A moment later, the video call finally connected.
As the screen lit up, the first thing they saw was an elegant courtyard bathed in soft, gentle light.
Moments later, Lucian's extraordinarily handsome face appeared on the display. He was reclining comfortably on a lounge chair in the shade, looking completely relaxed, as though he were enjoying a leisurely afternoon with not a single worry on his mind.
[Silver Wolf? What's up? Why're you calling me?]
Lucian greeted Silver Wolf casually, an easygoing smile spreading across his face.
"Elio wanted me to ask how things are going on the Luofu. Did it really change the script that much? He's worried you're gonna embarrass him again."
Silver Wolf skipped the pleasantries altogether and got straight to the point.
"We're very curious about just how far you've gone," Kafka added with a faint smile. "More importantly, Stelle needs the Xianzhou Alliance on her side. Does she still have a chance?"
Hearing that, Lucian casually adjusted his position on the lounge chair, making himself even more comfortable before answering with complete confidence.
[Of course she does. Having me as her godfather is the greatest thing that could've ever happened to her, after all.]
Lucian had barely finished speaking when, before Silver Wolf and Kafka could even process the meaning of his words, a graceful figure quietly stepped into view from the edge of the video frame.
It was none other than the former Lord Ravager, Phantylia, now dressed in an alluring maid outfit that perfectly accentuated her elegant figure.
Holding a fruit platter filled with peeled, crystal-clear grapes, she approached with lowered eyes and an obedient expression. Every one of her movements was graceful and refined as she gently placed the platter on the coffee table beside Lucian before silently retreating to his side.
Right afterward, under Silver Wolf and Kafka's increasingly stunned gazes, Phantylia naturally knelt beside Lucian's lounge chair. Extending those slender hands that had once been capable of stirring the tides of Destruction with a mere wave, she carefully began massaging his calves, applying just the right amount of pressure with practiced precision.
Her movements were gentle yet skillful, as though she had performed this task countless times before.
In that instant, the bubble gum in Silver Wolf's mouth nearly slipped into the gap between her controller's buttons.
Kafka's wine glass tilted ever so slightly in her hand, causing the crimson liquid inside to ripple across the surface, while the elegant smile she had been wearing froze in place before slowly giving way to unmistakable astonishment.
[Master... are you satisfied with this amount of pressure?]
Phantylia looked up, her beautiful eyes brimming with seductive charm while her voice flowed as softly as warm honey, carrying a timid eagerness to please. Even her expression seemed filled with hopeful anticipation, as though she genuinely wished to earn his approval.
[If anything is lacking, please be sure to punish me... I can increase my sensory multiplier by another ten times.]
[Punish you?]
Lucian comfortably narrowed his eyes before, as casually as someone petting a beloved cat, reaching down to gently rub Phantylia's head.
[Looks to me like you've started treating my punishments like rewards. We'll see how you behave.]
[I'll do everything I can to make you happy, Master.]
Phantylia's utterly obedient demeanor as a maidservant left everyone on the other end of the call completely speechless.
'Holy crap!'
'It really is Phantylia!'
'She's alive! Giving massages! A Lord Ravager maid?!'
Silver Wolf's mind was already overflowing with thoughts.
Kafka found the sight no less unbelievable.
Needless to say, the Stellaron Hunters were all familiar with the Lord Ravagers. Although Phantylia constantly switched physical bodies, she always fashioned them into the same familiar appearance.
It was exactly the face of the maid now faithfully serving Lucian.
In Kafka's eyes, this wasn't merely memorable—it completely shattered everything she thought she knew.
"Lucian, your maid... that's actually Phantylia, that Lord Ravager? I mean, she's not some fake, right?"
Silver Wolf asked skeptically, still finding it difficult to believe what she was seeing.
"You can come check it out yourself. I guarantee she's really good at taking care of people."
Hearing Lucian's answer, Silver Wolf had to admit she was tempted.
If she could actually receive a massage from a Lord Ravager, she would have enough bragging rights to last the rest of her life.
No, scratch that.
No matter how she saw it, that kind of experience was practically impossible to replicate anywhere else in the cosmos.
Besides, the whole thing felt exactly like discovering a hidden reward in a game. You befriended an overpowered hidden NPC, and suddenly all kinds of secret achievements, hidden interactions, and exclusive rewards became available.
In Silver Wolf's eyes, Lucian was that hidden NPC, and interacting with him was basically unlocking the achievement: 'Served by a Lord Ravager.'
Silver Wolf turned toward Elio and Kafka.
"I wanna go try it out. You guys coming?"
However, what happened next shocked them even more.
As the conversation continued, two more figures casually walked into view before taking seats on either side of Lucian as though everything unfolding before them was perfectly ordinary.
One possessed a beauty as cold and serene as the moon, her silver hair flowing gracefully over her shoulders while her calm, detached expression remained as tranquil as ever.
It was Jingliu.
Meanwhile, the other was lively and adorable, her expressive fox ears twitching with every little movement while an energetic smile naturally adorned her face.
Naturally, it was Baiheng.
Jingliu casually perched herself on the armrest of Lucian's lounge chair. Picking up one of the peeled grapes from the platter, she carefully inspected it before removing the seed with practiced ease, then gently brought the fruit to his lips.
Lucian opened his mouth and accepted it, deliberately brushing his tongue against Jingliu's slender fingertip as he did so.
Jingliu didn't pull her hand away. Instead, her eyelashes trembled slightly before she simply rolled her eyes at him with a bashful glare, her cold expression softening ever so slightly as she looked far more embarrassed than genuinely angry.
At the same time, Baiheng happily leaned over with a mischievous grin, holding another peeled grape between her soft lips before offering it directly to Lucian's lips with her own. Her bright eyes sparkled with playful anticipation, clearly enjoying the little game.
