Chapter 4: The Future's Number One World, The Man Who Died in the Background Description

If you ask Liang Yi what he's feeling right now, he'll tell you:

"Regret, nothing but extreme regret. Why did I have to get in her way for no reason? Shouldn't I just have allowed her to go on her way?" said Liang Yi, who was being tightly embraced around the waist by a lovely young girl.

The person spinning at Liang Yi's feet was that man in black, but that girl, whose back was all Liang Yi had seen, came over to check upon hearing the commotion here.

Before Liang Yi even had a chance to look up and see the girl's face clearly, he was already bewilderedly enfolded into the girl's arms. Comfortable as it was, how could Liang Yi just surrender? It seemed like he was taking advantage, but what if this girl was a princess? In a world where no one could possibly have a higher charm value than himself, who was really benefiting?

Liang Yi struggled, the girl hugged him tighter, Liang Yi gave up struggling.

Liang Yi wanted to scold the girl loudly, to make her respect him.

But, alas, the girl's bosom was just too ample.

He figured he would wait until the girl had enough hugging and released him, but what came earlier than expected was the girl's sobbing.

Liang Yi hesitated for a moment with his hand raised, then gently placed it on the girl's head, softly stroking. He felt the girl's stiff body shudder and completely relax under his soothing touch, followed by her loud wailing.

"Waaah! Senior Brother!! I'm so scared, I was so scared I'd see your body next time! I'm so scared!!"

"Senior Brother!! I don't want to leave you! I don't want you to die!! I haven't become dao companions with you yet!!"

"When that person said you were eaten by the Wind Cloud Leopard, I felt like the world collapsed, I thought after avenging you I would join you!!"

Her heart-wrenching cries echoed in the silent forest, Liang Yi with a complicated face, clearly and intuitively felt the girl's cries contained once utter despair and now immense relief.

Hugging the weeping girl in his arms with one hand and gently patting her back with the other, his mouth didn't stop comforting:

"Don't cry, don't cry. It was all a false alarm, I'm perfectly fine here. Senior Brother will never leave you, it's our promise!" Liang Yi wasn't sure if he was the 'Senior Brother' she was referring to, but he believed that her Senior Brother would also comfort her in the same way.

Under Liang Yi's continuous gentle strokes and comforting, the girl's crying gradually weakened and finally ceased.

"Then... Then we must... make a promise!" The girl said in a choked voice while in his arms, her left little finger extended.

"No problem! This is our promise, unchanging as Heaven and Earth!" Liang Yi also extended his little finger to make a pinky promise, and sealed it with his thumb.

"Ding!"

Liang Yi seemed to hear the system notification, but he really didn't have the time to pay attention right now, because he found that the girl in his arms, had fallen asleep!

Hearing her extremely faint snoring, a hint of heartache crossed Liang Yi's eyes. The girl must have been awake since her Senior Brother was captured, ceaselessly searching for her Senior Brother and pursuing the man in black, her mind constantly taut, until she saw him again, mistook him for her Senior Brother, and finally relaxed.

Gently placing the girl in the blue dress onto a soft patch of grass, intending to check on the man in black, Liang Yi found that the girl, even deep in sleep, was tightly grasping his hand, leaving him no choice but to give up.

Liang Yi took off his own shirt and slowly covered the girl's belly and legs to prevent her from catching a cold, then sat next to her holding the hand of the girl in blue, leaning against the tree roots, with sunlight filtering through the leaves and casting mottled shadows around them.

Liang Yi felt the atmosphere was very nice, warm, and cozy, but there was still something slightly off.

Looking around, he saw the unconscious man in black on the ground. Recalling the aftermath of using the Great Dark Escape Technique, which apparently included 24 hours of unconsciousness, he was relieved and kicked the man in black into the nearby bushes.

"Now that's harmonious." Liang Yi finally had a moment to check the system notification, but he nearly popped his eyes out.

"Ding! You and Su Youyi have signed the contract: Heaven and Earth Will Not Move."

"Heaven and Earth Will Not Move": Under the witness of countless great beings above the heavens, at the origin point, you and Su Youyi have successfully made a pledge to never be apart until the end of the world, until the end of life.

Contract Effect: If one party dies, the other party will die as well.

"This just got interesting." Liang Yi really didn't expect the agreement he made with the girl next to him to be acknowledged by the System.

