After seeing the bizarre high-tech fortress and the strange visitors from another world in Shadow City, witnessing the armored scorpions with their rusty scent forming a phalanx to buy helium-3, and watching the blood-pumping recruitment advertisement personally directed and edited by Pandora, Shajina, and Sona finally walked into the teleportation gate full of anticipation and arrived at my house. Then they saw the residence of the leader of such a powerful Empire and almost passed out... Anyway, Shajina’s expression looked like she was about to faint.

Shajina looked at me with a particularly subtle expression, her head full of faintly visible question marks, while Sona scanned the living room while the teleportation gate behind them hadn’t fully dissipated, and finally, both of their eyes fell on me. Sona said with a twist, "Um... it looks like living space in the Empire shouldn’t be tight?"

Shajina, being more straightforward, said, "The Emperor lives here? Why is your living room smaller than the Crow Temple?"

"Uh... as long as the house is enough to live in, that’s what I think," I knew both Shajina and Sona had this question, so I awkwardly scratched my head, "As the saying goes, even if there are millions of mansions, I only need two feet to sleep soundly. I feel like I’m banished by the world if I wake up and see the ceiling is two meters away..."

As soon as I finished, Miss Lin’s lazy and teasing voice came from beside me: "Look at you, Miss Lin only feels banished by the world if she sees the ceiling within three meters when she sleeps."

Lin Xue, as usual, showed up at my house just in time for dinner, now lounging carelessly on the sofa, barefoot, swinging her feet on the sofa armrest, listening to Guo Degang’s stories about the Yu family on TV. I know she’s spewing nonsense again, so I casually chimed in, "Then next time, you sleep in the patio... Hey, did you trick Xiao Xue into listening to your dad brag again?"

If I remember correctly, Miss Lin is still grounded, but she can still appear accurately at dinnertime in the living room, and Xiao Xue, the playful spirit, is nowhere to be seen in sight. There seems to be only one truth: this irresponsible young mama has once again mercilessly tricked her daughter. Hence, I start lamenting about what the point of Mr. and Mrs. Lin’s grounding is...

"I promised to give her double the pocket money after she was born in the future - and I won’t cheer when you spank her, then she happily ran off to her grandpa’s," Miss Lin rolled her eyes at me, then her gaze suddenly landed behind Sandora, as she found the little arcane dwarf wobbling like jelly and let out a gasp. "Yikes, where did you get the slime?"

My thoughts were still on her previous sentence: "I don’t think of myself as someone who likes to spank kids, so if Xiao Xue constantly needs to be educated, she must have learned incorrectly - you shouldn’t spoil her too much, giving little kids too much pocket money is not good... Oh, you mean that, huh? That’s not a slime, it’s an elemental creature we got from Orelia, a ’robot’ from the Mysterious Side."

"I know that girl can’t be spoiled, anyway, once born, she won’t have a say. Hey, this slime can morph, it turned into a chair — come on, let me see it turn into a bicycle."

You probably noticed that Lin Xue and I were discussing two topics simultaneously, Miss Lin calls this nonlinear dialogue. In fact, it would be even more remarkable if I started talking with Qianqian, we could discuss a dozen topics simultaneously without mixing them...

Shajina and Sona were dumbfounded, watching Lin Xue and me chatter away. The Big Sister walked over with a smile to the two half-dragon girls and said, "This is called nonlinear dialogue; you’ll get used to it. Let’s eat first, there aren’t many formalities here, guests are always welcome, just relax like when we were at the Ancient Garden."

Just then, I heard a slightly childish shout, "Gah~!", so I turned around and saw Little Crow coming out from the kitchen with flour on her face — she might have just been a bit of a help. Upon seeing me, this Silly Bird immediately dashed over like usual with her arms flapping. I happily opened my hands — and then Little Crow zipped past me and landed right on the arcane dwarf being teased by Miss Lin. The latter let out a squelch, compressed into a puddle of fluid — supposedly, this thing is an elemental creature formed by arcane energy, but to me, it looks like jelly.

"Master! Jelly! I’m gonna eat it, wow!" Little Medwen gleefully hugged the arcane dwarf that was trying to regain its shape, and before I could intervene, she already took a bite, followed by a series of crackling sounds. The Silly Bird’s face was half blackened, yet she seemed unaware, mumbled as she chewed, "The taste, a bit numbing, not delicious... not strawberry-flavored... Mom! There’s a pudding here with an electric taste, gah!"

Anwina floated out of the kitchen holding a frying spoon. Seeing the Silly Bird clutching a large, electrically charged arcane energy body, several translucent ghostly figures floated out of her shock, and she dashed over to pull Little Crow out: "This can’t be eaten!"

The Arcane Dwarf, bitten by Little Crow, seemed to finally react and, in a daze, wobbled twice in place before slowly crawling into the shadow by the couch to repair its wound: judging from this, the self-repair ability of elemental beings does seem to be a bit stronger than the autonomous machines of the Technology Side... though that’s not the main point right now.

