Chapter 979: Chapter 979: Honored Guest
(Hey, how come during these last two days of double pay period I forgot to ask for monthly tickets!)
Having guests at home is actually a rare thing for us because generally, not many people visit our big house. You know, with so many unscientific beings gathered here, just one of them showing up would give CCTV10 enough material for over forty episodes of science documentaries. Dingdang might fly around and get spotted, Anwina might pop her head out of any wall or TV, Mercury Lamp is only 92.3 cm and can float two meters off the ground, and Alaya might subconsciously wander out to sun her wings. Even if all of these unconventional beings learned to disguise themselves, we have a student named 123 who wears a dazzling full-body heavy armor all year round. It would be hard to explain to the delivery guy why there’s a two-hundred-pound Ancient Greek hunk in our living room with at least a thirty-lumen aura...
So to avoid trouble, Sandora set up a Mind Interference Barrier around the house. Ordinary people, including those collecting water and electricity bills or delivering packages, would directly ignore this quirky mansion that seems to defy local property prices. Only a handful of people are allowed to approach: Ding Ling, Lin Feng, Sally, and a few Earthlings who are either informed about the Empire or working for it, like Werewolf William who, under the Red Moon’s influence, almost tried to court Ding Ling’s Chinese village dog XO. These visitors shouldn’t exactly make Qianqian exclaim "big guest," right?
I carried the now beaming little doll to the living room and found that the guest was standing in front of the grandfather clock at the door, intently watching the pendulum below. Since he was facing away from the stairs, I couldn’t tell who he was, but I could see he was a young male, under 1.8 meters tall, dressed in ordinary white casual wear, with short black hair and a calm demeanor. His pants were even bought from a stall, with the tag still attached. What shocked me was something else: our house full of unruly characters, including Bingdisi, were all sitting quietly on the sofa, looking uncharacteristically orderly, which made me feel an unprecedented respect for the unidentified guest.
Holding my head, Mercury Lamp, in an unusually bright mood, even sang some nonsensical adapted nursery rhymes in a strange tone. Seeing an unknown guy with such an aura in the house, she immediately voiced her dissatisfaction, shouting loudly, "Hey! The owner of the house is here! Who are you! Who are you! Who are you! Wow..."
The shout ended with an exclamation, and Mercury Lamp bit her tongue.
The young man in white casual wear turned around with an exceptionally bright smile and waved at me, pointing at the grandfather clock behind him, "Hey, I might have to interrupt you a bit. This clock is quite interesting. In the Mortal World, they clearly mark the fleeting moments that they almost never use in their daily lives, like this second hand—recently, Feier gave me a similar one. She found a bunch of clocks somewhere in a world and handed them out one by one..."
I stared in disbelief at the "young man" with a smiling face commenting on my living room decor like a guest at a friend’s house, my jaw almost hitting the floor, and almost missing a step on the stairs, "Huh?! Father God?! How did you..."
"Ahem, enough with the titles, just call me Xingchen."
The white-clad "young man" waved his hand at me, "I finally have some time off and thought I should visit your world. After all, you’ve been to my place a couple of times, and I haven’t returned the visit. It’s a bit embarrassing..."
That’s right, you didn’t see wrong, and neither did I. The "young man" in front of me with booth-bought trousers and a bit of chives at the corner of his mouth, smiling broadly, is none other than... Father God!!
Star Domain Father God!
No wonder Qianqian, with her nerves strong enough to be used for deep-sea fishing, exclaimed at this guest... the component level of this guest is indeed quite high, and no wonder the unruly Tiaozi Five from the Divine Clan are sitting quietly on the sofa, even Bingdisi and Yelsen have turned into good children—they’ve seen their super boss. If Sandora and I stopped by Raven 001’s dormitory for a while, it would probably have the same effect.
"Uh, Xingchen, alright, Xingchen," I awkwardly called Father God’s name, guessing that only a handful of intelligent beings across the Void dare to call him that. I looked at his thoroughly Earth-like attire, and my mind couldn’t quite process it, "How did you get here?"
Father God grinned, "Got off at the old bus station, took the suburban line to the bus stop, then transferred to the twenty-sixth bus and switched to the subway to the shopping center, crossed the pedestrian skybridge, took a taxi from the old park entrance, and walked the last stretch here. I found that when I told the taxi driver the address of your house, he could only comprehend up to the street corner—that’s probably Sandora’s doing, right?"
Listening to this, I suddenly suspected Father God might have been living around here since the late 1990s—was he joking?
