Crystal Palace from Infinite Anime

Above this city, there exists a false night sky. Countless stars twinkle in the night sky, illuminating this underground world. In reality, those are merely stardust, not stars, but the dust emitted when a meteor sent down by the Supreme Will crashed into the earth.

In short, because of these stardusts and the eternal lamps hanging on the walls of many buildings in the city, even in the underground world without the sun and golden trees, Lin Zhiyu can still see things clearly and does not have to move forward in the dark.

"This ancient city, lost for thousands of years, is still majestic even though many of its buildings are now damaged or collapsed."

"The meteor that destroyed the Night Dynasty—Dark Forsaken Esti—isn't considered a particularly difficult boss in the game. But in terms of the setting, while both are 'meteors' sent down by the Supreme Will, Dark Forsaken is actually a direct counter to the final boss, the Beast of Elden, which is why it was able to destroy the once-powerful Night Dynasty."

"During this trip to the underground world, I have to find a way to get some good stuff to improve my strength, otherwise it will be difficult to deal with the dark abandoned ones later!"

With this in mind, Lin Zhiyu began to move, darting along the eaves between the towering, adjacent buildings. However, Nokron wasn't a completely dead city these days. Lin Zhiyu's "rooftop parkour" had barely begun when he spotted a number of black slimes slowly crawling across the buildings.

But strictly speaking, they should be called "bionic teardrops"!

Chapter 58 I Kill Myself

There are three moons orbiting the planet where the border lies: the black moon, the full moon, and the dark moon.

The three sister moon goddesses also have their own followers in the border area.

For example, Lenara represents the full moon, and Lani represents the dark moon.

And the Black Moon—He was exactly what the people of the night worshipped in the past.

Bionic tears are a unique life form created by the Night People using secret methods. Their original form is like a slime, but they have the ability to imitate and change. They can become human, or even become a goblin or a giant bear!

The reason the bionic teardrops are originally black is because of the Night People's faith in the Black Moon. They even transform some bionic teardrops into large, pitch-black spheres, resembling a Black Moon scaled down a thousandfold, and kneel down and pray to these miniature Black Moons transformed from bionic teardrops.

Lin Zhiyu had no intention of interacting with these bionic teardrops that were slowly crawling on the tall buildings. He chose to run past them quickly with his agility.

Some of the bionic teardrops took on human form, their transformed forms modeled after the Night People who created them, with grayish-white skin and tall, thin figures. After their transformations, they tried to attack Lin Zhiyu, but in the blink of an eye, Lin Zhiyu had already vanished.

In fact, with Lin Zhiyu's strength, beating these bionic tears is as easy as beating a dog. But doing so does not bring enough benefits. It is a complete waste of time!

Therefore, although Lin Zhiyu is not playing games now, he still adopts the strategy of parkour (skipping classes) just like when he used to play games.

Not long after, Lin Zhiyu rushed into a relatively intact building and went down to the ground floor along the stairs inside the building.

There were some short humanoid monsters in this building, a bit like the Falmer in the Elder Scrolls. Their senses were not very sharp, and Lin Zhiyu was as fast as lightning, easily passing these monsters.

It is worth mentioning that these monsters were actually human beings, complete, healthy and not deformed.

They belonged to the "Reverse Eagle Legion" under the Storm King, who ruled the city of Stonewell in ancient times. Back then, the Storm King's symbol was an eagle with outstretched wings, while the Reverse Eagle Legion's symbol was an upside-down eagle with outstretched wings, symbolizing the legion's original purpose: to explore deep underground.

It was known that people of small stature were generally discriminated against in the border areas. This was precisely why the members of the Reverse Eagle Legion were so small—after all, exploring underground in the darkness was a dirty and tiring task most people wouldn't want to do, so it was reserved for those of small stature who were discriminated against.

Some unexpected situation must have happened afterwards, and the Reverse Eagle Legion was unable to return to the ground.

Thousands of years passed, and because of the dark environment of the underground world, these people of the Reverse Eagle Legion gradually degenerated into monster-like existences.

all in all.

In this city buried deep underground, there are many stories that have long been forgotten by the world.

In other words, as a "player", Lin Zhiyu is familiar with the plot and has watched many "environmental science" videos, so he knows so many secrets.

Including the god-killing weapon "Hunting Finger Knife" that Lani is looking for.

Lin Zhiyu also knew where exactly it was hidden in this city.

However, at the moment, in Lin Zhiyu's action plan, obtaining the hunting finger knife can only be ranked second.

Because Lin Zhiyu knew that it was in this city.

His beloved relatives and friends! Brothers and sisters!

His dearest elder brother is still waiting for him to find him!

cough cough...

Seriously speaking, what Lin Zhiyu wants most at the moment is actually the "ashes of the bionic teardrop."

