「Lao Xi’s face-changing speed is a bit ridiculous, isn’t it?」
「Three changes in a second, is this Chameleon Xi?」
「When it comes to the chameleon field, you’d better just start learning!」
「I really suspect now whether Lao Xi’s Mind Control was never actually lifted from the very beginning.」
「It’s possible. That look is truly exceptionally cold. You wouldn’t get that feeling without killing fish at the market for ten years.」
「To be fair, Xiao Xi’s tongue is very pink and tender.」
「There’s a pervert!」
The Barrage swept past.
Guan Kelai still kept his head down, pretending to be asleep, while thinking about how to save himself.
After a long time, he understood the gist of it.
If he wanted to save himself, he had to prove that his value was greater than the risk brought by the exposure of Xinglan’s Devil side.
Or…Use other forces to counter Xinglan!
The former was too difficult. He didn’t believe his identity as an Aristocrat would have any use in the other party’s eyes once everything was over.
That only left the latter.
Since Xinglan went to great lengths to avoid exposing her Devil side, it meant that others were unwilling to see this side of her.
He could completely utilize the contradiction within this.
For example, find an opportunity to reveal Xinglan’s secret to them, causing them to find a way to control her in their shock and anger.
Then he would find a chance to escape.
Of course, there was also the possibility that the other party’s feelings were sincere, and they would decide to kill him, the whistleblower, first.
But at worst, there was only one path to death.
Guan Kelai laughed self-mockingly in his heart.
Once upon a time, he could decide the lives of others at will, but now he was reduced to having only a single path to death.
He raised his head and looked at Genbeier sitting to the side. He could tell that this was definitely a true Green Elf Basefolk.
In that case…
A cold light flashed in Guan Kelai’s eyes. Perhaps he could use him.
“Since you’ve decided to go to the Royal City, I have nothing more to say. Take care of yourself. I’ll drop you off once we reach the Royal City.”
Seeing that Lin Zhen still wanted to go to the Royal City despite his persuasion, Damian’s tone became stiff for a moment.
After speaking, he got up to leave.
But just as he reached the curtain of the carriage door, Lin Zhen suddenly spoke and called out to him.
“Wait!”
Damian looked back.
A boy with terrifyingly pale skin, messy hair, and short, thick ears sat in the carriage.
The other party looked at him with eyes that were terrifyingly deep. His right hand rested on a strange silver circle as he said seriously:
“Commander, do you want to hear a story?”
Damian nodded.
Lin Zhen had hesitated for a good while just now, but finally made up his mind to tell part of the truth in exchange for Damian’s trust.
He needed Damian.
Not just because he wanted to enter the Royal City, but because he wanted to cooperate with the high-level officials of this kingdom.
On this planet where even metallic elements were absent, his power was far too lacking.
He had to find a way to borrow other, more powerful forces before it was possible to continue pushing the plan forward.
And although he was ostensibly a student of the war camp and an enemy of the intelligent beings on this planet…
According to his true purpose…
He and the war camp were the enemies!
The enemy of my enemy is a friend, so the Green Elves and Huang Elves were both allies he could win over.
Therefore, Lin Zhen briefly blocked the monitoring of his Neck Collar.
He kept it as brief as possible, using a story that was eighty percent true and twenty percent false to explain his intentions.
The true part was that he revealed the purpose of the war camp students was for the Star Core on this planet.
And he had no interest in it; he only wanted to escape the war camp.
Therefore, he was on their side.
The false part was that he did not tell Damian how powerful the war camp and the Saint Hand Society truly were.
He didn’t mention that even if they were lucky enough to protect the Star Core this time, they wouldn’t be able to resist the subsequent attacks from the Saint Hand Society.
The Star Core would be taken away sooner or later.
Even more so, he didn’t tell them that crucial fact.
Taking the Star Core would turn Taixing into a place of dead silence.
Because the full truth was simply too terrifying—the fact that the entire planet was destined to die. Lin Zhen worried that Damian and the high-level officials of the Huang Elves would break down and become the surrendering faction.
During his first academic year, when he was studying a vast amount of theoretical knowledge, he had read many stories from the Empire’s Great Expansion era.
At that time, the Empire had just stepped out of the Milky Way.
Although the technology for the positive and negative Zhe Yue Engine had not yet been invented, they already possessed extremely powerful strength and a strong desire to expand their territory.
They were keen on exploring star systems, discovering every life-bearing planet, then conquering them, colonizing them, developing them, and turning them into nourishment for the Empire’s rise.
