Lucky billion players, you've never seen one before / I can accumulate my own luck

This was actually a small test.

He had previously removed the "monitoring pen" for a long time, wanting to see how his junior sister would react.

Cassandra took the pen and put it away without showing any unusual expression.

It seems she wasn't monitoring him all the time.

Or... she has already chosen to trust.

“Not yet, I’ll be very busy these next few days,” Cassandra replied. “But what happens next is none of my business.”

After replying, she didn't know what to say next.

She actually came here specifically to express her gratitude.

She felt that the thank you she had given at Charles's mansion was too simple and did not express her gratitude at all.

However, upon meeting her in person, she felt somewhat ashamed to speak...

You can do it, Cassandra… After mentally encouraging herself, Cassandra prepared herself to give her thanks.

Then, she decided to start by finding a topic to talk about for a while, and slowly build up her emotions before speaking.

After all, it was a heartfelt expression of gratitude, so the sense of ceremony and details had to be done to the best of her ability—well, it wasn't that she chickened out at the last minute, she just simply valued the sense of ceremony.

She said, "Your strength is far greater than I imagined. Yesterday afternoon, when you were discussing rescuing people at the slave trader's guild... why did you act so timidly? I mistakenly thought you were all weak, which is why I forcibly pulled you away and gave you a warning."

"What's there to doubt? We had just gathered intelligence from the civilians and learned that there were at least three B-level players inside Base A9. If we tried to rescue them, there was a possibility of being surrounded and attacked by multiple B-level players... Isn't that a terrifying situation?"

Fan Xiao sighed softly, "Don't let my seemingly impressive appearance fool you; I killed Charles in one go, but actually..."

He shook his head: "I activated a talent ultimate skill with a very long cooldown, and it's an ultimate skill that can only attack a single target."

"If I had been surrounded by several B-level players at that time, I would have been the one to run away."

"In short, for a long time until the cooldown period is over, I'll have to rely on items to get by. And..."

At this point, he shook his head and said, "When B-level players fight, the battle can be quite intense. Ordinary people can easily be caught in the aftershocks, resulting in a large number of casualties. Alpha and I are here to rescue people, so we naturally have to be more careful."

"When saving lives, the first priority is naturally to ensure that people survive."

Alpha looked at Cassandra and said, "Miss Alsenel, it's normal that you can't understand, you're an idiot."

"..."

Cassandra really wanted to kill this foul-mouthed guy with a single sword stroke!

He looks only a year or two younger than her, so how can his emotional intelligence be so low?

However... she realized that she had indeed been worrying too little.

Saving people and fighting are different.

She glanced at the wolf ears on Fan Xiao's head and continued, "Isn't it a bit inappropriate to reveal the secret of talent? Since you chose to disguise yourself as a demi-human player, why not redirect that kind of attack to items?"

"Every man is innocent, but he is guilty of carrying a jade."

Fan Xiao shook his head: "What if someone sets their sights on a prop if I say it's a prop? I can't be sure if all the members of your Holy Sword Alliance are of good character."

"And your teacher..."

"In short, in evolution games, killing and looting are commonplace. As for players pretending to be demi-humans..."

He looked helpless and said, "Look at my physique. Do you think I'll be mistaken for a cannibal player if I don't wear the wolf ear props?"

"..."

What you said makes so much sense… Cassandra was momentarily at a loss for words.

This size... does make him easy for others to mistake for a cannibalistic player.

Players who can eat people are basically treated like rats in the street.

Perhaps in a chaotic partition like 019, the treatment of cannibalistic players will be better.

"So, even muscular men with massive builds have this kind of trouble after the evolution game came along..."

Cassandra felt she had learned something new.

Fan Xiao then asked, "By the way... you came all this way to see me just to ask these trivial questions, didn't you?"

"...No, I was just asking out of curiosity."

Cassandra quickly changed the subject to something more serious, reminding the two, "Before coming here, I contacted the teacher, and she told me that you both passed the screening..."

She paused, her expression unchanged, but her tone softened slightly as she said, "Now we are all members of the Holy Sword Alliance, and from now on we will be companions and teammates."

"Oh? It's that easy to join?" Fan Xiao asked, "Then what level of members are we?"

"This……"

Cassandra looked slightly puzzled and said, "I'm not quite sure either. The teacher said that you are considered collaborators of the Holy Sword Alliance and that he plans to send someone to take care of your daily needs... Collaborators should be of a high level, right? But they don't seem to have much real power. I'm not quite sure what the teacher is thinking."

"Hmm... I guess they want to observe for a while first?" Fan Xiao said jokingly. "After all, we're not weak, and recruiting high-level members won't be a simple or casual process."

"Maybe."

Cassandra did not refute, and said, "After hearing what the teacher said, I volunteered to take care of you. From now on, you can just follow me around."

"..." Fan Xiao asked, "What was Miss Huiying's reaction at the time? It was when you said you would take care of us."

"Huiying...did the teacher even tell you your names?"

Cassandra was slightly surprised, but she didn't show it, her face remaining expressionless: "The teacher was silent for a while, but had no other reaction."

"Silence...why?" Fan Xiao asked, "Did Miss Huiying say anything after that?"

"The teacher didn't say anything; she agreed to my suggestion."

Cassandra replied, "The teacher's silence is probably because he feels it's inappropriate for me to be in charge of this work, since I've always been responsible for combat matters within the Holy Sword Alliance."

She expressed herself with a bit more emotional intelligence here.

To put it bluntly—the teacher somewhat…disdains, scorns, and doesn’t understand her initiative in taking on the caregiving task, thinking that someone as socially inept as her, who knows nothing but fighting, is incapable of taking care of an important collaborator.

Yes, that's how she understood it.

