Defeat the system! Kiss my little monster!

This time, Yinqiu surprisingly didn't utter a word of rebuttal.

He nestled in He Lan's arms, radiating warmth to comfort the body before him, yet he felt icy cold, pressing himself ever closer to He Lan.

He Lan didn't care. He breathed softly and slowly touched the surface of the silver ball in the night.

“Su Hui, I used to think... this world was really mean to me. It made me suffer a lot. The medicine was bitter, my body was bitter, and this hopeless life day and night was also bitter.”

The silver ball quietly dimmed its light, and he lay on the bed, motionless upon hearing this.

“But now I’ve discovered something’s different.” He Lan ruffled the silver ball’s head, his eyes crinkling as he smiled. “It’s actually been pretty good to me.”

【…】

The silver ball did not answer; it did not know how to answer.

The world is collapsing. The cracks in the sky continue, each crack heralding He Lan's imminent death.

...But what else can he do?

The silver ball warmed He Lan's body. Upon hearing this, he chuckled incomprehensibly, then remained silent for a moment.

Go to sleep.

He Lan pulled the covers up, burying half his face in them, and obediently hummed in agreement.

*

Yu Zhuo didn't sleep all night.

His body was consuming a lot of energy, and Yu Zhuo calculated the time and estimated that he would not stay here for more than a week.

But he still hasn't figured out the relationship between He Lan and the main system.

The silver sphere that remained beside He Lan... Is it the main system?

Yu Zhuo frowned as he quickly sorted through the data in the system database. During the scan, he happened to come across the totem photo he had taken in the dense forest earlier.

Yu Zhuo stared at the photo for a long time before connecting to a large database for a deeper analysis.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at the result—similar to Yu Zhuo's earlier guess: it was a dragon-slaying totem.

Snakes are also known as "little dragons" in folklore. When they crawl across the surface of a totem, they are almost instantly burned into a lump of rotten flesh by the totem.

These totems were clearly not drawn by He Lan. He Lan couldn't have traveled very far, and there was absolutely no way he would draw such totems to harm his own kind.

That means it could only have been drawn by someone outside the castle.

Slay the dragon...

Are they trying to destroy He Lan?

Yu Zhuo tapped the tabletop with his fingertips, one tap at a time.

He was familiar with the world's setting. For years, He Lan had been revered as the Dragon God, held in high esteem and worshipped. But why would these believers suddenly change their minds, even wanting to kill He Lan?

Yu Zhuo couldn't figure out the reason. After thinking for a moment, he printed out the photo and prepared to give it to Yinqiu the next day.

The Silver Sphere's attention to He Lan has far exceeded the normal scope of a system's attention to its host. Yu Zhuo sent him the photos, and he estimated that he would soon be able to find out the cause and effect.

This also saved Yu Zhuo a lot of effort.

Yu Zhuo turned off the system's energy device, packed his things, and lay back on the bed. Before going to sleep, he smelled that strange fragrance again.

Yu Zhuo frowned and pinched the tip of his nose. He looked up at the corner of the table and saw a broken iris flower lying there.

A few water droplets remained on the petals, as if they had just been picked.

Yu Zhuo held the flower in his hand for a while, but he couldn't remember anyone coming in during that time. He then placed the flower next to him.

However, the scent of this flower is so similar to that of the silver ball, so it was most likely secretly slipped in by the silver ball.

Yu Zhuo leaned against the table and chair, his eyes lowered. After a few minutes, he opened the small box containing his collection of seashells.

The seashells inside had all been turned over, and Yu Zhuo's memory was pretty good, so he easily discovered that another small seashell was missing.

It was pure black, and it was another crescent-shaped seashell, similar in style to the one he had given to Helan.

"Shameless," Yu Zhu muttered to himself, before stuffing the iris flowers into the collection box as well.

The night was deep, and this world without stars and moon was always frighteningly dark at night. Yu Zhuo turned off the bedside lamp, lay on the bed, opened his eyes and looked at the sky, and for a moment he had a slight illusion of blindness.

The world is completely black; this is perhaps the only view that blind people ever see.

Yu Zhu stared at the black mist in the sky for a long time before closing his eyes as drowsiness overcame him.

*

You are calling me.

I need your help with something.

This is not within the scope of the mission requirements.

I know. But the situation is urgent, I can only beg you... Look at this world, look at them...

Destruction is inevitable. Only after death can there be new life.

[Dead is dead! Nothing left! You really don't understand anything!]

[You're too unstable. Note that your stats have reached the warning threshold; I will decide whether to eliminate you based on the perceived threat level.]

"...Eliminate me? Ha...you're saying you want to eliminate me?"

【Yes. 】

[You've erased me, so who do you think you are?]

Please understand, I don't need to rely on you. According to the statistics, in most cases, you'll only be a burden to me.

[Data, data, data... You'll be nothing but a puppet controlled by data for the rest of your life! You don't need me, and I don't need you! Give me your energy, we have nothing to do with each other anymore! Don't even think about... don't try to control me anymore!]

[We are one; there is no question of control. You are now on the verge of danger, and the system has automatically classified you as a hazardous target. Please remain calm.]

Get out of my way!

boom--

The two mixed mechanical sounds made Yu Zhuo's head throb with pain, and his body felt as if it had been run over by a hard object. When he woke up, his bones were still creaking.

Yu Zhuo frowned and opened his eyes. The pitch-black night had been replaced by light without him even realizing it. He got up from the ground and pressed his palm down onto the small pebbles.

He was no longer in the small room.

Yu Zhuo was taken aback. He looked around and saw that the surrounding vegetation was withered and that the ancient castle not far away had collapsed, with thick smoke rising from it.

"...He Lan!"

Yu Zhuo sensed something was wrong. He staggered to his feet and ran towards the castle.

The road was littered with charred animal remains. Yu Zhuo was choked by the smoke and could barely open his eyes. He thought of the dragon-slaying totem he had seen earlier, and a sense of unease welled up inside him.

"Slay the dragon! Slay the dragon! Slay the dragon!"

"This evil dragon has caused immense harm. He accepts our offerings but constantly unleashes disasters to kill civilians! This wicked creature! Slay him as a sacrifice to the heavens!"

"Give us world peace! Slay the dragon! Give us back our peace!"

The shouts of the crowd echoed across the land. Yu Zhuo cleaved through the ancient trees in front of him and arrived at the edge of the castle more than ten minutes later.

His pupils constricted upon seeing what was inside.

It was now a ruin. The entire castle had collapsed, bricks shattered. The surrounding fires continued to rise, almost scorching Yu Zhuo's eyes.

Yu Zhuo stiffly shifted his gaze; the severed black dragon tail lay in the fire, its scales cracked and blood flowing freely.

He Lan was bound to the dragon god statue. He was still wearing the same black robe that Yu Zhuo had worn when they first met, made of silk, but now the edges were all torn, and black blood dripped down from the robe.

"...He Lan".

Yu Zhuo froze on the spot. He was stunned for a moment and then suddenly tried to push the crowd in front of him forward, but these people were like an impenetrable wall. Yu Zhuo exerted force with his arm and, in a certain instant, he actually passed right through their bodies and was knocked back two steps.

[WARNING! Energy is running low! Please prepare to leave! WARNING! Please stay away from the danger zone! Please stay away from the danger zone!]

The warning sound irritated Yu Zhuo's eardrums. Yu Zhuo bumped into the tree trunk behind him, his back stinging, but he seemed not to notice. He simply grabbed the rusty iron railing next to him and stood up.