Xyrin Empire
Chapter 528: Don’t Treat God as a Non-Officer

Chapter 528: Chapter 528: Don’t Treat God as a Non-Officer

Sagara Sousuke trudged out with his head hanging down. He was going to receive his tools in three hours and start preparing to polish, wax, and change the air filters for three Imperial Battleships, each several kilometers long if viewed from the side. I believe this job would keep him too busy to think about anything else for the rest of his life—if, in the end, we still haven’t found the world transfer coordinates for "Full Metal Panic".

Of course, I did assign him some help, a full-function spaceship maintenance robot made by Little Baobao while doing her homework. Although the girl still has a long way to go before growing into a qualified Mother Machine, the robots she makes are truly remarkable. Under the influence of underlying violent tendencies in Bubbles’ genes, the maintenance robots crafted by Little Baobao come equipped with a complete set of heavy soldier gear, including machine guns, laser cannons, particle guns, resonance generators, and photon cannons. On the battlefield, aside from maintaining spaceships, this robot could handle just about anything...

Clearly, this "helper" robot wasn’t sent to assist with polishing the ship. It was sent to watch over Sagara Sousuke. I really can’t feel at ease letting this bomb maniac near my precious ships...

"All right, Sagara Sousuke has been punished. If we can’t find his homeland, then what he faces is..."

"Lifelong hard labor," Beodar said stiffly. "Just, Netherworld Lord."

The most tiring part about talking to Spartans is that you have to construct a sentence that makes grammatical sense in your own head from their terse words. Sure, military talk should be concise and clear, but come on, would speaking one more word get them pregnant?

Er, my apologies for the crude expression.

"Now let’s discuss your issues," I shifted my headache-inducing gaze to Beodar’s forearm, which smelled of cumin. While speaking with Sagara Sousuke just now, I had also been exchanging information with Big Sister. According to her observation, the troubles that this Spartan warrior could cause were no less serious than those posed by Sergeant Sagara, "Why don’t you stay in the barracks assigned to you? Why don’t you use the clothing and daily necessities we provide? And most importantly... why don’t you take baths?"

I’m beginning to doubt that Sagara Sousuke burying landmines was merely for "vigilance." Could it be that he was so infuriated by the Spartans’ stench that he retaliated?

"Spartans need none of those!"

Beodar answered my questions in just eight words.

In other words, true Spartan warriors don’t touch anything that might make them weak, right? Including comfortable barracks, nice clothes, hot showers, shampoo, pirated discs of accomplished female artists, and stereo systems—all these things you don’t want, do you?

But you can’t just lay out sleeping mats in front of the barracks every day, make open bonfires on the streets, insist on charring every meal to a crisp, and what’s more, you still haven’t washed off the bloodstains on your bodies!

When I brought up these objective facts and subtly inquired if there was a Spartan custom that included "never bathing in one’s lifetime," Beodar finally spoke at length, "The battle is still ongoing! Before victory, the blood must not be washed away!"

Ouch—my teeth hurt.

The battle is still ongoing? So, these muscle-headed fools firmly believe this magical and eerie place is the Netherworld, and after their "deaths," the fierce slaughter is still raging on the battlefield, waiting for them to resurrect and secure the victory. Therefore, until I resurrect these Spartans, they will forever think their battle is still in progress and live by the standards of the battlefield until they return and become a mangled piece of history?

Spartans are such sensitive beings!

However, when I think about it, the Xyrin Apostles around me seem to have the same mentality, maybe even more severe... Sandora led her guards in battle for tens of thousands of years; the Xyrin Soldier who mistakenly ended up on Earth kept searching for a way back to the battlefield until the last human civilization was extinguished. I am absolutely certain that if I give the two Imperial Soldiers standing guard outside a mission that would take a million years to complete, they would execute it without hesitation, even if the entire universe was destroyed and only the two of them remained.

These soldiers, although seemingly unreasonable, deserve respect—if only they would take a bath.

"When will we be able to return to the battlefield?"

This was always the topic Beodar brought up proactively. Just as I can’t understand Pandora’s fervor for planting the Imperial Army Flag all over the world, I similarly can’t comprehend their eagerness to rush to the battlefield and face death. They are indeed going to face death: From our conversations, I already knew that this might be the final battle for the Spartan City, with Beodar leading some of the finest troops remaining to the Spartans—all of them. Knowing full well that returning meant dying "a second time," why can’t he just settle down properly in Shadow City for a few days?

But these are thoughts to keep to myself, definitely not to be voiced out loud.

Looking at the expression on Beodar’s face, I knew that if I suggested he enjoy the comfort of the "Netherworld," even if he had just respectfully called me "Netherworld Lord" a second earlier, the next second, he would charge at me, seeing me as a devil tempting him into corruption.

"Be a little patient," I said, rubbing my temples. "You must have seen how the transient population of the ’Netherworld’ has increased so drastically recently. I reckon there weren’t even this many people in the entire Spartan City."

"As soon as possible."

Beodar nodded, dropped those two words and stood up to walk toward the door.

Great, he’s acting more high and mighty than I am.

