“Yo, Dr. Forefinger, you old fart!”
“Long time no see, Dr. Forefinger. Batman’s been asking why you haven’t been around Gotham lately.”
“Really small and ugly, Dr. Forefinger.”
“Seeing this B-hole just brings bad luck.”
After Ye Lan made her entrance, the camera cut to Dr. Forefinger…
“Well, that’s confirmed now.”
“The production team isn’t even trying to hide it for popularity points. Look what they’ve done to my Lao Xi.”
“There won’t be any cuckolding, right?”
“She’s been with the evil faction for five years—probably been completely used up. But since this is a hot-blooded anime, it should be fine.”
The audience had no love for Dr. Forefinger, the antagonist who had caused the tragedy.
The moment he appeared, the barrage was full of insults at him.
Of course, insults across time and space never reached his ears.
Even if they did, he probably wouldn’t have cared anyway.
“Evil Beast, your new mission: capture this boy and bring him back to me. Remember, keep a low profile—operate discreetly.”
Dr. Forefinger transmitted Lin Zhen’s information, then stared at the chat window, smirking triumphantly, as if Lin Zhen were already in his grasp.
The camera suddenly switched to the interior of a small spaceship.
The lens focused on the word “Evil Beast” in the chat window.
[Fifth Spaceport, Private Ship Berthing Zone]
After Dr. Forefinger’s voice faded, Lin Zhen’s information popped up on the ship’s control panel. Below a distorted screen, location data appeared.
The ship where this “Evil Beast” was located was actually in the Fifth Spaceport—the very place where Lin Zhen and his companions were supposed to meet!
A swirling flower mask lay off to the side.
“Oh, understood, Doctor!”
A crisp, pleasant girl’s voice rang out in the cabin, flat and emotionless.
Clang!
A metal coin suddenly flipped into the air, spinning rapidly, before being snatched by a small hand painted with purple nail polish.
The pilot’s seat creaked as it spun around.
The lower half of a girl’s face appeared in the lens.
Sky-blue long hair, a round fair chin, cherry-red lips, and a cute little nose.
On the right side of her face was half a strange pattern.
Even with just that half-face visible, this Saints’ hand society member named Evil Beast was undoubtedly a stunning beauty.
And for some reason, many viewers felt an inexplicable familiarity with her.
As if… she was a character they knew well.
“Show us the top! Let us see the full face!”
Under the audience’s anticipation, the camera slowly moved upward.
The pattern on the girl’s right face was completed first.
It was a dark-red spider lily growing on a vine.
The vine above, the flower below, like the yin side of yin and yang.
It added a touch of subtle, untainted allure to the girl’s soft, youthful face.
But before the audience could ponder the tattoo’s meaning, a pair of fiery, dazzling crimson eyes burst into the frame, instantly stealing everyone’s attention.
Familiar—too familiar!
Although this face had matured a lot compared to the blue-haired girl in their memories, it was still so magnificent, so perfectly modeled.
No mistake—absolutely no mistake.
At this moment, every viewer was certain that this Evil Beast was the grown-up version of a younger Yun Ruoxi.
“Wait, Evil Beast is Lao Xi? Then who is Ye Lan?”
“That face slap came fast. Not even a minute passed (dizzy).”
“The production team’s malice is too obvious. First, they throw out a smoke screen to make you think Ye Lan is Lao Xi, then they instantly drop the real Lao Xi and slap your face.”
“Why does Lao Xi have a tattoo? No! My favorite innocent loli!”
“Even with the tattoo, she’s still gorgeous, but I definitely prefer the original version of Lao Xi.”
“Well, she’s been corrupted. There have to be some changes.”
“Wait for the redemption arc—after that, the tattoo will probably disappear. This tattoo is likely a way for Dr. Forefinger to control Lao Xi.”
“After all, facial tattoos were a mark of criminals in ancient times. The production team’s little tricks are way too obvious.”
“Lao Xi appears in the second episode of the second season to capture Lao Zhen? This is so exciting!”
“The production team really knows how to get views and what we want to see!”
The audience was hyped about “Yun Ruoxi’s” appearance.
But Yun Ruoxi herself, who hadn’t yet had time to stir the pot with a fake account, was also surprised by this “Yun Ruoxi’s” debut.
Because—if she is Yun Ruoxi, then who am I?
A fake?
‘Oh no, I’ve become a substitute!’
Pushing aside all those cringey memes ingrained in her bones, Yun Ruoxi carefully stared at the one difference between this “Yun Ruoxi” and herself—that eerie vine pattern of spider lilies.
“This pattern is so familiar. Wait, isn’t this the creation of the Star Core [Twin Flowers]!”
Yun Ruoxi suddenly stood up in System Space.
Just as she had predicted, the anime’s camera had finally helped her uncover Dr. Forefinger’s backup plan against her.
The rough outline provided by the system wasn’t a perfect prediction of the future.
In her view, it was more like taking a fixed point in time as an anchor and performing a perfect simulation of the future based on a scenario where “from now on, Yun Ruoxi loses her system and returns to her original self.”
Therefore, once time moved past the anchor point, the plot would change drastically due to her actions.
The anchor point for the first season was the night of her clan’s extermination, which was not long after the story began, and her influence was very weak then, so the initial changes to the plot were minimal.
But by the second season, everything was different.
Not only had she become one of the most important actors on the dazzling stage of Starfall, but the rough outline’s anchor point had also been advanced significantly—it was issued just one year after the first season ended.
At that time, she was still in the Abyss of Death.
There were still four whole years until the second season began.
Even excluding the last two years when she was trapped in the abyss of death row and unable to exert any influence on the plot, she had still made a huge impact on the story two full years in advance.
Just like this Star Core [Twin Flowers], which wasn’t in the rough outline.
She had obtained this Star Core two years ago during a mission in the Negative Universe for the Saints’ hand society.
It could create a mirror image of any star-energy being up to Level 4.
Two beauties from one stem, twin flowers on a single stalk—one flower of light, one flower of darkness.
Exactly as Dr. Forefinger had named it: [Twin Flowers].
The mirror image, as the flower of darkness, was identical to the original flower of light in both strength and appearance.
Except… for personality.
The mirror image’s personality was the complete opposite of the original.
All good aspects turned bad; everything beloved became hated.
If a righteous star energy user were copied, the result would be an extremely evil duplicate.
But fortunately, through the Star Core’s main body, the original could forcibly control or destroy the clone.
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