Chapter 989: Chapter 989: Invasion
The Father God is discussing matters with the Goddess Queen from Huron. I’m delighted to see that the magical woman named Hila seems much more normal after her “recovery.” Though she occasionally still says something astonishing, she does give off a bit of a reliable vibe when discussing serious matters. These two colossal figures have taken up a corner of the living room, debating the catastrophe of the Void. Joining them are Xiao Xue and Sandora — one has the most knowledge about the Void catastrophe, and the other is an experienced ruler of the Empire. Their conversation is very professional, so even someone like Qianqian, who would join in at the drop of a hat, chooses to keep a distance from this expert quartet.
As for myself, it’s a given. Their discussion sounds like gibberish to me, and the area around their small coffee table already feels like another dimension. I stay far away, fearful that Sandora might call me over. It’s akin to how, as a child, I’d avoid the class teacher — these serious individuals who know so much are terrifying, even though one of them is my daughter and another is my wife…
Thinking about what the Father God just mentioned, I’m somewhat curious, so I rummage through my shirt pocket and place a little green creature on the small table in front of me. Dingdang has been busy tinkering with her small inventions these past few days, not sleeping well at night and dozing off during the day. As I take her out of the pocket, she’s still groggy, but she sleepily sits up and gives me a radiantly silly smile with a radius of 0.65 centimeters: “Ah Jun, morning—”
She doesn’t resemble the illegitimate daughter of the Supreme Main God at all.
Dingdang stretches lazily and starts straightening her wings, like a hummingbird startled awake by morning dew. I can’t help but lightly tap the top of her head, and she instinctively leans in, rubbing her face onto my fingertip. She’s quite easy to please. Then, out of habit, I glance at the two cute little leafy things on her head, which we once thought were hairpins, and pinch one gently, giving it a little pull…
“Wah!” Dingdang yelps immediately, followed by a sharp, needle-like pain in my finger: the little creature indeed bit down.
“Ah Jun, what are you doing! That hurt!” Dingdang pouts with annoyance, and I rub the finger now marked with a bite: “Hey, are those really growing on your head?”
“Of course!” Dingdang covers the two soft little leaves on her head, which look like peculiar ears, “Life Goddesses have leaves growing on their heads. You didn’t know that? Oval leaves are the prettiest!”
The next words slip from me without thinking: “Are they for photosynthesis?”
Dingdang: “…I’ll bite you!”
“Okay, okay, I was just curious,” I surrender, holding the little creature close to study, and you know what, those two distinctive little leaves are truly in harmony with her head. Not just in color matching, their existence feels harmonious, as if her head would lack something without them. “So, what are these leaves actually for?”
“Extremely useful!” Dingdang proudly places her hands on her hips, “They change every fifty thousand years. The fallen leaves can be used as bookmarks! Plus, they can be planted to grow Little Dingdang and Little Little Dingdang! But Dingdang needs to grow a bit more to do that; the first leaf change isn’t necessarily in fifty thousand years, sometimes sooner or later. Anyway, Dingdang hasn’t changed leaves yet…”
Qianqian suddenly appears out of nowhere, looking seriously at the little creature: “Remember, when changing leaves for the first time, you must throw the first fallen leaf onto the roof, or you’ll never grow tall.”
Dingdang freezes, then says in realization: “Ah! That’s why they’re all saying Life Goddesses are Little Ones, but Sister Goddess told Dingdang to plant the first fallen leaves in the ground. She said even if they don’t grow Little Little Dingdang, they can still purify the air.”
So, both the Supreme Life Goddess and Qianqian enjoy bullying this one idiot, do they?
“Dingdang, do you know you have enormous potential?” I try not to focus on these mystical leaves, redirecting my attention to Dingdang’s origin, “You’re born from the leaves of the Supreme Life Goddess — you have royal bloodline!”
“I know,” Dingdang replies nonchalantly. “But Sister Goddess has grown a bunch of Little Dingdang, so what’s special about that? Plus, I’m the dumbest one; I haven’t graduated yet…”
By the end, the little creature suddenly becomes downcast, squatting in my hand and drawing circles. After a moment, she perks up again: “But very few Life Goddesses graduate from all subjects, so never mind.”
Qianqian and I: “…”
In the Divine Realm, all Life Goddesses suffer from an intelligence deficit. They are typically treated as mascots in nine out of ten areas, except for Life Divine Power. This doesn’t mean they’re only good for being cute; Life Goddesses are subject experts. They might flunk ninety percent of the courses but ace the last one to graduate. To my surprise, Dingdang has retaken her studies of Creation Science an unknown number of times. She’s barely managed in World Management, but she graduated with full marks in Cycle Theory and Faith Transmission Application Technology. Of course, these two passed subjects are drowned in endless make-up exams, so they’re usually overlooked.
The Life Goddesses remain an irreplaceable species of cuteness.
