Chapter 967: Beach Vacation

Chapter 967: Chapter 967: Beach Vacation

"What’s wrong with her? What did you feed her?"

Watching Miss Lin mumbling non-stop on the couch with dreamy eyes, Sandora looked astonished and pulled me over to whisper.

"Nothing much, just bad karma." I replied succinctly, glancing down at the commemorative stamp in my hand.

If you get closer, what Miss Lin kept mumbling were those words: bad karma, bad karma. She has been muttering these five words for several minutes now. I estimate that if no one stops her, by the time she’s done, those words in Arial size 3 might circle the Earth...

My sister looked at Lin Xue, then at me, and back again, eyes filled with mischief. She waited until I felt uneasy all over before she giggled: "Ah Jun, you better take responsibility or else sister will get angry too."

I shivered and nodded repeatedly: "Responsibility, responsibility—though is it really necessary to be so serious? I was only nine years old! Why do you all think of me so poorly?"

My sister glanced at me with two-thirds of her whites showing: "Past record!"

Qianqian came over to pinch my ear: "Past record!"

Sandora shrugged, looking at our mysterious behavior: "I don’t know what you’re saying, but—past record!"

I was instantly enraged: You don’t even know and you join in!

Seeing the three of them, I decided not to argue: Sister is untouchable in this household, if I’m the boss, she’s the boss’s sister, can’t compare. Qianqian is immune to logical attacks; you should never expect to reason with her. As for Sandora, maybe she’s understanding, but now it’s two to one, and with Qianqian and sister conspiring, the mischievousness in Sandora’s bones might drive me to Reflection Cliff. So I decided to chat with Miss Lin, to see if she could stop muttering about bad karma.

There’s a saying, fate works in mysterious ways—something I never thought could happen with these quirky girls around me, none seemingly romantic. Yet fate has swept in, delivering a blow to show me that "fate" is everywhere, and it struck someone I never even dared to consider before: Miss Lin, made of rare materials—until forty-five minutes ago, I couldn’t believe "mysterious" could ever link me to Miss Lin.

Lin Xue’s feelings are uncertain, but mine are actually quite buoyant. Relationships can mellow over time; I enjoy the tranquility, but surprises amid the peace are welcome too. I want to thank the Supreme Life Goddess for her "Travel Wall," which reminded me of a forgotten moment, revealing that many things have a destined fate. Perhaps a chance encounter years ago bound us in inevitable entanglement. After realizing this tie with Miss Lin, I feel buoyant. She probably feels the same, even though she continues muttering "bad karma." Knowing her tsundere nature, I’ve long ignored such muttering. If she openly shared her feelings, that would be surprising. Based on my understanding and subtle intuition, her mood is at least like eight or nine o’clock in the morning—sunny enough to dry clothes.

"So, how long do you plan to mumble?"

I patted the shoulder of the young Prophet, curious about her expression beneath her downward gaze. To my surprise, she raised her head swiftly, clearly displeased: "What? I’m contemplating life! Go away!"

Ignoring her threat, I casually sat next to her: "It’s surprising, really, such a coincidence. You looked like a little princess back then, totally stunning. What has fate done to you over the years?"

"You looked like a fool back then," Miss Lin grinned, coming over to pinch my ear, "Whatever fate... did, it probably didn’t do much to you."

I didn’t even realize back then, truly.

"It seems entanglement with a blockhead like you is indeed destiny," Miss Lin remarked, her expression as calm as ever, fiddling with an ugly wooden lump. I could guess why she had it: she’s always been the type to stuff her belongings carelessly. Seeing her dig random things from her pocket was an eye-opener; this lump must be childhood nostalgia tossed into her personal space, forgotten like mine. After all, childhood gifts from over a decade ago are kind of similar—like me, "This Miss calculated it three times, and realized if we hadn’t met in some bad-karma way, we’d probably be strangers. Isn’t fate fascinating?"

Looking at Lin Xue’s face, I caught a glimpse of panic in her eyes. That potential "strangers" fate must have startled her. So I quietly wrapped an arm around her shoulder: "If destiny had planned something like this, fate isn’t too harsh on us."

