At night, in an apartment in the Bronx, New York:
"Hey hey! Brother Dawei! I'm back again!!"
Damian climbed in through the window as if he knew the place well—his leg still dangling outside—and immediately started shouting into the apartment.
Once inside, he cheerfully lit a mosquito coil before the black-and-white portrait of Dawei Qiu, then set about washing up and preparing dinner.
It was already late, and Damian was too lazy to cook anything elaborate, so he pulled out his backup "hidden energy source": instant noodles.
Though they tasted like Geng Shuaibo's old-style pickled cabbage flavor, they were still better than "white people's food."
After finishing his meal, Damian sat before Dawei Qiu's portrait. On the floor lay three kinds of incense—Buddhist incense, Tibetan incense, and three sticks of regular incense. He muttered:
"Brother Dawei, please forgive me! It's not that I don't want to offer you proper food—it's just force majeure.
"The freighter carrying your ingot candles was fine, but the cruise ship I was on sank! The shipping company saw no one had come to claim the package for days, so they just towed everything back.
"So, Dawei, bear with it for a few more days. Think of it as trying foreign food—extra spicy!"
After muttering this, Damian sank his consciousness inward and entered the glowing orb in his mind.
"Rough Stone: 180"
He glanced at the number of raw stones on the virtual screen and nodded in satisfaction.
With a flick of his hand—poof!—it was all gone.
Swish!
A dazzling light flashed before his eyes.
> Rewards:
> Character Card ×1
> Item Card ×1
> Bubble Orange ×11
> Windwheel Aster ×5
---
Character Card: [Xiao]
- Eye of God: Anemo
- Fate Seat: Golden-Winged Peng Throne
Introduction:
Xiao is one of Liyue's oldest "Three-Eyed Five-Manifested Immortals," also known as the "Great Guardian Yaksha General" or "Great Sage Subduing Demons." Though over two thousand years old, he retains the appearance of a teenager.
During the ancient Demon War, he was enslaved by a malevolent god and forced to commit countless atrocities, devouring the dreams of his victims to empower the demon. This dark chapter left him burdened with pain and guilt.
Later, the Geo Archon Morax defeated the demon and freed Xiao. Out of gratitude and a desire for atonement, Xiao forged a covenant with Morax, becoming a Yaksha tasked with eradicating demonic remnants and evil spirits in Liyue.
He once fought alongside four other Yakshas, but the relentless battles gradually corrupted them with karmic backlash. Three went mad and perished, one vanished, and only Xiao remained.
To this day, he continues his solitary duty, appearing wherever evil stirs in Liyue—but each battle deepens the torment of his accumulated karma.
Though few know of his sacrifice, he honors the ancient pact, silently safeguarding Liyue's peace.
Xiao is reserved and taciturn, keeping others at a distance to avoid harming them through his karmic affliction. He is lonely—but not cold. He simply hides his emotions.
He particularly enjoys almond tofu; its taste reminds him of the souls he was once forced to consume—a bittersweet echo of a past he cannot escape.
---
Weapon: [Moonpiercer]
- Rarity: ★★★★
- Type: Polearm
- Base ATK: 565
- Secondary Stat: Physical DMG Bonus +34.5%
Passive Skill – Infusion Needle:
After the wielder picks up an Elemental Orb or Particle, their Normal and Charged Attacks deal an additional 40% of ATK as DMG for 5 seconds.
---
Item: [Bubble Orange]
Grows in warm, humid, sunny climates. Beneath its round rind lies hidden sweetness.
Effect: Restores a small amount of HP.
Item: [Windwheel Aster]
A flower that thrives in the wind. To the people of Mondstadt—who revere the wind and embody its freedom—the Windwheel Aster is "the wind made visible."
Effect: None.
---
When Damian saw the [Xiao] Character Card, he leapt to his feet, scrambled around the room like a mad dog, and let out a series of ecstatic yelps.
"Ahhh—YES! I won! AHAHAHAHA—!!!"
After shouting for a while, Damian took out two boxes of mosquito coils from the cabinet again and said proudly:
"Brother Dawei, let's have an extra meal tonight! I'll buy you a few more varieties of mosquito coils tomorrow."
———————
The night sky over Washington, D.C., was streaked by the searchlights of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
Coulson—the hardworking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and self-proclaimed coffee machine connoisseur—stepped down from the Quinjet, the folds of his suit still damp from the Caribbean Sea.
He rubbed his sore eyes, and as soon as he looked up, he saw Nick Fury standing at the edge of the tarmac, hands clasped behind his back, his single eye glinting coldly in the night.
"Director."
Coulson quickly stepped forward and saluted.
Nick Fury gave a slight nod, turned, and walked toward the headquarters building, saying calmly:
"Tell me about the Argo's findings."
The two men passed through three encrypted gates, their footsteps echoing in the empty corridor.
Coulson immediately pulled out his tactical tablet and reported:
"According to the wreck analysis from the salvage team, there were twenty-three penetrating wounds on the port side of the Argo. The wounds were irregularly jagged, and high concentrations of protease residue were detected along the edges.
"The VDR—voyage data recorder—footage shows that half an hour before the sinking, the sonar picked up a contact signal from an object over sixty meters in length.
"Satellite thermal imaging indicates an abnormally cold zone, roughly two hundred meters in diameter, appeared in the area at the time of the incident."
Hearing this, Nick Fury paused briefly, then resumed walking and asked:
"What about eyewitness testimony?"
Coulson kept pace, pulling up five files on his tablet with his right hand, and replied:
"The five survivors described the creature as 'a hybrid of a giant octopus and an Oolthwa.' It had flap-like mouthparts at the ends of its tentacles, capable of independently digesting prey.
"A conservative estimate puts its weight at five hundred tons—but the main body never fully surfaced, so the actual size may be even larger. The New York University Marine Biology Lab confirmed that residual tissue samples contain an unknown genetic sequence."
The automatic office door slid open. Nick Fury sat in the command chair, fingers steepled beneath his chin, and asked again:
"Where does it come from?"
Coulson tapped the final document and replied:
"We're still investigating. But three months ago, Pioneer Technologies filed a deep-sea operation called the 'Deep-Sea Gene Sampling Project' with the International Maritime Organization.
"The operation zone was the Cayman Trench—nearly identical to where the Argo sank."
Hearing this, Nick Fury narrowed his eye and murmured:
"Coincidence…?"
Coulson shook his head, his expression growing serious. "I don't think so. The logbook from the sampling vessel Explorer shows they collected live specimens and conducted biological experiments at a depth of 7,500 meters in the trench.
"But three days later, the ship returned early due to 'equipment failure.'"
Silence filled the office.
Nick Fury's fingers tapped lightly on the table—a rhythm like a countdown.
After a moment, he said:
"Don't alert Pioneer Technologies yet. Have Agent 13 infiltrate their research team under the guise of a reporter for the Journal of Marine Biology.
"Focus on the recent movements and experimental logs of their chief biologist, Morris Wade.
"Also, have the Technical Division forge an inspection request from the North Atlantic Fisheries Commission. I need the complete navigation data from all their deep-sea vessels over the past two years—including any deleted black box records."
Coulson quickly noted the instructions and asked:
"What if we find conclusive evidence?"
Nick Fury's single eye flashed with cold resolve.
"Activate the Abyss Protocol. Dispatch the research submarine Neptune on standby—armed with thermonuclear torpedoes."
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