Yunxi let out a cold chuckle, expressing her displeasure at their methods. They had not even figured out right from wrong, yet they came to trouble her first. It was fortunate she had a good temper; otherwise, she would have already sent them flying.
The man in the suit naturally heard Yunxi's mocking laugh. He cleared his throat lightly and replied, "If Master Yu has done wrong, he will be punished. But it is also a fact that Miss Ran Xi has captured spirits without authorization. That is why we stopped you."
This was their explanation: their actions were not solely because Master Yu had alerted them.
Yunxi turned her gaze to the middle-aged man. "You still haven't answered my question: Who gave you the authority to appoint Soul Captors? What standards does your special division use to determine someone's qualifications? Where are the spirits taken by these so-called qualified Soul Captors sent? And how do you handle those spirits after capturing them?"
The middle-aged man frowned at her persistent questioning, but he remained courteous. "Before we can answer your questions, please release the spirits you captured. Until we understand your purpose in taking them, we cannot respond to your inquiries."
Yunxi's almond-shaped eyes narrowed, her gaze on him turning sharp. She considered whether it would be easier to simply search his soul.
At that moment, the twin boys immediately stepped behind the middle-aged man, their wary eyes locked on Yunxi, prepared to strike if she made a move.
The tension in the room grew thick. It was at this point that a small furry head poked out of Yunxi's spirit beast pouch. It was her little panda, Li Li.
After Yunxi had bonded with the Misty Snow Domain's realm spirit, she had chosen not to return Li Li to the space, wanting to keep the little one at her side. She had decided to treat Li Li as her spirit pet acquired in the Misty Snow Domain, making it easier for Li Li to appear publicly in the future.
Once the secret realm and her internal space successfully began merging, she had expected to return to the Polar Extreme Wind Zone. However, at a critical moment, a black hole appeared within the gales and dragged both her and Xun Kun inside. She had instinctively activated her golden armor and quickly stashed the spirit beast pouch against her chest.
Fortunately, the golden armor had held strong against most of the spatial winds, allowing her to enter Azure Star conscious and unharmed. Li Li had remained asleep this whole time, but for some reason had woken now. Since the pouch had not been sealed, Li Li easily poked his head out.
Yunxi softened her gaze, stroking Li Li's head. "You're awake? Are you feeling alright?"
Li Li twitched his black ears and crawled out of the pouch, stretching lazily on Yunxi's lap. His long, black-and-brown tail flicked as he settled comfortably beside her, sitting upright like a little guardian. His beady, grape-like eyes swept over the people across from them, sniffing the air. Then he turned to Yunxi and said,
"Zūnzhě, what's wrong with their souls?"
To the five onlookers, it appeared as though a fluffy creature had crawled out of a pouch no larger than a palm, perched beside Miss Ran Xi, studied them seriously, and then let out a series of "woos."
Only Yunxi understood Li Li's words. She raised a brow and asked, "Li Li, what's wrong with their souls?"
Li Li flicked his tail. "How should I put it... their souls are tainted with layers of filth, ancient and grimy. They were forced into their current bodies without purification. It will shorten their lifespans significantly."
This was Li Li's first time encountering such a thing, and his explanation was vague. But Yunxi understood enough. A vein throbbed at her temple as her gaze on the five people grew complicated.
The group opposite her was momentarily dazed. For some reason, they felt as though this woman was pitying them, yet they didn't know why.
Yunxi stroked Li Li's head, took a jade bottle from her storage bracelet, broke the seal, and released the thirty-two spirits she had previously collected. She said to Li Li,
"Take a look at these. Do you see anything wrong?"
The twin boys gaped in shock. They hadn't expected this woman, who had resisted handing over the spirits moments ago, to release them all so readily.
They each slapped the spatial nodes on their chests, producing identical black metal boxes. Pressing two points on the boxes, the lids sank, and a swirling black ring rose from within. The ring expanded, sucking in the wandering spirits one by one.
Li Li's eyes gleamed as he examined the spirits drifting around the room. After studying them, he turned to Yunxi. "Zūnzhě, these spirits are fine. At least their filth has been cleansed. Did you do this?"
"Yes. I struck them with heavenly thunder."
Yunxi admitted without hesitation.
"Tsk, tsk. Lucky for them you didn't blast them apart."
