36. The Final Hidden Worldbuilding

The moment the kill was confirmed, Li Nuo felt a sharp "snap" in his leg.

His right leg had twisted in the opposite direction, followed immediately by the agonizing sensation of broken bone piercing into his flesh.

"Hiss—!"

Li Nuo realized the first 20-second timer for [Survivor of the Crimson Blood] had expired. He collapsed to his knees beside the Minotaur. The Resistance soldiers nearby were stunned; was his goal in killing it simply to kneel before it?

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, his teeth clenched so tightly that the veins on his temples began to bulge. This wasn't just a fracture; the bone had been pulverized!

But he had no time to dwell on the pain.

He glanced at the Minotaur cooling on the ground; its body was still twitching spasmodically. Li Nuo slumped onto the floor, finally free to experience the agony while simultaneously worrying about his predicament.

If [Survivor of the Crimson Blood] continued to trigger, his skull would shatter in two minutes. Though the system didn't explicitly say it would kill him, what was the difference between a shattered skull and death?

"Either keep your health above 10% or spend gold coins... It’s just like getting sick; you either buy medicine to tough it out or spend money to see a doctor... 3,000 gold coins... that’s highway robbery..."

"Hey..." The Resistance soldier with the gun helped the girl with the ponytail up and walked over, looking suspicious. "What... happened to you?"

"I'm fine." Li Nuo opened his interface and pulled out a health potion bought from the shop. Just as he was about to plunge the needle into his body, the arm holding the syringe snapped.

"Ah—!"

His condition terrified the Resistance soldiers. Not knowing what was happening to Li Nuo, they stood there at a loss, one of them walking over to pick up the dropped potion.

At that moment, the iron wall above was suddenly smashed open, and 2B flew in, landing not far from Li Nuo.

Li Nuo couldn't react with his facial expressions due to the twitching pain, but his heart was wide open in shock.

Watching 2B elegantly lying on the cold steel floor, Li Nuo couldn't help but think: *What a coincidence, sis, you got beaten up too?*

But speaking was a bit difficult for him right now.

2B methodically sat up and stood as if nothing had happened. To be able to free-fall from tens of meters high and land without a scratch—she certainly lived up to being an android.

2B scanned the surroundings, noticing Li Nuo and the dead Minotaur. She also sensed that Li Nuo seemed to be emitting a red blood mist, as if his very life force were evaporating.

She paused and asked, "What happened to you?"

Li Nuo’s face remained taut. *Nothing much, I’m just about to kick the bucket.*

2B walked over. She saw the Minotaur lying not far between Li Nuo’s legs, its eye sockets crushed to a pulp. A subtle, awkward feeling flickered in her heart.

"AAHH!!!"

Li Nuo let out a shrill roar. The 20 seconds were up again; this time, it was his right arm that shattered.

Hearing that blood-curdling scream, 2B didn't need to ask to know that Li Nuo had suffered severe injuries. Furthermore, since her creation, the YoRHa troops had been imbued with extensive combat experience. Seeing Li Nuo’s distorted limbs, she understood that he was in a state barely better than a human torso.

2B quickly reached his side, knelt down, placed a hand on his shoulder, and roughly turned him over. She hooked her arm under his shoulder and pulled his head against her chest.

At that moment, Li Nuo felt a bit lightheaded. Whether it hurt or not seemed irrelevant; only one thought filled his mind: *May this moment be eternal...*

Then, 2B reached behind her back with her other hand and pulled out a health potion from who knows where.

If Qin Shou or Marjie had performed this motion to procure a potion, Li Nuo would rather have died right there.

2B, however, was oblivious to Li Nuo’s rich inner world. With one hand still hooked around his shoulder, she reached around, pinched his jaw, and poured the entire bottle of potion into his mouth like she was feeding a helpless toddler.

The moment the paint-scented liquid hit his stomach, Li Nuo could clearly feel his cooling body temperature gradually rising.

Seizing the opportunity, Li Nuo immediately opened his personal attribute panel to check the stat boosts granted by [Survivor of the Crimson Blood].

[Li Nuo: Lv11]
[Strength: 14 + 22]
[Reaction: 20 + 30]
[Spirit: 5]
[Constitution: 9]
[Insight: 17]
[Medical: -]

*I’m so strong...*

Li Nuo was so dumbfounded he even forgot the pain. Under the [Survivor of the Crimson Blood] status, the bonuses from the [Red Tearstone Ring], [Android Chip: Near-Death Attack UP Lv1], and [Inner Potential] were no longer displayed separately, but the additive effects were real.

As the potion slid down his throat, the status of [Survivor of the Crimson Blood] deactivated. Li Nuo grew weaker, but he was alive.

Ignoring the pain of his torn muscles, he immediately canceled [Inner Potential]. The red mist dissipated, scattering into the air like sparks.

"Thanks..."

2B said coldly, "Don't thank me. This potion is what you gave me."

Hearing this, Li Nuo felt a bit dazed, wondering if this counted as saving himself—after all, in his previous state, he didn't have the strength to inject himself.

"What about those two Minotaurs?" Li Nuo asked, rising from 2B’s embrace.

"Slaughtered," 2B said nonchalantly. But the bloodstains on her back told him she had experienced a situation several times more difficult than he had imagined.

The current main quest difficulty reached up to level 30; it was very likely that the crisis had just been cleared by 2B.

Once prepared, the group arrived at the elevator. It was locked and inoperable, so the female Resistance soldier with the ponytail hacked the system to unlock it. The android then took control of the elevator, directing it straight to the top floor.