In the game, players can use the summoning bell given by Rani to combine various ashes to obtain a variety of powerful summons to assist in battle. Among the many ashes in the game, the ashes of the Bionic Teardrop are recognized as the most powerful!

Due to its excessive strength, many players simply call Bionic Teardrop the Big Brother. After all, if it weren't for the Big Brother, many players would have been so disgusted by the dung monster Dung Boss designed by Hidetaka Miyazaki that they would have been unable to take care of themselves!

What is so great about the ashes of the bionic teardrop?

It's simply because the bionic teardrops summoned by the player can transform into the player and use the same moves as the player! Lin Zhiyu once teamed up with Big Brother to "raise a storm" and suppress the Valkyrie Marenia, who is considered the most difficult in the game but also has a clear weakness to impact, leaving her almost powerless to fight back!

Until now, Lin Zhiyu still clearly remembers how Lianlian was spun around by him and his elder brother when they were playing the game, until she was constantly stunned and forced back by the storm again and again.

In general, the Bionic Teardrop's Ashes are only as strong as their Master! And because they know how to use their Master's abilities, they can collaborate with their Master in certain ways, creating a 1+1 greater than 2 effect!

"If I had a big brother, what would the Dark Abandoned Pawn be? It wouldn't have been so difficult to shatter the stars before!"

"But then again, I remember that the place where you get the Bionic Teardrop Ashes in the game is actually very close to where the Hunting Finger Knife is hidden... This is good, I don't have to take a special detour."

Just like that, Lin Zhiyu, who was always thinking about the bionic teardrop ashes, continued on his journey, traveling through the dark city at an extremely fast speed, trying his best to avoid fighting with roadside monsters and wasting time.

After another round of parkour, Lin Zhiyu passed through a stone archway and came to a long and narrow platform.

The left side of this platform was connected to a bridge, which was also the only way for Lin Zhiyu to go next. But when Lin Zhiyu arrived here, he slowed down his pace and did not go to the bridge immediately.

Because right in front of Lin Zhiyu, there was a piece of black mud on the ground.

A lone bionic teardrop.

At first, the bionic teardrop didn't move at all.

It wasn't until Lin Zhiyu began to slowly approach it that it reacted and began to wriggle slightly on the ground.

After a while, perhaps because the pheromones collected were enough, the group of bionic tears suddenly emitted countless silver-gray dust with a "swish" sound.

Wrapped in the silver-gray dust, the bionic teardrop, which originally had the appearance of a slime, quickly turned into the appearance of Lin Zhiyu, and stood up to look at Lin Zhiyu.

Although he had anticipated this scene, Lin Zhiyu was still surprised and could not help but whispered:

"My grass..."

Because this bionic teardrop imitates his appearance so well!

Looking at the man in front of me who was transformed from a bionic teardrop and whose appearance is even better than that of Daniel Wu and Edison Chen.

Lin Zhiyu had to admit that this was a 100% restoration!

Next.

The fake Lin Zhiyu, transformed from a bionic teardrop, began to approach Lin Zhiyu step by step, clenching his fists, as if he was going to come over and beat up the real Lin Zhiyu.

Without hesitation, Lin Zhiyu took out the Kalia Knight Sword from the system space and held it in his hand. Then, blinking his eyes, he said to the bionic teardrop that was getting closer and closer to him:

"Why don't you wait until I take out my weapon? That way you won't be defenseless now."

As the words fell, the bionic teardrop had come within ten feet of Lin Zhiyu.

Lin Zhiyu immediately swung his sword.

Swish—bang!

The sword blade cut through the neck without any obstruction, and a head fell to the ground.

The bionic teardrop, having lost its head, staggered backwards and fell to the ground, but then struggled to get up again.

The bionic teardrop wasn't actually human, so Lin Zhiyu wasn't surprised that it could still move after losing its head. He was surprised...why was I so weak?

I was defeated by myself in one move?

Chapter 59: There is a mechanism but no value

Just as Lin Zhiyu was feeling confused, the headless fake Lin Zhiyu had already stood up from the ground again.

Hmm...it seems that saying "instant kill" is a bit of an exaggeration.

So Lin Zhiyu immediately kicked him again.

This kick sent the headless fake Lin Zhiyu flying over ten meters away, knocking down a sculpture built on the edge of the platform. Then Lin Zhiyu followed, extending his left hand and opening it, releasing flames from his palm.

Under the scorching fire.

In a short while, Lin Zhiyu burned himself to ashes.

Such an overwhelming victory in the battle made Lin Zhiyu feel dazed again.

no……

I'm not that weak, am I? Why does this bionic teardrop make me look like a piece of shit?

While wondering, Lin Zhiyu turned around and looked at the place where "his" head fell, and found that the head had turned into a small silver-gray object like an embryo.

This is the "teardrop larva".

