Chapter 171

Of course, this is just the worst-case scenario.

In fact, given the distance between this world and the Frieren world, Lin Yu would definitely connect the two realms before the war began.

By then, the group members led by him would definitely enter this world on a large scale, and even Li Shimin, who is currently the weakest, would have the ability to resolve this war occurring in the early 20th century...

In the endless void, Lin Yu, who left in a hurry, was moving in an extremely bizarre way, chasing the traces left by the chat group.

I don't know how long it had been, but he finally caught up with that mysterious search power and discovered another silver ball of light beside the other party.

Found another one?

This is too fast!

While Lin Yu was surprised, his actions were not slow at all.

He learned from the previous lesson and did not rush into this world immediately, but stayed outside the world for a while, observing every move of that mysterious power.

Sure enough, there were no prospective group members that met the conditions in this world either.

The mysterious power circled around the world, folded back again, and disappeared into the void.

"I knew it!"

Lin Yu had black lines on his head, decisively gave up on the world in front of him, and continued to chase after it.

After a while, Lin Yu discovered a new world again.

And this time, the chat group's reaction was clearly a bit different.

After circling around the ball of light, it suddenly split into an extremely secretive power and threw it into the ball of light.

Lin Yu's spirit lifted, realizing that there were prospective group members in this world.

Just as he was preparing to sneak into this world, that mysterious power left again, seemingly not intending to end this search journey.

Sensing this, Lin Yu hesitated a bit.

But soon, he made a decision; anyway, this world had already been selected by the chat group, and the prospective group members would be on the list soon.

Compared to entering a new world, it was more important to keep following.

Afterward, Lin Yu followed this mysterious power and traveled through the void. The perceived time of his distracted consciousness had passed at least several months, but less than twenty minutes had passed in the Frieren world.

Within these twenty minutes, Lin Yu discovered seventeen new worlds in total.

Among them, only three worlds caused a reaction from the chat group, which should mean that there were group members who met the conditions.

After finding the seventeenth world, which was the third world with prospective group members, that mysterious power originating from the chat group seemed to have completed its mission and finally began to set off on its return journey.

In the Frieren world, twenty-three minutes after Lin Yu clicked the 【Search for New Group Members】 option, the prospective list finally refreshed, revealing three silver-glowing names—

【Suzuki Satoru】

【Shadow】

【Bai Zeming】

Looking at the names of these three prospective group members, Lin Yu raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but show a strange expression.

Judging by the names, the one Lin Yu was most familiar with was undoubtedly Suzuki Satoru in the first row of the list.

If it wasn't a case of the same name, this guy should be the protagonist of the anime "OVERLORD"!

According to Lin Yu's knowledge, the real world of this anime is actually a dystopian society where capitalism has developed to its final form, similar to Cyberpunk 2077.

Various large conglomerates have hollowed out the government, seized power, and become the actual rulers of the world.

In this situation of solidified classes and high technology with low living standards, the lower-middle-class corporate slaves and commoners cannot see hope in reality and can only throw themselves into the virtual world, filling the emptiness in their hearts with fake pleasure.

"YGGDRASIL" was a super-popular online game born against this background.

Like most people in this world, the protagonist Suzuki Satoru was also a failed corporate slave in reality.

But in the game, he met a group of like-minded partners, formed a guild named 'Ainz Ooal Gown', and fought alongside the guild members in the game, leaving behind countless unforgettable memories.

These experiences led to Suzuki Satoru having extremely deep feelings for this game.

But as time passed, the popularity of this phenomenal game gradually declined, and players quit one after another, turning to those new games with better gameplay and graphics.

Suzuki Satoru's guild partners were the same; they returned to reality one after another and began to confront life.

Only Suzuki Satoru remained immersed in the past, continuing to operate the guild alone.

Until that day, the game had to be shut down due to low popularity. Suzuki Satoru had to accept reality and decided to return to real life after witnessing the server shutdown and the end of the guild.

But when the operation time ended, he was not forced to log off; instead, he traveled to another world with his game character and the entire guild, thus starting the Bone King's journey in another world.

Lin Yu liked this anime and the original novel very much in his previous life, and he didn't have any bad feelings about the Bone King in the early stages.