For a moment, Miss Lin hesitated, carefully observing the little ones in the distance. After confirming that the rowdy girls were busy playing, she snuggled into my arms: "It’s getting chilly."

"Mm...ah."

"Suddenly I want to go for a walk."

"Where? I’ll accompany you." I glanced at the time outside; it wasn’t late. With over an hour until Lin Xue’s usual time to go home, a stroll with her and then dropping her off should be just right. Isn’t this a golden moment for bonding with your girlfriend?

Miss Lin contemplated: "How about the Maldives? Or further, to Yangfan Port? Actually, Serramo is nice too..."

Me: "..."

A sudden chill crept into my heart, and I shuddered internally: This is bad! The troublesome aggregation is planning a trip again!

Stopping her now was too late. Once Miss Lin’s interest piqued, nobody could stop her. Before I could react, she stood up and called out: "Guys! Anyone up for a trip? To the seaside!"

I immediately covered my eyes, thinking there’s no suspense in this: What’s easier than rousing a bunch of excessively lively girls? Having Qianqian among them, that’s what...

Astute readers might have noticed that Yelsen and Kenser, the two gentlemen, were deliberately ignored—one turned into an M by his sister over several millennia, and another has a vocabulary of four characters including punctuation. Do they even count?

Without any suspense, by the time I lowered my hand, Qianqian had already changed into a bright tropical dress, carrying a small bag at the doorway to the living room... This girl, can you restrain your enthusiasm a bit!

Lin Xue tugged at my ear, and I turned around to meet her smiling gaze: "I’m in a great mood this time, let me be indulgent just once." What else could I say to that? I surrendered unconditionally anyway.

This time, it wasn’t Qianqian, but Miss Lin who came up with the sudden idea, and her suggestion quickly garnered the full support of the family. Of course, initially, I was rather anxious because the horrible experiences from before are still fresh in my memory: Miss Lin’s tours always end up turning into troublesome affairs, with the smallest ones involving saving the world and no upper limit. After those few experiences, I gave Miss Lin the nickname "Trouble Aggregation"—think of it as a term of endearment.

But this time Lin Xue specially assured me: "Don’t worry, I checked, and nothing will go wrong during our tour, plus we’re not going far—the Azeroth world is an Empire territory."

That’s right, the decided destination is not on Earth but in Azeroth. After unanimous agreement among the family, we decided to go to Quel’Danas Island. When we set off, Bubbles was more excited than anyone, bouncing around with her daughter. I’m worried she’s planning to single-handedly clear the Magic Master’s platform or Sun Well—perhaps I need to remind Kaelthas to quickly apply for political asylum.

Since the Empire Army saved Azeroth from the clutches of the Fallen Apostle and the Burning Legion, this battle-scarred planet has finally welcomed peace, and what seems to be an everlasting peace. Azeroth within the Empire’s territory is on a completely different path compared to the Azeroth projected as information on Earth. I think this is a good thing: at the very least, if we hadn’t wiped out the entire Burning Legion in advance, Quel’Danas Island wouldn’t have become a peaceful tourist destination, right?

The army of the Fallen Apostle was ultimately stopped at the Silver Moon Defense Line, and Quel’Danas was completely unaffected by the flames of war. After the war, it became the best scenic spot in the Eastern Kingdom because finding a piece of land in this world that hasn’t been plagued or polluted by demons is quite difficult. However, very few are qualified to visit here. They must have military achievements or outstanding contributions, be members of the Salvation Army, and have permits issued by their racial leaders. The reason is that the second set of cross-world teleportation gates connecting Azeroth with Shadow City is located in the center of this island, with half of the island being a military restricted zone and the other half being a semi-controlled area.

We chose this place precisely for this reason—it’s quiet, has great scenery, and it’s particularly convenient to return if anything comes up.