However, our friend in the iron underpants seems to be forgetting... that door opens inwards.

After sending away the temporarily subdued Spartan Commander, my headache didn’t subside much.

Compared to the overall situation with the transmigrators, who were turning the entire Shadow City into a marketplace, the friction between the Spartans and Sagara Sousuke was just a minor sidetrack. In fact, in the last few days, with more and more transmigrators arriving, cultural differences and worldview conflicts were becoming increasingly severe. There’s been a never-ending stream of minor clashes for various reasons. For a simple example, just yesterday at noon, three Jedi Knights almost came to blows with folks from the Blood Crow Warband, all because the Jedi declared that the "Emperor" the Blood Crow was talking about was trash. If it wasn’t for Duan Di and Bashen An knocking some sense into them, the consequences could have been... well, too grim to think about.

Those guys are still lying in the medical center.

These transmigrators aren’t like the Imperial Vassal Army, such as the Salvation Army, who can eliminate racial barriers and live together harmoniously. As Lin Xue says, right now, Shadow City is full of brawling scum from a "Hundred Schools of Thought"—practically each person’s mindset is drastically different from the next. Disciples of the various schools during the Warring States period often spilled their brains out on the streets, let alone now in Shadow City where there are over two hundred people who can use telekinesis alone. Although the Imperial Soldiers’ heavy-handed supervision keeps these otherworlders in check, I’m genuinely concerned that they might just start some kind of a cultural renaissance movement—a hooligan version.

"My head is killing me..."

Stepping out of the neighborhood committee office and looking at the seemingly peaceful transmigrator residential area in the distance, my head felt heavy as lead.

And in the moment when I turned back, a tall figure just happened to pass by not far ahead.

"Huh? Du Dao Kazuko?"

I recognized her in an instant and couldn’t help but call out. The girl in front heard me and immediately tensed up in a defensive stance, only to relax after seeing it was me, then a look of surprise crossed her face.

"Ah, is that... His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire?"

Uttering such an exclamation, the girl who always had a maidenly air about her showed an awkward, uneasy demeanor, as if she wanted to bow but didn’t quite know which etiquette to follow, obviously flustered at the sudden encounter with the "Imperial Leader," who was theoretically far beyond her reach.

"Relax, relax," I waved my hand nonchalantly at her, "Speaking of which, do you stay near here? Why not in the residential area ahead? Finding a lively place in Shadow City isn’t easy, you know."

"It’s better to be in a quiet place," Du Dao Kazuko said softly with a slight nod of her head, "I’m not really used to being around crowds anymore; plus, I always have this fear that they could suddenly turn into... Sorry, I..."

"It’s okay," I said with an understanding smile, "I know a bit about what you’ve been through, and it’s normal to have such aftereffects. But if you never manage to return to a normal life, you’ll never be able to escape the nightmares... Hm? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Du Dao Kazuko’s face showed a trace of embarrassment as she frantically waved her hands, "It’s nothing, I just didn’t expect... that you would be so approachable..."

I "..."

"Before, hearing about the Emperor from that officer named Sivis and many other Imperial Soldiers, their fervor for battle and their reviews of you made me always think that the leader of such an Empire would be a very unapproachable and awfully intimidating person, but it turns out you’re quite amiable."

I: "...Exactly how did Sivis and those Soldiers describe me?"

"The mightiest king ah, Destroyer of the Abyss, the supreme Leader and such..."

The aforementioned three lines would provide Lin Xue with topics of conversation for the coming half a month.

"Don’t listen to their nonsense," I said, scratching my cheek awkwardly and feeling my old face heat up, "By the way, are you getting used to living here? Those Imperial Soldiers are quite rough, you know. I’ve heard that eighty percent of you were knocked unconscious and brought here."

"No, not at all. Although they seem very fierce, they are all very reliable warriors," said Du Dao Kazuko, before she paused with a hesitant expression, "Just that, I want to know... with so many people from the Otherworld coming to your territory... is just setting up a sanctuary really the end of it?"

"Of course not," I shook my head, "A large influx of transmigrators can have serious consequences..."

There and then, I told Du Dao about the so-called parallel world, Otherworld, and the concept of world balance which I myself didn’t quite full understand. To be honest, I was already feeling annoyed and now I just treated it as venting.

"To summarize, the world is a precise yet fragile registry system where each element should have its own place. A large influx of alien objects from the Otherworld is like a highly poisonous substance to our world system. Now, the World Tree—which is the source of this world—has been polluted, and the only way to solve this pollution is to send the contaminants back to where they belong."

"So you’re saying," a deep and trembling voice came from beside me, "soon, you’re going to send the people here back to their original worlds... is that right?"

"Ah, that’s pretty much it, and in fact, a small group of transmigrators was sent back yesterday afternoon," I recalled Shana, the unapologetic girl who knew to bid farewell politely before leaving, although she extorted enough pineapple buns to feed a Sandora, but being friends with Shana was also not easy, "As soon as we have located the coordinates of the original world, we will send the transmigrators back... Eh? What about you..."

