Xyrin Empire
Chapter 404 - Chapter 404 Chapter 404 Insects

Chapter 404: Chapter 404 Insects Chapter 404: Chapter 404 Insects “So, you all just went crazy playing in the amusement park for the entire day?”

Big Sister, with her head slightly lowered, peered out from beneath her long bangs and swept her gaze across my face.

“Yes,” the Imperial Leader and the two five-star generals admitted their mistake with bowed heads and obedient eyes.

“The reason was to let the two youngsters return to their normal loli forms and to avoid being poisoned by militarist ideologies…”

When she got to the second part of her sentence, there were almost black fumes rising behind Big Sister.

Pandora and Vis instantly trembled and clung to each other: despite their usual tough military exteriors, faced with Big Sister, who possessed a “100% damage bonus to loli and shota-type creatures and a certain chance of controlling them” halo, they were utterly overpowered.

As for me?

“I’m very sorry, Big Sister, this time it was our fault for playing and losing track of time, making everyone wait until now and failing to appreciate the home banquet that Anwina had prepared with so much effort, which led to Sandora going berserk and biting the sofa at home…”

You wouldn’t know from the always gentle appearance of Big Sister about the countless horrible memories I had from when I was a kid!

“Forget it…”

Seeing the way I was admitting my mistake, Big Sister, who had seen this countless times since we were children, knew that the next step would be my stubborn attempt to act shamelessly. She simply turned her head and declared an innocent release of the three culprits.

That was how it went. This afternoon, because I was too engrossed with taking the two little ones around the amusement park, I forgot the time. By the time I received Big Sister’s calls, which were already a bit frustrated, it was nearly dark.

Upon our return home, what awaited us was Big Sister’s righteous judgement.

And the thirty-person feast that Anwina had prepared, hoping to please her master, only to be greeted by her wistful eyes after a long wait.

There was also the shocking scene of the Queen of Appetite–gone mad with hunger and furiously destroying the living room sofa–as she had waited for the three siblings to come home for dinner: seriously, Sandora, to what extent were you starving that you had to gnaw on the living room sofa for sustenance!? No matter how exotic your dining range may be, you have to show some restraint, you fool!

As if noticing my immense grudge, Sandora, busy biting the sofa with hunger, blinked and looked up: “Ah Jun?”

I facepalmed: “Honey, spare that sofa. We can eat now.”

“Hooray! Finally, we can eat… Ah Jun, I’m full now,” cheered Sandora, not halfway through, before suddenly showing a distressed look and saying just that.

We: “…”

You didn’t actually eat an entire sofa now, did you?!

Of course, Sandora was joking. Although her diet was surprisingly broad, she preferred eating utensils… uh, I mean, she preferred food much more. Just what kind of bizarre template did the world have in her taste system?

It wasn’t until dinner time that I finally realized how large our family had become. The dining table, once shared just between Big Sister and me, now almost looked like it was ready for a banquet. Qianqian, Sandora, Pandora, Vis, Little Baobao, Bubbles, along with me and Big Sister, made eight people, and that wasn’t including Lin Xue who often came over to freeload. Anwina and Alaya were two entities who only needed photosynthesis to survive; Lilina, that scheming Fake Lolita, was probably still lost in the wonderful time of visiting relatives, otherwise, our table really wouldn’t have been big enough.

Aside from these folks, our dining table gained two more members: Misaka 10031 and the slowpoke Silvia.

There’s not much to say about the latter, as a former amnesiac Fallen Apostle, she was immediately classed as an “insider” and a subject of our intense surveillance from the get-go. As for the former–

Possibly because she was the first Sister Misaka to become acquainted with us, 10031 was a bit livelier than the other Misakas and also had a closer relationship with us. It was quite common for her to have meals with us like now. Moreover, bizarrely enough, this talking-robot-like Sister Misaka seemed to share a surprising common language with Little Baobao, and I absolutely could not understand how they were able to comprehend what the other was trying to convey.

Could it merely be because they each have a whole bunch of mass-produced sisters?

“Ah Jun, Ah Jun! How do you eat this?!”

As I pondered, a sharp and delicate shout suddenly came from below my chin.

When I looked down, I saw a giant lobster tail swaying back and forth in front of me.

Dingdang, your size is truly tragic.

I forgot to mention her, but Dingdang is also currently one of the people at this dining table. However, it made no difference whether she was there or not; a God who didn’t take up much space, was never picky about food, and could nibble on half an apple for a whole day was seriously too easy to care for.

I moved the lobster tail aside, and Dingdang, who was left with her hands raised high, looked up at me with her big green eyes and a happy expression on her face, similar to that of Ding Ling’s home-raised X.O.

Although absurd to say, every mealtime for Dingdang seemed like a fantastic jungle adventure, roaming under the giant cups and bowls, climbing and jumping between mountains and lakes like dishes and soup pots, the tiny Life Goddess was like an explorer in a mysterious territory, constantly discovering her own treasures amongst the colossal items around her, like… this lobster now.

What a painfully entertaining pastime!