After resting for less than two days back from the Divine Realm, our whole family came here to enjoy the sea breeze. Come to think of it, we really haven’t had a true vacation in a long time, given our routine of fighting wars, taking brief post-war vacations, dealing with a heap of political affairs, lounging at home, eating, sleeping, and then waiting for some world to have another problem so we could go fight a war again. This cycle repeated for several rounds, and realizing it now, I genuinely feel physically and mentally exhausted. Miss Lin’s suggestion may have been a spur-of-the-moment idea due to a good mood, but it might also have been a sharp awareness of this issue, wanting the family to relax.

Since it was a long-awaited family trip and this time the family has added several new members or guests, I brought everyone along, including Lin Feng and Sally who came to visit Lin Xue on the day of departure, and even Anwina, who was finally dragged out of the house by us. The grand First Family brought along an impressive travel group, and our crew looked like it was set to take over the entire beach. The First Family is known for being well-prepared for activities, with everyone’s personal space always filled with peculiar items. Upon reaching the destination, it took us less than ten minutes to transform an untouched Otherworld coast into a beach resort. Enthusiastically, Lin Xue set up at least thirty beach loungers along the sand, regardless of whether they would be used or not. Meanwhile, Sandora was preparing a beach barbecue pit in a nearby spot—ten meters in diameter, and I suspect she plans to catch a nine-headed sea monster for the grill. The most amazing person is Big Sister; always ready, she even brought a fully equipped, self-powered mobile planetary colonial cabin—does she plan to live on the beach for a few years?

I, Yelsen, and Ken, three big men, lay side by side under the parasol, sipping ice-cold coconut juice akin to a lazy middle-aged landlord, watching a bunch of girls big and small going wild on the beach or in the ocean, bullying the local Blood Elf kids some parents might have brought along, feeling our bones turn lazy. Yelsen flipped over and let out an especially lascivious exclamation: "Oh—so comfy, the mortals really have a knack for pleasure."

Ken smiled and nodded, tightening the floral shorts he bought for fifteen bucks from Erli Bridge: "Quite good, quite good."

I stretched out my foot giving Yelsen a kick in the waist: "You, did your conscience balk when you said comfy—you’re lounging on the beach in more than three hundred pounds of armor? Won’t the sand kill you when it gets in!"

Yelsen flipped his hair, the solid heavy armor gleaming under the sunlight: "I am foremost a War God, you wouldn’t understand."

Shouldn’t a War God be flashy enough to wear a three-hundred-pound iron casing to bask on a sunny beach? At times like this, it’s better to follow Kratos’s example: at least he wears beach shorts, right?

I didn’t have time to deal with this slightly unhinged War God, so I got up to tease Sandora, who was waiting far away by a large campfire for dinner. Her Majesty the Queen was wearing a light gauze sarong with a set of sea-blue swimwear, which, though somewhat conservative, suited her very well. Her naturally good figure, combined with an unintentionally regal air, made this style perfect for her. Paired with a cute straw hat with lace, today’s Sandora was almost a broadcast of cuteness and grandeur on her body.

Of course, the main reason I came to tease her was that I was curious about what this lass was grilling or planning to grill. The sight that greeted me left me dumbfounded: on the other side of the fire, there were at least half a ton of sea fish, and Mermaid Princess Isana was quickly threading the fish onto skewers to hand to Sandora. As she handed them over, she said, "Do you know, if you grilled me, the taste would be about the same..."

Isana is the bravest creature I’ve ever seen, no exceptions. Was she talking about this in front of Sandora because she was weary of this world?

"Ah Jun, try it!" Sandora saw me coming over and immediately held up the grilled fish in her hand. "Isana helped catch all of this. Naga are great at fishing!"

I nervously took the food Sandora had prepared, surprised to find it actually tasted pretty good. Perhaps this was the only kind of food Sandora could make without anyone dying from eating it?

"Why are you here too?" I glanced at Isana, who was grilling fish. Her fish tail was inconvenient on the beach, so she had to hop around. At present, she had already buried herself in a half-meter deep pit.

"The army’s on leave, so I went back to Azeroth to visit family. It’s been a long time since I felt the seawater of my hometown. The water in Fairy Lake is nice but lacks salt. After all, I’m a saltwater fish... Ah! Your Majesty, that fish is still raw!"

