“…Weeping of the Shadow is hungry.”
The moment the turbid darkness around him dispersed, the first words Xia Li heard were this ghostly whisper.
What the hell, who’s fucking hungry? Where the fuck has this thrown me?
This sentence that popped out from his chaotic mind was Xia Li’s response.
Of course, he responded this way not because Xia Li was a crude or uncultured person—he was at least a highly educated intellectual, a doctoral candidate in neurology…
Though not yet a real doctor, he had studied for over twenty years and had worn a refined face for most of his life.
The reason he was muttering like this now was because the impact he had just suffered was too severe.
That’s right, a physical impact.
More precisely, the impact from falling from the eleventh floor of the laboratory building.
As the black dense fog in his mind continued to dissipate, Xia Li recalled his past of ups and downs and great turbulence: As a child, he was unexpectedly spotted by a director and became a somewhat famous child star for a time, but his idiot parents tried to take a shortcut by using some pure scam “prestigious university performance department special recruitment class,” resulting in not only all their savings going down the drain, but also failing to get a student status.
After that, through desperate self-study, he finally properly got into university, then obtained a direct PhD opportunity in neurology at some black-hearted laboratory, with the research topic being treatment for depression in primates.
However, heaven knows for what reason, no matter how Xia Li tossed about, none of the experimental monkeys under his charge became depressed, let alone usable for experiments.
After a series of fierce operations, the laboratory finally produced one individual with depression…
…And that was himself, who just couldn’t graduate no matter what.
Of course, Xia Li was a very strong person.
Even in the face of such bleak reality, he still insisted on spending two yuan every week to buy a lottery ticket to keep hope for the future.
Hard work paid off; his last memory was of himself waving that first-prize lottery ticket, dancing wildly in ecstasy on the edge of the laboratory building’s roof, only to step on a banana peel carelessly discarded by some jerk…
What a bleak life indeed…
Without a doubt, I am definitely, certainly, and destined to have kicked the bucket, after finishing the recollection, Xia Li reached a conclusion.
Regarding the result of falling from that height in that posture, he held no lucky hopes at all.
But since I still have consciousness, maybe there’s still hope? For example, about to start the legendary reincarnation or something?
No one answered him.
Although the surrounding darkness had dispersed, it was replaced by a quiet light curtain.
In the white light, some symbols that seemed to be numbers and letters flickered in and out, but he couldn’t see them clearly at all.
At this moment, Xia Li had no form, just a bizarre “ghost” like mist.
Of course, there was no water-blue-haired wise goddess running out either, brazenly asking him if he wanted to choose one of three options.
So, taking advantage of this rare silence, Xia Li continued to talk to himself.
“If I can reincarnate, I want to become a beautiful girl with eternal youth and beauty! And the kind of powerful, admired, high-status beautiful girl! Best if it’s a princess or something! This time, I absolutely will not be manipulated by fate again; I’ll rely on my own knowledge, power, and noble spirit to decide my future and seize the throat of fate!”
Perhaps stimulated by this declaration full of chuuni atmosphere, the surrounding white light curtain flickered once.
Then, like a theater after the lights go out, it returned to darkness again.
After a short while, as his senses began to recover, Xia Li realized that he had once again become a person, rather than a “ghost.”
Moreover, the current him, ah no, her, had indeed become the beautiful girl he had just longed for.
The reason Xia Li knew this at the first moment was not because of the pressure from the two extra “counterweights” on the chest, but more because, on both sides beside her, were two rows of extremely huge mirrors.
In these mirrors over four meters high, stretching from ceiling to floor, Xia Li saw herself: a silver-haired beautiful girl over two meters tall, with an imposing heroic air.
If described in the terms of female-oriented novels, it would probably be the so-called “prince style”?
However, this two-meter height actually had a bit of water content, because she was currently wearing a set of silver-black armor covered with lily and iris pattern decorations on the surface.
Judging from the vibrations of the servo mechanical movements inside the armor, and the slight engine humming from behind, this was still a high-tech mechanical exoskeleton power armor, which at least padded her body up by thirty centimeters.
Besides this set of armor, her attire also included a gorgeous white-gold dual-color cape on the back, and a short-barreled energy weapon that looked like a nineteenth-century cavalry carbine but decorated with white jade and rubies.
On the right side of her body, she also wore a sword on a belt inlaid with gold ornaments.
When her gaze fell on that sword, Xia Li suddenly shuddered.
No, her intuition told her that this sword definitely had something wrong.
Although she couldn’t say what, as long as she stared at that longsword sheathed in an ice-blue scabbard, with the hilt, guard, and scabbard covered in runes emitting cold light, Xia Li would feel something very uncomfortable in her heart.
This feeling was like in the beginning of a zombie movie, seeing a ragged figure with light steps and twisted posture suddenly appear in the crowd.
“Weeping of the Shadow is hungry…”
Just as Xia Li was looking at the longsword in the mirror, the ghostly whisper once again entered her mind.
This time, she understood that this voice was coming from the sword!
This was not a good omen.