"Su Youyi, that name sounds a bit familiar. Where did this origin point come from? And this contract effect—is it a life-linked contract?" Liang Yi sighed. Tying his life to someone else's, well, at least it's a beautiful girl, so it's not a bad deal. If he really has to express his feelings, he wouldn't know what to say; the little girl is just too pitiable, he would take care of her regardless of the contract.

Looking at the sleeping girl's face, Liang Yi suddenly had a thought:

"I feel like I've seen this sister before."

Her eyes must have been swollen from crying just now, and there were still some tear stains on her cheeks. Disregarding these factors, the girl looked to be around fourteen or fifteen, but astonishingly beautiful, and when she grows up, she would probably resemble...

"Wait a minute! Su Youyi?! The only true inheritor of the superpower Taoist Sect? Currently the number one disciple in the world, and the future number one, the heartless murderess?"

Liang Yi was stunned.

"Also, Su Youyi's older martial brother, I remember reading about him in the game's historical background introduction. The top disciple of Banished Immortal Chen Hua, with no talent for cultivation, still a mere mortal at the age of seventeen. During one of his travels, he was killed by a mysterious force, and his body was found in the Ten Thousand Miles Mountains. His younger martial sister, a fifteen-year-old Su Youyi, brokenhearted, advanced rapidly in cultivation, breaking through from the Third Realm to the peak of the Seventh Realm in just seven short years. Even her master said he was no longer her match. Both for her beauty and strength, she was called the number one in the world." Images from his past life scrolled through his mind.

In his previous life, not many people called Su Youyi by her real name. Instead, she was known as "Red Jade Demon Eyes," and when you saw her eyes, you were a goner.

It is said that what she liked doing the most was killing other NPCs. Many players had finished their quests, happily going back to submit them for rewards, only to find the quest-giver NPC had been killed by Su Youyi, leading to an instant quest failure. Now, how could you endure this?

Moreover, her killings were utterly illogical, from weak newbies in the First Realm to powerhouse figures in the Seventh Realm, from the far south to the distant north, she had slain them all. To call her "murderous as a war" is an understatement; this is why the Cultivation World recognized her as a Witch. If it weren't for the fact that she and her master were simply unbeatable, how could they tolerate her arrogance?

As for the title "Witch," that was something the players stuck her with. When the quest-givers were killed, the players weren't just going to let it go lightly. They didn't care about any Red Jade or White Jade - if you show your health bar, they'd dare to stab you.

With Su Youyi's temperament back then, countless players who offended her were killed. The dead players, steaming with anger and receiving no help from complaints, posted online to group up more players for revenge, but without exception, they all died miserably.

The only thing those dead players remembered was Su Youyi's blood-red eyes.

After paying a heavy price, most players chose to temporarily avoid provoking this villainess. Su Youyi probably never expected that her mass killing would gain her a large following of fans; after all, in terms of beauty, she was also number one in the world! There were no shortage of "face-connoisseurs" among the players, "As long as they're handsome, I don't need them to be strong" – such thought is way too common, not to mention Su Youyi who was both beautiful and powerful.

Some fearless ones even changed their strategy, preparing to tackle her through the charm value system.

Liang Yi salutes those men, but as for the outcome, he's not quite clear; it seems no one has seen those players since.

In his previous life, Liang Yi was also a top player, thinking himself very awesome at level 61. Foolishly, he went to watch a life-and-death struggle between Su Youyi and a mysterious powerhouse, and just the aftershocks of their battle sent Liang Yi back to the resurrection point, losing one precious life for resurrection.

With Liang Yi's character, he would have gone back for a fight once his level was high enough if he couldn't beat those powerhouses back then. However, no one saw those two after that decisive battle. The location of the battle was accidentally stumbled upon by Liang Yi while he was on a quest, and he guessed that they must have perished together.

"Geez, what a strong leg I've contracted with!"

Liang Yi touched his face sheepishly, then lightly slapped himself.

"What am I thinking? This is skill, not luck!"

Combining Su Youyi's attitude towards him, Liang Yi finally understood – he must be that man who died as mentioned in the background introduction. But why does he still look like his past life, no, that's not right!

Liang Yi suddenly realized, he had seen his reflection in the stream, and at a cursory glance, this body did indeed resemble his own. But if one were to calculate his charm value from his previous life, it would be at most 8 points, good-looking enough to be on par with Hu Ge.

Yet recalling his current self, in many subtle ways, and in terms of temperament, there have been changes that drove his charm up to an unearthly 10 points.

"Could this be the so-called Otherworld counterpart? Always handsomer but no handsomest?"

Liang Yi pondered for a while and eventually concluded:

As expected of me!