137: Chapter 137 Deer Hunting Operation (Part 2)

Then...

The light completely dissipated, leaving only a solitary Golden ring in its place.

Suddenly, static noise crackled through the long-silent Communicator.

Following that was Da Vinci's hoarse voice, suppressed with grief:

"...Vital signs, vanished."

"spirit origin reaction... completely vanished."

Da Vinci choked up, every word sounding as if it were being painfully squeezed out from between her teeth.

"The registration traces on the Throne of Heroes... have also been completely and forcibly erased by the world."

"No matter what instrument is used, the existence of 'Romani Archaman' can no longer be observed. He returned everything to God, along with his own future."

"He... will never come back."

Da Vinci's observation report was like a cruel and cold blade, ruthlessly piercing the last shred of hope in Lin Lu's heart!

Dead silence.

A deathly quiet.

Lin Lu slumped in place dazed, even her breathing coming to a halt.

Countless details she had once ignored flashed back frantically in her mind like a revolving lantern at this moment.

She remembered her roommate Chen Jiajia's evasive eyes and her "Riddler" act when she asked about the doctor's ending;

She remembered Jiajia's trembling voice when she confidently swore, "His ending is great, he just lost his power and retired";

And she especially remembered Jiajia's abnormal behavior when she repeatedly urged, "Absolutely, absolutely do not go to the forums for any spoilers, you must witness it yourself."

So that was it.

No wonder all the veteran players online were acting like Riddlers; no wonder when she was interacting with the doctor in the Control Room earlier, the Danmaku were all spamming "Protect Lu Lu" and "Take a group photo for memory."

Chen Jiajia's beautifully woven lie, at this moment, was like a satirical Montage scene, ruthlessly torn to shreds by Goetia's roar and Da Vinci's sobbing in her mind!

Along with this cruel realization, a grief far more heart-wrenching than being deceived, like a bursting black flood, instantly and completely submerged Lin Lu's sanity.

Liars.

They are all liars!

There was no hero's retirement at all! There was no returning home after retirement!

He had completely and utterly erased himself, along with the traces of his past, the possibilities of his future, and even his origin on the Throne of Heroes known as "Solomon"!

"Don't... don't do this!"

Lin Lu had completely lost it.

Ahead, Goetia, who had lost his immortality, was still letting out an angry roar according to the scripted plot:

"Do you think you can save humanity this way?! Even if I lose my Noble Phantasm, as long as this body remains, the great work of Incineration will never stop—"

The deafening BGM and Goetia's roar still echoed in the temple, but Lin Lu could no longer hear them.

She was like a drowning person, not even caring about the ultimate boss in front of her preparing to attack; she frantically searched through the system's various menus like mad, her hands trembling violently from extreme grief.

She slammed open [System Settings], her bloodshot eyes scanning the dense options in despair:

"Where's the save file? Where's the button to restart the level? Why isn't it there?! Even if you take all my saint quartz, even if you make me play from the Prologue again, it's fine!"

Nothing, there was no option to reset at all.

She opened the Command Spell interface again, her fingertips almost poking through the virtual screen:

"By the power of the Command Spell! Doctor Roman! Come back! Come back to me!!!"

No response.

The once omnipotent Command Spell was now like a broken toy.

She hurriedly opened the [Contacts/Servant Profile] archive in the top right corner of the game, trying to find even a trace of data residue.

Nothing.

That man's information, voice records, Bond stories, and even his Character art had all turned into a blinding void!

She even desperately interrupted the story and opened the [Summoning] system. Tears mixed with snot flowed into her mouth, but she was completely oblivious, only howling in despair at the empty summoning pool:

"I'll pull! I'll spend money! I have money!"

"I'll drop ten thousand! A hundred thousand! Fifty packs! A hundred packs! I don't believe I can't pull you! Gu Yi, open the summoning pool for me!"

However, the Summoning circle that usually flashed with the light of miracles was now dead silent.

No prompts, no pop-ups.

The game system used this most realistic and cruel "User Not Found" to pronounce the iron-clad fact that the man's existence had been erased.

In the summoning pool, there was simply no data of him.

The "money power" that could buy anything, the common sense of "if a game character dies, just reload the save and revive them"—in front of this empty system interface, it all became a complete joke.

"Waaaaaaah—!!!"

Lin Lu finally broke down.

Her legs gave way, and she knelt in the ashes all over the temple floor, before that solitary fallen Golden ring.

She held her head in her hands and wailed heart-wrenchingly.

Extreme grief and cerebral hypoxia caused Lin Lu's vision to start turning black. Sharp tinnitus pierced her brain like steel needles, completely drowning out all external sounds.

Her chest felt as if a giant rock were pressing down on it, making it impossible to breathe, and her whole body was twitching violently.

[Beep beep beep!]

[Warning: Abnormally high heart rate detected!]

[Emotional fluctuation overload. To protect the player's safety, the neural connection will be forcibly disconnected—]

Along with the VR pod's final sharp alarm, Lin Lu only felt a strong wave of dizziness in her brain. The tightness in her chest reached its limit, and the world before her eyes plunged into total darkness.

In the midst of static noise, the livestream screen instantly went black.

Only the microphone, which hadn't been turned off, was still recording the sounds of the real world.

...

Inside the livestream room.

After a second of absolute dead silence, the Danmaku exploded like a bursting flood!

"Lu Lu!!!"

"Damn! I'm a six-foot-tall guy, and watching this again after a few months, I'm still crying like an idiot!"

"It's too tragic. She was tricked by her roommate with that 'retirement' lie the whole way, and then combined with Da Vinci's despairing report, it's just heart-wrenching!"

"Old Thief Gu's mechanic of 'even clearing the archives' is too poisonous! It straight up tells you that you can't revive in this game, crushing your last bit of hope!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Does anyone know Lu Lu's address? That heart rate alarm just now was definitely no joke. Don't let something actually happen!"

Meanwhile, outside the door, Chen Jiajia, wrapped in her thick down jacket, was frantically pounding on Lin Lu's door, shouting apologies.

Hearing the desperate crying from inside, as if she had lost the whole world, Chen Jiajia felt deep regret, and her tears fell in anxiety.

But suddenly, the crying in the room stopped abruptly.

Only the muffled sound of the VR pod's automatic power-off and pressure release remained.

"Lu Lu? Lu Lu, why is there no sound? Don't scare me!"

Chen Jiajia's heart skipped a beat, and a massive panic instantly overrode her fear of being "slashed."

She gritted her teeth and suddenly pushed open the bedroom door, which wasn't locked at all.

The moment she rushed into the room, Chen Jiajia's legs went weak.

She saw Lin Lu with her eyes tightly closed, her face pale as she slumped in the open VR pod. Her cheeks were covered in tear stains, and she had completely fainted due to excessive emotional agitation and hyperventilation.

"Lu Lu!!!" Chen Jiajia's shrill scream was clearly transmitted to the audience's ears through the livestream microphone that hadn't been turned off.

This was followed by a flurry of searching sounds and the sound of a phone dialing.

"Hello! Is this 120?!"

"Yes, XX Apartment in Magic City! My roommate fainted! No history of heart disease, she just got too emotional playing a game and cried until she fainted. Her breathing is very weak! Please come quickly!!!"

As the shrill siren of an ambulance faintly sounded in the background of the livestream, the signal was finally cut off by the super-moderator due to a "sudden medical emergency."