I turned around and was startled by the sight. Du Dao Kazuko, usually calm and gentle, was looking at me with a fearful and pleading expression, which really shocked me.

"Is it... is it really necessary to go back? Isn’t there any other way, without having to..."

In an instant, I understood what she meant.

Were we really going to send them back to the world from "Academy Apocalypse"? Wasn’t that the same as committing murder?

Most transmigrators were now longing to return home, filled with unease and vigilance towards this strange and eerie world, but this certainly didn’t include people like Du Dao Kazuko: those who absolutely didn’t want to return to their hellish homelands!

But letting them stay here... still required a consultation with Dingdang.

"Come with me," instead of directly addressing Du Dao’s pleading look, I simply gestured to her and then headed in a certain direction, "It’s just not far ahead."

After a few minutes of hurried walking, I led the bewildered Du Dao Kazuko around to the front of the quarantine barrier in the residential area. This was the point where transmigrators were stopped, with armed Imperial Soldiers and Guard Towers every ten meters to prevent any transmigrators from getting close.

"Whew... whew..."

Even though I deliberately slowed down, the light jog all the way here left Du Dao Kazuko slightly breathless. She looked at the grating in front of us, resting her hands on her knees, and asked, "This place... what is this..."

"The mecha troops and guard towers that you usually see are just civilian devices," I waved my hand to open the energy grating, "Beyond this is the real military restricted zone of the Empire."

Walking through the grating, what appeared before us was an unprecedentedly vast clearing. The ground was densely packed with mysterious glowing runes, and a kind of ancient and tremendous pressure permeated the air, causing Du Dao Kazuko to inadvertently hold her breath.

"To avoid causing trouble, there’s a layer of spatial camouflage here," I took Du Dao Kazuko and stood on two circular rune circles, "Now, we should have a word with the Lord God of this world."

"Ah—"

As expected, when that gigantic tree, so large it covered the entire sky and with a trunk like a thousand-foot cliff, came into view, Du Dao Kazuko let out an itchingly sharp exclamation.

"Hey! Inside a 500-meter radius of the God’s house, no shouting, rioting, or photography allowed, got it?" I fished my ear, irritated by Du Dao Kazuko’s shriek, and said with a side glance, "And, don’t pat or feed any wild Lord Gods."

"What... What is this!" Du Dao Kazuko wore an expression of utter shock, covering her mouth and struggling to lookup, trying to see if that thing that looked like a "big tree" had a top at all. But all she could see was the vast trunk stretching beyond the limit of her vision into a green sea high above, so far that it exceeded the visibility of an ordinary person.

Standing under the World Tree and looking up, even giants would feel like mere ants. That’s why Pandora never came here—she would never admit that Dingdang, who was much smaller than her on a regular basis, could also massively outdo her in height, especially after knowing that Dingdang had a Divine Form that was one meter and sixty centimeters tall. Pandora regarded Little Douding as one of the formidable opponents in her life.

Here’s a friendly interjection: by that standard, Pandora’s formidable opponents on Earth alone have already exceeded the four-billion mark.

"The World Tree, the root of the entire world, the place that manages all laws, like the law of universal gravitation which is recorded on a leaf on its southeast branches (Dingdang refers to that as the integrated driver). Your world probably has similar mechanisms, but in most cases, mortals are unable to peer into this ultimate mystery."

"Wow—" Du Dao Kazuko gasped in surprise, unbelieving. However, someone who had been through a zombie siege and transmigrated to another world was different; she quickly accepted this reality and turned her attention to... a young girl who was walking out from the trunk of the tree.

With a face beautiful as an angel and a noble aura like that of a deity, the green-haired girl in a flowing light green dress walked towards us from the vines under the World Tree, her steps light amid the overwhelming spirit of life, and joyfully pounced over: "Ah Jun! Dingdang is hungry! The leaves of the World Tree don’t taste good at all, Dingdang wants chocolate cake!"

Me: "..."

Do you think you’re Sandora or something?! As the Life Goddess, at least take good care of the World Tree, idiot!

"This is the Lord God," I awkwardly unwrapped the octopus-like Dingdang from myself and explained to the astonished Du Dao Kazuko, "It’s not a simple task to allow illegal immigrants to settle in this world. It’s better to get this little one’s approval."

Believing it or not, Du Dao Kazuko had to force herself to accept the reality that the energetic girl in front of her was the legendary Lord God. She had already endured too many inconceivable events in the past few days; now her spirit was honed to near numbness. The Lord God is the Lord God, as long as that mysterious giant tree is real—that’s what Du Dao Kazuko kept telling herself.

"Pop~"

A burst of green light flashed, and the Lord God, who had just been curled up in my arms as a girl searching for candy, suddenly changed into a three-inch-tall figure. Dingdang, flapping her wings, jumped onto my shoulder and sheepishly laughed, "Ahaha, Dingdang’s time is up..."

Hey, Du Dao, what’s with that look on your face? Don’t dismiss a bean bun as mere sustenance, and don’t take a Lord God lightly!

(To be continued... For more Chapters, please visit www.qidian.com. Support the author, support genuine reading!)