Xyrin Empire
Chapter 742 - Alone Time at Night — Used to Dig Up Dark History

Chapter 742: Chapter 742 - Alone Time at Night — Used to Dig Up Dark History

(Indeed, staying at home is still the best—Today is the routine request for monthly tickets, and also asking for subscriptions, why did the subscriptions drop a bit after the New Year?)

Perhaps due to taking in too many inconceivable things during the day, on the second night in the Divine Realm, I suffered from insomnia.

I don’t know how time is counted in the Divine Realm, but it should be around midnight now. The Obsidian Temple was completely silent, and even the gods who controlled darkness were accustomed to sleeping at night, which initially felt a bit odd to me, since, in general, gods who managed darkness should start their activities in the dark, right?

However, Bingdisi said quite fiercely, "How many midwives are still able to have children themselves?" and smashed my question to pieces.

Stay up all night and go for a stroll? I felt this was somewhat inappropriate, considering I was a guest, and disturbing Bingdisi’s family by not sleeping bothered me quite a bit. Moreover, I seriously doubted whether I could find Bingdisi’s gate without Mo leading the way, and even if I did find the gate, I questioned whether I could wake up that snoring Old Door before the next morning arose. So, when unable to sleep with nowhere else to go, I found myself wandering aimlessly in the middle of the temple’s courtyard.

The structure of the Obsidian Temple was somewhat similar to the character "Well." Inside the outer walls, four palaces with overhanging eaves were arranged in a crisscross pattern, and four bell towers were located near the intersections of these cross-shaped palaces. Bingdisi jokingly referred to her dad’s design as "both horizontal and vertical are two," although he always insisted he was trying to reflect a minimalist beauty of balance—just like the fourth bell tower built for symmetry.

The courtyard of the Obsidian Temple was a large open area surrounded by the four palace buildings, turned into a massive garden—or rather, considering the vast area Bingdisi’s family owned, it was more like a small forest. I wandered aimlessly in this garden in the dead of night, floating like a ghost among the dimly visible plants.

According to Bingdisi, this place was called the Shadow Garden, named after its plants: all plants here were life forms mutated under the power of the Dark Divine Race, only able to grow in darkness and ceasing activities under the sunlight, the complete opposite of normal plants. When I first heard this, I was particularly puzzled and asked Bingdisi about these plants that photosynthesized in the dark but were exposed to sunlight outdoors—wouldn’t they stop growing?

Bingdisi answered:

"Just grow at night, dummy!"

You say, how could I have forgotten that there was something called night in the world during the daytime?

The Shadow Garden was utterly silent in the dead of night, with only an unknown gentle breeze brushing faintly over the dim plants, creating a slight rustling sound. I walked along the garden’s stone path until reaching the central area, where a large silent fountain suddenly appeared in front of me after passing a row of bushes.

"What a luxurious backyard."

I sighed and casually approached the fountain, which notably featured three sculptures at its center: the family of three from Bingdisi’s household. The ostentatious display of capitalist wealth was obvious to anyone.

Standing in front of the fountain, my gaze wandered aimlessly until a somewhat slender figure unexpectedly appeared in front of me.

A girl with long hair over her shoulders stood not more than a few meters from me, lost in thought as she gazed at the dazzling aurora drifting in the sky. Her silhouette from the side made her seem ethereal, as if about to blend into the night. The girl was dressed in a light pink, airy nightgown, with her hair and the edges of her clothes slightly swaying in the night breeze. Occasionally, her hair reflected the splendid aurora above, sprinkling down mysterious phosphorescence from her glossy, black locks.

The tranquil and beautiful scene in front of me made me unconsciously slow my breathing, fearing that a single breath might shatter this rare glimpse of her serene side. It wasn’t until she initiated conversation, in an intentionally disgruntled tone that couldn’t hide the coquettishness in her voice, "Hey, Wood, what are you thinking about?"

I was momentarily stunned, suppressing my original sigh and nodding earnestly, "Before you spoke, you looked almost like Zhenzi..."

Lin Banxian immediately went from being extremely calm to extremely animated, spinning around and leaping in three steps to land on me and bite my shoulder.

... Damn it! Give me back that serene and elegant forest elf from just now!

The ordinarily fiery and fierce Lin Xue also had her quiet and gentle moments, although they were very rare, and I had seen them a few times. Occasionally, when alone, the pensive Girl Lin would show that proper demeanor of a well-bred young lady that truly matched her status. As the saying goes, rare things are precious, and it was understandable for me to be entranced when I finally saw the fierce prophetess behaving like a girl.

"So late at night, why aren’t you asleep?"

Expertly holding down the runaway Miss who was scratching and clawing at her own shoulder, I casually draped my coat over the shoulders of this silly girl who had run out in just her pajamas to catch the wind. Her face immediately turned bright red: "You... You dummy! Don’t suddenly act so intimate! You’re not allowed to touch me without Miss’s permission!"

