It had to be said, life was always full of surprises, big and small... They'd drop into your lap out of nowhere, bringing with them varying degrees of emotional payoff and practical value.
And honestly? It felt pretty damn good.
Ling Ke, at least, was thoroughly enjoying it.
Truth be told, before his meticulously crafted Plucking the Branch plan reached its flawless conclusion, his initial reason for dragging the entire Elysian Realm into his completely monopolized Theater of Domination (Respawn Room) was... purely to fulfill a bargain he'd struck with Elysian Aponia.
Back then, Mobius's sim-data had taken the initiative to broach the subject. She'd asked what would happen to them—the Flame-Chaser Sim-Data—after Plucking the Branch was finished. In response, the Puppet of Domination: Ling Ke, whom he had dispatched to negotiate for the 'coordinates', gave them an answer they could live with.
That is: any Sim-Data wishing to survive would be pulled into the Theater of Domination. Those who refused the offer would perish alongside the Current Era.
The outcome was obvious. Not a single one of the thirteen Flame-Chaser Sim-Datas had any desire to fall on their own swords.
Especially Pardo—even as a mere simulation, she really, really didn't want to die.
The rest weren't keen on vanishing into nothingness without a fight, either.
How did the saying go again?
Oh, right!
"The Flame-Chasers' curtain call must be grand and magnificent!"
Ling Ke couldn't argue with that.
Back when they had chosen to bear his "malice" as "sinners," passively stepping up to "save the world," he had genuinely offered them his deepest respect.
So why not give them the grand, magnificent curtain call they wanted?
And just like that, the deal was struck.
Even Eden's Sim-Data agreed.
Though her original self had chosen to end her own life, wishing to sing only for her own era, the simulation felt differently. Given the chance to return to her native, familiar era, she too was willing to live—or rather, exist—just a little longer.
If nothing else, just to take a few more lingering looks at the landscapes etched into her memories.
And it was exactly because of this...
Ling Ke, who never once intended to go back on his word, initially had a fairly simple thought: since he was already determined to give these Flame-Chaser Sim-Data—who had lingered for over 50,000 years—a grand and magnificent curtain call, why not weave them into his own "script" while he was at it? It would be a... mutually beneficial arrangement.
After all, these Flame-Chaser Sim-Data were top-tier "performers."
With them joining the cast, his "script" might not necessarily achieve utter perfection, but it would certainly give him far more room to maneuver and shape the narrative.
Of course, this so-called "curtain call" didn't mean they had to bow out of existence entirely. It leaned more toward... resolving their lingering regrets.
Afterward, whether they chose to fade into seclusion or start a brand-new life like he had, the choice would be entirely theirs.
Take the Pardo Sim-Data, for example. Since she only wanted to live a carefree life, Ling Ke would respect her wishes.
Once the "performance" was over, nobody would be allowed to ruin the peaceful life she desired.
Anyway, those were roughly his reasons for preserving the Elysian Realm.
He really hadn't thought about it much deeper than that.
But as it turned out...
Ling Ke never could have predicted that once this land of trials was dragged into the Theater of Domination, it would trigger a bizarre chain reaction. Spurred by the emergence and growth of that Small Imaginary Tree Sapling, the Realm struck an unexpected resonance with his exclusive pocket dimension—his personal Respawn Room.
His bound Ready Player One System automatically capitalized on this, transforming the Realm into a multi-stage dungeon... an infinite farming spot for XP.
That meant if any of the game character templates Ling Ke pulled from the gacha featured a leveling mechanic, he no longer had to go on psychotic killing sprees in the outside world just to get stronger. He could easily farm massive amounts of experience right here.
Though...
"I can't believe I transmigrated and still have to grind the Elysian Realm."
"Thank god my main body doesn't have to grind myself half to death doing it personally."
That had been Ling Ke's immediate complaint upon receiving the system notification.
Grinding aside, if he wanted to earn more points as a "World-Ending Gamer," there was really only one way to do it: wipe out intelligent life.
But considering he currently had over seven billion points sitting in the bank, even if he rolled the gacha once every second, it would take him the better part of a year to burn through it all.
"Strictly speaking, it's closer to three hundred days."
"Man, if only there was an 'Auto-Pull All' button!"
Ling Ke had muttered that exact complaint more than once.
Unfortunately, the system bound to him offered zero response.
Maybe he hadn't met some hidden requirement yet. Or maybe... well.
Ironically enough, you could argue that the system had inadvertently saved the rest of the universe's intelligent life. Even if they had no idea how close they'd come to annihilation, the lack of a skip button had bought them a reprieve... temporarily, at least.
Because his current supply of points vastly outstripped his ability to spend them, he was in no rush to go out and harvest more.