"I went easy on them. These spirits had been refined into Soul Puppets and forced to do evil. They were steeped in filth. But they were unwilling victims, so they could still be saved. I decided not to scatter their souls."
She thought of the female ghost from the film set, whom she had destroyed completely. That one had clearly been conscious and malicious, though she still didn't know where Yu had found it.
The twin boys quickly sealed all the freed spirits into their boxes, their expressions complex as they looked at Yunxi.
She returned the empty jade bottle to her bracelet and said, "The spirits are yours now. Will you answer my questions?"
The middle-aged man frowned deeply. The woman before him was far more troublesome than expected. Earlier, he had been confident they could detain her by force. That confidence had vanished.
"What's wrong? Are my questions that hard to answer?" Yunxi pressed.
"Apologies. What you're asking involves Azure Star's security and classified information. I cannot disclose it."
His response was formal, but firm.
Yunxi wasn't angry. Instead, she smirked. "Fine. No answer is fine too. I had intended to help you, but it seems you don't need it.
Spiritual incidents are breaking out everywhere on Azure Star. Do you really think it's just a problem with the magnetic field? And what about your people's lifespans? Are they not shortening with each generation? Aren't many driven to madness and suicide in the end?"
Her words made the five people's faces change. The middle-aged man and the suited pair managed to maintain composure, but the twin boys were too young to hide their shock, practically wearing the words "How do you know?" on their foreheads.
From their reactions, Yunxi had all the confirmation she needed. She scooped Li Li into her arms and rose. "I don't know what you're hiding, but some laws of nature cannot be defied. Even your people must be affected. By my calculations, you'll last at most a hundred years. After that, this place will become a ghost region."
With that, Yunxi strode toward the elevator, Li Li nestled in her arms. She had decided to regroup with her companions. Before Azure Star turned into a ghost region, she needed to find a way back to the Weiyu Realm.
===
I'm not sure if I've ever said this before, but one of my favorite game genres is MMORPGs.On PC, I play Guild Wars 2, and on Android, I've been playing Gaia Odyssey, A3: Still Alive, and Lineage 2: Revolution. That was back around 2020, I think? So yeah, about five years ago. Oh, and SAO IF too!
I started playing Gaia Odyssey and A3 right when they launched in my country, and I've been playing SAO IF ever since.
My usernames? I use Richark for Gaia and A3, and Rikhi for Lineage and SAO IF. My Richark character's around level 200, while Rikhi is somewhere around 350 (I think? Maybe? I kinda forgot lol).
Anyway, I seriously love Gaia Odyssey. It's just light and fun to play.
And A3? The story and graphics? Damn, they're so good. So pleasing to the eyes.
And SAO IF—I've always loved Sword Art Online, especially versions that let me customize my avatar (I love that I can choose the gender instead of being stuck as a male MC). That's also why I play Fatal Bullet on PC.
These three games, I downloaded and played them all the moment they officially launched here.As for Lineage, honestly... I forgot why and when I started playing it (please don't judge me 😭).
So anyway, I started translating and uploading here about five months ago—around June—and since then, I haven't really touched my mobile games. The last time I played was early August.Then today (Oct 23), I opened my games again on my laptop since my phone storage's full and my laptop still has some space.
And guess what? Out of nowhere, I got a mail notification in A3 saying the server will shut down on 2025/11/18.
I was SHOCKED. Like, what the actual fuck? That's less than a month away!!
God, I'm so stressed about it. I mean, the game's honestly so damn good—the story, the visuals, the characters, everything!
It hurts knowing it's ending.
Then I opened Gaia Odyssey and saw a notice about a big update coming on December 2.At least that one's still alive, but man… my A3 character.I even made a guild there, got it up to level 4, and I was the guild leader, dammit! Now it's been demoted back to level 1—probably because there aren't enough active players anymore. Still, it's such a waste. Seriously, what a shame...
Like... dayummm.
Ugh...
This is actually the second game I've played that's shutting down.
The first one was Uta Macross Sma-Pho De-Culture (歌マクロス スマホDeカルチャー), a Japanese rhythm game for the Macross franchise. That series is legendary—mecha, war, songs, and love triangles all mixed together.
It's kinda like AKB0048—mecha, idols, and space battles.