"Why bother?" She stood with her blade lowered, while all the enemies around her already lay on the ground. Undead, dragons, beastfolk, humans, demons, fallen immortals, or whatever else they might have been—in this moment, all they could become were corpses.
"Indeed, why bother?" Young Master Zui stood off to the side with his hands tucked into his sleeves, blood continuously trickling from the corner of his mouth. It was not that he was unable to suppress his injuries. He simply did not want to.
He had never expected that after a hundred years, she would return once more, this time with a weakness. Everyone should have been able to hurt her now. Yet what had happened? She was stronger than she had ever been, so strong that even he was incapable of resisting her.
The seductively alluring Su Qing stood there with an icy expression, staring at Wan Hongling. Wan Hongling had struck ruthlessly against every enemy who dared attack her, with Su Qing alone being the exception. It was as though she were the only person receiving special treatment, completely unharmed.
But the enemies who had retreated far away knew exactly what was going on. Still, this was ultimately a twisted bond between them, and there was nothing they could say. No matter how jealous they might be that Su Qing would not be hurt, they themselves were enemies, so being killed by a single slash from Wan Hongling was only natural.
Only a handful of people still remained standing before her now. Either they possessed overwhelmingly powerful strength, had some past connection with her, or were exceptionally skilled at preserving their lives and had managed to survive her attacks.
No matter which category they belonged to, all they could do was fall silent as they looked at her figure. This person had returned, yet she was no longer someone they could ever hope to catch up to.
"Forget it. Killing you brings me no benefit. The Daughter of Fate of this generation is mine. If any of you dare harbor designs on her again, don't blame me for coming back every few days and slaughtering the Otherside from end to end. I trust none of you want to see that happen."
Looking at them, Wan Hongling had already lost any interest in continuing to attack. Since everything was already in the past, why keep clinging to it? Truthfully, if these people had not feared that she would come knocking to settle old scores, she would not even have bothered making contact with most of them.
"If we cannot obtain her, then the Otherside will remain imprisoned here. Do you know how many years we've been trapped in this place?" The speaker was a tall expert carrying a massive sword on his back. Energy overflowed from his entire body, forming a bright golden, egg-shaped barrier around him. His tone was low and heavy, clearly showing that he had no intention whatsoever of accepting Wan Hongling's proposal.
"Four thousand three hundred and ninety-five years. But so what? You are the descendants of the first generation who were imprisoned here, not those people themselves. You've already grown accustomed to living here. Wanting to enter the real world or even invade the cultivation world is ultimately nothing more than a desire for revenge and an outlet for the bloodlust in your hearts. Perhaps you have other reasons known only to yourselves, but I don't need to know them. This much is enough, isn't it?"
She raised her blade, ignoring their instinctive steps backward, and extended slender fingers to gently stroke its snow-white edge as she spoke softly.
"The real world has exiled us for far too long. It's time they experienced our fury. Wan Hongling, you're someone from the Otherside yourself. Why help the real world? Why help the Daughter of Fate of this generation?" The man who had spoken earlier raised his head and looked at her, completely unable to understand what this woman was thinking.
"I'm not helping the real world. I'm only helping her. As long as I'm here, none of you should even think about hurting her. The factions that grew restless last time and sent people after her have already been destroyed by me. I don't think any of you want to become the next one." Her voice was faint, yet it carried an overbearing dominance that no one could oppose.
"Heh..." Lowering his head, he gave a bitter laugh. At that moment, his voice sounded unexpectedly aged. "The Daughter of Fate... Is this generation really worth you going this far?"
"Why wouldn't she be? She's everything to me now. No matter what you think or what you do, that won't change."
"No matter how much you say, you're still nothing more than a heartless woman who betrays people's feelings. You were like this a hundred years ago, and you're still the same a hundred years later. For the sake of someone else, why won't you kill me?" The speaker was Su Qing. As she stared at Wan Hongling, faint tears actually shimmered in her eyes, enough to make anyone who saw them ache for her.
Shaking her head, Wan Hongling turned her face aside to avoid Su Qing's gaze and whispered, "Why would I kill you? Even if I killed everyone else, I still wouldn't kill you."
"What if I force you to kill me? If you won't kill me, then I'll personally go to the real world and kill that little girl. Let's see whether you'll regret it then!" Su Qing spoke with absolute determination. It seemed she had already made up her mind to do exactly that.
