Xyrin Empire
Chapter 522 Preparing for the Tide of Immigration

Chapter 522: Chapter 522 Preparing for the Tide of Immigration

Indeed, when Taville told me that at some second within the past 72 hours, our universe had flickered, I was still a bit panicked.

But soon, the fact that the World Tree was partly withering calmed me down.

It’s like being able to face desertification with equanimity when confronted with 2012, or calmly accepting a fail in English when you’ve flunked every subject; when things were bad enough that the world’s management terminals were restarting, whether the universe trembled for a second or had a fifteen-minute epilepsy fit was meaningless. The principle that ’lice are not itchy and debts are not worrisome when you have a lot of them’ applies here—I just hadn’t had the chance to escalate the World Tree malfunction to a strategic crisis level yet.

Now I know that even if the administrator is an irredeemable idiot, the world management terminal is still the most badass and precise important thing in this universe; if that thing malfunctions, it really does have a direct connection to the doomsday—of course, things aren’t that bad right now.

"What should we do now?"

The shocking fact of the world management terminal’s fault made Taville show a nervous look too; she was merely a researcher, and a newly promoted Xyrin Apostle, intellectually capable but immature. Facing this kind of crisis that involved the world’s very essence, she couldn’t maintain an optimistically careless attitude like I could.

"What to do? What to do," I shrugged nonchalantly, "Dingdang has already stabilized the World Tree’s condition, so it won’t worsen in a short time. Our task is to identify the source of the problem while that unreliable God can’t be everywhere. Dingdang told me something before entering the temple; the fundamental reason for the World Tree’s malfunction wasn’t the temporal disturbance, but the massive invasion of ’aliens’ after the disturbance. That is to say, transmigrators, organized transmigrators, are disturbing the world’s structure. Dingdang is the Life Goddess; she couldn’t possibly have the heart to trigger the immune system to kill those transmigrators who might just be innocently involved. So, our task is to scour the world for these smugglers and then forcibly repatriate them. It’s too late to get our super space scanning machines to do a full cosmic scan, but drawing a map of life-supporting star zones is still possible. ’Transmigration phenomena will concentrate near ecological anchor points in parallel time and space that are similar,’ this is the universal principle Dingdang told me. The regions suitable for life in the universe might have become disaster zones. Tch... I just hope the ones who came over planning to defy the heavens give me less trouble. Ah, Sivis, I’m leaving this task to you. Get our expeditionary forces moving. Don’t worry about the home base military force being insufficient. If the World Tree truly ends up crashing because of the transmigrators, that’s the real big trouble."

"Your will supersedes all."

Sivis gave me a military salute with an uncommonly solemn expression, then added her own thoughts, "My Emperor, although your command is very clear, I would like confirmation on one point: if those ’aliens’ who have crossed over resist, is it permissible to..."

"Resist? Can they even resist the Imperial Soldiers?" I looked into Sivis’s eyes, my tone very serious; although this diligently diligent "Pandora External Thought Circuit" was much more level-headed and meticulous than her General, sometimes her iron-blood ideology was just as annoying. "Surely many transmigrators are innocently involved losers, like a guy who fails his tribulation with a thunderclap on his way home from school, or an uncle who foolishly clicks yes on an illegal pop-up ad. These people aren’t enemy soldiers, and Dingdang definitely wouldn’t want the Imperial Army to be hunting them on this mission. If we find transmigrators, we should encourage them from a humanitarian perspective. Ah, treat the non-resistant ones with courtesy; and knock out the resistant ones before bringing them back. However, watch out for those who claim to be Long Aotian, who aim to kill people and Buddhas that block their path, who fancy themselves leveling up by slaughtering and looting, who claim their first act in life was to kill their parents and who dare to harass our female soldiers and casually annihilate entire families. If you encounter such people, whether they resist or not, get the newly trained Imperial City Management and Sicaro’s Personal Guard on them. Hit them with a sap, electroshock, drug them, bag them, beat them up, use tiger chairs, chili water, bamboo splints, red-hot irons, Iron Maidens, spike openers, scarabs, the Ten Tortures of the Qing Dynasty on a four-four beat until they cry when they see themselves in a mirror, got it?"

