FLME Ch48

“Glad to hear of your misfortune, may we never meet again.”

The young hero maintained his composure and etiquette, slightly bowing to the Demon King. The moment he turned around, his face suddenly became expressionless.

Next, the dwarf’s journal appeared, connecting the scattered stories together.

The events of those seven days became a clear line, unfolding before the audience.

On the first day, the hero’s party arrived at the castle.

On the second day, the great magician was injured.

On the third day, they found the princess in the basement. While rescuing the princess, they were attacked by ghost birds. The great mage destroyed all the ghost birds but died from blood loss.

On the fourth day, the forging of the holy cross sword failed.

On the fifth day, the dwarf was injured, and the elf died.

On the sixth day, to buy time, the hero attempted to challenge the cursed magic. The princess, unwilling to wait passively, made a second attempt to kill the Demon King.

On the seventh day, no one returned.

Knowing that injury would lead to certain death, the princess used the great mage’s staff to wound herself, and the pure blood once again appeared, taking away the Demon King’s soul.

After that, the castle became a harmless prison, until a bard broke in. The dwarf realized that the Demon King’s lingering will might persist through the cursed magic, so he had no choice but to summon the evil dragon.

The arrival of the dragon completely nullified the cursed magic.

Everyone’s story came to an end, except for the hero, who became lost in the mountains, his fate unknown.

“I have already conquered the sky, now I will challenge the mountains.”

This sentence appeared twice. The first time was in the dwarf’s journal, with the background being the forge. The one reading this journal was Yu Wen. The blazing flames reflected in his eyes, and the determination in his words resonated with the flames.

When recording the voiceover, Yu Wen repeated this line over ten times.

The director’s requirements for voiceovers weren’t as strict as for films and TV shows, and they usually let them perform freely. But Yu Wen believed this line was crucial in showcasing the hero’s character, so he practiced in a corner for more than half an hour before coming up with a satisfying version.

Gentle, firm, and with a smile that seemed unshakable by any hardship.

As soon as this line from the dwarf’s journal came out, the bullet screen exploded.

「Holy sh*t, this tone, romantic, determined, and brave… so damn bright.」

「This corpse is not used to it.」

「It’s so dazzling. Oh, it’s the sun, damn it.」

「So much swearing, when emotions run deep, ‘wow’ really conquers the world.」

「Hart soft soft… the hero must still be alive, right? He’s the center of the events, he’s the hope.」

「No worries, I’m not emotionally affected, it’s just a show I just got to know. I’m not that emotionally involved… (cool sunglasses emoji) It’s just that a friend of mine is feeling a bit bad. I suggest the director let them live, or my friend might lose it…」

Hero, your eyes are as bright as gems.

You always effortlessly give others courage.

You hold a chipped sword, ready to challenge the endless cursed magic.

Just a few words, and the hero’s charisma is fully displayed. Paired with that voiceover, it’s a killer.

“Impossible!” Xi Su was always good at breaking a sorrowful atmosphere.

Hugging a pillow, he was puzzled. He stood up, paced around a couple of times, then sat down, grabbed the blue hair on his head, messed it up, smoothed it out, and as he twisted his hair into a messy state, he showed a “now I get it” expression.

“Actually, this isn’t even the same timeline, right? This is a parallel world! If they all died, then what are you guys?! Haha, you can’t all be ghosts, and there must be a reason you’re gathered here. I think it’s because you didn’t actually die. The last task is to kill the Demon King, and once you kill the Demon King, you’ll all escape!”

Just moments ago, when hearing from the dwarf’s journal that the great mage was dead, the elf was dead, and the princess was dead… Xi Su’s heart skipped a beat, and he almost fled on the spot.

He couldn’t help it. He hadn’t even processed the fact that Chu Zhiyao might die and couldn’t handle a second blow.

But then, upon reflection, he felt something was off.

If all these people really died, then what were the guests now wandering the castle? Either they didn’t die, or they died and then came back to life.