"Then go." Wan Hongling turned back and looked at her. Her expression was calm, without anger or fear. That was all she said. If Su Qing truly dared go, then she would understand why Wan Hongling refused to kill her.
"You'll regret this..." The moment she finished speaking, Su Qing's figure abruptly vanished from the spot. Among those standing at the peak of the Otherside, who lacked the means to enter the real world? Whether they went was a matter of willingness, not ability. Large-scale teleportation might require numerous conditions, but for a single person, things were far less troublesome.
"Tsk, tsk. What a tangled drama of love and hatred. I won't be staying for the rest of it. I'm weaker than you now, so it doesn't matter if I can't have you yet. Once this young master comprehends the supreme Great Way, I'll naturally be able to catch up with you." Seeing Su Qing leave, Young Master Zui realized that the fighting to come might become even more intense. After leaving those words behind, he departed as well. He might harbor ambitions toward Wan Hongling, but his own life was still more important.
Once the two of them left, some of the people around them began to waver as well. After all, neither Su Qing nor Young Master Zui had particularly good reputations among this group, but both possessed top-tier strength. If even those two had left, then anyone who remained was unlikely to gain anything and was far more likely to die. In that case, they might as well flee too.
As for whether people would mock them or how they would explain themselves after returning? It was still the same principle. The people at the bottom of the Otherside did not fear death, but the stronger someone became, the more they feared dying. Perhaps that was simply a trait shared by most self-aware lifeforms. None wished to come into contact with death.
"Hmph. Every last one of them is a coward..." One person's departure triggered the departure of most of the experts. Once the experts left, the small fry who had merely come along to wave banners and cheer naturally fled after them. Those who remained were basically people who had already resolved themselves to die.
"What a boring spectacle." Wan Hongling simply stood there watching them leave without moving at all. Whether these people all died had little to do with her, and their deaths might even save her quite a bit of trouble. Their retreat made no difference either, since she had never intended to kill them in the first place.
But looking at those who remained, she could not help feeling puzzled. Why did things always have to turn out like this?
"Although killing all of you wouldn't take very long, I've lost interest." Shaking her head, Wan Hongling finished speaking, then turned and left.
"Aren't you afraid we'll go to the real world and capture the Daughter of Fate?" Hearing the words shouted from behind her, she turned slightly and smiled faintly. "How can someone become a true expert without experiencing slaughter? As long as you play by the rules, go ahead. But if you refuse to play by the rules, like those previous factions did, then there will only be one outcome—annihilation..."
After saying that, her figure flickered and vanished from the spot, leaving the group staring blankly at one another. "What exactly counts as playing by the rules, and what doesn't?"
They could not quite grasp where Wan Hongling's bottom line lay. All they could do was decide that once they returned, they would investigate those factions she had destroyed and find out exactly what they had done to anger her so much.
"All of you are nourishment for Lian'er's growth. Go on. At her current level, unless people like you personally intervene, don't even think about hurting her. But one day in the future, she'll slaughter her way back here just as I did. When that day comes, you'd better be careful." Standing atop a rock in the middle of a river, Wan Hongling murmured softly. Then she raised her head toward the black moon in the sky that never set and sighed.
"There's still more than two months until that time. I can only go back after resolving that matter. Fortunately, it'll still be within the time we agreed upon. Lian'er... when the time comes, I hope you'll understand why I left."
While she waited alone in this cold space for the time when she could return, the person she cared about was already seated in a company conference room, pursing her lips as she looked around at the gathered people and listened to them speak.
"That's the arrangement. Ten million yuan in endorsement fees per year. As long as you attend the cosplay conventions we organize and participate in no fewer than three online events and five offline gatherings, we can finalize the contract." Chen Xiao, the boss of Hangzhou Fantasy Culture and Entertainment, sat at the head of the table and looked at the bored Chu Lian as he spoke.
"Then will you restrict me from endorsing another company? Mm, you'll find out what company it is later. If you won't restrict me, I'll sign. If you will, then I won't." This was Chu Lian's only demand, and also the third time she had raised it. They simply had never managed to reach an agreement.
When Chen Xiao and the various directors of Hangzhou Fantasy Culture and Entertainment heard her make the request yet again, they understood that this was her bottom line. If they wanted to sign her, they either had to raise the compensation so high that she could not refuse, or agree to her request.
