The rewards for completing character strategies were exceedingly generous.

Shen Tang felt a surge of warmth in her heart, as if something had filled an originally empty space.

She knew that the Crystal Core had re-formed.

She had another chance to cultivate.

And there was that Advanced Superpower Awakening Book.

As for the other two items, they sounded interesting. They seemed rather useless now, but perhaps they could work wonders in specific moments.

But at this moment, Shen Tang couldn’t be happy at all. These clearing rewards were gained at the cost of Ah Jin’s death.

If this was the ending, she would rather he remained forever silly, living heartlessly...

Just thinking about his appearance before his death...

Shen Tang lowered her head and covered her face, unable to control the tears any longer, large drops rolling through her fingers, leaving dark stains on the bedding.

"Xiao Tang’er." Shen Li, seeing her suddenly burst into tears, was immediately flustered.

Shen Tang wiped her face, sniffed, and said in a dull voice, "Actually... someone had to sacrifice themselves back then, right?"

She gave a bitter smile, "At least one Primordial Beast Tier Beastman is required as a sacrifice to completely seal the Star Gate."

She raised her reddened eyes to look at Shen Li, "So that’s why you didn’t let me go, because it wasn’t a case of nine deaths and one life, but certain death."

Shen Li’s Adam’s apple bobbed, admitting dryly, "Yes."

He said in a deep voice, "The prophecy book of the Blood Clan recorded that the Star Gate had been opened once. The Blood Clan of that time foresaw its potential to open again, so they left a method to close it, which involved using the power of the Earth Core and sacrificing a Primordial Beast Tier Beastman."

He pursed his lips, "The reason for not telling you this harsh truth was because I didn’t want to put you in a difficult position."

"..."

"Xiao Tang’er," Shen Li held her hand, meeting her reddened eyes, helplessly saying, "Blame me if you wish, curse me if you must, but that was the only way at the time, I had no choice."

Shen Tang calmed herself, gently shaking her head, "I don’t blame you."

Her voice was still a bit muffled, "You mentioned that the prophecy book stated the Star Gate was opened once, yet there’s no record of such a great battle in the histories of the Beast World."

"There’s no record because it was closed just as it was opened, the alien star had no chance to attack," Shen Li continued explaining, "It was closed by the Blood Clan of that time."

"The Blood Clan was powerful. At that time, those alien traitors weren’t enough to destroy the entire clan, but it seems the ancestors of the Blood Clan were betrayed, the plan was leaked, and ultimately, they had to use the entire clan’s strength to forcibly seal the Star Gate through a blood sacrifice."

"Unfortunately, there were still spies from the alien star on the continent. After centuries of searching, they finally captured the remaining pure-blood descendants, using the Blood Clan’s power to weaken the seal slightly, finding a loophole to restart the unfinished plan."

"However, only weakening the seal was not enough. For a massive invasion, they must acquire more Blood Clan power, find the forbidden land, and seize the power left by the ancestors to completely lift the Star Gate seal."

Hearing this, Shen Tang understood better.

No wonder aliens were so persistent in capturing the Blood Clan, it turned out there was still a seal left by the Blood Clan ancestors on the Star Gate.

Unfortunately, the blood beads of the forbidden land were stolen by them, almost breaking the seal in the end.

Shen Li’s voice became heavy again, "This time, we found out early, preventing them from successfully opening the Star Gate, but... still couldn’t avoid sacrifice."

The Blood Clan of that time gave everything, who knows how many strong members were sacrificed to seal the Star Gate. Compared to the tragedies of that time, they were considered lucky.

Shen Li hesitated to speak, but unwilling to hide things from her, he finally said, "The prophecy book wrote that the one to be sacrificed should be a female."

Shen Tang was instantly stunned.

In the prophecy, the female...

Was the one originally meant to be sacrificed her?

Sacrifice meant the complete disappearance of body and soul. Not even the System’s Blood and Flesh Reshaping could bring one back, it was a true erasure.

Xiao Jin took this calamity for her.

"He..." Shen Tang once again burst into tears.

Shen Li pulled her into his arms, regretting saying this, "Exchanging his life for yours, I think he was willing."

Yes.

He knew, he was willing, that was his choice without regret.

Tears flowed like rain from Shen Tang, and she suddenly grabbed her clothes to put on, struggling to get out of bed, sobbing, "He... I want to go to the battlefield again, I want to look again..."

Lu Xiao entered with soup and dishes, almost bumping into her.

He quickly put down the tray and hurriedly caught up to hold her into his arms, sorrowfully persuading, "Tangtang, we’ve already searched the battlefield remains, nothing was left."

Xiao Jin self-destructed to make the sacrifice.

Turned to ashes on the spot, what would be left?

Shen Tang seemed to have her strength instantly drained away.

She buried her face in Lu Xiao’s chest, tears soaking his clothes, murmuring softly, "He... Ah Jin... didn’t pick a good name..."

Always so full of disasters and difficulties.

The "Jin" of ashes.

In the end, just like ashes on the battlefield, scattered with the wind.

That silly leopard, how could he give himself such a name?

Indeed, being an orphan, who chose the name for him? Was it his own choice?

Shen Tang took out the little Puppet Doll from Space.

The palm-sized doll was completely quiet, lying in her hand as if it were asleep, but she knew it would never lazily rub its eyes and wake up again.

And the necklace with the silver-white scales in the middle seemed to have dimmed significantly.

After the Star Gate was closed, Xue Yinzhou disappeared along with those aliens. Now even the System couldn’t trace his whereabouts, his name turned into gray gibberish, the info page was a blank, nothing there.

Shen Tang was truly worried about him.

She wanted to know where he was, those Snake Beastmen were powerful, seemingly having a deep-seated hatred with him, what would they do to him?

The only slight relief now, was that Jia Lan’s Crystal Core remained intact. If they could find his body, was there a chance for resurrection?

Unfortunately, that bastard Liu Ye had vanished without a trace, as if he evaporated from the world.

Even when the Star Gate appeared this time, he didn’t show up, who knows where he went. But for now, it seemed he was no longer on the Beast World Continent.

Could it be, he had already gone to the alien star?

Shen Tang was full of questions about her own origins.

She could confirm that this body was an experimental subject, but what was her relationship with the original owner? The abuse and harm Xue Yinzhou suffered over the years were real, not fabricated memories.

Shen Tang felt her head about to explode, unfortunately, the System couldn’t provide an answer, so she simply stopped thinking about it.

Though everything had supposedly settled.

There were still too many mysteries, making her feel increasingly uneasy.

Perhaps the story was far from over.