Bella Villa, who was temporarily occupying the body of Raven 001, seemed extremely excited, completely different from her usual lethargic image of sleeping all day and waking up occasionally with no energy. I could only guess her normal state was influenced by Silvia’s soul, and the Bella Villa who now had a free body was her true personality.

Occupying the shell of a mass-produced body and temporarily gaining the ability for independent action—it doesn’t sound very complex, but I never expected Bella Villa to take this approach. Well, from an outsider’s perspective, "occupying someone’s body" is ultimately not a very positive act, even if the person being occupied is one’s own clone. Such a setting could easily turn into a horror story, with a hint of ethical dilemmas woven in...

However, Raven 001 seemed to have no resistance to it, and perhaps the other mass-produced Ravens wouldn’t have any objections either. This group of Xyrin Apostles’ unique worldview allowed them to cooperate with Bella Villa on this somewhat eccentric experiment. Moreover, I trust Bella Villa not to do anything bizarre with her clone’s body... probably...

Bella Villa stood up and spun around twice, as if experiencing the feeling of being in complete control of a body that belonged to her. Then, she clasped "her" collar and peeked inside, clicking her tongue in wonder: "Huh, who would have thought, Number One is quite daring..."

Me: "..." Sandora: "..."

Can that statement be retracted? She’s already starting to do weird things!

"Mind your influence," Sandora said, sitting gracefully on the chair, looking at the somewhat unrestrained Bella Villa as if her own composed demeanor was meant to highlight the contrast. I curiously asked a question: "Hey, since you can use the mass-produced Raven body for independent activity, why not have Taville make you a blank body? This way, you wouldn’t have to occupy someone else’s flesh, and you could move freely for a long time, right?"

"Nice idea, but unfortunately, I’ve already tried that," Bella Villa finally calmed down and abandoned her terrible act of studying Raven 001’s underwear pattern. "The conversion can only happen in mass-produced Ravens, in other words, only on fragments of my soul. So, essentially, I haven’t actually done any ’soul movement.’ If a fresh body were made, it would mean separating my will from Silvia’s soul, which is impossible. But I’m content with this; after all, I should also thank you for your efforts over the past two months. Without breaking the conceptual split, my experiment wouldn’t have succeeded so easily."

As Bella Villa spoke, she suddenly focused on Silvia, looking at her real body. As the occasionally wild Raven King, a mischievous smile gradually spread on her face. Silvia, completely baffled, looked at this "sister" she shared a body with just minutes before, with a vivid question mark seemingly appearing over her head. Suddenly, Bella Villa reached out and pinched Silvia’s cheek with an ambiguous expression: "Sandora, Chen, I’ve discovered something—I can actually be a yuri pair with myself now..."

Once again, me: "..." Sandora: "..."

Just as I began to wonder if there was something wrong with Bella Villa’s head during the conversion, Sandora finally tapped the desk and spoke up: "Bella Villa, haven’t you noticed something’s off with your state?"

"Off with my state?" Bella Villa responded, still pinching the utterly defenseless Silvia’s cheek, using a rising queenly tone, "No, I feel great, better than ever..."

"You’ve been influenced by Raven 001," Sandora said, covering her forehead in resignation. "You aren’t the type to be so unstable." Sandora’s words reminded me: Bella Villa’s personality was usually very steady, and though she occasionally had rather venomous words, she was undoubtedly the most composed among us—calm, mature, stable, with a slight touch of aloofness and sarcasm. That’s the true Bella Villa. But this version, who checks the color of her own underwear and declares a desire for self-yuri with her other body... it seemed like a merger of Raven 001 and Bella Villa.

Bella Villa was startled, furrowed her brow in thought, then shrugged to Sandora: "As expected of you, even I didn’t notice this part. One-third of my behavioral inclinations are influenced by that Number One clone."

"That you could be swayed by a mass-produced Raven—is your mind regressing?" Sandora’s words were blunt as always.

"The souls are of the same origin, and my ’occupation’ is based on both sides completely opening their souls, so why couldn’t I be affected by Number One?" Bella Villa casually waved her hand, a subtle smile on her face, "This is even better now; whatever I do with this body, I can conveniently blame it on Number One. After all, she’s been put in solitary confinement quite often..."

Me: "..." Undoubtedly, this train of thought was also a result of Raven 001’s personality influence!

Despite realizing her temporary personality was somewhat influenced by Raven 001, Bella Villa showed no sign of care, maintaining her usual transcendental self-centeredness, and eagerly bullied Silvia until the poor Silver-haired Mole fled behind the counter. Bella Villa then packed up her things, waved a hand to us, "Let’s go shopping!"

Sandora and I were stunned, glancing at the descending night outside: "Shopping? At this time?"

