Xyrin Empire
Chapter 562: The Last Day

Chapter 562: Chapter 562: The Last Day

That day, the sun was shining, with some thin clouds, the wind was rather strong but didn’t pick up the dust, the weather was cool and dry, and the ultraviolet radiation was weak—perfect for an outing.

Because we had killed off the rain clouds halfway to K city, some 300 kilometers away.

Let those meteorologists puzzle over it! Today was Mercury Lamp’s day out! I simply didn’t believe it could rain with both a weather controller and Dingdang in command!

And in such a fine climate suitable for an outing, wandering the streets with a huge travel pack should be... uh, it shouldn’t draw too much attention, right?

I am just an urban hiking enthusiast! Yes, an urban hiking enthusiast!

It was all Mercury Lamp’s fault. After a great deal of coaxing and deceiving to stuff her in the big bag, her demands were numerous. Not only did she require a bunch of snacks, she also demanded interior lighting, an air circulation system, surround sound, a periscope, a mobile phone, classic literature, electronic toys, a full set of kitchenware, a fridge filled with yogurt, a comfortable single bed, a massage chair, a sun umbrella and a lounge chair for cooling off (What!?), a private yacht, and two obedient servants, and in the end, even a traveling orchestra...

I roughly estimated and realized I would have to dig out the foundation of the house and then drag my home along.

This wicked doll was totally ripping me off.

But even if you took away those air circulation and surround sound systems, the daily household appliances, the fridge, the color TV, a giant hiking pack designed to carry Mercury Lamp and picnic food was still outrageously exaggerated.

"I can’t help it, Mercury Lamp can’t be exposed to ordinary people," Big Sister gently consoled me in a low voice, "Even disguised as a doll, she’s too eye-catching."

"To be honest, I should have listened to Lin Xue’s advice when I came out," I grappled with the straps of the backpack, my face fraught with conflict, "No matter how she protested, shoving her into the trunk worth seventy billion would’ve done the trick."

"Then I would smash the car windows and run out!"

A muffled voice came from the hiking pack.

I rolled my eyes and then covered the periscope on my shoulder with my hand. Immediately, I heard 92.3cm of commotion from behind me.

"Can’t see anything! Can’t see anything at all!"

Such a hassle, this one.

Unwilling to take a car, averse to wearing an invisibility device, refusing space transmission, insisting I carry her all the way—even if it meant being cooped up in the travel bag, she just had to be difficult. Just come out and say you want to torture me, this unreasonably temperamental creature.

However, whether it was me, Big Sister, or Qianqian, who was always out of touch... this time, all of us indulged Mercury Lamp’s whims. Today, this little doll’s every wish would be fulfilled; she was the Empire’s darling of the day.

Of course, that excluded the resurrection of Luo Zhen.

Well, I still wanted to add that no matter how you all acquiesced to her whims today, it seemed I was the only one who ended up with bad luck, right? Actually, you all just seemed to enjoy watching me and a 92.3cm shorty making a ruckus, didn’t you?

Despite carefully choosing a route with fewer people, the journey still left me very conflicted. You have to understand that both an array of beauties from lolis to goddesses of all ages commanding a mighty female Group Army, and a nameless man XXX struggling along the curb with a giant package measuring one meter in all dimensions, like a French snail, are things that are very much worth paying attention to. Especially in this era, where quality loli resources and top-notch goddess resources are scarce, and the population imbalance has led many men to bachelorhood, watching girls on the streets has become a widely accepted form of entertainment for the masses. Between the girl group and the snail man, Passerby A, B, C, and D viewed the former with the excitement of winning a lottery and gazed at the latter as if watching performance art, each laughing as if it were the most fun thing ever.

Every time our large and eye-catching team garnered too much attention, Big Sister would smile and nod frequently to those around her. Each soul-stirring smile sent a burst of warmth rushing from the spectator’s feet to the Yongquan acupoint, then back down to the lower abdomen, swirling twice before transforming into an overwhelming sense of fullness—commonly known as an urgent need to pee.

