[A Few Minutes Earlier]
Zane was stared at by Rover's bright eyes until his whole body felt uneasy, and he couldn't help but speak to change the subject, "Did I wake you up?"
Facing Zane's question, Rover only gently shook her head and softly said, "I had a dream."
As she said this, the girl slowly lowered her head, and her eyes dimmed slightly.
In the dream, she vaguely seemed to see a sky full of red, and at the end of that red was a deep black hole. Then a familiar figure brushed past her, leapt forward, and threw itself into that endless black hole.
["Don't worry, this is only the first time. We will definitely meet again."]
That figure, along with the fragmented memories, gradually disappeared into the long river of the dream.
An intense sadness surged into her heart. Rover felt like a drowning person craving air, desperately trying to grab those scattered fragments. But every time she struggled, the suffocating feeling only grew stronger.
At that moment, a familiar presence passed through layers of deep sea. And Rover naturally didn't let this chance slip away. Following the source of that presence, she gradually swam out of the whirlpool of memory.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Zane turning to leave.
Looking at that gradually receding back, it seemed to overlap with the figure in her memory.
The suffocating feeling came again, and instinct drove her to reach out once more.
This time, she caught him.
"In the dream, it felt like I lost the most important person to me…"
Rover felt herself being pulled again by threads of deeply buried memories. Slowly, yet irresistibly, she spoke, "Promise me, don't leave me again. Okay?"
Hearing this, a look of surprise flashed across Zane's face.
He had seen Rover's domineering side when they first met, seen the gentleness she showed him, and seen her anger when facing enemies.
But he had never seen her show this kind of expression.
The pale moonlight filtered through the window into the room, illuminating the sorrow on the girl's face, like shattered jade porcelain. Looking again, the shine in those golden eyes seemed to carry a thin mist.
Seeing Rover show such sadness, Zane felt an inexplicable panic rise in his heart.
"I promise you." Zane frowned slightly.
After a while, he slowly turned his head and looked at Rover beside him. A trace of determination flashed in his eyes, then he slowly raised his other hand and reached toward her.
"Pinky promise." Zane said softly. His voice wasn't loud, but the feeling contained in it was probably something only he himself understood.
Hearing this, Rover was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but let out a "pfft" as she laughed.
The faint sadness in her heart was swept away quite a bit in an instant. She hadn't expected Zane to make such a childish move.
However, despite finding it a little funny, a warm feeling she couldn't describe rose in her heart. So without any hesitation, she also extended her slender little finger.
The two little fingers lightly hooked together, and at that moment, two drifting hearts found support in each other.
"Pinky promise, no breaking it for a hundred years. I will never leave you." Zane seriously recited this childlike vow, his gaze gentle and focused.
"Mm, neither of us can leave first." Rover replied with a smile. At this moment, her smile was as bright and moving as a flower blooming in spring.
Her pale fingers lightly brushed against the back of Zane's hand that was holding hers, like a dragonfly touching water, the movement slow and gentle.
Looking at the smile on Rover's face, it was like the most beautiful treasure in the world, only showing that dazzling, radiant side in front of Zane.
Only then did Zane finally let go, feeling satisfied.
Of course, Zane didn't know that after he left, the sleepless Rover and Jinxi had a meeting.
———
Early the next morning, Rover and the Doctor followed the map's guidance toward the Huanglong encyclopedia.
On the other side, in Qichi Village, Zane used a tremendous amount of effort to finely chop up a large pile of Fractsidus assassins' corpses into minced meat, then exchanged them for Star Sounds.
Adding that to the Star Sounds he got from looting the exiles earlier, he finally gathered enough for a total of twelve pulls again.
Thinking carefully, it had only been a little over a day since the last ten-pull. That speed could already be called insane. Other than big spenders, probably only hardcore grinders could compete with him.
Of course, whether it was big spenders or grinders, even if they tried their hardest, they still couldn't beat the lucky ones. After all, the pity they struggled so hard to reach, the lucky ones could get in a single casual pull.
Although he currently had twelve pulls in hand, looking at the system's three exclusive weapon banners and one standard banner, Zane fell into a dilemma.
If he pulled on the Doctor's banner, although there was a chance of getting operators that increased combat strength, Zane felt that with his luck, he would probably just get things like sanity potions at best.
If he pulled on Rover's banner, although there might be some weapons, with Rover's current combat ability, unless she ran into a boss like Ming-style final enemies, there was basically no chance of failure.
Don't be fooled by how Rover usually looked like a cute mascot, all adorable and cheerful. Once she actually fought, probably a few injuries wouldn't even be enough to satisfy her.
