"March, let's talk this out!"
As soon as March 7th raised the Starhunting Arrow in her hand, Stelle immediately raised her hands in surrender: "I'm your Stelle! I haven't been possessed by Hoolay!"
"Hm?!"
Jing Yuan nearby heard this and immediately spotted the issue: "That's not right. You just woke up—we haven't told you anything about possession. How do you know about that? Suspicious!"
Stelle's mouth gaped open: Oh no, in my panic, this is hard to explain now.
"I-I-I—" Stelle racked her brains and came up with an excuse: "I heard it from Hoolay. Just now in the mental world, I fought him, but he couldn't beat me, and he even volunteered to become my memetic spirit. Look..."
"Don't move!"
Feixiao shouted loudly, startling Stelle into freezing her hand's motion mid-air, stiff on the spot.
Feixiao: "Borisins are cunning by nature. If Miss Stelle has truly been possessed by that Hoolay, he'd definitely pull some trick at this moment. Before confirming identity, we absolutely cannot allow her any small movements!"
Stelle: ???
"No, I'm trying to prove my innocence!" Stelle said with a mournful face.
Everyone in unison: "Then prove it."
Stelle pulled out a red-and-white round ball from thin air: "It's you then, Hu—"
"Don't move!"
Everyone brandished their weapons: long spears, gourds, formation blades, axes, longswords, fists... all instantly aimed at Stelle's head.
Gulp.
Stelle felt like she was facing a great enemy, swallowing hard with difficulty and forcing a smile: "Relax a bit. I'm just proving my innocence. Once you see my memetic spirit, you'll understand..."
But at that moment, Huaiyan suddenly threw out a question: "How do you prove you're proving your innocence? What if you're actually Hoolay trying to pull some stunt?"
Stelle blinked: "Then I... won't prove it?"
Huaiyan: "So you're admitting you're Hoolay?"
Stelle: ???
"No..." Stelle was puzzled: "Then how do I prove I'm proving my innocence?"
March 7th thought for a moment: "As long as you can prove you're Stelle, right? If you're Stelle, then you're not Hoolay, so naturally you wouldn't pull stunts, and we'd all believe you."
Stelle scratched her head: "Though it sounds kinda weird, it does make sense... This is easy to prove. You can ask me any question at random—I guarantee I can answer it."
"Hold on."
At this point, Jing Yuan interjected: "If Hoolay really possessed Miss Stelle, he'd inherit her memories too, so simply asking about past events is useless. We must ask questions never asked before, then analyze based on Miss Stelle's personality."
March 7th nodded: "Good idea. I'll go first. Stelle, in the future, when sleeping at night, can I touch you or not?"
Everyone: ?
Stelle hesitated a bit but followed her heart: "No way, March. If you keep groping around, I can't sleep at all!"
Everyone: ?
March 7th snorted coldly: "You won't even let me touch—hmph, you're definitely not Stelle. Hoolay, see how I deal with you tonight!"
Stelle started struggling: "Don't! Wait! Yamero!"
Dan Heng cleared his throat lightly: "Wait, March. I think we should be more cautious. Let me ask a question."
"How did you beat Hoolay?"
Stelle thought for a moment: "Well, he ambushed me at first, but I reacted quick and shielded it. Then I countered with Spirit Whisper to let the Clockie pin him down, poured in a big wave of damage while he was stuck, and after landing, stabbed his kidney with the fire lance..."
Dan Heng listened very patiently to Stelle recount the entire process, then nodded: "Doesn't sound fake. Normal people wouldn't describe a battle this way."
Stelle nodded vigorously: "Exactly."
"Then after swallowing the crimson moon, did you feel anything special?" Feixiao asked next.
Stelle thought: "Nothing special, really. If I had to say, it felt kinda itchy."
March 7th: "Where?"
Stelle: "..."
"Seeing is believing—I'll just show you." A red-and-white round ball reappeared in Stelle's hand: "It's you then—come out, Hoolay!"
—"Lei Lei!"
A white fairy with Hoolay's head materialized out of thin air, standing gracefully, cute and lovable. As soon as it appeared, it waved at the crowd: "Hello everyone~ I'm Hoolay~"
Everyone: ...Is this a memetic virus?
"Anyway, that's roughly how it went. Hoolay couldn't beat me, so he turned into this." Stelle scratched her head: "This was also the first thing I wanted to say after waking up. As for how to handle Hoolay, I'll defer to the generals' opinions."
Stelle said seriously: "Now Hoolay's physical body is dead. The remaining part exists temporarily as a memetic spirit. If the Xianzhou side wants to eradicate Hoolay completely, I'll cooperate fully."
Hoolay himself was a death row inmate. Even if he truly repented, the most Stelle could do was not kick him while he was down. Anything more would depend on whether Yaoqing, represented by the Foxians, could agree.
Hearing this, Hoolay immediately looked aggrieved: "Have mercy~ Have mercy~ Don't kill me~"
Squelch!
Stelle pinched Hoolay in one grab: "Didn't I say not to use the word 'me'?"
"Wah wah wah, I was wrong, Master~"
Feixiao thought for a moment: "How about this: Regarding this matter, I'll report it truthfully to the Alliance leadership and guarantee a reply before you leave the Xianzhou. No matter what, you just helped me out big time—I'll do my utmost to ensure it doesn't affect you."
Stelle nodded: "Alright."
...
A few days later, on the day the Ceremony of the Duel of Champions opened.
Under the Xianzhou leadership's deliberate control of public opinion, the hot topic on the Xianzhou these days was no longer the "Rare Breed Borisin Escape Incident," but the "Ceremony of the Duel of Champions Opening Countdown."
While a rare breed Borisin was a sight to behold, that was ultimately just a hot topic in pet circles. But the Ceremony of the Duel of Champions' content spanned nearly every circle. Especially with the arrival of Company representatives and Penacony representatives to Luofu, the online promotional hype was pushed to a brand-new peak!
On the Skysplitter, contestants from all corners of the galaxy were everywhere. With half an hour until the matches began, Stelle headed to the candidate venue, planning to see if she could run into old acquaintances.
After all, when she'd met Clara a few days ago, she hadn't properly fulfilled her host duties yet. Back then, it was Clara who'd saved her from Hoolay. If she didn't entertain her properly, that'd be too ungrateful.
—"Yo? Kid? Didn't expect to run into you here—what a coincidence?"
As Stelle was looking around, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly rang out. Stelle instinctively turned her head but saw no one.
?
"Hey, where are you looking?"
The voice carried a hint of displeasure now. Stelle paused, then looked down, and a matcha-colored figure immediately came into view.
It was the Helm Master of the Sky-Faring Commission, Huohuo.
"Kid, you here to compete too?" Huohuo looked up and asked.
Stelle shook her head: "No, I'm here to watch the matches... Wait, what do you mean 'too'?"
"You can compete too?"