"Use some fire, use some fire!" Qianqian suddenly rushed in from the beach, carrying all sorts of strange things. When she got closer, I saw it was a pile of black, unidentified materials molded into cups, plates, and bowls (allegedly), mixed with sand. Qianqian grabbed an irregular plate and sent it straight into Sandora’s campfire for grilling fish, completely unafraid of the flames, and started cooking it by hand in the fire.

"What are you doing?" Sandora asked curiously.

"Making deep sea mud ceramics. It suddenly occurred to me; it should be interesting." Qianqian was excitedly tinkering with the plates in the fire. If it weren’t for the risk of burning her swimsuit, she might’ve jumped in entirely—the swimsuit was made of regular materials.

Watching from the side, I drew two conclusions: first, this was another typical Qianqian-style impulse; second, this girl seemed to have developed a bit more—she had curves this year! Was this the power of love?

"How long will it take to grill like this?" Sandora and Qianqian’s intelligence levels suddenly aligned, and the two squatted together in discussion, "Besides, the fire isn’t strong enough."

"No worries, I’ve got time." With an excited look, Qianqian tossed the strange items made of deep sea mud into the fire. Then her expression changed, and I saw that the large campfire, with a radius of nearly ten meters, mixed with fuel oil and estimated to burn for two days and nights, suddenly shook violently and turned into a pile of ashes.

Amidst the ashes, many strange black porcelain bowls remained, and Isana stood nearby, holding a few skewers that were now only half remaining, staring blankly—the fish on them had long since burned away.

Of course, Qianqian’s black porcelain bowls were a success. Not only had they solidified, but the sand inside had turned into a glaze! This girl had burned these items for more than two full days and nights in her own timeline!

"My grilled fish..." Isana held up the empty skewer and lamented to me tearfully, "I haven’t even taken a bite." Sandora waved her hand, "It’s okay, I can eat it raw."

Isana thought for a moment, "Right, I live in the water, and usually I eat stuff raw too."

I quickly pulled Qianqian away, predicting this place might soon turn into a bloodbath, which my mental fortitude couldn’t handle. As Qianqian left, she didn’t forget to take her steaming treasures with her and insisted on using them to eat. Well, this girl’s determination has reached a godlike level.

Watching as Qianqian buried those steam-emitting so-called ceramic items in the sand to cool, I looked towards the beach where the little ones were having fun. I had to keep an eye on them to ensure no one ran off recklessly. Just then, I noticed Chu Mei rushing towards me, wailing loudly. In the blink of an eye, the little doll less than a meter tall was hanging off my arm: "Uncle, Uncle! Mercury Lamp isn’t feeling well! Go check on her!"

Upon hearing this, I sprinted towards the spot where the group of dolls was gathered.

Mercury Lamp and her sisters were accustomed to being together; even when going out to play, the doll girls would gather in a group. When I arrived, I found all the Rose Maidens present, each with a worried look. Mercury Lamp was struggling to scratch her back, jumping around with an anxious face. Seeing me rushing over, the little doll stopped her inelegant actions and stood embarrassed before me, but still couldn’t help squirming.

"What’s going on?" I picked up the 92.3cm doll, fiddling as I asked.

"It’s itchy, scratching doesn’t help," Mercury Lamp grimaced, turning her head away with a blush, "No laughing! No looking! Otherwise, I’ll call you a pervert from now on!"

——Today was Mercury Lamp’s first time wearing a swimsuit——although it was a school swimsuit only elementary students would wear, this girl was still resolutely shy.

"Hey! I said don’t move around! You idiot who keeps touching dolls! I won’t let you hold me to sleep anymore!"

I completely ignored the peculiar Water Chairman raised by myself, and poked a small hole in her back: "There’s sand in your keyhole."

Everyone: "..."