The current offer was already exceptionally generous. Raising it any further would make them targets of criticism from every direction. So after lowering their heads and discussing it among themselves for a while, they conveyed their conclusions to Chen Xiao and left the final decision to him.
How sharp were Chu Lian's spiritual senses and hearing? She could hear every word they said and knew exactly where their bottom line lay. But she could not speak first. She had to wait for Chen Xiao.
"May I ask what kind of product you'll be endorsing for that other company? We'll decide whether to agree based on your answer."
"It's an endorsement for a game. The game will begin its promotional campaign very soon. Mm, what I can guarantee is that this game will become a massive hit. As its spokesperson, my own status will naturally rise along with it. That benefits both you and me." After thinking for a moment, Chu Lian decided to reveal part of the truth.
"A game? What game?" Her answer surprised them. They had assumed it would be an advertisement for clothing, daily necessities, toys, or perhaps luxury goods. They had never expected it to be a game. What sort of game could possibly be worth fighting so hard for? They could not help growing curious.
"An ARPG that can be played either offline in single-player or online." Chu Lian deliberately did not explain everything at once. She waited for them to ask on their own.
"Games of that type seem like they're about to disappear from the market, don't they? Fast-paced games are what attract people these days. Slower games, especially RPGs, have comparatively fewer players. Are you sure that game will really become popular?" Since this concerned their own interests, even though they needed to maintain a good relationship with Chu Lian, there were still questions they had to ask.
"Do you really want to know?" Chu Lian suddenly stood up and swept a mysterious look around everyone before asking.
"If it's a trade secret, then forget it." They also understood that certain things should not be revealed ahead of time. Otherwise, a competing company could easily seize the advantage. They wondered whether the game Chu Lian mentioned was something of that sort.
"It's a holographic game. You know, the kind proposed a long time ago and which many game companies now use for holographic-projection games. But my game is different from theirs."
A holographic game? The people who knew what that meant exchanged glances. That was nothing particularly unusual. No matter how different she claimed hers was, surely it could only amount to so much.
"Forget it. I'll just show you some footage recorded from inside the game. Then you'll understand." Seeing their reactions, Chu Lian knew that her words had successfully piqued their curiosity. This was exactly the time to press her advantage.
"Hm?" Under their expectant gazes, Chu Lian took out a tiny crystal. This thing can play videos? What kind of futuristic technology is that?
"Watch." Chu Lian pinched the crystal between her fingers and gave it a little shake before placing it in her palm. A screen appeared above it, clearly visible from both the front and the back.
The footage showed the scene from that morning when Chu Lian, Chu Chu, Li Xiu'er, and Cai Ya had teamed up to cap—hunt the dark beast. She had originally recorded it at Science Girl and the others' request so they could use it for research. Unexpectedly, before she had even handed it over to them, it had already found another use.
The scene on the screen looked so realistic that it might as well have been the real world, yet it was filled with all kinds of fantastical elements, and even the monster looked vividly alive. Everyone stared in stunned silence.
Was this a movie? Hadn't they said this kind of technology would need at least another fifteen years of research and development before it matured? How could it already produce results like this?
"Relax, relax. What you're seeing now is still an unfinished product. It'll take at least another two months to complete. But this footage alone should be enough to convince you, right? So, what do you think? If I'm endorsing this game, you can't exactly object anymore, can you?" Chu Lian closed her hand around the crystal, making the image disappear, then raised her head and looked around at everyone as she asked.
"That certainly is..." If Chu Lian truly became the spokesperson for this game, then from the moment its promotional campaign began, she would enter an explosive period of popularity. Not only would her fame rise dramatically, but her status would rise along with it. As long as the game itself did not disappoint, she would remain extraordinarily famous for the next several years.
Although they did not place overwhelming importance on Chu Lian's fame itself, greater fame would still benefit their company. And obtaining such a benefit required only that they yield a single step...
Thinking this far, Chen Xiao immediately made his decision and agreed to Chu Lian's request. "Then we'll accept your condition."
"Pleasure doing business." Hearing his answer, Chu Lian's eyes curved into happy crescents. They should've agreed from the beginning, shouldn't they?
"Pleasure doing business..." Even though the contract had yet to be signed, this deal had already been successfully concluded...