At the Start of Spring, winter had finally reached its end. Spring returned to the land, and all things were reborn. Even in this world of ice and snow, the temperature began to rise. Though a chill still lingered, the vibrant vitality outside the window already carried the unmistakable breath of spring.
The hibernating insects began to stir, and young birds chirped. Outside the window, pink blossoms started to bloom on the branches, and new sprouts broke through the hardened, frozen soil. It was truly a case of the warm spring sun melting the accumulated snow and dissolving a thousand years of troubled ice.
The curtains were pulled open, letting the long-awaited warm sun into the narrow, dark room. The morning light pierced through the thin mist, thinning the gloom and stagnation of the past few days. Without further hindrance, it fell upon the blonde girl's face, creating an oily sheen on the annual rings of the lacquered wooden table.
"How much longer do you plan to remain depressed?" Angelina knitted her brows, looking at the blonde girl lying on the messy bed. The girl hadn't even taken off her coat; she was covered in the stench of alcohol, her clothes in disarray.
Stung by the sunlight, Xu Xiaoyou couldn't open her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered slightly before slowly closing again.
Seeing this, Angelina grew impatient and reached out to pull Xu Xiaoyou's blanket. Just as she began to lift it, the latter silently reached out to hold down the covers, pulling them back toward herself. With heavy dark circles under her dead-fish eyes, she seemed to be defending some form of sovereignty and dignity.
After a silent standoff,
Angelina grabbed Xu Xiaoyou's collar and yanked her directly off the bed.
"Sigh," Xu Xiaoyou sighed. "You don't have to bother with me. You're free, Angelina. Go wherever you need to go."
Hearing the girl speak in such a decadent tone, Angelina reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Her gaze turned dark and terrifying as she fiercely pinned Xu Xiaoyou against the wall, staring straight into those calm amber eyes.
"You're the one who bound your destiny to mine. Now the whole world knows that the 'Abyssal White Flower' is a loyal vassal of the 'Dark Gold Rose'. To put it nicely, I'm a vassal; to put it bluntly, you've told the entire world that I'm your dog."
"And now look. The entire association's attention is on me. What, now that you're done using me, you're going to kick me aside?"
"Just a joke, Anya," Xu Xiaoyou said, raising her hands in a submissive gesture. "Don't get so worked up."
Angelina's sense of smell was far sharper than a normal person's. She could no longer tolerate the stench of alcohol on Xu Xiaoyou. She threw her back onto the bed with a cold gaze:
"And here I thought you had some grand ambition. To fall into self-degradation after a little setback—you'll rot in this flower nest sooner or later."
She wouldn't forget that in the past, the other girl would always find various excuses before going to the flower shops, claiming it was all a necessary sacrifice. Ever since the Starry Singer advent incident, this girl hadn't even bothered to act. She had spent nearly a week wallowing in the scent of rouge and feminine charms, paralyzing herself with alcohol all day long.
"Alright, don't be so angry, Anya." Xu Xiaoyou leaned against the bed and picked up a cup from the mahogany tea table. After rinsing out the tea stains, she scooped a few spoonfuls of tea powder and brewed herself a cup of hot tea to sober up.
"With such a major event happening, the eyes of the outside world are on both of us. It's only because they are wary of the power of the 'Dark Gold Rose' that the association hasn't moved against you. If they ever figured out the 'Dark Gold Rose's' true bottom line, they would have razed this place long ago."
"I have been a bit decadent these past few days, but it's not like I haven't done anything. Haven't you noticed that no one has come to disturb the peace here?"
As she spoke, Xu Xiaoyou watched the ripples in her cup, her thoughts drifting as steam rose from the tea.
She knew very well that Tang Xin was not dead.
She couldn't quite describe the other's current state. The perfect clear conditions for 【The Girl Who Fell into the Starry Garden】 had been met; the other girl had awakened from a 'star of the stage' into a 'Starry Singer'.
She had broken through her attribute locks and genetic limits, unlocking the advanced resonance: Astral Blessing, and obtaining her exclusive weapon, 'Void Chord': the musical instrument named "The Coronation of Poppea".