Bella Villa seemed to just notice it was already nightfall, face falling instantly: "Huh? It’s already dark? That slow Silvia, I told her to wake me up in the afternoon!" Then her eyes swiveled, showing a determined look: "Whatever, night or not, let’s go to the night market!"

"What’s gotten into you?" I was amused and exasperated by this mixture of Raven 001’s temper and Bella Villa’s presence, never having seen such behavior from her before. "Didn’t know you had such a big shopping addiction? This has to be Raven 001’s influence on you, right?"

"No," Bella Villa shook her head vigorously, "Even without her influence, I’ve gotta go out for a stroll! Do you realize how long I’ve been cooped up?!" With those words, I understood—Bella Villa finally had the chance for free movement and independent thinking, and she was determined to let loose a little. I could only empathize with her impulse and casually reminded her: "Just remember to be back early; the military district gets locked down after ten, or else you’ll have to spend the night outside."

Bella Villa waved her hand repeatedly: "I know, I know—" Suddenly she grabbed my shoulder, looking aggrieved, "Do you know how suffocating it is to view the world through a screen with a fifty-minute delay?" Before I could respond, she’d already run out joyfully, leaving a half-finished sentence drifting in the air: "Ah, finally, no lag today!"

Sandora and I exchanged blank looks, and our eyes fell on Silvia, who was humming a tune behind the counter. It was her fault Bella Villa ended up feeling so aggrieved, enduring a lag with a half-minute’s delay, yet Silvia seemed oblivious to our gazes, only asking curiously after a long moment, "Ah—where did Bella Villa go?"

Sandora, expressionless, replied: "...She disconnected due to lag..."

Then, I took Sandora’s hand, ready to go home, and as we reached the shop’s entrance, we heard Silvia’s delayed thirty-second response: "Oh, disconnected due to lag—what’s disconnect due to lag..."

Sandora tugged on my arm: "If you still want to go home tonight, don’t keep talking to her, or we’ll get nothing done today."

The Queen is right, I know all too well how much of a despairing quagmire it is to be locked in conversation with Silvia, so I quickly headed home.

By this time, it was almost dinner time, but our family usually has dinner a bit late—anyone with kids knows that children’s biological clocks are something you can’t fight against. Getting them to sit obediently at the table before they’ve finished their TV antics is harder than climbing the sky, and even though the kids in this house are quite the handful, no amount of trouble can stop them from their habit of rushing for the TV at 6:30 PM sharp. However, unlike other ordinary naughty kids, the group of little girls, including Little Baobao and the Mercury Lamp, enjoy only the fun of grabbing the TV. They don’t actually watch the television content...

After all, whatever lively things might be playing on TV are way too childish for this group of super naughty kids who follow adults out to battle every day. They simply consider the act of seizing the remote at 6:30 PM for half an hour to be a form of entertainment.

And now, aside from Little Baobao, Lilina, and the Mercury Lamp, a fourth faction has joined the TV rush—a little crow with intelligence basically on par with Little Baobao. The silly bird doesn’t even watch TV and doesn’t understand why the older sisters are competing over a plastic board. Still, she finds it amusing and joins in with enthusiasm. Now she’s on the same front with Little Baobao, so miraculously, the usually suppressed Little Baobao has somehow found herself on top... but no matter their battle outcome, it’s a mess for me. The couch is off-limits, as the silly bird is running around the couch yelling, the Mercury Lamp is stirring up a whole lot of feathers, and Anwina is trapped inside the TV after the silly bird accidentally changed channels, meaning we have no idea when dinner will be ready. My Big Sister is sitting by the window, away from the living room’s chaos, working on her cross-stitching and watching the four crazy little girls with a particularly brilliant smile: I know that smile too well from my childhood—it meant scrubbing floors, doing laundry, writing "I’m sorry" a hundred times, no bundling three ballpoint pens together allowed—so I started to mourn for the four little girls—technically speaking, for Lilina, because Little Baobao and Silly Bird definitely won’t wash dishes, and the Mercury Lamp isn’t tall enough for the sink, washing dishes would likely mean she’d fall in...

In summary, it’s always unfortunate Lilina who bears the eternal blame.

While the group of naughty kids were causing a ruckus in the Heavenly Palace, Sayaka was hastily preparing dinner, Anwina was flustered trying to get out of the news broadcast, and Sandora was already champing at the bit, when suddenly, not far ahead, the air twisted, and a girl dressed like a high school student appeared right in the living room and strode towards the dining table—this was the return of the King of Naughty Kids.

"Hey," I hurriedly waved, "why are you only getting back now? It’s already dark."

Previously I’d made it clear, no staying out all night. Xiao Xue really pressed the time, getting home minutes before dinner!

But then, a surprising scene unfolded before me. The girl who had just space-transmitted into the living room and was thought to be Chen Xiaoxue suddenly shimmered with a ripple akin to a power-off holographic projection, shedding her disguise. Then she grinned at me with a familiar voice, "Ha, Wood, even you were fooled—it’s me."