With these potentially heretical thoughts for a disciple of the Life God Sect swirling in my mind, I skillfully helped Dingdang peel the lobster shell, plucking out a few strands of meat, skewered them with a toothpick, and handed them to Dingdang, who immediately happily hoisted her combat rations and began to march valiantly toward the braised pork battlefield.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine what was running through Dingdang’s mind right now.

“Speaking of which, Sandora,” I suddenly remembered something while watching the slowpoke at the other end of the table leisurely winding vermicelli around her chopsticks with an enthusiastic face as if entertaining herself, and I couldn’t help but ask Sandora in a low voice, “Regarding the in-depth scan of Silvia’s memory core, did you find anything?”

Sandora, who was currently busy breaking a fork into little pieces to mix into the sweet bean sauce in front of her (…), didn’t stop her handiwork upon hearing my question. Instead, without lifting her head, she answered through a spiritual connection, “There’s a rough conjecture, but her body has been severely altered by the Abyss. Apart from identifying her past as one of the Mysterious System Apostles, most things couldn’t be analyzed. Silvia’s sole Energy Vacuum skill appears to be her unique ability, much like my Mind Control, which doesn’t belong to any known standard skill set of Xyrin’s Apostles, and so we can’t use this as a clue to guess her identity.”

As Sandora spoke, she mixed the well-blended forkful of sauce and picked it up with a little spoon, sandwiching it between two pieces of plain baked dough, munching noisily while continuing to “speak,” “But one thing is for certain, she was once an Emperor Level Apostle. The degree of consolidation of that energy body and the strength of the residual soul can’t be compared to an ordinary Apostle. Back then, the Empire’s Emperor had only 135 of them, nearly half of whom I was acquainted with. The remaining ones, excluding a few insignificant names, were mostly renowned figures. Maybe we have to look among those for Silvia’s identity.”

It seems Bubbles and her mainframes have their work cut out for them… Hey! Can’t you, girl, eat something normal for once! At least leave tomorrow’s chopsticks for a meal, you fool!

It was a sunny and surprisingly warm morning, a rarity during the continuous gloom and cold since winter set in. Taking advantage of the clear weather, Big Sister planned to air out the house’s quilts in the yard. Though I saw it as unnecessary, since we had numerous ways to simulate sunlight, and more extravagantly, I could even hang Alaya from the chandelier as a makeshift Sun to dry the quilts with Holy Light if I wanted. But Big Sister didn’t agree, as she believed that airing the quilts under the cheerful morning sun was the proper way, and that anything like the Holy Light Path was a perversion–which I had no comment on.

Indeed, the warm sunlight made for a good time to dry things, but Little Baobao, was it really necessary for you to hang yourself up on the rack too?

I looked at the jubilant Little Baobao, who hung herself beside on the rack and giggled towards me, deeply sensing the arduous road of being a father.

“What splendid weather,” a soft voice languidly remarked beside me. Silvia slightly squinted her eyes, tilting her head to look at the almost unbearable bright sun, her silver-white hair appearing as if coated with a layer of metallic sheen, “Feels like some good things are going to happen…”

I’ve completely lost the energy to make sarcastic comments about this guy who’s so obtuse that he wouldn’t be surprised by anything that happens, remains unfazed by the ever-changing environment around him, and stands in front of a civilian house in some big city in China without any self-awareness, even after witnessing over thirty “Prey” mechas roll by an hour earlier.

“Silvia, you’ve been living here for a while now–getting used to it?”

I can’t count how many times I’ve repeated that line these past few days. Suddenly having over ten thousand guests in my house, wouldn’t you say that’s a landlord with some serious guts?

“It’s great–I finally don’t have to worry about living expenses anymore–”

I looked away in silence, desperately gazing at the other end of the street: over there must be some sisters who would probably have something in common to talk about with you, right?

As for Silvia’s earlier remark that “something very good is going to happen,” I couldn’t quite agree. I don’t know why, but since I woke up this morning, I’ve had the feeling that something really bad was going to come knocking. Yes, it’s that same premonition I get every time Lin Xue comes around with trouble. But it seems this time the source of trouble isn’t the Prophet Lin who’s been grounded by his own dad for some reflection. So, who could it be?

While I was mulling over this, a very familiar figure gradually came into view on the distant street.

A petite girl, probably no more than eleven or twelve years old, wearing light green winter attire, was slowly approaching from that direction. What caught people’s attention the most was the super huge backpack she was carrying, which was over half her height. From a distance, it was as if she had a small mountain on her back, and paired with the girl’s delicate frame, it looked utterly bizarre.

Is she recently into cosplaying as a snail or what?

“Hey! Why didn’t you help me even though you saw me coming from afar!!”

My mind was wandering when this call suddenly came from the depths of my soul–though tinged with complaint, it was easy to detect the concealed joy of a long-awaited reunion.

If you can carry a hundred and thirty-three pounds of local specialties all the way here from the train station,” I hurriedly ran over and took the unprecedented giant backpack from the little girl’s back, “did Dingdang really give you a human body?”

“Just evolved myself a bit with Life Divine Power when I was bored,” the tiny girl swung her shoulders and then suddenly jumped in front of me, beaming with joy, “Ah ha, Boss, you must have been so lonely without seeing this adorable Little Loli for so long, right? Did you do anything outrageously shameful to Little Baobao and the others because I wasn’t around?”

