Du Ze stared blankly at Ariel across from him. This was his favorite girl in "Mixed Blood", no doubt about it.
Noticing Du Ze's direct gaze, the brown-haired, golden-eyed Elf Princess gestured in panic. She swept away the fallen leaves and wrote beautiful and gorgeous Elf words on the ground. Halfway through writing, Ariel suddenly realized that the black-haired human opposite her probably couldn't understand the Elf language, so she stopped gesturing and showed a heartbreaking expression.
From beginning to end, this elf princess did not make a sound. Yes, in the setting of "Half-Blood", although Ariel is the princess of the elves, she has a fatal flaw - she can't speak. Because of this, she became the shame of the entire elf race - no, it can't even be said to be a shame. All elves, including her mother, the Elf Queen, ignored her. So when Ariel met the protagonist, the only one willing to talk to her, she fell in love with the protagonist without hesitation. Ariel would secretly run to the protagonist almost every day, and in order to communicate, she taught the protagonist the Elven language little by little. Later, when the protagonist got rid of his shackles and released the "dirt" to pollute the entire elf race, he only let go of this poor and lovable elf princess.
Being ignored for a long time and having her own defects made Ariel have some inferiority complex, but it could not hide her gentle and kind nature. She was the one who treated the protagonist kindly from beginning to end in "Mixed Blood". When Ariel dedicated her soul to the protagonist in the later period, all readers were surprised that this soft and cute girl had such a strong side. How could such a good healing girl, considering Yi Ye Zhi Qiu's character, be so kind as to stay by the protagonist's side to heal him?
So Ariel became a tragedy. After the protagonist polluted the elves, the elf queen could not accept the fact that she had fallen into a dark elf and chose to commit suicide. This caused a rift between the protagonist and Ariel, and it was one-sided - the broken protagonist was very suspicious. Although he kept Ariel by his side, he never believed that Ariel had no second thoughts about him, and was determined that Ariel would seek revenge for her mother sooner or later. No matter how much Ariel wanted to get close to the protagonist, the protagonist was still on guard against her. It was not until Ariel died that the protagonist suddenly realized: it turned out that this person really loved him without reservation. In order to resurrect Ariel, the protagonist decided to attack the Sky City. The only one who could fight against the Sky Clan and know the location of the Sky City was the Demon Clan, so the protagonist ran to conquer the mainland.
Therefore, Du Ze has always felt that Ariel is the real heroine of "Mixed Blood". Although Saint Vivian has a strong presence, she is more like a kind of longing for Xiu, or a commemoration of the beautiful past, and Ariel is the most suitable person to accompany Xiu.
The combination of a cute healing girl and a cute saint couldn't be cuter!
Du Ze's blood boiled for a long time before he realized belatedly that because he didn't respond, the cute girl opposite him was so anxious that she seemed to be about to cry.
Ariel put her hand on her throat and pointed at her open mouth, trying very hard to express that she couldn't speak and that she was sorry - she seemed to care more about not being able to say an apology than being discovered by others. Du Ze pressed his earphone unconsciously. Looking at Ariel like this, he suddenly felt that he was not a grandfather for caring too much about these things.
"I'm fine. I can understand what you wrote." Du Ze tried his best to soften his expression. "My name is Du Ze. What's your name?"
So the silly reader hooked up with the elf princess. Just like the original, Ariel was very happy that someone was willing to communicate with her. She came to Du Ze almost every day. Although Ariel was the one writing most of the time and Du Ze only replied once or twice, this also made Ariel very satisfied. Du Ze began to be entangled. He seemed to be crazy and stealing the plot again. This time it was the protagonist. How could the protagonist improve Ariel's favorability in the future? But Du Ze couldn't refuse Ariel, because the more he communicated with her, the more he found that this elf princess had been lonely for too long. So a silly and cute person decided to constantly mention the cute master during the chat and promote the person who was destined to be with her to the elf princess.
After Du Ze racked his brains to come up with all the compliments he could think of, Ariel really became interested in Xiuchan. She took a branch and drew on the ground: [Is there really such a perfect person in the world?]