It turns out, after confirming, Father God wasn’t joking at all—he did come just like that. Of course, his original starting point wasn’t the old bus station; before coming to my house, he initially got the coordinates wrong and took a tour around M City over 230 kilometers away, finally securing a bus ticket to K City with the help of a local ticket seller. He enthusiastically viewed all the utility poles and ornamental trees along the way and bought a locally famous snack when he got off the car: chive pockets. The "All-Knowing and All-Powerful" Father God easily found the smoothest route, arriving like a local ten-year-old city dweller, even giving his seat to an old man on the 26th bus route—though, in theory, that old man’s age isn’t respectively longer than Father God’s nap time. His outfit was directly copied from a certain college student somewhere on Earth who should be proud for life, no wonder he exuded a rookie vibe from head to toe... Okay, gods above, I shouldn’t judge the most formidable being in the Void like this, even though he’s wearing a ninety-five yuan branded casual outfit and has chives stuck on his mouth...
Lastly, Father God enthusiastically showed me something: the ticket he used to get here.
"A ticket seller sold it to me, an interesting guy, I didn’t expose him." Father God had a gentle smile.
Sweat started to tumble down my forehead because the lower-left corner of this long-distance bus ticket had a spectral mark that wasn’t visible to the naked eye, abbreviated as two letters: XL.
If I had glasses, this is when I would take them off; if I had a pencil, I would drop it on the military map, but I didn’t have either, so I silently connected to the spirit link and directly called the Shadow City Management Team: "Ling Meng."
"Wow!" The girl on the other end seemed to be sleeping, evident from the chaotic exclamation of suddenly being awakened mid-dream. I could imagine the scene of that person with a messy hair jumping out of bed, "Boss?"
"Is Sicaro recently roaming around M City?"
"...Seems like it, haven’t seen him locally lately."
"...Go catch him and execute him for five minutes, he’s undead anyway..."
"Huh?" Ling Meng exclaimed in shock.
"He scalped a ticket and sold it to Father God!"
Then there was a ruckus on the other end of the spiritual link, as Ling Meng quickly gathered several companions to cross cities to investigate the matter.
My face was full of an awkward smile because no matter how good Sicaro’s disguise was, it couldn’t possibly fool Father God’s eyes—that black suit can’t even fool the likes of Ibuki Suika, who’s a bit of an idiot. But Father God seemed entirely unbothered, not caring at all about spending an extra twenty to buy an overpriced ticket.
"Queue only had tickets for tomorrow, and I was stuck on the highway for two hours," Father God wore a serene smile, "Mortals here are quite interesting. They seem to love crowding themselves into one place and then complain about the world."
"It’s all because of long holidays, all because of long holidays." I wiped the sweat and offered Father God a seat, calling Anwina to prepare some tea, but despite calling twice, the little ghost didn’t appear. Finally, I saw a small white light ball curled up in the corner, shivering and telling me tearfully, "Master...Master, it’s so scary, it feels like getting close would get me purified..."
Alright, it seems we can’t rely on the ghost for help. Although Father God wouldn’t really harm such a "little creature," Anwina seems to be quite wary of such high-ranking beings. Luckily, Sayaka has snapped out of her shock and finally remembered to pour a glass of water. After eight hours of travel from the Divine Realm, Father God finally had his first sip of cold boiled water in my house.
... Compared to the treatment I received when I visited the Divine Realm, I now desperately wish for a crack in the ground to hide in for the next 2,300 years.
"Chen, did you know, I’ve never seen Father God going out on such visits before," Bingdis whispered, noticing Father God was scrutinizing the patterns on the coffee table, "Do you know how many miracles he’s caused on his way here?"
I was puzzled. Although Father God’s visit was quite shocking, how could this be related to miracles?
Once Bingdis explained, I was utterly astounded:
"Never mind other things, the entire route Father God took from M City already symbolically embodies the essence of the ’Path of God.’ If some lucky person retraced his exact steps along that route, at the moment of reaching this street corner they would ascend spiritually, and at the very least live until humans break free from the Milky Way. Father God gave up his seat to an old man on the bus; that old man now enjoys Divine Grace and, without illness or trouble, should be able to cross the Western Pacific thirty years from today—assuming he’s a good person, otherwise there will be divine retribution after twenty minutes. Father God bought a leek pie, which is now considered Holy Feast food, akin to the white ox collected by Zeus during sacrifices in mythology. Offering a leek pie to a deity can now be comparable to over two hundred gilt-edged Bibles and more than three thousand pounds of incense. Additionally—if Sicaro were a mortal, he might have already gained half a divine position in this universe, and ten to one, his title would be the God of Ticket Scalpers. Fortunately, he’s a Xyrin Apostle, whose mystery is not much less than that of a demigod, otherwise I might as well hang myself on a southeastern branch right now."
I was completely dumbfounded, suddenly understanding why Father God almost never leaves the Divine Realm. As a source of unparalleled Void Power, his mere presence is already enough to correct all things on a grand scale. Even when suppressing his power, his actions generate small information vortices. In fact, I shouldn’t be surprised by this because I seem to have this trait myself: Void Creatures constantly conduct information interference with their environment, causing the probability of events around them to sway in bizarre frequencies. Qianqian and my sister gaining their powers, the Old Empire activating in a forgotten corner—these are all attributable to my Void Creature constitution. At least, Taville’s mathematical model concludes so.
