Han Yanyan felt a strange weakness wash over her. It was odd to feel this way as a consciousness. She opened her eyes to find herself lying in a white virtual space. Not wanting to get up, she curled up and lay still.
Leo's voice broke through the silence. "Hey! Hey! What's wrong with you?"
"I feel weak," Han Yanyan replied faintly. "What did you do to my body?"
"How dare you say that?" Leo snapped back angrily. "What did you do behind my back? How did you suddenly want to awaken your spiritual power a second time?"
Han Yanyan closed her eyes again and said, "How would I know? In my last world, I was an SS-level spiritual power wielder. Maybe it has something to do with that?"
Leo couldn't confirm it either. He had the system check the data, but the information on spiritual power was basic knowledge that even middle schoolers understood. In his world, spiritual power was common; people were born with it and learned to use it from a young age. So it made sense that no matter how well Han Yanyan had mastered it, she wouldn't stand out.
Little did he know, Tang Ke, the deceased SS-level spiritual power wielder, had given Han Yanyan a helping hand.
"Did this world succeed?” Han Yanyan asked, feigning ignorance.
"Not bad," Leo praised her generously. "The target has been awakened."
Han Yanyan remained silent for a moment before asking, "What about that person... now that he's awakened, what happens next?"
"Oh, so you care about him now? You should be more worried about yourself," Leo replied with sarcasm.
"I just want to know what will happen to him," Han Yanyan insisted.
"He’s been activated and sent back to the payer. Based on previous experience, he should naturally fade away in about two to three days. But since he's an SS-level, he might last another day or two," Leo said.
"So he’s... really going to die?" Han Yanyan questioned.
"He was already dead, you know?" Leo said impatiently. "I've given him a chance to experience life again in this world. He should be grateful to me! Your world is dragging on, taking twenty years. No, I even rebooted it once, and that also took twenty years. I've given him the chance to live forty more years! He should really thank me for that!"
Han Yanyan closed her eyes.
During the wild rush of pleasure, Tang Ke had told her, "Han Yanyan, I’ll leave you something… whether you can obtain it depends on whether you can escape from Leo Pike."
Then, he had shared a flicker of his spiritual power to assist her.
In the forty years she spent in this world, Han Yanyan learned many things from Han Jun. However, Tang Ke had been assigned the persona of Tang Ke, which compressed him into a child and then a youth, projecting many of his essence onto this world—the majority onto Han Jun.
In those forty years, it was Tang Ke who taught Han Yanyan.
She didn't know what he left for her, but she understood that to grasp what he had given her, she had to survive and escape Leo's grasp. If she couldn’t escape, Tang Ke wouldn't care where his last remains ended up.
Tang Ke had never cared for the weak.
He was the source of the ‘original sin’ of weakness in that world—torturing Xinya and tormenting Tang Ke, it was all him.
Han Yanyan’s eyelashes fluttered, and when she opened her eyes again, tears streamed down her face.
"Are you a devil?" she whispered softly. "You must be."
Leo's smug voice came to a halt. He seemed annoyed. "Han Yanyan, when are you going to change this habit? Always getting so emotionally attached to the lives inside. Do you know what will happen if you continue like this?"
Yes, she knew. Those builders had gone mad.
Some screamed hysterically, while others became as silent as the dead, unable to utter a word.
Han Yanyan was already aware from Leo's endless complaints in "The Legend of Leo." Comparing these two types of madness, she found the latter more understandable.
She stopped talking, curled up her body, and cried silently.
"Hey! Hey..." Leo called out twice.
"What are you doing?" The attendant interrupted him, entering the control chamber.
"Don't waste time, start quickly." He ordered through the communication channel.
Han Yanyan couldn't hear the attendant's voice. She only heard Leo mumble in response, "I know, I know, stop rushing me."
She guessed that someone was with him.
After her spiritual power explosion, she had been subdued by suppressants and lost consciousness. She woke up when the attendant draped his clothes over her.
Compared to Leo, this man was gentler and more refined. Because of that, Han Yanyan sought his help. But the outcome was as naive as Tang Ke had said.
