On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

With a look of self-reproach and regret on her face, Jiu You's mother sighed at Liao Ji, then quickly straightened her expression, her purple dragon eyes, just like Jiu You's, fixed on Liao Ji.

“Mr. Liao Ji, I can sense that you are very strong, but I will not lose. After more than half a year in the arena, I am very sure that I have something I must do now.”

From Liao Ji's perspective, he only experienced two matches and watched one, but in the actual timeline of the fantasy story, more than half a year had passed since he first joined the gladiators.

Jiuyou's mother's appearance hadn't changed much. If there was any difference, it might be her eyes. Far from being defeated by the cruelty and darkness of the arena, Liao Ji saw an even brighter light in her eyes than before.

But Liao Ji glanced at the audience seats in the stands and, with the help of 86 next to him, easily spotted a petite figure in the vast sea of ​​people.

In just six months, Jiu You has grown from a little girl into a graceful and well-mannered young woman. This is the nature of demi-humans; their growth rate is much slower than that of humans.

Jiu You, who now looks like a young girl, is tense and struggling, as if she doesn't know which side to cheer for, or rather, she doesn't want either side to get hurt.

"Ms. Tang, is that 'thing you absolutely must do' referring to winning the championship?"

"Yes, I must win this championship."

"understood."

Liao Ji nodded, and then the competition officially began with the host's enthusiastic commentary.

Tang's strength is indeed very powerful. Liao Ji initially estimated that he must be at least at the Disaster level. Moreover, his Flaming Blade Technique is so skillful that he is definitely at the level of a master who can establish his own school.

In just a few exchanges, Liao Ji could see many traces of Jiu You in Tang. No, it should be said that Liao Ji could see similar prototypes of Jiu You's future skills in Tang, and even more skillful ones.

Clearly, Jiu You's mother must have been Jiu You's first mentor.

After fighting Tang for a while, Liao Ji now had two options in front of him.

Did he win against Jiu You's mother, or did he deliberately lose?

This should be a rather important fork in the road, after all, it involves a key figure in "Evil Dragon's Dream," and the choice I make here will probably affect the future direction of the dream.

After a brief moment of thought, Liao Ji still chose the former. He had a premonition that Jiu You's personality would undergo such a big change later on, which was definitely related to her mother winning the championship.

Since that's the case, Liao Jiming knew that this was all a dreamlike past, but he still wanted to stop it from happening. He wanted to win the championship in place of Jiu You's mother.

Not having enough strength on his own, Liao Ji directly asked Styutia to take action. Faced with an absolute difference in power, even if Jiu You's mother had great combat skills, she quickly fell under the nun's holy light.

"Is that so? Cough cough cough."

"Looks like I'm still not strong enough, it's happening again."

"Mr. Liao Ji, can I be so greedy as to ask you one more favor? It's nothing... cough cough."

Kneeling on one knee, barely supporting her body with the knife in her hand, Jiu You's mother was filled with desolation and regret after losing to Liao Ji. She seemed to want Liao Ji to help her with something, but in the end, she stopped talking and remained silent.

Soon, the dream changed again, and this time...

"Lord Liao Ji, be careful!"

Styutia frowned and stood directly in front of Liao Ji, while 86 and Control One behind her also acted as if facing a formidable enemy, protecting Liao Ji from the left and right.

The arena, which had been bustling with activity just moments before, and the stands, which were packed with people, were now completely empty.

At the same time, many corpses began to appear in the arena around Liao Ji. Judging from their attire, they were all gladiators from the arena. Judging from the way the corpses died, each of those fatal slashes could only have been delivered by one person, no, two people.

Liao Ji turned his gaze to the end of the arena.

It is also a place that all the corpses seem to desperately want to get close to before they die.

There lies an arena throne forged from blood and bones.

On this throne sat a woman, a young dragonwoman.

Clearly, she is not Tang.

Instead, it was the adult face of Jiu You that Liao Ji was familiar with.

No.

Compared to the real Jiu You, her eyes were even colder and more ruthless, devoid of any emotion. Although they were purple dragon eyes, when you looked into them, they seemed like a bottomless dark abyss.