Most of the time, those life-bearing planets had no intelligent civilizations, but sometimes there were a few.
To deal with these intelligent civilizations…
The Empire would take the obedient ones under its wing, and for the disobedient ones, they would use various means to make them listen.
Of course, they would also encounter civilizations that resisted fiercely.
But as long as the Empire showed even a bit of its strength, while the commoners below might still be resisting to protect their home planet, almost all the high-level officials would turn into the surrendering faction, wagging their tails for mercy.
Lin Zhen worried that the high-level officials of the Huang Elves would be the same, so he didn’t dare tell them the fact that they had no chance of winning.
Of course, this was also where his selfishness lay.
He worried that if the high-level officials knew there was no chance of winning this battle, they wouldn’t agree to help him.
It could be said that he was very despicable, but he had no choice.
「Lao Lin’s Mouth Cannon」
「Lao Lin really looks for helpers whenever he’s undecided」
「Flexible posture」
Lin Zhen told the story he had made up to Damian.
Damian would ask questions at first, but as he listened, he fell silent, not saying a word, his gaze gradually becoming cold and sharp.
He felt it was truly incredible that Lin Zhen, an outsider from the heavens, would actually reveal his identity directly.
After all, he had been bluffing the other party from the start.
He couldn’t see through the other party’s disguise at all.
Touching the other party’s shoulder earlier had been his test.
But that sense of touch was so real that he thought he had guessed wrong and was planning to give up.
But he hadn’t expected that he actually bluffed it out, and even bluffed out such terrifying news.
More than twelve thousand powerful individuals with superpowers were preparing to seize the source of all miraculous things created on this planet.
The outsiders called it the Star Core.
And almost in an instant, Damian, who commanded thousands of soldiers, thought of a certain place and associated it with many other things.
“If what you say is true, we are enemies. Why are you telling me this?” Damian pulled out a stone sword from his waist with a sound and asked coldly.
Lin Zhen’s gaze landed on the edge of the stone sword and then slid off.
“I’ve said it, Commander. I want to escape them. You and I are comrades in the same trench.”
“Since the organization you mentioned is incomparably powerful and even trained you, why do you want to escape them? Just because your values don’t align?” Damian followed up.
“Yes, the clash of values is one reason, but more than that… Lin Zhen clenched his fist. “It’s because they did something very bad to the girl I love.”
“Something very bad!” Lin Zhen emphasized again.
“The girl you love?” Damian glanced at Lin Zhen, his gaze lingering for a moment on his overly young face.
No matter where it was, even among their Huang Elves, this boy was indeed excessively young.
And at this age, it was indeed possible to do some things for the sake of love.
Damian suddenly understood, and his heart became a bit more convinced.
But he didn’t actually show it.
As a commander of an army, he still had this much shrewdness and composure.
He only said that there were still a few days of travel to the Royal City and that he needed to think.
Lin Zhen naturally wouldn’t force Damian to give a promise now. On the contrary, the fact that the other party was willing to think about it instead of directly attacking meant that the other party already believed him to some extent.
So before Damian left, he called out to him again, saying he was very interested in the Gift of the Earth God and asked if he could have a small piece to look at if possible.
Just a small piece would do.
Damian hesitated for a while but still nodded.
「The girl he loves, tsk tsk tsk」
「Sweet sweet sweet」
「Lao Lin is only brave in front of outsiders. If you have the guts, say that in front of Lao Xi!」
「Wait, right now Lao Xi looks like her dark side is about to explode. If Goblin Zhen really dared to say that, he’d probably be dragged out of the nest on the spot and taken back to the church to be properly enjoyed.」
「Is it? That’s quite impressive.」
“Sister, Sister!”
The calling in her ear kept ringing. Yun Ruoxi snapped out of it and responded belatedly.
“Hmm? What is it?”
“What is it? I should be the one saying that! Sister, why did you start zoning out again!” Aili raised her head from Yun Ruoxi’s fair thighs and asked with concern.
“I wasn’t zoning out; I was just thinking about things.” Yun Ruoxi lightly scraped Aili’s nose.
How could she be zoning out? She was just watching the show and was frightened by Lin Zhen’s “confession to her face.”
She admitted that she had gone to great lengths to flirt with Lin Zhen before.
But that was all in front of the camera, trying to mold herself into the only female lead of this drama.
Once not in front of the camera, she had never laid a hand on Lin Zhen or engaged in any intimate behavior.
The distance was maintained perfectly.
Of course, even so, Lin Zhen falling in love with her was within her initial psychological expectations.