"'The Coronation of Poppea'...?" Xu Xiaoyou exhaled and took a sip of tea.
Sevia seemed to have reached a sort of symbiotic form with 'The Artist', becoming a newborn world-class urban legend, the 'Starry Singer'. In this regard, it was very similar to the relationship between Angelina and the 'Heart of Desire'.
Xu Xiaoyou's fingertips shimmered as she manifested Sevia's character card. The card face, adorned with blue irises, appeared shattered. This signified that the character was out of control, locking the attributes she had gained through sharing, and preventing her from viewing the other's panel or status.
Similarly, after establishing a resonance bond with Sevia, Xu Xiaoyou had utilized that mysterious resonance trait to dump a massive amount of high-level skill cards into it without a second thought. Supplemented with artistic training cards, she had exhausted almost all her psychic energy to condense 'The Artist' urban legend card. This was one of the reasons for her lethargy these past few days.
【Urban Legend Card: The Artist】
【Quality: art grade (Gold)】
【Effect: Equip this urban legend card to gain partial traits of the urban eldritch creature 'The Artist'. Note: This card can be unequipped.】
She clicked equip.
【Your understanding of domains is deepening.】
【Your understanding of the art domain is now sufficiently profound.】
【Gained agility 20, constitution 20, intelligence 40.】
【Artist Resonance: Hand of Silence unlocked.】
After finishing this, Xu Xiaoyou slumped onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling while holding her forehead with a wry smile.
"This is difficult."
She just wanted to peacefully raise some beautiful girls, encouraging each other on their paths of growth, providing warmth and attention, and moving toward a brilliant future through the power of friendship and bonds. Who could have expected they would all end up becoming world-class urban legends? She really couldn't be blamed for this.
Surely it wasn't the case that every one of her characters would turn into a world-class urban legend and fall into blackened loss of control after their favorability plots ended?
After lamenting the bleakness of her future internally, Xu Xiaoyou pulled herself together. She planned to return to Red Heaven to retrieve the reward the Specter had left for her in the Northern Bank, and then return to Dragonfly Town to retire for a while. She didn't want to get involved in the Chi family's business too early. The Dark Gold Rose persona had been exposed, and the brilliance of the luminous prism grade was far too dazzling; she didn't enjoy the feeling of being closely watched wherever she went.
In the meantime, she would head to the Oasis first, at least to try and figure out what had happened to Bai Youyou.
As for the reason...
Xu Xiaoyou looked at the two new recruitment pools that had opened after the favorability plot ended, her lips twitching slightly.
【Current Recruitment Pool 1: World-End Observer】
【5-Star Rate-Up Character: Ishrail's acquisition probability increased!】
【Single condensation costs 160 card maker points, ten-fold condensation costs 1600 card maker points.】
【Current Recruitment Pool 2: Thorn-Poison Apostle】
【5-Star Rate-Up Character: Akabane Tsubaki's acquisition probability increased!】
【Single condensation costs 160 card maker points, ten-fold condensation costs 1600 card maker points.】
Looking at the two familiar figures on the portraits, Xu Xiaoyou's expression was a mix of complicated emotions.
How could someone manage to offend every single five-star character before even pulling them?
Since it's come to this, let's pull first.
Xu Xiaoyou clicked to pull. She didn't bother looking at the secondary items; she wouldn't get an art grade skill card anyway. Although there was no probability disclosure, she estimated the drop rate for those things wasn't even 0.01%. She didn't expect a hundred and eighty pulls to make much of a splash.
Sure enough, there were some miscellaneous training materials and the universally loathed 【Fireball Bombardment】.
Why is this junk skill card still polluting the pool probability?
Xu Xiaoyou grumbled indignantly in her heart.
Then, two golden shooting stars burst forth with resplendent light.
【5-Star Character: Wings of Holy Pilgrimage — Bai Youyou acquired.】
【5-Star Character: Angry-Gu Spider Fang — Natsu Kuri acquired.】
Rate on N.U.
