Those who reincarnate must die.

"You just recognized me?"

Cheng Siyun stared wide-eyed at Zhang Lang, her tone revealing seven parts surprise and three parts resentment, as if she and Zhang Lang were old acquaintances.

Zhang Lang narrowed his eyes: "How did you survive?"

He remembered clearly that the girl was eventually shattered to pieces by the lightning storm, but now it seemed that she was still alive and well.

"How did you survive?" Cheng Siyun paused for two seconds, then suddenly realized, "So you didn't recognize me..."

"What do you mean, recognized or not recognized..." Just as Zhang Lang was completely confused, Cheng Siyun raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

Almost simultaneously, the bracelet on her wrist began to expand and deform, turning into a large number of mechanical parts that spread out and, in the blink of an eye, transformed into a blue mechanical gauntlet that covered her entire right hand.

Seeing this, Su Jie's eyes widened in surprise: "Siyun, are you really a reincarnator?"

Zhang Lang immediately recognized the gauntlets and exclaimed, "Thunder?!"

"I thought you guys already knew!" Cheng Siyun, or rather Lei Ting, rolled her eyes at him.

Upon learning that Cheng Siyun was Leiting, Zhang Lang's current hero-level teammate, Su Jie was greatly shocked. She grabbed her childhood friend and asked her all sorts of questions. Cheng Siyun also learned for the first time that Su Jie had also entered the altar and was quite curious about her friend's experience.

As for Zhang Lang, his thoughts raced, and memories flashed before his eyes, finally allowing him to roughly piece together the cause and effect...

Cheng Siyun had participated in that lottery quest with him, and was ultimately killed by the lightning storm spell he drew. However, he remembered that Cheng Siyun had drunk a potion before she died.

At the time, Zhang Lang didn't have much experience and didn't know what the potion was. Now that he thinks about it, it was probably some kind of resurrection item... He himself had drawn a similar reward, but it was ignored and returned.

From this perspective, everything that followed made perfect sense.

Having narrowly escaped death, Cheng Siyun continued to complete tasks at the altar, accumulating rewards, and finally reached Heroic level after several worlds.

After that, Zhang Lang entered the main world and officially participated in missions as a reincarnator.

Later, during the Nine-Level Dungeon quest, Cheng Siyun, who had just advanced and was still a novice hero, met Zhang Lang again.

Zhang Lang didn't recognize Lei Ting in his power armor, but Cheng Siyun remembered this terrifying guy.

Looking back now, Zhang Lang realized that when Thunder met him in the ninth-level underground palace, his behavior was indeed somewhat unusual compared to other heroes. At least in front of him, Thunder didn't dare to be too arrogant, and he was easily persuaded to become a mobile package.

"I remember, you didn't originally wear this armor..."

Zhang Lang recalled that when he first met Cheng Siyun, her armor was not blue, and she spoke in the natural voice of a pilot rather than a mechanical voice. Her overall style was also very different from that of the later Thunder... Otherwise, Zhang Lang would not have failed to connect the two for so long.

Cheng Siyun sighed: "My armor was completely destroyed in the competition with you. Although I managed to escape with a resurrection potion, my score was reset to zero, and the lost equipment can never be recovered..."

"The altar probably didn't want to waste my talent for piloting power armor. For the next mission, I drew an even more powerful armor with upgradeable attributes, which is the Thunder Armor you see now. I simply used Thunder as my code name and continued my adventures in the altar."

As she spoke, she looked at Zhang Lang: "Then, not long after I was promoted to hero, I met you."

After hearing about Cheng Siyun's experience, Zhang Lang casually crossed his legs and said, "That's good. Out with the old, in with the new."

"You really don't feel any remorse at all..." Cheng Siyun shook her head, rubbing her forehead. "You know, what I lost that time wasn't just a set of armor, but also a unique piece of equipment—the Lucky Necklace!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lang raised an eyebrow: "The draw results were in your favor for several rounds in a row, was it because of this necklace?"

Cheng Siyun nodded: "Equipment that involves luck is extremely rare in the altar, and the one-of-a-kind level is even more sought after. Originally, with this necklace, I could have smoothly advanced to the hero level, and even become a genius no weaker than Shen Liangyue and Ning Chengyu."

As she spoke, she glanced at Zhang Lang with a hint of resentment: "It's all because of you. That necklace couldn't be found and rolled into the prize pool. I heard it was drawn by the Shen clan's fourth altar..."

Altar Number Four? Zhang Lang recalled that he had dealt with Altar Number Four during the last mission. He hadn't noticed anyone who was particularly lucky. They were all quite easy to talk to, and he couldn't tell if they were some vicious wanted criminals.

"Sigh... let's not dwell on the past. Besides, you took good care of me during those two missions, so I'm indebted to you..." Cheng Siyun slapped her forehead, then looked at Su Jie: "But I didn't expect that you two actually know each other?"

"We're classmates, you could say..." Su Jie explained, "After all, we both went to the same university in Yunchuan University Town..."

"Oh?" Cheng Siyun looked at Su Jie with amusement, making her cheeks flush slightly. "What's with that look?"

"It's nothing special..." Cheng Siyun glanced at Zhang Lang. "I remember, you were asked to bring your boyfriend to the concert, right? When I went on stage and saw this guy sitting next to you in the audience, I was quite surprised... I didn't expect you to have such unique taste?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Su Jie said, her face flushed. "I told you, we're just classmates and friends! It was a coincidence that I brought him along. We just happened to run into each other in Donghai. The person I originally invited couldn't make it, so I brought him along to fill in..."

"Oh? So you did have a date with your boyfriend?" Cheng Siyun asked with a smile, but Su Jie quickly retorted, "No, no, I was going with my cousin... I'm single right now..."

"Tch... I thought you'd finally found someone..." Cheng Siyun sighed with a hint of regret, then glanced at Zhang Lang, who didn't seem to react much, and smiled slightly: "Alright, alright, I know, I know..."

"To be honest, I was a little surprised too..." Zhang Lang looked at Cheng Siyun: "Leiting gave me the impression of being very quiet, even a bit arrogant... I didn't expect you to be so lively in private."

"That's in front of me," Su Jie explained. "In front of others, she's incredibly aloof, but she only reveals her true nature when she's with me... After all these years, I know her temperament best!"

"That's right!" Cheng Siyun said with a smile, "If I keep putting on airs in front of you, I won't have anywhere to relax..."

The two girls looked at each other, remained silent for a few seconds, raised their glasses to clink, and then burst into laughter.

Looking at the two of them, Zhang Lang's eyes revealed a look of nostalgia and envy.

Just then, Zhang Lang and Cheng Siyun's expressions changed slightly, and they both looked at their badges.