Sivis listened to me in a daze, then shuddered involuntarily, and this typically sharp and strong military officer timidly asked, "Umm... My Emperor, out of humanitarianism, wouldn’t it be easier to just kill them?"

I shook my head firmly, "No, that’d be too easy on that bunch!"

At that moment, Sivis’s gaze at me was full of profound respect that a militarist would have for a roaring Leader.

"Also, send some people to assist the Space Twins," I thought for a moment and then added, "The location of the World Tree is on Earth, this is the most important place, solving the issues here in the shortest time is the utmost priority."

"I will follow your will."

Sivis nodded, then left the hall.

"Taville, keep the Space-Time Management Center at full power, ready to issue return tickets to transmigrators at any moment. You lead your research team to crack down on the source of this temporal vibration; I fear this isn’t just a natural disaster."

"I understand—but Emperor, the Space-Time Management Center has logged too few worlds. Even if these transmigrators all come from neighboring worlds, the majority of their homelands won’t be in our address book. Locating their worlds could take a long time—theoretically."

I didn’t need her to tell me that the inevitable problem of a large number of stranded transmigrators was crystal clear, but I also had considered this, "Establish some temporary settlements near Shadow City, the Kuiper Belt invisible base, and the Kepulu Refuge... Ah, let’s name it ’Fantasy Township’, built according to the Avalon template. I’ve long wanted to do this!"

"Uhh..." Taville was at a loss for words.

"Get me through to the New Eden Federation President’s office."

Ignoring the dumbfounded look in the bespectacled lady beside me, I ordered into the air.

Lines flickering in mid-air in front of me quickly combined to form a hologram projection, and one of the Supreme Governors of the New Eden Federation, James Raynor, appeared in front of me, holding a large sea bowl.

Me: "..."

Let me tell you, TV is full of lies! Whenever there’s an emergency broadcast, the person on the other end always appears seated elegantly in front of the window, dressed to the nines, as if they had been waiting in front of the camera an hour beforehand. Who can tell me which movie had the president on the other end holding a bowl eating noodles when the video call came through?

"Uh, having a meal?"

On the video, it seemed that James Raynor was in his own office. The establishment of the New Eden Federation had transformed the former leader of the "Bandit Army" into one of the Supreme Governors of the combined nation of two great races. And noticeably, Raynor was more suited for this role than Monsk ever was—at least as a ruler of a star zone, he could sit in his office, slurping noodles, and reading documents, giving me a great sense of familiarity.

Of course, Raynor had not expected the communication device to suddenly light up, nor had he expected the Imperial Leader to appear on his screen. The bearded uncle holding the big bowl was stunned for two or three seconds, then he clumsily put down the bowl, wiped his mouth, straightened his collar, and even let out a satisfied belch.

The poor guy’s face was now completely red.

"Your Imperial Highness...burp...what are your orders?"

I hesitated for a moment, then said seriously, "You’ve got half a stalk of greens on your teeth."

Raynor looked astonished for a while, then decisively stepped away from the communication device. After a suspicious jingling and clanging, the well-dressed big guy returned to the device.

"Ahem, I have a mission for you—has the resettlement of the human and Protos refugees been completed?"

"Thanks to the Empire’s assistance," Raynor said, getting down to business with a serious expression, "all refugees have been settled on colonization stars provided by the Empire. The seeds left to us by Priestess Lillina are miraculous. With them, we’ve managed to establish a foothold in our new homes. Moreover, with the help of Protos technology and support from the Empire, most of the heavy industry and a series of fundamental industries have resumed operations. The three Planet Warships you left us are currently the industrial and scientific centers of the entire New Eden Federation, their inexhaustible energy fueling the recovery of many high-consumption industries after the great disaster."

