[You and Natasha led the imperial army against the infected outside the Quarantine Zone. Ultimately, you were defeated, and both you and Natasha were gravely injured.]
[Natasha used the last of her strength to heal you. She was on the brink of death, her life hanging by a thread.]
...
[At this critical moment, Ron appeared before you, saving the dying Natasha. Despite Natasha's pleas for him to stay, he turned and left, rushing into the Quarantine Zone.]
...
[Ron killed many of the infected with extreme brutality. The surrounding imperial citizens developed a great fear of him, and the whispers against him grew more frequent.]
[You saw infinite vines burst from the ground, enveloping the entire Quarantine Zone, completely obscuring the scene within from all eyes.]
[You could vaguely hear screams rising and falling within the Quarantine Zone. Looking at the completely sealed-off area, a bad premonition began to surface in your heart...]
...
[You saw the vines covering the Quarantine Zone disappear. Ron, looking substantively unchanged but draped in a golden-green splendor and possessing a markedly different aura, walked towards you and Natasha.]
[As Ron drew closer, the ominous feeling in your heart grew stronger... Perhaps something very serious was about to happen.]
...
[That's right. Right now, your bad premonition has completely come true.]
[Ron healed Natasha's severed arm and apologized to her, stating that he could not accompany her in protecting the empire...]
[Then, Ron walked on air, step by step, leaving this world and heading towards the boundless, distant sky.]
...
[A few minutes later, you saw a blood-red ball of flesh suddenly appear outside the sky. Then, in an instant, the ball of flesh shrank, transforming into a crimson, sun-sized egg...]
[You saw the eggshell break within seconds. An elegant, noble, and majestic azure dragon burst forth, carrying an endless aura of faint golden light, coiling around the planet.]
[An indescribable sense of absurdity welled up in your heart—]
[Ron left the planet, and outside the planet, he turned into a giant dragon countless times larger than the planet itself, and is now protecting the entire thing... What kind of [Underworld expletive] dream am I having?!]
That's right, what kind of [Underworld expletive] dream am I having?!
Seele stared at the screen in front of her, her pupils quaking in shock. She felt completely lost.
So, what in the world was going on in this simulation?! Why was every development completely unexpected?!
At the beginning, when Ron was taken away by Natasha and became the leader of Wildfire, Seele had felt it was just a small plot derailment.
Based on the experience from every previous simulation, Ron was a hero dedicated to saving Belobog. In a situation where neither she nor Bronya had approached him first, he would certainly find his own way to save the city.
And she had to admit, Ron was Ron. He chose an excellent method.
By becoming the leader of Wildfire, he gained near-total control of the Underworld, and the power of the Underworld was enough to propel him to control all of Belobog. The subsequent founding of the Jarilo-VI Second Empire, aside from Cocolia's concession, was heavily reliant on the Underworld's strength.
But what the [Belobog expletive] happened after that?!
Seele couldn't figure it out. She had just been serving as the commander of the Pioneer Group, leading expeditions into the Fragmentum for a while. She was away from Belobog for a time, so why did those incomprehensible infected people appear upon her return?
This was an enemy that had never appeared in any previous simulation... Remember, in the last simulation, with Ron's help, she had completely crushed the greatest threat on Jarilo-VI—the Antimatter Legion.
After the Antimatter Legion was gone, although Jarilo-VI was soon occupied by the Interastral Peace Corporation and developed into a famous tourist planet, that was a "crisis" from beyond the stars... For some, it couldn't even be called a crisis.
But in this simulation, everything was spiraling out of control... From the "Blizzard Immunity" that could make people completely resistant to the cold, to the "Seed of Calamity" that turned people into monsters, these were all things Seele had never seen in previous runs.
Take the "Blizzard Immunity," for example. Although Seele was raised by Natasha and had certainly heard about Natasha's brother, Vache, she had been warned by Natasha many times that "Blizzard Immunity" was nothing more than a fantasy.
But in this simulation, not only did a complete version of "Blizzard Immunity" exist, but it could also make the user immune to Fragmentum corrosion in addition to the blizzard... This was completely unreasonable, wasn't it?
In the last simulation, Seele was the Empress of the Jarilo-I Empire. All of Belobog's archives were open to her. Her understanding of the Fragmentum was second to none... She knew this thing was not normal!
But that was just a minor issue. After all, it was Ron who produced it. Given his abilities, if he had obtained Vache's research notes from Natasha, it wasn't entirely incomprehensible that he could perfect the "Blizzard Immunity" formula to this degree. After all, it was Ron...
But then what was that so-called Seed of Calamity?! And who was the person who could distribute it to the entire nation in an instant?!
Not to mention Ron's subsequent massacre of the infected, and his final transformation into an azure dragon that enveloped the entire planet...
Seele rubbed her temples, her eyes filled with confusion.
Even with the memories of being the Empress of the Jarilo-I Empire from the last simulation, having progressed so much compared to her former self, she still couldn't understand any of this.
She was just the commander of a Pioneer Group who knew nothing. What could she possibly know?
Still, no matter how incomprehensible these events were, she had to find the source...
Seele sighed helplessly, propped up her head, and began to seriously read the simulation text on the screen, starting a brainstorm.
She wasn't some slacker who gave up at the first sign of trouble. She was Seele, the most proactive member of Wildfire, the Empress who had controlled the entire Jarilo-I Empire in the last simulation!
She had to figure out what happened in this run... Otherwise, a similar situation could occur in every future simulation.
She had to resolve these hidden crises, successfully simulate a perfect route, and fulfill her own wish... and also allow Ron to live a normal, stable life.
With these thoughts in mind, Seele began to diligently scroll through all the records of this simulation, carefully examining every single entry...
And then, she finally found the problem.