Du Ze nodded without hesitation, and Ariel continued writing: [Can you tell me more about him?]
Seeing Du Ze stunned, Ariel shook the branches.
[You described him very well, but...] Ariel paused, as if struggling to find the right adjective. [It feels unreal? He seems like a perfect character that everyone likes to write in poetry, just an abstract concept. Can you tell me what he likes, what he wants to do, etc.?]
Seeing Ariel's expectant eyes, Du Ze felt as if his heart was about to stop at that moment.
——Things you like?
Strength, power, money, and beauty are what the protagonist likes, and all readers can say so. But Du Ze found that he, who was here at the moment, really couldn't tell what the person who had always been with him liked.
——What do you want to do?
To avenge the Temple of Light and destroy the world, this has always been the protagonist's goal. But would the protagonist, who is determined to avenge the Temple of Light and destroy the world, wait for someone outside the Wheel of Time for four years?
It was Xiu who knew him, it was Xiu who stayed by his side, it was Xiu who waited for him, but the protagonist in "Mixed-Blood" would never do all of these.
For the first time, Ariel saw Duze's expression change drastically. She gestured with a branch in panic: [What's wrong? Did I say something wrong——]
"I found," Du Ze's voice was barely audible. "I went too far."
From the beginning to the end, he only regarded Xiu as the protagonist, but never regarded him as a "person". He was arrogant and funny for shouting that he wanted to influence the protagonist. He knew everything that the protagonist of "Mixed Blood" wanted, but he finally found out that this was not what Xiu wanted.
Ariel saw Du Ze raise his eyes and look at her, and for the first time he spoke a long sentence.
"I don't know him well enough yet. Next time, I will definitely be able to tell you what kind of person he is."
Ariel nodded in shock. Although she didn't quite understand, she could hear the seriousness and determination in Du Ze's words. She looked at the black-haired young man who had returned to his expressionless look, and couldn't help but write on the ground: [Why don't you want to express your feelings? You always have a stern face.]
Du Ze froze. He shifted his gaze as if nothing had happened and looked at the elves passing by in the distance. Those beautiful creatures all had indifferent expressions, and were as cold and beautiful as fairies who were not affected by the worldly affairs.
“They don’t have any expression either…”
[Not the same.] Ariel wrote hastily: [They are empty inside and out, without emotions or expressions.]
Du Ze was silent. In fact, he had long known that the elves had now entered a dead end and could not get out. Why was there "dirt" on the Tree of Life? What exactly is "dirt"? When the protagonist finally found a way to communicate with the Tree of Life, he learned everything.
In general, the elves have brought this upon themselves. This beautiful race has fallen into a misunderstanding: they firmly believe that superfluous emotions will hinder their cultivation, so every elf will hold a "coming-of-age ceremony" when they reach a certain age - using the Tree of Life to discard the superfluous and unnecessary emotions they feel, which leads to the same indifference among all elves. For tens of millions of years, the elves have been throwing their negative emotions into the Tree of Life like this, but even the largest trash can will eventually become full, so the black evil overflowed from the Tree of Life, which is the "dirt". When Du Ze heard that the protagonist's later darkening was also due to the absorption of "dirt", his impression of the elves instantly dropped to the bottom.
Ariel has never had a coming-of-age ceremony because she has been ignored by the elves, but she can do nothing about the vicious cycle that the elves are in. Duze had asked Ariel why he was captured before, and Ariel told him that it was because a dead spirit told the elves that she had a way to deal with the "dirt" of the Tree of Life, as long as they helped her bring back the person she wanted from the dwarf ruins, the elves, who were desperate, immediately agreed. Ariel's words reveal a kind of sadness, the sadness of watching the elves go to the end of their ways. Du Ze learned from Ariel that the undead was called Anat. Seeing this unfamiliar name, a certain silly reader tried desperately to recall the original plot of "Mixed Blood". There was no such person at all. These days, there are more and more unidentified organisms...
