"Ha ha ha!"
Wise and Workday let out slightly awkward laughs.
However, from this moment onward, their words and actions became completely synchronized.
"Sorry, I must have misheard! My little sister is the cutest!"
"Seems I misheard again—my little sister is definitely the cutest!"
"Huh??!"
Wise and Workday locked eyes. "I don't think I misheard!"
"...Let's watch the movie first. We can discuss this properly afterward!"
——
The storyline of Yingxing and Jingliu reached its conclusion, and the scene transitioned.
The screen shifted to a large estate, where the atmosphere was noticeably different.
Even the background music became much livelier.
At the center of the frame sat a white-haired man, seated on luxurious furniture.
He raised a teacup and blew lightly across the surface.
Just then—
A steward hurriedly pushed the door open and rushed in, shouting at the white-haired man,
"Master! Master! Something terrible has happened! Something terrible!"
The cup paused just before his lips. The middle-aged man sighed. "I've always said—remain calm in crisis, don't panic over major events. Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up, won't I?"
With that, he finally took a sip of the fragrant tea.
"Y-Yes, Master! But it's—it's the young master! He… he enlisted in the military!"
"Young master? Jing Yuan? Enlisting is hardly worth—"
Pfft—
The middle-aged man spat out his tea, splashing the steward's face.
"Enlisted?! Drag that unfilial son back here at once!"
"He could've just lived peacefully for a few more decades until he came of age, then taken the position I arranged for him in the Divination Commission! He'd have been set for centuries—how dare he choose the military?!"
"Master, it's too late! Young Master sneaked onto the Cloud Knights' starship at the last moment without us noticing. There's no retrieving him now!"
Crack!
The teacup slipped from the man's hand and shattered on the ground.
"Ah—my son! Do whatever it takes! Even if you have to go straight to the general, bring Jing Yuan back to me!"
——
The camera swiftly pulled upward, soon reaching the starry sky, where a starship was traveling.
In the next moment,
the scene shifted inside the ship, where a white-haired boy with a prominent teardrop mole at the corner of his eye appeared.
A subtitle below provided his introduction:
"Long-Life Species, Cloud Knight—Jing Yuan."
——
The moment Jing Yuan's name appeared, the theater buzzed with noise.
Workday stroked his chin. "Jing Yuan's popularity is pretty high. Even though Season 3 hasn't officially started, miHoYo's put a lot of effort into highlighting him—he's basically the core of the PVs."
"Right. Even the art style shifts when Jing Yuan shows up. From the earlier scenes, it's clear he comes from a happy, well-off family."
"This kind of backstory isn't common in heroic epics—it's too normal. Think they'll use it for tragedy later?" Wise pondered aloud.
"Who knows? Tragedy's fine, but not if it's forced. Sacrifice has to come with growth, or it's meaningless."
"I'm more curious about how they'll develop Jing Yuan's character. After all, he's the one who earns the title of 'Divine Foresight General.'"
——
As the camera delved deeper, the scene inside the starship unfolded.
The vessel was filled with Cloud Knights clad in armor—
except for one small figure who stood out starkly among them.
"Hey, kid! What's your name? Who let you onboard? Shouldn't you be studying instead of joining the military?" A more seasoned Cloud Knight eyed the boy.
"My name is Jing Yuan. I was permitted to board by the recruiter."
"Besides, serving the Cloud Knights, the general, the Reignbow Arbiter, and the Xianzhou—why shouldn't I be here?"
"Whoa!!"
The declaration drew impressed murmurs from the surrounding knights.
"Hah! A hero emerges from youth! Kid, you've got spirit! Don't worry, we'll make sure you're safe!"
"With me around, no one's dragging you off this ship!"
"Jing Yuan, huh? You're an interesting one. But remember—this is the real battlefield. Don't come crying later."
"..."
From then on, Jing Yuan displayed a level of wit far beyond his years, navigating conversations with ease and effortlessly engaging with the Cloud Knights around him.
...
The screen abruptly cut to black—the starship had crash-landed on an oceanic planet due to an engine malfunction.
An announcement over the intercom explained that repairs were underway and would take some time.
At this point, the audience could already guess what came next.
Crash landing? Unknown planet?
You'd have to be brainless not to see where this was going.
Sure enough—
Deep in the ocean, a creature resembling an octopus silently surfaced, making its way toward the starship.
A subtitle appeared below:
"Puppet Octopus—A newly blessed long-life species by the Abundance, capable of mental control."
The screen darkened further, the music shifting to something eerie, as if the theater's AC had suddenly dropped several degrees.
In the pitch-black environment—
Classic American horror-style—
the Puppet Octopus lunged at a Cloud Knight from behind.
The theater erupted in screams.
But Wise and Workday simply nodded in approval—after all, their little sisters, genuinely terrified, were now clinging tightly to them!
From there, the Puppet Octopus spread through the controlled knights like a virus, nearly succeeding in turning the entire starship into its nest.
At this critical moment—
Only Jing Yuan noticed something amiss.
"This Cloud Knight just repeated the exact same words, down to the tone. Even if I asked the same question, would it really play out identically?"
The young Jing Yuan lowered his head in thought:
He reviewed everything that had happened since their crash into this endless sea.
When did the anomalies start?
That was impossible to determine now.
But the sense of wrongness grew stronger by the minute.
Though he lacked proof,
something was definitely off.
He had to uncover the truth—or he'd die here.
Dying on the battlefield was every Cloud Knight's wish, but he'd rather fall by the blade.
Perishing for no reason wasn't his style.
With that, young Jing Yuan sought out the ship's strategist (military advisor).
After testing and confirming the strategist was unaffected,
he shared his findings.
"Strategist, I've discovered that many Cloud Knights aboard seem to be under the control of some creature. If we don't act, we'll all perish here."