Flipping Mercury Lamp over, there was an obvious wind-up keyhole on her back, which I usually thought of as a cute feature. Winding her up with a key made her twist amusingly—but this time, it seemed to be a huge problem. After using a cotton swab dipped in water to clean the keyhole for quite some time, I finally got several small stones out from the very inside. Then, I put the little doll back on the ground, and she immediately regained her energetic state. However, she still lunged at me, baring her teeth, trying to bite: "You idiot! You inconsiderate idiot! So rude!"

"Everyone come over, lift your tops, Chu Mei! Turn around, and lift the back! Cui Xingshi, glaring is useless unless you obediently stay indoors, you too, Cang Xingshi, hold her, Zhenhong... BlackTea won’t change the fact that you need winding, if you don’t behave I’ll seal you with silicone!" With Mercury Lamp hanging on my arm, I commanded the group of Rose Maidens powerfully, then pulled out a bunch of waterproof band-aids to patch them up one by one, "Don’t go to the deep water, I always feel your ball joints are unreliable. Luo Zhen’s era didn’t have sealing ring technology!"

After finally dealing with these quirky Rose Maidens, I took a roundabout detour to see what everyone was actually doing, only to find that these strange fellows were indeed causing quite a ruckus:

Lilina was competing in swimming with Little Baobao, but the latter had no idea what swimming meant. The end result was the clueless Little Baobao sinking to the seabed and running around madly—later bringing up at least twenty tons of seafood and a wave almost as big as a tsunami, for which we had to use the sea shield to greatly improve Sandora’s meal. Finally, Lin used her sheer strength to fetch Little Baobao from the water; by then, she had already drilled a half-kilometer hole into the seabed, still stupidly believing "Sister Lilina" was swimming ahead of her.

Pandora and Visca were making sand sculptures at a distant cape’s end. They dispatched two thousand soldiers to collect sea sand across the entire Quel’Danas Island and the continental shelf, planning to recreate Silver Moon City to scale. Thinking of that Ice and Snow Castle still sitting in Qianqian’s personal space made me feel a lot of pressure.

Little Qijing was pulled out of the spirit world by her mother (Alaya). It was her first time seeing the sea and she was overwhelmed with excitement. Later, she was discovered by Zhenhong and the others, who invited this sister who died young to join them in building sandcastles. The Rose Maidens’ sandcastles were much smaller in scale than the Pandora Sisters’ but were especially innocent and childlike. Notably, Mercury Lamp’s sandcastles aligned most closely with her claimed target and were astonishingly lifelike: she made over twenty yurts.

Alaya and the Big Sister were in charge of watching the kids...

Yelsen, after lying under the beach umbrella for more than an hour, finally found it dull. He dug a big pit at least a meter deep in the sand, jumped in, and asked Kenser to bury him, wanting to enjoy the so-called sand bath experience. Kenser, being straightforward, used a quicksand technique to finish the job, but afterwards, it ended up looking like a mound over a grave, with Yelsen’s head sticking out like a performance artist. Within ten minutes, he scared away four or five blood elf children, as such performances had never existed in Azeroth—after receiving multiple complaints from parents, Monina couldn’t bear it any longer and gave Yelsen another quicksand treatment, making it truly look like a grave mound.

I wandered back and forth on the beach shaking my arms, not really having anything special in mind, but casually watching this group of joyful weirdos clumsily having fun was entertainment in itself. Another form of entertainment was the rare chance to see these girls in swimsuits... Sandora and Qianqian, at least, had nothing unusual, but seeing all the Rose Maidens change into school swimwear was quite a spectacle. I had half a mind to take pictures and post them on the forum but felt like I’d be shortchanged: like a father seeing his daughter’s swimsuit photos leaking. Aside from Yelsen’s flamboyant golden armor, the Divine Clan members also adapted to the local customs with cooler outfits. Monina was dressed in a sexy black tight swimsuit decorated with feathers, and Lin, always on the receiving end among the girls, donned a gold-scaled... well, her clothes might have been conveniently made from her own feathers and scales, right?

I began looking around for Bingdisi because I was curious what a someone genuinely explosive would look like in a swimsuit. Just curiosity, nothing pervy or anything...

"Do you really want to see me half-naked so much?"