But in the middle and late stages, the author began to reveal some anti-human tendencies, constantly dancing on the bottom line of morality and ethics, which led to Lin Yu's perception getting worse and worse, and he finally had to give up on it.

To be honest, if it was the early Suzuki Satoru, Lin Yu would be quite willing to pull him into the group.

But if it was the Undead King who had completely integrated into the character in the later stages, that would be another matter...

Thinking of this, Lin Yu temporarily passed on Suzuki Satoru and turned to look at the second name—

Shadow!

Judging by this name, Lin Yu could only think of two famous characters.

One is the protagonist of "Solo Leveling", the Shadow Monarch Sung Jin-woo.

The other is the protagonist of "The Eminence in Shadow", the famous Lord Shadow!

Lin Yu thought for a moment and felt that the latter was more likely.

After all, so far, the group members selected by the chat group were basically transmigrators.

In this regard, Minoru Kageno, or Cid Kageno, who transmigrated to another world, met the requirements better.

"Anyway, let's take a look first..."

Lin Yu thought this while covering the name Shadow with his consciousness.

In an instant, a picture scroll slowly unfolded in his mind.

On a pitch-black night, bright moonlight passed through the canopy, leaving spots of light on the wall outside the window.

An elf girl wearing a pitch-black combat suit climbed in from the window, passed through the corridor illuminated by candlelight, and pushed open the door at the end.

Accompanied by the sound of the door opening, a cool evening breeze blew from the front, making the elf girl's spirit lift.

She looked up, and what came into view was a room similar to that of a medieval noble.

The room's decor was extremely exquisite; just a rough glance, she recognized many precious collections.

For example, a shareholder sofa once used by a king of a certain country hundreds of years ago, an exquisite gilded candlestick from the hands of a master, and many famous representative works of master painters on the wall...

All kinds of decorations were antiques and treasures that were both niche and full of style, which could be called low-key yet luxurious.

And in the center of these decorations was an equally precious gilded high-backed chair.

A handsome youth in black sat on the high-backed chair, with his back to the elf girl, gently shaking the wine glass in his hand, reflecting a crystal-clear scarlet luster under the candlelight.

"The auspicious time has arrived..."

"Tonight will be a world shrouded in shadow."

A calm voice came from the front, combined with the breeze outside the window and the scene around, making the girl unable to help but have bright eyes, looking at the youth with fanatical and worshipful eyes.

At the same time, Lin Yu in another world was looking at the youth with black lines on his head.

This pitch-black attire, this extremely pretentious style, this extremely chuunibyou statement...

Without a doubt, it must be Lord Shadow of Shadow Garden!

However, this guy's name in his previous life was Minoru Kageno, and after transmigration, he was called Cid Kageno. Why did the chat group's prospective list show his codename, Shadow?

After a little thought, Lin Yu felt that this should be related to the prospective group member's self-perception.

In the original work, Shadow once said that as they grow older, the vast majority of humans will constantly acquire, possessing more and more people and things worth valuing.

And he went the opposite way, constantly discarding things he didn't need in this process.

Discarding until the end, things that could not be discarded no matter what would appear.

He would live only for these things that could not be discarded, and other than that, everything else didn't matter.

From this perspective, Shadow is a person with an extremely pure mind.

He only had becoming stronger and being pretentious in his mind, and everything else was secondary.

For him, Minoru Kageno or Cid Kageno were just roles he played in different worlds; only Shadow, who wore a mask, was his true self after taking off the mask.

Looking at it this way, it was no surprise that the chat group would label him as Shadow.

However... what about Suzuki Satoru?

According to the plot, he was extremely disgusted with his real identity, and his self-perception shouldn't be Suzuki Satoru, but Ainz Ooal Gown after changing his name!

Lin Yu thought about it and felt that it should be because this world was still in the early stages of the plot.

The Bone King who had just transmigrated had not yet changed his thinking due to the influence of the undead body, and his perception of himself was still the human named Suzuki Satoru from his previous life.

"Then there is still salvation..."

Lin Yu thought this while casting his gaze toward the last name.

Bai Zeming... this was also a name he had absolutely no impression of.

If nothing unexpected happened, it was highly likely that he was a transmigrator from Huaxia, just like Su Haoming and He Jingfeng.

So now the question is, what world did he transmigrate to?

Lin Yu felt curious and immediately covered this name with his consciousness.

(End of chapter)