"I hope you can join us," Fina said, looking at Anu Lili’s face with that characteristic slow and deliberate tone she had, "My Emperor needs more strength."
I looked at Fina quite unexpectedly, feeling like this was unlike her typical behavior. This queen, who had transford herself into a half-chanical being, who had once abandoned all emotion, even after regaining her normal personality, maintained a lack of initiative. Aside from peacefully enjoying her post-abdication life at ho and occasionally gathering with our family, she rarely showed interest in relatively unfamiliar people: let alone soone like Anu Lili, whom she had just t for the first ti today. Simply put, she resembled a lazy shadow and had never been as "active" as she was today.
Moreover, what was more important— she now addressed as "Emperor." This was rare, as in more relaxed settings, Fina preferred to refer to our family as "friends." While this formal address might sound sowhat amusing, it was one of her ways of showing closeness to people. Only in very formal occasions would she address our family as "Emperor" or "Officer."
"I reviewed the recently updated data on the Public Information Link and learned about the lowa people and those slave races," Fina said, looking apologetically at Anu Lili, "I understand that you have doubts about becoming a vassal of another powerful Race, because the psychological trauma left on you by the lowa people is too severe. However, I still want to give you so advice: do not miss a great opportunity. While public acceptance is important, sotis for the survival of the Race, you have to set aside all emotional factors. The Void is not as safe as you might think. Races like ours must unite to form a stronger alliance to survive. And at the mont, accepting support from the Empire and joining the family ranks is the best shortcut."
The people of the Civilization Community and other groups always had different ways of thinking. Whether it was the now-abdicated Fina or their generals still on the front lines, they were used to putting the continuation of their entire civilization first. This was an instinct rooted deeply in their souls from their years against the Shepherd: as long as collective interests were guaranteed, they could abandon all personal factors. This was sowhat similar to the Xyrin Apostles. I could now understand what’s up with Fina’s slightly unusual behavior today. She must have been touched after learning about the slave races: the latter too had fiercely fought for their freedom, albeit against so arrogant Fake Gods, unlike the "Shepherd" that the Civilization Community once opposed, but this still gave Fina a sense of identifying with her past experiences. The sufferings once endured by those slave races might not have been any less intense than those suffered by the races of the Civilization Community at the hands of the Shepherd before. Fina hopes that these historically burdened races can put down their barriers, beco part of the large family of the Empire’s family, just like the "Reunion Body", which is gradually putting down hesitations and establishing normal diplomacy with the Empire.
Of course, there’s also another reason she genuinely wishes for the Empire’s strength to be increased. Fina and I had once fought side by side and now, under the influence of the Xyrin Apostle’s soul instincts, she desires to do sothing for the Empire, which has not diminished because she he now "retired".
"I..." For a mont, Anu Lili was at a loss for words, "In fact, personally, I am not that averse... Chen... I an, your Emperor, once helped all of us. The Resistance Organization basically knows that the Empire is utterly different from the lowa people. However, we must consider the reaction of ordinary people; they have just rid themselves of being brainwashed and haven’t had ti to understand what the Empire is about... but I promise, I will endeavor to get more people to understand the Empire. Although my Race’s technology is still very backward, our Thirteen Worlds have many forr slave races with advanced technology, and even cross-world technology. They are more open-minded. I believe they can set aside suspicions faster."
"Well, indeed, it cannot be demanded that every intelligent creature possesses the advanced wisdom like the Xyrin Apostles or the citizens of the Civilization Community," Fina nodded earnestly, analyzing. Her blunt words made Anu Lili a bit embarrassed, "In fact, I suggest you co to this Totem Square only to let you take so materials from here. There are storage devices beneath the Great Monunt that you can freely take away. I hope you can take one back. These materials can help you understand the Empire’s Servant Army system and the history of each of us families. Every Imperial family has an extraordinary story—just like your great struggle against the Tyrant. You will also discover why these civilizations that erged victorious from suffering are willing to follow the Empire, so loyally."
With Fina’s guidance, Anu Lili found the place to copy the information near the base of the nearest Great Monunt. These storage devices had built-in reading and playback equipnt, manufactured on-site as accessories to the monunt’s base, for visitors to Monunt Square to freely take away. They were among the most valuable "specialty products" you could take from Shadow City. As the Empire grows, new heroes and epics continue to erge, causing the totems at Monunt Square to increase steadily; these storage devices also automatically download updated records from the Imperial Data Network. Anu Lili could take them back as a special gift; I think these things can provide more power than technological aid.
However, while Anu Lili was copying the data, I couldn’t help nudging Fina’s arm: "To be honest, I always feel it’s a bit inappropriate the way you let soone tour the Totem Square before persuading them to join..."
