Chapter 637: Chapter 637: Everyone Has Their Own Ulterior Motives, and 92.3 is No Exception
The Star Domain Divine Race really surprised with their swift action this ti. I submitted Dingdang’s report, and they imdiately decided to dispatch a Special Envoy. I thought it would take them a few years to respond — when dealing with the gods, you have to be patient. Those beings, who don’t understand the concept of ti, may make you wait for two days, and by the ti they rember, it could be the next millennium.
Of course, we don’t have to wait this ti. In a few days, a Divine Race Envoy will arrive. This seems to be the first official negotiation with the Star Domain Gods in my mory.
I’ve always treated Dingdang, a dosticated goddess, like a pet…
The formal exchange of docunts between the Divine Realm Envoy and the Imperial Leaders does sound like a serious affair, but Lilina said we need to prepare… How do we even prepare for sothing like this?
Since I switched jobs and beca an Empire leader, I’ve only t a handful of gods, and I could count them on one hand: a palm-sized pet who now hangs around for treats, a pair of idiot siblings, a hot-blooded fool and a snarky chef combo who were underlings of that pet, and then there’s a Light Goddess who chose the wrong profession. My deepest impression of her involves the Black Tiger Heart Plucker’s thirteen strikes…
If we were to welco the aforentioned gods, I think just taking them to the south side of the city for so spicy hot pot would suffice…
“Maybe that could actually work,” said a Priestess who was in charge of the Empire’s religious affairs, nodding earnestly upon hearing such a ridiculous idea from her boss, “Take them out for spicy hot pot, stroll around the old city block a couple of tis, co back and have Anwina make a few dishes and soups with at and vegetables. After eating and drinking our fill, we could all sit on the sofa and split into groups, playing fight-the-landlord and discussing world peace. Wouldn’t that be quite sothing!”
I imdiately collapsed onto the floor, “Are you trying to bury ?! This way, I might as well be executed by a firing squad!”
“Anyway, leave the religious ceremony stuff to ,” Lilina shrugged at , “There are official records in the Divine Canon. The Heroic Spirits and I will take care of everything, so your job, boss, is just to entertain the Envoy with food and fun, don’t worry too much about it.”
I asked in confusion, “Wasn’t it you who told to prepare? Why is it now that I have nothing to do?”
Lilina blinked her eyes, glanced at the tightly closed balcony door behind her, leaned in, and whispered, “It’s mainly because of how clueless you two are. You spent several minutes stumped and started discussing the shape of the Sun. I couldn’t stand watching it, so I ca to save the day.”
I exclaid in shock, “You saw that?!”
The fake Lolita rolled her eyes at seductively, “What do you think I am the Pope for?”
I don’t think whether you are a Pope or not has anything to do with your peeping tom behavior just now!
“Hmph, n really can’t be trusted,” said the fake Lolita, shaking her head and looking experienced, completely ignoring the ss I was in, “Still needing a pure, cute, naive, and clueless little girl like to save you, this really is…”
Lin Xue ca over, nudged my arm gently, and suggested in a low voice, “How about we silence her for good?”
I nodded, “Okay, while she’s not looking…”
“Hey, hey, hey! Boss, don’t talk about such a morbid topic with such a serious tone!” Lilina jumped up like a startled rabbit, “The dismbernt of a Loli is too disturbing!”
…You have a darker heart than both of us!
Nevertheless, Lilina did help Lin Xue and out of our awkward situation. Lin Xue, with her obstinate nature, gets flustered like a child when things get slightly intimate, and I admit I’m even worse at conversation: even when establishing relationships with Sandora and Qianqian, soone else had to clarify things for . Without Lilina’s interruptions, Miss Lin and I might still be talking about why the Sun is so round.
Maybe feeling a bit awkward, Lin Xue uncharacteristically didn’t stick around to play fight-the-landlord with Qianqian and Lilina. She left early, and when I escorted her to the door, there seed to be a blush on her face, but her eyes look fierce.
“Forget about this before you get up tomorrow! Understand?” Miss Lin demanded bossily.
I casually patted the other person’s head. I knew this formidable-looking but actually faint-hearted fellow too well, “Alright, alright, I’ll act as if you never ca here today. We’ll continue squabbling every day just like before, okay?”
