Xyrin Empire
Chapter 529: Lilina’s Star Trek

Chapter 529: Chapter 529: Lilina’s Star Trek

"Uh, so that’s how it is..."

After listening to the mutual descriptions between Kazuko Du Dao and myself, Dingdang flapped its small wings rapidly behind it, sitting cross-legged in the air like a thoughtful little adult, which caused Kazuko Du Dao to frequently glance over due to its comically divine appearance.

"Because their own world has already faced doomsday, they can’t go back, can they? Ah Jun, right, in that case, we absolutely can’t send them back; that would be too cruel!"

"So, is there any way to let them stay in Shadow City?"

I posed my own question, which I thought was quite easy to solve. After all, many outsiders had already taken up residence in Shadow City—look at Sister Misaka and the Salvation Army members, none of them were local residents, yet they lived here happily, didn’t they?

"It’s difficult," surprisingly, contrary to my expectations, I thought as long as Dingdang nodded like she did for Sister Misaka and others to settle down, it would be easy, but there were complications, "Transmigrators, referring to those who transfer here without the gods’ prior approval, are different from the Misakas. When the latter came, Dingdang knew beforehand and thus, the world had already registered them as guests. The same goes for the people in Shadow City and Avalon now; Dingdang had completed their registration in advance. However, for transmigrators, they arrive in this world as illegal immigrants, and even if Dingdang agrees to their residency now, the world will still record their history of illegal entry..."

That is to say, the Misakas, having processed the necessary paperwork in advance, are legal immigrants and won’t be deported, while the transmigrators are like smugglers seeking temporary residency permits from the authorities; even if they have relatives in all local departments, their identity remains that of smugglers.

Unless, like the incident with Lilina years ago, a near complete spiritual transfer occurred, becoming a smuggler is the inevitable predicament for all transmigrators.

Moreover, this record-keeping seems to be completed by the world itself, making it impossible—or more accurately put, beyond Dingdang’s ability to change.

Hearing this hard-to-accept truth from the little "God" in front of her, Kazuko Du Dao stiffened all over, despite not fully understanding, and cast a pleading look this way, feeling a helplessness she had never even felt while fighting alone amidst a zombie siege, wielding a katana during past crisis, bewildering the girl who should still be enjoying high school life.

I understood her current state, though referred to as the Little Strong Team (...), they from Academy Apocalypse were merely high school students. Perhaps in desperate situations, they could muster superhuman courage and strength, but those are just spikes of adrenaline. They’re not commandos, and a slight relaxation could instantly bring down their accumulated courage. I’d bet that if they were sent back to the zombie-encircled world after a few days of complete relaxation in Shadow City, they wouldn’t even last a day.

Even Kazuko Du Dao, a strong girl often respectfully called "Senior Sister," was no exception. Her sword skills and so-called "violent tendencies" couldn’t change the fact that she was only eighteen—flying a Gundam at fourteen is nothing more than the wild dreams of otaku. Minors should be enjoying their youth at home, in the sunshine and rain—although my Little Baobao was just a year and a half when she beat Gilgamesh.

I digress a lot this time.

Confronted with Du Dao’s pleading look, I just shrugged, showing a "just wait and see" expression.

Oh girl, you don’t yet understand this world’s God; she’s someone who...

"Dingdang, think about it, there seems to be a loophole in this rule..."

...firmly exploits loopholes in the divine laws and even her own rules, Lord God!

Customarily exploiting loopholes in divine laws, Lord God, unabashedly began researching what loopholes could be exploited this time. Believe it or not, assigning Dingdang as the world’s Management God must have been the display of the Father God being drunk, but indisputably, this aspect of Dingdang always brings me quite a few surprises.

"Dingdang will ask others, oh," the Little Goddess pondered painfully for a long time without finding a way for the smugglers to circumvent the world records and process their visas. However, it seemed she still had other methods, "Hmm, Dingdang thought she placed that thing here... Ah, there it is! This can be used to contact them now!"

What Dingdang dug out was a small crystal about the size of a peanut, held in Little One’s hands—perhaps this was the telephone used by gods? A device capable of making cross-plane long-distance calls?

"Hey hey! Is Tiffany there? Oh, you’re her Archbishop, I’m Dingdang... Mmhmm, so Tiffany, you’ve become a Management God too, huh? Dingdang has something to ask you about transmigrants..."

