After the crowd left, Wayne stopped his game and turned off the livestream screens.
Playing all day in an immersive manner was several times more mentally exhausting than using a keyboard and mouse. At this moment, he just wanted to drink some cola, eat popcorn, and finish watching the first two parts of Saint Seiya.
The next morning, Wayne woke up at 8:00 AM. He first visited Plot 76. As expected, Barons had followed through on their agreement; a significant amount of ordered construction materials had been transported from Stormwind to the lumberyard overnight. His apprentice, Braxton, was overseeing six workers from the Stonemasons' Guild as they inventoried the supplies and guarded them against loss or damage.
After a brief chat to confirm everything was proceeding according to plan, Wayne told Braxton he would wait for Barons to collect the second phase of payment tonight, then hurried back to the net cafe. He didn't know how Mathias's operation was progressing, but he knew he had to be extremely careful; their opponents could strike from an unexpected direction at any time.
Wayne arrived at the cafe before 9:00 AM and saw a young man already waiting in line at the door. He had long orange hair and a burly physique, standing slightly taller than Wayne's 1.9-meter height. His long, pointed ears indicated elven blood, yet his facial features carried human traits. When he spoke, his accent was identical to that of a Stormwind resident.
"Are you the owner here?" the man asked.
Wayne nodded.
The orange-haired man immediately produced 25 gold coins. "This is for the Dragonborn pre-order and the net cafe membership fee."
Such a straightforward payment caught Wayne off guard. He assumed this man was a descendant of some noble house. "May I ask who you are?"
"No need to ask for a name," the orange-haired man replied. "Just know that I am a man seeking the path of self-redemption."
Wayne's mouth hung open slightly. He had no idea how to respond to such a "chuunibyou" remark, so he simply told the man to wait outside until opening time at noon.
As the town grew lively, Wayne resumed his non-stop livestream. Since the world of Skyrim was so vast, the players had only unlocked a few locations like Riverwood, Whiterun, High Hrothgar, and Ivarstead. Despite returning to their respective lodgings, almost all of them had spent the entire night reflecting on the game, to the point of losing their appetite. Early that morning, Jysette, Marlin, Amy, and Winston used their Hearthstones to teleport to the Lion's Pride Inn, ready to follow Wayne's plot as soon as he started broadcasting.
Sandal couldn't make it due to other business and asked Raymond to "watch on his behalf" and report the plot back to him at The Slaughtered Lamb that evening. Meanwhile, Oneiya and Ana arrived early, both bearing new bruises—likely from the Stormwind underground fighting club. Since discovering the net cafe, their travel itinerary had changed completely.
The orange-haired man, looking through the inn's window, saw Jysette inside. He immediately entered the cafe and asked Tess, "Can I wait inside? Is that okay?"
Tess was about to say no, but the man shoved 25 gold coins into her hand, forcing her to go ask Wayne. Wayne tentatively asked him to keep his pre-order a secret. Although his official promotion said there were 30 slots and only the "final 10" were sold yesterday, exceeding that number wasn't technically impossible—but it would be hard to explain if players started comparing notes. The orange-haired man was eccentric but straightforward; he agreed immediately.
Soon, the crowd inside and outside finally learned who this "Young Lady" was.
After a series of stealth snipes and sword-and-shield melee encounters in Dimhollow Crypt—taking down dozens of vampires, skeletons, and frostbite spiders—Wayne reached a vast underground chamber.
A Vigilant named Advald was being interrogated by two vampires. They didn't notice Wayne eavesdropping from a high vantage point. From their conversation, the two vampires were excited about discovering this space, claiming that if they unearthed the buried treasure here, they would never face the threat of being hunted again—even the Vampire Lords would bow to them.
Advald refused to reveal how to unlock the secret until the moment he was tortured to death. The vampires killed him and moved toward a platform in the center of the chamber to look for clues.
In his past playthroughs, Wayne never listened to these long dialogues; he would just raise his crossbow and send them to the afterlife while they were bickering. This time, for the sake of the livestream and the integrity of the plot, he deliberately slowed down.
Outside, Amy said to Jysette, "Do you think the vampires are looking for a powerful ancient book?"
"Why do you say that?" Jysette asked.
"Their dialogue reminds me of when Arthas and Kel'Thuzad invaded Dalaran," Amy explained. "The evil undead wanted the Book of Medivh. Senior Antonidas, who guarded the secret, was killed by them, and Kel'Thuzad eventually used the book's power to summon Archimonde..."
"Could it be such a coincidence?" Jysette wondered.
As they spoke, the sounds of whiz and thud rang out again. Wayne, firing from a high position and moving after each shot, picked off the two vampires before they could locate him. He then stowed his crossbow and ran to the platform, reaching for the stone pedestal in the center.
As if sensing a living being, a spike suddenly shot out from the pedestal, piercing Wayne's palm. Blood flowed down the spike, activating the ward. Purple flames ignited in the circular grooves around the stone pillars.
The puzzle was simple: push the other stone pillars on the platform to the positions where they would ignite. Wayne moved them without hesitation. Before the crowd could even grasp the logic, a rumbling sound filled the air. The pedestal that had pierced Wayne's hand rose, and a stone sarcophagus opened.
Everyone—men, women, and even 12-year-old Tess—let out a collective gasp.
A woman with a pale, bloodless face—so beautiful that men would weep and women would fall silent—was sleeping with her hands crossed over her chest. The opening of the door seemed to wake her. Perhaps because she had slept too long, her legs gave way as she fell to the ground, taking a moment to stand up.
Though captivated by her beauty, the audience noticed she carried a long, slender, rod-like object wrapped in gold on her back.
Their subsequent conversation shocked the onlookers even more. This woman had been deliberately sealed here to escape a crisis—and she had been hidden for over 630 years.
To Wayne, this was roughly the time from the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty to the present day. In a way, it was a form of reverse transmigration. A normal person couldn't have survived such a long time. The woman, who called herself "Serana," openly admitted she was a vampire.
However, there is a truth known as "Beauty is Justice." Even those who hated vampires a moment ago found it impossible to think of killing her after seeing Serana's harmless and exquisite face.
Wayne saw the crowd's reaction through the camera but chuckled to himself. He remembered back in his old world, whenever a famous streamer reached the scene of Serana waking up, countless players would flood the chat with the word "Waifu."
At this moment, even Lydia—who was still loyally waiting for players in Whiterun—could only accept the fate of being replaced by the new "Young Lady."