Chapter 938: Chapter 938: Rainy Days—Can’t We Get a Little Peace?
(Wait, it’s the end of the month! The end of the month! It’s time to beg for votes in every possible pose! Just for the occasional Easter egg at the end of the chapter, throw in a couple of votes… The renovation is exhausting me…)
After the War Song was activated, the happiest of all was undoubtedly Sandora. This is very easy to imagine. The one with the deepest feelings for this ancient starship, which holds special significance, must be its former owner. One could even say that the War Song is Sandora’s last bit of nostalgia for the once great but now lost Empire. Its revival almost signifies a continuation of another life for the Battle Song Princess, the significance of which is self-evident.
Who says the Imperial People are emotionless war machines? It’s just that no one can understand the immense mission and fiery racial will they bear. They too have their moments of joy and sorrow. For instance, on the day the War Song was rebooted, Sandora was so delighted that she ate twice as much rice as usual—including two brand new rice cookers.
Now we’ve all developed a habit; when Anwina serves rice for the family, she first serves each of us a bowl and then hands the whole pot to Sandora. If all goes well, she won’t have to take it back…
These past few days, everything has been peaceful, and the perennially troubled daily life has finally gotten back on track. I’ve finally enjoyed a few dreamy days of leisure. Normally, I spend my time at home teasing Dingdang, teasing Bubbles, teasing Dingdang, teasing Visca, teasing Dingdang, teasing Mercury Lamp, feeling unprecedentedly relaxed. Occasionally, I’d go out for a little wander, accompanying Qianqian running around, or taking the little ones to the amusement park, or going out shopping for daily necessities with Big Sister. Actually, there’s no need to go out shopping now; the Empire’s coverage is vast. Even in the news broadcasts, you can’t find a place richer in goods. From needles and thread to battleships and artillery, you can basically find whatever you need. But Big Sister still prefers to go out and buy daily essentials like rice, oil, and salt, negotiating with street vendors like a small-town citizen, then coming home humming a tune with a basket of goods. She’s accustomed to the life of an ordinary person—plain, simple, and peaceful—which is her favorite atmosphere. Anwina doesn’t quite understand the mistress’s actions and sees it as her own dereliction of duty. Bingdisi occasionally makes a sarcastic remark, but I think maintaining such peace in daily life at this time is truly a talent of my sister: the eternal commoner’s buff.
After lingering for many days, the height of summer has slowly faded away, and the weather has finally begun to cool. Although it’s still a bit hot at midday, the chill of autumn can already be felt in the mornings and evenings. In densely populated cities, the seasons are always a bit retarded. The high-rise buildings and human activities have delayed the heat of summer for a long time, but now it’s finally starting to recede. Perhaps outside the city, it’s already the refreshing autumn weather.
This year’s rainfall has been abundant, and this city, located in a humid area, is no exception. There have been two or three bouts of rain over the past few days. Especially since yesterday, the weather has turned somewhat overcast, and by this afternoon, it feels almost dusk-like outside. There aren’t many dark clouds, but the entire sky seems shrouded in a kind of dusky yellow, as if it’s nearing sunset. The bright yellow daylight is refracted from the horizon, making it seem as if the city is encircled by a halo. Clearly, a rather large-scale storm is about to arrive.
This afternoon there will be heavy rain, accompanied by brief thunderstorms and winds. In this regard, Lin Xue concurs completely with the weather forecast on TV.
I don’t dislike rainy days; in fact, quite the opposite, I love them. It’s not just rain—I enjoy any kind of precipitation, including snow and hail—this peculiar hobby has puzzled all my teachers from childhood, and once even made me think I might grow up to be a poet or a hooligan, until Big Sister made me realize that I was happy because I didn’t have to go to school in such weather… Well, whatever the cause, it’s a hobby I’ve had since childhood. Even now, I find rainy or snowy days especially charming, especially when it’s stormy outside or bitterly cold. Snug in a warm little room, looking out through the window, I feel an extraordinary peace, as if the whole world is protected within these warm walls beside me.
But being cooped up inside watching the weather on a bad day, I feel there’s a fundamental difference between myself and this guy next to me.
Lilina is leaning on the window beside me, eagerly watching the weather worsen outside, almost bursting with excitement. She points enthusiastically at the distant people scurrying on the streets, gleefully shouting to me, “When the rain starts, I bet none of them will find a place to hide from the rain. Ah, this sense of karmic balance is really addictive…”
I opened the window, grabbed Lilina by the belt, and made as if to throw her out: “Don’t you have any semblance of clergy? I’m not asking for great compassion, but at least don’t take pleasure at others’ expense, alright?”
Lilina swung back and forth in mid-air, arms akimbo: “You don’t get it, do you? Good and evil will be rewarded, there’s no such thing as impartiality regarding good and evil within a hundred kilometers of this Pope. The unlucky ones are those who’ve done something bad within the last thirty days. If someone is truly good, even if they’re within a hundred kilometers, not a single hair will be touched by Five Thunders Bombarding. But a bad person, even if their doorstep is right in front of them, won’t find a place to hide from the rain!”
