Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1369: A Slightly Awkward Correspondence
Once I got home, I started writing a letter to Father God—of course, I know there’s a more convenient way to communicate between the Divine Realm and Shadow City. By using Dingdang’s temple (which is the Divine Realm’s embassy at the Empire) as a relay, dialing the internal line 100100, then transferring to the manual station to connect with Channel A, and pressing key number 2 could directly reach Father God, if he’s at home. However, in non-emergency situations, we actually prefer to write each other notes. This started as Father God’s habit; he often sent me a note or two through Bingdisi, torn from the exercise book of either Cynthia or Jia Di, to send greetings, and then I got infected by him...
Anyway, I’m only leaving in a few days, so I decided to write a letter.
Little Baobao was doing her homework on the coffee table nearby. Now that she’s supposedly a student at the Imperial Military Academy, she wanders mysteriously across various grades and classes, but still learns something, like doing homework after school, and carving over twenty thousand "early" characters on the outer wall of the preschool building—alright, the little girl clearly misunderstood something during class, but at least she remembered to "do homework." Watching my precious daughter concentrate on her work on the coffee table is definitely the most fulfilling moment for a father. Little Baobao held the pen with a not-so-standard grip, muttering while writing and drawing. I couldn’t resist leaning over to see what she was doing, and my eyes were almost moved to tears at the sight: the first half of the notebook was filled with little turtles, while the second half was filled with designs for a fortress firepower platform.
This is so much like my elementary school homework notebook, except back then, I drew little turtles on the first half and big turtles on the second half... From this point of view, Little Baobao is more diligent and studious than her dad. The Imperial Family’s children’s exercise books are truly remarkable.
Who in the world taught Little Baobao to draw turtles!
"Guya?" Little Baobao noticed the light above being blocked, looked up to see me watching her, and immediately became happy, cheerfully holding up her notebook to me, "Daddy! Look!"
"Oh, oh," I patted the little girl’s head, "How about I tear off a page and send it to your Uncle Xingchen?"
The little girl nodded happily, so I carefully tore off a page with a little turtle on it from the front of the notebook (making sure not to tear off her actual homework—though I really doubt if any teacher could check the drawings she made), and then I started writing on the other side, crumpling the draft written on ordinary paper into a ball and tossing it aside: it seems more rewarding to write letters using my daughter’s homework paper to connect with the big brother.
"My friend Xingchen: Long time no see, missing you greatly, hoping all is well. Although the void separates us... I can’t keep faking it, so here’s the main text: In a few days, I’ll visit you, as Bingdisi had an accident using divine techniques, and now we are in an awkward state. I don’t understand much about divine techniques, so I’d like your help to take a look. Also, I hope the Divine Race could help investigate some matters about the Xyrin Ancestors and our homeland world, and as it seems your giant archive needs advance preparation for access, hence writing ahead...
"Additionally, here is a drawing by my daughter, Little Baobao. Although she is subtly cognitively challenged in all areas to the point of being a girl who’s learned to draw little turtles in her homework notebook, she definitely shows my flair from my days. Thus, included to share joy with friends.
"P.S.: The drawing is on the reverse side, those things with legs and heads are her masterpieces."
Finally, after adding the date, I looked at my bold handwriting with satisfaction—except the name, the rest looked like it was encoded. As I chuckled silently, I realized perhaps it’s time to practice my handwriting...
"Bingdisi! Help send a message to the Divine Realm—" Out of habit, I shouted towards the second floor, then remembered that the female hooligan is currently stuck with me. Bing Sis’s frustrated voice echoed in my mind: "Stop yelling, I’m right here, okay?!"
It’s a habit now because Bingdisi has always been responsible for running back and forth between the Divine Realm and the Imperial Capital, delivering messages or bringing some special local products or even a personal gift for the leaders of both sides—for example, the leek dumplings for Father God that she always sneaks a bite of on the way. Since when did that female hooligan become the messenger between the Divine Race and the Empire, it just hit me now that I’ve often let Bingdisi run around for various matters, not only communicating with the Divine Realm but even having her race all over the void during rare personnel shortages to save the day, and it’s not just once or twice that she’d offer advice when I had trouble understanding something, with brutal solutions, but always effective. Everyone at home has gotten used to consulting Bingdisi for life’s problems, even though her methods are often quite rough, her crude words always had deep logic.
Although Bingdisi has always given an impression of loafing around, now she’s truly become a thoroughly trapped "idler." Only now did I slowly remember the things she daily did, but this wide-open character never flaunted her actions, everyone just took her comings and goings for granted, at least I did.
Now, I even have to temporarily find someone else to deliver a letter to the Divine Realm.
"What are you thinking?" Bingdisi couldn’t contain her frustration seeing me lost in thoughts for a while, "Ask Lin to deliver the letter! That girl is the fastest of the Dingdang Team, you should let her do it—can’t you think of someone else when I can’t move?"
"Oh, oh, you know I’m slow in the head," I hurriedly nodded in agreement, and yelled loudly, "Lin!"