Lucian didn't hesitate.
Leaning forward, he took the grape directly from between her lips before stealing a firm kiss in the process, drawing a soft 'mwah' from Baiheng.
As a result, she blinked for a brief moment before immediately bursting into cheerful laughter, her fluffy fox tail swaying happily behind her while her fox ears twitched excitedly with delight.
Seeing the lovey-dovey scene unfold before her, Phantylia instinctively redoubled her efforts, lowering her head even further as she massaged Lucian's legs with even greater care and attentiveness than before, as though determined not to fall behind the others in serving her Master.
[Darling, who're you video chatting with? Another cute girl?]
Just now, when Baiheng heard Lucian chatting with another girl over a video call, her curiosity had immediately been piqued. Without a second thought, she grabbed Jingliu by the arm and dragged her over, simply wanting to see what their potential new sister looked like.
Leaning closer to Lucian's phone with bright, curious eyes, Baiheng found herself looking at an adorable silver-haired girl. Standing behind her was a mature purple-haired beauty with a breathtaking face and a figure that could only be described as absurdly perfect.
[Jingliu, look. He's really looking for more sisters again.]
Baiheng and Jingliu openly appeared in front of the camera without the slightest hesitation, curiously studying Silver Wolf and Kafka on the other end of the call just as intently as they were being observed themselves.
[Darling... Don't those two look a lot like the Stellaron Hunters from the wanted posters?]
Baiheng asked, tilting her head as she looked at the screen.
[No need to wonder—they are two Stellaron Hunters.]
Jingliu calmly replied, then her clear eyes briefly shifted toward Lucian.
[Someone truly refuses no one, huh...]
Lucian, who casually wrapped one arm around each of his wives, couldn't help but laugh when he heard Jingliu's teasing remark.
[Don't get the wrong idea. My relationship with those two is completely proper.]
At the Stellaron Hunters' hideout, Silver Wolf and Kafka watched Lucian shamelessly showing affection in front of them and genuinely had no idea how to respond.
'We were discussing serious business, and you suddenly decided to flirt with your wives? Who exactly are you trying to make feel awkward here?'
As they looked at Lucian surrounded by three stunning women, Silver Wolf and Kafka found themselves thinking almost exactly the same thing.
For a brief moment, the atmosphere fell completely silent until, suddenly—
*BANG!*
Blade abruptly shot to his feet with such force that the chair behind him overturned and crashed heavily onto the floor.
At this very moment, his eyes—which normally held nothing but endless gloom and suffering—were now filled with disbelief, shock, overwhelming joy, uncertainty, and countless other emotions that violently collided within him, threatening to overwhelm even the suppression of his mara-struck state.
"Baiheng? Jingliu?" Blade's usually hoarse voice trembled uncontrollably. "That... That's Baiheng's voice..."
Even after hundreds of years, there was absolutely no way he could mistake it—the voice coming from the phone belonged to the cherished friend who had died centuries ago.
For perhaps the first time in centuries, Blade displayed genuine emotion that wasn't born from madness or pain.
Unable to restrain himself any longer, he hurried behind Silver Wolf, his eyes locking firmly onto the phone's screen as though afraid the scene before him would disappear at any moment.
In that instant, he saw the lovely fox-eared young woman with those bright, lively eyes and that familiar, radiant smile. Every feature perfectly overlapped with the Baiheng preserved within his memories.
As for Jingliu beside her...
Blade had absolutely no doubt that Baiheng was truly Baiheng, but he seriously doubted that the woman sitting beside her was really Jingliu.
He still vividly remembered being chopped into minced meat by Jingliu. Consumed by uncontrollable rage, the cold Sword Champion had stabbed him hundreds upon hundreds of times without the slightest mercy.
Yet the Jingliu on the screen was quietly leaning against Lucian's shoulder like a gentle, devoted wife, her usual icy temperament softened to the point that Blade almost couldn't recognize her.
'No... that's impossible... Something about this is definitely wrong...'
Even though he thought that, none of it mattered to Blade anymore.
Because the only thing that truly mattered to him now... was Baiheng.
"Baiheng... is that really you? You're alive...?"
Amid the silence, Blade was the first to speak.
Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Firefly immediately turned toward him with unconcealed surprise.
Ever since they had met Blade, he had always behaved like a walking corpse. Aside from completing missions, nothing ever seemed capable of stirring his emotions. Yet now, the usually emotionless swordsman could barely contain himself.
[Huh? You look kind of familiar. I know someone who looked a lot like you when he was younger, but my friend had white hair...]
Hearing Baiheng's words, Blade nearly broke down.
If he had still been capable of shedding tears, he would have cried on the spot.
In the end, his lips trembled slightly before Blade finally forced the words out.
"It's me... Yingxing..."
[Yingxing? Wait, Yingxing?! How did you become young again? Did Lucian resurrect you too?]
At Baiheng's question, Blade hesitated.
"I..."
He didn't dare reveal that he had become one of the Abominations of Abundance. Instead, his attention immediately fixated on the one phrase that mattered more than anything else: 'Lucian resurrected you too'.
"So... Lucian brought you back to life?" Blade's voice became noticeably softer than usual, carrying a sincerity that none of the Stellaron Hunters had ever heard before. "Please... thank him for me. I truly mean it..."
Hearing Blade's heartfelt words, Baiheng blinked in surprise before turning her head toward Lucian.
[Darling, Yingxing says thank you. You two didn't know each other before?]
As soon as Blade heard Baiheng affectionately call Lucian 'Darling,' he froze once again, his mind going completely blank.
'Wait... what exactly happened? How did the woman I admired... end up becoming someone else's woman?'
===
[A bonus chapter for reaching 400 Power Stones]
[Support and get early access to upcoming chapters at: patreon.com/VALRRR]