Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

Silence enveloped the entire square.

"Cheng Yuan!" The little dog's heart-wrenching scream broke the silence, and the despair in its voice made everyone present tremble.

It staggered and lunged toward the boy who had fallen to the ground, its snow-white fur soaked with tears, its small body trembling uncontrollably.

"Wake up...please wake up...Cheng Yuan..." It desperately slapped Cheng Yuan's cheeks with its paws, its azure eyes filled with tears, each crystal tear like a broken string of pearls, falling onto the boy's pale face.

Xu Xin strode over, his jawline taut and his lips pressed into a hard line. He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms, using the pain to suppress the tremor within him.

Wang Lin turned her face away, her eyes red-rimmed. The burly man from Xu Xin's team slammed his fist into the ground. The man with the gold-rimmed glasses took off his glasses and silently wiped the lenses.

Behind the crowd, the woman known as Sister Xiaochun watched this scene quietly, a barely perceptible ripple flashing in her calm gaze.

No one expected that the zombie Satan Beast had such a hidden trick up its sleeve.

"Waaah... Cheng Yuan..." The little dog's whimper echoed across the empty square, its voice filled with despair and helplessness.

In this suffocating grief, just as an ominous black mist began to rise from the depths of the little beast's azure pupils, and wisps of black energy began to swirl around the little creature—

"Cough cough cough..."

A faint but familiar cough suddenly rang out.

The little dog suddenly looked up, unable to believe its ears.

Cheng Yuan slowly opened his eyes, a familiar mischievous smile still on his lips.

"Little Dog Beast, why are you crying? Who dares to bully you! I'll beat them to a pulp!?"

"Cheng Yuan! That's great, Cheng Yuan! My beast tamer—woof woof..." The little dog beast pounced into Cheng Yuan's arms, the ominous black as if it had never appeared.

"Ouch, you're crushing me..."

[Ding! The system has detected an abnormal virus called "Dark Seed" attempting to steal system privileges. The system has intercepted and captured it. Please select a course of action: Quarantine/Delete?]

Cheng Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Quarantine!"

The system has successfully isolated the virus.

"That kid Cheng is too good at creating drama, even the Yellow Springs wouldn't dare to take him in!" Wang Lin wiped away her tears.

Xu Xin let out a long sigh of relief, but couldn't help but smile: "Stop talking nonsense, get to the hospital quickly, we can talk about the rest later."

"The seal is complete." Sister Xiaochun looked at the landing ark, put away the Digivice, and the Jade Rabbit Beast transformed into a stream of light and returned to the Digivice.

She turned to the devastated music square and nodded slightly to the arriving medical team: "Treat the wounded first."

Cheng Yuan, holding the little dog, lay on the ground, stunned, repeatedly looking at the system prompt text that appeared in his field of vision.

"Dark Seed?"

"Belial Castle...? Belial... Belial the Vampire Beast?"

Scenes from his previous life's anime flashed through his mind—the Dark Seed runs through the entire second season's plot, from one of the main characters turning into a Tyrannosaurus Rex cyborg to the final boss of the second generation, Belial the Vampire Beast, using the Dark Seed to parasitize Yukio Kawakami, creating countless disasters in the Digital World, and even the Ultimate Monster went so far as to mobilize its monster army to try and seize the Dark Seed.

The final sneak attack from the Zombie Satan Beast wasn't an energy attack, but rather an attempt to plant a dark seed in the Little Dog Beast.

Then, by a twist of fate, he was replaced by Cheng Yuan, who had saved the little dog, and entered Cheng Yuan's body, only to be intercepted by the system?

The coincidences were such that missing even one link could have led to Cheng Yuan's utter ruin.

Seeing everyone's concerned looks, Cheng Yuan sat up abruptly and said, "Thank you all for your concern. I'm fine, it just feels like my forehead... ouch."

I bumped my forehead and got a bump.

Seeing Cheng Yuan back to his energetic self, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and busied themselves with the finishing touches.

The Dark Seed was in the system's "isolation" zone, a pitch-black virtual space. Cheng Yuan couldn't retrieve it through the system, nor was he willing to risk taking out this dangerous item.

He scanned his surroundings and quickly spotted Xu Xin—Xu Xin was talking quietly with "Sister Xiaochun," her expression serious. Cheng Yuan strode over without hesitation.

"Old Xu!"

Xu Xin turned around and saw it was him. The swelling on his forehead had subsided a bit. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Class representative, if you're not better yet, go stay in the medical room."

"Was this a trap you set? A snare to the devil?" Cheng Yuan stopped Xu Xin, who was about to direct the cleanup. His voice was low, but sharp and unyielding: "So many ordinary people! You're just leaving them to their fate?"

The Ark carrying the golden coffin, Jade Rabbit Beast's Thousand Axe Slash, Andromon's missiles, the Digital Chain Matrix, the protective shield that can withstand the strength of an Ultimate-level monster... each of these indicates that this matter is not as simple as he thought.