"Big Sister, your smile is diuretic," wrote the Imperial Leader in the park on XX/XX/20XX.

Under Big Sister’s curse, it usually took only ten seconds for the crowd to scatter like birds and beasts. Those who could still hold their ground were considered deeply unlucky. The best option for anyone caught in Big Sister’s gaze was to buy a monthly pass at the nearest public restroom, lay down a bedroll, claim a gold spot for a stall, and not budge—that was the easiest way to deal with it.

A sociologist later categorized that day as a tough case. The unfortunate scholar wrote a brain-racking article titled "Human Concentrated Behavior Tendency— Excretion" while sitting on the toilet, after a month-long domination of the family bathroom. With surprise and humor, the scholar penned his epiphany, proposing an astonishing hypothesis: Given the recurring phenomenon over the past two years of residents flocking to public toilets, leading to a booming restroom industry with an average of one toilet between every five shops, humanity might be preparing for the next step in evolution—psychic fusion, er, mass behavior showing significant increases might indicate that human brains are already developing the capacity for mental synchronization...

Anyway, this egg-pain extraterrestrial who proclaimed humanity’s elimination of mental barriers and the inevitable consummation of group complement soon divorced because of marital discord. His wife could not come to terms with a man who could only fall asleep while sitting on the toilet.

That digressed a thousand miles off-topic.

"Ah Jun, I think... do we have something weird about us?"

After the crowd of onlookers—curious, astonished, new, or needing to pee—gradually dispersed, even the scatter-brained Qianqian realized something, whispering mysteriously as she came over.

"Look at this bag on my back," I twisted my shoulders, "and then look at this group-like team. If you were me, wouldn’t you watch?"

That’s why I never dare let the horde of beauties in my house go out in groups. One beauty is not scary, what’s terrifying is a group of beauties—especially when this group includes the likes of Pandora and Visca, Bubbles and Little Baobao, a rare pair of lolis as if cast from the same mold. They are mobile spotlights for interviews, walking news columns; in this era of group egg-pain, they are extraordinarily powerful.

"Alright, we’ve arrived!"

Finally, we reached our destination, the largest ecological park in K City, situated at the central peak of a natural landform, a deserted mountaintop clearing.

Though our journey was exceptionally challenging due to the constant turning of heads, even the trip to the Western Heaven for scriptures had an end. Elder Tang, who boarded the bus to the Western Heaven last night at 9:30, left us with a cautionary aphorism, "Though the path is rough, the quest for scriptures will eventually reach its limit," which I found profoundly enlightening.

Of course, after penning such an apparently inspiring aphorism, Elder Tang boarded the express train straight to Tianzhu for scriptures...

"Is this the place?"

After putting the colossal travel bag on the ground, a pair of pale, delicate hands pushed open the zipper. The Mercury Lamp’s tiny head peeked out and looked around before commenting nonchalantly with barely any care.

"It doesn’t look any different from the things I’ve seen, and it’s even in poor taste."

"Cough, cough..." Miss Lin, who had strongly recommended this ecological park, immediately coughed embarrassingly, "At least it has a nice environment, right? There’s even a European-style garden over there..."

"Tch," the Mercury Lamp glanced in the direction Lin Xue suggested, "I’ve seen real European noble gardens, and those are way beyond this..."

"Okay, okay, were you expecting to find Middle Age pastoral scenery in this modern city, perennially shrouded by industrial exhaust and dusty weather? If you’re looking for royal gardens, Avalon’s Rosy Plain is almost being turned into Apang Palace by those overfed Heroic Spirits. You chose to play in the city," I tapped the head of the picky Mercury Lamp, and suddenly discovered something interesting, "Little guy, what’s this on your head?"

"Don’t call me ’little guy’!" The Mercury Lamp, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, jumped up and out of the travel bag. The moment her 92.3cm stature appeared, Pandora and Visca visibly lifted their little heads—compared to these two perennial Shorties, there was no creature in the world more approachable than the Mercury Lamp, not even Bubbles and Little Baobao could compare.