I originally brought this odd little thing home just to let Qianqian play with it, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be quite popular with the family. Even Visca curiously poked it twice—though she’s also a Xyrin apostle, she was a muddleheaded exception back then, and under her command were only units from the Technology Side, so she probably isn’t familiar with the Arcane Dwarf.

As for Qianqian—she ran back to her room immediately after seeing the Arcane Dwarf. I was really curious about what new idea she had concocted this time, especially since she didn’t rush to poke and prod this novelty. But soon, she bounded down the stairs in a couple of big strides, holding her pet Brazilian turtle carefully in her hands...

Brazilian turtle, deceased, aged two and a half, died of extensive arcane erosion... 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

While Lilina was busy reviving the unfortunate Brazilian turtle, Qianqian, with a face full of disappointment and heartache, said, "I thought there was water inside... I was even planning to put those two tropical fish from Lilina’s room in there..."

"It’s actually better if you had put those two poor creatures," Lilina stated while examining the newly revived Brazilian turtle’s shell, carefully scraping away the scorched parts. "Those two aren’t tropical fish; they are a new species cultivated by the Lady Goddess. She originally intended to create two Bahamuts, but somehow ended up with two tropical fish instead. Those two tropical fish can actually survive in an arcane environment..."

I helplessly ruffled Qianqian’s hair, "Forget it, it’s my fault for not stopping you in time..."

But I really wanted to say—who would have thought this girl would suddenly get the idea to raise a turtle inside a slime’s body! Moreover, this thing isn’t a slime! And a Brazilian turtle isn’t a turtle! Those who just know how to poke slimes or transform them into bicycles can’t compare to Qianqian’s ability to leap to conclusions!

Shajina, seizing a moment when no one was paying attention, couldn’t help but lean over and whisper to me, "Is your family always this lively?"

"Ah, you should see how big our family is," I pointed at Qianqian, who was figuring out how to put a can inside the Arcane Dwarf’s belly. "And now the main force is just her left, the other more chaotic one was tricked away by her mom, otherwise there’d be chaos."

Shajina stuck out her tongue, "It’s really not what I imagined..."

I roughly knew what kind of scenario Shajina imagined. Most likely, she thought going to the Imperial Emperor’s house for a meal would entail seeing a vast, magnificent palace. Even before entering, you’d have to walk through a two-kilometer long Imperial Soldiers’ honor guard, and after opening the grand doors, you’d see a row of butlers on the left and a row of maids on the right, with the emperor’s family sitting regally on a solid gold throne half a kilometer away, each with a twenty-pound crown on their heads. Before speaking, seven or eight etiquette officers would brief you on the royal protocol and the Empire’s eighty honors and eighty shames, followed by incense, bathing, and changing clothes in preparation for the meal. The first dish would not be served until a platoon of beautiful women has circled the table dancing, and the meal would begin at 7:30, potentially lasting till breakfast the next day... This is probably how Shajina envisioned royal family life.

She would never have expected that in our part of the world, the emperor’s family serves pork stew with noodles as the first dish, and the commotion during a princess’ meal compares to livestock fighting over feed—Lilina and Little Light would fight on the spot for two pieces of meat...

Of course, back on the Mother Continent, Shajina and her companions had learned about our family, but the former probably didn’t expect us to be like this even at home.

Anwina and Sayaka soon brought up a large table of dishes, inviting everyone to sit down, with Shajina and Sona having moved on from their initial confusion to now accepting this setting that differed from their expectations. And to be honest—this atmosphere ended up making the two half-dragon girls from modest backgrounds feel more at ease.

The only thing that made them a bit nervous now was Lin sitting across from them. The racial instinct of soul perception made the two a bit restrained. Lilina exaggeratedly placed Dingdang in front of her, clasped her hands together, and said, "Thank you, Lady Goddess, for blessing me with pork stew with cellophane noodles..."

Shajina and Sona were instantly bewildered. They didn’t know if this was a standard dining etiquette for believers, hesitating as they looked at the Dragon God Girl across the table, who sensed something and looked up with a silly smile, "Actually, the food was bought by Sayaka..."

I quickly cleared my throat twice, "Ahem... Let’s eat!"

The two Half-Dragon Girls didn’t know how to use chopsticks, and it wasn’t possible for them to carry utensils with them when going out, but fortunately, they were accustomed to using forks and knives, those Earth utensils with no technical content, so there wasn’t any embarrassing moment in this regard. This was the first time Shajina tasted the Ghost Maid’s craftsmanship, and with just the first bite, she exclaimed: "Wow, this is delicious! What is this golden thing?"

I glanced up and said, "Made of eggs, it turns golden when deep-fried."

"Eggs... eggs..." Sona’s expression immediately turned subtle, and her mouth twitched slightly, "It feels so strange..."

"Uh... don’t you eat eggs?" Big Sister asked curiously.

Sona blushed, "Half-Dragons are oviparous..."

Everyone: "..."

"Although we have no taboo against eating eggs, we generally don’t eat them much," Shajina supplemented, looking like she had no objections to the food on the table, "About one-third of the Half-Dragons don’t like eggs, while others don’t mind. Sona just happens to be in that one-third."

