Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 332 - 302 Little Fool

Chapter 332: Chapter 302 Little Fool

Xu Yang woke up in the morning feeling not as energetic as he had been recently.

He looked down at the Yan Duo Amulet on his chest, which used to emit a faint warmth, bestowing the sun’s blessing and speeding up physical recovery. Now the entire amulet looked dull as if it had aged a thousand years overnight, cold and icy to the touch.

Could Yan Duo have been killed? The possibility could not be ruled out.

Xu Yang scratched his head as the electric curtains opened by themselves, the weather outside was fine and the sun was shining, a rare good weather. He went downstairs to the secret room and saw Farosa sleeping on the red satin sheets, with Little Fool sitting beside her hand.

Little Fool was a 4-year-old Young Witch who had previously lived in a Witch Training Center. She wasn’t very bright, and the staff suspected that her natural foolishness had something to do with her magic power, but there were no clues and it needed investigation.

Her gaze was vacant, her movements sluggish, and she burrowed into Farosa’s arms at the sight of Xu Yang.

Farosa was sleeping heavily, without opening her eyes. Xu Yang touched Little Fool’s black hair, sat in the high-backed armchair inlaid with gold nearby, and took off the amber-colored Yan Duo Amulet, placing it on the bedside table.

No more working from 6 a.m. to midnight, Xu Yang thought to himself. Then let’s take the day off today, just happens to be Saturday.

They followed a two-day weekend policy, but since Xu Yang was the boss, he had never really taken a full day off, always running around or handling affairs. So, he decided to treat today as a real holiday, sitting in the armchair pretending to be asleep while waiting for Farosa to wake up.

Farosa’s biological clock was as accurate as a timer, waking up just after seven o’clock with Little Fool drooling beside her pillow. Xu Yang, who had opened his eyes and saw this scene, expected to witness a child explosion but saw Farosa not getting angry. Instead, she picked up Little Fool, placed her beside the bed, wiped off the drool with a tissue, and then restored the pillow to a clean state with the Law of Recovery.

"Why are you so kind," Xu Yang asked curiously.

"I don’t pick fights with a fool," Farosa replied as she picked up Little Fool. "I’m worried she might get electrocuted or fall and injure herself. Although it can be restored, the scene is always not good to look at. Other Young Witches seem rebellious at most, but this one completely doesn’t understand human speech. When I have time, I need to take her for a check-up and try the Law of Recovery again."

"What about this amulet," Xu Yang pointed at the Yan Duo Amulet, "it seems to have gotten empty. Could something have happened to Yan Duo?"

"We can’t rule out that possibility," Farosa said as she rubbed her sleepy eyes, then picked up the amulet to inspect it. "I’m not sure. Maybe it’s hurt, so it’s using this way to remind us."

She used the Law of Recovery on the amulet, restoring it to the state it was in seven days ago, which Xu Yang was certain was still functional. But even after being treated with the Law of Recovery, the amulet didn’t start radiating waves of power again, which meant the source of power had been cut off.

"Can you still contact Yan Duo?" Xu Yang asked.

Farosa closed her eyes, gently using her mind-link to call out. But there was no corresponding response from the other end of the mind-link.

No matter what Yan Duo was doing, this was highly unusual.

Maybe Yan Duo is dead, Farosa pondered, but that seemed unlikely. If one were to rank the Mystics based on strength, Yan Duo would be one of the stronger ones under normal circumstances, and could even join the ranks of the most powerful if it drew power from the sun.

"I’m not familiar with the Mystics of the Great Northern Region," Farosa said. "Maybe when it was looking for the Forest Master there, it ran into some powerful enemy."

"Then Yan Duo might be in great danger," Xu Yang worried for Yan Duo. It was strong and kind, a rarity among the Mystics.

"Ha," Farosa scoffed, "Yan Duo has lived to this day through sheer will, it must have its own ways. We shouldn’t worry too much about it, it will always find a way to survive."

"Perhaps," Xu Yang stretched, leaving the amulet in the secret room. "I’m taking a day off."

"Take a day off, what are you going to do?"

"If it’s called a rest, of course, do nothing and wander around. Go wherever I want, that’s what rest is."

"Aren’t you supposed to be with me? To help me with my errands," Farosa urged with a tone of insistence.

"I should also live a completely burden-free life occasionally."

"Like an idiot," Farosa pouted, "just go, just go, leave us here to face death."

"Don’t be mad, I’ll take this one with me." Xu Yang picked up Little Fool, who struggled uneasily in his arms for a while but did not cry out, and eventually settled down quietly in the new embrace.

"That’s more like it."

Farosa and Xu Yang left the interior of the secret room and stepped onto the corridor.

The terrace was spacious and offered a good external view. Farosa had always liked seeing human cities bombarded into ruins, but what she saw instead were construction sites everywhere. Tower cranes, a hundred meters tall, sprang up overnight, and engineering robots bustled around them. Humans piloted large machinery, striving to level the land and rebuild.