Suddenly someone patted me on the shoulder from behind, and their words made me break into a cold sweat. I thought this hooligan really understands me, but when I turned around, I was disappointed to see she was still wearing the same evening dress that never changes with the environment. Uh, can we remove the word "disappointed" from that last sentence?

"I’m actually a very conservative person," Bingdisi declared confidently, "and the main reason is I’m afraid of hurting these young girls’ feelings..."

"You just couldn’t find one the right size and ended up ruining two of my outfits," Sandora approached from the other side, her eyes subtly wandering over Bingdisi’s chest, "You couldn’t even fit into mine, serves you right for not preparing outfits in advance. By the way, Ah Jun, have you seen Anwina?"

"Anwina?" I glanced around, puzzled, "Oh yeah, where did she go?"

Along with Bingdisi and Sandora, I searched the beach but couldn’t find Anwina anywhere. It seemed this timid ghost maid disappeared the moment she arrived, but everyone was too busy settling in the bizarre bunch of big and small girls to notice. Bringing her here was quite a challenge, as Anwina’s fear of strangers and unfamiliar environments was well known. This time, the only reason she could be somewhat forcefully dragged out was because we were going to Azeroth, her homeland of sorts. How did she vanish as soon as we got here?

"She might have spotted strangers on the beach aside from family and got too scared to come out."

Bingdisi told me while glancing around with me. This beach wasn’t private property; although there were few tourists, there were still some resident families of the Salvation Army resting here. Possibly, these few strangers scared Anwina.

I nodded and looked into the distance, then suddenly pondered: "Hey, are there crows by the seaside?"

Bingdisi looked confused, and I pointed at a large black bird circling above the distant sea: "There’s a crow there..."

Sandora: "Uh, it seems that’s the biggest compromise that little ghost girl made. She hypnotized herself into a bird."

Bubbles jumped out of nowhere, pointing excitedly at the sea: "Hey, a sea crow, a sea crow!"

Me: "..." I have plenty of reasons to believe that the sea crow she mentioned isn’t just as simple as those three words.

After sunset, a grand bonfire party was held on the beach, led by Qianqian. The commotion attracted many people, including locals from Quel’Danas Island and nearby fishermen—although most of the island is a military zone, there are also residents, who have gathered mainly because of the local Salvation Army base, including soldiers’ families and ubiquitous goblin merchants. The bonfire party expanded from a single large fire to an almost uncontrollable scale once the goblin merchants touted the gimmick of "Imperial Leaders and their families leading the celebration activity," triggering more excitement than a dose of chicken blood. It’s said that daredevils even swam over from nearby islands to attend the party, which is generally against the military regulations. But today was special; Qianqian personally allowed non-restricted zones of the island to be open to anyone. Thus, once the bonfire blazed up, you could see a bunch of shiny seal heads floating out of the waves while standing by the cliff at Quel’Danas. They would stand up walking upright once thrown ashore by the waves, a spectacle resembling rapid species evolution—that’s the druids who swam over transformed into seals...

Actually, Qianqian just likes the hustle and bustle; I guess she’d be equally happy tossed into a marketplace. For her, a bonfire party and a weekend discount shopping spree are the same concept.

The bonfire on the beach of Quel’Danas, under the night sky, stretched endlessly. In the glow of firelights, various bipedal creatures danced their racial folk dances—this was a complete chaotic dance, seen from afar, I almost thought I arrived at the world of Journey to the West, with tens of thousands of Sun Monkey’s reinforcements standing before me...

Qianqian had nestled into a dance troupe formed by Naga girls for thirty minutes, saying she was curious whether the mermaids’ dance was as beautiful as their singing. At that time, I looked at Isana bouncing behind me but didn’t have time to stop her. These mermaids, who could only bounce when ashore, completely different from the Nagas known on Earth, even competed in dancing with bipedal races. Were they trying to see who could dig a hole and bury themselves first?

Now, Qianqian probably had buried herself.