"Ahaha, Zaki Guli’an, it’s me, Dingdang... What are you talking about? Dingdang can graduate too, just 20,000 years later than you... Never mind that, do you know any loopholes in the version V3.11 of the world population registration template? I missed that class when I was skipping school with Tiffany..."

"Kizna, it’s Little Doudou here, heard you finally became a trainee teacher, your cheat sheet skills have improved! Is the teacher there? No, no, Dingdang hasn’t caused any trouble recently, uh, the teacher went to play checkers with Father God? That’s great... no, I mean, that’s too bad. Could you go to the teacher’s study, check the blue bookshelf at the very bottom row, third from the left, there’s a book there... Nah, Dingdang has never stolen test papers! Because Dingdang never passed any exams... definitely not that I stole the wrong class’s test papers! Alright, that’s it, I have to hang up, long-distance and roaming are quite expensive, I’ll come to play with you when I have time!"

"Emperor... Your Majesty?" Du Dao Kazuko touched my arm dumbfounded, her face in despair, "Um, this little... Little God, what has he been doing all this time?"

"Just smile, all you need to do is smile."

I forced a smile, rigidly tugging at the corners of my mouth, trying to ignore Lord God who was busy greeting his old buddies over the phone, pals he used to skip classes with. Any sacred image that little rascal had managed to create in my mind just vanished.

I had a bit of faith in the Divine Realm before, but now it seems, since I entered City Second Middle School at the age of thirteen, I have been enjoying a Divine Level education? From Dingdang, I see the shadows of myself and the fatty who sat in front of me back in the days what a punk!

"Phew..." After what seemed like a 45-minute phone marathon, Dingdang let out a sigh of relief then rubbed her entire body against my nose while wearing a triumphant smile, completely oblivious to the awkward expression on her master’s face, "Dingdang got it sorted! There really were loopholes!"

"Alright, alright, just tell me what to do?"

"It’s simple, first, let illegal immigrants return to their original world, then Dingdang will place a ’judgment ended’ mark here, so those transmigrants won’t have any criminal records," Dingdang said proudly; I, however, felt like I had heard this plan somewhere before, "Then Dingdang will help them apply for visas here, and they can return legally. In other words, just by walking around the border once, they can change their nationality! Of course, the actual operation is a bit tricky, we’d need to get a certification from a supervisor at the upper Void node, but Dingdang will find a way!"

No doubt about it, this scheme Dingdang mentioned sounded very familiar...

"Dingdang, you are the Life Goddess, right?"

I gently pressed the little one’s head with the pad of my index finger, and as she cozily leaned in, I said with heartfelt emphasis.

"Mhm, mhm!" Little One nodded her head vigorously.

"The Life Goddess should be the epitome of sanctity and beauty..."

"Hehe, Ah Jun is praising Dingdang! Dingdang is so awesome, right?" Little One’s face flushed as she stood proudly puffed up.

"Then how do you explain all the political intrigue, smuggling crimes, pulling strings and backdoor dealings I’ve started sensing since a while ago!"

Save the last bit of beauty in my heart, you idiot goddess!

"Eh?" Dingdang tilted her little head in confusion, completely clueless about what I was talking about.

Well, just as Monina once told me, Dingdang’s history of growth is a history of crime; this little thing was born a lawbreaker in the Divine Realm, a born criminal genius...

"Anyway, let’s just proceed with this plan," I patted Du Dao Kazuko, who still seemed a bit slow on the uptake, on the shoulder, astonishing this explosively cool young lady who displayed incredible maturity at just eighteen, "I’ll send people to take you back first, to go through the procedures, and then come back—Right, maybe I can send some Shaman Priests with you, they might be able to solve the biochemical crisis over there..."

"The last thing I said seemed nice, but it was just a consolation. The speed of the biohazard outbreak is astonishing. According to the information provided by Du Dao Kazuko when she arrived, the world of ’Academy Apocalypse’ was already filled with dead bodies all over the Earth, and the earliest we could get the spatial coordinates was in a few months. By then..."

"Even if the entire Azeroth Shaman Corps went there, there wouldn’t be anything left to save."

"Uh, Your Majesty... is that really okay?"

After being stunned for a while, Du Dao Kazuko finally digested what she had experienced and roughly understood what the little deity in front of her had been doing. Her first reaction was: Is that even possible?!

