"So it was resolved in this way..."
Ah Xian let out a sigh of relief, pulled out a tissue, and wiped the sweat from her palms, unable to hide the excitement in her heart.
"Very good, next we need to enter my husband's past and wake him up!"
"I'm ready, I hope there won't be too many knives."
...
The screen lit up again, inserting into the plot animation.
Stelle opened her eyes, and the surroundings were pitch dark, with no buildings visible, no mountains or rivers.
Only a mass of light emitting a faint white fluorescence floated not far away, as if attracting her to approach.
Stelle quickly walked to the light mass and hesitated for a moment before stretching her hand into it.
The light mass suddenly burst out with blinding light, briefly depriving her of her vision.
When she opened her eyes again, Stelle found herself shuttling through a tunnel.
Countless scenes flashed by on both sides of the tunnel, with faint human figures flickering and mountains and rivers shifting.
"These are... Leon's memories...?"
"...No, it should be the past witnessed by that feather along with him."
"What should I do?"
"Try touching those scenes?"
Stelle thought for a moment and was just about to reach out to touch the constantly flashing light and shadows when she noticed that the scenes flashing on both sides slowed down.
A few seconds later, they completely stopped.
Following Stelle's first-person perspective, the players discovered that those grid-like frames resembling photos all depicted Leon's figure.
Various situations were present.
Fighting with people, healing others, witnessing farewells, and so on, countless in number.
"So many, where should I start..."
Before Stelle could think about which one to enter first, a sudden suction force erupted from a grid beside her, swallowing her in unexpectedly.
A faint voice slowly rang in her ears.
"...The Ether Star is like autumn in all four seasons, with clear mountains and waters, how could it become like this now...?"
What entered her eyes was desolation everywhere.
The sky was dark as ink, with no stars visible.
No buildings could be seen around, nor any vegetation.
At the end of her line of sight, the gray sand flow and the sky formed a bizarre sense of fusion where heaven and earth seemed connected.
"The survey results from the train are correct; the Ether Star is on the verge of disintegration and could be destroyed at any moment."
Hearing the familiar voice, Stelle suddenly froze.
"Mr. Welt?!"
"Hm? Why the sudden honorific? Himeko, did you discover something?"
"??!"
Ah Xian's eyes widened.
The voice just now wasn't the protagonist's, but Himeko's.
The screen shifted to match the plot.
Stelle looked down and discovered that she was now in Himeko's appearance.
The players then came to their senses, just like Stelle, understanding the meaning of Sparkle's words.
Indeed, she had to play the role of the identity in the memory.
Otherwise, something terrible might happen.
It might even... relate to whether Leon could wake up!
① "No discovery, just a bit surprised..."
② "(Shake head slightly, remain silent)"
③ "This place feels ominous; I think it's best to leave quickly."
Three options appeared.
"Why is it in red text?"
The bright red text of the last option made Ah Xian slightly startled.
"What will happen if I choose it?"
[Don't!]
[It's highlighted in conspicuous red text, possibly related to a major turning point; want to try choosing it?]
"What if it's a warning for the wrong option? What if it explodes?"
"I don't want to ruin the chance to save Leon because of my wrong choice."
[It won't be that bad... The scriptwriter has no reason to be that ruthless.]
[Hasn't any other streamer chosen the red text option?]
[Yes, it will forcibly send you back to the initial location of the memory tunnel, and the value in the upper left corner will increase by 15%.]
Ah Xian then noticed that there was an inconspicuous circle in the upper left corner of the screen.
The number inside the circle was temporarily 0%.
[Does the increase represent the progress bar? Meaning when it reaches 100%, Leon can be awakened?]
"I don't think so..."
"If choosing to leave is useful, why enter different memory scenes?"
"Being teleported back to the memory tunnel like this is very likely like dying in a game, respawning and restarting."
"And I feel like... right! Isn't this the second part of four-star Leon's character story?!"
Ah Xian suddenly came to her senses.
No wonder it felt familiar.
She hadn't thought of it immediately earlier because her nerves were too tense.
"Definitely can't randomly choose the red text!"
Ah Xian opened the wiki on miHoYo's community, found the relevant text, and compared it to the character's lines.
But the options given had no relation to the current situation.
Ah Xian thought deeply for a moment and chose the most prudent option of remaining silent.
The more you say, the more likely to err; not speaking means less chance to be wrong.
The subsequent dialogue appeared, and she confirmed that this was the story before Leon boarded the train.
However, it was now presented in the form of real-time plot.
Following the story flow, she soon encountered the past remnant and echo.
The Sky Haven Clan was fighting enemies.
They roared in anger, howling, engaging in desperate bloody battles with different enemies.
People were constantly pierced through limbs, fitted with shackles, and locked into huge cages.
The impact of reading the text story versus witnessing the story itself with one's own eyes was undoubtedly like heaven and earth.
Ah Xian's body trembled slightly, her pupils shaking violently.
This was probably also the scene mentioned in the second part of five-star Leon's character story.
The Sky Haven Clan was like walking Tang Monk flesh.
Their healing abilities were too powerful, attracting forces from all over the universe to capture them.
But the Sky Haven Clan was not skilled in combat; during this time period, they were too weak.
[Fuck, the first memory at the beginning already shows the blade's edge; I dare not think about what's next...]
[Didn't feel much when reading the story, but now seeing it with my own eyes, blood pressure is soaring.]
[Indeed, good people are bullied; no wonder the beautiful angels in the West all have extraordinary combat power— if they can't fight, they'll be at the mercy of others!]
[Healing elf saintess unskilled in combat falls into a goblin lair.]
[The metaphor above is toxic, but from a sharp angle, it's spot on.]
The past memory echo faded, Stelle's eye sockets already red, and the discomfort of substituting into Himeko's identity quickly disappeared.
"(Leon's clan's past was actually so tragic...)"
She couldn't help but clench her fists, her teeth chattering from anger.
Perhaps Leon was once one of those being hunted.
Stelle thought so.
Welt: "The people of the Ether Star fought against fate to the last moment to rewrite their doomed end... Is that it?"
Himeko (Stelle): "I think so..."
"Himeko, look over there—"
At this moment, the players finally noticed the small white dot at the end of the line of sight.
The camera quickly zoomed in, and upon seeing the specific situation there, Ah Xian felt her breathing become difficult.
It was Leon!
Guarding in front of several tombstones, Leon like a sculpture.
She quickly counted the number of tombstones.
Six.
"These... these tombstones, could they be..."
"All of the deceased Sky Haven Emissaries?!"