After all, this kind of innocent young boy was far too easy to deal with.
An ordinary Green Tea could toy with him at will.
And she, however, was the most top-tier existence among Green Teas.
Not only was her acting invincible, but she was also someone who had “been through it” herself.
So most of Lin Zhen’s inner thoughts…
Even without the psychological monologues in the show, they were actually no different from being transparent to her.
However, expectations were expectations.
Actually hearing Lin Zhen admit he liked her, and saying it so vowedly in front of others and the camera…
Yun Ruoxi was still startled, and a very bad and embarrassing thought inexplicably rose in her heart.
This fake identity of hers as the female lead—by acting like this, she wouldn’t actually go from being a villain to being the female lead and then be unable to get away, would she?
Being the female lead was certainly not a bad thing.
The billing was high, there were many shots, and being tied to the protagonist meant she could gain popularity without having to think about how to perform every day.
But… looking at Lin Zhen’s appearance…
Yun Ruoxi was a bit worried that he was the kind of Pure Love Warrior who played for keeps, the type who would only recognize her even after he grew up.
She was still thinking about retiring to the countryside with her parents after she finished her revenge and resurrected them, to live out her life happily.
She didn’t want to be incessantly remembered by Lin Zhen then.
After all, she couldn’t play the Yun Ruoxi that Lin Zhen liked for a lifetime.
There would eventually be a day when she had to take off the mask and return to life.
When that time came…
When Lin Zhen knew that the Yun Ruoxi he liked was all fake, that the hardships she suffered were fake, the flirting with him was fake, and even the wrongdoings committed after blackening were fake…
That it was all a disguise used to coax and deceive him…
Not being able to accept the real her was a minor issue; she was afraid that Lin Zhen wouldn’t be able to handle it for a moment and would do something irrational, which would be troublesome.
And even if he did accept it, it wasn’t a good thing. For Yun Ruoxi herself, it was also quite a headache.
After all, if Lin Zhen could accept this version of her, it only meant that his love for her had reached a point of blind obsession.
How exactly should she deal with such a Lin Zhen then?
As the protagonist, Lin Zhen would almost certainly grow into the top powerhouse of this sea of stars.
Even if he couldn’t beat her, she probably wouldn’t be able to shake him off.
Was she really going to marry him?
But Yun Ruoxi had only been acting for three years and was already somewhat physically and mentally exhausted.
By the time she acted until 《Stellar》 was completely finished…
She estimated she would have long since looked past everything. How could she still have any youthful impulses for feelings or love, or respond to a feeling that had been sprouting for who knows how many years?
And… at the end of the day, she also felt very guilty about her behavior of using Lin Zhen to farm popularity.
Guilt is not love.
Furthermore… the most crucial thing was that Yun Ruoxi didn’t want to be “poked.”
She had accepted the fact that she was a girl.
But for the time being—at least for now.
She absolutely could not accept being pinned down and receiving “stick-and-rod education.”
It wasn’t disgusting, nor was it nauseating; it was just resistance and unwillingness.
Yun Ruoxi’s mind was truly thrown into a mess by Lin Zhen’s sudden confession that wasn’t in the script.
She thought wildly for a long time.
She even decided to keep some distance from Lin Zhen from now on. She could no longer use the identity of an innocent young girl who admired her savior to flirt with Lin Zhen.
Doing this might not weaken Lin Zhen’s feelings for her, but at least it could prevent those feelings from growing further.
After all… she was about to be separated from Lin Zhen soon.
Yun Ruoxi originally disliked this parting.
But now, her heart hoped that this season would end quickly and that the separation would arrive soon.
After all, from the end of this season to the beginning of the second season…
Based on her deductions of the subsequent plot, there should be an interval of at least several years.
Time is a butcher’s knife and also the soup of forgetfulness; it should be enough to wear away the sprout of Lin Zhen’s feelings for her.
Exhaling softly, Yun Ruoxi felt a bit relieved the moment she thought of this.
She looked up and happened to meet the eyes of Guan Kelai, who had just finished thinking about how to utilize Genbeier.
The latter also exhaled a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
Yun Ruoxi instantly narrowed her eyes, frightening him so much that he retracted his head, looking just like a turtle.
She roughly guessed that the other party had some unusual ideas.
But it didn’t matter. No matter how much he hopped around, he couldn’t hop out of the palm of her hand, the Buddha Yun.
However, thinking about how one of the villains from the later stages of the original plot had been scared like this by her was still quite interesting.
She brought it on herself, frankly.