"Chips!"

Sandora’s eyes lit up the moment Mercury Lamp jumped, and with a swift swipe of her paw, the mysterious object atop Mercury Lamp’s head—a half-eaten chip—had already vanished into the Queen’s mouth.

Then... I began to twitch at the corners of my mouth as I observed just how much stuff this little doll had brought with her.

Two shrimp sticks on her shoulder, white sugar granules stuck to her face, a piece of spicy beef hanging next to the rose decoration on her chest, her lace cuffs stained with green dots of jam, her skirt covered in potato chip crumbs, and a small piece of scallop pinned to her belt. Could this be the legendary Snack Warrior?!

Under our gaze, Mercury Lamp turned her face away, unnatural: "It’s so boring being cooped up in a big bag..."

Meanwhile, Sandora suddenly burst out like a swift shadow, stirring up a whirlwind around Mercury Lamp and returning to my side as if nothing happened, lightly licking her lips and burping cutely: not a belch of fullness, she just ate a little too greedily just now.

In the blink of an eye, Mercury Lamp, who was covered in remains of snacks, regained her spotless state. Staring blankly ahead, she was now completely clean, and I couldn’t help but maliciously wonder if Sandora had also helped dust and sterilize the doll—with her tongue.

Although it wasn’t very clear, knowing my Queen lover’s usual habits, I could guess that Sandora, in a state of hunger, probably "cleaned" the snack-thieving little doll from head to toe in less than a second. I wonder if Mercury Lamp would be left with some psychological shadow or the like.

"Wow, everything’s been torn open!"

Qianqian, who was rather thick-skinned, didn’t care about what Sandora had just done. She was currently kneeling beside a travel bag on the floor, pulling out one torn snack bag after another and wailing, "My chips... My fries... Ah Jun’s scallops... Big Sister’s squid strips... Little Baobao’s cakes... Everything except Sandora’s snacks has been torn open..."

And well, in Sandora’s snacks, you never know what you might bite into. Mercury Lamp has already half-broken a tooth; she has to protect her other canine.

"And not a single one was properly finished."

Big Sister wore an ambiguous smile on her face as she approached the Mercury Lamp, who was still stubbornly pretending "I don’t care," "That’s such a waste, Mercury Lamp."

"Hmph, I just wanted... just wanted to eat a little beforehand... It was too dark inside; I couldn’t see clearly, so I tore a lot open!"

You couldn’t see my foot! Don’t bags have lights?

Speaking of which, putting lighting in a travel bag, I must be too idle!

"Hmph! Who asked you, you stupid human, to stuff me in a travel bag!" In the end, under our long scrutiny, even Mercury Lamp’s face couldn’t help but turn a bit red, but she quickly found the most suitable target to blame in this situation, the Leader, "It’s all your fault! It was so boring inside!"

Alright, it’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have put Mercury Lamp and snacks in the same bag—but who knew Chairman Shui of legend would do such a little girl’s thing? Mercury Lamp, you’ve been domesticated too much, right? If you just want to show your true feelings by our side, please find back your past kindness and not a child’s sulkiness!

And it seems, it was you who said, you’d rather crawl into a travel bag than not be carried by me, right?

Sadly, Mercury Lamp in a foul mood is immune to any reasoning, and my protests are as meaningless to her as last night’s weather forecast. Turning her head 92.3 degrees, she dived back into the travel bag and came out holding a big thick black leather book.

"What are you up to now?"

I curiously called out as I watched Mercury Lamp, holding the book, walk towards a big tree.

"Find a secluded spot and finish this book," Mercury Lamp deftly flew to the treetop, looking down at us condescendingly, "Then go home."

"Is this really what you asked for in terms of fun?" I suddenly felt like I was punching cotton, thinking if only I had hung Mercury Lamp at the door to let her read for a day; it would have achieved the same effect. "Don’t you want to do something more interesting? You want us, the so-called champions of the world, to circle around a twisted old tree to watch you read?"