At this time, there was a sound of leaves being trampled overhead. Ariel stood up in panic and looked up with Du Ze. Soon, Simon, who had been missing for several days, appeared in front of them, accompanied by a charming woman, who was dressed in a black robe, indicating her identity as a necromancer.
Simon's eyes passed over Ariel, as if he didn't see the elf princess at all. He motioned the seductive woman to look at Du Ze: "This is what you wanted."
The seductive woman looked at Du Ze for a while, then snorted coldly: "Is this how the elves fulfill their promises? Just grabbing someone to fool me?"
Simon took out a broken ring from his arms and said coldly: "At that time, a dwarf stood with this man, and your ring reacted to them."
"Dwarf?" The charming woman's face flashed with surprise, as well as deep-seated jealousy and fear. She repeated in disbelief: "How could there be a dwarf? The dwarf race disappeared 30,000 years ago!"
"But the dwarves have indeed appeared. As long as you enter the dwarf ruins, you may be able to meet the greatest enemy of your undead race." Simon's voice was emotionless, but for no reason it made people feel that he was mocking. "We have brought people back from the dwarf ruins. You must fulfill your promise."
"But I want the person who killed my student!" The charming woman stared at Simon and suddenly smiled charmingly: "As you said, the ring I gave you only reacts to two people. Since this human is not one of them, then it must be the dwarf. If you can bring the dwarf here, I will help you deal with the 'dirt' of the Tree of Life."
Simon's eyes flashed with fear. He was silent for a while, then pointed at Du Ze and said to the charming woman: "The dwarf attaches great importance to him."
The charming woman set her sights on Du Ze again, and this time, she walked straight over to him.
"I don't know if you have heard my name from my students." The seductive woman stretched out her hand and scratched Du Ze's chin with her bright red nails: "My name is Anat, and I am a necromancer."
Seeing the familiar outfit of the charming woman and hearing the word "student", Du Ze finally remembered who Anat was - wasn't she the mentor of the dark elves who was used as cannon fodder?
Anat carefully studied Duze's face, trying to find any sign of Duze's trembling from his expression, but failed completely. But this was not a problem for Anat at all, her fingers slid down and opened Duze's collar.
"I forgot to tell you..." Anat hugged Duze tightly as he tried to retreat, and put his head against Duze's neck, revealing his sharp canine teeth. "I'm a vampire."
Du Ze shuddered violently, not knowing whether it was because the fangs broke his skin or because he was shocked by Anat's words. Vampires are a branch of the undead race, and they have unparalleled control over blood. They can analyze a lot of information from blood, such as thoughts and memories.
The loss of blood did not make Duze feel uncomfortable, but he knew that this would not work. He tried to push away the vampire on him, but he was powerless. Ariel next to him tried to stop him in a panic, but she could not separate Anat and Duze at all. She looked at Simon with pleading eyes.
Simon remained indifferent. When Du Ze was about to die from excessive blood loss, he took action slowly.
"Don't kill people on elf territory."
Anat took a few steps back to avoid Simon's attack. She looked at Duze who was supported by Ariel and rubbed her bright red lips with her hand.
"Why can't I read your thoughts and memories?"
I have practiced closed-brain surgery.
Du Ze pressed his neck and felt dizzy. He couldn't even stand due to excessive blood loss, so he could only sit down weakly. Large patches of color appeared in front of his eyes. Finally, red became the main color in his vision. The chaotic red formed a human figure with bloody runes, just like -
"Blood pact beast!?" Anat cried out in surprise as he looked at the blood-red humanoid rune that fell silently in front of Du Ze.
Du Ze closed his eyes, he knew that person was coming.
The author has something to say: Reader: I don’t know him well enough.
Author: The following is official information.
[Name: Xiu
Attribute: Protagonist
Like person: Du Ze
Favorite food: Duze
Favorite toy: Duze
Favorite bed: Duze
…
Dream: (@protagonist)]
The protagonist: Eight races playing Du Ze.
Reader: ...I still don't want to understand him.