Xyrin Empire
Chapter 553: Parting Ways at the Train Station - Farewell to the Second Uncle Edition

Chapter 553: Chapter 553: Parting Ways at the Train Station - Farewell to the Second Uncle Edition

In the spotlight, a family of distant cousins just returned from a trip abroad, happily lugging their bags off the train...

Cough, cough, cough! Clear out the nonsense about my distant cousin for me! Just returning from the battlefield loaded with honors as the Leader personally led the charge, right? It’s definitely so, isn’t it?

Walking through the central zone of the Mars Sanctuary, I was still in a severe state of loss. Historians tell us that people who mess up their showboating like this will be in pain for quite some time...

"Well, don’t dwell on it," Lin Xue said in a casual tone, patting my shoulder, "After all, that’s always been our image."

"Get lost, who’s ’our’ with you?" I rolled my eyes and said.

Big Sister sighed beside me, "Are you all children?"

Before I could utter a word, Big Sister entered her second phase of despair, shaking her head with a worried look, "Anyway, I’m just a motherly figure..."

So, I started glaring fiercely at the other culprit, a super energetic girl whose mouth runs faster than her brain, and who thinks with her wisdom teeth.

Qianqian was busy negotiating with Little Baobao, trying to trade her bubble gum for the other’s Alpine Lollipop, completely ignoring my kingly gaze.

"How long will it take for this sanctuary to become fully operational?"

Giving up on pulling Qianqian out of her childish world, I turned my head and asked Sivis, who was accompanying us.

"This ecological colonization ball is of an ultra-high adaptability type. Once deployed onto the surface of a planet, it can operate automatically. Its molecular constructors can analyze the surrounding planetary environment at a very high speed and alter the operational mode of the entire ecological ball’s underground factory system. At the same time, building a large number of supporting production bases within the underground cavities of the ecological ball, this process only takes three days. The satellite systems paired with the ecological ball will complete multiple scans of the entire planet within twenty-four hours and submit an archive containing resources, climate, planetary motion patterns, and more, to guide further self-adjustments of the ecological ball. Including the construction of underground cavities, the whole process takes about seven days.

However, if it’s just for housing these refugees, in fact, the conditions are already sufficient as is. The colonization system, after modifications, already has perfect living conditions and a large reserve of supplies, essentially ready for habitation and life at any time. Aside from being a bit crowded, the refugees’ lives won’t be affected in any way."

"Good, very good," I nodded in satisfaction, "How are the refugees arranged? How are they faring?"

"According to the emergency shelter protocol, everyone is placed under militarized management. Sanctuary residents are assigned according to the boarding numbers they had when they left Earth, canceling all class titles and their implications," Sivis pointed to a huge projection at the end of the corridor displaying scrolling information, "Only function-specific group names like ’Physical Laborer,’ ’Researcher,’ ’Fighter,’ ’Knowledge Holder’ are retained to form a machine-like society. The sanctuary is currently commanded by the colonization system’s main computer, an intelligent calculator named ’Vernon A6.’ Equipped with a disaster recovery module, this device will treat humans as inefficient parts, allocating each person’s daily activities, allowing the entire civilization to be preserved and developed as much as possible."

"It’s not a good idea for humanity, a flexible and creative species," I shook my head, the approach chosen by Sivis might seem efficient and perfect to the Xyrin People, but it only reminded me of the Fallout series and the Metro Cities, "It’s fine to use this method to stabilize refugees initially, but how to rebuild this civilization—you’d better listen to Lola Stewart’s suggestions and Reynolds’ experience. My goal is to revive humanity, not to turn them into a twisted machine race hundreds of years later, nor do I want that ’Vernon A6’ to be smashed into pieces by a group of pipe-wielding freedom fighters when it’s about to roll the end credits."

"Yes." Although not quite understanding my words, Sivis obediently nodded.

"Hey, Ah Jun," said Qianqian, who had just successfully tricked Little Baobao out of some candy, tugging at my sleeve, "Did we forget something?"

"Forgot what?"

My pace halted, then suddenly I also felt as if I had forgotten something.

Rubbing my chin and frowning with thought, ten minutes later a lightning bolt struck, illuminating my mind:

"You brat, I haven’t eaten yet!"

