Xyrin Empire
Chapter 518: Who Is Coming?

Chapter 518: Chapter 518: Who Is Coming?

After I left the medical center, I was a bit dazed.

The scene before was too strange — please forgive me for describing a beautiful girl’s kiss as "strange," but if it were Lin Xue, that process could only be described as bizarre.

What on Earth had gotten into Lin the Immortal? Could it be that the Miss Lin, who usually quarreled with me, treating smearing me as her life goal and daily task, declaring an endless class struggle with wood, had secretly been harboring a crush on me, Chen Someone?

Thinking about this possibility sent chills all over me; it was too bizarre, too shockingly bizarre. I’d rather believe that the first Yacucus on Earth was defeated by Master Zeratul than believe Lin Xue, that violent Miss, had a crush on me!

However, on second thought, not feeling any joy at that moment didn’t seem quite right either, and before this, I really hadn’t noticed... uh, I can’t think about this anymore, or else Qianqian would surely freak out.

And after that sudden kiss, Lin Xue herself seemed extremely evasive, no matter how much I used the "King’s Gaze" (...) that girl only pretended to be dumb, almost declaring she had hit her head and suffered amnesia for fifteen minutes. Jesus teaches us, the heart of a woman is like a nail falling into the Mariana Trench, most who try to explore it drown halfway, Heaven knows what’s going on in the Miss’s mind.

Anyway, I had gotten the better end of it...

With these chaotic thoughts swirling in my mind, I didn’t notice where I was going until I suddenly bumped into a light body, brought back to reality by the other’s exclamation.

"Ah —"

The girl walking towards me was sent flying by my collision.

This felt like such a familiar scene, as was the slow scream from not very long ago.

The person who could delay even a scream might just be unique in the whole world.

The girl I had knocked over wore a light blue dress uniform of some shop’s waitress, her shiny long silver hair, due to the loss of balance, had fallen over her forehead covering half her face. At this moment, this slow-paced girl was sitting on the ground processing the event that had just happened, then slowly propped herself up and, while patting the dust off her skirt, greeted me with a dragged tone, "Ah, it’s Mr. Chen — what a coincidence — are you out shopping?"

In an instant, my already not-so-sharp brain slowed down even more, well, now I really couldn’t think about Lin Xue’s complex situation.

"Uh, sorry, I didn’t see... Are you hurt?" Out of politeness, even though I knew that the girl in front of me wouldn’t be harmed even if trampled by ten thousand mammoths, I still asked.

Also, I really didn’t see that slow girl’s panties just now...

"Ah?" Silvia let out a puzzled lift in tone, then her tone descended, "Oh, so it was Mr. Chen who bumped into me just now, no worries —"

Me: "..."

Is it just me, or is her absent-mindedness getting worse?

Only then did I realize that, unknowingly in my wandering, I had already reached a place far from the Central Base, on a completely deserted street.

The surrounding area was completely filled with empty buildings and empty shop windows, if other parts of Shadow City still retained some vitality due to shops being open, this district was as silent as a ghost alley.

I vaguely remembered that this place was supposed to be one of the connections between Avalon and Shadow City, and because of its sensitive location, Sivis had marked this area as an SSS-Level martial zone.

"What are you doing here?"

Curiously observing the silver-haired girl in front of me, aside from blankness and naivety, her eyes revealed nothing else, could she be lost?

Having had the precedent of Jaina wandering out of the service area, I had no doubts about Silvia’s ability to wander into any corner without any help.

"Ah, because this is the front of my shop," Silvia responded slowly after three seconds, then slightly turned to point at a small storefront behind her.

Me: "..."

You opened a shop in the middle of nowhere, you idiot!!

"Ah, right—I almost forgot," I hadn’t even begun to retort when Silvia, with a sudden realization, clapped her hands and pulled out a stack of small cards from her clothes, handing one to me, "I came out wanting to distribute cards in the nearby city area, but let me give one to Mr. Chen first~~~"

Speechlessly, I took the card and saw the bold letters: Little Xi Candy House Welcomes You.

What a familiar scene, such a familiar card, utterly lacking the shop’s address and contact number, even lacking the main brand, yet a lot of effort went into designing the card’s intricate borders, which could even be used directly for anti-counterfeiting on currency!

"Could you come and sit in the shop if you’re able?"

Silvia looked at me silently examining the card for a long while, thinking I was interested in her shop, and immediately invited me warmly, without a doubt having forgotten her original plan to distribute advertisements after our bump and subsequent interruption.

Those cards were pretty much useless anyway.

Silvia’s little shop was located at the street corner, an extremely cartoonish candy house. Being one of the most special residents of Shadow City, Silvia unconsciously possessed many privileges she wasn’t even aware of, one of which was opening a shop near this military restricted area. However, the green light from the Shadow City management department couldn’t change this commercial idiot’s nature. Setting up a shop in a deserted area, did this guy think her profession was to provide hidden quests for players with throbbing headaches by opening a shop in the nooks of the map for an NPC who mysteriously sells resurrection stones and won’t starve to death?

