Standing before the fleet array of the Xianzhou Luofu, a General clad in heavy armor and wielding a burning greatsword was fighting like a god of war, slicing the charging Abundance aberrations into pieces.
Suddenly, he frowned, his sharp gaze sweeping across the void, as if sensing a hidden, malicious gaze.
"What kind of evil wretch dares to spy on the battlefield?!" General Teng Xiao snorted coldly, and the momentum of his sword strike intensified with three parts more ferocity.
Meanwhile, deep within the blood-yellow giant tree, a lazy voice laced with playful amusement softly uttered an "Oh?"
Emanator of Abundance Shuhu's originally casual expression slightly retracted, and Its eyes, resembling plant vascular systems, turned in a certain direction, flashing with a hint of doubt.
"Interesting... Besides the Xianzhou, are there other bugs mixed in? Carrying a somewhat... different, irritating aura."
"Found it! But... I think I've been discovered!"
Black Herta suddenly opened her eyes, her head buzzing. Being detected simultaneously by two established Envoy-level entities, even for a moment, was definitely unpleasant.
She saw that the countdown on the System Panel had entered the final ten seconds!
"Forget it! I'll risk it all!"
She locked onto the starship rushing toward destruction, and the Foxian pilot inside who was prepared for sacrifice.
"Directive: Coordinate Mark, Target Replacement initiated! Activate Oddity Doll: Baiheng Template!"
On the System Panel, a phantom image of a doll—identical to Baiheng inside the starship, down to the unwavering resolve in her eyes—flashed across.
Just as Baiheng pressed the button, and the blinding white light was about to engulf the starship, critically wounding Shuhu at the expense of her life—
Buzz!
An imperceptible, subtle fluctuation swept past.
The starship remained, and the destructive energy from the self-detonation still erupted, the white light consuming everything and critically wounding Shuhu's essence, just as anticipated.
General Teng Xiao in the distance seized this fleeting opportunity. His burning greatsword, carrying the wrath and determination of the Luofu, struck down fiercely!
Everything seemed no different from historical records.
The hero Baiheng sacrificed her life, winning the Battle of Shuhu for the Xianzhou Alliance.
Inside the System Space, everything was pure white.
Madam Herta sat unceremoniously on the ground, panting heavily—though she didn't actually need to breathe, she felt the moment required an action to express her relief at surviving the ordeal.
She patted the hem of her skirt, which was dusted with cosmic dust, and painfully examined a scorch mark on the corner where energy residue had grazed it.
"A loss, a loss. This skirt looks expensive..."
Lying quietly before her was an unconscious woman with light purple long hair and a gentle face—it was Baiheng, who should have been annihilated in the explosion.
"Phew... Finally got her. Almost didn't make it." Black Herta sighed in relief, feeling this was even more thrilling than facing Polka's small knife back then. "This firefighter job is truly inhuman."
On the Xianzhou Luofu, after confirming Shuhu was slain and the Abundance Follower Coalition began to rout, the surviving soldiers let out earth-shattering cheers.
The joy of surviving the calamity spread through every vessel.
No one noticed that in a cold corner of space far from the battlefield, in the shadow of an asteroid belt, a figure silently materialized.
She seemed independent of all light and detection, her face indistinct, only a vague outline visible.
She quietly "watched" the star domain where the battle had just subsided, especially the Xianzhou Luofu celebrating its victory, and the slowly disintegrating wreckage of the Blood-Yellow Giant Tree.
Existing for only a few seconds, as if merely confirming something, the figure named Polka Kakamu (Lord of Silence) vanished silently into the cosmic background radiation, as if She had never appeared, alerting no one.
Except for Madam Herta, who had just completed the feat of "Stealing the Beam and Replacing the Pillar" and was nervously checking her new outfit for damage.
The System Panel suddenly flashed a yellow warning sign:
[Warning: Residual traces of high-level conceptual scanning detected. Source marked as 'Polka Kakamu'. Traces have disappeared.]
Black Herta froze, slowly raised her head, looked at the panel expressionlessly, and then, with the tone she felt best matched her attire, uttered a single word:
"...Damn."
Baiheng felt she had a long, beautiful dream.
In the dream, she and Jingliu sat side by side under an unknown flowering tree, with pink and white petals gently drifting down.
Jing Yuan, with youthful spirit, was arguing with Yingxing about something, while Dan Feng, as always, stood by with his arms crossed, watching with a slight smile.
Fine, mellow wine was set on the table, and everyone discussed their future plans, where they would venture, and how to brew even better wine... Laughter drifted far away.
Suddenly, Jingliu beside her turned and gently embraced her.
Baiheng was a little surprised, then smiled and hugged her back.
Jingliu whispered in her ear, her voice soft but carrying an unspeakable heaviness:
"Live on..."
The dream shattered abruptly, like a water surface struck by a pebble.
All light, sound, and temperature instantly receded.
Baiheng groggily opened her eyes.
What greeted her eyes was an endless expanse of pure white, without up, down, left, or right, and she felt no gravity, yet she was genuinely "lying" on some kind of solid surface.
"Where is this...?" She pushed herself up, looking around blankly.
The last thing she remembered was the blinding white light as she rushed toward the root of the Jianmu, and the pain of her body and the starship being torn apart... Shouldn't she be dead?
She subconsciously looked down at her body—it was completely intact, and even her familiar clothes were clean and undamaged.
Only... she raised her hand and picked up a strand of hair hanging down her chest. The beautiful light purple was now pure white, like fresh snow.
"Eh?! My hair...?"
Her movement attracted the attention of the figure not far away.
Madam Herta was facing the dark purple panel emitting a faint glow, negotiating in a low, grinding voice: "...Say that again? What do you mean by 'make them submit'?"
Just then, she heard a sound behind her and instinctively turned her head.
Their eyes met.
The air seemed to solidify.
Black Herta's purplish-black eyes, devoid of highlights, stared intently at Baiheng's unusually conspicuous snow-white long hair and her white Foxian ears, which were trembling slightly from nervousness.
Her brain briefly crashed.
Wait... Hadn't she just exchanged a few words with this crappy system?
How did the fox-person maiden she rescued manage to go and dye her hair such a... avant-garde color the moment she turned around?
This isn't covered by the after-sales service!
Could it be a side effect of the teleportation?
Or perhaps... this was one of the "irreversible effects" the System mentioned?
Baiheng also grew nervous under Black Herta's gaze.
The woman before her was simply too... unique.
Long, grayish-white hair, an exquisite yet expressionless face, bottomless purplish-black eyes, and a gorgeous yet mysterious black-and-purple Lolita dress, radiating an aura that was both dangerous and elegant.
Who was she? And where was this place?
An eerie silence spread throughout the pure white space.