My lord, spare his life!

Zhang Yangchong and Fan You cast a wistful glance at each other.

Fan You knew that his actions were presumptuous, but the opportunity was rare, and it would be a pity to miss it. He would apologize to Zhang Yang after the matter was resolved—although he had not truly submitted to Zhang Yang, he was still nominally her subordinate, and he should be punished for overstepping his bounds.

His mind raced with thoughts, unaware that Zhang Yang's glance wasn't a warning of displeasure, but simply a sigh of disapproval at Fan You's unusual tastes.

"Is she your star lord?"

"If you are willing, you are also your own star lord."

The older infant turned his gaze to Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang urged him in agreement, "Don't delay."

The older infant never imagined that this troublesome demon star was the mastermind among the three. In the urgency of the situation, he couldn't afford to weigh the pros and cons, and forced out a drop of his heart's blood despite the pain. As soon as that drop of crimson blood floated out, his face turned ashen.

Despite being in so much pain and struggling to breathe, he said, "Please accept this."

At this moment, a notification popped up in the system log.

Having had experience before, Zhang Yang was familiar with the process and chose to accept.

Fresh blood drifted towards her brow and seeped into her skin.

Besides Fan You's faint, unfamiliar aura, another faint star, like two stars quietly illuminating the pitch-black night sky, now appeared in Zhang Yang's mind's eye. Influenced by this aura, Zhang Yang found the older infant more agreeable, grabbing the knot tied to the infant's coral fleece blanket: "Shu Yan's 'Starry Descent' can affect me, can't you too?"

The older infant hesitated subtly for a moment.

"……nature."

The drawback of his "Starfall" ability is that he periodically regresses to childhood, after which he enters a period of weakness. The length of this weakness period is determined by his current age; the number of days in this period corresponds to his actual age. During this period, he regenerates, with each day counting as one year. The first level of "Starfall" occurs once a year, the second twice a year, the third three times a year, and so on.

If Fan You's death, marked by the descent of stars and the descent of evil, was due to his descent into depravity and death from desire, then the death of an older infant is the upper limit of his lifespan.

Those in power both love and hate such subordinates.

Love arises from the allure of youthful vigor; no one can resist the temptation of rejuvenation, even if the process is short. The feeling of temporarily shedding an aging, decaying body and embracing youth anew is simply too wonderful. Hate, on the other hand, stems from its overwhelming drawbacks.

This also makes it easier for older infants, who possess the qualities of "descending stars and wielding evil," to be accepted and exploited, and then discarded after their usefulness is over.

"So, does that mean I'll also become young again?"

"Yes, my lord has people by his side, so there's no need to worry about his safety."

Zhang Yang did not react to the suggestion of an older infant, because she knew that an older infant would most likely not affect her.

Birth, aging, illness, and death are inherent privileges of true humans. NPCs are different; they don't truly experience birth or death. As for aging? The game developers would have to create a new model for that. Without a new model, there's no such thing as aging. The only thing they can experience is illness. Infecting someone with a virus and encountering a bug—why isn't that a kind of cyberpunk illness?

and so--

How can the spirit descending upon the older infant rejuvenate her?

Zhang Yang said, "I'll take you to find your sister."

According to the information revealed by the older infant, his transformation from a violent, vengeful spirit to an infant took only half a day, and his adopted sister's transformation occurred around the same time. Given his adopted sister's condition, she shouldn't have gone far; she's either in the village or nearby.

Zhang Yang, holding the swaddled baby by the rope, brought him close to Zhang Dami's nose: "Dami, smell this, remember this scent, and then look around for similar scents."

Zhang Yang's subordinates, Zhang Dami, had the most acute sense of smell.

Zhang Dami: "..."

Treated like a dog by Zhang Yang, it dared not utter a sound of anger, obediently sniffing the area several times before carrying Zhang Yang and his companion to search. Meanwhile, Fan You and Puyang Kui were also busy. They sent men to gather all the surviving villagers, lit a fire to keep them warm, and distributed most of their dry rations. The corpses of the villagers who had frozen to death were also brought out one by one, almost covering the entire open space at the village entrance—a truly gruesome sight.

Puyang Kui's guards arrived with a message: "Master, we have counted all the bodies, a total of ninety-three. There were four girls of childbearing age, but none of the bodies had the original limbs preserved by Lie Xing Jiang Li, so the target we are looking for should not be among them."

Puyang Kui said, "Go and search outside the village again."

This seasonal disruption happened too quickly; the heavy snow blocked the mountains, and large wild animals in the mountains didn't have time to come down, so their carcasses are probably still intact.

If it had been a few days later, it would have been hard to say.

The guard clasped his hands in a fist and accepted the order: "Yes, sir."

After arranging everything, Puyang Kui noticed Fan You, whose eyes were vacant, hands forming hand seals, and whose body was surrounded by surging starlight. She didn't disturb him until he finished his practice before speaking: "Why did you accept a stranger whose background you didn't know?"

The older baby didn't reveal his origins, and they didn't know his character, let alone whether what he said was true or false.

What if those words were just meant to mislead and gain sympathy?

Fan You said, "It's alright."

"You say it's alright?"

Fan You: "Our lord is penniless, how can he be picky? We'll kill him as soon as we discover a problem. Why not take advantage of him before the problem is exposed? This kind of free opportunity doesn't come around often, so his strength should be considerable."

Puyang Kui scoffed, "Like master, like minister."

Especially the point about being ready to discard someone after they've served their purpose.

She then asked, "How do you know he's strong?"

Fan You: "Old, he looks old."

Puyang Kui: "..."

That's a reason that's really hard to refute.

While there are undoubtedly geniuses in the world, most are ordinary people who climb the ranks little by little through age and experience. The older infant is either the former or the latter, with the latter being more likely. Even with his limited abilities, he's perfectly capable for a small, makeshift team. Fan You's voice continued to penetrate her ears: "Furthermore, this person is not a Celestial Being."

How can you be so sure?

"Because he doesn't understand the Celestial Cycle. If he truly understood the Celestial Cycle, he would know that the disorder of the seasons might be imminent, so why would he come here at this critical juncture to spend the vulnerable period of the descending stars?"

If you're not a local, you don't need to worry too much about using it.

Fan You felt that with Zhang Yang's personality, once he clashed with the local forces of Tianyue, nothing could stop him, and it would most likely result in a bloodbath. At this time, having a subordinate who was not from a local force of Tianyue would prevent him from being too constrained.

Puyang Kui's lips twitched slightly: "That's it?"

Fan You: "That's it."

He now shares the same interests as Zhang Yang.

Even if I don't think about her well, I won't think about her badly either.

Puyang Kui was about to say something when he caught a glimpse of a large worm carrying a person back. The old baby looked dejected, and Zhang Yang's side didn't have another swaddled baby either, clearly indicating that they had come up empty-handed.

Puyang Kui lowered his eyes and comforted his temporary colleague: "It's actually a good thing we didn't see the body. It means she's very likely still alive, or perhaps someone took her away as an abandoned child."

The older baby's dark expression softened slightly.

"I know that's all we can hope for now."

At least there's something to look forward to.