More importantly, even if you are an NPC, who in Shadow City would risk getting shot by Imperial Soldiers to come here for a dragon-slaying quest?

Having been welcomed into her little shop by Silvia, I watched idly as she arranged various colorful candies into different puzzles in the display case, and I couldn’t help asking this question because, in my view, even the dumbest person should start wondering if they haven’t seen anyone pass by their shop in two whole months.

"Ah, speaking of which, I often have little girls about this tall come to buy candies."

Hearing my skepticism, Silvia, who was helping to make instant coffee, immediately perked up and gestured a height by her waist for me.

"Besides, occasionally a white-haired boy comes by with a little girl who calls herself Misaka, buying small cakes I made myself—"

Eh? So, the Final Product, being the highest form of all Misakas, can also approach this area?

Also, what Silvia mentioned earlier, "some" very short girls, what was that about?

"That’s about this tall—" Silvia explained slowly, having now completely forgotten about making my coffee, "Wearing white dresses, all looking exactly alike. Come to think of it, I’ve seen a little girl who looks like them around Mr. Chen too—but they look so different from the child with you..."

Could it be... the off-duty Xyrin Hosts?

They don’t even have individual consciousness; could they still have settings like liking candies?

As this question arose in my mind, the bell above the door of the candy house suddenly rang sharply, diverting both mine and Silvia’s attention.

Several little girls in white dresses pushed the door open and walked in, their eyes blankly staring forward, only the leading little girl speaking, "Excuse me, is Sister Silvia here?"

Indeed, they were mass-produced Xyrin Hosts!

Three clone Bubbles stepped into the tiny candy house, then noticed my presence. Controlled by their programming, the three identical little girls immediately bowed slightly towards me and said in unison, "May you forever enjoy glory, Your Imperial Majesty."

"Ah, that’s an interesting nickname," Silvia blinked and then stood up to take out three pre-packaged candy boxes from the counter, "These are the candies you ordered earlier."

Seeing Silvia identify the three little girls, who looked and behaved just like any other Xyrin Host, confirmed something for me: Even if a bit slow, she retained the identification abilities of an Xyrin Apostle.

Perhaps, Lin Xue’s speculation earlier wasn’t unfounded.

"Ah, is there a problem? Do you not like this packaging?" Silvia’s languid voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up to see the three Xyrin Hosts still standing motionlessly, paying no mind to the candies in her hand but rather turning their wooden gazes toward me.

"What... is going on?" I felt uncomfortable under the stare of three emotionless eyes. Used to the mischievousness of Little Bubbles and the nerdy fervor of Bubbles, suddenly facing three doll-like mass-produced hosts, the huge sense of discord made me very uncomfortable.

Well, could it be because they were caught by "His Majesty the Emperor" sneaking out of the barracks to buy candy and thus were too scared to move?

This thought flashed through my mind, but I couldn’t believe it myself: What a joke! Mass-produced hosts have no thoughts!

But there they were, right before my eyes, three mass-produced hosts who liked eating candies and even sneaked out of the barracks after work to buy them.

And according to Silvia, it wasn’t just these three who usually came to her shop to buy candy.

Compelled by some force, I believed that these three little girls, who were supposed to only follow programmed actions, were afraid of being punished. With a warm smile, I walked over and gently tapped each of their heads, "It’s okay to come out to buy candies during your break, just be careful not to get cavities."

Using the tone I usually spoke with Little Bubbles, my experience told me that, with the support of my fatherly halo, such indulgent admonition was guaranteed to improve affection by +10086.

The effect was very obvious in front of the three little girls...

There was absolutely no change in expression.

It was so disappointing, but mass-produced hosts are still mass-produced hosts. Faced with such a wealth of fatherly love, the three girls still maintained their wooden expressions, simply took the gift boxes from Silvia’s hands obediently, and then bowed to me in unison, "We will heed your teachings, great Emperor."

Then, the three little girls walked out of the shop in neat steps, like one person and her two shadows.

Leaving only a level 6 dad who was gradually paling at his sudden failure of invincible fatherly charm.

However, Silvia, usually the slowest and least sharp, nodded understandingly, "Ah, those three children are very happy—especially the one in the front, she’s very, very joyful—Mr. Chen, you are so good at handling kids..."

Surprised, I looked up at Silvia’s face, which wore an innocent smile, and once again Lin Xue’s reminder echoed in my mind.

"...although I cannot see Silvia’s future, at the peak of my powers yesterday, my intuition inadvertently revealed something. That girl will play a very special role in the near future... Maybe Bellavilla is already dead, but perhaps the soul of a Xyrin person can also be reborn..."

