"Stupid A-Fei! I carried you all the way back to the ship, and the first thing you say when you wake up isn't 'thank you'—it's sarcasm!"
The chubby guy in a special green outfit clutched his forehead, still aching from being headbutted by some unknown pink creature.
"And don't call me 'chubby'—call me Miaotiaojun!"
"Fine, chubby." Huo Linfei hopped out of the recovery pod and looked himself over—no injuries.
"Where am I? And where's Tianyu?"
"Uh-oh…" Miaotiaojun moved with agility that did not match his body, flashing to Huo Linfei's side and slapping a hand on the bright red hair.
"Did Longjian hit you stupid?! Sister Lisa! Full-body scan for A-Fei, now!"
Lisa: [Scanning… Vital signs normal; Energion recovery: 87%; recommendation: high-calorie intake]
Huo Linfei slapped the hand off his head. "What the he—"
[Deep memory detected]
[Re-recording in progress]
Huo Linfei—no, Huo Linfei as seen through Huo Linfei's eyes, with Huo Linfei's body serving as the "feed"—remembered what had happened.
"I… got frozen by Cocolia…" he stared at his hands, then at Miaotiaojun. "So I… time-traveled again?"
"Good, your brain still works." Miaotiaojun wiped sweat off his brow. "Yeah. You got blasted away by Longjian's Cold Shadow Art and passed out. I dragged you back to the Xuanwu to recover."
"Longjian? No—It was Cocolia."
"Alright, alright, I know you're salty about losing, but don't give up!" Miaotiaojun struck an exaggerated pose. "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—one day you'll win it back."
"Can't even hear Cocolia's name…" Huo Linfei fell silent for a moment, then pressed, "Back to my question: you said Longjian knocked me out—so where did Tianyu go?"
"Relax, let me check…" Miaotiaojun blinked to the main control room, dropped into the floating chair, and started hammering the keys.
"After a white light appeared, Longjian left immediately. Tianyu followed him to help…"
"What? That's important—why didn't you say it sooner?!"
"You didn't ask! Why are you panicking so hard?"
"We have to go help them!" Huo Linfei broke into a sweat. "If nothing changes, the opponent they're about to face is the Scorpion King under Hades—Scorpion King!"
Before he even finished, the Xuanwu's AI Lisa pulled up the target dossier:
[Retrieving data]
[Scorpion King Longying]
[Survivor of the betrayal by the Azure Dragon Tribe 100,000 years ago]
[Weakness: fears fire]
"Wait—Lisa, your database is this detailed?" Huo Linfei stared. "You read the script?!"
Lisa ignored him completely.
"Never mind—now isn't the time. Contact Tianyu! Now!"
"Can't connect…" Miaotiaojun fumbled at the console. "What do we do, A-Fei?!"
"What do you think—go save her!"
[Huo Linfei]
[Energion value: 0.1 black holes]
[Activate armor?]
"System, you're finally awake. Armor!"
Flames engulfed him in an instant—red armor sealing perfectly to his frame.
"This is what it feels like to have a healer—so good…" Huo Linfei clenched his fist, feeling the surging power inside. "I'm heading out at full strength!"
"Can the Xuanwu send me to Tianyu?"
"It can…" Miaotiaojun opened the star map. "But without a locked coordinate—"
"Lock onto this energy signature!" Huo Linfei pressed his palm to the scanner. In his mind flashed memories of fighting Longjian—especially the unique waveform of Cold Shadow Art.
To his surprise, the Energion in his body automatically simulated the Azure Dragon Tribe's frequency.
[Coordinates locked]
[Space-jump ready]
[Warning: single-soldier teleport risk coefficient 87%]
"Enough talk—Tianyu, I'm coming to save you!"
—Yeah, that's Huo Linfei hijacking Huo Linfei's body again.
Huo Linfei slammed the teleport button. In the blinding light, Miaotiaojun heard the last line:
"I have exited the cabin—feeling great!"
The spatial distortion hit harder than joyriding the Phantom Qilin bike by a hundredfold—like being hurled into an industrial washing machine, like being smashed by magma and glacier at the same time.
When vision returned, he was already plummeting through the sky.
Below him: buildings swallowed in purple fog.
"Holy—how is this any different from firing me like a projectile?!"
BOOM—!
Huo Linfei, in Qilin Armor, smashed headfirst through a dome roof.
He shoved rubble aside, grimacing as he stood—then his smile froze solid.
"Tianyu…"
Longjian was down on one knee, breathing raggedly—already unable to fight.
The Scorpion King's venom stinger had pierced Tianyu's armor. With a casual flick, she tossed Tianyu aside—her darkened Phoenix Feather Armor landing like a discarded rag.
Ringing filled Huo Linfei's ears—then his blood seemed to boil.
Something detonated in his chest: an unfamiliar emotion, a searing battle intent that didn't belong to him alone—something rooted in the soul of Huo Linfei.
A fireball—thrown without warning—shot out.
But the Scorpion King flipped away as if she had eyes in the back of her head, her tail whipping out three venom needles in the same motion.
"Another one here to die."
No impact sound.
"Hm?"
The Qilin Armor had already blinked to her landing point.
No wasted movement. No visible expression beneath the Qilin helm—yet the clenched jaw told everything: emotion crushed tight, barely contained.
Like a wildfire gaining consciousness, Firecloud Art condensed silently in his hand.
[Energion突破临界值: 0.3 black holes]
[Warning: carrier load overload]
But Huo Linfei didn't seem to hear the warnings.
His vision bled red. Energion erupted like a volcano—scarlet pressure waves exploding outward. Sand at his feet glassed under the heat.
"BOOM—!!!"
The fireball hit the Scorpion King's waist armor dead-on. In that instant, even the Scorpion King—whose Energion was as high as one-seventh of a black hole—felt death breathing on her neck.
"How is that possible?!" she crashed through interior walls without stopping. "His Energion spiked instantly—I couldn't even react!"
Huo Linfei sprinted to Tianyu. Her breathing was thread-thin; the toxin kept spreading.
With one arm he scooped Tianyu up, with the other he yanked Longjian along. Energion fully unleashed, he burst out of the crumbling tower in a blink and shot toward the Xuanwu at top speed.
...
"Just now…" Huo Linfei panted, staring down at his hands.
That anger. That combat instinct. The way the Energion detonated—
It wasn't something he could do. And it wasn't something this era's Huo Linfei should be capable of either.
From the moment the ringing started, he'd been reduced to watching it happen.
"Hey, Huo Linfei?" Miaotiaojun waved a hand in front of his face. "You okay? You're acting like a completely different person."
"N-no… I'm fine…" Huo Linfei didn't know how to answer.
Join here to read ahead.
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