From the yard came the Dragon God Girl’s unclear response, followed by a loud bang from the front door, and Lin appeared in front of me like a blazing golden whirlwind. Even in this cold weather she was still sporting her cool outfit: a cropped vest, a leather mini skirt, and even lace-up sandals on her feet. I guess it’s time to remind this silly dragon to heed the weather changes. Whether she’s cold isn’t my main concern, just imagine us going out and someone calling the police claiming I’m bullying an intellectually disabled minor girl? Lin’s mind occasionally forgets to conceal her identity...
The Dragon God Girl held a big pair of gardening shears in her right hand, apparently helping Anwina with bush trimming earlier, and held our front door in her left hand, which, looking at it... means our door has to be replaced again.
"Take this to the Divine Realm," I handed the "letter" to her, but seeing the Dragon God Girl holding our door, I thought it felt inappropriate, so after rummaging through my personal space, I placed the letter and a few snacks meant for Xingchen into a small Star Gold Stone box, put the box into a safe box, and then into a military safe, additionally encased the military safe with a layer of recharge armor; I solemnly pushed this now person-height doomsday-resistant box to the powerful young girl, "Well, Little Dragon Sister, make sure to handle it with care, this is for Father God..."
Lin, already skittish, was downright frightened by the heap of safeguarding and the words "Father God’s Personal," tossing aside the gardening shears and our front door, and almost trembling as she stowed the box I pushed over into her own personal space. When she looked up again, her face bore a look of stoic determination; this girl was assuming the mindset of daring to storm the Abyss Gate to deliver the letter: seeing that gaze, it reminded me of the time when I volunteered to take the blame at the school office after Qianqian broke the principal’s window.
"Err, don’t be nervous, I’m just worried about your grip strength crumpling the letter and snacks," feeling the need to ease this unusually timid Dragon God Girl, I simultaneously retrieved a small bag of Anwina’s baked muffins from my personal space, feeding them over, "This is for you to snack on the road, hurry there and back."
The Dragon God Girl happily nodded, turned around, and opened the Teleportation Gate to the World Tree’s Great Temple promptly left: this made it so easy to appease her with a bag of snacks, being bullied all this time was hardly a loss.
Having observed the whole process, Bingdisi couldn’t hold back any longer and began shouting, "Wow! Could it be any more unfair! Normally I run countless errands for you, and you never gave me any snacks for the road. But this muddle-headed young dragon gets muffins! So you just spoil any cute girl you find, is that right?"
I let out a dry laugh through the spiritual connection, "You say you didn’t eat enough on your errands before? For Father God’s soy sauce delivery, you even drank half a bottle to taste it—as expected, you and Sandora have been inseparable playmates for tens of millions of years."
Then Bingdisi fell into silence.
"Will you need to bring some people for this Divine Realm trip?" Big Sister saw I was done here, casually passing a peeled tangerine over while softly asking, "About how long will you be staying?"
"Just me... bringing Bingdisi along will suffice, just a casual visit," I handed Little Baobao a slice of the tangerine, watching the little girl suck on the juice like a little squirrel holding a pine nut, casually replying, "I’ll be there for about three to five days, see what they can find from those Ancient Giant Libraries, the Xyrin people’s era... that counts as ancient even to the Divine Race. The hunt for information might take a while, and by the way, solving Bingdisi’s issue as well..."
Going to the Divine Realm involves just these two tasks, thinking about it, my impending journey might be rather relaxing.
"Oh, and a reminder, bring along my physical body when you go," Bingdisi suddenly spoke within my mind, "The divine technique’s failure may not be limited to a soul issue, best to bring the body."
I looked up at the long coffee table opposite; Bingdisi’s body sat there gracefully, expressionless, eyes slightly closed, hands folded on her lap, her silver hair cascading down to her ankles like a silver waterfall. Winter sunlight fell on her, and whether it was the Holy Light inside her Goddess body resonating with it or not, she was surrounded by a faint, elusive halo. This was the serene version of Bingdisi, as pretty as a porcelain doll, yet devoid of vitality.
This body could still sense the gazes around it and respond to them slightly, so she slightly raised her head in blank confusion, following my gaze.
"Well, am I not beautiful?" Bingdisi’s soul boasted shamelessly in my mind, "Oh my, from this angle, I never realized how pretty I am, I always thought I had no femininity at all—honestly, are you mesmerized, mesmerized..."
Without saying a word, I pulled out a large canvas tarp and covered Bingdisi (her body) from head to toe.
"Hey, what are you doing!"
"Too dazzling, cover it to block the light."
Lin’s efficiency was indeed quick; she returned from the Divine Realm that afternoon with quite a few gifts: all sent by Father God, including snacks unique to the Divine Realm and other bizarre little trinkets. It was evident they were intended for the group of naughty kids on my side. She also brought back a letter written by Father God. As I stuffed a special honey candy, produced by the Life Goddess Temple, into my mouth, I spread out the letter decorated with little stars and grids: this was surely torn from his daughter’s workbook—Father God and I were entirely synchronized on this.
