“What the hell, making Xiao Xi fight Xiao Ai?!”
“Fine, fine, so this is how the writers want to play it, huh? Don’t you want your mother anymore?”
“Classic, absolute classic! Just one epic episode, and now they’re tormenting Xiao Xi again.”
It seemed intentional. As Aili stepped onto the battlefield, the other contenders from the remaining compartments took their places one after another.
The camera swiftly cut across, showing the mortal enemies facing off against the main characters on screen.
Lin Zhen faced off against the freckled boy who always hung an arm around his shoulder, joking with him.
Zijiu’s opponent was the tall girl she always trained with side by side.
Kaios and Yun Che stood silently, staring each other down.
Anvil had the tiny girl in front of him, always laughing at his clumsiness.
The former 0003, now numbered 0008, a mixed-blood boy, stood face-to-face with the dazzling blond 0002.
And 0001’s opponent was the white-haired boy, 0003, whose beliefs aligned closely with his own.
Without exception, every opponent was a roommate they’d lived with day in and day out, each sharing a strong bond.
Except Yun Ruoxi.
She alone seemed targeted, or perhaps the camp had noticed that her relationship with 319 wasn’t very good.
So, they switched her opponent to Aili.
“This is truly sick from the training camp, making close friends slaughter each other—what good does this do for them?”
“Damn, I’ve been fooled—this isn’t a hot-blooded show, it’s a healing one!”
“Old Xu, is that you? Someone hold him down, quick!”
“Where’s that promised ‘Xiao Xi cool and handsome’ warning? Liar!”
The camera returned to focus on the maze’s compartments.
Aili seemed unable to accept the reality, as if every ounce of strength had been drained from her. She collapsed softly to her knees, tears splattering onto the cold ground.
No one knew when.
By then, Yun Ruoxi had already walked to her side, gently pulling the trembling body into her embrace.
Though she herself had bitten her lip till it bled, tears and snot streaming down her face more miserably than anyone, she still did her duty as an older sister.
She stroked Aili’s head, comforting her in a soft whisper.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry, it’s not our fault…”
Cold tears fell onto Aili’s head, dampening her well-kept hair—thanks to Yun Ruoxi’s care.
Aili, shaking, took a comb from her pocket.
She gently caressed it with both hands, as if she could feel the warmth of long-lost memories within.
“Meeting you, big sister, is the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to Xiao Ai in this life.”
She cupped the comb in both hands, slowly raising it.
“What… what are you saying?” Yun Ruoxi looked at her, a look of terror in her eyes.
She tried to pull away from Aili, but Aili gripped her slender, delicate wrist tightly.
Yun Ruoxi, who could easily overpower Aili any other time, now showed a flash of pain on her face, unable to break free from those trembling hands.
“Without you, big sister, I would’ve died long ago in the Misty Forest.”
Aili forcibly shoved the comb into Yun Ruoxi’s hand, then tore open her own collar, lifting her head to expose her slender neck.
The light shone down on her tear-stained, smiling face, like a white flower battered by sudden rain.
“Please, big sister… kill me.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?!” Yun Ruoxi gripped the comb so hard it creaked.
Her breathing became rapid and erratic, her gaze unfocused as if she’d witnessed something unbearable.
“Xiao Ai, I won’t let you die, do you hear me? No one is allowed to die, not you, not anyone, not a single one of you, not—not—not!”
“I won’t allow it!” she screamed out the last three words, suddenly hurling the comb into the distance.
Aili was shoved back by the sudden outburst, stumbling and falling to the ground.
Ignoring the pain.
Her gaze followed the comb as it flew. Watching as the cherished memento crashed onto the floor—
Crack!
A close-up: the wooden comb splintered on impact.
“Big sister…” Aili’s eyes filled with panic, her voice quivering with fear. Staring at Yun Ruoxi, who was gasping violently, she suddenly raised her voice:
“Please don’t be as willful as Xiao Ai!”
“Both of them have completely broken down… I can’t breathe watching this.”
“Sigh, my heart hurts, I waited a week just to watch this? Truly, production team, you have a way.”
“I can’t take it, Xiao Xi’s crying is breaking my heart.”
“Are you going to make me, the younger sister, kill my big sister with my own hands? How can you be so selfish!”
Aili screamed in terror, utterly broken.
She collapsed to her knees, crying with all her might: “As your younger sister… can’t you let me do it, just this once, one last time?”
“I beg you, please, please, kill me!”
She crawled, clutching Yun Ruoxi’s legs, burying her face in that familiar fabric, trembling, begging as hard as she could.