"Good. Now you need to prepare..."

I then briefly explained the situation of the transmigrators to him. He didn’t need to understand or know about high-end stuff like the World Management Terminal. What I told him was simple: a group of travelers from various parallel worlds had arrived in this universe due to space-time anomalies. According to the Empire’s "Temporary Measures for the Management of Outsiders," these individuals must be registered and either repatriated or concentrated in settlements. As one of the largest gatherings of high-level civilizations in this universe, the New Eden Federation would not only take on part of the resettlement work but could also become a heavily affected area. Raynor’s task was to establish an independent living area for the transmigrators while conducting a thorough search for such individuals within his territory. With the assistance of the Protos, who possess special spiritual powers, this task should not be difficult.

"I guarantee we’ll complete the mission." Raynor saluted me to guarantee it, then ended the communication.

"It looks like you’ve already completed the arrangements, Ah Jun."

At some point, Sandora had come to the living room and was now speaking behind me.

"Sorry, I didn’t discuss it with you." I casually ruffled Sandora’s head, messing up her smooth, golden hair into a tangled mess, "But it’s not a big deal."

"It could be the prelude to something big," Sandora glanced at me, then shook off the big hand that was messing with her head, "You’d better go check on that doll called Mercury Lamp. She’s about to be driven insane by Pandora."

Mercury Lamp? Driven insane by Pandora? That really shouldn’t be happening, right?

But the reality was pretty much as Sandora had described...

When I returned home and found the two of them in Pandora’s room, I could clearly sense a certain doll’s barely suppressed irritable mood.

"Ah, you human finally showed up!" Mercury Lamp immediately rushed over when she saw me enter, but not to start a fight, "Let me out right now! At least, don’t make me stay with this guy anymore!"

Why does she seem so flustered?

"What’s going on with them?"

I turned to ask Sandora, who might know the details, and she shrugged helplessly, "Initially, it was fine. Mercury Lamp didn’t bother with anyone, and Pandora wouldn’t speak to anyone either. We thought if the two of them were together, there wouldn’t be any issues, but unexpectedly..."

Unexpectedly, Pandora took her brother’s order very seriously—to keep an eye on Mercury Lamp. She stared at Mercury Lamp unblinkingly for a whole three hours!

Moreover, she remained silent the entire time, sitting in her chair, following Mercury Lamp with her eyes wherever she went. Because a strong energy field had been set up around the room in advance, Mercury Lamp certainly couldn’t escape, so she ended up suffering the most tragic and inhumane single-person surveillance in history.

Any mentally sound person would feel suppressed by now.

At first, she pretended not to care, but after an hour, she became restless; after two hours, she started trying to strike up a one-sided conversation (though it was just a scolding), and after three hours, Mercury Lamp began to bounce up and down in an attempt to dodge Pandora’s gaze.

"I first did this, then this, and after that this..." Mercury Lamp might have felt psychologically shadowed by Pandora’s persistent gaze and, forgetting their status as enemies, began to demonstrate her experience to me. She fluttered around Pandora, who in turn spun her head round and round, and when Mercury Lamp reached her fastest speed, I watched as Pandora’s head, spinning like a propeller, nearly seemed to lift off!

"See!? That’s how it was!" Mercury Lamp, frustrated, hovered in front of me, a backdrop of Pandora whose head had spun over two thousand times but was still fixedly watching her, "Even being locked up with someone else would be fine, just as long as I can get away from this guy!!"

Don’t even mention you, I’m quite creeped out just watching!

But regardless, thanks to Pandora’s "efforts," Mercury Lamp was now able to have a normal conversation with us.

It was all a misunderstanding from the start.

"Okay, Pandora, your mission is complete. You can stop staring at her now."

Pandora’s eyes, which had not blinked for several hours, fluttered twice, and then the little girl quickly ran over to me, poking her head forward, clearly expecting a reward.

