In the alliance, the more they attack me, the stronger I become!

"Wait until the Haunting Night."

"When is the Haunting Night?"

"Less than half a month." Cheng Xiao stood up from the dark rock and looked at the girl in front of him seriously for the first time.

Gwen...the girl who turned from a rag doll into a real person.

A large black bow, silvery blue curls, glittering gold accessories, and an elegant and exquisite dress.

And a pair of beautiful pupils of different colors.

She seemed full of life, her every move radiating activity. At the same time, she was as delicate as a perfect doll, so beautiful that one couldn't help but wonder if she had been crafted by a master seamstress according to her own immaculate imagination.

She possesses a kind of...purity that is untainted by the world.

Even children of seven or eight years old cannot compare with it.

"What are you looking at?"

Seeing the other person staring at her, the innocent Gwen immediately moved her face closer out of curiosity.

They were so close that their noses were almost touching, but she didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

"Are you looking at the difference between me and a real person? Don't worry, I'm alive now! If you don't believe me, just feel my heartbeat!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Gwen grabbed Cheng Xiao's hand without saying a word, and pressed it against her chest, which was not particularly full but just the right size.

Cheng Xiao instantly felt a special softness and warmth.

And... a slight ups and downs.

"Although it's still a little weak, there is indeed a heartbeat!" Gwen laughed generously, and then put her hand on Cheng Xiao's chest.

"But it's still a lot weaker than yours... When I was still a rag doll, I felt your powerful heartbeat! That feeling was truly fascinating!"

As she spoke, Gwen actually leaned over again and pressed her cheek against the other's chest.

The familiar and powerful heartbeat leaped in her ears. She gradually closed her eyes with an expression of enjoyment, fully feeling the beauty of life.

This made Cheng Xiao a little... at a loss.

Such interaction is definitely considered ambiguous in the eyes of the world, but the girl in front of him is just naive and ignorant, and definitely does not have any thoughts in that regard.

So, will he point it out or not?

If I pointed it out, it would feel like I was polluting her pure heart, but if I didn't point it out, it would feel like I was coaxing an ignorant girl...

Cheng Xiao was at a loss for a moment.

Fortunately, Gwen let go after hearing enough.

She gave Cheng Xiao a smile as pure as white paper, then took her hand and pointed the other hand into the distance.

"Cheng Xiao, Cheng Xiao, let's go play! I want to feel the gentle breeze on my face, the coolness of the sea water, and admire the romance of the sunrise!"

"Although I can do those things myself...but what I mean is, it would be even better if you could accompany me! You just said that you would take me to discover this beautiful world!"

In fact, no one had ever told Gwen how wonderful those things were. She could only express them based on the fragments of memory in her mind.

She remembered...when Viego was pursuing her master, they were doing exactly that kind of thing!

Something that even the owner is obsessed with must be wonderful!

And you have to go with someone you like!

Although she didn't really understand what "like" meant, she could probably guess a little bit - it was as if she liked her master very much.

Cheng Xiao helped her regain her life and promised to take her to explore the world, so...

"Cheng Xiao, I like you very much!"

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Cheng Xiao originally planned to return to Bilgewater when the Harrowing Night was approaching, regardless of whether he had gained anything on the Shadow Isles.

But after learning about LeBlanc and Viego, he changed his mind.

He returned to Bilgewater to help everyone resist the invasion of the Harrowing Night, but now it seems... Viego's Curse of the Ruin is obviously more terrifying than the annual Harrowing Night.

In other words, as long as he dealt with Viego and his Curse of Ruin, it would not be impossible to break the Harrowing Night at the same time - not to suppress the Harrowing Night this time on the Shadow Isles, but to break this annual "festival" forever.

So, he must stay on the Shadow Isles.

Wait until the Soul-Eating Night... wait until Viego wakes up, and strike a fatal blow when he is at his weakest.

To achieve this goal, the most crucial factor was not his own strength, nor whether he had gone to Freljord to find powerful helpers like the Three Sisters, but...

The girl who was playing with sand on the beach at this moment.

Gwen.

The half-real and half-virtual pair of scissors in Gwen's hand, and the needle and thread she kept close to her body... those were things that could create sacred mist, which had miraculous effects against the undead that ordinary attacks could not achieve.

Even though Cheng Xiao's strength is much stronger than Gwen's, he doesn't dare to say that he is better than the other in dealing with the undead.

The saying "Every profession has its own specialization" is nothing more than this.

Going to Freljord to seek help may result in being controlled by Viego's Curse of Ruin. It is safest to rely on Gwen alone.

But be careful, Gwen's life comes from the fragment of Isolde's soul. Viego, the clown king, will go crazy when he sees her, and will definitely try his best to extract Gwen's soul at all costs.

And at that time, the only one who could protect Gwen was Cheng Xiao.

Gwen has a "damage bonus" against Viego, but the same is true in reverse.

"Hmm... Viego's Curse of Ruin is quite dangerous. We have to be careful when dealing with it..."

Cheng Xiao looked at the cheerful girl and whispered to herself.

In order to achieve his goal of stopping Viego, he didn't go anywhere during this period and took Gwen to play on the Shadow Island.

And the Soul-Eating Night that Tam mentioned before... is only two days away.

"Miss Gwen."

Cheng Xiao waved and called out to the girl.

The latter immediately turned around with a happy smile on his face. "What's the matter~?"

"It's almost time, we should go."

"Oh, where are we going?"

"Going... somewhere you might not like. Today is not a day for fun."

"uh-huh?"

