Bai Luan took off his glasses and quickly drew up a list, which he handed to Hyperion.
"Hyperion, please procure the necessary medicines according to this list."
Hyperion took it and glanced over it.
"These are..."
"Just some essential materials for saving a life."
"Materials?"
Why did that sound so strange?
It didn't sound like he was saving someone, but rather making something... As Hyperion pondered, Bai Luan's voice reached his ears.
"Oh, and the cost of these materials, I'll transfer it in a bit—"
Hearing this, Hyperion stopped pondering and said, "Let me cover the expenses for this."
Hyperion looked at Bai Luan with a hint of determination, showing no signs of backing down, and said, "Please, you must let me cover it. This is the only thing I can do here."
Hyperion's gaze shifted to Xylia in the life support pod, and he said, "As a game designer, it's truly rare to meet such a game player. I really want to do something for her... Unfortunately, all I can do here is comfort her."
"Alright, if it gives you a sense of involvement."
"Excellent! Then without further ado, I'll go prepare the items. Once everything is ready, I'll return."
Hyperion left with the list Bai Luan gave him, and then, with the fastest speed, he purchased a batch of the highest quality materials according to the list.
It took him about an hour and a half to collect all the materials on the list. When he returned with the pile of materials... he saw a complete set of experimental facilities, and Bai Luan was sitting on one of them, idly picking at his fingers.
The nanorobots built these facilities incredibly fast, completing the necessary setup in about ten minutes.
Bai Luan then spent another ten minutes adjusting instrument parameters, measuring Xylia's body data, and preparing the tools for consciousness transfer.
For the remaining hour or so, Bai Luan played some games, chatted with Xylia, and scrolled through videos to pass the time.
Then he saw Hyperion return.
Overall, Hyperion's speed was quite impressive.
Hyperion looked at the facilities and instruments that had appeared out of nowhere with a hint of disbelief.
"You built all this in an hour and a half?"
"It didn't take that long."
Bai Luan gave a perfunctory reply and began to inspect the materials Hyperion had brought back.
He didn't intend to waste time on this topic; working for Ms. Herta, efficiency was the most basic requirement.
After a quick inventory, Bai Luan nodded in satisfaction. The quality of these materials was good, and they should be able to create a decent body.
"Well done, Hyperion. You can leave the rest to me."
Hyperion nodded and retreated to Xylia's life support pod, watching Bai Luan move among a pile of facilities he didn't recognize at all.
He didn't understand it, only knowing that under Bai Luan's manipulation, these facilities began to operate in an orderly fashion.
Even though he lacked knowledge in this area, he could tell that Bai Luan handled these tasks with ease.
"Although he acts very friendly, everything he does highlights the fact that he is a genius."
Xylia's emotional voice came from the life support pod's electronic speaker.
"Mr. Bai Luan invited me to play games with him to pass the time when he was bored earlier.
I chose a fighting game, and it only took him three rounds to go from a complete novice to beating me so badly I couldn't fight back.
He really didn't hold back at all; he almost shattered my confidence as Genius Player X."
"It's clear he doesn't treat you like a disabled person."
"Pfft, Old Mr. Hyperion's perspective on things is truly unique."
"As a game designer, you always have to create things players don't expect to keep their attention."
Hyperion watched the busy Bai Luan and asked Xylia, "Do you think this will succeed?"
"I don't know, but if even a genius fails, then I suppose I should accept my fate."
Xylia's voice, tinged with relief, came from the life support pod.
"Recalling my experiences during this time, even if I die now, I have no regrets.
If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have realized that so many people remember me.
I think... my life hasn't been taken by the Nihility. Even if I die, and the existence of Xylia herself returns to the Nihility, the memories of me will serve as proof that I, Xylia, once lived, once existed."
"Although as a mortal, I shouldn't comment rashly on the success rate of a genius's experiment, if Bai Luan fails... I will create an NPC just like you in
This is my way, as a game designer, of remembering you, and it's one of the few things I can do for you."
"Mhm."
Xylia softly hummed in response.
"Thank you and this world, for remembering me in such a way."
"Hey! Hey!"
Bai Luan interrupted their conversation and walked over.
Xylia's new body had already been created and was now lying in a cultivation pod.
Incidentally, Bai Luan also made her suitable clothes and dressed her in them, and the cultivation pod was opaque.
His phone had been upgraded by Herta, and he couldn't guarantee that if he saw something he shouldn't, Herta wouldn't suddenly send him a text message.
Asking Herta in the Little Black Room for help with something like this was useless.
Hmm, it's better to avoid all these problems.
"I'm busy saving you, and you two are here arranging your last rites. Aren't you being a bit too unconfident in me? Don't I have any dignity?"
Bai Luan walked in front of Xylia and said, "I'm all ready. How about you?"
"Mhm, I'm ready."
"Then go and embrace new life, Xylia."
Bai Luan activated the consciousness transfer device, transferring Xylia's consciousness from her body, which was on the verge of collapse in the life support pod, to the new body in the cultivation pod.
Soon, the cultivation pod's door opened, and Xylia, looking almost identical to her in-game self, stepped out of the cultivation pod.