This girl, just eleven years old, who once treasured the older sister that fate had given her, was now more terrified than ever. She didn’t even have the courage to raise her weapon and face Yun Ruoxi head-on.
After a long silence, Yun Ruoxi, suddenly calm after her outburst, slowly crouched down.
Backlit.
She gave Aili the gentle smile she’d seen countless times before:
“I won’t kill you, and you won’t kill me. I’ll take you away from here.”
“R-really?” Aili looked up, yet her heart pounded with inexplicable dread.
There was something off about her big sister in this moment.
“Yes.” Yun Ruoxi nodded softly, then whispered: “I’m sorry.”
“Wha—”
Aili hadn’t reacted yet.
The blue-haired girl suddenly reached out, seized Aili’s neck, and slammed her brutally to the floor.
Bang!
Aili groaned in pain as the alloy ground caved beneath her.
Yun Ruoxi quickly flipped over, sitting astride Aili and smashed her fist into her face.
Then another punch followed.
Bang, bang, bang!
Yun Ruoxi pummeled away in silence, like a machine, her eyes icy cold.
With each dull blow, the blonde girl’s cheek swelled and burst, blood oozing from the corner of her mouth.
Yet she was smiling—smiling radiantly.
Of course, her big sister was still her big sister, always the one who could forgive her, no matter what.
This sin, she could never bear on her own…
But her big sister, if it was the big sister who had always encouraged her from the very beginning—
She’d be able to carry it.
I’m sorry, I was too weak, too selfish… Aili swallowed the metallic taste in her throat, her smile growing—ever more brilliant.
She was waiting for death to come.
The hyperdimensional audience listened to Aili’s inner monologue and, in an instant, felt so much more for this girl who barely got any screen time, who had seemed just like Xiao Xi’s little tag-along.
This was anything but a stock character.
She was truly alive!
“This smile hurts even more than crying!”
“Every punch is right on my tear ducts!”
“Xiao Xi’s hand is bleeding but she’s still hitting… she must be hurting even more than Aili…”
Swish!
The final punch hovered in midair.
Yun Ruoxi stared at her own split and battered right hand, then looked at Aili’s bloodied but still-smiling face.
In the end, the punch never landed.
Scalding tears broke free from her eyes, falling onto Aili’s blood-stained cheek.
Yun Ruoxi suddenly leapt off Aili, punching furiously into the empty air.
Blood sprayed from her cracked knuckles.
“Behemoth, Radiance, Black Mountain, Overlord… and all of you watching from behind those monitors… Forcing us to slaughter each other—is this the show you wanted to see?!”
The girl spat on the empty ground, pointing her mangled right hand at Aili.
“But does she deserve this? Do you think she deserves this?”
Aili struggled up, clutching her face. “Big sister, you—”
“Shut up!” Yun Ruoxi snapped.
“A trash with a number in the six thousands— even if you sealed my five senses, I could crush her with a finger!”
She tilted her head back, sneering into the void.
“This is your so-called ultimate showdown? A sick slaughter show just to satisfy some twisted voyeuristic urge?”
“If that’s all there is, then you’re… honestly, you’re way duller and more pathetic than I imagined.”
Blood smeared across her lips, she curled them in a mocking smile.
“But as the heiress of the Yelan Family, I saw through your tricks long ago.”
Suddenly, Instructor Behemoth’s voice rang out, “Let’s hear it, then.”
Yun Ruoxi squeezed out several words from her throat.
“The more savage, the stronger. The closer we are to our true selves, the easier it is to awaken.”
After a moment’s silence, another voice sounded—one she’d never heard before, but young.
“Go on.”
“You made us eat raw meat, walk barefoot, fight like beasts in the jungle—all to push us back into savagery. Forcing us to kill our dearest friends, just to squeeze out our true selves in the throes of extreme emotion.”
Yun Ruoxi laid bare the entire purpose behind the training camp’s actions over the past year.
“Brilliant.” The young voice was laced with praise. “Did you figure it out, or did the Yelan Family tell you?”
“I thought the camp was just running some porridge shop, but it turns out there’s this much depth.”
“So Yelan, that’s Xiao Xi’s family?”
“Damn, Xiao Xi looks silly, but she’s seen through everything already.”
“She’s not silly at all, she’s clearly brilliant.”
“Back then, the Empire’s Star Energy Administration had people from our Yelan Family. I suspected before, but it was only just now that I finally confirmed your true objective!”
Yun Ruoxi mixed truth and lies as she spoke.
The camp had changed the script, so she had to change her plan too.