As for eating afterimages raw, charcoal grilling echoes, tearing Zane apart with her hands, those were even easier…
'Wait, why does it feel like I included myself in that?'
Zane shuddered and quickly shook his head, throwing that terrifying thought out of his mind.
'Pity probably needs about 80 pulls. And I don't even know if the pull history of these four banners is shared.'
After hesitating again and again, Zane decided to use the extra two pulls first to test the waters.
Thinking this, Zane opened the Doctor's banner and decisively threw in one pull.
A black shoulder bag flashed through the system, then was tossed in front of him.
Looking at the familiar black shoulder bag, Zane squatted down with great anticipation, carefully pinched the zipper, and slowly pulled it open bit by bit.
"Gold, gold, gold…", While pulling the zipper, Zane muttered to himself, as if performing some ancient and mysterious ritual.
When the zipper on the black bag reached one-tenth open, Zane saw a white light flash out from inside… then he quickly zipped the bag back up again.
'As long as I don't open it, it doesn't count.'
"System, I want a refund. This bag isn't sweet!"
But the system didn't indulge him. A line of blue text immediately appeared in front of Zane,
[Obtained, Small Sanity Potion ]
As the system text flashed, the black shoulder bag in front of Zane suddenly disappeared. Immediately after, Zane felt something heavy in his hand. He looked down and found a syringe-sized vial in his hand.
"Hey, you Jinzhou curse, this is forced buying and selling! Be careful, I'll sue you!"
[The system doesn't want to talk to you and throws a rotten egg at you.]
[Consumed 1 Star Sound to obtain Rotten Egg ]
"Holy!"
Zane's eyes widened. He never expected it could be played like this. He wanted to warmly greet the system's family, but he was afraid this damn thing would turn all his remaining Star Sounds into rotten eggs.
'Luckily, it only consumed 1 Star Sound, not a full pull.'
'Wait… 1 Star Sound for 1 rotten egg?'
A flash of inspiration struck Zane's mind. Use 1 Star Sound to get 1 rotten egg, then use 1 rotten egg to kill 1 exile; then use the exile's corpse to exchange for 7 Star Sounds, turn them into seven rotten eggs; then use 7 rotten eggs to kill 7 exiles; then…
From this, Star Sounds would become endless.
But thinking is one thing. Right now, he should finish the pulls first before anything else.
With that thought, Zane decisively closed the Doctor's banner, opened Rover's banner, and threw in one pull.
Unlike the Doctor's pull animation, a streak of light leapt out from the still water and shot straight into the sky…
[Obtained: Original Swift Blade ]
"Alright, I'm used to it." Zane shrugged and gave a helpless bitter smile.
At this point, it was clear that the standard [Otherworld Summon] had better value. Who knew what strange things might come out of that pool.
With that thought, Zane stopped hesitating and directly pressed the ten-pull.
Under Zane's shocked and ecstatic gaze, a golden light shot straight into the sky.
"It dropped!"
At this moment, Zane didn't even have time to stay shocked and quickly checked what the system had given him.
[Obtained, FIM-92 anti-air missile, AWM sniper rifle (with .338 Lapua Magnum rounds *20), wall-cutting thermite charge, DM51 multi-purpose grenade, premium special-grade sesame oil, anti-snatch capture riot baton, Wasp T800, P320 pistol, explosion-proof shield, Undying Totem (Gold)]
Looking at the sudden pile of deadly weapons in front of him, a drop of cold sweat slid down Zane's forehead.
"My god… system bro, did you empty out someone's armory?"
'Just making a pinky promise with Rover last night could give this many things!?'
'Then if it went further, would it even bring out nuclear warheads for me!?'
Looking back at his pulls before meeting Rover, it was either ice cream cones or things like noble moral praise. The best thing he got was just a recipe for a Krabby Patty that wasn't very useful.
And after meeting Rover? First a phoenix healing kit, then the Doctor showed up…
Of course, the most important thing was still the Undying Totem that appeared for the first time.
This was an ultimate life-saving item. With this thing, it was basically like having an extra life.
Just think about it, the enemy mobs struggle with everything they have, calculating every move, finally wearing you down to death. Then with a "ding~" you revive on the spot and directly start phase two against them.
Before, things like this never dropped…
'So Rover really is the protagonist, right? I'm just a heartless weapon supplier, right?'
Facing Zane's muttering, the system clearly felt a bit guilty and didn't show a single word in front of him.
After talking for a long time with no response from the system, Zane felt bored. At that moment, the bright red on Rover's shoulder from yesterday suddenly appeared in his mind.
And right now, the culprit was in Jinzhou.
Thinking of this, the smile on Zane's face gradually turned a bit crazy.
"Hehe... haha, Scar, happy birthday!"