I was stunned when I heard this, thinking it sounded particularly otherworldly. But this girl never lies to me, so could it be she really has this unique ability?
“Perfectly normal. Representatives of God inherently carry divinity,” Bingdisi lazily lay to the side, speaking without lifting her head, “Sometimes we have to consider the world’s balance and cannot release divinity, but our spokespersons, as beings born of this world, don’t have such concerns. So often, a divine aspect manifests through them. Regardless of Lilina’s personal morality, her presence represents a judgment core. Powerless mortals around her will invariably be affected to some degree. If Lilina didn’t do it deliberately, it’s probably just a small drop in fortune, like getting lost at their doorstep during a storm.”
I looked at the little midget priestess held in my hand and really felt that everything related to the Star Domain Divine Race was truly fascinating. The one before me, even Bingdisi, such a rogue girl, could mock her moral level. And yet, she was like a moral scanner with an effective radius of a hundred kilometers… hey, wait a minute.
“Morality, you say what morality is used as the standard?” I shook the Lilina in my hand, “Human morality, vampire morality, alien morality, half-beast morality… So many races, are their moral standards the same?”
“That’s the divine aspect,” Bingdisi mumbled in response, “Judgment comes from the heart of the judged, because even gods can’t easily twist the free will of mortals. So the standard of divine judgment is the moral cognition of the judged. Even a completely evil person knows their race’s view of good and evil. Even if there are those extremely twisted villains, they are the minority. Generally speaking, a spokesperson’s divine judgment on mortals is sufficient.”
I stroked my chin thinking for a while, then casually tossed Lilina aside.
“Wow!” The little midget priestess let out an exclamation and then stood in the yard loudly protesting. I looked up at the sky, waited half a day, and didn’t find any thundering over her. So I turned to Bingdisi and said, “See, isn’t this twisted to the extreme? She’s wicked to the core yet doesn’t get struck by lightning, even the heavenly way can’t deal with that girl’s moral outlook.”
“Could you be any more tedious?” Bingdisi glared at me sideways.
I shrugged and turned to look at this rogue girl. She was lining up everyone with wings in the living room, standing as if doing aerobics, raising half of their wings in unison, while hanging from the ceiling was Yelsen, tied up as a light source… Because the weather outside was bad, this group was sunbathing indoors. Would these people dare say we’re boring?
“Listen to my command, one, two, three, switch sides!”
Bingdisi suddenly raised her hand and shouted, and then a row of wings uniformly dropped down, switching to the other side of the wings. Looking at it felt all sorts of disjointed, but that’s not the point. The point is there was a palm-sized little one perched on my shoulder, and Dingdang followed suit with a soft voice, “One, two, three, switch sides!” Then flipped her two pairs of wings that resembled dragonflies…
You tell me, how joyful their daily life is.
Even more joyful things are behind us. Today, not only was our group here, but there were guests as well. Several sisters of Mercury Lamp came from the Rose Maiden’s world to visit. Now they are sitting in the living room, a group of doll maidens taking up the large sofa, watching Pinocchio on TV—they mostly watch this kind of material. And less than two meters behind this group of little dolls was Mercury Lamp. She also belonged to the home’s winged clan, now naturally joining the “training class” organized by Bingdisi for a feather sunbath, tanning from the front then the back, switching sides every few minutes. This 92.3cm little fellow stood out among a group with wings spanning two to three meters. I find it hard to imagine how Zhenhong and the others watch Mercurial Lamp doing this while staying calm…
“That Mercurial Lamp turning into this is really unbelievable!” Cui Xingshi and Cang Xingshi were whispering, “It’s a pity we don’t have wings, wonder if that golden glowing guy’s light is really comfortable, it feels almost like sunlight.”
Jier Jiamishi was murmuring like an abandoned little wife not far away, holding Little Baobao: “Golden, golden, my last bit of shine was snatched by that searchlight…”
I listened and found it amusing, you really can’t say, when it comes to the golden glow ability, Ji Shanshan truly pales in comparison to Yelsen. To say nothing else, Ji Shanshan definitely doesn’t have the brightness of a small sun. Of course, I actually think this is a good thing. Yelsen’s brightness is high, but the greatest value of this brightness isn’t it hanging from the ceiling to sunbath…
At this time, a distant rumbling finally came from the horizon, the muffled thunder rolling after brewing all afternoon finally arriving belatedly, almost accompanying the first thunderclap, bean-sized raindrops poured down with a crash, making the outside instantly misty.
“Wow, this rain is really intense.” I looked out the window in amazement. Little Baobao was attracted by the sound of rain and came over with babbling sounds, crawling onto the windowsill using both hands and feet. Fearing that she might wander out onto the street, I quickly picked her up and held her in my arms, making her giggle incessantly. She clung to my neck, gabbling away, and though I couldn’t understand her, it was clear she was very happy. Kids are really lucky; they can just get happy out of the blue.
“But with this rain, we can’t go shopping. I was planning to buy clothes today.” Qianqian reclined backwards on a chair with her chin in her hands, watching the rain with me, her elbows propped on the backrest, “Anwina.”
