In the dimly lit room, Blade was brought forward. Looking at the familiar face in front of him, Jing Yuan spoke. "Yanqing."
Yanqing stood up. "Yes, General!"
Jing Yuan glanced at Blade and said, "Take a good look at this man." Then he turned to Blade and asked, "Do you remember me?"
Blade smiled, a complicated expression on his face as he looked at Jing Yuan. "I remember."
Blade lifted his head and spoke with a cryptic warning: "Beware of the Pink Fluffy Bunny."
Jing Yuan: "?"
Yanqing: "??"
The Cloud Knights in the room: "???"
Everyone had expected Blade to spit out some menacing threat, maybe say something intimidating. But instead… this?
Twelve hours earlier, the Xianzhou Luofu had experienced a Stellaron crisis. During this, they captured the Stellaron Hunter Blade and also tracked down signs of Kafka.
Were the Stellaron Hunters responsible for the crisis? Jing Yuan had already reached a conclusion. No, they weren't. He could say that with certainty because he knew their objective.
Because of this, he was certain that within two days of the 'player's' match with Silver Wolf, the crew of the Astral Express would arrive in Xianzhou Luofu.
Would they need the Astral Express crew to resolve the crisis? No. But Jing Yuan was still eagerly anticipating this "wild card" team because their appearance would ensure minimal losses.
As a general of Xianzhou, while Jing Yuan did follow the hunt for the Abundant's spawn, he was also deeply concerned for the lives of his people. Based on his calculations and planning, without any external help, the Xianzhou could expect to lose at least half of its population.
He had no fear of either the Abundance or Destruction. Even if both forces joined together, he had a way to win. But as he always said, if they could reduce the damage and suffering for the citizens, why wouldn't they?
It was all just a matter of showing a little goodwill. And if the future he foresaw arrived, even without such goodwill, Jing Yuan would be there to lend a hand.
But for now, Jing Yuan was left pondering Blade's strange words.
"Beware of the Pink Fluffy Bunny?"
Jing Yuan kept turning the phrase over in his mind. He couldn't figure out what it meant yet, but it seemed like something worth remembering.
In any case, the important arrangements had already been made. Now all that was left was to wait for the results.
Meanwhile, on the Stellaron Hunter side, Blade was already captured, and Kafka was making her final preparations. According to the prophecy, Stelle would have many questions for her, and they would formally meet on Xianzhou.
"I wonder how Stelle is doing now… Is she eating well? Sleeping well? Will she tell me about her fun adventures?"
Sure, Elio could tell Kafka many things, but sometimes it was far more entertaining and meaningful to hear about events firsthand from a close companion. Kafka also wanted to know if Stelle had started picking up any bad habits, if she'd been having nightmares, or if there were any health issues.
"I also wonder… how is Silver Wolf doing?"
As Kafka waited, time dragged on, and she momentarily shifted her focus. Across the entire connected universe, everyone had their eyes on Herta's Space Station.
As for Silver Wolf? At this moment, she was setting up her games inside the space station.
Silver Wolf had designed a simple game—at least, in her view. The first game involved Pei Guang and his team searching the station for the digital graffiti she had hidden. She prepared special equipment for them, allowing them to scan and decode these graffiti. Each piece held a special set of teleportation coordinates, summoning puzzles and enemies. According to her plan, if Pei Guang found all the graffiti and solved them within the time limit, he would win. Otherwise, he would lose.
The second game was a bit different—she wanted to teach Pei Guang some hacking skills. If he was a true player, he should have no trouble learning. This would lead to a hacker showdown, where she would compete against him using hacking skills equal to his. She wanted to personally experience the might of a "player."
Of course, if Pei Guang couldn't just pick up the skills like a natural player, she had a third backup game: a rhythm game showdown!
What about real-time strategy? After seeing Pei Guang's chaotic nature in action, Silver Wolf had zero interest. RPG? Please—Pei Guang was on the main storyline, while she was stuck wandering the universe looking for quests. Playing an RPG with him would be pointless.
Besides, what if Pei Guang pulled out ten trash cans and said, "We're all players, let's see who's luckier with loot!" She'd just have to watch, envious, as Pei Guang showed off.
So, in the end, she chose rhythm games. There were no tricks—just raw player skill. However, Silver Wolf had a little trick up her sleeve: the rhythm game she chose was one she excelled at, giving her a slight advantage in terms of familiarity.
The competition rules were simple: ten songs, judged by combo count, completion rate, and score.
With three games—two in her comfort zone—Silver Wolf was confident she could win.
"Phew, it's time, right? So why aren't they here yet?"
In a small room within the space station, Silver Wolf anxiously checked the time. Despite her bravado, PvP against an unpredictable player like Pei Guang still made her nervous.
As she fidgeted, Herta's controlled puppet entered the room. "Oh~ The famous Silver Wolf is… nervous?"
"Nervous? Hardly—I'm just excited."
Silver Wolf wasn't too concerned about Herta finding her. After all, this was Herta's turf, and they had agreed to meet here for their competition. Silver Wolf naturally had to wait inside the space station.
Seeing Silver Wolf try to keep up her tough act, Herta smiled. "Alright, alright~ Let's say you're excited. By the way, would you like me to livestream your competition?"
"Livestream me failing?"
Herta grinned. "Of course not. I'd only broadcast your game footage and results. Your and Pei Guang's faces won't appear on the stream. You should know, the whole universe is eager to see your showdown."
Silver Wolf scoffed. "And whose fault is that, making the entire universe anticipate this?"
Herta moved closer to Silver Wolf. "Is that so? Well, if you're not interested, then never mind~ Oh, by the way, didn't you have 76 accounts?"
Silver Wolf froze. "?!"
Herta leaned in and whispered in Silver Wolf's ear, "You wouldn't want all your game data banned, would you?"
Silver Wolf was shocked, but before she could react, Herta continued, "Like I said, I won't interfere with your competition against Pei Guang. However, once it's over, I plan to issue a series of quests to Pei Guang. What if I offer him a quest to ban all your gaming privileges, with enough rewards to tempt him?"
Silver Wolf gasped. "You… You're despicable!"
Herta smiled wickedly. "Despicable? You can thank Pei Guang for this. I picked up these tricks from him—they're really effective, aren't they? Don't believe me? Go ahead, try hacking his Star Destroyer. You know what kind of defenses it has, right?"