Li Nuo realized that all the effort he had put into building interpersonal relationships along the way was now paying off, compensating for his lack of personal ability. Without the help of the Resistance, he would have had to find a way to climb back to the top of the tower, and with little time remaining, the failure rate of the mission would have skyrocketed.

The elevator was small. Two Resistance soldiers, 2B, and Li Nuo in his strange mask were packed into the cramped space.

Li Nuo took this time to pull up his panel and glance at the title he had just acquired.

[Title: Eye-Stabbing Stickman]
[Level: 1]
[Upgrade Condition: Use a stick to burst the eyes of 30 hostile targets.]
[Effect: Passive skill "Super Critical," damage increased by 1.2x when attacking weak points.]

The "Endless Corridor" was filled with all sorts of [Titles], and the methods to obtain them were bizarre. Li Nuo had earned [Eye-Stabbing Stickman] because, from the newcomer trials until now, his primary attack method had consistently been using a "stick" to stab "eyes," and he hadn't missed once. If he had changed his method to only using his "fists" to strike the "lower body (male pain point)" and achieved the same result, the title would have become [Crotch-Kicking Walker]...

Or take Marjie, who had an infinite supply of fecal matter; that guy might have already earned the title [Sphincter Salesman].

But regardless of whether it was [Eye-Stabbing Stickman] or [Crotch-Kicking Walker], the effect of the title was the same, as the system deemed the player's attack style to be focused on direct strikes to critical points.

However, one shouldn't assume that obtaining such [Titles] was easy. Being able to accurately burst every opponent's eyes was, in its own way, quite wicked... and quite difficult to pull off.

With a "ding," the elevator reached the top of the tower.

When the doors opened, they saw Marjie and Chen Shou waiting there. Li Nuo sighed in relief. It was a good thing the three-man RPG exploration team hadn't lost any limbs.

But from Chen Shou and Marjie’s perspective, things were a bit different; the two brothers’ expressions were clearly sour.

"Li Nuo... why are there more women around you again?" Marjie’s question contained a hint of annoyance.

Li Nuo stepped out of the elevator and said, "The three of them helped me a lot..."

"Miss 2B, and the other two ladies, please step aside," Marjie said in a deep voice.

2B stood up, confused, and stepped to the side. Li Nuo was equally puzzled.

Then, Marjie continued, "Chen Shou, blast him."

"Understood, Brother Ma," Chen Shou replied, pulling out his slingshot and aiming it at Li Nuo.

Seeing this, Li Nuo shouted in a panic, "Wait! What do you mean by that!"

"Wrong weapon. Use the cannon."

"Brother Ma, you always have the best ideas."

Chen Shou then hauled out a [Handheld Cannon] and aimed it at Li Nuo.

Li Nuo: "Wait a second!"

At that moment, Marjie tossed him a health potion and said, "To lighten the mood. Although we really did want to blast you... We completed a side quest to protect some mechanical lifeforms. The reward wasn't great, but we saved a bottle of health potion for you. Just make do with it."

Chen Shou disappointedly put away the cannon. *So it was just a joke...*

Li Nuo took the potion, handed it to the ponytail girl who had been injured because of him, and then pulled out the [Fragment of the World-Ending Flower] as he walked toward the stairs leading to the tower's peak.

When they opened the gate to the summit, a warm light—the kind found only at dusk and dawn—shone upon them.

The Resistance soldier with the gun instinctively covered his eyes, peeking through his fingers at the warm light from the sky: "This is my first time seeing... such an intense 'night'."

The areas where the Resistance operated only had day, no night. Dusk and dawn were their only version of darkness, and that only existed at the border between the Kingdom of Day and the Kingdom of Night.

Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw countless white petals fluttering in the air, and the system's voice echoed in every player's ear.

[Special Quest Updated: Return the Fragment of the World-Ending Flower to its source, restore the completeness of the World-Ending Flower, and teleport it back to the space where it should exist.]

[Main Quest Timer Restarted: 5 minutes remaining.]

The flower bud, symbol of the World-Ending Flower, stood at the top of the tower. It was over five meters tall and occupied about 150 square meters. As the massive petals slowly opened, Chen Shou felt a sensation akin to "trypophobia" spreading in his heart.

"Though I don't know what's going on, this should be the end, right?" Chen Shou asked. "There won't be another boss, will there?"

"Given the remaining time, there shouldn't be. The system wants us to finish the quest quickly," Marjie said as he walked over.

Above the flower was a translucent ripple resembling a wormhole.

Marjie analyzed, "The wormhole is something like a space-time rift. It teleported the World-Ending Flower and elements from Final Fantasy into the 11942 Nier world."

"What are you talking about?" the accompanying Resistance soldier asked. "World-Ending Flower... teleportation? 11942?"

"It's hard to explain in a moment..." Marjie had no intention of explaining. The quests set by the system couldn't always be kept rational; as long as the mission was completed, that was enough.

While they were talking, 2B noticed Li Nuo sitting on a folding chair he had brought out, legs crossed, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if deep in thought.

She asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Li Nuo shook his head.

He squinted, his mind still mulling over the hidden world-view of this script. The series of clues before and after left him concerned about many things...

Day, Night, Dawn, Dusk.
Final Fantasy, Nier: Automata.
World-linking lines, the white dome covering the area, humans stuck in walls.
Reincarnation.

Perhaps if he understood it all, he could solve every secret of this hidden world.

Countless clues intertwined in his mind, forming a dense web of information. Finally, the "monologue" that had appeared twice in the system repeated in his head: "The gear of reincarnation turns, the world of day without night, currently being invaded by darkness, the dawn shall become the anchor, opening a new..."

[Countdown: 3 minutes]

In an instant, Li Nuo’s eyes widened.

"I understand."