"Did I do sothing wrong, friend?" Fina blinked in confusion.
"..." I didn’t know how to explain this feeling. To put it clumsily, it’s almost like showing soone the list of fallen soldiers and then asking, "Hello, would you like to enlist?"
This kind of thing can only be done by Fina, whose emotional intelligence is lower than Dingdang’s IQ...
When I tactfully pointed this out, Fina cluelessly glanced around at the surrounding monunts, her voice sounding a bit awkward: "Um, friend, I just thought this could help the child quickly understand matters concerning the Empire’s families, not thinking that much..."
"Actually it’s nothing at all," Sister said with a gentle expression, "The Monunt Square indeed records the great sacrifices these races have made along the way, but it also records the reasons they united. Anu Lili and her people have sacrificed once for their freedom; now what they need is a motive to let go of past enmities and join the Imperial Army. There’s nothing bad here, and I don’t think what’s here would scare Anu Lili. Moreover, if it’s a potential civilization, after seeing these materials, they would only strive harder. If they’re frightened by what Anu Lili brings back—then maybe there’s no need for them to join the Imperial Army."
By this point, Anu Lili had obtained the storage device, and her mood seed to have beco a bit heavier along with the atmosphere of the square. "I will show this to everyone, let everyone see it," she said.
"Alright then, let’s go to the next place—there you can lighten your mood."
The group left the Monunt Square, with Fina pushing her large sphere again. For so reason, it seed like just leaving this circular area made everyone’s mood subtly lighter: I reckon in this process, the rumbling Bieberu played an indispensable role. Previously, everyone took a shortcut to the Monunt Square, actually bypassing the most magnificent World Tree, so naturally today’s last stop is the Life Goddess’ Great Temple. Although it doesn’t belong to the Empire’s facilities and should be considered as the embassy of the Star Domain Divine Race in the Imperial Capital, it can still be regarded as one of the representative buildings of Shadow City.
If a tree, whose radius could be asured in kiloters, can be considered a "building."
In fact, on the way to Monunt Square, Anu Lili could already see from afar the gigantic form of the World Tree. It was so colossal that the shadow of its canopy faintly covered nearly half the city, yet from a distance, outsiders found it hard to associate those shadows with such a giant tree. Anu Lili was certainly like this: she couldn’t imagine a "plant" existing in the world that could grow to such a scale, defying the laws of physics and biology.
This being the case, her look of shock upon seeing the true form of the World Tree was quite understandable.
"Wh-Wh-What is that!!"
Turning the last corner in front of the World Tree, this unprecedentedly massive "plant" would leap into view in the most impactful manner. Gazing at the wall-like, seemingly endless, dark brown trunk, and trailing one’s eyes upward along the trunk to see only a sky-like expanse of dark green shadow, Anu Lili was almost speechless.
The canopy of the World Tree blocked the sunlight, yet the area below it was never dark. A gentle spread of light particles lingered a few centiters above the ground surrounding the giant tree; entering here was akin to stepping into the territory of the Divine Country.
"This is the World Tree, the control hub of the current universe. Well, I an just the Outer World; the Inner World of the Capital is controlled by the mainfra in the Shadow Fortress over there," Big Sister cheerfully introduced this magnificent thing before us, "You know, the true Imperial District of the Capital World is the Shadow Space like this one, spaces we manually developed, so strictly speaking, the Shadow Space is the Capital. As for the regular universe outside, the Xyrin Apostles are generally too lazy to manage it, so it’s left to..."
"Left to Dingdang!" A tiny voice erged from my pocket, Dingdang happily popping out of it, "Free of charge! Dingdang is aweso!"
Anu Lili couldn’t understand what a world managent terminal was. In her view, planning and managing the basic paraters and laws of the universe was simply a fantastical story: this was her reaction after my Big Sister and I explained the function of the World Tree to her. However, she will eventually realize the reality of these things, but for now, we’re just opening her eyes to them.
I held Dingdang and swiped Little Douding’s face on the trunk of the World Tree, then led Anu Lili into the magnificent Great Temple. Though the World Tree appeared to be a plant on the outside, its trunk was actually a transmission device. After passing through this seemingly impregnable barrier, you could enter the Temple Garden.
We weren’t visiting the space inside the World Tree for the first ti; it seed that there were subtle changes here at every mont: the color of the sky, the surrounding plants, even the layout of the paths evolved automatically over ti and with the changing of external seasons. Nevertheless, the overall layout remained stable: perhaps this design was to prevent the temple’s owner from getting lost. Passing through a hazy mist, we arrived at a space suffused with the light of Chaos. The boundaries of the space were unseen around us; the sky revealed neither sun, moon, nor stars, only mysterious light brimming with life power enveloping everything. Ahead was an expansive garden, where exotic plants spread across the land in a wild, uninhibited, yet orderly manner. At the far end of the Temple Garden was the theoretically intended abode of Dingdang: a large Gothic-style Grand Cathedral covered in vines.
