Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 622 - 237. Return to the Empire

Chapter 622: 237. Return to the Empire

"Isaac, I went to the chapel with your father to attend a gathering. Make yourself something to eat and don’t forget to charge the tram. We are going to pick up Asimov for the basketball game tomorrow."

"And change the cat litter too."

Squeak—Bang.

The door gently closed. Isaac Maxim shook his head, gradually recovering from his hangover. He turned over and sat up from the couch, staggering to his feet. His clothes were disheveled, but fortunately, there was no vomit on them.

"Damn... Last night was absolutely wild."

Isaac rubbed his forehead. Alcohol didn’t usually have such a strong numbing effect on a Martial Artist of the Alpha Stage, but last night seemed different.

He walked to the refrigerator, took out a bottle of chilled orange juice, and casually opened the curtains. Under the gray sky, the agrifields gently swayed.

At that moment, artificial rain was occurring outside. The drizzling raindrops fell to the ground, complementing the dim glow of the hemisphere generators, creating a scene akin to an apocalyptic wasteland.

Isaac recalled the events of last night.

During the village’s festival celebration party, for some reason, a group of scientists and officials arrived with the police. They joined the festivities and provided a new type of alcohol that nobody had ever seen before.

The villagers willingly accepted the freely provided beverages. Regardless of age or gender, everyone indulged in the intense pleasure, swaying to songs and dances, completely forgetting their daily suffering.

"...That alcohol seemed a bit off."

Although Isaac, as a Martial Artist, would have his Qi Energy automatically detoxify him if there was an issue with the alcohol, he did not notice any adverse effects.

Yet, his Qi Energy remained calm throughout.

"Perhaps some big company was testing some product. Even though the police guaranteed it was safe, it still felt fishy."

Isaac sipped his drink, enjoying the rare sight of rain.

No thunder roared. The clear secondary tap water fell from the sky, sprinkling over the fields.

"In August, ’Thunderstorm Operation’ concluded. Terrorists were thoroughly eradicated, and a large number of adversaries were imprisoned. The economic situation brightened, inflation reached a ten-year low, the Monolith Church’s faith in the Supreme God Leoz soothed many, and also provided a fresh channel for class ascent. Simultaneously, a significant amount of food from Frost Plated flooded into the Empire’s market, making products more varied and abundant. Everything is clearly improving... But something feels off."

The people’s happiness was high, yet it seemed a bit too high.

Isaac was not sensitive to politics, but he instinctively felt: war was drawing closer.

The Regent Crown Prince Rudolf’s interest group came from the Citizen class, a group most likely to strongly support their faction due to vested interests. Emotions of this nature were already beginning to emerge among the public.

In such a situation, it’s either the dawn of a peaceful era or the beginning of massive foreign aggression and expansion.

Isaac was not averse to war; on the contrary, as a veteran, he regretted that he did not participate in humanity’s most violent and unified social activity.

But which enemy would be chosen if the stage set for war now?

"Meow... purr purr..."

The cat Purr strolled leisurely through the corridor. When he came to Isaac’s feet, he rubbed against his shoes out of habit and then sniffed them, his large eyes showing a hint of confusion.

"Purr?"

"— Yo! Little Purr~ long time no see, missed me?"

Li Aozi swayed his body, feeling the cuteness at his feet. He immediately bent down and picked it up in one scoop.

"Hehe, my little cutie, let me pet you..."

Purr struggled violently for a moment, as if encountering a stranger, wildly scratching in a frenzy trying to escape Li Aozi’s gentle embrace and then slipped away without a trace.

"— Tsk."

Li Aozi disdainfully glanced at his reflection in the mirror:

"The Invincible True General, you have truly inherited the Intelligence, the power, and instead of the Charm, you inherited more power."

The [Charm] that belonged to his true self was not inherited at all.

[It seems, fundamentally, the [Charm] attribute recognizes the body, not the soul.]

Although he and Isaac shared the same consciousness, his true self’s [Charm] could make planets worship at his feet, but in Isaac’s case, not even a cat would come close.

[However, it’s also quite normal, after all, my previous incarnation was Leoz... With that level of Dominator System deity-like Charm, if it could have been inherited along with the soul, I wouldn’t have needed to be a streamer in my last life; I could have ruled the cosmos directly, right?]

In some sense, it added a bit of credibility to his connection with Leoz’s reincarnation.

"Forget it, I won’t think about it anymore. Let’s check out today’s situation and then study some Authority Magic. I’ll treat it as my main task during these few days in detention."

Li Aozi glanced at the system log.

Isaac’s life was monotonous and calm. He had been working hard for the past few months, but due to being a ’Descender’, he never made any further progress.

Players are not the kind of substitutes or parasites that [Society] citizens are.

The reason for this was the Lai Anding Medical Protocol.

In the players’ view, it’s just a background setting; it’s more than that in reality. The content of the Lai Anding Medical Protocol is a real life-saver for the roles being summoned.

The native inhabitants who were summoned weren’t just about to die; they were already dead. Becoming a character summoned by players actually extended their lives and gave them a chance to relive them.

Generally, they would move around freely at safe save points or log-off locations, and as long as they didn’t die directly, the Lai Anding Medical Protocol would ensure their safety, whether they fought with others or leveled up by killing monsters.

For example, the character ’Saga Qi’ summoned by Caramel Snail would revert to his true nature as a high school loafer of Sky Ring Street and often goof around in Newbie Village and even do some volunteer work.

The character summoned by Cumin Powder, the Asakusa Kid, being an electrician apprentice on Sky Ring originally, took on the role of an air-conditioning repair technician when Cumin Powder was offline.

The characters would often assess the players’ actions; for instance, when Li Aozi played under the account ’True’, Isaac would frequently criticize this and that.

However, typically, due to the fast pace of the game, players, unless they were acting alone for long periods like Pochi-chan, generally didn’t pay much attention to what summoned characters had to say.