Elysia's livestream chat exploded as Hua suddenly switched to cryptic, riddle-like speech.
In the game—
A sudden animation played.
Countless white sheets—or rather, obituaries—fell from the sky.
A wave of unease spread instantly.
The chat barrage immediately shifted, flooding the screen with dense "bullet curtain shields".
In the animation, Mei reached out and caught one of the descending pages.
"—Ah?!"
The sheet was covered in lines of dense text, all with an eerie resemblance.
"This is impossible!"
Mei instinctively denied it.
—Never mind the fact that the typewriter was supposedly still broken.
—Just the content alone was hard enough to believe.
Two unsettling subtitle lines flashed across the screen.
Then, black.
What would a sage, wise across all ages, say in a moment like this?
—"A man's fate is his character."
That was the exact cliché Su recalled as Kevin's final entrustment resurfaced in his mind.
Backtrack to ten thousand years ago, to the moment that farewell first began playing on the record.
Kevin had said to the two of them:
"Su, Hua… I leave the rest to you."
"..."
"...Before we reap the bitter fruit of our actions—this is our last chance."
"I must... load my own life into the chamber."
...
The scene returned to Mei catching the obituary.
—Unlike before.
—On that page where lies could never exist, only one sentence repeated again and again.
"..."
Mei was silent for a long while before she finally uttered, in disbelief: "Kevin... is dead?!"
The camera zoomed in.
The text on the paper was fully displayed for all players to see.
Just like last time—dense, direct, brutal.
It once again spelled out the reality of death without mercy.
Upon seeing this—
Player brains collectively crashed for a good while.
Dead?
That Kevin?
The strongest man in both reality... and the Elysian Realm?
He just... died like that?
????????
Who could possibly kill Kevin?!
They were... no, they were absolutely baffled!!
Compared to Elysia's death before, Kevin's death hit with even more impact.
Because—
This was Kevin!
In the minds of countless players, the strongest warrior of humanity, the first under Finality.
How could someone like that die so suddenly?
Confusion, shock, disbelief... so many emotions churned in everyone's hearts.
[What the hell? What happened? I'm dumbfounded!]
[Just earlier I said nothing major could happen with Kevin around, and now he's gone??]
[I just wanted to peacefully witness Elysia's final chapter, and now the writers keep hitting me with one twist after another? (old man subway phone pic)]
[It's over. What are we even waiting for? The founder is dead. Everyone else might as well start prepping funerals and pick burial plots.]
Kevin's sudden death shattered the mental defenses of many players.
Some even said they couldn't keep playing.
Might as well seriously research the best burial sites.
But—while many players were emotionally wrecked, some suddenly became optimistic.
[Seeing Kevin die actually made me feel relieved. If both Elysia and Kevin have "died," it probably means neither of them actually will.]
[Yeah, feels like a fake-out. No way we're getting a full cast wipe, hahahaha.]
[Right?! And don't forget—the typewriter's broken. So where did these papers come from?! Something fishy is definitely going on!]
These upbeat comments floated among the sea of despair.
Some more rational players paused to consider...
Come to think of it—
Didn't they think the exact same thing back during Himeko's arc?
Better not underestimate the writers.
MiHoYo's writers… they'd never let the story wrap up "peacefully."
...
"Kevin... is dead?!"
Elysia, who wasn't too familiar with the new main story, was just as stunned as most of the audience.
Sure, she thought Kevin had raised a lot of death flags recently—but to suddenly throw white obituaries in the air and announce Kevin's death? That was a bit much.
She took a moment, then tapped the screen.
The game interface shifted.
Just like what happened with Elysia.
Kevin's profile file was suddenly enlarged at the center.
And then—
Crack~~
A clear shatter echoed from the file.
It broke apart just like that.
Oh, actually there was a difference. The crack pattern on Kevin's file? MiHoYo even made a new design for that.
Noticing this detail left Elysia speechless.
Elysia: "..."
What could she say? It was peak Honkai. Peak MiHoYo.
"But why did something happen to Kevin? What led up to this?"
"Didn't the story mention... Kevin loaded his own life into the chamber."
Mobius, the "I might not analyze" type, chimed in not long after Elysia spoke.
"Judging by Su and Hua's reactions, it's clear that Kevin's death was a result of some plan he was executing."
"Mm... makes sense."
After a bit of thought, Elysia asked Mobius another question:
"Then... if Kevin is the bullet, what is the gun, who's the target, who's holding the gun, and who decides to pull the trigger?"
Ever since Crostin, Elysia had become more and more accustomed to this play-analyze hybrid game style.
Because Honkai Impact 3rd's new story updates really did require players to pause and think to fully grasp everything.
"If we can answer your questions, then all current mysteries will be solved."
Mobius responded in a nasal voice.
"Unfortunately, the writers clearly don't want us figuring it out this early. They deliberately told us what the Flame-Chasers plan to do, but not why."
"If we want answers, we'll have to find them in the upcoming story. So Elysia, you'd better—"
"Mm... wait a sec. Before continuing, I want to hear Kevin's current thoughts."
When streaming gameplay, you can't just plow through content. The reactions of the host and guests are just as important.
As a veteran streamer, Elysia knew this well.
"Kevin, Kevin, do you have anything to say?"
"..."
"This was part of the plan."
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