A loud engine roar sounded from outside. Farosa looked up to see multiple trails across the sky as no less than seven heavy transport Shuttle Machines swept over the vault of the sky. Each weighed at least a thousand tons and was escorted by twice as many light fighter jets. Two of the fighters wobbled in their flight paths, as if they had been attacked.

The seven heavy transport machines orderly descended onto the Federro Mc Gee Shopping Plaza’s rooftop, where staff had long been in place on the top of the mall, ready for docking. They had reserved an integrated cargo channel for them to enhance transport efficiency.

Once the Shuttle Machines landed, boxes of goods were continuously moved down and slid into the plaza through the cargo passage to restock the whole shopping center. The entire process was efficient, accurate, and seamless, reminding Farosa of scenes of ants moving house. It was like transfusing blood into the whole city, as these goods could rapidly replenish the material shortages in all sectors.

People had already known in advance about the restocking at the shopping plaza and were thus crowding at the mall entrance, waiting to rush in and stockpile. The more well-off citizens were flocking to the mid-level landing pads, determined not to leave until they crammed their Shuttle Machines full.

The mall had undergone overnight renovation, doubling the number of entrances and exits to accommodate the immense flow of customers. Otherwise, the crush of people at the 8 o’clock opening time could have triggered a stampede—a situation that would have led to significant loss of sales.

Farosa narrowed her eyes to watch this scene.

"This is the delivery capability and logistics of modern humans, capable of rapidly reaching any corner of the world," Farosa said.

"Indeed, and it is this technical barrier that differentiates big corporations from small and medium enterprises," Xu Yang agreed. "Other small malls have already been emptied and closed down; only they can continue selling without interruption, effectively forming a monopoly."

Farosa thought for a moment.

"If it were a Witch’s society," she said, "it would be hard to see such a large-scale logistics delivery chain. We can open portals, but we neither have such massive demands nor such extensive productive forces."

"Yes, so the technological civilization is pretty cool," Xu Yang said. "Corporatism doesn’t deserve such advanced productivity, and that’s why it’s fraught with contradictions."

Farosa nodded slightly.

"Take her for breakfast," Farosa walked downstairs.

Xu Yang pinched Little Fool’s face, finding that Little Fool hardly reacted to external stimuli, always staring blankly around, as if the world was difficult for her to comprehend.

At least she was well-behaved, never crying or shouting. The only problem was that she couldn’t take care of herself. Xu Yang put Little Fool down on the ground, changed his clothes, donned a white coat and a white porcelain mask. He had always dressed in black and red, but today he completely changed his appearance. After changing his clothes, he took Little Fool out.

He piloted the Purple Wind, set it to autopilot, and then focused on looking after Little Fool.

Xu Yang never believed he could be a good father. He avoided having children and also feared being constrained by family. Taking care of Little Fool like a patient was already the limit of what he could handle; beyond that, he felt powerless.

Along the way, many shops had already closed because their goods had been cleared out by anxious citizens, leaving not even a grocery store.

The navigation system of the Purple Wind brought him to an automatic vending machine in a city center block. He held Little Fool as he descended, bought a can of milk from the vending machine, and then sat on a pay-to-use bench by the street, watching people come and go.

This block was built around a large logistics center, a property of the Phecda Logistics Company. Above Xu Yang’s head, professional courier drones whizzed back and forth, carrying goods between destinations and warehouses. They were extremely busy, fulfilling the transportation needs of six million citizens.

Half of the courier work was replaced by drones; the other half was left to humans, who had to bravely carry goods into poorly-secured streets. These risks had to be borne by humans, because losing a person wasn’t considered a big deal; they could easily hire someone on the spot. However, losing a drone would necessitate a troublesome replacement from the company’s headquarters.

Xu Yang sat with Little Fool, occasionally feeding her some milk. Little Fool made a puzzling gurgling noise while drinking. Xu Yang could only tell she was actually drinking by watching the level of milk fall in the bottle.

"Is going out fun?" Xu Yang stroked Little Fool’s forehead.

"Ji," Little Fool made a faint sound.

Where there were people, there were the Pioneer Faction, The Conservative Faction, and the corporate faction. As the shadow of the giant corporations retreated from the city, jovial Pioneer Faction youths emerged, all proactive individuals seeking social change—comprised mainly of college students, the Citizen Army, the disillusioned, and artists. They sat on a large truck, drinking and laughing loudly.

"Freedom, here we come!" they shouted, ready to head to the Self Help Society’s Anti-Corporatism Demonstration Area on the outskirts, eager to feel what it would be like without corporations.

Halfway there, the truck had to slow down as many people shouted and jeered at it until it was forcibly stopped.

Citizens pointed and murmured at a disheveled middle-aged man in the trunk—a cartoonist who had been recognized and photographed by the public, then outed online. Readers did not permit him to neglect his duty to continue his serial work and coerced him to return to a place with internet to prepare the next update.

"It’s been good reading your weekly updates. If you leave, where will we get our fix next Monday?" the angry citizens said.

At the end of his tether, the cartoonist was abandoned by his merry companions and scurried back to his studio.