Lin Xue did not react for a mont, perhaps stunned by my pat, eventually she nodded blankly. Then she lifted her leg to go down the steps, but she hadn’t taken two steps before she ran back up again, “Hey! You can’t just forget everything!”
What she ant was that you can’t just roll back the server after finally making so progress.
Knowing Miss Lin’s way of thinking, I made the above judgnt, and then smiled as I looked down at Lin Xue’s puffy little face and flicked her nose, “Occasionally seeing you do sothing silly isn’t so bad!”
A minute later, I pushed the door and went back inside. As I passed through the living room, Anwina was cleaning up the dinner table that had been devastated by Little Baobao and Sandora. Little Ghost just glanced over here and imdiately exclaid, “Master, what’s happened to you?”
“…Maybe the wind outside was too strong…”
It really was like a storm. Just after I had helped maintain peace in the Otherworld, did I get arrogant and forget how terrifying Miss Lin can be? She’s a high-level karate practitioner and when embarrassed, her combat power triples. I had teased her too far just now and suffered a counterattack from her other personality.
Brushing off the scruffy marks that the crazy Lin Xue had scratched, gnawed, and kicked on , I headed to my room, thinking how eventful it was to co ho to such lively Chen Family mansion.
“Ah Jun, are you alright?” Sandora was at the stairway on the second floor, as if she had been waiting there this whole ti, “Your expression is very… peculiar.”
Should I openly spill the beans about what just transpired between Lin Xue and myself? Would she eat alive?
Suddenly bumping into Sandora made feel embarrassed. No matter what, what had just happened was essentially being intimate with another girl behind my girlfriend’s back. Although the situation was quite complicated, the fact remained a fact. Anyone who’s not heartless would feel a bit guilty in such a situation. Looking into Sandora’s eyes now, they felt like little daggers.
Luckily, Sandora didn’t press for details about Lin Xue. Instead, she had so unexpected news.
And it was good news.
“Taville found so superficial database materials from Ola’s mory Core. Perhaps because she was a ‘Librarian,’ Ola and her Leader Bees often readjusted the Literature Hall’s superficial data. They must have repeated this job for who knows how many years before they lost control, and might have continued for a while even after the bees lost their sanity. So, those bees’ heads retained a lot of information they weren’t supposed to rember. Now, the Imperial Technicians are scanning each Leader Bee’s mory Core, and with the little data Taville copied from the superficial database, we might be able to restore sothing useful. However, with the previous example of the Cube technology going haywire, they are bound to be careful this ti. The last-generation Imperial tech has few fun things; if they weren’t so precious, I’d just give up on these projects.”
“Ah, about that, Lin Xue made a discovery…”
Hearing Sandora worried about the last-generation Imperial technology, I quickly relayed what Lin Xue had just told , and of course, I completely left out the “accidental” kiss with Lin Xue at the end. Even though I suspected Sandora had so inkling about it, it’d be idiotic to bring it up now.
“A conceptual reality conversion of an ideal state, huh?” Sandora imdiately beca attentive to my retelling, curling her index finger under her chin, a common gesture when she’s deep in thought, “Indeed, during the end of the Ancient Empire, we researched turning concepts into reality, but I never thought soone had succeeded. Now, the technology of the Cube really seems unlocked: although none can be directly applied, as theoretical data, they’re still valuable information that could drastically improve our technology. We just need to be careful of one thing: no matter how tempting or reasonable those things seem, never replicate them in the real world. Mm, this is truly a remarkable discovery. Lin Xue’s powers have increased again, but I’m not sure if Taville will be happy or upset upon hearing this news, as probably a third of her projects will need a restart.”
“That research maniac will only be happy,” rembering the bespectacled lady who’d get frantic when engrossed in research, I couldn’t help but laugh and cry, “She has wanted to study the Cube for a long ti, it’s just that Lin Xue wasn’t able to penetrate the essence of that thing, which kept her from moving forward. Now she’s been liberated.”
After saying goodnight and hugging Sandora lightly, I returned to my room.
After all, having been on the move for such a long ti, even those who stayed at ho had been on tenterhooks for two or three months. Today, everyone was too drained to make a ruckus. Early to bed was the way to go. The bustling house soon quieted down, the lights went off, leaving only a faint trickle of moonlight spilling through the windows, bestowing a serene calm over the room.