The more Xi Su thought about it, the more it made sense. He felt the plot could still struggle to survive, and there might be a turnaround later.

He just needed to hang in there for a bit, run away at the sight of any “knives,” and the knives wouldn’t hurt him.

Perfect.

Xi Su looked at Yu Wen with hopeful eyes, as if waiting for his confirmation. But the moment Yu Wen opened his mouth, Xi Su became alert again. “No, no, no, don’t spoil it for me. I’m sure my deduction is right. Otherwise, what the hell are you guys?”

Yu Wen slightly nodded his chin toward the TV screen, signaling silently.

Look, what we are will be revealed soon.

Whispers of the dead.

On TV, the guests were at a loss, facing a small box. Tong Li read out the prompt in a low voice: “The reason the dead linger, what does that mean?”

The background music suddenly paused, and the camera slowly swept across the guests’ faces with a meaningful gaze.

The guests were still confused, but the audience, with their omniscient perspective, had already vaguely guessed.

「Holy sh*t! I think I get it now… all the guests are undead! (except Yu Wen) They’re gathered here because the hero doesn’t have an ending yet! The hero is lost in the magic, his fate unknown, so everyone is waiting for him!」

「So that’s what ‘you are the center of the events’ means!」

「I’m going crazy… am I some despicable little girl?」

「The battle royale scriptwriting has leveled up again… the hero’s party script is now god-tier.」

「A warm, firm, yet deeply regretful story. I love it so much, I really do.」

「Who taught you guys to frame the camera like this?! The camera sweeps across their faces, then cuts to the hero turning back in the darkness… such a killer sense of destiny! Such a killer sense of dislocation!」

「I have a bold idea… why hasn’t the hero been with everyone for the entire episode…?」

「Now that you mention it…」

「Damn it! The broadcast never said what the current timeline is. If this is a year after the events… the hero is lost in the mountains, fighting alone, while all the undead in the castle are waiting for him to wake up…」

「It was deliberate! The hero is alone! Only when he wakes up and walks out of the magic will he meet his companions again!」

The great mage: “Wait, just wait, wait for him to come out of the mountains.”

The elf: “I have one more companion. He seems to be alive… He’s lost in the mountains, I want to wait for him to wake up.”

The princess: “I don’t know if he’s dead or alive. But the dragon is still here, so he must still be alive… I believe that so strongly, even without any proof.”

The dwarf: “I watch over this place with it, constantly waiting for someone to return…”

The subsequent four segments of whispers of the dead completely confirmed the audience’s suspicions.

Perhaps coincidentally, each of the four guests took a piece of the whispers of the dead from the box, and while analyzing the clues, each read their piece aloud. These whispers happened to correspond to their own identities.

Due to the atmosphere, the guests’ expressions all turned heavy in unison. Broken, muttered voices echoed in the basement like sleep talk. At this moment, fate came full circle, and the shadows of the characters appeared on them.

They were the undead.

Even though their memories were chaotic and they didn’t fully understand the situation, they still remained here for a long time.

The reason the undead linger… was that they were waiting for a companion.

Music with a drumbeat started playing, like the high-energy deduction before the truth is revealed in a detective drama. The muttering sleep talk mixed into a noisy cacophony, growing louder and louder. After one final quick transition, the camera froze on Yu Wen’s face.

His expression showed shock, surprise, sorrow, confusion… countless complex emotions interwoven together. The camera zoomed in, and in his black, shiny eyes, the cold shell of a dragon’s body was reflected.

This was the expression he had when he opened the chamber where the evil dragon was.

The editing team of Battle Royale really knows how to cut.

The switching between these two scenes made it seem as though the hero was awakening, and his memories were gradually being revived through the whispers of the undead.

The hero in the mountains… was searching for the way out.

Every episode of Battle Royale trends, but this episode was the first time it appeared at the top of the trending list before it even aired on online platforms, with the word “explosive” next to it.