Leading by Mercury Lamp and Zhenhong, the Rose Maiden Group had also vanished, occasionally glimpsed light figures dashing between bonfire heaps. Apparently, these doll maidens finally found suitable playmates: a bunch of dwarf kids.

Pandora and Visca mixed in with them unscrupulously, waving confidently from the high ground.

Even Sandora, usually able to maintain majesty before outsiders, squeezed in somewhere mooching food and drinks. There were many strange foods in Azeroth, making it difficult to say whether the Queen’s original intention to agree to tour the Otherworld was merely to eat. Miss Lin had drunk some wine earlier and clearly was a bit wound-up, holding everyone passing by for palm reading. She grabbed a hapless fellow, babbling with a red face: "Looking at your palm lines... hic, too deep... hic, turbulent life, some places are even transparent, this... hic..."

The skeleton held by Lin Xue looked this way for help...

"Alright, alright, aren’t you not fond of drinking? Why are you acting up today?" I quickly pulled Lin Xue over into my arms, apologetically nodding at the skeleton diagnosed with a disaster. The Miss was restless in my arms—pinching, biting, throwing uppercuts, and delivering subduing punches with Yong Chun—was she drunk?!

"I’m in a good mood..." Lin Xue muttered, "Because I like you... let me read your palm—hmm, a tough fate, a flamboyant personality, overly strict discipline in childhood causing a rebellious mindset, smashed every teacher’s window before puberty, won nine out of ten fights, famous for collecting protection fees after becoming a civil servant, capsized in a gutter once, fortunately helped by a benefactor, currently has a goddaughter..."

Miss held Bingdisi’s hand for a longtime, speaking nonsense. The latter’s expression turned particularly complex, then leaned towards me whispering: "I vow, this little girl isn’t drunk at all. Want to bet?"

"I’m more certain than you. Want to bet she’s drunk, and I bet she’s not."

Then I exchanged a cut-eye with this female hooligan.

I knew Lin Xue’s awkward character made her seem indirect, causing her to express her feelings through all sorts of headache-inducing methods, like pretending to be mad and foolish or biting twenty Rolexes on me. But this character had always been her most adorable aspect, which I always liked. At this moment, holding the dizzy Miss, a peculiar sense of satisfaction lingered in my heart—a strong, arrogant girl suddenly softens, making one particularly reluctant to let go. I leaned down and gave the corner of her mouth a gentle kiss, only to see her cheeks visibly redden—caught pretending drunk!

"Hey, hey, hey, that’s enough, showing your affection is punishable by fire, take care of the aging resentful woman beside you who’s millions of years old, will you?" Bingdisi’s voice came from beside, making me roll my eyes: this one even dared to self-describe as an aging resentful woman, ready to destroy the world?

"See, aren’t the little ones happy."

Leaning back against a large rock, Bingdisi watched distant tribal natives dancing chaotically, speaking relaxedly. She occasionally referred to any mortal creature as "little ones," and indeed she had the right—whenever she said that, it indicated the woman’s current mood was excellent, "because they all feel safe."

"Safety? How did you summarize that?"

"No need to summarize, remember I’ve lived ages. Whether mortals feel safe is almost a one-look thing. Clearly, these little ones joyfully rambled here not due to affluent living or merely a celebratory event, but because of an environment allowing complete reassurance—that’s safety. This safety is credited to you, any thoughts?"

"... Quite pressured. I’m here to de-stress; why do you persistently lecture on life’s pressures when everyone’s jubilant?" I casually complained. Bingdisi seemed to have this habit of suddenly turning serious in least serious places, using her life experiences, enough to crush people with wisdom, to lecture or give life guides, causing frequent massive stress.

"You need some stress; otherwise, your character might strictly resort to idling and freeloading. Father God mentioned Void Creatures are inherently lazy, with extreme procrastination issues. I’m afraid you’re the same," Bingdisi winked at me, her expression suddenly collapsing, "Of course, more importantly—I’m about to be deployed.

"The Divine Realm continuously sends Expeditionary Armies deep into the Void, each combat sequence periodically heads to the battlefield. I’m about due to prepare for the expedition."

(Well, scared now...) (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)