In the instant of hearing the whisper, Xia Li tried to throw away the sword at her waist, but was surprised to find that she seemed unable to control this body!
After forcibly trying several times, she only slightly moved her eyeballs and fingers.
However, a special segment of text appeared before her eyes.
Emergency Evasion Action Progress: 31%.
Due to the continuous erosion of the object by “Extra-Rational Power,” constituting a serious public safety hazard, under the administrator’s order, forcibly replacing the object’s consciousness with inventory consciousness from the “Abyss.” Safety verification has passed, replacement in progress.
Please note: Once the replacement is complete, the inventory consciousness will fully control the object’s body. Please take decisive measures immediately at this time to prevent the public safety hazard from continuing to develop. Priority: Highest!
What… what the hell is this? the completely confused Xia Li muttered to herself in her heart.
However, she could vaguely guess that the so-called “public safety hazard” was probably related to the sword at her waist by nine if not ten points!
But the problem was, although she clearly knew this thing was not good, the Xia Li who could not control her body could only continue walking forward along the corridor lined with mirrors on both sides, with golden-red brocade carpet on the floor.
At the end of the corridor was a huge white platform.
When her gaze crossed the railing at the edge of the platform, Xia Li saw the boundless earth, jade-belt-like rivers, undulating green hills, and cloud layers floating above the earth—this place’s height was clearly thousands of meters, even tens of thousands of meters above the ground!
“It’s Crown Princess Xia Li!”
“Her Highness the Crown Princess has returned victorious!”
“We are victorious! The Federal Empire’s army is victorious!”
“Long live! The invincible Imperator!”
Around the plaza-like platform, it was crowded with people in luxurious clothing.
When everyone saw Xia Li, they all began to cheer.
Countless petals fell from the air, landing on Xia Li and her attendants, also awakening some memories that did not belong to the original “Xia Li.”
That’s right, the name of this body was “Xia Li,” and her identity was the Crown Princess of the strongest country on the planet Elysia, the Elysia Federal Empire.
Now it was the year 11035 AD, nine thousand years after the era of “Xia Li.”
In these ninety centuries, humanity had experienced cosmic expansion, decline, division, and isolation, and the planet Elysia was one of the witnesses of this history.
Dozens of centuries ago, this temperate Earth-like planet had been the largest financial and entertainment center in half the galaxy, with countless successful people bringing unimaginable wealth to this world for pleasure.
But now times have changed, and everything of the past has become a yellow millet dream.
Now, most areas on the planet were eroded by the bizarre power called “Extra-Rational Power,” falling into decline and savagery, with only sixteen giant tower-like cities far from the surface still retaining most of civilization, and constituting the core territory of the empire.
From the memories of Xia Li, that is, the current self, not long ago, a disaster broke out in the tower city “Frost Sigil City” on the far northern continent “Poria.”
“Extra-Rational Power” invaded the city’s information service system and spread like a virus, turning thousands of citizens into mindless walking corpses.
And Xia Li was ordered to lead the rapid response force of the Empire’s Second Legion there to handle this emergency.
Although she encountered a series of difficulties and obstacles afterward, Xia Li finally succeeded.
According to the instructions sent by the Imperial General Staff, she cut through groups of walking corpses, managed to enter the core area of that city, and pulled out the sealed ancient weapon said to be usable for purifying the “Extra-Rational Power” that had infiltrated the electronic systems.
Its name was… Weeping of the Shadow.
Eh… wait a minute. This plot seems a tiny bit familiar… Xia Li muttered.
At the same time, the “Emergency Evasion Action Progress” before her eyes became 49%.
The progress was indeed fast, but still not enough—at least, the current Xia Li still could not control this body.
After crossing the huge plaza echoing with the crowd’s cheers and drifting with petal rain, Xia Li stepped into a magnificent hall amid a long bell sound.
The original body’s memory told her that this was the place where the emperor of the Federal Empire received visitors.
On a high platform of cyan jade surrounded by attendants, the throne was hidden behind a huge golden curtain adorned with tassels and pendants, and a petite figure was seated there.
Xia Li and the guard warriors behind her drew their swords together, touching the ground with the tip of the sword, and knelt on one knee below the steps.
When drawing “Weeping of the Shadow,” she saw a black blade that seemed able to swallow all light completely.
“Weeping of the Shadow is hungry hungry hungry hungry hungry…”
Of course, this whisper could only be heard by Xia Li alone.
On the throne, that petite figure, upon seeing Xia Li, let out a happy giggle.
“Ah, Our most most adorable daughter, welcome home! We heard that you recently achieved an astonishing victory in Frost Sigil City! Tell your benevolent mother, what do you want as a gift?”
“Thank you, my benevolent mother,” Xia Li’s mouth moved on its own.
At the same time, the “Emergency Evasion Action Progress” had only reached 66%—thus, Xia Li could not even control what she should say, “I do humbly beg you to bestow upon me a gift.”
“Oh, what do you want Us to bestow upon you?”
“Your life, Your Majesty.”