Only from the direction of the living room on the first floor could faint sounds be heard, an ethereal yet eerie noise, like sobbing but mixed with a lody akin to a song. As the house grew quieter, these sounds beca clearer, ultimately spreading across the house with the ubiquitous darkness of the night.
…Anwina, I don’t care if you clean up at night, but could you please not sing the Sin’dorei Elegy at this hour?
Lying in bed, I tossed and turned; perhaps it was because I’d napped in the afternoon, or maybe there was a ghost in the house, but now I couldn’t sleep. Moreover, I had things churning in my mind, preventing any semblance of calm.
What kept haunting my thoughts was, unsurprisingly, Lin Xue’s matter.
Now, what exactly is the relationship between and that girl?
Enemies? That was my first thought, indeed. Always arguing upon eting, undercutting each other whenever possible—this type of interaction couldn’t possibly be considered friendly; calling us enemies wouldn’t be wrong.
But now, the issue I must face is this: my relationship with that crazy girl is gradually becoming more harmonious, even intimate.
I’m very aware of Lin Xue’s nature, a young lady raised in a wealthy family, yet due to another identity, she possesses a forthright and genuine character, and is also incredibly proud and sharp-tongued. She’s not bad, nor does she take pleasure in sarcasm for the sake of it. Most of our quarrels are just her being proud to cover up her own embarrassnt—of course, there are also many cases where she’s simply making trouble for for no reason. Knowing her character is precisely why I’ve never really disliked this girl.
Then, I started getting used to having soone around who habitually undermines , got used to Lin Xue’s occasional mischief yet tily help, accustod to the girl’s loud warnings of impending doom mixed with next day’s weather forecasts, accustod to… how she would go through great lengths for us just for the sake of giving us a definite lead, because of one or two visions of a potentially dangerous future.
She was sacrificing without any complaints, without hesitation. As long as it could help us, she would give her all without regard for her own safety. To see the truth of the Cube, she might have burned her eyes out twice in a row; to prepare a guide to the Otherworld for us, she once fainted in her room. But when I focused my attention on her, what I still saw was a vibrant girl who was constantly complaining about herself.
This, perhaps, was Miss Lin’s clumsiness and cuteness.
Struggling to prove herself, wanting to help those she cared about, yet not knowing how to express it. The only thing she could do was to work hard, and at the sa ti, use her sharp tongue to mask the awkwardness of being approached by others. It was after understanding this side of Lin Xue that I truly began to get closer to her and even without realizing it, we reached a level of intimacy.
So, what is my relationship with her now?
Lovers? It seems so, but maybe not yet; if you say just friends, it seems a bit beyond that… Ah, this topic is indeed too complicated, it’s really not suited for my mortal level intellect!
“Rumble, rumble…”
A series of strange rolling noises suddenly interrupted my wild thoughts. At first, I thought it was the sound of rolling in bed, but when I lay still, the noise kept echoing in the room.
It ca from the corner of the wall, that continuous rolling sound.
…Co to think of it, shouldn’t Anwina be the only ghost wreaking havoc in this house? How could it have turned into a haunted house in my absence of just a month and a half?
I abruptly sat up and cast my gaze in the direction of the “haunting,” and there really was sothing trembling there: a large box under the window.
“Thump, thump!”
I rolled out of bed and knocked twice forcefully on the box. The restless box imdiately quieted down, and after a mont, a clicking sound ca from inside, and the lid of the box was pushed open by soone from inside. A pair of rose-colored gem-like eyes looked up at from below.
“Can’t sleep.”
rcury Lamp said gloomily.
Long nights with no desire to sleep, so it turns out you’re also bed-rolling, Miss rcury Lamp?
Although I didn’t know what kind of worries a doll could have, I reached out and lifted her out of the box anyway. If it had been when we first t, this action would have surely been t with a violent counterattack from the Chairman, but now, rcury Lamp just struggled lightly and then lay obediently on my arm, not moving, just like a well-behaved doll.
Even nuzzling comfortably and affectionately against my shoulder.
“What are you thinking about?”