"My friend Chen Jun, the painting sent has been received, very creative, but the explanation behind it was not understood..."
I: "..."
Bingdisi burst into laughter in my mind: "Ha ha ha! Just look at your dog-eared scrawl! Father God already has weak eyesight..."
I lowered my head, burying it deeply in my lap; what’s wrong with the ugly handwriting, so what if only my name and the words ’read’ are neatly written—do you recognize Picasso, do you know Van Gogh, do you know Malevich—ok, maybe the stuff I wrote is even harder to understand than their paintings, but I think the more important reason is Father God’s poor eyesight...
"Um..." Lin glanced at me cautiously, afraid she might do something wrong and get bullied. I weakly waved at her, asking Big Sister to help write a new note and letting the Dragon God Girl take another trip: it’s truly tough for this honest girl.
After Lin left, I went upstairs to find Sandora, who was in her room reviewing documents. It was time to discuss the ancestor matters properly with her.
Sandora had transformed her room to resemble a starship command center, with all four walls covered with various terminals and projection equipment. When I entered, she was surrounded by a dizzying array of holographic images. They were plans or new research materials requiring the Emperor’s approval, submitted from below. I also saw the design for the next generation Abyss Deep Diving Ship and a bizarre twin-hulled warship: this must be Taville’s submission.
Sandora looked up to see it was me, and immediately broke into a happy smile: "Ah Jun, you’re here, come check this out—Taville has combined the small dismantling generator and weapon platform. This is the concept sketch for the new spaceship..."
She said excitedly pointing at the bizarre twin-hulled spaceship. So this was what Taville mentioned earlier, the specially designed new warship for the small dismantling generator (Genesis). Seeing the spaceship’s conceptual drawing, I was suddenly moved: Taville finally took my advice and didn’t design a spaceship that looked like a coffin, it looks like two coffins...
"Uh..." I struggled to shift my attention from those two coffins arranged side by side, thinking that Taville would probably never change her aesthetic in this lifetime, best not to waste efforts here, "We’ll talk about the spaceship later, today I mainly want to discuss the ancestors’ issues with you, I met Anses this morning, along with other ancestors who’ve just completed resurrection..."
I spilled everything I saw in the morning and everything I had previously thought about for a whole thirty minutes. I knew Sandora’s previous attitude and decisions towards the ancestors were well-intentioned, and from the Xyrin Apostle’s perspective, there was "nothing wrong" with them, but as they say, those in charge often make errors, even a wise and meticulous Empress has times of oversight, so I had to remind her completely, letting her recognize that ancestors, besides being creators, are also a group of fragile mortals at heart.
Sandora listened quietly without interrupting, occasionally nodding slightly with a thoughtful expression. Once I finished speaking, she stood up to pour me water and finally said, "So... is that it."
"I actually hoped you’d think of this yourself," I accepted the cup and downed half in one gulp, "Bingdisi was right back then, resurrecting ancestors is actually a very reckless act. For a race that has gone extinct, resurrecting only a few individuals can easily become a form of torture for them. Although the Angels are the heirs of Xyrin Civilization, just look, apart from the hierarchical submission, do Envoys and Xyrin people have any ’kindred’ aspect now."
Sandora turned off a bunch of projections in the room, instantly clearing the surroundings, sat back at her desk, and gently sighed, "Ah Jun, I knew it all along, I imagined it, too: if I were frozen for a trillion years and then awakened in a completely unfamiliar environment by a group of unknown beings, just to end my life like that... however, I didn’t think as much as you did, and couldn’t empathize with that kind of fate... sorry, I overlooked some things."
I was quite surprised because initially, I thought it would take quite some effort to change her mind: the Queen’s decisions are always as steadfast as steel, yet unexpectedly, she nodded so easily. What about the two hours of speech I prepared...
"Uh," I scratched my head, "I’ve already asked the ancestors to compile their voyage logs from back then, and I’m thinking of relaxing their travel restrictions. Considering they’d have Royal Guards accompanying them, if they wish to wander around Shadow City, it shouldn’t be a problem. What do you think?"
"I’ll follow your lead," Sandora exhaled deeply, waved her hand firmly, "I won’t bother too much in this area anymore. You’re right, I measure ancestors by the standards of Angel Envoys, or even higher standards, which is rather tormenting for them."
"...You’re not feeling defeated and giving up, are you." I couldn’t help but move forward to pinch Sandora’s cheek.
"No way," Sandora forcefully pried my claw off, "but you’re definitely right, that’s why I have to listen. Isn’t that the meaning of companions? To support and correct each other, you’re my other half, while I’m your... uh..."
At this point, Sandora paused: "Well, I’m one-third of your other half..."
I: "...This isn’t the time for precise calculation!"
"Dammit, being stuck here is so pressuring," Bingdisi’s voice suddenly cut in, "You both should be aware that there’s also a passive third wheel here."
I nearly forgot this female hooligan was still here! (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