Lin Xue’s reminder, even if not from her prediction but merely an intuition, was something I never dared to ignore. But now, the chances of Bellavilla being reborn seem minimal, and there are many surprising aspects about Silvia.

The soul commanding ability for the Raven Corps I’d discovered before, the Xyrin Apostle identification ability she still retained, and the ability to discern the faint emotional fluctuations of mass-produced hosts.

These didn’t seem like skills a scatterbrained person should possess.

"Cough, cough," Realizing I had been rudely staring at Silvia for quite a while, I coughed awkwardly and then tentatively said, "Bellavilla, can I ask you something?"

"Oh? What can I help you with?"

Wait, she agreed?!

"Just an impromptu test, Silvia actually agreed directly to my calling her ’Bellavilla’!"

"But just as I was about to say something, Silvia started talking to herself with a puzzled expression, ’Right, Mr. Chen, I just called you by the wrong name~~~~’"

"Well, she just hadn’t reacted yet..."

After chatting with Silvia for a while, naturally, I discovered nothing. Lin Xue’s reminder was only to explain that Silvia would play a significant role in the near future; for now, she was still just a silly, clueless person.

Before I knew it, it was already approaching noon, and my brain had turned into a sticky glue from talking with Silvia. To preserve the last bit of my poor intelligence, I firmly declined Silvia’s kind invitation to lunch—a person who could even button up wrong would likely produce a meal that might not reach Sandora’s high-energy fuel level but would barely be better than Lin Xue’s, so I’d rather go back and enjoy Anwina’s mischievous meal set.

"So, goodbye then—"

Silvia saw me to the store entrance, bid farewell very politely, and then, the moment I turned to leave, suddenly murmured softly, "Ah, now that I think about it, I was just about to make Mr. Chen some coffee..."

Upon hearing this, I scurried away. If I waited for that coffee to be ready, probably the future generation of humans would have learned to walk upright!

I spent the entire morning in Shadow City, accompanying Lin Xue and being dragged along by the incredibly slow Silvia to synchronize timelines. These aimless days even made me wonder if I was getting a bit too bored, and then, something quite interesting indeed happened at noon...

An unexpected visitor arrived, and it wasn’t a stranger.

Ding Ling—Lin Xue’s close friend, the miss who could compete with Tohsaka Rin in taking small advantages, had apparently been overseas on Superpower Team missions and hadn’t seen us for a long time. We didn’t expect her to suddenly come looking for us, and she even brought along an exceptionally gorgeous suitcase.

Speaking of which, Ding Ling was somewhat of an "insider" who knew about our circumstances, so when she was welcomed into the living room, a group of non-humans were still busy with their own things; Dingdang was joyfully threading through iron hoops, Alaya was getting her under-feather styled with a hairdryer by Big Sister, and Pandora and Visca had laid out various cannons across the living room, competing who could dismantle and reassemble them the fastest. But since Qianqian was judging, I reckoned it would end in a tie until the end of time.

And the only one doing something normal in the living room was the diligent maid Anwina, who was busy cleaning up everyone’s dishes and tracking the utensils Sandora had gnawed on. However, in reality, this little ghost floating around was the culprit making Ding Ling’s face turn green.

"You’ll get used to it," I said empathetically to Ding Ling, who was staring dumbfounded, "Actually, this is our most normal daily activity, at least this time Anwina didn’t crawl out from a TV screen."

"I...I must have made a mistake coming here!" Ding Ling’s raspy voice sounded a bit shaky, "At least, can you let that ghost walk on the ground, ahhhh!"

Tsk, to think a high-level cadre of the Superpower Team would be so scared of ghosts.

However, seeing Miss Ding’s face turning almost ghostly pale, I still signaled to Anwina; the little ghost sorrowfully wailed and finally obediently transformed into a large crow shape, returning to the nest it had built on top of the living room cupboard.

...

I mean, did this silly bird really prepare a nest for its crow shape?

Immediately through the spiritual connection, Anwina’s aggrieved complaint came: "Hmm, master, the instincts of this shape are hard to avoid."

"Alright, you can relax now—are you here to see us about something?"

While I knew Ding Ling, the relationship between her and our group was just limited acquaintances, slightly distant; she rarely actively visited what was called the "Imperial Headquarters," a copy with the most ridiculous security level ever, unless she had something important to ask.

My male intuition told me so.

"Actually, I’ve come across a strange ’thing’," Ding Ling said carefully, seemingly troubled about how to explain the bizarre fact she encountered, then she picked up the black suitcase beside her, "Even the Superpower Team has never encountered such a weird issue before, I suspect it comes from another ’place,’ and only you guys can handle this..."

As Ding Ling spoke, she pushed the heavy-looking suitcase to me.

"If you can figure out how this doll called Mercury Lamp came to Earth..."