms were sounding continuously.

Shen Yu frowned. He couldn't see what was happening outside, but he could sense that the direction of the flight of the hulk had suddenly changed, and the entire ball was falling at an abnormal speed.

Shen Yu immediately sensed something was wrong. He was about to leave the space when he felt a tightness on his leg after taking only two steps. He looked down and saw that the dummy from before was clinging tightly to his leg, its face pale.

"..."

Shen Yu stopped in his tracks, standing beside the mannequin, and said, "Don't worry, I won't go out."

The dummy's grip remained firm as it looked up at Shen Yu, its face slowly cracking in Shen Yu's eyes.

"boom!!!"

After a frantic descent to safety, the dummy crashed into the ground, sending a violent shockwave surging upwards. Shen Yu sat inside the space, his body tumbling and floating uncontrollably, causing the dummy inside to be thrown around in disarray.

"Warning! Warning! Energy nearing its limit! Energy nearing its limit! Please escape the black hole space immediately! Current energy insufficient—"

Shen Yu was dazzled. After he stopped, his vision cleared up and he unconsciously shifted his gaze downwards.

The dummy had long since disappeared into the space. Shen Yu's gaze froze, and he saw a pile of dark, unidentified bones lying beside his legs.

"Please leave the isolation area immediately! Alarm! Please leave quickly..."

Before the space alarm had even finished, Shen Yu was thrown back by the force. His vision blurred for a moment, and Shen Yu fell into the bushes, smelling the scent of grass and earth right under his nose.

"Living a wretched life?" Shen Yu felt a dull pain in his limbs. After seeing the situation, he quickly got up and saw the wretched life stuck in the middle of the tree branches.

Having survived by the skin of its teeth, its size has shrunk many times over. When Shen Yu first saw it, it was about the size of a pot lid, but now... it is only half the size of his palm.

Clinging to life, she sobbed incessantly: "I was hit by a coal ball! Waaah... It... it has more yang energy than me, so it used dirty tricks to hit me! Ahhhhhh..."

Shen Yu picked it up from the middle of the tree branch. He observed the barely surviving sphere and saw that there was a crack at the top of its head, and the purple solid inside was slowly flowing, not yet damaging the inside.

“I’m just trying to survive, but I still have some yang energy. It’s not much, but it’s enough to heal your wounds.” Shen Yu touched the gap on its head and lowered his eyes, saying, “It’s good that you’re alright.”

The creature sniffed, then covered its head, finally finding some comfort: "Let's get this straight, I'll give you a thousand. You broke your promise last time and only gave me a hundred."

"..." Shen Yu sighed, "Is two thousand enough for you?"

The creature, barely clinging to life, flashed with purple light and said, feigning reluctance, "Alright, two thousand it is, but it's still a bit low."

Shen Yu ignored it and looked around, asking, "Where...are we?"

"We're still in the palace." He who had been clinging to life put a red X on his forehead. "We're quite far from Kunning Palace; we're in the Cold Palace now."

Shen Yu: "..."