Cassandra felt a slight sense of dissatisfaction and resentment.

I was looked down upon for my abilities... and by someone I respected.

This is not a happy thing.

Fan Xiao: "..."

"What kind of look is that?" Cassandra frowned.

She noticed that Fan Xiao was looking at her with a slightly complicated expression.

That look... made her feel a little uncomfortable.

It felt like I was being looked down upon again...

"nothing."

Fan Xiao coughed lightly and said, "I'm just a little surprised. You see, we haven't known each other for very long, have we? Less than a day at most, yet you're willing to take on the task of taking care of us."

“I heard from your teacher that you basically don’t interact much with strangers.”

"And it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call us strangers."

Upon hearing this, Cassandra remained silent for a long while.

Perhaps because of her deep gratitude, she temporarily lowered her guard.

The thank you can't be delayed any longer.

If you continue talking about unrelated topics, the other person might get annoyed.

Cassandra mustered her courage and said, "Did the teacher mention the 'Photograph of Guilt' to you? It's the coordinate anchoring ritual for the instance that the teacher controls."

“I did,” Fan Xiao nodded, “but I don’t really want others to probe my memories, so I declined Miss Huiying’s offer and didn’t go to have the photos frozen.”

"Hmm... I understand."

Cassandra said calmly, "It's normal for you to have such concerns since you're meeting the teacher for the first time and don't know her well."

"It's okay. If you need to contact the teacher, just tell me and I'll help you get in touch with the teacher and pass on the message."

At this point, she hesitated for a few seconds, and finally, with an awkward movement, took out her "photo of guilt" and handed it to Fan Xiao.

After taking the photo, Fan Xiao examined the information on it and said with slight surprise, "This is the 'Photo of Guilt'? It looks like an ordinary photo."

"These photos are a crystallization of my guilty memories, so they only affect me. Others will not feel any emotional response when they hold them."

Cassandra stared at the two sisters in the photo, and memories flooded back...

Chapter 465 Cassandra's Past

"When I was 15, I met my teacher by accident..."

A look of reminiscence flashed in Cassandra's eyes as she slowly recounted, "After that, I became a player, a member of the Holy Sword Alliance, and witnessed the most authentic state of Division 019 alongside my teacher."

“Not everyone has a privileged upbringing. Nearly 99% of those who survived the great catastrophe and those born in recent years... live a life of constant struggle against death.”

"Starving to death, being devoured by monsters while scavenging, getting caught in a dungeon, dying from overwork at work, being enslaved by high-ranking citizens because of one's good looks, dying at the hands of others, being driven out of the base in old age, or being haunted by cannibalistic players..."

She paused, then said in a low voice, "I have witnessed too much injustice and death. Division 019 clearly has ten safe zones, which is much better than some backward divisions, but the people living here have it much harder than those in backward divisions. Even living peacefully has become a luxury."

"Something's definitely wrong with this world. Something terrible that it can't fix!"

"So I took the initiative to apply to my teacher and joined the Holy Sword Alliance, hoping to follow the organization that my teacher created and correct the current world's mistakes through some tough measures."

"To restore Division 019 to the peaceful society it was before the great catastrophe—this is our shared wish."

Cassandra knew that absolute fairness and justice did not exist in this world.

Even in societies before great calamities, which were still filled with injustice and suffering, these negative phenomena would never have been so openly displayed as they are now.

Most people can have a period of life that may not be so pleasant, but is peaceful and stable.

Compared to the past, the current 019 district is nothing short of hell for ordinary people who have no power or influence.

"To maintain social stability... taking over the A9 base is a first step in that direction."

Fan Xiao looked at the photo of the two dead girls again, then returned it to his junior sister and asked, "Were they your former teammates?"

"Yes. Tina and Qin are sisters. They were my teammates when I first participated in the Holy Sword Alliance mission."

Cassandra explained, “Tina is the older sister, and she’s very lively. Jean is the younger sister, and she’s a bit shy. Because the three of us are close in age and are all girls, we got along very well and became familiar with each other very quickly, even though we’ve only known each other for a short time.”

At this point, a hint of nostalgia appeared in her eyes: "Back then, the Holy Sword Alliance wasn't as powerful as it is now, and the highest-level player among its members was a C-rank player."

"Although the organization is not large, the atmosphere is very warm. Everyone is friendly and has come together from various bases under the same goal, full of hope and expectation for the future."

“We also often team up privately to do good deeds at other bases, and we also often go out as a team to kill monsters and help scavengers in distress.”

"At the time, everyone was in high spirits and didn't even care much about going out casually and possibly encountering random dungeon crises."

"Now... as the Holy Sword Alliance has grown in size and its reputation has become more renowned, it has inadvertently gained many more constraints, making it impossible to operate as before."

"The atmosphere sounds really good."

Fan Xiao nodded.

He gleaned some information from his junior sister's words—she probably wasn't always this aloof and cold.

Her talkativeness today might be a return to her old mindset.

Judging from how nostalgic she seemed, she must have gotten along well with her teammates in the past.

"Yes, the atmosphere was really great. It's a pity..."

Cassandra lowered her head and looked at the black city wall beneath her feet.

The color black made her feel quite depressed.

She continued, "Tina and Qin joined the Holy Sword Alliance after me. I was assigned to the same group as them when I first participated in a Holy Sword Alliance mission."

"As a result... because of my mistake, I held back against ordinary people, which led to them..."

She paused for several seconds before continuing, "This led to them being targeted by ordinary people with firearms... They died from a hail of bullets near the end of the mission."

"Tina and Qin are both E-rank players. They haven't experienced many dungeons, and their dungeon ratings aren't very high. Their items are also quite average; they're not at the level where they can ignore firearms..."

"It was my soft heart that killed them."