"Miss Xue?!" I looked in surprise at Miss Lin, who stood before me with a face full of smugness, "Where’s Xiao Xue?"

"I tricked her into staying home to take the brunt instead of Miss Lin—I bet she wouldn’t dare drop the disguise in front of my parents," Lin Xue smiled brilliantly, clearly elated about successfully pulling a fast one on her own daughter, "Hmpf, trying to fight with me, not realizing who’s the mother!"

Upon inquiry, we found out that Lin Xue, by some unknown means, had coaxed Xiao Xue into swapping form disguises with her. I figured it wouldn’t take much to fool her—knowing Xiao Xue’s nature, presented with such an obviously fun and mischievous opportunity to mess with her grandparents, how could she resist? So, the two swapped appearances, and then... Lin Xue happily managed to get her daughter to the dining table, while she herself snuck away.

Xiao Xue, having been quite acquainted with the trials of dealing with meddling adults, was left to handle the situation with Lin Xue’s parents, where even the shrewdest tricks might struggle to last long.

"So, your main purpose in coming here is—" Before I finished my question, Miss Lin cut in with a neck flick, "Of course, to mooch a meal!" Then, seeing our peculiar expressions, she quickly added, "I’ll go back after eating, still need to give my brother a beating..."

I pinched Miss Lin’s nose, "Nobody is chasing you away, this is your home too—though, speaking of which, are you sure Xiao Xue won’t let anything slip?"

That’s my main worry at the moment—no matter how mischievous and smart Xiao Xue might be, she surely doesn’t know the whole family history of her mom, right? She wasn’t even born yet. With Lin Xue gone for two months, Lin Dad and Lin Mom would certainly talk their daughter’s ear off all night... Even so sharp, I’m afraid Xiao Xue might not last very long.

But Miss Lin didn’t show any concern, "Don’t forget, she’s also a Prophet. Does a Prophet ever get caught? She knows what to say and what not to say."

So everyone just "oh"ed and took their seats to start eating, and right on time, I received Xiao Xue’s protests and complaints through the Spiritual Connection, eavesdropping on her grievances. Miss Lin was bending over with laughter, as if the daughter was something she picked off the street.

After dinner, Lin Xue deliberately lingered a bit, because, according to her "observation," Xiao Xue over there was in the midst of the fire—the time when Lin Dad had just started recounting his days studying abroad.

Lin Dad’s study abroad experience is a story that spans three Chapters, divided into dozens of small segments totaling more than 1.5 million words. In this story, Lin Dad had warm and friendly conversations with more than twenty international leaders, including Clinton, and the apartment he stayed in during his studies was crowded with secretaries of state, chairpersons, presidents, premiers, kings, crown princes, defense commissioners, and foreign ministry spokespersons. Moreover, every three days he would even decline a confession from a certain princess of the Saudi Kingdom—until he met Lin Mom; by then he had confessed to about 150 princesses in total. From this, we can conclude that the Saudi royal family’s family planning work decades ago was indeed troubling...

"My dad’s bragging is beyond measure," Lin Xue complained to us on the couch with a frown, "and my mom never bothers to check him, because at the end of my dad’s tale, when he and Mom were walking hand in hand on a private beach in the Maldives, there were over two hundred Saudi princesses defeated by Mom’s charm lying behind them... Fortunately, it’s Xiao Xue the bear kid’s turn to endure the story this time. It’s good for her to know the hardships her mom faced back in the day."

The people listening were dumbfounded, never expecting that Lin Dad, who seemed quite parental the last time we interacted, turned out to be such an unhinged person in daily family life. These tales were absolutely something he concocted to amuse his daughter, never imagining they’d continue for twenty years—this indirectly led to Lin Xue believing she had at least two hundred godmothers from the Saudi royal family until she was over eight years old...

Although, given the Lin family’s influence, her life among humans could indeed be considered royal level.

Watching Lin Xue with a silly grin who occasionally chuckled to herself, I couldn’t help but feel that the relationship between her and Xiao Xue was not purely mother-daughter. While biologically she is indeed Xiao Xue’s mother, most of the time they seem more like sisters, constantly getting into amusing situations. Lin Xue, although occasionally settling into the motherly role through subconscious influence, acts more like she’s indulging an unruly little sister. There’s a reason for this, as for all her precociousness and intelligence, Miss Lin after all remains a special large-sized child herself, without the experience of being a parent—but she does have plenty of experience being a sister.

But this isn’t so bad; at least Xiao Xue seems quite happy.

As for me? I reckon I’m a pretty well-formed amateur dad, especially—

Just look at the circle of little girls in the living room horsing around after dinner, I’ve had enduring training after all... (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)