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

"..."

Fan Xiao was a little surprised that his junior sister would reveal the information that she was "the strongest".

Junior sister seems to be in a state of emotional catharsis right now?

Moreover, it's very rare for someone as aloof as him to say so much in one go... It seems that his junior sister wants to have a heart-to-heart talk with him.

Fan Xiao was immediately caught in a dilemma.

Having a heart-to-heart talk... it's easy to develop some vague feelings.

So, shouldn't he now loudly berate the other party—you're a real jinx, you've caused the deaths of so many companions?

How dare you still have the nerve to live in this world?!

Well... whatever, he's currently wearing a "muscular hunk" disguise, which he'll eventually shed.

After thinking about it, Fan Xiao decided that he should focus on being a decent human being first.

There will be plenty of opportunities to be a beast in the future.

He said, "You're putting too much pressure on yourself. The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility—this mentality may be noble, but it doesn't do you much good."

"Or, you could try a different approach. For example, you could remind yourself from time to time with self-deprecation: Who do you think you are? You're not the Grim Reaper, how can you control everyone's life and death? Know your own limitations. It's already good enough if you can ensure your own survival."

Cassandra shook her head at the suggestion.

"I can't do what you say. I can only do my best to protect the safety of all my comrades. I hope that every operation will be successful and safe."

"But this time, I made a mistake again, which allowed Charles to escape from the banquet hall, plunging all my companions who attacked the manor into a huge crisis..."

At this point, she raised her head, bravely met Fan Xiao's gaze, and said, "This time, I should have been consumed by deep self-blame. Perhaps I would have been crushed by it, completely collapsed, and never had the face to see the other members of the Holy Sword Alliance again."

After she finished speaking, she stared at Fan Xiao silently.

Fan Xiao found her gaze somewhat puzzling.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked.

“You…you gave me the immense courage to stand in the sight of my comrades again.” Cassandra emphasized, “Incredible!”

"And then?" Fan Xiao asked.

"..."

Cassandra paused for a few seconds, then asked, "So, do you understand?"

“Uh… what should I understand?” Fan Xiao asked back.

"……nothing."

Cassandra looked away, her shoulders trembling... from anger.

This guy displayed such high intelligence before, how come he's behaving so stupidly now!

She spoke so much, so unusually, and laid so much groundwork... Couldn't the other person understand that she was actually expressing an immense gratitude that words could not describe?

"and many more."

Fan Xiao suddenly realized: "Don't tell me you were actually... thanking me?"

"..."

Cassandra didn't say anything.

The attitude was tantamount to tacit approval.

Fan Xiao... Fan Xiao was speechless from the bottom of his heart.

Damn it... Can't you be a little more direct and frank when you say thank you?

So all that talk was just to set the stage for a thank you?

And it was expressed so subtly that I had to figure it out myself...

This was the first time Fan Xiao had ever met such an eccentric person.

See you a long time!

If someone like this were to fall in love, they would be a complete loser.

Want to win?

nonexistent.

"What does that look mean?"

Cassandra's voice turned a few degrees colder.

She felt that she was being looked down upon.

“Cough…it’s nothing,” Fan Xiao said. “You don’t really need to be so grateful to me. I killed Charles more for his tools.”

"Oh."

Cassandra gave a brief reply.

Once she snapped out of her reverie and nostalgia for the past, she didn't feel like talking much.

Seeing this, Fan Xiao didn't let her off the hook. Seizing on her rare "talkative state," he asked, "With such a high mortality rate among the Holy Sword Alliance members, Miss Huiying... didn't you receive any support?"

"The teachers have been taking risks and trying their best to support every member. But the random entrances to the instance have a time limit and cannot be maintained indefinitely."

Cassandra replied, "So we only call on our teachers for help when we have absolutely no other choice."

She shook her head: "Many times, in a life-or-death situation, how can a teacher possibly arrive in time?"

Fan Xiao was slightly surprised.

The random entrance can't stay open indefinitely? Why is it different from my instance... He was puzzled by the difference.

His instance of random access can be maintained indefinitely.

Unless he closes it himself, or happens to encounter a ticketed player entering the instance and the instance opens... he can keep the random entrance open for as long as he wants.

"Wait... Fairy Tale Town didn't have a special coordinate anchoring ceremony at the beginning. I myself am the anchor coordinate of the random entrance, and I can summon the entrance to my side at any time..."

Fan Xiao suddenly deduced the reason for this difference.

He can keep the entrance open because his "random entrance mode" is quite special. It is anchored to himself, which greatly limits the range. Therefore, as a compensation, there is no time limit.

Fairy Tale Town only obtained the coordinate anchoring ceremony—the "human-shaped paper game"—after merging with "Green Mountain Prison".

"It seems Miss Huiying has had a tough time too."

After a moment of reflection, Fan Xiao asked, "Miss Alsenel's identity in Division 019... is not simple, is it?"

"...Why do you ask that?" Cassandra countered.