At this point, I start to feel curious. The reproductive methods of Life Goddesses are so diverse — grown in the ground, falling from the sky, even sprouting from Goddess Springs without soil. They themselves don’t die; each is a part of the total life system of the Star Domain Divine Realm. Unless the entire realm is erased, you can’t kill any of these Three-inch Ding; at most, destroying their current form makes them respawn at home fully revived. This raises a question: why hasn’t the Star Domain Divine Realm been overrun by these endless numbers who only breed and never die?
Replacing leaves once every fifty thousand years means that even ignoring other bizarre reproduction methods, just the Little Dingdang grown from planting in the ground could double every fifty thousand years. How long has the Divine Realm been in existence? A brief deduction chills me. Following that model, if we converted these Three-inch Ding into grains of sand, it’d be enough for my whole family to sift for a year…
Upon hearing my startling deduction, Dingdang scoffs and flips mid-air: “How could the growth be like that? Life Goddesses manage the laws of all beings and wouldn’t make such an error! Not every fallen leaf is used to grow new sisters. Sister Supreme Goddess has only grown five or six in total, and new sisters don’t necessarily lead to population increases — some are rebirths. Sometimes, a Life Goddess may choose to be reborn without dying, growing anew. Over half of the new sisters are essentially just regrowing with memories intact.”
“What’s the point of that?” I’m puzzled as to why a Life Goddess would opt for rebirth. Keep attribute points and level up again? Unlock member gear after a third rebirth? It’s like they’re playing online games!
After thinking seriously, Dingdang replies loudly: “Sometimes, we think rebirth will be powerful!”
Me: “…” To Life Goddesses, ‘thinking it’ll be powerful’ seems to be an all-purpose justification. Eighty to ninety percent of Dingdang’s actions are driven by this reason.
“Looks like you’re having a great time chatting.”
Hila’s voice suddenly comes to my ear, and I look up to see a dark purple ponytail flicker by: Hila leans over the table, teasing Dingdang, “How adorable. There’s no child this cute in my place. Xingchen shows remarkable creativity in this area. Could you come over to talk about official matters?”
The Huron God King, Lady Hila (I think it’s fitting to call her this now), speaks with a gentle smile. I gaze at her in surprise, feeling like she’s a different person from before, now exuding a calm and serene smile. There’s a sense of casual yet oddly reliable aura. She tilts her head, gesturing towards the Father God, much like an upperclassman inviting you during a chance encounter on campus. Interestingly, I realize she and I share a similar ambiance.
Indifferent, lazy, lacking a sense of presence—these are the racial characteristics of Void Creatures.
“Are you recovered?” I stood up and walked towards Father God, casually asking.
“…I’m sure Xingchen taught you that word, right?” Hila smirked, “You need to understand, crossing the Void so deep to get here is really boring, then seeing that old stubborn one made me excited. I believe if you go to the Huron Divine Realm alone, it’ll be the same.”
The usually amiable Xingchen was unceremoniously called an old stubborn by Hila, which left me feeling amused and helpless, thinking this was a rather fitting nickname between lively adversaries.
“We are analyzing the situation of the Void Cataclysm, along with the movements of the Abyss and the Fallen Apostles,” Sandora grabbed me to sit next to her, away from Hila sitting alongside Father God (it seems Queen finds this odd Huron King—even though he’s recovered—to still be a dangerous entity; that scene where she dragged someone to conceive was too striking), Xiao Xue sat on my other side, warmly holding my arm, wearing a silly expression, “Father God suspects the Void Cataclysm might be related to the Abyss.”
Father God nodded: “Firstly, the premise is that the Fallen Apostles are aware of the information regarding the Void Cataclysm, and they are taking actions to deal with it, then there’s their grand plan. Sandora and I both think that—even for the Fallen Apostles—they wouldn’t prioritize a plan solely for survival to this extent, so their grand plan is related to the Void Cataclysm, but not merely to combat this disaster. They probably want to use the disaster’s power to fulfill an old desire from before the fall of the Empire: to control the Void Power. According to absolutely definitive information, the Fallen Apostles are attempting to rebuild the Abyss Deep-Diving Ship. Their sole purpose for creating such a thing is to delve deeper into the Abyss and continue the research projects from then. Now we know that the Deep-Diving Ship attempted to contact something on the ‘other side’ of the Abyss; in fact, this contact was successful. It’s just that they don’t know, and now only you have picked up that echo, which is our advantage. Linking all these events together forms a faint line: the truth deep within the Abyss is closely related to the Void Cataclysm, and the Fallen Apostles know some information, attempting to control it.”
“The most brainless guess is this: all major eruptions of the Abyss caused the Void Cataclysm, those worlds were extinguished by the Abyss,” Hila lazily leaned on the chair, “Of course, this is impossible, this can’t explain why worlds ‘registered’ by Void Creatures were spared from extinction. The Abyss wouldn’t be so selective, plus, whether they are strong enough to instantly annihilate those worlds is still in question, as some worlds are quite powerful.”