When he sealed the hibernation pod's lid, Han Yanyan realized who he was.
Leo looked disheveled, while this man wore a white military uniform and had an aura that was completely incompatible with Leo. He was not one of Leo’s.
He belonged to Duke Klin Nord Kalande.
Both Leo and he hoped she could awaken the powerful, noble nobleman, yet their positions meant he wouldn’t extend a helping hand.
He was among those who enslaved her.
Seeking his help was destined to fail.
"Enough! Why bother feeling upset about a dead man?" Leo scoffed. "Tsk tsk, have you forgotten? He was an old man, living to three hundred seventeen years. Quite an age, really." Leo mocked, "Do you think he looked like what you created? Don't be foolish. Those appearances are just your personal preferences."
It seemed someone pressured Leo again because he said, "Fine, fine, I got it."
Then added, "Han Yanyan, stop moping and get to work. The sooner this job is done, the easier it’ll be for both of us. That one, let's go."
He manipulated the system to enter the steps of building the world.
The white virtual space vanished, data streams flowed by her like a galaxy of stars, interacting and linking together, constructing and integrating... then, fading away.
Han Yanyan returned to the white space. Glancing at the white floor, she blinked and closed her eyes tightly.
The attendant monitored her closely, his brow furrowed. “What’s going on?”
Leo's face darkened. He snorted and swiftly swiped his fingers.
Punishing electricity surged throughout Han Yanyan's body instantly. She hugged herself tightly, collapsing onto the floor, twitching slightly. This was not electricity, and Han Yanyan couldn’t tell what it was. Leo was punishing her consciousness.
Her fingertips trembled, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
Leo sneered. "Does it hurt? If you know it hurts, then behave and get to work."
He restarted the world-building process. This time, data streams rushed past Han Yanyan again... before disappearing.
Thanks to Tang Ke, that moment of his powerful spiritual energy jolted her awake from her slumber and made her consciousness taste extreme pain. Compared to that agony, Leo’s "punishment" had become bearable.
"Han Yanyan!" Leo roared angrily, "You want another round?"
As he spoke, he moved to act, but the sound of knocking interrupted him: "Knock Knock Knock."
Leo opened the control chamber's lid, revealing a dark gun barrel pressed against his forehead.
"Hey!" he shouted.
"I don’t care what’s wrong with her; get her fixed. I don’t trust anyone else—only her," the attendant said coldly.
After the deaths of three builders, he had realized how strong and unshakeable Duke Klin’s will was. So far, only Han Yanyan seemed to cause fluctuations in his brainwaves.
Only this woman could!
"Let me be clear, I want you to fix her, not damage her." The attendant commanded. "She’s a woman! Her current state is a problem; put away your rough slave treatment! Think of another way! You’re a scientist, not an idiot!"
With a gun to his head, Leo felt so frustrated he could hardly curse back. He could only say, "I’ll think of a way."
The gun retreated and the pod lid closed. Leo turned the lid opaque and cursed under his breath, "Damn you!"
He held in his frustration for a while, closed his eyes, and entered the system.
In the pure white space, Han Yanyan lay there, gradually ceasing her convulsions.
Her weakness was not entirely feigned; she genuinely felt cold, a softness that rendered her powerless. Remembering the needles that shot out from the hibernation pod earlier, she guessed Leo had used a significant amount of suppressants on her. Tang Ke had mentioned that these suppressants were typically used on criminals and captives, clearly not good things, likely carrying side effects for the body.
Suddenly, the pure white space brightened for a moment, and then a person appeared. Leo had entered the virtual space himself.
"Hey," he called out, looking down at Han Yanyan on the ground with a furrowed brow.
Han Yanyan barely opened her eyes to glance at him, then closed them again. It was unexpected that she could pressure Leo into coming here; that was good, she thought. Personal interactions were far more engaging than engaging through keyboards and screens.
Leo frowned, reluctant to approach.
He was truly averse to dealing with people directly. Most transactions, whether it involved the bodies of the dead or the source houses of the deceased, were transferred directly to him using transmission technology. Once done, they were sent back.