…Lilina is just as unchanged as ever. I had hoped that after a few days at home under the influence of a mother’s love, she might have rectified her twisted worldview.

I held Lilina’s enormous backpack with one hand and landed a not-too-gentle karate chop on her head with the other: “You brat! Is that how you talk to your boss? Speaking of which, how’s your family? Did the reunion go smoothly?”

As soon as my words fell, Lilina suddenly stopped. Then, before I could ask out of curiosity, this Fake Lolita, known for her shockingly venomous tongue, suddenly bowed deeply to me.

I stared, dumbfounded at Lilina’s sudden gesture, and when she finally looked up, her face was utterly serious. Only then did she let out a gentle sigh, “Thanks again… really, thank you very much…”

“Silly girl, what’s got into you all of a sudden…”

I was still confused. Lilina had already thanked us the day we brought her back, so why this sudden show of gratitude now?

“It wasn’t until the moment I got back home that I realized how blessed I am,” the deceptive, sharp-tongued Fake Lolita revealed a purely innocent smile for the first time in my presence, “so, I felt I needed to express my gratitude again more earnestly, for that moment’s happiness upon returning home… What’s wrong?”

I scratched my head: “Then why have you come back here? Why not stay at home?”

Lilina cheerily walked ahead of me: “I’ve brought my mom over already! Got an Imperial Officer to help out with arrangements. From now on, we’re going to live here together. I came over today just as an employee to check in with the boss, plus my mom said, with such a great debt, we must repay it somehow. She doesn’t understand much about our situation, but she insisted I do this one thing. And besides, I am the Life Goddess’ leading Priestess, after all!”

From Lilina’s words, I had roughly grasped the situation. Anyway, seeing her finally welcome a new life and make up for her biggest regret made me quite happy for her.

“Ah la– Is this little sister your sister, Mr. Chen? Or, like Little Baobao–is she your daughter?”

The leisurely voice suddenly awoke me from my thoughts. I looked up to find Silvia already standing before us. With a warm smile, she curiously sized up Lilina, who appeared even younger than Pandora, and greeted her softly, “Hello–I’m Silvia–pleased to meet you for the first time, please take good care of me…”

“What a peculiar way of speaking,” Lilina felt uneasy under the gaze of this silver-haired stranger, then suddenly turned her head and glared at me sternly, “A new girl?”

I was dumbfounded: “… Although strictly speaking, you’re not wrong.”

But can’t you use a healthier way to describe it?

Since both of their identities were quite abnormal–strictly speaking, everyone here was abnormal–I simply introduced them to each other and pulled Lilina into the house. She wasn’t stupid; realizing that living in such a place filled with other-dimensional beings meant this silver-haired girl’s identity was definitely not simple, she asked no further questions. Only when we entered the living room did she inquire through a spiritual connection, “Who is Silvia? Why can’t I feel any of her energy fluctuations at all? And the life force on her is so strange.”

“Do you still remember the Fallen Apostle Army from the Azeroth world?”

“Of course I remember,” Lilina immediately pursed her lips, “It left a deep impression on me. Thanks to their invasion, I nearly starved to death in the ruins of Silver Moon City.”

“That one just now is one of the Great Commanders of the Fallen Apostles.”

Lilina looked at me in horror, and after receiving a confirming answer from the spiritual connection, she exclaimed in shock, “What? Impossible!? Have the Fallen Apostles taken over the Imperial Headquarters?”

“Taken over your sister!” Seeing Lilina ready to grab her belongings and flee, utterly spineless, I smacked her solidly, and then roughly explained Silvia’s situation along with our actions over the recent period to this Fake Lolita, who might blurt out something astonishing at any moment.

And she did astonish me yet again.

“You’re saying there are over ten thousand girls in Shadow City now?” Lilina looked at me disdainfully, tilting her head 30 degrees upwards, “I must say, Emperor, take care of your dragon body!”

Would you dare to share your wild imagination with the public?

Lilina’s sudden return was a pleasant surprise for us, and the heap of local specialties she brought back thrilled Sandora the Glutton. But honestly, I had no idea how to define “delicious” in Sandora’s world, as I’d never seen anyone able to taste the flavor of Master Kong in Jingde Town ceramics.

That said, what was with the bad feeling I’ve had since this morning? Although a character with a foul temper and a poisonous tongue like a Fake Lolita has returned, that shouldn’t count as bad news, right?

Could it be that the legendary seventh sense of a man was malfunctioning?

While I didn’t dare to claim I could foresee the future like Lin Xue with her cheat-like powers, my intuition was generally accurate. Theoretically, there shouldn’t be any misjudgment, right?

These doubts persisted until the afternoon, when they were dispelled by the news Taville brought.

She had found a bug in the Sniper Star Cannon we’d recently manufactured.

(Continue to ask for votes at the end of the month, also no, you aren’t seeing things, this is indeed a second release…) (To be continued, for more chapters please visit www.NovelFire.net, support the author, support genuine reading!)