"Wood, I’m afraid you two can’t return from that world just yet."

Miss Lin’s voice suddenly rang out, causing both Sandora and me, who were getting ready to pack up and go home for dinner, to pause. The Queen beside us was visibly grinding her teeth, clearly ready to go all out if she didn’t get a reason for stopping her from going home. I casually patted Sandora’s shoulder and asked Lin Xue, "What’s going on?"

"Intuition." Miss Lin replied straightforwardly. Unfortunately, those two straightforward words didn’t reveal any information, leaving Sandora and me with countless questions stuck in our heads. Miss Lin’s intuition is not just any intuition; ignoring it could lead to disaster. But just those two words—wasn’t she going to give us more explanation?

"If I have to say, it’s suddenly feeling like there might be a deeper reason you two were sent there, and Taville thinks so too." There was a hint of frustration in her voice, as if her mood wasn’t great, "I haven’t figured it out yet, but my intuition tells me that it’s better for you to stay there for now. Something important might happen... Ah, so frustrating..."

"What’s wrong?" I knew Miss Lin couldn’t explain her intuition to us clearly, so I asked about her current state instead—she sounded like she was getting anxious and upset.

"What else could it be?! Lin Xue said angrily, "I’ve been lying in a coffin for half an hour! Half an hour! Just when the system was about to finish adjusting, an ominous premonition suddenly came out. After some calculation, I realized I wasted that half an hour lying there. When I got home, I found you chatting with Monina! What was all that time lying in that psychologically disturbing thing for?! When did you realize you were in 123’s domain? What was he doing? How did you end up wandering into the Divine Race’s territory? This is such a mess; what were all those safety coordinates calculated for in the first place?"

Miss Lin sounded on the verge of freaking out. By the end of her rant, I wondered if she might suddenly pop out from behind Monina’s statue with a Fire God Cannon pointed at me, but hearing Lin Xue’s exasperated complaints actually made me smile: I didn’t feel upset at all. Because behind her endless chatter was the unmistakable relief of a heart finally settling down after a scare. Having spent so much time with Lin Xue, I’ve somewhat learned about her character. Though she usually seems carefree, unafraid of anything, she’s just a regular girl who sometimes worries too much. She always uses frantic complaints to cover it up, and only those closest to her would notice that, in fact, she’s like a little scared kitten acting tough to hide her soft fur.

"Hey, you just laughed, didn’t you? You secretly laughed, right?"

Miss Lin’s disgruntled voice came almost as soon as I smiled. I could only shrug, exchanging a helpless look with Sandora: that girl’s "eyes" are too sharp, she can sense even the slightest movement from me, even if I keep silent. Now that the two worlds are connected through the Divine Race’s special line, I’m pretty much under the eye of a voyeuristic Prophet all over again.

But then again, maybe that’s not bad.

At this moment, a lively voice suddenly interjected, drowning out Lin Xue’s voice: "Did it connect? Really? Let me talk, let me talk! Ah Jun, Ah Jun, it’s me, can you hear me?"

"Qianqian... can you not get so excited like a kid making their first call?" Sandora and I leaned against each other, watching Monina’s statue as it glowed, while Qianqian’s chatter came from its direction: the feeling was just so amusing. "You can hear my voice now, right? Feel reassured?"

"Reassured, reassured," Qianqian said excitedly, her voice surrounded by a crowd—as I guessed, everyone at home must have been drawn to the kitchen by now. "I always knew Ah Jun would be fine. You’re so amazing, right? Sandora’s pretty awesome too—oh, Sandora is there? Is she alright?"

"Just lost our way, not going to war. What’s there to worry about?" Sandora said with a gentle smile she only ever showed to family, then we heard Qianqian mumble, "Oh, so nice... honeymoon for two..."

Me: "..." This girl’s ability to jump between thoughts is always so refreshing.

Then it was Big Sister’s voice, reminding me to take care of myself while away; Pandora called me "brother," but then Visca snatched the microphone, so no more from her; Visca chatted for a long time, mostly about how she’d organized a fleet to search worldwide before Big Sister stopped her; Little Crow was making a fuss too, it was her first actual call; Lilina was also quite lively, eager to see the world that believes in 123; and then Dingdang, who, oblivious, was asleep when Sandora and I disappeared and just woke up, having no idea what happened; Uncle Kenser just returned and greeted us: "Good that communication is restored," and Lin quietly said hello—also sincerely apologized for breaking the last broom at home...

