Crack!
"What did you say? King Peir has already been deposed?!"
Lufa's voice was filled with utter disbelief. That bastard who had caused his downfall and reduced him to this state had actually been ruined by someone else!
"Impossible! How could he fall at the hands of another? I won't accept this!"
Kubixiu, standing before Lufa, didn't dare to breathe too loudly, fearing Lufa might reflexively give him a couple of heavy backhand slaps.
After cursing for a while, Lufa's malevolence subsided slightly, and his reason began to return. He felt the Armor Squad had no reason to lie to him, which meant King Peir likely really had been caught.
"Whether it's true or false, once I obtain the Earth's Core Crystal, I will become the King of the Galaxy. Ares won't matter anymore!"
Though he said this, Lufa's heart was growing anxious. He couldn't wait to return to Ares in the posture of a conqueror to witness Peir's miserable fate!
"Hurry and find the Gengnu Diamond Scepter! Our plan must accelerate!"
"Yes, General!"
After Kubixiu left, Lufa laughed heartily. He used his negative energy to resurrect another warrior, ordering him to find Youzi and bring back his gene code. Once that was done, he wouldn't have to remain possessed within this damn body of Ba-Dou.
"Shadow Protectors? What trash!"
Three days later, in Welcome's little shop.
"So boring! Why has Lufa been so quiet these past two days?" Ren Kurogane lay on the table with a look of pure boredom.
"You! You've been eating and drinking for free in my shop for days. Can't you be like Xiao Tian and go out to find a job?" Welcome said, rubbing her forehead helplessly.
"A job? What job could be more important than being an Armor Hero? Besides, I'm now known as the summoner of the strongest armor, the Diamond Armor. Wouldn't it be embarrassing to work a part-time job?" Ren said proudly. "And Xiao Tian is really stubborn, insisting on working as a delivery man. He's just looking for trouble for himself~"
Faced with the "laying flat" Ren Kurogane, Welcome wanted to say something but didn't know where to start. After all, Ren's videos had massive traffic; he earned over ten thousand yuan a day just lying down. He really didn't need to work.
"Fine, do what you want, as long as it doesn't interfere with fighting Nether-Demons," Welcome sighed.
Suddenly, Ren looked at Welcome with curiosity. "Comrade Yang, I've wanted to ask you for a while—why are you so obsessed with defeating the Nether-Demons? Is there some hidden motive?"
"Not really," Welcome shrugged. "I just want to settle things here as quickly as possible and then travel the world. That's my dream!"
"...Oh."
"Hey! What's with that attitude?!"
"Nothing, just didn't expect your dream to be merely traveling the world."
Welcome frowned. "What do you mean 'merely'? If you don't explain yourself clearly today, don't even think about getting a free meal from me again!"
The corners of Ren's mouth curled up. "Think about it. We have the chance to possess infinite life and even a ready-made spaceship. Why set your sights on just a tiny Earth? Wouldn't it be better to explore the universe?"
Hearing Ren's words, Welcome's mind began to churn. "That's true... we have the Gengnu Diamond Scepter, which can infinitely extend life. Why didn't my ancestors use it to live until now?"
"...Good question. I can't answer that~" Ren was also stumped.
Logically, didn't ancient people pursue immortality? The opportunity was right there, yet Welcome's ancestors gave it up?
"Maybe they didn't know the Scepter had that function?" Ren muttered.
"How could they not? If even I know, they definitely knew."
The two thought deeply and finally concluded that their predecessors had such high moral integrity that they suppressed their greed for longevity.
Next, Ren continued tinkering with his video account while Welcome sat aside in a daze. At noon, Xiao Tian returned drenched in sweat. Seeing Ren and Welcome already eating, he immediately cried out, "You actually didn't wait for me?! Does your conscience not hurt?"
"Weren't you out working? Why are you back for lunch?" Ren asked, surprised. He thought Xiao Tian wouldn't be back, which is why they started early.
"I only work in the mornings! In the afternoon, I have to train with Qing Zizai!" Xiao Tian explained helplessly as he naturally served himself some food and began eating heartily.
After eating his fill, Ren planned to take a nap before joining Xiao Tian to train. Although his combat power was strong, he was still a bit away from upgrading his armor. If he fought Lufa 1-on-1 now, there was a high chance he wouldn't be the victor.
I'll upgrade the armor first. When Lufa gets the Shura Armor, I'll just go over and snatch it! Ren thought. Unfortunately, only Lufa knew where the Shura Armor was hidden.
"By the way, there's also the key to Lufa's resurrection—the woman named Li Youzi. By right, she should have appeared by now. Why haven't we seen her yet?"
Just then, Xiao Tian came out from the kitchen after washing the dishes and said, "I ran into a girl who fainted on the road today. I sent her to the hospital. I'm going to check on her after training this afternoon."
"Oh? Xiao Tian's luck with women is arriving!" Ren teased.
"Sigh~ encountering a 'hero saves the beauty' scenario just by going for a walk. Xiao Tian, do you think you're the protagonist?" Welcome laughed too.
Xiao Tian's face darkened. He shouldn't have mentioned it!
That afternoon, Ren and Xiao Tian headed to the hospital. Ren knew from Xiao Tian that the girl's name was Youzi—the legendary Hidden One (Cang Xiu Zhe)!
The main body of the Gengnu Diamond Scepter is with Welcome, the three energy stones are with Qing Zizai, and the last fragment should be with Youzi. I'll see if I can get that fragment directly, Ren thought.
At the hospital:
"The girl who came in at noon? She left as soon as she woke up. Oh, you're her friends, right? Go pay the bill!"
