Wayne woke up to find himself lying on the bed in his fourth-floor bedroom of the net cafe. The clock on the wall had just passed 2:00. Beside him, Tess was slumped over the table, her head and back covered by a jacket, clearly dozing off. Seeing the young girl like this, it was obvious she had been looking after him for a long time, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.
However, as the sunlight from the window hit his eyes, a wave of dizziness washed over his brain.
Wayne didn't make a sound to wake her, instead silently watching her while recalling the recent events.
During those three days, he had been pondering why Chromie insisted on staying at the cafe. The answer was simple: wherever a Bronze Dragon appeared, it was always related to the timeline. Specifically, it was the part of the timeline he was about to change—the moment where Marshal Windsor was supposed to be killed by Onyxia.
But Wayne could never figure out exactly what Chromie would do to stop him. To this day, he still didn't know that Chromie had actually used time magic on him multiple times to probe his motives and correct the timeline.
It was just that those spells had been silently neutralized by Wayne's immunity, leaving him completely unaware.
Ultimately, still unable to guess Chromie's move, he decided to repeat his old trick: luring the Bronze Dragon into a game world that belonged only to him and trapping her there.
In truth, achieving this wasn't too difficult.
Although the abilities of a Bronze Dragon were very different from those of a Black Dragon, Chromie's combat strength was clearly not on the same level as Onyxia's. If they fought as they had against Onyxia—within an illusion created by the net cafe, joined by Chen, Amy, Li Li, and Tess—it wouldn't be hard to severely injure Chromie and render her immobile using their combined strength and the powerful abilities available in the game environment.
However, such a reckless move as crippling a Bronze Dragon would be equivalent to declaring war on the entire Bronze Dragonflight.
So this time, he couldn't simply create a virtual combat arena like the "Schrade Castle" from before. If they just tried to stall for time in combat without hurting her, the five of them would never outlast a dragon, even in a game illusion.
After all, she was a dragon.
The five of them were still mortals. Even someone as powerful as Chen Stormstout would suffer greatly if he only defended without attacking.
Based on his experience with Heroes of Might and Magic III and Saint Seiya, Wayne had found his own inspiration.
It came from Saga, the Gemini Gold Saint who disguised himself as the Pope. His ultimate techniques, "Another Dimension" and the "Demon Emperor's Fist," were designed to either cast a target into another dimension or control their spirit.
Thus, Wayne planned to use a phantom Stormwind to waste Chromie's time. When the battle reached a stalemate, he would use the "Phoenix Illusion Demon Fist" (inspired by the technique) to trigger Chromie's internal psychological struggle.
However, Wayne hadn't anticipated one thing: unlike his previous illusion of "Schrade Castle," which was a scene from the unlocked game Monster Hunter G, Stormwind was not part of any currently unlocked game in the cafe.
Therefore, it couldn't be sustained simply by the electricity from the vending machine.
The nature of this illusory Stormwind depended entirely on the city Wayne had seen after transmigrating and the version he remembered from the online game in his head.
The cost was paid with his own mental energy and life force.
To put it bluntly, Chromie had been trapped within Wayne's thoughts. The Stormwind he imagined was visually identical to the real one, but it couldn't possibly contain thousands of unique residents. Thus, Anduin, Bolvar, and the guards were merely NPCs from the online game stored in his memory.
This was why, as time passed, Wayne couldn't hold on, eventually coughing up blood from the severe strain.
While the vending machine still had power, his brain had reached its limit. Fortunately, the plan was complete.
Scanning the room, he saw it had been tidied up neatly. A letter lay on the nightstand by his bed. He picked it up gently and opened it. The letter read:
"My most respected Baron of Goldshire:
Writing this now, words cannot describe the intensity of the gratitude in my heart. A person whose name cannot appear in a letter like this has roughly told me of the plan he made with your Excellency. He stated that my escape from my original tragic destiny was entirely due to your resourcefulness and fearlessness.
Given the injuries I sustained in Blackrock Depths, the King—or rather, the two Kings your Excellency had already anticipated—did not have me board the naval fleet bound for the Theramore expedition.
However, from the mouths of other benefactors who also saved my life, I have heard countless times of the wonder and magic of your net cafe.