＃BattleRoyaleHeroSquad＃

Strictly speaking, the TV broadcast hadn’t finished yet, meaning the ending wasn’t certain. The quality of the entire episode couldn’t be guaranteed, and the production team wouldn’t buy a trending spot at this time, nor would netizens recommend it right now.

But this episode was truly divine. Even though only half had aired, impatient netizens were already howling on Weibo, transforming into voluntary promoters, wanting to drown the entire internet with recommendations.

「Everyone! Go watch!」

「This episode of Battle Royale gave me goosebumps…」

「?? Is it already finished? There should be about an hour left, right?」

「It’s not done, but I don’t care, I’m already recommending it.」

「Are you guys crazy? Who recommends something before it’s even finished airing?」

「I’m setting a new precedent today! So what if it’s only halfway through! The quality of the first half is so outstanding! I’m saying it now: even if the second half has a bad ending, the first half is still divine!」

「I’ve got goosebumps all over, it’s both touching and shocking.」

「It’s absolutely brilliant, so brilliant that if I die, please burn this episode on a disc and bury it with me.」

「This episode is amazing. If you’re not watching, it’s your loss…」

「Season 3 is a complete audio-visual feast: the costume design is incredible, the background music is amazing, the voice acting is outstanding, and the holographic projection is also awesome.」

「Holographic projection?! What?! We have this kind of technology now?!」

「Yes! The part with the evil dragon’s memories was all done with holographic projection.」

「Evil dragon? What script is this episode following? There’s a dragon?」

「Go watch it and you’ll know! Go watch! Even though the ending hasn’t been revealed, I have a feeling it’s going to be insane and not disappointing at all!」

「By the way, the storyline between the hero and the evil dragon hasn’t been revealed yet… It feels like it’s going to be a very moving one.」

Because it had already trended early, and with countless netizens passionately recommending it, the viewership for the second half exploded. The comments layered over each other so much that it became hard to see anything.

Yu Wen’s livestream attracted a huge crowd of onlookers.

「Hi, Melon King.」

「Hi, sweetheart (rose in mouth).」

「Compared to a cold TV screen, of course, I choose to watch the handsome guy’s livestream.」

「Can the streamer summarize the plot of the first half? I came in late.」

The comments in the livestream also became difficult to read. Yu Wen asked Xie Heyu to turn up the TV volume a bit so that the microphone could pick up the sound, then he moved closer to the camera and tried hard to make out the comments.

“The plot of the first half? It’s hard to say… You like Xiao Yu? Thank you, thank you. Xiao Yu likes you too… The streamer taking off his clothes? The streamer doesn’t take off his clothes. We’re a decent livestream… Blue hair?”

Several comments mentioned Xi Su. Yu Wen turned around in confusion to look, but Xi Su was no longer on the couch. He was walking back and forth behind the couch, holding a pillow, walking back and forth.

“Ah!” He suddenly let out a ghostly scream, startling Yu Wen.

“They’re dead, all dead. Hahaha, what a brilliant plot…” Xi Su scratched his head. “Is this variety show messing with me?! Fire! Fire! I’m going to blow them all up—”

Xi Su was full of regret at that moment. Immense regret.

Before the whispers of the undead, he had clearly realized that it might be a tragic twist, but because he still had some hope for the plot, he gritted his teeth and kept watching. At the time, he had resolved to be on full alert, ready to run the moment he sensed any tragic signs.

But later, he got too absorbed in the story, and slowly let his guard down.

By the time he realized it, the whispers of the undead had already played! Before he could even react, the show had explicitly labeled these characters as undead.

Hahaha! Hahaha!

What madness!

Xi Su wandered around the back of the couch twice before disappearing from the camera. When he reappeared in front of the viewers, he was holding an upside-down broom.

He gripped the broom, standing behind Yu Wen like a warrior about to head into battle.

“Teacher Yu.” He bent slightly, staring at Yu Wen with a twisted, threatening expression. “Tell me where the director and writer of Battle Royale live. I have something I need to discuss with them.”

Yu Wen: “…”

The livestream audience was in hysterics.