“I can tell from the story you just told,” Fan Xiao said. “When you tell your own story, you will naturally unfold it from your own perspective. And the perspective you used… well, it’s a bit like an aristocrat who is unaware of the hardships of ordinary people suddenly experiencing the suffering of the lower classes, and his fragile mentality collapses as a result.”

“I’m not mentally broken!” Cassandra said, frowning.

"So," Fan Xiao said with a smile, "your identity is indeed extraordinary? Could you be the son of a high-ranking official in some region?"

"..."

Cassandra did not answer.

Seeing this, Fan Xiao changed the subject, saying, "Judging from this operation at Base A9, your Holy Sword Alliance... oh no, now I should say our Holy Sword Alliance, our ultimate goal is to kill all the high-ranking officials who are causing trouble in the ten bases, replace them, and take control of this world, right?"

“That’s true,” Cassandra replied. “But we have to take things one step at a time. We plan to start with Base A9 and continue to expand our organization, then take over bases one by one until… we take over Base A1.”

"Is that so... I'm not very optimistic about this plan."

Fan Xiao shook his head and said, "Everyone has desires, but because players have great strength, their desires are amplified."

"Once the Holy Sword Alliance replaces the current high-ranking officials of Division 019 and enjoys what these high-ranking officials have always enjoyed..."

"The dragon slayer will eventually become the dragon."

"The teacher said the same thing, but dragon slayers don't immediately turn into dragons; there's a process involved. Plus, with the teacher at the top providing constraints and limitations, and the average lifespan of players being relatively short... this world will gradually change for the better."

Cassandra looked at her with unwavering conviction and said, "Even if it can't be perfect, it's definitely better than this hell we're in now."

“Miss Alsenel, things are definitely not that simple. Lord Van Helsing told me that it is because the average lifespan of players is not long that players develop the idea of ​​enjoying life while they can, which leads them to break the rules and trample on the order.”

Alpha suddenly joined the conversation, saying, "Lord Van Helsing also said that the reason why there are so few partitions that can merge with the ninth dimension is that most of them are caused by the chaos caused by players."

"Unless the region originally had a strong government that could restrain the behavior of most players from the beginning and establish order in advance."

"Otherwise, it's basically impossible to rise from the ashes."

"Miss Alsenel, don't even dream about it."

Cassandra: "..."

“Cough…” Fan Xiao said, “She’s a slow learner, don’t take it to heart.”

This is ridiculous... He did provide Alpha with a lot of knowledge, but it was all directly imparted through psionic energy, not spoken by him personally.

Alpha's current statement... has a flavor of blaming his "old father" after he has already criticized someone.

Ah this...

Should he resort to the "spare the rod and spoil the child" approach?

If this continues, Alpha will eventually become the next Fan Qiqi.

I'll enjoy the fun, you take the blame.

"Don't worry, I won't bother with an idiot."

Cassandra retorted sarcastically.

Unfortunately, her insults had no effect on Alpha; the latter was completely unaware that it had been insulted.

Taking the opportunity, Fan Xiao said, "So... our ultimate goal is Base A1?"

"Since Base A1 is the source of the chaos, why not just take action against Base A1 directly?"

"I heard from Miss Huiying that the A-level player at Base A1 has retired, and his strength will be greatly reduced after retirement."

"Now that we've made a move on the A9 base, alerting them, it'll be much harder to deal with that prepared A-level player..."

Becoming an official member of the Evolution game means having your player status revoked and your strength reduced.

Although talents, genes, and strength will be retained, they cannot be improved further. Item slots will also be reduced, with the reduction increasing as the level increases. Furthermore, items that were not previously removed can only be equipped and cannot be changed.

For an A-level player, it's estimated that at most only two items will be left to continue using.

Fan Xiao felt that with his junior sister's ability to create A-level spiritual energy with a "time stop" effect, as long as he gave her an A-level attack item... or an extremely powerful B-level attack item, and let her kill a retired A-level player... although the risk was high, the success rate was still quite high.

Moreover, her ability to escape is practically unmatched.

Even if the assassination fails, escaping is all that's needed; there won't be any danger.

and so……

Ultimately, it's because Echoes can't provide items with enough attack power.

Or... is there another reason?

This question arose in Fan Xiao's mind after he learned about the intelligence regarding Base A1.

Big moves should be used wisely!

Otherwise, once that retired A-level player notices something amiss and becomes prepared, the difficulty of assassinating him will undoubtedly increase exponentially.

If he were the decision-maker, he would definitely be fighting on two fronts.

While attacking the A9 base, he also had his junior sister impersonate someone from another faction to assassinate the A-level player.

Huiying doesn't seem like a fool; there's no way he wouldn't have thought of this.

To Fan Xiao's surprise, his junior sister did not respond to his question for a long time.

At this moment, Cassandra was caught in a huge dilemma.

This question touches on the secret of her real-life identity, and she cannot answer it casually.

but……

In her eyes, Van Helsing was quite intelligent, experienced, and wise... She might be able to get the answer to a question that had been troubling her for a long time from him.

Slowly, Cassandra made a decision in her heart.

She did not intentionally conceal her identity or true appearance.