Xu Xin's expression froze, and he subconsciously glanced at the woman in the horse-face skirt, Sister Xiaochun.

Xiao Chun glanced at Cheng Yuan indifferently, said nothing, and turned to walk towards the "Ark" parked in the center of the music square.

Xu Xin sighed and lowered her voice: "This is not the place to talk."

"Follow me." Xu Xin walked in the opposite direction from the ark, leaving him with her back turned.

As Wang Lin walked, she nudged Cheng Yuan with her elbow and glanced behind her, saying, "Do you know that guy?"

Cheng Yuan rolled his eyes: "Definitely a big shot, a Perfect-level Digimon partner, and that... antique Digivice?"

"That's the 'Earthly Branches Tyrannosaurus Machine'," Wang Lin said. "It's the exclusive equipment of the Twelve Divine Generals, and it's said to be made from a fallen digital meteorite."

Cheng Yuan raised an eyebrow: "Earthly Branches?"

"Yes, the Twelve Earthly Branches represent the pinnacle of professional beast tamers in the Eastern Kingdom. They correspond to the Twelve Digimon, the twelve strongest Digimon in the Eastern Kingdom. Each of them possesses the strength of an Ultimate level Digimon and rarely ventures out. Jade Rabbit is one of them."

"The Twelve Earthly Branches Beast Tamers...and the Twelve Divine Generals?"

Isn't this... one of the Twelve Demon Emperors from the third generation of anime?

On the railing of the Bund in Qianhai, Xu Xin lit a cigarette, the smoke quickly dissipating in the sea breeze.

"Where to begin..." He paused for a moment, "Do you know why Devimon... ZombieSatanmon appeared in the human world this time?"

Cheng Yuan shook his head. The little dog in his arms had fallen asleep peacefully, nestled in Cheng Yuan's embrace, sleeping soundly, its little paws tightly gripping his clothes.

"A little over a month ago, a hole suddenly appeared in the Digital Abyss passage leading to the Dark Zone," Xu Xin exhaled a smoke ring. "An evil Digimon smuggled itself into the human world."

"This means that our outposts guarding the Dark Zone have become useless. If left unchecked, powerful and evil Digimon could easily infiltrate the real world. This means that our defense system, built over twenty years, has a fatal flaw. If the cause isn't found and fixed in time, even more evil Digimon will continue to flood into the real world."

Cheng Yuan recalled the destruction caused by Devimon, the Digimon infected by the Dark Gear that covered the entire city. Infection was just the beginning; if left unchecked, the entire society, especially the mechanical Digimon, would be controlled.

"But the demon beast was cunning and lurked in the shadows. It wasn't until in the Savage Valley that it revealed its weakness."

"Evolution is its obsession, but also its greatest weakness," Xu Xin said, stubbing out his cigarette. "We will stop it from evolving at all costs. But if it continues to hide, we will be helpless."

"Furthermore, the Dark Zone's attack is imminent, and we need to act swiftly. This plan will only truly take shape after we confirm that the Guardian Beast has successfully evolved into its cocoon..."

"So you gathered the Dark Gear-infected Digimon as bait? But why choose this place, with so many ordinary tamers!"

"Not entirely," Xu Xin shook his head, "That divine song that can catalyze evolution is the key bait. We were certain it would appear. The association specifically contacted Tencent to coordinate with the production team to arrange this performance..."

"Even the production team and Yun Yao were kept in the dark?" Cheng Yuan interrupted.

"So, to make it more realistic, we involved ordinary people, lured the demon into a trap, and lured the demon beast out...?" Cheng Yuan coldly finished the sentence. He looked down at the sleeping puppy beast and felt a wave of fear wash over him.

Xu Xin stubbed out his cigarette: "Don't look at me like that. To increase the success rate, we've made thorough preparations. We even submitted a report requesting the association's top combat forces to be deployed. After all, we told headquarters that this matter involves the Dark Zone's defense system, so headquarters takes it very seriously. They even sent the Twelve Divine Generals. Do you think the Jade Rabbit Beast is just for show?"

"As for ordinary people... apart from you and the production crew, there aren't many ordinary people... can an ordinary Beast Tamer handle so many Dark Gears and Impmon? You should have heard what the staff said earlier. Although there are quite a few injured, there haven't been any deaths yet. They're all prepared for battle."

Could it be that I was also unintentionally dragged into this?

Xu Xin said solemnly, "I just didn't expect that this Devimon's power would reach this level after evolving, far surpassing that of ordinary Ultimate-level Digimon. If Guardianmon hadn't evolved into Andromon, this plan would probably have failed if it had been launched hastily."

"What I never expected was that its desperate counterattack would target you all..." He paused, "but thankfully you were alright in the end."

At this point, Xu Xin suddenly changed the subject: "Besides, how exactly did you do it? The Guardian Beast has been stuck at the Champion stage for so many years. How did you, a high school student, come up with a way to make it successfully evolve?"