Left completely unbothered by outside forces, Ling Ke settled into a comfortable routine: steadily farming tens of thousands of Puppets of Domination every day, and occasionally pulling a genuinely useful game character template.
Of course, taking a temporary hiatus from his duties as the "World-Ending Gamer" meant he finally had the free time to tinker with and perfect his "script."
Besides, he didn't need to micromanage the Elysian Realm.
The Puppets of Domination had everything handled, expanding and developing in perfect order all on their own.
Hell, even the daily maintenance of this "Super XP Dungeon" had been outsourced to ELF: Klein—along with the massive, professional team of Puppets working under her.
That's right. The miserable ELF: Klein couldn't escape her fate as a 24/7 wage slave, even after returning to the Previous Era.
Ling Ke expressed his deepest sympathies.
But that was about the extent of it.
What could he say? That was just how Palworld players operated.
The next day...
Swish, swish, swish!
Inside a designated combat zone within the Elysian Realm.
Dozens of "Elysias" were currently ganging up on a single Elysia.
The latter, obviously, was the real Flame-Chaser Sim-Data who had accepted Ling Ke's deal to personally act as the stage's final boss.
As for the former...
They were all imposters formed by the Puppet of Domination: Sparkle.
They wore her face, mimicked her voice, replicated her powers, and even copied... her combat techniques.
Right now, Elysia's Sim-Data was weaving effortlessly through the mob of fake "Elysias."
She certainly lived up to her rank as the second of the Flame-Chasers—the girl who always scribbled "very easy" on her mission reports.
Her combat prowess was undeniably exceptional.
Every hair's-breadth dodge, every perfectly aimed arrow... she even calculated the ricochet angles of her barrage of light arrows to absolute perfection.
Honestly, if Ling Ke had to use terminology from his pre-transmigration Overwatch days to describe it, it would be this: she had mastered "simple geometry" and taken it to its absolute peak.
But that precision... strictly speaking, everything about her...
The "Sparkles" were gradually observing, imitating, and copying all of it.
Well, actually, it wasn't just Elysia.
Including her, the Flame-Chaser Sim-Data of the 13 Flame-Chasers had all been "copied" to varying degrees.
Eden's artistic mastery, Vill-V's stage magic, Su's medical expertise, Sakura's assassination techniques, Mobius's scientific brilliance, Griseo's painting skills, Hua's ancestral martial arts, and... Pardo's "Empty Hands".
Sure, "Sparkle's" mimicry—much like the "1% Kevin" from before—could never truly match the originals, even with its recent upgrades.
But there was no denying that Ling Ke was becoming more versatile by the second.
Evidently, he was just making sure he was thoroughly prepared for his upcoming "play."
So much so that his actual body wasn't even participating in the current battle. Instead, he had taken a seat at a high vantage point far from the clash, content to act as a spectator overlooking the stage.
Occasionally, his mind wandered.
Ah, Raiden Mei has arrived in Nagazora!
Ling Ke split his focus to check on the outside world.
A few days ago, Mei had ventured to The Sundown Alley to seek out this era's Aponia. Thanks to Ling Ke swapping the nun out with a Puppet of Domination: Sparkle, the Herrscher had walked away completely empty-handed.
No, it was worse than just coming up empty.
She had been thoroughly manipulated by the Aponia impersonator—the Puppet of Domination: Sparkle.
As a direct result, Raiden Mei remained as lost as ever.
That was why she had journeyed alone to Nagazora, hoping to track down another familiar face.
Namely—the Kevin of this era.
She had read through his files before. The original Kevin felt like a completely different person compared to the Sovereign of World Serpent from fifty thousand years in the future. He was cheerful, kind, and upright—an idealistic, hot-blooded youth.
Subconsciously, Mei believed that by speaking with this version of him—one whose blood hadn't yet run cold—she might finally find an answer, a path forward of her own.
However, she had no idea...
There was more than just *one* Kevin in Nagazora right now.
The Sovereign of World Serpent—Kevin Kaslana.
He was here, too.
Ever since parting ways with Ling Ke that day, he clearly intended to pull the strings of the Third Honkai Eruption from the shadows.
And, ultimately, lay the groundwork for everything to come.
With that in mind...
"The Moths Who Chase the Flames have eyes in Nagazora, too."
"Heh. It's the same treacherous warzone, and you're just another undocumented 'ghost' with no identity."
"The difference is that while you might have 'power'..."
"...you have no 'allegiance'."
"As for the rest..."
Deep within the Theater of Domination's Elysian Realm sector, Ling Ke watched the spectacle unfold, a smirk curving his lips. "This really is... starting to feel awfully familiar!"