「Hahaha, we’ve lost another one.」

「One spot reserved for Xi Su on the rooftop.」

「He really watches TV with such genuine emotions. Just the other day, I saw him fighting with other CP fans from Immortal Sect on Weibo, hahaha.」

「What’s he doing with that broom? Is it a weapon?」

Happiness is always built on someone else’s suffering. The audience, who had originally been saddened by Battle Royale’s plot, all started to feel cheerful upon seeing Xi Su’s reaction.

This caused the popularity of Yu Wen’s livestream to soar, and the platform quickly featured him on the homepage. Before long, #YuWenLiveStream# became the second most trending topic, right under Battle Royale.

Yu Wen wasn’t aware of this yet, as he was trying to calm Xi Su down.

“Teacher Xi, it’s just a variety show. There might be a plot twist later. Why not keep watching? And even if I gave you the address, it wouldn’t help—you’d be breaking the law by trespassing…”

“Trespassing is illegal, but intentionally hurting someone isn’t?”

Yu Wen: “…What?”

Xi Su pointed at himself, “They used the plot to cruelly hurt my heart.”

Yu Wen: “…”

「Pfft, haha, this is so corny and hilarious, I love it.」

「He’s playing me to perfection.」

「We’re just netizens, you’ve crossed the line.」

「Come on, Teacher Xi, join us. Today, you’re my entertainment snack.」

“Teacher Xi.” Yu Wen patted his shoulder with sympathy, “I’m sorry to hear about this terrible news. I hope the wound in your heart heals soon… But the show isn’t over yet. We don’t know how it’s going to unfold.”

He meant well. If Xi Su could see it through to the end, he would realize that the whole season was about reviving the Hero Squad, and maybe he’d find it acceptable—there was still hope, at least.

But Yu Wen had forgotten that before reaching that conclusion, there was a massive flood of emotional flashbacks waiting for the viewers.

“This is the wind.”

“This bag of wind is my battle trophy.”

“The princess’s good friend, Little Flower…”

“The strange stone at the Great Magician’s door…”

“My friend, it’s such a regret that we can’t meet again in this life.”

“This time, I must embark on the journey alone.”

The hero’s collection and the dragon’s memories were released simultaneously. When Yu Wen pressed his forehead against the dragon’s, his health bar rapidly depleted. The holographic projection kept shifting, occasionally cutting to close-ups of Yu Wen’s expression, interspersed with scenes of the hero’s collection.

The memories shared between the close friends contained a lot of each other, and when the clues of the two were edited together, it felt like two perfectly fitting pieces of a puzzle, even more tear-jerking than a single perspective.

「Ahhhhh he said: “My friend” ahhhhh is this really just a variety show? My eyes are crying!」

「The hero! Wahhhhhh!」

At the end, Yu Wen said, “I will win.”

Yu Wen wasn’t someone who was full of himself, but this scene was so exceptionally well done that he had a feeling it would definitely trend tonight.

This episode, with its different plotlines, might trend in countless categories, even dominating the rankings.

The delicate and rich plot would be dug up and savored by netizens for a long time.

He felt relieved. Thankfully, he had fully immersed himself in the storyline during the later stages of filming, avoiding becoming the weak link in this god-tier variety show episode.

It felt… like a pretty solid performance.

Yu Wen propped his chin in his hand as he watched TV. Just as he was feeling a tiny bit smug, Xi Su suddenly got worked up behind the couch and shouted loudly, “Hah!”

The three pairs of eyes in the villa all turned to look at him at the same time. Yu Wen looked back in confusion, utterly baffled.

Under the watchful eyes of the three pairs and the livestream camera, Xi Su brandished the broom, took a few swift steps to the TV, and pointed it at Jian Heng, who was trying to attack Yu Wen on the screen.

“Hah!” He tried to stab the bard through the screen with the broom. “Back! Back! Back!”

Yu Wen: “…”

Xie Heyu: “…”

Chu Han: “…”