"Aren’t you the one who didn’t want me to be seen?" Mercury Lamp said indifferently, "On the last day, I won’t cause you any more trouble... This is good enough."

"No, you really don’t need to worry that much," realizing Mercury Lamp’s intention, I felt strangely touched. It was like seeing a daughter who is always causing trouble and panic finally tenderly offering a cup of hot tea, bringing tears to my eyes. But the next second, this touch turned into envy, jealousy, and hatred for some wicked capitalist. "Because there won’t be anyone in this park."

"Eh?" Mercury Lamp was curiously surprised, "Isn’t this world outside not your territory?"

"But this is Lin Xue’s domain," I slapped a hand-chop on the head of a Great Prophet whose crown nearly flipped to the back of his head, "Capitalists are the root of all evil, never forget that!"

Lin Xue immediately gave me an Inch Fist, "To own an entire empire yet envy a rural tycoon, members of the Royal Family really are insatiable!"

"Is this the initial conflict between feudal royalty and capitalist merchants?" Big Sister looked up at the sky speechlessly, then Qianqian and I, two history dunces, just blankly stared back at her.

Capitalists are evil, but their capital often brings us benefits, and Lin Xue, who is like a female lead out of a romance story, proved this point very well. Under her arrangement, the huge central eco-park in the city was closed to all visitors under the guise of temporary organization. She even ordered the dismissal of all the park staff. This move cost her property, which was under her name, at least the equivalent of two three-bedroom apartments in losses in one day (according to Qianqian’s currency unit). But the purpose was merely to make a certain doll happy.

Even Mercury Lamp couldn’t remain indifferent under the effect of Qianqian, the ultimate mood regulator. Eventually, the doll girl, who should’ve been naturally quiet, ended up joining in with us heartily, and we all played together for the whole day.

Er, I have to say, they really joined in. Initially, everything was going well, but then Pandora and Visca, the Imperial Generals, displayed their subtle sense of superiority to Mercury Lamp over their heights (the only thing these two generals had going for them), and we relived the scene of Mercury Lamp joining our big family for the first time.

Barrages, explosions, roars, and the demolition office.

"You see, at least now you don’t have to explain to Mr. Lin why you lied about closing the park," as Lin Xue gazed sorrowfully at a large swath of park facilities that had become ruins, I felt I should say something, "This place really does need a few days for repair."

"No worries, I saw this coming," Lin Xue stood on a pile of construction debris and sighed to the sky, "You can pay for the renovation costs, your sister already agreed to it."

... There are two types of natural darkness: one is like Lilina, which you only realize is dark after bringing it home and cutting it open. And then there’s Lin Xue, whom you know is thoroughly dark from inside to out without needing to cut.

I really want to record today’s events in writing—the usually solemn and indifferent Mercury Lamp being dragged around by us for a whole day of fun, showing joyful laughter, frolicking in the sky with Pandora and the others, exchanging bursts of barrages and training rounds (the last two are purely a pain). But the rigid words are worthless, and as the sunset finally began to descend slowly, it was time to go home.

Time for Mercury Lamp to go home.

Honestly, with technology that allows one to travel between worlds at will, and agencies like the Time-Space Administration, I’ve almost lost all sense of separation due to different worlds. Like Ilya and Tohsaka Rin, even now, across two worlds, I can visit them at any moment—this kind of farewell doesn’t really bring sadness. But Mercury Lamp is different.

Once she leaves us and returns to her world, will she still be the Mercury Lamp we know—the one who is always angry, always spouting unpleasant words, always unlucky, yet also always stubborn and capricious?

Ilya and I are separated by a plane now, but I know that no matter when I appear before her, she will cheerfully pounce on me, looking for her "big brother." But I worry that after Mercury Lamp returns to her world, I may never see her happy side again. When she insisted on going back to her world no matter what, I had a premonition.

Once we part, the distance between her and us will not be a matter of spatial separation, but another, even more unbridgeable chasm.

Knowing the Rose Maiden’s stubborn nature, I am certain of this.

(To be continued. For more information on what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. More Chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)