Chapter 312: The Marks Left by Old Friends

These are the two types of dolls that Vilyric encountered, providing her with the most obvious and intuitive differences.

The source of this difference likely has a direct connection to the experiences Hao Miao Yi Meng faced during that period, as well as the changes in his mindset.

Vilyric did not intend to waste time.

“Take me directly to meet the ‘Divine Network Final Model 0’ now; she should have already granted you such permissions.”

“Uploading access request to the ‘Divine Network’… Permission granted, understood. Three guests, please follow me.”

After a brief pause as if communicating with some place in a certain way, the Magical Puppeteer doll smiled and nodded, taking slow steps forward.

Min Chen and Losa Cecelia have evidently visited this place before, even without the guidance of the Puppeteer doll, they walked alongside her and Vilyric towards the center of the city.

Though the dolls coming and going were quite mechanical, they seemed to have received prior orders, reacting not at all to the visit of the three newcomers. They continued performing their original tasks—some patrolling, some transporting goods, some maintaining certain facilities—and maintained the orderly operation of this underground city.

As they walked, observing the fresh sights around her, Vilyric suddenly thought of something she had heard from others but hadn’t had the chance to bring up.

“By the way, Min Chen, what were you doing in Sacheno City before? I heard you had quite the display in front of the Redeeming Saintess, that little girl?”

“…What do you mean by display? I had important business, okay?”

After some time adjusting, it seemed that this particular traveler was barely recovering from his past disappointments. Hearing the Priestess’s slightly narrow-minded tone caused him to twitch his lips in resignation.

“Vilyric, do you remember that person, Nickles?”

“Nickles, huh…”

As for whether she remembered him—given her good memory as a member of the Divine race, it was impossible to forget someone with whom she’d had many interactions.

Previously, when she helped the Redeeming Saintess Philomina settle the hundred thousand citizens belonging to that city in Sacheno, Vilyric had heard the name and characteristics of the mysterious duo who delivered that one-time space storage gem.

Min Chen needed no further mention; Nickles represented a connection the Priestess quickly recalled after reflecting on her experiences related to him.

The “Fierce Wolf” in the gorge, the legend of the wishing spirit treasure, and the fact that this swift wind disciple was recently serving as the head of security for a certain princess in the Royal Palace of the United Kingdom—all these were clear in her mind.

But since Nickles appeared here with Min Chen…

“Well, what’s your relationship with him? Another illegitimate child of the protagonist? Plus, don’t tell me you took advantage of your little strength to just waltz into the Royal Palace of the United Kingdom and snatch someone away? Just so you know, Liliya is under my protection. If you dare to bully her, it won’t be just a simple beating for you.”

“Hey, hey, what do you take me for? That sounds terrible in every sense…”

Min Chen instinctively took a step back and quickly clarified.

“Regarding taking Nickles out on an adventure, I first approached him privately, then officially met with Her Majesty Liliya Meikailande and got her permission before doing so. As for my relationship with that kid… Please don’t misunderstand; there is no blood relation or kinship between us.”

“But… he is Little Shuai’s descendant.”

“…Little Shuai?”

Just as the Priestess was curiously mumbling about this name that sounded somewhat cliché but was actually one she was now familiar with, Losa Cecelia turned around.

“That’s right, Miss Vilyric. There were a total of five of us who crossed over into this world together with Min Chen. Aside from the well-known Hao Miao Yi Meng and Mofuman, there was one boy and one girl, and ‘Fire God Little Shuai’ is the only human among them, serving as the bowman providing rear support for the team.”

The young man in plain clothes nodded and responded solemnly.

“Little Shuai died in the battle in the Illusory Realm, at the hands of the Flame Lord’s son—the Flame Element Lord. I witnessed him… turned to ash by the flames he wielded best, leaving no bones behind.”

“Although we did our utmost to avenge him, even extracting the core of that Flame Lord in retaliation, his fall could not be undone.”

“After leaving the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons some days ago, I went into the territory of the United Kingdom. Following your requests, I taught the girl named Lan who got my knife techniques, then traveled south, finally arriving at the capital of the United Kingdom, where I met a legendary Adventurer named Fiery Blossom.”

“To my surprise, the archery skills that Fiery Blossom used were identical to Little Shuai’s. However, Little Shuai should have never taken a disciple…”

“Later, I recalled that during our travels in the early years, we once encountered a dilapidated temple seemingly dedicated to the ‘Fire God.’ At the time, Little Shuai jokingly mentioned that the name contains the ‘Fire God’ character. Since the temple had long been abandoned and was empty, he decided to leave the essence of his bow skills on the altar, treating it as a gift from the ‘Fire God’ to those who came after.”

“I suspect that this Fiery Blossom or her ancestors must have found that temple and Little Shuai’s notes, thus learning those abilities. Since this is the case, she can be seen as Little Shuai’s half-disciple, the only inheritor. I decided to stay and observe for a while longer to see if I could assist her in some way.”

“But what surprised me even more was that as time passed, through Miss Fiery Blossom’s connections, I discovered she occasionally interacted with the head of palace guards, Nickles, who happened to closely resemble Little Shuai, and there was a faint familiar scent about him…”

“Upon careful reflection, I remembered something.”

“When we traveled the world and grew stronger, we began to encounter the diverse ‘laws’ of this world, trying to simulate them and grasp that power akin to concepts.”

“At that time, Hao Miao was already exploring the essence of the ‘Power of Faith,’ and we, overly ambitious, even wanted to utilize those simulated laws to create a ‘machine that responds to wishes,’ the so-called wishing machine.”

“Using Hao Miao’s AI technology and many precious materials we had collected, we ultimately produced a prototype.”

“However, later on, due to unresolved technical challenges and the reality that true laws were significantly more complex than we imagined, everyone ultimately abandoned the plan and left the semi-finished product deep in the Oaken Gorge as a trace of our past visit there.”

“This machine was supposed to only allow us five to gain access permissions, but perhaps due to the long passage of time, there was a problem with the identity recognition system that mistakenly identified the closely resembling Nickles as Little Shuai. Not only did it disable the environment simulation and restart… it also granted him one ‘wish.'”

“Afterward, the device probably ran out of energy and fell back into a hidden state, but the aura of the ‘simulated law’ we created together still lingered on Nickles and ultimately caught my attention.”

“Later, I secretly employed some special methods to verify that Nickles really is Little Shuai’s descendant.”

“Thus, I decided to keep him close and teach him some more profound techniques, as a way of… providing a meager compensation for not protecting Little Shuai well back then.”

“Hey, don’t give me that suspicious look. I really wasn’t messing around in the City of Courage; to get the permission, I had a spirit tool snatched away from me by Her Majesty the Queen…”

   

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