Finally, I heard a voice that was strikingly prominent under the circumstances, some M-loving, sister-obsessed flashy guy’s loud holler: "Hey! What’s everyone up to, gathering around, let me in, let me—hey Monina, why do you look upset, what did I do... Hey what’s going on what’s going on, my sister’s gone mad..."

Amidst the chaos, Monina’s speakerphone (seriously, is it okay to use this function on a deity’s prayer answering system?) broadcast Yelsen’s miserable plight of being chased by his sister live, although I couldn’t see it, I vividly imagined that poor guy running around the house clutching his head: these scenes were aired every Friday night, rerun on Saturday mornings, previews and highlights shown throughout the week—they’re basically the reserved daily lives of 123 and Monina siblings.

"I think 123’s pretty unlucky right now," Sandora shrugged, speaking with a completely flat tone even though she was supposedly sympathetic, "he didn’t actually do anything wrong, it’s just that he slipped up at a crucial moment..."

"He’s just too carefree," I replied, following up on Sandora’s words, "anyone with normal intelligence would have connected some dots when Eva first prayed." Realizing something, I quickly shouted toward the statue’s direction, "Hey, Monina, someone should calm Monina down! What if she starts breaking stuff at home?"

Bingdisi’s nonchalant voice responded, "It’s fine, I’ve cast a divine blessing on the stuff at home, it won’t break."

I nodded, "Oh, that’s good then."

123’s voice echoed faintly, "So as long as the furniture doesn’t break, it’s okay if I’m destroyed at will—wait, how come this voice is so familiar, Monina wait, this is Chen’s voice—"

"Brother, your brain probably needs treatment." Monina’s reprimanding her brother’s voice came through without a filter, then she began explaining to 123 what had happened with Sandora and me: not going into details, she mainly emphasized the Fifth Fleet being the alien fleet reported in Eva’s last prayer, and how 123 had been offline during Eva’s second prayer. Hearing this, Yelsen stammered for a while before blurting out, "Then continue, just don’t hit the face..."

... these siblings are hilarious!

In the course of back-and-forth communication, everything was already explained. There’s no longer a need to worry about the Fifth Fleet’s current situation. Although 123 is... not very reliable, he’s at least a competent god, and we don’t have to worry about the world under his control being in danger. We then began discussing what to do next: According to Lin Xue, the sudden displacement of the Fifth Fleet into the Godrealm might be suspicious, implying she doesn’t believe this was an accidental event. Everyone highly valued the Prophet Miss’s cautious remarks, and Taville was already taking action. She intended to create a mathematical model based on the newly-confirmed coordinates and the Azure Star world’s parameters, hoping to find the reason connecting the two. I couldn’t help much with this area, so I could only wait quietly for news.

And it seemed like the Tiaozi Five from the Divine Clan finally remembered they couldn’t just laze around eating for free at my place every day. They began taking action, with Bingdisi, a super techie, leading the charge. She wanted to check the logs of the world management system that 123 was using to see if there were any signs before the Fifth Fleet unexpectedly jumped into this world. The other members of the Tiaozi helped out on the side.

Of course, those were the work arrangements, but for now, Big Sister still found continuing to chat with me more important...

"Why does it feel like I’ve finally managed to call home after working away for years, and the whole family is making a big fuss over it?" Hearing the rambunctious sounds from the other side, I couldn’t help but flash a helpless smile at Sandora, who rolled her eyes upward, thought about it, and then rubbed her stomach, saying, "Ah Jun, I’m still hungry."

...Has she lost the ability to think of anything else now?

"Okay, okay, let’s wait until later if there’s anything else. Sandora might start biting if she gets any hungrier," I waved at Monina’s divine statue, as if that gesture could be seen on the other side— oh, Monina might indeed be able to see it, "By the way, Monina, do you have a more convenient way to communicate? It’s a bit much to have to find a Holy Girl to fiddle in front of the altar for a dozen minutes every time I want to talk to you. To be honest, if this goes on, Yelsen and Old Man Lei might not be able to handle it mentally."

"Oh, it won’t have to be that complicated in the future. Soon I’ll have my brother adjust that world’s management terminal to a frequency your Empire’s equipment can recognize, and then you can use an advanced channel to directly contact Dingdang’s temple. Dingdang’s temple has always exchanged data with your network. Yes, don’t worry about the technical stuff, anyway, you’ll be able to directly communicate with Shadow City using the Spiritual Link when the time comes," Monina quickly came up with a solution. She was quite adept in these matters, making one wonder if she often disassembles her world management system out of boredom, "We’ll handle things here quickly, and then we might send someone over— Lin Xue said, it’s best if you don’t leave that universe, I reckon my brother will have to make a trip... Hey brother! Talking about you! Can you be a bit more nervous? How can you be busy eating at a time like this!"

retorted confidently: "Nonsense, I’m just nervous you won’t let me have dinner tonight, so I’m preparing in advance!"