It is the core of the Bionic Teardrop, an object somewhere between life and non-life.

In the game, after the player defeats Lenara, he can recognize Lenara as his mother, take the teardrop larvae to Lenara and ask to be reborn in Lenara's mother's place... Well, to put it bluntly, it is a reset.

In reality, Lenara did have the ability to create new life with a teardrop larva as its core, but it wasn't as simple as just resetting the level. Furthermore, even with a teardrop larva as its core, the new life Lenara created would only exist for a short period of time before quickly dying.

Lin Zhiyu remembered a side quest in the game where the player would be followed by a tailor named Burke. Burke was a demihuman who considered himself ugly and desperately desired to become more attractive. Therefore, the player was given the option of helping Burke obtain a teardrop larva so that he could be "reborn" in Lenara's presence.

Once the player does this, Burke will be able to change his appearance and no longer be the ugly and short subhuman he originally was.

However, it would not be long before Burke died.

Creating life and giving life a new birth - this is something that even gods may not be able to do. Although Lena has extraordinary abilities, she is not a god and cannot turn decay into magic.

Lin Zhiyu couldn't think of any other place where the teardrop larvae would be useful except with Lenara, but he still collected the teardrop larvae and kept them for later use.

After doing all this, I came to the bridgehead.

Because he was still wondering about the weakness of the bionic teardrop, Lin Zhiyu walked slowly, and his mind was full of random thoughts.

"That bionic teardrop just now was so weak. Could the 'big brother' I've been looking for be that weak as well?"

At this time, right next to Lin Zhiyu, Melina walked out of nothingness.

"We need to talk."

The one-eyed girl in a black cloak spoke with her usual expressionless, calm and indifferent manner.

Looking at Melina who suddenly appeared, Lin Zhiyu was stunned. He couldn't figure out the reason why this little piece of wood in front of him showed up on its own initiative.

Melina didn't beat around the bush with Lin Zhiyu. She said to him directly:

"You seem to have forgotten our agreement—you promised me that you would lead me to the foot of the Golden Tree. Now that the battle festival is over, I don't understand why you didn't head towards the Golden Tree, but chose to come to this underground world instead."

Oh~ So you are worried that I will go back on the vows we made to each other!

Lin Zhiyu suddenly realized, and before explaining to Melina, he said strangely:

"You don't understand why I came underground. Why didn't you come out and ask me earlier? Look, I'm already deep in the underground world. I definitely can't give up halfway!"

"..." Melina stared at Lin Zhiyu silently. She only wanted to hear Lin Zhiyu's explanation and ignored everything else.

Being stared at so closely by Melina, Lin Zhiyu couldn't help but chuckle, then told Melina seriously, "It's like this, regarding the topic I discussed with you before - whether or not to become the King of Elden, I've thought about it carefully for a while, and I think I still have to fight for the throne!"

Having said that, Lin Zhiyu paused and observed Melina's reaction.

Melina had a blank expression on her face, still keeping her gaze on Lin Zhiyu, obviously waiting for Lin Zhiyu's next words.

So Lin Zhiyu told Melina that he was working for Lani now, and this would help him get the Great Rune. After all, Lani's biological mother was Lenara, and Lenara had a Great Rune in her hand, which Melina couldn't have been unaware of.

Perhaps because of Torret, Melina felt she could still trust Lin Zhiyu, so she didn't ask how Lin Zhiyu got in touch with Lani. She was silent for a moment, then said to Lin Zhiyu, "Remember to call my name when you need me," and then disappeared.

Lin Zhiyu suddenly had an idea and stopped Melina before she disappeared, asking her if she had seen the fight between him and the bionic teardrop just now?

Melina said nothing, but nodded.

Then Lin Zhiyu continued:

"Don't you find it strange? Those bionic tears are incredibly weak!"

Melina thought for a moment and said to Lin Zhiyu:

"I don't understand the life form called Bionic Teardrop. But perhaps it's not that it's too weak, but that you're too strong. Even if it can transform into your appearance, there's a fundamental disparity in power between you two, and that's most likely why you won so easily."

After she finished speaking, Melina disappeared from Lin Zhiyu's sight.

Lin Zhiyu was inspired by Melina's words. He stood there for a while and suddenly realized that he had fallen into a misconception.

It’s a very simple truth. No matter how awesome the bionic teardrop is, can it really become a god just by imitating God?

Influenced by his "big brother," Lin Zhiyu subconsciously believed that a bionic teardrop that could become an exact replica of him must be incredibly powerful. However, as Melina had pointed out, there was a fundamental power gap between them. While the bionic teardrop might be able to replicate Lin Zhiyu's appearance and even his moves, it couldn't replicate his entire "stats."

To put it bluntly, reality is not a game. Many designs in games are based on gameplay considerations, but the actual situation may be far from it.