"Absolutely, it is possible," I nodded understandingly, "You didn’t see this idiotic God have to restart the timeline because he entered a code wrong. Our bunch is really so unreliable... Holy moly! Dingdang, are you really biting?!"

"Pfft!"

Du Dao, who had been stunned for a while, couldn’t help but burst into laughter. The gloom that had lingered on her face finally dispersed, revealing the true radiance that should belong to a high school girl, as if the future suddenly unfolded in dazzling brilliance.

Ah, such a brilliant light, it’s blinding my eyes!

"Wood! I was frantically searching for you everywhere, and here you are, old cow nibbling on fresh grass, biting into female high schoolers! If Qianqian and Sandora find out, you can wait for doomsday! To protect world peace, I, the Miss here, will definitely have to act for the heavens... Ah! You’re playing dirty!"

I immediately released my spiritual power, turning off the seven trillion energy supply of a hovering vehicle’s headlights that was fiercely shining towards us and broadcasting Miss Lin’s brainless rant. Miss Lin, who was just playing a live cheating game, immediately fell down with the patchy car, disoriented—of course, I was very careful. Truly hurting Lin Xue would, well, hurt a bit, wouldn’t it?

"You really dare to say anything," I said, exasperated but amused, holding down the head of Miss Lin who was angrily coming up to unleash her flurry of attacks, "I don’t believe you can even harbor a ’misunderstanding.’"

"Hmph, regardless, you were definitely raising your fondness level with a female high school student behind your own sister’s back!"

Miss Lin hmphed, elevating my innocent actions to the heights of a romantic plot.

That expression, she couldn’t be jealous, could she?

Noticing my surprised and weird expression, Lin Xue’s face turned a slight shade of red, and then she composed herself into seriousness: "Alright, alright. In consideration of you indeed not being fickle-hearted, I won’t snitch to Qianqian and the others. I came to you because I have something serious."

Seeing Lin Xue’s expression was not joking, I too composed myself and gestured for the slightly embarrassed Du Dao Kazuko to head back first, as I adopted a serious demeanor.

"What’s the matter?"

"Lilina and the Holy Temple Army she was leading lost contact with the base two hours ago and are now confirmed missing."

Minutes later.

In the large living room of the house, the atmosphere was serious.

Big Sister, Qianqian, Sandora, Lin Xue, Pandora... even Taville and Sivis, two permanent residents of Shadow City, had all gathered. The serious ambiance enveloped everyone, and even the usually scatterbrained Qianqian couldn’t help but quiet down.

"Sivis, is there a response?"

"Just now, the final call was completed, and all ships of the Holy Temple Army are silent on all frequencies. We can’t confirm whether the silence is due to them not receiving the call or us not receiving a response." The one known as Pandora’s external thought matrix with straight black hair and the demeanor of a military officer slightly bowed and reported to us solemnly.

"We can confirm that Lilina has disappeared," Sandora’s expression remained as calm as ever, but her eyes clearly showed a deep concern. Standing up, she pointed to a spot on the holographic projection in the center of the living room, "The disappearance point is right here, sixty thousand kilometers on the outer rim of the Kuiper Belt, where Lilina led the fleet that went to support the New Eden Federation for their second super space-time jump. The report sent back from the Kuiper Belt Base confirmed her trajectory; her fleet had made a very brief stop there to correct the space-time beacon and backup the route. Then, under the radar of the latter’s super space-time, they made the jump—no news since."

"I have already deduced possible reasons," before I could even ask, Taville stood up and displayed a series of mathematical models on the holograph, "First is the abnormal space-time beacon index, causing the fleet to enter the wrong space, namely the Otherworld, which fits best with the ’sudden disappearance’ scenario. However, the Eternal Level flagship boarded by Lilina is a very reliable spaceship with multiple backups for its intelligent systems and navigation equipment; the chances of all these systems failing simultaneously are almost zero. The second possibility is encountering a space-time fault, but the Kuiper Belt Base did not record similar space fluctuations, and the Imperial Fleet generally has devices to deal with such space-time faults, so this possibility was also ruled out. Then comes the third possibility, and theoretically the most likely one: related to this massive crossworld event."