"Ah Jun, I want to eat too!" The first to respond was, of course, Sandora. As soon as the word "eat" left my lips, that girl’s eyes were shooting dynamic light waves!

"Eat what?!" Lin Xue, without any concern for the fact that I was still injured, came at me with an instant kick, "Wood, where is that not-so-tall but not-so-small doll?"

I was floored—almost forgot about that fellow! If we were to simply return to the capital without a word, although I’m not sure if the Rose Maiden would starve to death, Mercury Lamp would definitely bury this faltering human civilization with feathers before she starved!

"You guys wait, I’ll go get that girl back!"

After dropping that line, I took off running, leaving behind a group of beautiful women of various sizes staring blankly in the direction I disappeared, except for Little Baobao. That girl’s reaction speed was lightning-fast. I hadn’t even hit eighty miles, and she jumped out of Lady Shining’s arms, hanging onto my neck.

Three minutes later, I came back.

"Sivis, where is Containment A163?" I asked, looking completely fed-up, while Little Baobao on my neck turned her head to happily greet everyone with babbling noises.

"My God!!" Lola, who had been stimulated by us all along, finally reached her limit. The Bible in her hands, which she was using to hypnotize herself, completely lost its effectiveness, and the everlasting seventeen-year-old archbishop looked up to the skies, her face filled with inner turmoil, "Is everything that happened today a test from You? Please pardon the weakness of Your believer; I really can’t take it anymore!"

After dropping such a blasphemous remark, Lola Stewart shot off toward the southwest in a streak of yellow light—definitely over two hundred miles per hour. There were no traffic cops in the sanctuary, but if there were, she would’ve been pulled over a long time ago!

After getting the exact location of the containment specifically used for "imprisoning" dolls, and casually unhooking the octopus-like Little Baobao from my neck to stuff her into Lady Shining’s arms, I also turned into a streak of yellow light and vanished, traveling at two hundred and twenty miles per hour.

"This is the place," I found the target not far from the central functioning tower of the city, a metallic door covered in dust peeking out from the ground like the entrance to an underground shopping street. After confirming the highest command, the pre-locked door silently slid open, revealing a sloping passage downward, "Mercury Lamp! You there?"

My empty echoes rang through the empty descending corridor, not a single doll to be seen, not even a Barbie.

"Mercury Lamp!?" I shouted the doll’s name while hurriedly running down the lengthy passageway—my body hadn’t recovered, and I almost fell down because I didn’t step firmly, "Where are you? Come out; let’s go home!"

Still no response. Looking at the empty containment hall and the transporter in standby mode in the center of the hall, alarm bells went off in my head: Damn, she didn’t actually starve to death, did she?

Ahem, I’m backpedaling; let me be humble in repentance. Actually, I was just getting a bit hungry myself; I haven’t eaten till now.

"How strange, where did that fellow go?"

Wandering around the empty hall, I muttered to myself quietly. I had definitely received a confirmation reply when I transported her to this coordinate (the content of the reply was: You bastard! Idiot! Stupid human! Let me out!), so she shouldn’t be lost. Where was everyone? Did Mercury Lamp really blast through two meters of armor made entirely of interstellar alloy and Star Gold Stone plates using her feather-metal storm?

...Cut it out, what a joke—that’s geologist territory, not Mercury Lamp’s.

Just as these thoughts caused me to zone out, a whooshing sound suddenly came from behind my head.

Trouble! This thought had just flashed through my mind, but my body was too weak to react in time, and I had already been firmly hit by the attacker from behind. The sensation on my back accurately informed me of the opponent’s size: a Barbie doll 0.7691 Pandora tall!

"You despicable human! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! To think you’d leave me here all alone! And now you even dare to come in!" The doll firmly locked herself onto my back, evading my attempts to grab her down due to her agile size advantage, "Don’t think I’m easy to bully! Today I’m going to let you know just how formidable I, Mercury Lamp, the first doll, am!"

"Bang bang smack smack clatter bang clang—"

Sure enough, head tapping was what Mercury Lamp excelled at the most. After discovering that none of her attacks could damage those out-of-spec BTs, our very impressive and noble first doll turned her harmless little paws into her standard weapon. With the attitude that all attacks had the same effect anyway, she chose the combat skill with the best tactile sensation: Mercury Lamp Head Tap Combo, One Hundred and Eight Hits!