“I’m here!” The Little Ghost immediately floated over, swaying with anticipation to receive orders from Qianqian. After thinking for a bit, Qianqian very seriously asked, “Have you learned to lay eggs?”
The Little Ghost looked a bit bewildered, shaking her head blankly: “This… seems to be a very difficult skill, I haven’t learned it yet.”
“Oh, then there’s nothing for you to do. I just wanted to know what crow eggs taste like.”
With that, Anwina sunk helplessly into the floor to count ants.
“Do you think we’re being a bit wayward?” I nudged Qianqian’s cheek with my elbow, “We’re so used to fighting all the time, why do we feel so uncomfortable now when it’s quiet?”
“Even Emperor Qin Shi Huang took time to watch exotic dances while picking his feet. Do you think the Demon King in the castle does nothing but sit on the throne 24 hours a day acting crazy?” Lin Xue’s voice came from not far away, “Do you believe that every time a Hero challenges the Demon King, the Four Guardians have to stall at the gate for ages because the Demon King is next door touching up makeup?”
“And stuffing themselves with gear the Hero would dream of but can’t use, right?” I glanced at her and noticed she was fiddling with a black, egg-sized cube, piquing my curiosity, “Hey, what is that thing?”
“A… key, probably,” Miss Lin said with an unusually uncertain tone, “Remember when we were on Azeroth, we snatched a small black box from a Variant Demon? A while ago, I had the research institute open that thing, but inside there was only this small cube. Now no one knows what the cube does, and I’m using it as a toy.”
I pondered at an oblique angle upwards for a long time, a full minute passed before I slapped my thigh and exclaimed, “Hey, isn’t there a pit here too?”
Miss Lin and Qianqian exclaimed in unison, “What?”
“Not considering details,” I quickly waved my hand, “Come to think of it, I had almost forgotten about this matter. Now I vaguely remember that the square box was snatched from a Demon Leader’s hand. Could you say this thing might have a special purpose in the near future, something significant.”
“That prediction had issues,” Miss Lin tossed the black cube from hand to hand, “Let me think… the issue was that I misunderstood the time scale in the prediction scene. Back then, this Miss had just mastered the predictive power and got many things wrong… This cube itself doesn’t have much value; it was just a ‘key’ given to high-level cannon fodder by the Fallen Apostle. The lock it corresponds to isn’t something important either. Yet, strangely, my intuition tells me it holds significant meaning, and this intuition persists even now, really odd. Plus, I misunderstood the time indicated by the prediction; I thought its role would be evident soon. But actually, only recently did I find out it’s this thing inside the box, hmm, very intriguing.”
“Do you think it’s about to come into play now?” My gaze followed Lin Xue’s hands as they moved back and forth, I couldn’t help but ask, “What does it do?”
“Not now, but the time is nearing. This is the first time I encounter something completely unknowable. It looks so inconspicuous yet is involved in a major transformation. This transformation must be of great significance, stacking all possible futures upon it, looking at it from a glance…” Miss Lin said, tossing the black metallic-looking cube high into the air, “As if ensnared by layers of intertwined webs.”
“Hey! If it’s blinding, say so, don’t smash anyone!”
Yelsen hanging from the ceiling shouted loudly.
“Tch, used too much force?” Miss Lin mumbled as she turned her head away.
Staying indoors and drinking tea on a rainy day is truly a very relaxing thing, but I must say it’s pretty boring too. Hanging around in this atmosphere for a bit made me feel unbearably idle. The main reason is a bunch of guests at home: those doll maidens occupying the big sofa and watching old cartoons. It’s actually quite a delicate situation, where it feels like the daughter brought a bunch of friends home, and now they’re running around under your nose, prompting even the most laid-back person to put on a stern, parent-like facade. Under Chu Mei’s cautious gaze, akin to a child visiting someone’s home and meeting the house-owner, do you guys realize how much pressure this cheerful dad feels when he’s used to lifting Mercury Lamp high up, winding it up, and tossing it around?
In front of Zhenhong, I just feel embarrassed to hold Mercury Lamp and hug it tightly.
Maybe this boredom really moved the Goddess of Destiny (if Bingdisi really has such a childhood friend). Just when I was about to do nothing and grow mushrooms in the corner, something interesting came up: an emergency communication from Shadow City.
“Your Majesty, this is the Research Center. We’ve run into trouble.”
The urgent communication came in with Taville’s voice.
I suddenly stood up; simultaneously, Sandora, Big Sister, Qianqian, and Lin Xue also got to their feet. Clearly, they all received the message too.
Such a big movement naturally drew the attention of others. Not only were the Rose Maidens watching TV startled, but even the bird people basking in the sun raised their heads one by one. Mercury Lamp pouted and looked at me, angrily asking, “Another war?!”
“No, there was a research accident in Shadow City, not a big deal, but we need to calm the situation ourselves.”
I quickly replied to the little doll while focusing on the spiritual connection, preparing to transport to Shadow City, “Taville, online right? How’s the situation? What happened?”
“The Abyss Deep Diving Ship,” the first few words from the other side made my heart skip a beat, “its core has activated by itself, and now the database energy plug is rapidly increasing in pressure. The wreckage will be destroyed in one hour!” (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian () to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)