"Many Otherworlds connecting with our universe have already weakened our world barrier, and also because the World Tree is currently operating at low power, this universe’s ’immune system’ might have partially shut down. Natural World Gates may appear in a short time, the biggest feature of the ’World Gate’ is that it does not create any abnormal space-time warps, they do not affect the smoothness of space at all, and this may also explain why the Kuiper Belt Base did not detect any nearby space fluctuations—Lilina might have already entered a distant Otherworld—that’s the theory."

Come and go, huh?

This is truly a tangled mess.

"If she has entered an Otherworld, Lilina should be able to restore contact with us very soon," Big Sister’s sedate tone helped ease my somewhat agitated mood, "Sivis, have Shadow Base search for Lilina and their signals at the cross-world contact power, no problem, right?"

"At your command, Mistress," Sivis nodded.

"Girl Lin," I turned my gaze to Lin Xue opposite me, who seemed to be dozing off, "Is Lilina safe now?"

Lin Xue raised her head; a brief flash of white light passed through her eyes. "It’s very safe now, and it will remain safe in the future. However, I still can’t see her exact location or surroundings. Well, Wood, trust in my abilities as a prophet. There’s no need to worry too much. That girl simply got lost in an ordinary way. And about the Holy Temple Army..., although it’s a misfit organization she whimsically assembled, their combat strength and experience are quite reliable."

The combat strength of the Holy Temple Army, huh? That, I don’t really doubt.

Although Dingdang isn’t the most reliable leader, Lilina, serving as her chief priestess, really acted the part. After successfully duping Artemis and others into becoming the Temple Knights, Ascetic Group, Maid Team, Guard Team, and Heresy Court of the Life Goddess Sect, our spirited priestess also turned her attention to the "lost lambs" from other worlds—for instance, the Shamans and Dark Night Elves of Azeroth, the Elves from the Vedis Empire, and a handful of masochistic elements from the Imperial Army. These guys, after being drugged up by Lilina, foolishly became devotees of the Life Goddess Sect. This batch of top-tier characters from various worlds, whom Lilina dubbed the "Holy Temple Army," formed this team without any doctrine, persuasive faith, organized system, or even a consistent decision on whether to call themselves Temple Knights or Holy Temple Knights—which required daily morning meetings to decide. Lilina, you really are something—though your Holy Temple Army got lost on their very first mission.

"Ah Jun, don’t worry," Dingdang hopped down from my head and grasped one of my fingers tightly, shaking it back and forth. "Lilina is a divinely inspired person. Besides, she’s Dingdang’s deputy. No worldly force can kill her, and even those from the Divine Realm can’t harm her, you know~."

"In fact, what I’m really worried about is not that," I confessed my biggest concern. "A naturally malicious fake lolita, a group of disorganized and undisciplined ragtag mercenaries, a bunch of militaristic fanatics who would reshape the Milky Way into a crystal cross, plus one hundred and fifteen fully powered Imperial warships—do you call this a monastery? Isn’t this just asking for trouble?"

Yes, from the beginning, my concern wasn’t that Lilina would encounter trouble—well, at least not my primary concern. Let’s not even mention that the fleet of the Empire and Lilina’s divine entities could already let her traverse any world sideways. Just based on the proverb "Good people don’t last; catastrophes persist for a thousand years," Lilina wouldn’t live beyond next season without disgracing her dark heart, if humanity should surge out of the Milky Way by then. What I truly feared was what sort of trouble this dangerous bunch might stir up in a foreign realm, once out of my supervision.

I guess everyone here, except for Pandora and Visca, shares this concern.

Lilina’s mentality... how should I say it? It could be tied to her experiences, or maybe it’s just pure innate malice. She shows signs of being slightly neurotic.

She enjoys tormenting prisoners, relishes psychological torture, and likes to imagine various scenarios that could push humans to despair (though she could only imagine). Her idea to control the New Eden Federation with religious and technological shackles was originally designed to brainwash Kepulu’s human and Protos natives into war slaves. Unlike Pandora, who simply loves war, or Hei Qianqian, who merely enjoys killing, Lilina, under the title of a priestess, is more like a little demon at heart.

Even though she behaves when I’m watching over her.

Now she’s leading the largest violent gang ever, out of my sight, and this violent gang has always embraced militarism—I hope we can restore contact within a few days. I’m just too uneasy about this girl traveling abroad. (To be continued, if you wish to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. More Chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)