If it weren’t for my skull being as solid as a rock, Mercury Lamp would have turned me into Tathagata by now.

"Hey, hey, hey! You arrogant doll! Are you trying to assassinate the king? Even linking nine clans to your crime wouldn’t be enough... Hey! No scratching allowed!"

"This is only the first round of punishment!" Mercury Lamp’s furious voice rang out again. I tried several times but couldn’t manage to scrape this incredibly agile little thing off my back, which only made her more arrogant, "This time, I’ll give you a lesson you’ll never forget... Ah woof!"

Eh? Ah woof?

Two seconds later, I finally realized what this arrogant guy was up to—a biting attack!

"Holy shit! Are you from Sandora’s clan or has that holy girl who read over a hundred thousand dirty books soul transferred into you? Even Qianqian, Bubbles, and Sandora have never launched this kind of bizarre attack!" Although it didn’t hurt, Mercury Lamp’s sudden biting attack was more of a shock to my soul, strictly speaking, to my spirit of banter. I finally caught the little head fixed onto the back of my own, but I didn’t dare use too much force for fear of hurting her, "Let go, I’m a patient, you know!"

Without warning, the furious Mercury Lamp suddenly stopped. I was still dazed when a strange tone came from behind, "A patient? You... are injured?"

"Uh, a minor issue, you know, the Earth’s interior was infested with Abyss energy. Met some trouble while exterminating that stuff."

Big trouble—a rogue goddess nearly drove me to death.

It suddenly occurred to me that, to prevent her from running around, Mercury Lamp was kept in this shelter all the time. She couldn’t even see the 3D blockbuster ’Super Galaxy War’ projected in the sky, so let alone knowing I was injured, she probably wasn’t aware that we had just fought a massive space battle.

"A minor issue?" Mercury Lamp climbed up to my shoulder with practiced ease, as if navigating the terrain (?), and settled down, possibly without even realizing when she started getting accustomed to this slightly intimate interaction, "Do you think I’m an idiot?"

"Okay, okay, you’re really smart," I patted Mercury Lamp’s head like coaxing a child, withdrawing my hand before she could habitually strike, "We had a massive battle with the enemy, and even the Imperial Guards from Shadow Fortress showed up in the end. But don’t worry, we won."

"It’s definitely not that simple!" Mercury Lamp continued to eye me suspiciously, "Even you can get injured, it’s definitely not just a battle, right? Aren’t you supposed to be tough?"

"Um, can I take that as a sign of your trust in me?"

As I spoke, I carried Mercury Lamp out of the shelter, expressing my question.

"Hmph—" Mercury Lamp snorted softly, no longer paying attention to me.

"All right, all right, we’ve finally resolved everything here," I patted Mercury Lamp’s restless little legs kicking around on my chest, feeling that my interaction with her was increasingly moving towards Little Baobao’s pattern, "Let’s go home—by the way, do you want to sleep first? I’ve put your big box in my personal space. Rose Maidens like you can only recover HP while sleeping in the box, right?"

"Idiot! Don’t pollute my precious box with your twisted knowledge!"

"Alright, alright... We have to eat something once we get back. You absolutely won’t believe it, but I had a fight with a god. Back in the day, when Guan Yu chopped Hua Xiong, he at least got to drink Erguotou, but when I came back from a fight with a god, I didn’t even have time to drink water. I woke up and was immediately dragged out to stand on stage like a government insider, foolishly grinning, and then I had to rush out to find you... Hey, are you listening?"

Silence by my side.

Out of curiosity, I rolled my eyes and glanced sideways, and what came into view was the small, serene, and gentle face of Mercury Lamp—don’t get the wrong idea; she fell asleep.

"Just like that, sitting on my shoulder and hugging my head, she fell asleep. It’s quite a secure position, eh?"

"This gal, she’s actually kinda cute when she’s asleep."

I wanted to shrug my shoulders but was afraid I might dislodge her, so I ended up giving a half-paralyzed shrug with the other half of my body—I’m a person full of obsessions and troublesome issues—Mercury Lamp, once asleep, revealed a sense of quietness and softness that was surprising, far from her usual icy, aloof demeanor. Maybe this was what she was like before her personality changed? The gentle, kind-hearted, and somewhat timid Rose Maiden’s first Doll?