I look forward to visiting your cafe at the earliest opportunity once your Excellency has recovered, and becoming a lifetime member.
I know this still cannot express even a fraction of my gratitude.
With highest regards..."
This letter, filled with humility and gratitude, made Wayne very happy.
Though the process had been difficult, he knew his actions were worth it. With such a loyal Alliance Marshal—one who would risk death to track the truth even while being misunderstood—the Alliance would gain significant help against the two threats deep in Blackrock Mountain and the soon-to-arrive Naxxramas.
Just as Wayne tucked the letter back and tried to climb out of bed, Li Li pushed the door open, carrying a bowl of food.
"Yo! You're finally awake!" Li Li was overjoyed to see him sitting up. "I'll go get Uncle right away!"
She set down the bowl and ran out.
Tess, who was leaning over the table, heard the noise and lifted her head. The jacket covering her slid down. Wayne looked at her and thought his earlier sentimentality had been for nothing.
The girl wasn't dozing off; she was wearing the VR glasses and playing games. He had been afraid of waking her, yet she was in the heat of battle, unwilling to waste a single second of game time.
"Finally awake, huh?" Tess took off the glasses, walked over, and patted Wayne on the shoulder. "Go take a shower, you stink."
Wayne thought: You little...
As he sat up, he felt sore all over, as if he had been taken apart and put back together. He asked Tess how long he had been asleep. She told him it wasn't that long—from the time he collapsed yesterday afternoon until now, a bit less than 24 hours.
His physical injuries had been healed by Shadowbreaker's "Lay on Hands," but Marlin and Amy had said his mental exhaustion could only be cured by rest and sleep.
Tess and Li Li had taken turns staying with him, while Chen and Raymond looked after the shop downstairs. She also told Wayne he had been talking in his sleep.
When Wayne asked what he said, Tess replied, "I only heard you saying something like, 'Split the gold by groups... calculate the total clearly... subsidies for the idiots... pay your fines quickly...' It actually rhymed."
Wayne realized he must have been dreaming about "GDK" gold-distribution raids from his days playing World of Warcraft.
"Oh! And you kept repeating two words!" Tess added.
"Which two?"
"Ce na!" (A Shanghainese profanity).
Wayne: "..."
Tess told him that because no one understood what he was mumbling, they asked Chen to listen. Chen insisted that Wayne's mention of "splitting gold" (fen jin) must refer to the Monk skill "Paralysis" (fen jin cuo gu - literally 'splitting tendons and shifting bones'), and that he must have some blockage that needed his meridians cleared.
So, Chen had used his "bone-shifting" techniques to massage Wayne's entire body from head to toe.
Wayne thought: No wonder every part of me hurts...
As they chatted, they heard the stairs vibrating outside, as if a large group was running up.
"Old Miller! How are you!" Shadowbreaker was the first to burst in. Behind him were Chen, Raymond, Arator, and the others, though McBride and his group were still absent.
Seeing how much everyone cared, Wayne felt touched. He scratched his head and said, "I'm fine... just a bit dizzy. I'll be okay after moving around a bit."
Shadowbreaker breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great! But Miller, I took a quest in Windhelm. A kid set up candles and a skull, saying he wanted to summon the Dark Brotherhood. I helped him kill that evil orphanage headmistress, but then I got a letter with a bloody handprint and nothing else happened. What do I do now?"
Wayne: "This..."
Before he could finish, Raymond added, "Yes, yes! Teacher! We're fighting Dah'ren Mohran, but we keep missing with the Dragonator. Come teach me how to aim."
Wayne: "You..."
Arator interrupted from the back. "Miller just woke up, and you're all in a hurry to ask these questions? Let him rest."
Wayne thought: Finally, someone speaking sense. At least one person has a conscience.
Arator's next sentence was: "Miller, ignore them. After you rest, remember to be the first to teach me how to beat Harkon. He keeps flying up to that blood-drain platform to heal; I feel like I can never kill him."
Wayne ranted internally: I almost lost my life, and you lot are only thinking about games... Dammit, I'm raising the prices!
At this point, even Chen couldn't take it anymore. He stood at the door to block the crowd. "Let him rest a bit longer and eat something. The games aren't going anywhere. As long as he isn't dead, he'll teach you eventually."
The crowd nodded and reluctantly headed back downstairs.