Inside the livestream.
[Sampo: Holy crap… you can do that too?!]
[Kafka: That's basically winning a resurrection round.]
[Keqing: You can even steal someone else's client?!]
[Yae Miko: As expected of the Great Emperor Ruyan—she even found a way out of this.]
[Aventurine: There's a word popping into my head right now… not sure if I should say it.]
[Silver Wolf: What's there to hesitate about? It's NTR.]
[Bronya: What does NTR mean?]
[Yelan: I'd like to know as well.]
[Seele: Me too.]
[Valerius: Don't ask. It's not a good word.]
[Bronya: If it's not a good word, then let's forget about it.]
[Seele: Something's off. Very off. Why do you just accept whatever he says?]
Seele felt something was seriously wrong lately.
Whatever Valerius said, Bronya never objected.
"NTR…"
For some reason, Seele suddenly felt her head grow heavy.
She didn't know why, but lately she kept feeling like something was floating above her head—
sometimes even glowing faintly green in a way that made her uncomfortable.
[Bronya: It's not that I accept everything. It's just that what Valerius says makes sense.]
The weight on Seele's head seemed to increase again.
[Silver Wolf: Seele, you get it now, right? That's NTR.]
[Seele: ...…]
So that's what it meant.
But… was she really being NTR'd?
Probably not.
She and Bronya weren't that kind of relationship.
It was just that seeing Bronya getting so close to Valerius made her feel oddly uncomfortable.
She'd wanted to go hang out with Valerius for a long time herself—but every time Bronya had free time, she'd go straight to him. Seele never got the chance.
"…Huh?"
Seele suddenly froze.
A voice in her heart screamed:
Wait—this isn't Valerius NTR'ing me!
I'm being NTR'd by Bronya!
[Seele: Right, Valerius's right. I also think we don't need to know that much.]
[Serval: Eh?!]
[Natasha: Ah!]
[Sparkle: Hehehe, interesting.]
[Bronya: Yes, better not know.]
[Keqing: Sigh… this is really something.]
Keqing was speechless.
Was Bronya a bit… slow?
With Valerius's emotional intelligence—drink more hot water-level at best—
what exactly did she see in him?
Out on the open field, Diluc arrived in a hurry.
"What do you mean by this?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Liu Ruyan leaned closer to Blade.
"Blade and I have reached a new agreement. From now on, Brother Blade will protect me."
What the hell?!
Diluc completely lost his composure.
Doing NTR right in front of him—was that even legal?!
"He used to have a client too," Liu Ruyan continued lightly.
"Too bad she died on the very first day."
"Well, that must mean the client didn't behave."
She leaned even closer to Blade.
"I'll definitely listen to Brother Blade. Those other clients only demanded protection—unlike me. I just feel sorry for gei~gei~"
"Hiss—!"
That syrupy tone sent chills straight down Blade's spine.
He immediately sidestepped away.
"…Fine."
Re-signing a contract was her right.
Diluc couldn't stop it.
But this in-your-face NTR?
That grudge had to be settled.
"How about we spar a bit?"
"Sure."
Blade didn't hesitate.
A fight was a fight—what was there to be afraid of?
The two of them walked off together.
[Silver Wolf: Oh no.]
[Kafka: I thought Blade escaped the punishment zone… turns out he's going right back.]
Kafka couldn't help wanting to remind him—
Didn't you notice Ningguang didn't come with Diluc?
You still want to fight?
She's already lining up her shot.
[Firefly: This… attacking someone's client… isn't that bad?]
[Keqing: Are you blushing?]
[Yelan: Are you blushing?]
[Hu Tao: Are you blushing?]
[Firefly: W-wah… I'll stop talking…]
Blushing?
Of course she was.
After all, the ones who struck first were the Stellaron Hunters.
No matter how you looked at it, Blade couldn't wash this clean.
As the two walked away, Yunli grabbed Silver Branch and dragged him along.
"Let's go. Quickly."
"What's wrong?"
"Just come with me."
Silver Branch had helped her before, so Yunli wanted to pull him out of this mess.
Ningguang was clearly about to ambush Blade's client—if they stayed, they'd get dragged in too.
She had no interest in that.
After they left, only Liu Ruyan remained.
"I should probably leave too."
She'd only signed the contract to save her life.
She never actually wanted Blade as her bodyguard.
Now that Blade was distracted, this was the perfect chance to escape.
Unfortunately, she hadn't gone far before Ningguang appeared in front of her.
"What are you staring at? Move."
She'd been kidnapped for no reason at all—she was already furious.
And now seeing Ningguang, who was even prettier than her, only made her attitude worse.
[Valerius: It's over. The Great Emperor Ruyan has failed her tribulation.]
[Beidou: Obvious enough. Ningguang is her calamity.]
[Hu Tao: She won't hesitate again, will she?!]
[Yelan: This time, she probably will.]
Before, it was a child—Ningguang might not have been able to pull the trigger.
But Liu Ruyan was an adult.
And according to Diluc, a textbook scumbag.
No psychological burden at all.
Ningguang drew her gun and aimed at the neck—
the same spot where her own client had been killed by Blade.
Fair was fair.
With the muzzle pressed against her, Liu Ruyan felt like she'd fallen into an icy abyss.
She really wanted to ask—
Do you people really have to treat me like this?
What did I even do to you?!
"If you were still Diluc's client, you could've lived," Ningguang said calmly.
"But you chose Blade."
Her eyes were cold as she pulled the trigger.
[Notice: Player Blade's client has died. Blade has become a free agent and will be hunted by the Lin family.]
Blade froze mid-fight with Diluc.
What?
My client… died again?
He didn't understand.
He genuinely didn't understand.
Why did none of his clients ever survive more than an hour?
Am I some kind of cursed star?
He abandoned Diluc immediately and rushed back, desperate to see how his client had died.
What greeted him was Ningguang standing there—and Liu Ruyan lying on the ground.
"You… you dare—forget it."
He was about to curse her out, but suddenly remembered—
Wasn't I the one who killed her client first?
The words stuck in his throat.
"…Alright. We're even now."
Seeing that Blade wasn't going to attack, Ningguang holstered her gun.
Diluc walked over as well.
For a moment, the three of them just stared at each other in silence.
"…We're probably the first three eliminated, aren't we?" someone said.
"And then?" another replied.
"The last three get punished."
That reminder turned all their faces dark.
There was such a rule.
They'd fought each other into the ground—
and in the end, all three of them got dragged into the pit together.
Meanwhile, everyone else was perfectly fine.
"…How about we team up and kill the remaining clients?" Blade suggested.
He just wanted this game over with.
He'd already been hunted by a gang—now the Lin family was added on top of that.
"I'm in," Ningguang said instantly.
"You deal with Silver Branch and Yunli. Diluc and I will handle Alhaitham."
The reasoning was simple—
familiar faces wouldn't raise suspicion.
"Fine."
Blade didn't object.
As long as the game ended quickly, he'd do anything.
After Blade left, Diluc looked at Ningguang, confused.
"We're really going after Alhaitham?"
"Of course not," Ningguang replied calmly.
"We're going to protect him."
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