The builders came and went, directly captured and dumped into hibernation pods by robots. Not a single builder had met him face to face; all communication was through screens because this way, he felt secure.
He never directly met clients, communicating through channels was sufficient.
The reason the attendant and his soldiers boarded his ship was quite simple. If one looked from a broader cosmic perspective, they would see that Leo Pike's ship, which he considered "home," was surrounded by dozens of battleships!
Unlike others, the attendant didn’t simply teleport back the dead or awaken the deceased. He arrived with his fleet, directly surrounding Leo Pike!
As Leo had said to Han Yanyan, his life also hung in the balance; that was true. The attendant had stated that if the duke couldn't be awakened, Leo Pike would cease to exist in the universe.
Han Yanyan lay on the ground, motionless, appearing unconscious—almost dead. Leo had no choice but to steel himself and approach, squatting down to pat her face. "Hey? Han Yanyan? Hey?"
Han Yanyan moved her lips, seemingly murmuring something.
"What?" Leo leaned closer but couldn't make out the words.
As he drew near, Han Yanyan turned hostile. But in her current weak and cold state, she remembered they were both consciousnesses. She suppressed that urge to retaliate.
"Cold..." she said.
This time Leo heard her clearly. He impatiently retorted, "You’re a consciousness, what are you cold for? Huh?" He tried to pull her up but found her body genuinely icy.
For a moment, Leo was taken aback as Han Yanyan slumped into his arms.
"How can this be?" Leo quickly brought up a holographic screen.
In this virtual space, even though Han Yanyan existed purely as a consciousness, her five senses were still simulated. Her body temperature should have been normal.
But now, she was cold, which signified her brain was "telling" her she felt cold. Hence, her consciousness projected a chilly sensation.
As the screen lit up, a bunch of charts and indices appeared. Han Yanyan's vital signs hadn’t reached the point of triggering system alarms, but there was indeed an issue.
"Oh no," Leo muttered in frustration. "The suppressants!"
Triple-strength suppressants continuously infused into the cultivation liquid meant Han Yanyan's flesh in the liquid had likely grown as cold as ice. No wonder her consciousness felt "cold."
"Reduce the strength to 2.5 times; no, reduce it to two times." Leo ordered decisively.
The suppressants began to dilute, stabilizing them to a two times concentration. Han Yanyan's body temperature began to rise.
Han Yanyan’s consciousness began to recover; though still feeling "cool," the chilling sensation was much improved, and her weakness was easing as well.
Yet Han Yanyan remained helplessly leaning against Leo, not moving at all.
"Hey, hey, are you feeling better?" Leo asked, holding her uncomfortably.
Han Yanyan slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the man holding her.
"Leo?" she questioned softly.
"Yes, it’s me!" Leo responded stiffly. "Are you feeling better?"
"You..." Han Yanyan's hand reached out to him. She was "weak and powerless," slow and soft, as if trying to grasp his collar but instead brushed against the exposed skin at his neck.
The coldness of her fingertip sent a shiver down Leo Pike’s spine, making him feel extremely awkward.
Han Yanyan gazed at him, devoid of the stubborn resistance she once had. After enduring such pain and desperate struggles, only to be suppressed again, she had finally succumbed to despair.
Large tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Why... why are you doing this to me?" she sobbed.
A woman could cry both beautifully and atrociously. Having traversed nearly fifty years in these "worlds" and dealt with various men, Han Yanyan knew how to present herself elegantly when needed.
This woman is a liar! This woman is a liar! This woman is a liar!
Leo repeated this to himself again and again.
He had watched Han Yanyan lead and entice men right before his eyes during monitoring. She was a master manipulator, someone who could easily draw others into her traps.
But Leo had to admit that even through the screen, he found it captivating. Behind the screen, while observing her enchant Yao Chen, he inadvertently found pleasure in it himself.
Yet he never contemplated crossing the screen to meet her personally.
Though everything here was simulated, her body was simulated, and her face was simulated, the system created her current form based on monitored data. This was how she looked after undergoing gene treatment.
As the attendant said, she was indeed a beauty.
Leo Pike found himself speechless, unsure of how to respond.