"There are two ways to reach Avalon: one is to use the direct transmission gate of Shadow City, and the other is to go via the World Tree. If you take the transmission gate, you miss this view—what do you think of this place?"
I looked at Anu Lili with a smile, eager to see her reaction to a place entirely incongruent with the Empire’s atmosphere.
Today, she had already witnessed too many things beyond her imagination; she should have felt numb by now, but the endless wonders of Shadow City left her no ti for numbness. This sacred Grand Cathedral and the entire incredible space transcend reality. Anu Lili opened her mouth and finally uttered, "...Have we already left Shadow City?"
"Doesn’t it feel unlike the Empire’s style here?" my Big Sister said with a lighthearted smile. "Indeed, it’s different; this is the style of the Star Domain Divine Race."
"Star Domain Divine Race?" Anu Lili said in surprise, "Oh, right. I heard those priests ntion, the Life Goddess is from the Star Domain Divine Race... I see. Today... today truly opened my eyes. Shadow City is completely unlike what I imagined!"
"So, what did you originally imagine Shadow City to be like?" I asked curiously.
As Anu Lili followed us toward the direction of the teleporter to Avalon, she described her imagined Imperial Capital: "It should be filled with grand tallic buildings, a very solemn big city. The levels within should be clearly defined, and the atmosphere especially formal, given it’s the city of the gods; people should live a life as disciplined as monks. Initially, I even thought I needed to learn a lot of court etiquette first! I thought I would et you in so sort of palace, but didn’t expect to do so at that large square..."
"Well, the earlier assumptions were quite off the mark, though the latter guess... quite a few first-ti visitors to Shadow City have said the sa," I said, scratching my head in confusion. "Why does everyone think they have to see the Emperor only in the Imperial Palace, needing to be trained extensively in court etiquette to speak with ?"
My sister smiled silently at my puzzlent.
"Well... I suppose a normal Emperor might indeed do things that way..." I said, feeling the topic becoming a bit awkward. To shift Anu Lili’s attention, I asked, "Let’s not discuss court etiquette. What’s your current impression of Shadow City?"
I was eager to know her thoughts on this Capital of All Realms, reflecting a bit of a child’s desire for praise after showing off. Moreover, I wanted to gauge how Anu Lili felt about the "tour" I arranged for her today. After thinking it over, she finally bead happily, "It’s a surprising feeling. Truly.
Although I always thought the place where you lived should be stern and solemn, like the Imperial Capital, where ordinary races would live with strict ranks as if they were practicing ascetics, honestly, I find this Shadow City... better. I didn’t expect so many ordinary races to live happily together like this; I didn’t expect this place to look more like a tourist paradise rather than... a Divine Country. By your account, this should be a Divine Country, a place of gods, but it’s as bustling as the big towns around us. To be honest, I thought the Imperial Family lived like they were in a military camp here, but now it feels... more like a family. Rest assured, I will truthfully relay everything I’ve seen here to my clan mbers and the leaders of other races."
At this point, Anu Lili gave Fina a aningful glance and added with a smile, "Actually, I had this mission from the start. The leaders of other races had contacted , asking to docunt everything about Shadow City, so I can inform them upon returning. They are still in the dark about the Empire and all want to know what it actually looks like here, and they’re relying on firsthand accounts, not what’s written in promotional materials. After getting back, I’ll likely be sward by those curious folks."
Anu Lili couldn’t help but laugh as she finished, but I suddenly posed a question:
"Since they also want to co and see for themselves, why didn’t they co along?"
Anu Lili was startled: "...But only I got the pass! This is the Imperial Capital, isn’t it? Shouldn’t one need to go through rigorous screening to enter?"
I leisurely gazed at the sky, then said with a heavy tone, "Although there’s a flow restriction from the Macro World into Shadow City, you all are residents of the Empire’s directly governed district; each pass can bring at least twenty people..."
Anu Lili: "..."
"Even though I only gave you one ticket, you could actually let those eager friends get a platform ticket, and then get additional guest tickets when the World Gate opens... just find those with the red bands..."
Anu Lili: "..."
My Big Sister finally couldn’t help but sigh, "Alas, though I hate to admit it, for the mortal races under the Empire, the process from the Mortal World to the Divine Realm is quite similar to a train station now..."(To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian) to vote for recomndations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
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