Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1383: Bingdisi’s Mishap

Four days have passed since Sandora and I personally inspected the new model warship. Named the Executioner-class, this new type of spaceship has officially entered mass production after a few minor details were corrected. Blueprints wrapped in advanced confidentiality agreements were personally issued by Bubbles to the node hosts with sufficient authority. These node hosts are stationed long-term at starports that meet production conditions, to monitor the entire manufacturing process of these spaceships: apart from that, they will not undertake any additional tasks until the first batch of warships is completed. Planned directly by the Empire’s highest host and with each spaceship built by a dedicated host focused solely on its construction, this treatment is usually reserved for only the most important and secretive military equipment. It’s clear how much emphasis the Empire’s high-level places on these new weapons of mass destruction. The officers at Command Center have high hopes for these spaceships and unanimously agree to prioritize the production of the Executioner-class, even at the expense of delaying the manufacturing of conventional warships.

In situations where the New Empire is weaker than the Fallen Apostle in both the number of conventional troops and the industrial base, finding a different path in technological breakthroughs and employing various weird and unorthodox "tactics" are our trump cards for victory, which have been proven repeatedly in combat.

However, limited production of Source Energy Ore and the difficulty in deep refining of this ore means that the key material for the Executioner-class is in short supply, marking the first time in many years the Imperial Factory faces a "resource shortage." After calculating the stockpile of Source Energy Ore and the natural generation rate of Source Energy Ore, especially after excluding the consumption of Source Energy Ore by other projects, the production plan for the first batch of Executioner-class warships listed only three hundred ships—considering an ordinary army corps has seven or eight hundred mother ships, the first batch of new warships would hardly satisfy a single corps. Of course, since Executioner-class itself is targeted as "few but elite" special-class warships, there’s no need for a corps to be equipped with too many. Nevertheless, in large-scale fleet battles, even special-class warships pose a problem if numbers are too low, especially since the Dismantling Generator is a single-shot single-target weapon; no matter how powerful it is, it simply destroys one spaceship. To threaten enemy mega-ship units, they must first layer by layer handle the outer Joint Shield and shield ships; if numbers are insufficient, they can easily be dragged down by the opponent’s numbers, unnecessarily wasting combat power. You can imagine, even if you have a needle that pierces all, how long you’d have to poke a giant mountain...

Furthermore, the manufacturing speed of new warships is certainly slower than that of pre-existing standardized spaceships. On one hand, components using Source Energy Ore cannot be processed through "Information-Material" conversion technology, and on the other hand, the hosts responsible for production need to continuously adjust their production procedures to find the optimal construction workflow—all new equipment faces this second issue when starting production, after all, manufacturing equipment in Taville’s lab is different from assembly in a factory. Studying factory processes is the job of those hosts.

But anyway, the Executioner-class has been put into production, and the enhancement of the Empire’s strength is visibly evident. The Fallen Apostle seems to be quite well-behaved recently, apart from occasionally stirring up trouble at the border and fighting with patrol troops, nothing major happens. The monitoring of the network rift has also yielded some success; understanding its origin, it’s not as scary as before—known dangers are always more reassuring than unknown threats. The issue with Bingdisi has been resolved, the Divine Realm can get busy for now—the situation seems to be heading in a good direction; I prefer this pace; though still busy every day, having no sudden incidents is better than anything.

It’s quite peaceful at home now; though the afternoon should be the time when the family is the most lively, Qianqian, who usually makes the most noise, has been taken by Bingdisi for shopping, and Lin Xue, who is usually the second loudest, hasn’t come over—sometimes she stays at her own home, or goes busy with her "work," so she doesn’t come every day. But how should I say it... That young lady constantly bustling in front of me, often catching the meal time to freeload three meals a day; I sometimes have the illusion that she’s already married into the family... No wonder Xiao Xue often complains about her mother, saying it’s the first time she’s seen someone sell themselves and be so elated, being bought over by three meals a day and forsaking her own home.

This is usually the reason Xiao Xue ends up with no pocket money for a week.

Occasionally, thinking back to when the young lady was freeloading at home, bustling around, causing chaos every day, I was so tormented by her that I wished I could hide as far away as possible. Now, however, it’s only natural to welcome her as family; even the way she holds chopsticks is deeply etched in my mind, and whenever there’s time, the two are intertwined together—truly, the world is unpredictable.

Finishing up the little effort-required reports in front of me, I held my cup of hot tea, sitting in the yard looking at the big pool in front of me (you should remember how this pool came about, right?), sipping while waiting for Qianqian and Bingdisi to return home, reminiscing about the past and couldn’t help but smile. Xiao Xue and the Fox Fairy Girl beside me are leaning in the same posture like two guardian lion sculptures, the big fox’s tail occasionally cheekily sweeping over my back; I can’t help but imagine Xiao Xue with a tail in my mind: her mischievous personality would suit having a tail in her character design.