I instantly understood, then pointed at Little Crow, who was attentively picking out soybeans from her plate: "She doesn’t eat eggs either, but as long as they’re prepared in a dish, she doesn’t recognize them — it’s ultimately a psychological issue. Hmm, Shajina, are you uncomfortable?"

I noticed Shajina had been fidgeting in her seat since earlier, initially thinking she was not used to the relatively high chairs on Earth (actually arranged to accommodate some Shorties in the family, allowing them to experience reaching the table without stacking books), but now Shajina’s expression looked more peculiar.

"Um..." Shajina said awkwardly, "Is there a chair without a backrest? My tail... is numb."

I speechlessly noticed the big tail behind Shajina, sticking straight up against her back due to having nowhere else to place it, with the tail tip innocently swaying above the Half-Dragon Girl’s head... uh, she even had a bow tied to the tip!

"Oh, wait a moment." Anwina stood up and brought over two chairs without backrests from the wall, "Sorry, I didn’t think of it at first... these two chairs will come in handy."

I knew those two chairs: one belonged to Yakumo Lan, the other to Chiruno. For various obvious reasons, these two chairs didn’t have backrests. I must say it’s fortunate that those two had gone home for family visits (or skipped work), or who knows how many more follow-up issues this meal would have had, not that it isn’t already filled with issues!

This meal was full of ups and downs, full of unexpected events, very unique, and brimming with Imperial characteristics — I must say, gathering such a large group of beings with some differences from humans for a meal at one table is no easy task. Sometimes, while eating and glancing around, I felt a sense of accomplishment: how am I maintaining Earthling values in the midst of these people?

After dinner, Shajina and the others planned to rush back to New Xiang, but in the end, they were all pulled to stay by their respective gods. Lin wanted to take this opportunity to check Shajina and Sona’s integration with the Dragon God two, while Little Crow simply wanted to find someone to play with. Seeing this situation, the three of them didn’t need to return tonight, so Big Sister and Anwina prepared rooms for them on the second floor, while I curiously watched Qianqian and the others teasing the Slime...

Qianqian was trying to screw a faucet onto the latter, evidently maintaining a strangely resolute misunderstanding of this soft "fluid" creature.

"By the way, shall we give this little guy a name?" Lin Xue also showed interest in the Arcane Dwarf, patting its body, "How about Xizhi Lang? It looks a lot like a jelly."

I felt a strong sense of déjà vu with that name, pausing for a moment before remembering it was Raven 001’s association after being thoroughly beaten by Vega, and instantly I was uncertain whether to tell Miss Lin the truth...

However, ultimately, the Arcane Dwarf obtained the title "Xizhi Lang" and was promoted to Qianqian’s seventy-sixth pet, preceded by Qianqian’s Brazilian turtle, Pikachu, two autonomous machines, a unicorn, the Mini Zhenzi in the basement, Little Black from a decade ago now living in Qianqian’s memories, Little Baobao, Little Crow, and the host of curious creatures in Dingdang’s lab. The girl’s spare time is indeed very colorful.

Also taking this opportunity, I briefed everyone on the current state of Heavenly Realm City and Bella Villa, because, given the nature of Qianqian, Lin Xue, and the other laidback individuals, they certainly wouldn’t bother to inquire about these matters themselves.

Qianqian finally understood one thing: "Oh, so this isn’t a Slime."

Lin Xue proved to be somewhat more reliable than Qianqian, as at least after listening to some of the Mysterious Side knowledge, she showed a thoughtful look and quickly had her own thoughts, "Hey, Wood, have you noticed one thing — the stuff from the Mysterious Side seems to better match the power form of me, Qianqian, and Sister Chen Qian?"

I naturally nodded, "Of course, you three were the Apostles of the Mysterious system in your past lives, and my sister was the Empire’s premier Sorcerer."

"Remember that project Taville has been working on," Lin Xue perched barefoot on the sofa armrest, leaning her upper body toward me, "she’s trying to replicate our unique powers using Imperial equipment. Currently, the only widely applied ones are the Energy Raider based on your power, and the Second gap Device still classified as experimental equipment. As for my Prediction Ability and Sister Chen Qian’s curse ability, they haven’t been replicable..."

I caught the mischievous Miss Lin mid-fall (talk about not fearing the fact that I might not catch her — though, indeed, I dare not), thoughtfully, "You mean..."

"Perhaps the slow progress in Taville’s projects is due to the field being incorrect; our powers might be easier to recreate using Mysterious system technologies. Hasn’t she established several joint teams recently, where Xyrin Technicians and Secret Technique Mages research Mysterious system technologies together? Have her try handing over those slow-progress projects to the new team," Lin Xue said, "you see, our biggest issue is that high-level Mysterious system technologies cannot be directly applied, and high-level Apostles won’t evolve anytime soon. Apostles of the rank I and Qianqian had years ago — akin to the three hundred Commanders level — might not emerge for many years. But if, building on Taville’s existing research, some of our powers could be mass-produced and applied to warships or even individual soldiers..."

— Hence, I envisioned a glorious, brilliant future. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote on qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation.)