“Hila has also discovered those ‘registration information’ in her own world.” Father God reminded.
“Ah, right, that thing; previously, I couldn’t grasp why this stuff would exist in the underlying data of the world,” having entered a disinterested state, King Huron straightforwardly lay down on the table, “Before knowing about the Void Cataclysm, my children had already noticed this kind of thing, but you know, any world discovered by us is sure to have such registration information, without a counterexample, nobody can explain their origins. Now it can be confirmed; they are formed by information interference from the Void Creatures. But after I set off, Xingchen sent the news over; I couldn’t personally supervise these things, so I left it to the children to continue observing. Hmm, Chen—I’ll call you that too—do you have any plans for the Void Cataclysm?”
Although theoretically, the Void Cataclysm is meaningless for Void Creatures and the worlds we lead: the affected worlds will certainly have nothing to do with Void Creatures, but perhaps due to character, I feel like I should do something: “No good plans, after all, according to the information brought by Xiao Qian, we can’t stop that event; the only thing we can do is send out as many people as possible to explore new worlds, the more worlds we discover, the more we can save.”
“Even though it has no effect on you personally,” Hila suddenly laughed, “Another guess confirmed: Void Creatures have a tendency to love anything birthed from the Void. I used to think this was because Xingchen and I just happened to be good-natured people.”
I blinked, then saw Father God nod: “Exactly, on this point, the three of us can’t disagree. Strange, but any secondary derivative in the Void will generate a sense of affection towards Void Creatures, and vice versa, perhaps because broadly speaking, they can be considered secondary products of Void Creatures. This tendency is also reflected in the groups we lead: your Xyrin Apostles are changing, starting to protect other worlds from merely fighting for their Race’s victory, even though it’s under your command, and the Divine Race created by Hila and me initially took up the role of protectors—it seems this is also a racial trait of Void Creatures.”
Hila suddenly clapped her hands, beaming: “I’ve said before, population makes things easier, you blockhead who seldom understands things, now look, with three samples, we can analyze so much! Adding Xiao Xue to the mix makes it even better; try saying again that population isn’t an issue—oh, Xingchen, let’s have a child?”
Father God shuddered, looking at me in agony, the look in his eyes saying only one thing: How awful, it’s recurred again!
Though this time, Hila’s recurrence wasn’t serious; after muttering a few words, she started feeling sleepy and lay down to sleep.
“Someone so tempestuous ran from the Huron Territory to the Star Domain Territory, then skipped to the Imperial District, and she couldn’t even use the special gates between the Star Domain and Imperial District,” Father God chuckled, watching the Huron King suddenly fall asleep, “Depending on her being a Void Creature, just like this, I’ve said before, this crazy girl.”
I quietly pulled Xiao Xue aside: “Kid, tell me honestly, did these two finally get together later on?”
Xiao Xue gave a mischievous smile: “Not a chance, immortals like to mess around, they’re still long-distance running.”
Then the two of us gathered together, laughing cheekily, drawing Father God’s frequent glances in our direction: he probably heard what Xiao Xue just said but was too embarrassed to voice an opinion—Void Creatures tend to be discreet.
“But don’t be happy too soon, Dad,” Xiao Xue suddenly scrunched her nose, speaking softly, “Seems like your troubles aren’t any less than Second Uncle’s, Second Uncle only has one wife…”
I found myself speechless.
Just then, Lin Xue burst down from the second floor: “Wood! Major alert! Enemy attack!”
Miss looked anxious, with a comb hanging in her hair, her commotion alarmed everyone in the living room, including the Huron King who was nearly asleep under the table and Qianqian who was fighting for the TV with Mercury Lamp, the two Shorties under one meter reacted immediately upon hearing “enemy attack,” looking at Lin Xue with faces full of anticipation.
“Calm down, what’s going on,” I reached out and took the comb off Miss’s hair, “What’s happening? Fallen Apostles? Are they attacking the Imperial Mainland?”
“Phew—just that,” Miss exhaled, “Gave me a scare, I was just combing my hair, and the mirror suddenly flashed a scene of fleets clashing, my heart rate went off. Quickly prepare for defense; they haven’t had time to act yet. Very lucky, though I can’t see how many troops they have, only confirm…”
“Only confirm it’s going to be a tough battle,” Xiao Xue suddenly finished the sentence, “I saw it too, Dad don’t be surprised, I inherited the Prediction Ability from Mom, although I’m still not familiar with it.”
“Seems like they’re coming at a bad time.”
I was about to contact the Command Center when Father God’s voice came from behind me. Turning, I saw him and Hila standing together.
…Father God and the Divine King are in the Imperial District, the Fallen Apostles choose to attack the Imperial Mainland now… I suddenly had no idea what to think. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’ll be welcome at Qidian () to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)