I rubbed her head casually, considering this the reward, and thought to myself how easily lulled lolis could be—see how successful my training was!

"Now, we can talk calmly," my gaze shifted to someone who was huffily sitting on the cupboard not far away, a smile in my eyes, "Come down, you must realize by now that I’m not a bad person."

Mercury Lamp huffed, and although she still had an aloof demeanor, she obediently descended and sat on the sofa across from me.

"Answer my questions first," although she was only 92.3cm tall, Mercury Lamp did not lose any of her imposing presence, "Who are you? Where is this? Why has everything changed when I woke up? Have I slept for a long time?"

The doubts all transmigrators have, it seems even dolls are no exception.

Holding Pandora in my arms, I answered the other’s questions as simply as I could: "First of all, this place... whether you believe it or not, is no longer the world you came from. You dolls probably don’t deal with Hawking, but you should understand the concept of another world, right?"

Mercury Lamp nodded, her expression a bit complex, but she didn’t seem too panicked. It seemed that she had also noticed this to some extent.

"Then, I’m the biggest leader of this world. You can think of me as being on par with God."

"Blowhard!" Mercury Lamp retorted without any courtesy.

I shrugged and said to the air, "Lightning!"

Immediately outside, a rumble of thunder erupted, followed by continuous lightning that cut through the clear, cloudless sky.

"Rain!"

In less than five seconds, what had been a sunny sky had accumulated a massive amount of rainclouds, and then, in the dumbfounded expression of Mercury Lamp, torrents of rain poured down.

"To Antarctica!"

The scenery changed rapidly, and the next second, we had teleported from Pandora’s room to the icy expanse of the Antarctic Circle. Caught off guard, Mercury Lamp fell to the ground, then stared eye to eye with a passing penguin. However, before that unfortunate penguin could be turned into coal by a metallic storm, we had already returned to the room: each of us with icicles hanging from our faces.

"Sunset!"

"Commander, Lady Qianqian said to go play on your own!"

Me: "..."

Alright, a sudden sunset at this hour was indeed a bit early.

"Besides, I have to consider human’s capacity for acceptance."

Getting teased by both my girlfriend and subordinate made it hard to save face. I sheepishly explained to Mercury Lamp.

She, by now, was staring blankly—possibly also frozen dumbfounded—then hesitantly asked, "Was that just now... not an illusion or something?"

"There’s still ice on your head."

"Hmph, let’s just say you had no ill intentions, but it was a provocation from you all in advance!"

Snapping the ice and snow from her head, Mercury Lamp said with an awkward twist of her words.

Just like a face-saving child.

This impression was strange. It was hard to associate the famous Mercury Lamp with a pouting child—but I felt that right now, Mercury Lamp was indeed being petulant.

Maybe she felt "detained" by us against her will, and then thought she was being treated like a fool, hence she developed a grudge against us who "played" her?

"Okay, okay, perhaps Bubbles’ behavior was a bit rude," I said embarrassingly, "That girl has been watching old series recently..."

Mercury Lamp’s reddish-purple eyes remained on my face, seemingly trying to find any trace of lying, but in the end, she nodded and then asked a question, "It seems this world is indeed very strange, but I will definitely not believe someone like you could be the World King or anything. But at least you have extraordinary powers... That woman said she could help me find Father, which means, the person she meant who could help, is you?"

I froze for a second, then grinned and nodded, internally cursing Ding Ling to a lifetime of finding only vegetable packs in her instant noodles.

No matter what, I eventually managed to come to a rough resolution with Mercury Lamp. Although she still didn’t want to interact with us, she agreed not to run off for the time being. Having such an unstable element in either Shadow City or the Visca Barrier Star would be trouble—her wingful of metallic storm was definitely enough to be classified as a non-civilian weapon. It was good news that she was willing to stay put for now, but there was one thing that gave me a headache...

Where was I supposed to find her a dad! (To be continued, to find out what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, with more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)