As one of the ten great noble families, even as a new one, Yelan had its influence spread throughout the Empire’s institutions.
She wasn’t afraid for the camp to look into her claims.
No matter what, she had to get Xiao Ai out alive.
“But now that you know, with a seed of doubt in your heart, it’ll be impossible to dig out your true self. You have no further value to us. So what do you plan to do?”
The camera suddenly cut to the control room, lingering on Instructor Behemoth’s silent, stern face.
Then it settled on Dr. Forefinger.
He watched Yun Ruoxi on the monitor, his face filled with admiration, yet his words brimming with mockery.
No Overlord, has he already left…
Yun Ruoxi glanced at the upper right corner, confirming what she needed through the anime’s display.
She suddenly raised her bloodied right hand high:
“Because I’m powerful!” she shouted. “During the first phase assessment, you must have seen me wield my bloodline’s power!”
“The blood of Yelan surges in me! I’m stronger than all the camp’s trainees, closer to awakening than anyone! Just give me pressure, and I’ll awaken!”
“Come on, give me a real trial! I’ll show you what a true genius is!”
“What you crave… has always been a monster who can shatter all shackles, something beyond common sense, isn’t that right?”
“Cool, Xiao Xi, so cool!”
“So domineering! This is the aura only a woman who can beat 0003 with one punch can have!”
“Catman: You call that polite? It’s been a year and you still bring it up.”
“So, you’re saying… you’re even stronger than 0001?” Dr. Forefinger asked with interest.
“I once fought 0001 to a standstill, and I’ve defeated a Cyborg.”
Yun Ruoxi’s voice echoed through the empty field.
“Very well. You’ve piqued my interest. I always knew you had potential, little one.” Dr. Forefinger turned to Instructor Behemoth. “Can the annual assessment be changed?”
“It can.” Instructor Behemoth nodded.
Dr. Forefinger, satisfied, gave his instructions. “Then go arrange it. I’d indeed rather see… a performance that brings out even more potential.”
Hearing this, the instructors—including Behemoth—also revealed cruel smiles.
“In fact, that’s what we had in mind as well.”
They always wanted a good show, the messier, the better.
This annual assessment, prepared for Yun Ruoxi, had grown a bit too stale by now anyway.
Even without the doctor’s order, they’d have agreed to Yun Ruoxi’s request.
“As you wish, Yun Ruoxi!” For the first time, Instructor Behemoth called out a trainee by name.
Yun Ruoxi felt the weight in her heart lift.
She’d bet right.
Since 0001 could get intel out of the camp with nothing but the word “interesting”, then she could use the same logic to make the camp break the rules for her.
This was her spur-of-the-moment plan.
Though there were many uncertainties.
But success is success.
No matter what difficulties the altered assessment might bring.
With her ability to draw on popularity and rapidly boost her strength, she would never lose to any opponent.
Because she was never fighting alone.
Behind her stood billions of hyperdimensional viewers—their love for her was her endless source of strength!
“Come! I’ll prove everything!”
Yun Ruoxi declared, chin up, casting Aili a reassuring look.
Aili gazed, stunned, at the blue-haired girl raising her right hand high.
So all along, her big sister hitting her, scolding her, arguing with the instructors—it was all for her.
Her big sister had never once given up on her.
Even in the most desperate moment, her big sister never stopped searching for hope.
To have such a big sister—she really was lucky.
“Thank you, big sister.” She broke into an ugly, swollen but heartfelt smile.
“Touching!”
“We’re only five minutes into the episode, and Aili and Xiao Xi’s characters have truly come alive.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget the stardust now.”
“Legendary episode. Truly legendary.”
In this moment, the sisterly bond between Aili and Yun Ruoxi was etched deeply in the hearts of many viewers—a memory that would not fade for years to come.
“From now on, 219, your annual assessment has changed.” Behemoth’s voice echoed from all directions.
“Since you call yourself powerful, then take 6145 and fight through every enemy in front of you—bring her out of the maze!”
Before the words faded.
The alloy walls around the compartment began to shift and retract, expanding the space more than fivefold.
Nearly a hundred new passages appeared as the walls moved.
Yun Ruoxi carefully lifted Aili, shielding her in her embrace.
Da-da-da-da-da—
Dense footsteps echoed from deep within the corridors as figure after figure slowly entered the compartment.
The camera panned back.
Yun Ruoxi and Aili stood alone in the center of the arena.
Facing them, more than a hundred trainees steadily closed in.
They seemed to have received orders in advance, gathering together, their eyes complex as they stared at the two young girls.