"It's time to go find Viego."

“…” Upon hearing the name, Gwen fell silent and the smile on her face gradually disappeared.

But when she got close to Cheng Xiao, she obviously forced herself to cheer up again - after spending some time together, she liked this boy who took care of her in every possible way even more.

The way they get along is also more casual and relaxed.

She sighed softly, and threw all the bad memories of Viego out of her mind, leaving only the determination to stop him from continuing to persecute the world.

Then, she skillfully took Cheng Xiao's hand, and with her other hand, she raised a pair of large scissors and pointed them into the distance:

"Let's go~!"

Chapter 130 Resurrection, my love!

The soul-eating night is coming.

On that day, on the Shadow Isles, the boundary between the material and spiritual realms will become extremely blurred, or even unobstructed. Any ghost imprisoned there will be able to invade the world of the living as the black fog spreads.

In other words, all imprisoned or sealed souls will become restless on that day.

And Viego will not be an exception.

As the time to the Soul-Eating Night gets shorter, Cheng Xiao on Shadow Island clearly feels that a powerful force is about to awaken, and the ghosts that are harassing him are becoming more violent and crazy.

He wasn't sure if Viego's aura was among them, but he knew that Viego would definitely wake up that day - since Leblanc decided to cooperate with Viego, waking Viego up on the Night of the Soul-Eating was definitely the best opportunity.

As for the source of Viego's power...

To be honest, even Cheng Xiao had no way of knowing this.

First of all, it is certain that Viego's power does not come from LeBlanc, the Black Rose, or the Noxian Empire behind it. In the original timeline, Viego gained powerful power without any contact with LeBlanc, and his Curse of Ruin did not spare the distant Noxian Empire.

As for the Blessed Isles themselves? That didn't make much sense either. The Shadow Isles were filled with souls, many stronger, crazier, and more brutal than Viego in life. Why was he chosen?

Or... as some people in the later generations of the original timeline mentioned, that power came from Viego's twisted and morbid love for Isolde and his own pain and anger?

Honestly, this statement is ridiculous—if a twisted heart could bring such powerful strength, then Thresh would have already ascended to heaven and become powerful enough to kill the Star Forge Dragon King on the dome with a single whip.

In short, the only thing that can be confirmed is that Viego's power definitely does not come from himself, but is given to him by some powerful being... As for who it is, no one knows.

Demons, Death, the first group of powerful Protoss to leave Runeterra...even the Void, all seem to have a little possibility.

Cheng Xiao really couldn't guess. All he could do was try his best to stop the Clown King after it happened.

Now, with less than a day until the Harrowing, he and Gwen began searching for the disgusting figure on the Shadow Isles—or rather, trying to find his "sculpture" among the dilapidated ruins.

The Shadow Isles have been in decline for too long, and everything here is completely different from what it was a thousand years ago. Even though Gwen had "experienced" the Curse of Ruin with her master, it would be difficult to find the place where Viego was buried.

Now the island is full of ruins and the remains of the collapsed ancient civilization are everywhere, and each relic looks similar.

In addition, Gwen was just a rag doll back then, with neither self-awareness nor the ability to walk independently, making those memory fragments even more vague.

She and Cheng Xiao could only "wander" around the entire island tirelessly, constantly looking for any possible traces.

They searched for two full days.

Finally, when Gwen passed by the ruins of a dilapidated and dried-up fountain, she suddenly felt an inexplicable throbbing.

Her originally weak heartbeat suddenly jumped.

She was certain it had nothing to do with her own emotions, but rather... the soul within her. The remnant of Isolde's consciousness.

This place caused Isolde pain.

A fragment of memory that did not belong to Gwen suddenly flooded into her mind - she seemed to see her master being placed in the beautiful and clear spring by that vain and vicious man, and then...

She could feel the pain her master was in as he soaked in the spring water... not the pain of his dead body, but the pain of his soul...

Her life was beyond redemption, and the holy water refused to hand her soul over to the god of death... Thus she fell into a conflicting struggle, repeating the agony of being tortured by the poison before her death...

"I... my head hurts..."

Gwen suddenly knelt on the ground, pressing her temples with a look of pain on her face.

The scissors she was holding also fell to the ground, and the moment the sharp blade touched the dark ground, a large cloud of holy mist rose.

Gwen didn't use any magic, but the scissors seemed to have self-awareness... It turned into a huge, half-real and half-virtual state when Gwen held it in her hand, constantly emitting white mist in all directions.

At the same time, all the needles and threads that Gwen had hung on her skirt unfolded and stabbed into the ground frantically, turning the surrounding dark scorched earth into a strange pale color.

Before Cheng Xiao could react, the ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed.

Fortunately, they didn't fall for too long - at least not as long as when they were trapped in the abyss by Iris.

After just one or two breaths, the two of them touched solid ground.

The environment down there was also very dim, but there was still some light, so the surroundings were not completely invisible.

Then Cheng Xiao saw... a palace.

A palace built before the Blessed Isles became the Shadow Isles. It was once a temple of knowledge sought by monks and pilgrims.

Although it has now become a ruin, there are still some profound inscriptions on the rubble and broken pillars, and some books that are intact and protected by special magic can be seen in the stone piles.

But these are not the most important things.

Most importantly... that "statue".

A man who looked like a crystal statue. He still held one hand upwards, while the other hand covered his chest, which was pierced by a sharp blade.

The expression on his face was extremely painful, filled with confusion, sadness and unwillingness, but lacking his signature resentment and anger.

He seemed to be begging for something...