Looking at rcury Lamp’s gem-like eyes in the dark, I felt that this doll must have her own troubles, “Let’s see if I can help.”
“Why should I let you, this idiot human, help !”
Chairman blurted out a cold verbal attack without hesitation.
“Nonsense, I’m your guardian now! If I don’t care for you, who will?”
I was about to say I’m your dad, but considering this doll might not be fully ready to accept that, I changed my words at the last minute. Even with the change, it seed like I had still shocked her.
Her response was to start aiming her half-size Little Tiger Teeth at my neck.
After a while, the doll girl finally caved in my steadfast embrace. She knew her Gangya teeth and Black Feather were ineffective against the guy in front of her, who had survived more than one Doomsday. Her token resistance was rely to prevent the other party from getting too smug: “I’m kind of missing Little Hui…”
“And Zhenhong and the rest, right?”
I gently weighed rcury Lamp in my hand and, before this proud and tough creature could resist, I pressed her to my chest, “Yeah, invite your friends over to our house if you like, just don’t be too rowdy.”
“Really?!” rcury Lamp imdiately showed a surprised expression, but then she masked it in an instant, “Hmph, I’d be fine just with Little Hui coming over. She must be really curious to see the World Tree… Plus, with the Ti-Space Administration being so strict with their checks… I wouldn’t want those idiots to waste their ti…”
Compared to that idiot Lin Xue, your tsundere level is still far off!
I lifted rcury Lamp high into the air with a sudden surge of enthusiasm, “Let them co, you are the Empire’s little princess, after all. Having a few civilian friends over to your castle, would the Guards even dare to stop them?”
“Hey! Put down! Why do you always like lifting people up, you idiot! I don’t care about that childish stuff like little princess and castles!”
“Ha, have you looked at my ordinary face for so long that you’ve forgotten who I am?” I let go in mid-air, allowing rcury Lamp to free fall onto my chest. She sat there, dumbfounded, staring with wide eyes at her now-excited guardian, “Our whole family are mbers of the Imperial Family, aren’t they? Didn’t you say you hated Zhenhong? Then let them co and be jealous of you. They’ll see how happy the doll sister they once looked down upon now is, with so many family mbers caring for her, countless majestic guards, and the most splendid castles and toy rooms. She’ll definitely be envious, right?”
Finally, with a teasing smile, I watched for rcury Lamp’s reaction.
Those familiar with the story of “Rose Maiden” know how complicated the bond between rcury Lamp and Zhenhong is. Were these “sisters” who were once inseparable yet ended up enemies really mortal enemies?
Clearly not.
As dolls created by man, the Rose Maidens only have each other as family in this world, besides the pit-digging but never filling Luo Zhen. As the first doll, rcury Lamp should be the sister to all the Rose Maidens. She and Zhenhong were never ant to be enemies, but a series of misunderstandings and conflicts turned them into bitter rivals. In the end, when the relic left by Luo Zhen was destroyed by rcury Lamp, they beca downright adversaries—yet this could have been prevented from the start!
In my view, they ended up in such a state purely because two immature little girls escalated their differences without anyone to diate. They were ant to be the only family in the world, yet beca sworn enemies; it’s a failure of family education.
Now, having been successfully adjusted… educated by , since rcury Lamp has accepted the fact that Luo Zhen will never return, is it necessary for her to fight a life-and-death struggle with Zhenhong and the others?
According to reports from the Ti-Space Administration, the world of the Rose Maidens had undergone a major plot change due to the last temporal fluctuation. Now, all doll girls are happily with their Contractors, and with the interference of the Administration Commissioner, many of the originally regrettable plots probably won’t happen. Isn’t this a perfect opportunity for rcury Lamp to make ands?
Now, rcury Lamp just needs an excuse from —not matter how much she’s moved toward the good daughter template, the stubbornness in her bones can’t be wiped out. If you don’t give her a good reason, just wait for this kid to sulk all night.
Sure enough, when I looked back at rcury Lamp, I was t with a little face already wearing a smile.
“Hmph, let those idiots be properly jealous of !” The tiny doll girl said haughtily, “You idiot human, today I’ll reward you especially. You can hold to sleep!”
…Should I lant that Chairman is so conscious of being a doll this ti? You know this kind of behavior could make look like a pervert, right!
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