Tsk, a tsundere shy ghost whose actions don’t match her words. I didn’t know before, but now I’m clear on what this girl is thinking inside.

Although she appears bold and fearless, Lin Xue is fundamentally a pure-hearted girl, perhaps even more so: Even when we were alone, any sudden intimate act from me would startle her. Though it wouldn’t escalate to a full-on martial response, a defiant retort was definitely in order.

"Could it be you were waiting for me to show up?"

I glanced at Lin Xue and lightly voiced my guess.

Considering her prophet’s ability, her unique way of caring for her lover, and her usual behavior, it led me to this conclusion, which was probably very close to the truth.

As I had predicted earlier, Lin Xue immediately gave me a coquettish roll of her eyes: "Go away, you wish! Why would Miss overeat and stay up in the middle of the night waiting for a dummy?"

I tapped her head, "You know it’s the middle of the night—wandering around in your pajamas in the flower bed in the middle of the night, do you think you are Qianqian? Obviously looking for drama, aren’t you?"

Miss stuck out her tongue at me and didn’t say a word, which I took as agreement. Then she suddenly whispered, "You must be feeling pretty confused, huh?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Suddenly finding out you’re not human—shouldn’t you, as the person involved, respond by turning dark or something in a typical storyline?" Lin Xue looked at me seriously, her big, sparkling eyes reflecting the aurora in the sky.

Lin Xue’s words were still sloppy, but they made me think: Yeah, starting today, I am no longer human—or rather, I was never human from the start, and today I finally learned the truth. If this were in literature, I should be tearing my hair out and rushing out to scream at the sky, ’Why, oh heaven?’ Then, if it were a fantasy channel, I’d gain a rebirth through the Nine Heavens Mysterious Thunder, if it were a superpower channel, I’d get a jade bracelet sealed with an old man with a white beard, and if it were a romance channel, I’d just wait for Sister Lin to drop from the sky. In Big Eyes’ worldview, the landing pod should appear right about now...

But all that is bullshit. Lin Xue’s guessed scenario didn’t happen at all. I indeed was having trouble sleeping, but "suddenly being excluded from the primate order" wasn’t as big a part of the reasons as the little doll Mercury Lamp frolicking all over the place—speaking of which, that little doll must have played too hard today, jumping back and forth on my bed in the middle of the night, what was that all about?

With so many frustrating thoughts passing through my mind in an instant, all I did eventually was reach out and ruffle the hair of the girl beside me, pulling her to sit down with me on the big rock beside the fountain.

Although capable of seeing the future, she can’t see into other people’s hearts, Lin Xue’s ability makes her very powerful, but it also makes her very uncomfortable facing situations she can’t see through.

"I’m fine; not being able to sleep doesn’t have much to do with it."

"Really?" Miss doubted, tilting her head slightly in a way that endeared her to herself, "I saw you wandering around in the garden in the middle of the night, unable to sleep, and you still say you’re fine?"

"It’s true that I’m fine, although the truth I found out today was quite shocking, to be honest, except for the mess in my head, I didn’t really feel anything else." Knowing she was worried about me, I didn’t take this opportunity to argue with Lin Xue but told the truth.

Miss leaned her hands on the nearby stone platform, staring dreamily at the auroras in the sky, "Ha, it seems I’m the one unnecessarily worrying. The only thing praiseworthy is your mental resilience: suddenly not even being human anymore, yet you take it so lightly. I thought you cared a lot about this issue."

"It’s not that I don’t care at all," I scratched my hair, "There’s one thing I still can’t figure out: the Father God said I’m a Void Creature, which is definitely correct, and Bingdisi said, a Void Creature is a ’Gaia’ that failed to evolve into the world, a type of Spiritual Energy Body, which should also be correct. But... you know, Sandora scanned me all day today, from top to bottom I am a normal life form, material life, human soul, organic molecules make up my body, I can eat, drink, grow... except for being able to temporarily turn into a Void Form without a face, I really can’t see any trace of being a Void Creature. Could it be someone got it wrong? A Void Creature just like me?"

Well, I am not so much fixated on what kind of life form I am; what really baffles me is what neither Father God nor Bingdisi could clarify: how did I, this Void Creature, turn into a human form?

Facing my somewhat self-reflexive exclamation, Lin Xue didn’t respond directly; she just slightly closed her eyes, a faint white glow leaking from the slits of her eyes, letting me know that the Demi Immortal had begun her magic.

No one could ever know the world in Lin Xue’s eyes, just as no one knew what worldview Qianqian held in her head. I could only curiously watch Miss hum a variety of nonsensical tunes while bent over searching for some truth. Minutes later, she reopened her eyes and gave me some not-so-great advice, "Don’t talk to strangers tomorrow."

Me: "Eh?"