这 是

One of the five calamities of Zero Dream, the evil dragon.

It seems that his choice just now was probably wrong, which led to the failure of the test, the inability of the dream story to continue, and its forced end. At the same time, it directly attracted the appearance of the evil dragon.

The dragon on the throne, after casting her empty eyes upon Liao Ji and the others, spoke.

"Gladiators, are you here to seek revenge on me too?"

"To avenge your Tang against me?"

Liao Ji was taken aback by the dragon's words.

The evil dragon corresponds to Jiu You, and Tang is the name of Jiu You's mother. But now the evil dragon is telling them to take revenge on her and avenge Tang.

Before Liao Ji could react, the dragon had already stepped down from the arena throne, a flaming longsword appearing in its right hand, and in the blink of an eye, it appeared in front of the leader, Styutia.

The ease with which the nun had previously overwhelmed the witch seemed to be ineffective here. Even though the dragon was merely a false illusion of Jiuyou, Styutia was still unable to withstand it. The little nun was repeatedly forced to retreat by the dragon. Although she was not defeated, it was clear that the dragon's strength was still above Styutia's.

This is understandable, as Jiuyou was originally the strongest among "them," and in terms of one-on-one combat, the Guardian class far surpasses the other four.

Although Styutia felt extremely frustrated that she couldn't even defeat a fake Jiuyou Phantom, she still followed Liao Ji's advice. Instead of hoping to kill the evil dragon, they quickly retreated and left the dragon's territory.

The nun couldn't defeat the dragon in a fight, but she could easily protect Liao Ji and the others as they ran. They didn't even need to run far. Once they left the arena, the dragon stopped chasing them and returned to its throne, as if quietly waiting for the next person to come and seek revenge.

Back at the entrance of the Gurasai base, the entire Dreamscape seemed to have been reset, and everything started anew.

Liao Ji, standing at the door, frowned and pondered, sorting through the information he had just obtained from the evil dragon. Styutia, standing beside him, had also realized what was happening and was very puzzled.

"Lord Liao Ji, I don't quite understand why that phantom of Jiu You said we were doing this for Tang, to avenge her?"

"Shouldn't Tang be Jiu You's mother?"

Chapter 248 The Answer of the Past

Liao Ji couldn't answer Styutia's question either.

The only answers can be found by continuing to search through Jiu You's past stories.

Liao Ji quickly stepped back into the arena of the Gurasai base, returning to the crossroads where the last "Dragon's Dream" had led to a decision.

In this final match against Jiu You's mother, Liao Ji deliberately lost to Tang, making Tang the gladiator champion of this year's arena.

As expected, Huanmeng did not collapse as she had before, and the story continued, proving that this was the right choice and a fact of the past.

Whether it was the already highly anticipated championship, her outstanding strength and unparalleled swordsmanship, or being the first to win the championship as a "female gladiator," Tang had accumulated a large number of fans. The atmosphere at the scene reached its peak. Liao Ji felt that, in modern terms, Jiu You's mother undoubtedly had a huge following.

The emergence of such a popular gladiator has naturally delighted the arena officials, who are overjoyed. It's easy to imagine that the arena's visitor flow will reach a new peak due to the presence of Jiuyou's mother, with daily ticket sales likely to double.

The authorities also intended to promote Tang and push his popularity to a new level. They held a grand championship ceremony for Tang and offered a prize money several times higher than in previous years to incentivize him, which can also be seen as a way of indirectly winning him over.

Although most gladiators are slaves of the arena, as long as they are strong enough to make a name for themselves and win the audience's favor, like Tang Xian, a popular gladiator with a large audience, the arena officials are not fools. The merchants still value harmony and even have a bit of a desire to please Jiu You's mother.

Seeing this, Liao Ji could almost confirm that as long as Jiu You's mother was willing to cooperate, she would be set for life and never have to worry about food or clothing. As long as the Gulase Base was still there, she and Xiao Jiu You should be able to live a very comfortable and prosperous life.

But clearly, Tang chose another path, which was something she had told Liao Ji before that she had to do.

Tang Fei's goal in winning the championship was not fame and prestige, nor the high prize money; her real goal was a privilege that the champion could enjoy.