"Dad, you have a face of premature aging look." Xiao Xue twisted her neck over ninety degrees and said with rolling eyes.

I vigorously rubbed this big girl’s head, turning her smooth black long straight hair into a nest: "Your dad is reminiscing life experiences—Fox, don’t eat grass!"

The Fox Fairy Girl lying on the right side glanced at me disdainfully, showing her lollipop in her mouth—oh, looked wrongly before, seeing her lying on the grass and her mouth moving, thought she finally completed the last step of regression, eating grass like a dog for digestion.

Speaking of lawns, some people might find it strange, because it’s already the depths of winter, and a minor snowfall fell just a few days ago. Everything should be stripped of green by now, but the garden here is indeed lush and green. The plants are as thriving as in spring, and the green vines in the corner have almost climbed to the top of the courtyard walls. However, the temperature in the yard is undoubtedly winter—anyhow, our family isn’t afraid of the cold.

The scene of perpetual spring in the yard is, of course, Dingdang’s handiwork. But to be honest, I now feel that the plants in the garden seem to be growing a bit too well. The grass under my feet has exceeded the "lawn" level. In just two days without trimming, they have grown to look like the great plains of Inner Mongolia. The big tree in the center of the yard—Medivh’s parents’ nesting tree—is as luxuriant as if it had been sprinkled with Gold Kela. The tree crown has already extended beyond the surrounding circular fountain, its growth rate far exceeding many times faster than before.

"Those little things come with their own Gold Kela halo, don’t they." I marveled while looking up at the big tree in the center of the garden. Occasionally, a flash of green light whizzes past among the lush branches and leaves, causing them to rustle. After a moment, two palm-sized little girls poke their heads out from the leaves, giggling and chasing each other as they flew around the tree trunk. The little one at the front, feeling pressed to escape, twisted her body and bolted towards the fountain’s inner circle, only to lose her balance, perhaps because of water droplets on her wings, and crashed crookedly into the water jet. Amidst a flurry of tiny surprised screams, she was sprayed sky-high. Once she finally escaped, the soaking wet little one and her companion laughed together heartily, showing no sign of being discouraged by their recent failure.

If you observe closely enough, you can spot many small figures like these in the yard: an unusual rustling in the lush grass probably means there’s a three-inch Ding underneath gathering grass sap; twisting vines in the corner likely have a little one near their roots, telling jokes. I even saw a little fellow, dirty like a lump of coal, fall out of a rain drain in the corner, then cheerfully fly back to the roof, obviously having used the drain pipe as a slide. These little ones frolic around the garden as if they were little fairies, joyfully engrossed in their own little games amidst the lush vegetation. Occasionally, different-colored little figures also dart among the grass; these are the Little Crows foraging seeds for dinner.

Watching this scene, I couldn’t help but think of Disney...

"The plentiful activities of the Life Goddess are causing nearly uncontrolled plant growth here," Xiao Xue said while casually pulling out a blade of grass, observing its roots spreading visibly in the air. "Dingdang should put a growth limit on these plants, especially since her little companions seem to come in endless waves."

Thinking of the confused Dingdang, I couldn’t help but feel at a loss. Quite some time has passed since the first batch of her sisters came to visit, and our home and Shadow City are still teeming with these little ones. The fact is, these Little Ones have already rotated through several batches. The thousands of Three-inch Ding who came to our home initially had long since returned to the Divine Realm, and the ones here now arrived only recently—Dingdang forgot to include start and end dates when sending widespread invitations across the whole Divine Realm...

So every day sees little ones returning in groups to the Divine Realm, while new guests joyfully come to play with Dingdang, led by an invitation lacking specific dates or guest lists. It seems the entire Divine Realm’s Three-inch Dings might have to come for a noisy visit before this saga is over. The most troublesome part isn’t even this; it’s these little creatures’ utter cluelessness, rarely retaining any memory of who came with them, often returning without a word, and some even forgetting to go back altogether. And no one can keep track of the Doudings’ movements; it’s often only when I run into one of these Little Ones head-on in Shadow City that it dawns on me: Oh, there’s one here too. Dingdang is even more oblivious: she greets everyone but never asks when they arrived, not even necessarily knowing their names—Life Goddesses inherently are sociable; as long as the invite is from a "sister," they’ll happily attend regardless of familiarity.

Let me put it this way: these little ones causing spontaneous appearances, defying tracking, apart from politely greeting when visiting, have become quite the spectacle of the capital!

The only relief comes from the fact that the Life Goddesses differ from regular guests; these little ones seem to need no hosting whatsoever, caring little for their resting environment or necessity for meals (though they will cheerfully accept if invited to a meal). Most Doudings lead a "self-reliant" (I’ll use this term!) life in Shadow City or Avalon. They sleep among the flowerbeds, collect dew for breakfast in the morning, and the small animals in the natural surroundings eagerly gather honey and wild fruits as offerings for these goddesses. They sometimes even request food from nearby households, leading a life that to me can only be described as "transcendent." This is also how the Life Goddesses thrive in the Divine Realm. While they have grand temples, they typically reside in some blossom within the temple garden, leaving the Divine Servants bending over, searching for their Lady Goddess for quite a while if there’s something to report...