Alright, I’ve never seriously considered the significance of my constitution before. Now, Father God has given me a vivid example: by just standing there, you become the axis of the world’s rotation.
Bingdis seemed to read my mind and whispered, "You’ve only just awakened and are already an information nexus point. Maybe when you get stronger, you should learn from Father God how to control your power. You Void Creatures are quite unreasonable."
"I’m more concerned about the havoc Father God’s journey caused. At least ten thousand people travel from the neighboring city every day, at least half taking the long-distance line. If they all live to the next millennium, it’d be enough for every anthropologist in the world to commit suicide over sixty thousand times. And what will CCTV10 say about a hundred-year-old crossing the Western Pacific?"
Bingdis was dumbfounded; it was clear she hadn’t thought of that.
Father God looked at us with a smile, and I suddenly realized: speaking quietly with Bingdis was pointless, sitting next to us was the most powerful upright creature in all of Void!
"No need to worry, this child is exaggerating," Father God glanced at Bingdis, "There will be effects, but I’ve already nullified them. Even without intervention, there won’t be consequences—Bingdis, could you explain?"
Sister Bing stuck out her tongue, giving me an awkward smile: "The ’Path of God’ is a very rigorous spiritual terminology. For mortals to walk it, they need to replicate the route details accurately, including finding the same ticket scalper on the train station square at seven thirty a.m. today and buying an inflated long-distance ticket, and experiencing a two-hour traffic jam. A hundred-year-old crossing the ocean is indeed extraordinary, but simply being a hundred years old isn’t unusual. I mean, what sensible old man would swim the Western Pacific on their hundredth birthday? As for the leek pie—do you think anyone on Earth would dare offer a leek pie during a deity offering?"
I was dumbfounded again, then suddenly snapped back to reality, looking at Father God, "...Have we gotten off-topic? I want to ask why you came?"
"I discovered a penetrating rift in the Void. A large amount of information converged momentarily in the realm of the Fallen Apostle, and something ended up here with you, which sparked my curiosity. Intuition told me I should come check it out. Of course, another reason is that I’m indeed interested in your world. Bingdis and Dingdang really love this Mortal World, to the dismay of their respective guardians."
Oh, so Father God discovered traces of Xiao Xue’s arrival—no surprise. That girl altered an enormous amount of information, with the Fallen Apostle’s help, to project herself on the other side of the Void Cataclysm, such a big ruckus even the new Empire knows of it, no reason Father God wouldn’t. I’m more curious why it took him until now to come.
Of course, I didn’t expect Xiao Xue’s disturbance to be so vast—the penetrating rift in the Void, the Fallen Apostle struggling tragically to create a deceiving Void Creature.
"Xiao Xue! Xiao Xue!" I craned my neck and called upstairs. Xiao Xue wasn’t in the living room; she might be in her room organizing her things: she brought countless miscellaneous daily items, including her toothbrush cup and lucky pillow, spent all last night fussing and still didn’t get it right, now having found time to return. Lin Xue wasn’t around; I suspected Xiao Xue dragged her along to tidy up their room. That’s a mom’s responsibility.
Though Xiao Xue is already seventeen and a half.
"What is it, Dad? I’m looking for my lucky nail clipper. It’s the birthday gift you gave me when I was six—" Xiao Xue’s bright, cheerful voice came from the staircase. She popped her head out and instantly saw the living room scene, exclaiming, "Ah! Uncle! What are you doing here?"
I noticed Father God’s eyebrow subtly raised upon seeing Xiao Xue. Clearly, it was more than surprise, as he smiled and stood up, "Let me guess, you’re just a shadow, and your real self isn’t at this current time point... A very peculiar way of information entanglement. Is this child the reason for the penetrating rift?"
"Xiao Xue, my daughter, a little troublemaker." I embarrassedly scratched my head and gestured at the peculiar girl, Chen Xiaoxue, who slid down the armrest and spun three and a half times in the air before landing on Yakumo Lan’s tail...
Poor Miss Fox yelped and darted under the coffee table, refusing to come out.
"Uncle, you’ve got sharp eyes—have you eaten?"
"It’s the first time I’ve seen someone greet Father God like that." Bingdis muttered quietly.
Father God nodded: "I have eaten, this world’s food is interesting. Could you tell me your origins?"
After leaving the Divine Realm, Father God seemed more relaxed. He smiled as if he naturally conversed with Xiao Xue all his life, unaffected by time. Yet, Xiao Xue looked as at ease talking to Father God as if she had been doing it all her life. She glanced around, noticed no extra chairs (probably taken by those Rose Maidens to build a castle, behaving exceptionally childishly these days), and casually sat on my lap: "That would be a long story, Uncle. Maybe I’ll tell you next time?"
"No worries, I have all the time in the world," Father God said, smiling cheerfully.
"""