She raised her hand in disbelief, looking at her smooth, supple skin.
Was this incredibly long torment finally coming to an end?
Xylia's eyes welled up slightly, and she looked at Bai Luan and Hyperion.
"Mr. Bai Luan... Old Mr. Hyperion..."
Then, with tears in her eyes, she gave Bai Luan and Hyperion a radiant smile.
"I'm cured!"
But things were not that simple. Not long after Xylia stepped out of the cultivation pod, her body began to show symptoms of a Self-Annihilator.
This change made Hyperion, who was just about to congratulate Xylia, look solemn again.
Even with a new body, did it only reset the progress of self-destruction?
If so... it was still treating the symptoms, not the root cause. Wouldn't the ultimate outcome still be a return to the Nihility?
Was it... still impossible?
Just as pessimistic and despairing emotions began to spread in his heart, he saw Bai Luan walk over with a strangely shaped gun.
No!
You still have a way!?
"It seems the treatment is missing one final step."
Bai Luan took Xylia's hand.
"It will hurt a lot, but after the pain, you will be completely recovered."
Xylia nodded firmly.
"Come on."
Twenty minutes later, the extraction was complete, and Xylia fainted, her face pale.
Hyperion stepped forward to support the falling Xylia and looked at Bai Luan:
"She's...?"
"It's the pain. She'll be fine after some rest."
Bai Luan looked at the wondrous item bullet in his hand.
『Curios: extraction gun Bullet (Nihility's Blessing)』
It seemed the system's power had once again prevailed.
He wondered if this extraction gun could help Acheron?
『Extraction is possible, but the capacity of one bullet is not enough. An Emanator of the Nihility and an ordinary person who accidentally stepped into the shadow of the Nihility cannot be equated.
Theoretically, you could slowly extract the blessing from Acheron with individual bullets, but considering the time it would take and the pain it would cause her, I do not recommend you do so』
"Alright."
He wanted to help Acheron, not find ways to torment her. If Acheron were cured this way, she would probably go mad from the pain. (The pain caused by the extraction gun affects everyone equally; it doesn't lessen physically just because you have strong willpower. Even General Jing Yuan felt great pain when his mara-struck was extracted before.)
If there was a better way in the future, he would help her then.
Bai Luan casually tossed the bullet to Ark, letting him analyze it for fun. This would help him understand the Path of the Nihility.
Soon, Xylia slowly woke up in bed.
"Yo, good morning, Xylia."
Xylia didn't speak, just stared at Bai Luan for a while, then turned her head to glance at Hyperion nearby.
"So... none of this was a dream?"
"You can pinch yourself to confirm."
Xylia heard this and indeed pinched her arm hard.
"It hurts so much..."
The pain made her laugh uncontrollably.
"I never thought I would feel so happy because of pain one day..."
Bai Luan also smiled:
"Then, Genius Player X, are you ready to perfectly clear this game called 'life'?"
Xylia first froze, then burst into a smile brighter than the sun, and vigorously pumped her fist:
"Of course! After all, I am—Genius Player X!"
A/N: I see many people discussing whether the Nihility can bestow blessings. In my opinion, the IX can bestow blessings.
However, this blessing is not subjectively bestowed by the IX. Instead, you automatically pick it up when you step into it shadow; it's an objective phenomenon that occurs when objective conditions are met, without any subjective intention involved in the process.
And the manifestation of the blessing is being corroded by the Nihility, gradually losing the meaning of existence, and finally returning to the Nihility itself.
The blessings of the Nihility in the simulated universe are also called Nihility Blessings; they haven't been specifically renamed Nihility Corrosion. It's a general term.
I also saw comments saying that becoming a Self-Annihilator requires strong personal ability. Hmm... I hold a different view on this.
Because the Nihility's blessing doesn't involve any subjective consciousness. The idea that becoming a Self-Annihilator requires strong personal ability inherently carries a subjective screening implication, which contradicts the nature of the Path of the Nihility itself.
Moreover, the official explanation of the term 'Self-Annihilator' only mentions "people who accidentally step into the shadow of Aeon IX," and "Self-Annihilator can be born in any world. These unfortunate people only share one commonality: their memories, bodies, cognition... will gradually perish on their journey of self-destruction."
It doesn't mention that becoming a Self-Annihilator requires immense power. Furthermore, Xylia's situation isn't fabricated; it's deduced from the official description of Self-Annihilator, which mentions, "Some people's skin becomes like rotting deadwood, covered in scars and holes."
And when the official introduced Self-Annihilator, they used "some people," which proves that the symptoms that arise after Self-Annihilators accidentally touch a shadow vary and are not uniform diseases, nor do they occur simultaneously.
Of course, the idea that Self-Annihilator need strong bodies is understandable, as the Path of the Nihility is very powerful. Without a strong body, one might perish in the Nihility upon stepping onto the Path of the Nihility and receiving its blessing, beginning the Nihility's corrosion.
I also considered this, which is why I mentioned that Xylia was able to endure for so long with an ordinary human body because she received help from a Chaos Doctor. The life support pod was built for her by the Chaos Doctor to alleviate the Nihility's corrosion.
I have explained everything.