Hey, wait a minute, something’s not right here, right? It seems like Rose Maidens can only truly rest peacefully in their... ahem, big boxes, and even an annual treasured limited edition Rose Maiden like Mercury Lamp follows this setting. Luo Zhen really messed up not designing them with a function to charge without a matching charging socket—hmm, how did Mercury Lamp fall asleep?

This question had plagued me all the way until I got back to the Shuttle’s docking spot. Mercury Lamp suddenly woke up and started yanking my hair, and I still hadn’t figured it out. Could it be that Luo Zhen also designed her with some weird functions like "Travel Charging Mode" and "Standby Energy-Saving Mode"?

"Hey, Sayaka, and all you Passerby A, B, C, D, folks."

From a distance, I could see a small group of familiar figures next to the Shuttle’s docking spot, none other than the Little Strong Team of seven from the academy. And yes, the two policewomen we rescued, as well as strangers A, B, C, D—Wait a second, is this the power of the protagonist’s halo or what? How come the survival rate of the people the Little Strong Team knew from the original story is so high? Out of 7 billion people, only 280,000 survived, including these A, B, C, D folks.

"As expected, that’s some greeting." Kazuo Komuro heaved a long sigh, facepalming.

Sayaka Du Dao looked disheartened as she spoke to the nearby Passerby A, B, C, and D, "I just knew it would be like this. Who could have imagined he was the leader in that recent battle?"

Sorry to disappoint you all, but your 18-year-old high school girl showing such a disappointed face to the illustrious Leader is pretty rude, you know!

Cough, cough, anyway, my greeting just now has completely shifted the atmosphere from triumphant return to bidding farewell to your second uncle at the train station.

"How have you all decided?" I looked at Sayaka Du Dao and the others, "Staying in the Mars Sanctuary or living in Shadow Fortress? I have to admit, both places aren’t exactly cozy environments for the average person, but the living conditions are definitely sufficient, and Dingdang has already processed your paperwork. You guys can choose whichever place you prefer to settle in."

"I’m staying," the first to reply was the school doctor, Ju Chuan Jingxiang, "My friends are here, and the sanctuary probably needs medical professionals. Living in a Mars City was always a childhood dream of mine."

"Uh, didn’t expect you had such a naive dream when you were a child." Minami Rika immediately looked at her askance.

"We’re also staying," Kazuo Komuro and Miyamoto Reiko chimed in next, "And Alice too. Even though living conditions in the Mars Sanctuary may be a bit harsh, we still... hope to live within human society. Besides, living here, as Dr. Ju Chuan said, might be a Chapter in life worth looking forward to."

"I’m going to follow in your footsteps!" Fatty Hirano finally found an opportunity to speak and jumped out with a suspiciously radiant face, "I’ll never forget that scene for as long as I live! Fireworks and youth, ah, please must grant my request, let my burning passion blaze among steel and flames... erm—"

"Sorry, my hand slipped." With a déjà vu-inducing comment, Takayama Sayaka discreetly put away the hammer that for all we know appeared for plot reasons, "But we’ve decided to go back to Shadow City. Our families are... no longer with us. We don’t feel we belong at a sanctuary built on a foreign planet, but in Shadow City, I’ve met several Sister Misakas, so starting a new life there sounds good."

"Lastly, what about you, Sayaka Du Dao?"

My gaze finally settled on Sayaka Du Dao, this girl with a very distinct demeanor who had been quietly listening from the beginning, her face as unfathomable as an ancient well, impossible to discern her thoughts.

"There’s nothing here I’m attached to," Sayaka Du Dao glanced at her comrades-in-arms behind her and at the jagged skyscrapers against the backdrop of the crimson land, "If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay by your side. My power may be minimal, but I hope to use it to repay your kindness in some small way. Women of the Du Dao Family don’t like being in debt to others."

At that moment, two things struck me like lightning. The first hit my brain: I thought of the Rogue Goddess, Bingdisi, who claimed she never owed anyone anything. The second hit my arm: it was Little Tiger Teeth’s nip...

You won’t die if you don’t speak in such an ambiguous manner, will you! (To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please log on to www.qidian.com with more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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