After Favorability Is Maxed

207 The Knot in the Little Puppet’s Heart

Liu Yuan turned over and stood up, helping He Qingmeng up without interrupting Hong Luan’s question.

He glanced at Hong Luan’s expression which was filled with anticipation and apprehension. Her small hand gently pinched the corner of her clothes, but on the surface, the little puppet was still very calm. Her expression was indifferent, and she maintained it well.

She did not look like the little robot that failed in basic housework. She would fall to the ground even as she was sweeping the floor in the tomb.

… It’s true.

!!

When they first met, the little puppet was wearing an apron that looked like a maid’s uniform. She had a broom and a lamp in her hand, just like a little maid in a tomb, diligent and conscientious.

However, as a player, Liu Yuan had seen more than one time when the little puppet kept breaking the burial decorations in the Martial Emperor cave’s tomb while cleaning up the dungeon. She would then secretly collect them and repair them.

Not to mention, he had also maxed out the little puppet’s favorability.

This puppet was a typical appearance deception.

On the surface, she looked like a household robot that was a must for home and travel, but in fact, she was so clumsy that she did not even know how to sweep the floor.

She was even worse than Liu Yuan’s inferior life skills!

Liu Yuan even suspected that even if no players or other NPCs discovered this place, the little puppet might gradually destroy the Martial Emperor’s tomb in the process of cleaning it up thousands of years later, leaving no trace behind.

The players called Hong Luan ‘The Last Rozen Maiden’ because, one, the Puppeteer was dead and a puppet like her was out of production. Two, it was a joke made by the group of older players about a puppet character in an ancient anime.

The little puppet’s usual expressionless appearance, small body, delicate face, and a hint of mystery and indifference because it stayed in the dark tomb chamber were very similar to the puppet named Rozen Maiden.

However, this was only because she had not spoken to anyone for a long time. In fact, the little puppet’s heart was very soft and eager for love, unlike Zhiying, who was a real stoic.

“Head north and you’ll see the exit.” Liu Yuan muttered in his heart and reached out to touch the horns on Chuichui’s head — Because she had transformed into a dragon, the concept of Chuichui’s ‘head’ had become particularly big.

However, Zhizhi might not be able to hold on. Without the support of spiritual energy, even if they went out now, if the Three-headed Heavenly Demon caught up, it would be equivalent to changing the map and continuing to fight with it. In this way, they would always be at a disadvantage, because they had no way to obtain spiritual energy, while the demons could use demonic Qi.

The system of the demon race was different from that of human beings. If they were in the Demon Realm, they did not need to touch the slightest spiritual power. However, because they wanted to come to the human world, they were like deep-sea fish coming to the land. The pressure was not right, so they had to bring a shell, which was the human skin.

And when using humans, one must follow the structure of the human body and use a part of spirit energy to maintain the body, so there would also be restrictions to a certain extent.

However, compared to the few Immortal cultivators here, it was already quite free.

Therefore, logically speaking, the few of them could not defeat the Three-headed Heavenly Demon at all. Didn’t you see that even the Martial Emperor had decisively run away?

“This won’t do…”

As they had already left the white jade palace, Chuichui was flying quite high. Liu Yuan looked into the distance and saw a vast sky blue.

This Secret Realm was really a little big.

A Martial Emperor was indeed a Martial Emperor. To be able to control such a Secret Realm back then, his cultivation base must be terrifying.

Liu Yuan felt that it was not strange for Hong Luan to ask a Martial Emperor questions. After all, as a ‘creator’, although Hong Luan was very different from puppet, she was closer to people and had self-awareness from the beginning. She always hoped to get some acknowledgment.

Compared to the demon race, at least the latter was still a living being. On the other hand, Hong Luan seemed to be simply excluded from the category of living beings. When interacting with humans, she would indeed feel a sense of strangeness and insecurity.

If she wanted to seek comfort and an answer, the best path was to find the person who had created her, the person she had always known and looked forward to.

Their status was similar to that of his parents, the Martial Emperor He Junhao and his wife the Puppeteer.

Hong Luan’s question was simple. Martial Emperor nodded. “Of course I remember. You are Ah Jing’s proud work, and also her final work. After finishing you, she and I were killed.”

Killed?

Liu Yuan noticed the meaning of this word. It meant to be persecuted by a disaster.

It seemed like the death of Martial Emperor and the Puppeteer back then was indeed a big problem.

So the Puppeteer’s name is Ah Jing.

Martial Emperor’s tone was still calm, but he looked at Hong Luan with a gentle and kind gaze. “It’s been so many years, and you’ve been guarding the tomb. Thank you… for your hard work.”

Hong Luan shook her head, her eyes curving into crescents as she revealed a smile, like a child being praised by her parents. “It’s not hard.”

She was probably very happy, or perhaps even relieved.

Even in front of a Martial Emperor, Liu Yuan was not polite at all. He reached out and touched Hong Luan’s head and said in a deep voice, “Senior Martial Emperor, what do you mean by the strange beasts in the Secret Realm and the demons? Can you take the opportunity to tell me?”

Hong Luan turned around to look at him and clingily grabbed the corner of his clothes.

She had been worried about this for many years, and now she could finally let it go.

Martial Emperor, who had the appearance of ‘Tang Yuanhua’, was silent for a moment. Then, he opened his mouth and simply told the truth that no one had ever asked about.

Similar to Liu Yuan’s guess, the Martial Emperor had achieved great success in the past. After experiencing the loneliness of being at the top, he began to think about how to help more mortals achieve success.

He was a miracle that could not be replicated, but there were many things he could do. Therefore, the young and vigorous Martial Emperor decided to start researching cultivation techniques.

He wanted to change the aptitude of mortals so that they would no longer have to suffer from this natural injustice.

This was no doubt a great idea.

If it was in the modern world, it would be a big project that would benefit the people for a long time.

At the same time, his wife, the Puppeteer, also had a dream, which was to create a perfect human who had a full understanding of the human body.

Thus, the couple hit it off and began to do their own things.

“But in the end, it was still exposed.” The Martial Emperor looked at the Secret Realm that had changed beyond recognition with the passage of time.

The strange beasts were indeed their experimental subjects, as well as the demon beast race. At that time, the human race and the demon beast race were in a delicate balance, and the Martial Emperor’s actions were undoubtedly the fuse.

The most important thing was that his research on the cultivation method to change one’s aptitude touched the interests of those Immortal cultivators who used their innate talent as capital.

This had directly led to him and his wife being hunted down and eventually killed.

“What about the demon race?” Liu Yuan asked.

Martial Emperor turned around and looked at the palace. “I’ve thought about it for a long time and decided to capture one alive for research. The people before me didn’t dare to do so because they were afraid of being possessed. But I’m not afraid.”