Monina: "...Alright, let’s not talk about my brother for now. Please don’t say too much to Yelsen on your side, I know that kid, her ability to accept things isn’t very strong, and her grandpa has mild heart disease, we can’t scare them too much. Anyway, just wing it for a day or two, then my brother will descend, and having God himself speak is surely more impactful than the words of a stranger."

"Oh... oh," I thought Monina made sense. Besides, it’s not my style to leave such a hardworking servant as 123 idle while I handle things myself. There’s just one thing I don’t quite get, "Do you often descend as gods? It seems like a personal descent by a Heavenly God would be even more of a shock to believers. Old Man Lei might really have a heart attack..."

"That’s different; a shock is one thing, but at least it fits the logic they’re familiar with. As for the heart disease... Well, I’ll have my brother bring some quick relief over. That’s it, I’m hanging up now, dinner is getting cold, bye!"

As Monina finished speaking, there was a chorus of goodbyes from the other side, Little Crow chimed in with a couple of mischievous caws, and finally, everything fell silent again. The sacred Grand Cathedral returned to a peaceful state, with only the mystical and solemn Goddess Statue still veiled in a shadowy black mist, emitting a rhythmic, brief "dudu" sound.

Sandora: "...It seems like they’re all quite used to making their own system plugins."

I scratched my head, turned toward the cathedral doors to confirm that Yelsen and Old Man Lei hadn’t gone far, then gathered my strength and shouted, "Yelsen! Hurry up and figure out how to hang up this phone!"

A moment later, the cathedral doors were pushed open, and Yelsen and Lei hurriedly ran in like a light jog, with the latter waving his hands frantically at us: "In... in the cathedral, you can’t shout like this, it’ll disturb the God!"

I froze, then felt a bit embarrassed as I rubbed my hands together: "Oh, I didn’t notice. The rules are different on our side; the gods like loud voices."

—Because most of the time, they’re so rowdy that if you don’t raise your voice to shout at those rascals, they can’t hear you! 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Yelsen first moved to take away the various offerings on the altar, so the strange busy signal that Monina had added for fun finally stopped making noise: "God sometimes reveals anomalies, there’s no need to mind them. If they really want to instruct mortals, they’ll usually communicate more clearly to their most faithful believers." It seemed she didn’t care about the "dudu" sound from the statue at all. Then she pulled out a remote with five buttons and pressed one; Monina’s Shadow Goddess Statue was thunderously replaced by the War God Statue. Right now, my curiosity was piqued, and I was eager to understand the subtle state of religion in this world, especially how they manage to organize five gods who were often swapping roles— well, Dingdang might be an exception. After all, the Little Thing was trapped in another world for centuries, so it’s likely that the concept of the Life Goddess hasn’t been prominent on Azure Star for a long time and is just maintained out of religious tradition, like the mosquito drawn on the remote control Yelsen held...

Then I noticed Yelsen and Old Man Lei were both fixated on Sandora and me.

"Um... is there a problem?" I forced a smile, thinking the critical moment had arrived: Now we had to explain how two aliens talked to their gods for such a long time and the gods’ initial reaction, "Hey, Chen? How’s it you?", would be hard for a logically-thinking believer to understand.

But to my surprise, Yelsen and Lei pondered for a while and ended up not asking anything at all. Old Man Lei just cautiously commented: "We have prepared resting areas for the two guests. Now the cathedral is closing, please follow me."

At first, I was a bit puzzled, but I quickly figured it out: This matter involved gods, and Yelsen and Lei were the typical devout believers who were also seemingly conservative, so they most likely wouldn’t directly ask us questions.

In the mind of a believer, encountering something hard to understand only means a lack of understanding of the gods. Therefore, they will pray more devoutly, cultivate their spirituality, communicate with the divine, hone their souls, but they’ll never gossip with others about what exactly God said to whom on what day—they’ll intuit that there’s a divine plan behind some things they’re not supposed to know. Especially since Monina solemnly asked the two to back away just now, they’d be even less likely to pry.

This gave me some relief because I wouldn’t have to figure out how to hoodwink them any longer: Looks like with the "god" title weighing in, many problems are indeed easier to solve. No wonder Lilina has been trying every which way to spread her religion everywhere. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations, monthly votes, your support is my biggest motivation.)