Each day during our family meals, about dozens of Little Doudings join to catch a meal, with new faces appearing at nearly every meal; this number also remains fairly constant—it seems they’ve arranged shifts to greet the local hosts.

While these uncontrollable Little Ones can occasionally induce headaches, no one in the family ever considers them a nuisance. The Little Doudings are polite, causing no real damage aside from popping up out of unexpected places on occasion to startle us. I just pretend that Medivh has hatched yet another batch of Little Crows.

Or look at it more openly: I’ll just consider Shadow City and Avalon as having recently migrated a new breed of migratory birds...

At this time, the fox lying beside me suddenly perked up her ears, propped up her upper body, and stared off towards the yard gate, her rump wagging a big mess of tails unconsciously. As I was about to ask her what was up, I heard Qianqian and Bingdisi’s voices coming from outside the courtyard wall. The Fox Fairy Girl leaped up like a bouncing golden furball, happily ran to push open the yard’s fence door to welcome Qianqian and the others. I watched from behind in a daze and couldn’t help but mutter: "Still claiming not to be canine."

"Anyway, when I was little, Sister Fox was always like this," Xiao Xue lazily yawned, "Lying at the door waiting for family to come home. From the way she wagged her tail, I could even guess who would be the first to open the door. If Mother Qianqian opened the door first, she could wag up a mini tornado around her tail. Well, it seems she hasn’t reached that level now."

I found it very interesting and asked with great curiosity, "What if I come home?"

"Scratch the door," Xiao Xue answered concisely.

Me: "..." Damn, what will this silly fox go through in the future!

Bingdisi and Qianqian came back with big bags, clearly having hit a supermarket sale. Despite having the divine artifact-like Personal Space, they still liked to return home carrying shopping bags as if this was the only way to feel a sense of accomplishment. Before stepping in, Qianqian loudly shouted in the yard: "Sister Qian! Sister Qian! I bought lots of vermicelli and chives, gonna make vegetarian buns for Ah Jun tonight, he said he wanted them yesterday..."

I listened, feeling touched: In this restless age, where girlfriends shopping on Taobao frighten their men into heart palpitations, having a girl forget her identity as a country’s Mistress just to rejoice over scoring discounted vermicelli for her boyfriend—such a wife, what more could a husband ask for?

Though I said yesterday I wanted dumplings...

Bingdisi spotted me sipping hot tea by the fountain and handed things to Qianqian before briskly walking over. It wasn’t until she was halfway that I sensed something was off with the female hooligan’s demeanor: despite chatting and laughing with Qianqian earlier, she now exuded a surprisingly serious aura as she approached.

"What’s up? Something’s wrong?" I frowned and lowered my voice as Bingdisi got closer.

Meanwhile, Xiao Xue had somehow vanished without a trace.

"There might be... some situation," Bingdisi spoke for the first time in an uncertain, even somewhat fearful tone. It seemed she had been holding onto something the entire way, and it was remarkable how she managed to keep it from Qianqian, that careless silly girl. Just moments ago, they came in chatting and laughing, "It could be a residual issue from soul coexistence."

I suddenly felt my head get hot with blood: Wasn’t this supposed to be over?

"Are you saying you might come back to get stuck for a few days?" I looked at Bingdisi with a horrified expression, thinking if she nodded, my first action would be to notify Father God to quickly assign Ice Dad and Ice Mother a task to keep them away from the Divine Realm: I’ve developed a psychological shadow.

"No," Bingdisi clenched her fist, suddenly looked over seriously, "You remember Father God once said that if stranded with Void Creatures for too long, it might cause soul assimilation by the stranded side, right?"

I suddenly sensed a foreboding feeling.

"The consequences of assimilation might be worse than expected," Bingdisi’s voice was deep, "While street shopping earlier, I suddenly disconnected from the Star Domain Pantheon for a moment. Although it was very brief, the connection indeed broke. After it recovered, I contacted Little Lu at the Pantheon’s Household Registration Office. They replied in that instant, my divine status information did not match the Star Domain Gods, and the system automatically blocked me as an illegal entity!"

I didn’t realize my teacup was already empty, sipping a mouthful of cold northwest wind: "You were deregistered as a God?!"

Look how nervous I am now—I haven’t even had time to quip "who is Little Lu!" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"It was less than a second’s block, now restored, but the Pantheon says as long as the cause isn’t found, official deregistration might occur sooner or later. I held it in the whole way, thinking this might still have something to do with soul assimilation, just waiting to discuss it with you at home. So you see this matter..."

Discuss? How could there be any discussion; this is clearly a mess caused by soul assimilation. Without another word, I put away my teacup and led Bingdisi inside while calling out to Sandora:

"Sandora! Something big’s happened!" (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)