"At the beginning of this simulation, after Bronya and I were both hypnotized, Nata was the ultimate beneficiary..."
Seele looked thoughtfully at the records she had scrolled to the very top of the screen. Reviewing the memories in her mind and thinking about the situation in this run, she immediately arrived at an obvious answer—
"Of course, Nata is also a simulation player..."
This wasn't particularly surprising to Seele. After all, Bronya had already been revealed as a player; it was clear the Life Simulation Game couldn't have only one.
Although she hadn't considered Natasha as a player at first, it wasn't a shocking revelation.
"If Nata is a player, then many things can be explained, like why Ron was taken away by her to become the leader, and why they researched 'Blizzard Immunity' together..."
Seele scrolled through the screen, looking further down, but after a long time, she couldn't find any new problems. Just as she was scratching her head in confusion, wondering what she was missing, she suddenly noticed a blind spot she had overlooked before—
[Ron spoke, his voice ringing out as he declared:]
["On May 8th, 702 of the Architect Era, the Jarilo-VI Second Empire is founded."]
["I will become its Emperor and guard this city until the dawn of this world arrives."]
In this simulation, Seele's duties as the commander of the Pioneer Group were too heavy, so she hadn't paid attention to such minor details in naming conventions. Only now, upon a detailed review of the simulation log, did she discover the problem...
Why was it the Jarilo-VI Second Empire?!
Seele had a faint feeling that she was only separated from the truth by a thin membrane, one that could be pierced with a single poke.
Although the name of an empire was just a name and wouldn't have a fundamental impact... this could not be a coincidence.
The Second Empire. Second.
In the last simulation, on Ron's advice, Seele had founded the Jarilo-I Empire.
What if—and this was a bold assumption—what if Ron was also a simulation player, and possessed all the memories of the previous simulation? Would he have deliberately created the Jarilo-VI Second Empire?
To distinguish it from the First Empire of the last simulation, and subconsciously treating this empire as the successor to the last one, a new empire built upon the old foundation...
And if Ron was a player...
Seele quickly reviewed all the incomprehensible events of this simulation, and in that moment, everything seemed to become understandable.
For instance, how Ron was able to leave this world in the end and become an azure dragon enveloping Jarilo-VI—it could very well be a reward obtained after a previous simulation ended, or the effect of some trait.
Suddenly, it was no longer so hard to understand... Ron's own abilities allowed him to create all sorts of miracles, and the Life Simulation Game itself was a miracle among miracles—
With the Life Simulation Game at his disposal, it was not out of the question for Ron to pull something like this off.
At this thought, Seele's heart began to race, thumping wildly in her chest.
If... if her theory was correct, then couldn't she just talk to Ron directly?
Based on Ron's performance in the simulation, he definitely wouldn't mind playing a round of the game with her and finding a way to save this world together...
In that case, the outcome of this particular simulation no longer mattered.
Seele placed a small hand on her chest, pressing down to calm her excited, rising chest.
She needed to think carefully about how she should test Ron, and how she should lay her cards on the table and explain everything about the Life Simulation Game...
Her thoughts drifted far away, and she completely failed to notice that the text log on the screen had been replaced by new entries:
[Ron's departure awed the entire empire. Now, all its citizens are filled with respect and fear for Ron. The entire empire has prostrated itself before the majesty of the divine dragon.]
[You watched Natasha kneel on the spot for a full day and night, her head bowed, her thoughts unknown.]
[You were very concerned about Natasha's condition and quietly stayed by her side, waiting for her to recover from her immense grief.]
[After a day and a night, Natasha lifted her head.]
[You vaguely felt that Natasha had changed... Although she still smiled at you like she used to, a smile that felt like a spring breeze, you now felt that the gentle Natasha of the past was gone.]
[She held an oath ceremony and assumed the position of Emperor of the Jarilo-VI Second Empire. In such chaotic times, no one dared to say a word against the person blessed by Ron before he left. With everyone's support, she became the empire's new Empress.]
[Watching Natasha take her solemn oath before the Everwinter Monument, and then reveal a gentle smile as she promised the people a bright future for the empire, you couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong...]
[You felt that within Natasha's gentle smile, there seemed to be a hidden indifference and... greed?]
[Is the current Natasha still the Natasha of the past? Is she the gentle doctor of the Underworld, or has she become an empress with a huge void in her heart from the great change, now greedily pursuing something?]
[You are not sure... You can only watch as the empire heads in a new direction under Natasha's hand, and that is all.]
[Natasha fulfilled her promise. She planted a towering tree in Belobog that perfectly solved all the empire's problems. You don't know why the entire planet suddenly became so warm, or how Natasha could sprout a lush forest overnight, but she ultimately did it.]
[She brought the empire supplies that even Ron's reign had failed to provide. A completely sufficient food supply sent the entirety of Belobog into a state of excitement.]
[She promoted "Blizzard Immunity" throughout the empire. Everyone became immune to the now-dwindling blizzards and the receding Fragmentum. She also began a large-scale military recruitment, establishing several new Pioneer Groups to leave Belobog and venture deep into the snow...]
[Over five years, you have witnessed every inch of land on this planet be reclaimed by the empire. All the cold and bitter snowlands have been transformed into lush forests under Natasha's influence...]
[Even you, with your limited knowledge, know that this is by no means normal. Perhaps Jarilo-VI could change like this, but it should never have happened in just five years.]
[Perhaps five hundred years would be a more reasonable number...]
[However, you no longer have much time to worry about this.]
[As the temperature on Jarilo-VI gradually warms, the ice sculptures you all collected, moved to the empire's border for cold storage, and heavily guarded, have finally melted.]
[The flames of a war buried by snow over seven hundred years ago are about to be rekindled... The Antimatter Legion awakens from its frozen slumber, baring its sharp fangs at this world.]