Three Souls vs. Mechanical Tapir: Cuteness is Justice
The mechanical tapir's tentacles swept toward him like a giant steel python. Ling Yuan's personality spun around and swung his sword, sending streams of silver arc-shaped air whirling through the air. Xiaodou, protected by Bai Yan's personality behind the foxfire barrier, saw the translucent barrier thinning at a visible rate—with each swipe of the tapir's claws, a crack appeared on the barrier, like a nibbled biscuit.
"It's devouring the players' hope!" Lin Shen's personality's data stream suddenly turned red. "All healing professions' skill bars are being reset to zero—Bai Yan, quickly use the foxfire to bake 'hope bread'!"
Bai Yan twisted his fingertips lightly, and the foxfire instantly transformed into an oven, toasting the whole wheat bread in his backpack to a golden and crispy golden color. As he blew on the bread, the silver bells in his earrings swayed slightly: "Come on, Xiaodou, show me how to use the power of cuteness~"
Xiaodou, clueless, hugged the bread and stepped on it, pressing the meat pad into the dough to make a plum blossom mark. Miraculously, the surface of the bread appeared with glittering icing words: You will definitely pass the level!
"Ding—All players gain [Hope Buff]: Attack Power +20%, Critical Hit Rate increased to MAX!"
The system notifications mingled with the players' cheers. Ling Yuan seized the opportunity and slashed the tapir's left front paw with his greatsword. However, his pupils constricted when he saw the inside of the gears—embedded within the rotating core was half a yellowed grain coupon.
Xiaodou took advantage of the chaos and rolled to the tapir's feet, and found a honey biscuit stuck in the gap between its claws. She stood on tiptoe to reach it, but the tapir's tentacles gently rolled up her round buttocks and lifted it to the gear core on its chest.
"Hey! Let go of that panda rat!" Ling Yuan's sword paused in mid-air as he saw the mechanical tapir actually use its tentacles to hold Xiaodou, allowing her to gnaw on the energy crystals on the outer layer of its core. Xiaodou, oblivious to the danger, clutched the crystal block, gnawing on it with a "smacking" sound, her tail unconsciously sweeping back and forth across the tapir's geared chest.
The player's barrage is completely out of control:
#Why does this BOSS look more and more like a plush toy the more you fight it#
#The panda rat stepped on the tapir's milk! Why did its health bar suddenly drop so fast?#
#Don't chop the Abyss of Three Souls anymore, your pet is trying to kill the BOSS! #
"Warning! Emotional module overload!" The GM's voice was filled with electrical noise. "The mechanical tapir has fallen into logical confusion—"
Before she could finish her words, Xiaodou suddenly sneezed softly. A crack appeared in the energy core beneath her claws, a dent shaped like a panda's head. The mechanical tapir let out a long, drawn-out "tick-tick" sound, like an old-fashioned clock finishing its last tick. It slowly knelt on its front paws and gently placed Xiaodou on the wheat-strewn ground.
"Ding—Congratulations to player 'Panda Xiaodou' for earning the hidden title [Tapir Pillow]! Attributes: Restores 10% of your cuteness per second, and triggers the 'Cute Gear' effect against mechanical enemies."
Bai Yan squatted down to wipe Xiaodou's mouth, his fingertips rubbing against her white fur stained with energy debris: "Our Xiaodou is the type who can save the world by being cute~"
Ling Yuan stared at the remains of the tapir and frowned: "Its actions just now... seemed to be protecting its cubs."
Lin Shen suddenly pointed into the void: "Look! GM's surveillance footage!"
A figure in a white coat could be vaguely seen on the livestream's snowy screen. The figure tapped the holographic screen with their fingertips, and the words "Concept Rat Tribe Emotional Data Collection Progress 98%" scrolled across the screen. When the figure turned, Xiaodou saw the badge on his chest—it prominently displayed a photo of Bai Shenyuan's three souls and the words "Heavenly Dao Archives Administrator."
What made her heart stop was that there were three yellowed pages on the GM's desk, with the titles:
Bai Yan: Report on the Drowning of Actors in the Republic of China
Lingyuan: Records of Missing Soldiers in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
Lin Shen: Archives of Modern Scientists Falling from Buildings
"The concept mouse is more interesting than expected~" the GM's mechanical voice was full of laughter, "For the next gift, remember to check your mailbox~"
Xiaodou's panda paw suddenly vibrated, and the system prompt popped up a red exclamation mark: You have received an encrypted email from the 'Tiandao Archives', do you want to open it?
Bai Shenyuan's three soul personalities simultaneously pressed down on her claws. Lin Shen's data stream suddenly wrapped around the email icon, but it shattered into pieces the moment it touched it. "It's... Spacetime Paradox-level encryption!"
In the preview image of the email attachment, the date "March 15, 1960" can be vaguely seen, as well as the girl holding a calico kitten in the photo - her face perfectly overlaps with the teardrop mole on Bai Yan's right eye corner.
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