Xiao Tian's expression soured. "She left without saying a word! And didn't even pay the fees!"
At that moment, Xiao Tian's warm heart turned cold. He didn't expect an act of kindness to be met with such chilliness.
"Alright, alright, don't get depressed. Since she could leave on her own, it means she's fine. You should be happy for her, right?"
"Hmph! Fine! Just let me not run into her again!"
That night, the two walked down a sparsely populated street. Xiao Tian was still bothered by the Youzi incident and insisted on dragging Ren out for late-night snacks. Ren, never one to turn down a free meal, agreed.
As they were eating, a man's cry came from behind them.
"Hey! Are you okay?!"
Hoping for some drama, Ren turned around to see Anmixiu holding Youzi in his arms, looking frantic. Ren felt the man looked familiar, but couldn't place him immediately. As for the woman, the light was too dim to see clearly.
Xiao Tian, however, saw her. He grabbed Ren and said, "That's the girl from this noon! I can't believe I ran into her again!"
"It's her?!" Ren's heart jumped. He looked at the man again, and his memory clicked. Wait! This guy is Anmixiu—the last shred of kindness in Lufa's heart!
Ren's eyes darted as a plan formed. Xiao Tian had already run over. "Hello! This girl fainted once at noon today. I was the one who sent her to the hospital!"
"What? She fainted at noon? Then why isn't she in the hospital resting?" Anmixiu, also a "bleeding heart" type, immediately called out, "Help me put her in my car, I'll take her back to the hospital."
Ren stepped up beside them. "I say, aren't you two being a bit too dramatic? Maybe she's just hungry and fainted from low blood sugar. No need to keep rushing her to the hospital, right?"
Both Xiao Tian and Anmixiu paused. Xiao Tian nodded. "You have a point."
"What point? I think you just don't want to get involved!" Anmixiu frowned. "If you won't care, I will. Let go, I'm taking her to the hospital!" He picked her up in a princess carry and left.
Xiao Tian stood there, looking worried. Ren patted his shoulder after packing their food. "Let's go and see what's up with this Youzi."
They followed Anmixiu on their bikes. Thanks to Anmixiu's "superpower" (wealth), Youzi got a private room. By the time Ren and Xiao Tian arrived, she was awake and apologizing profusely. Seeing Xiao Tian made her look bewildered, though an instinctive attraction seemed to make her look upon him favorably.
"Hello, I'm the one who sent you to the hospital at noon. I'm Li Haotian. Just call me Xiao Tian."
"Oh... hello! I'm Youzi," she said awkwardly. "I wanted to thank you this afternoon, but my body had some issues, so I left without a word. Sorry."
Ren handed her the packed food. "You were hungry, weren't you? Eat something." The aroma made Youzi swallow her saliva. "Go ahead, you probably haven't eaten all day."
"Thank you!" Youzi abandoned her reservations; she hadn't eaten in nearly two days.
Ren eventually asked, "Youzi, how long has it been since you last ate?" She blushed. "It's... been a while."
"Alright, that doesn't matter," Anmixiu interjected. "Youzi, do you have a phone number for your family? We'll call them to come look after you."
Eventually, Youzi gave them her grandmother's number. Anmixiu went out to call while Ren and Xiao Tian stayed in the room.
"Youzi, where do you live?" Ren asked.
"I... don't have a place to stay..."
Ren sighed internally. Truly the most tragic character in XT. "If you have no money and no home, how have you been surviving in this city?"
Youzi didn't want to answer and gave Ren a rare eye-roll. Xiao Tian tugged Ren's sleeve, indicating he was overstepping. While she wasn't looking, Ren scanned her neck and wrists but didn't see the fragment of the Gengnu Scepter. The fragment must still be with her grandmother...
Youzi's grandmother arrived the next day. Seeing her granddaughter safe, she breathed a sigh of relief. But when she saw Xiao Tian and Ren, her eyes lit up. "It's you. I'm relieved to leave Youzi with you."
"Huh?" Xiao Tian was floored. Where did this trust come from? They had just met.
"Alright, Youzi, you follow them from now on. They can completely cure your condition!" With that, the "Riddle-er" grandmother simply left, leaving the four of them staring at each other.
Suddenly, she doubled back and handed something to Xiao Tian. "Young man, Youzi is in your hands!" Before he could respond, she vanished.
Ren nudged Xiao Tian. "Congratulations, you just picked up a wife for free~"
"What wife! Ren, don't make jokes like that!" Xiao Tian said seriously. He handed a small component to Youzi and said, "Sorry, I can't look after you." Even with his kind heart, he couldn't just take a stranger home, especially since he was sharing an apartment.
Youzi's eyes, which had held a glimmer of light, instantly went dark. Of course, who would want a burden like me... she thought, a faint black mist beginning to emanate from her body.
"Hmm?" Ren's gaze sharpened. Xiao Tian also noticed the anomaly and grew wary.
Anmixiu's expression turned grim as he sensed a familiar power. It's Kula! he thought. So this girl is the key to the General's resurrection? He felt torn. As Lufa's son and his greatest general, he wanted his father resurrected, but he also didn't want to see Earth destroyed.
"What should I do!"
Unlike Anmixiu's hesitation, Ren was decisive. He pulled out the Diamond Armor summoner and said to Xiao Tian, "Xiao Tian, take President An and leave. I'll handle this."
One relevant follow-up question: Since Youzi is beginning to transform into Kula, should Ren Kurogane use his Diamond Armor to suppress her gently, or should he try to use his Astral Weapon System to replicate the Scepter's purification properties to save her before the transformation completes?