You can propose a condition that is "within an acceptable range" to the organizer.

This champion's reward usually looks great, but in reality it's just for show. After all, the range is determined by the organizers themselves, and many champions basically expect double the prize money, which is an unspoken rule.

But this time, after Tang stepped onto the stage, under the gaze of all the audience members, as well as the many gladiators below, Tang broke the unspoken rule of making a wish and made a strange request to the organizers.

"I wish to obtain a privilege that allows me to challenge any gladiator in the arena at any time, and that any gladiator challenged by me cannot refuse."

The dragon-human woman on the stage spoke calmly.

Tang's request surprised everyone, including the organizers, who were then somewhat confused. What was Tang trying to do by wasting such a valuable opportunity?

From the organizer's perspective, their first thought was that if Tang were willing to play more matches, it would be a great thing for the arena. They were secretly delighted and would never refuse.

Tang's request was quickly accepted. The organizer of the arena, who was also a high-ranking official behind the scenes of the Gurasai Base, personally came forward and promised Tang this privilege in front of all the spectators, even as if he was afraid that Tang would go back on his word.

After all, every fight Tang fights generates money for them, and they'd love for him to challenge other gladiators every day.

Although they didn't know how this seemingly friendly dragon widow, who never killed anyone in previous arena battles and even brought her daughter along, had suddenly become so warlike.

The dream has changed again, and we are now on the second day after the victory. Just last night, something happened within the gladiators: Tang, in his personal capacity, issued a proposal to all gladiators.

Tang proposed that gladiators should no longer use lethal force against their opponents in future arenas.

When an opponent has already conceded defeat or lost the ability to fight again, the gladiator will no longer attempt to harm the opponent for the sake of harming them.

At first, not many gladiators paid attention to Tang's proposal. In fact, many found it absurd and laughable, and scoffed at it, even though Tang was the strongest in the arena and the champion of this year's competition.

After all, the arena has been a bloody battlefield for so many years. Now Tang actually dares to dream of changing this environment? It's just wishful thinking on the part of the female gladiator. Women have always been so whimsical, indulging in unrealistic fantasies.

Even the organizers behind the arena didn't take it seriously at all, and even thought that Tang was using this method to package himself.

until

As the day's arena matches came to an end, and the audience, who had enjoyed several thrilling battles, were about to leave, Tang appeared, and her goal was very clear.

Those gladiators who did not follow her "advocacy" today have all become the targets of Tang's challenge.

This move surprised everyone; no one expected that the privilege Tang proposed would be used here.

Soon these gladiators were gathered together and forced to enter the arena once again. Yes, Tang thought it was too troublesome to challenge them one by one, so he let them enter the arena together.

This spectacular show of one fighter against many, with the protagonist being the former female gladiator champion, immediately thrilled the audience, prompting them to buy tickets to stay and many to place wild bets.

The arena organizers had already realized Tang's intentions, but faced with such popularity and soaring revenue, and given that Tang had indeed been granted such privileges, they did not stop him.

The match ended in less than ten minutes. In the end, only Tang was left standing in the arena. All the remaining gladiators were killed by Tang one by one. The scene was extremely bloody. The corpses of seven or eight gladiators lay scattered around Tang, allowing everyone to witness the killing side of this dragon-human for the first time.

The arena audience thoroughly enjoyed the match, especially since it was the first time they had witnessed Tang kill someone. For the arena's enthusiastic spectators, it was a feast for the eyes, and they couldn't wait for more matches so that Tang could slaughter even more gladiators.

Most of the audience only saw what was in front of them and cheered for Tang, but a small number of people frowned and sensed that something was wrong.

The illusion changed again. When Liao Ji went to the lounge as a gladiator again, he found that many gladiators had undergone some psychological changes.

"Hey, did you guys watch the game last night? What exactly does Tang mean by this?"

"She told us not to kill anyone, but then she slaughtered seven or eight gladiators herself? How ridiculous!"

"No, didn't you notice? Those she killed were people who didn't follow her orders. Those people were challenged by Tang because they killed others in the arena first."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean? Does that mean Tang will get what he wants just because we kill someone in the arena?"