Girl, you must have gotten something wrong!

"And by the way, I completely don’t understand your situation either."

That shouldn’t be mentioned by the way, you know.

I rolled my eyes and messed up Miss’s smooth hair without hesitation. As she kicked and combed her hair while talking, she said, "Why think too much? Father God didn’t plan to explain, which means it’s not that important, or maybe he can’t explain it himself—let alone us. The Void is such a mysterious thing; isn’t it said that anything related to the Void can’t be explained by common sense? Just treat yourself as another abnormal life form from the Void—"

I had no choice but to accept this not-quite-answer, but Lin Xue’s scathing wit was just getting started: "Hehe, you used to talk about others, but now, you are truly a unique classification among primates yourself—perhaps the only Void Creature in the Multi-universe, Wood genus Wooden class Wooden order Wooden family..."

I flicked this girl’s forehead, "You got the order wrong, didn’t you?"

"Tsch, who cares? Do you have to check Baidu every time you speak?"

After chatting with Lin Xue for a while, the content was nothing but jokes and mutual roasting, which almost became our daily mode of interaction. But it’s exactly this "two-person world" that seems incomprehensible to others, which could always keep us joyously engaged. She was here waiting for me so late obviously because she sensed some unease in my mind; finally realizing the healing attribute a girlfriend should possess, but apart from her sharp tongue, this clumsy Miss couldn’t think of any other way to express her feelings. But what can I say? A Miss who isn’t tsundere isn’t a good Demi Immortal.

"Hey, Wood, are there characters here?"

After messing around for a while, I almost forgot all those messy troubles and was about to return to sleep and also check if the Mercury Lamp had calmed down when Lin Xue suddenly seemed to have discovered something. She grabbed my arm, pointing at a nearby stone pillar and began shouting excitedly.

Surrounding the fountain, there were several stone columns, a few meters tall, their tops adorned with spouts watering into the fountain and sculptures of Dark Angels—a fairly common feature in the architecture of the Dark Divine Race. What Lin Xue pointed out to me, however, were lines of clearly hand-carved text on one of the columns.

We curiously moved closer, Lin Xue pulled out a flashlight to illuminate it, and we could see that most of the crawling script was in the same handwriting, with just slight variations in the font from bottom to top, suggesting it wasn’t written all at once, but spaced over a long period. The very bottom line’s strokes were quite faint, but still discernible. Lin Xue and I connected to the Empire database and began translating them—starting from the bottom because all sorts of literary works have taught us that such ancient texts typically start with pointless thanks, specifically designed to delay the fast-legged antagonists long enough for the hero to swoop in and finish them. A prime example is the Sunflower Manual, which ends with "Happy April Fool’s Day," making fools out of those who had undergone castration earlier.

At the start of our translation, I was excited as the ancient inscriptions in the back garden of the Dark God breathed the secret hints of treasures and the divine artifacts, accompanied by the hero’s halo. Seeing these ghostly symbols made me envision a blazing path of glory unfolding before me—but that excitement lasted only seven seconds. We’d been had.

"Daddy, you lied! There’s no big monster in the garden!"

"Umm..." Lin Xue and I cautiously looked around like thieves, our heads coming together, "Could this be that female hooligan’s embarrassing past?"

"Clearly." Lin Xue nodded and pulled out a camera from her pocket, "Wood, say no more. I know you need this!"

My perceptive Miss, you understand your boyfriend’s delicate conscience all too well.

As we preserved the evidence with the camera, we continued translating. The second-to-last line on the column read: "Sneaked into the garden again, daddy didn’t notice, hehe, commemorating this—Bingdisi."

Oh wow, who would have thought? The tough female hooligan also grew from a loli stage, look at this innocent and playful message revealing a cheeky little girl’s cute defiance against her strict parents. Reading these lines, my heart, having been battered by the female hooligan numerous times, began to heal!

The third-to-last line: "Mom’s third nostalgic visit! No one noticed—Bingdisi."

Me: "..."

The fourth-to-last line: "Finally can come and go in the garden freely, leaving a mark, I’m an adult now! Oh yeah!"

Lin Xue: "..."

The fifth-to-last line... I didn’t even dare to look.

It felt quite peculiar. In just a few minutes, we’d witnessed a surprising transformation from a loli to a hooligan. Don’t underestimate these mere four lines; the impact was like jumping straight from a news broadcast to a crime enforcement show.

We also understood why the script varied from bottom to top—it clearly reflected Bingdisi’s growth in height. If we were more of a couple of nitpickers, we might have been able to calculate a healthy growth rate for a Divine Race girl. I recklessly considered Pandora and Visca—the two forever-three-foot-tall girls—it’s a reflex, anything related to growth reminds me of those two little girls—if Pandora tried what Bingdisi did, writing messages on a column from a young age...

The column would probably stop marking from three feet upward.

After some sneaky and tense busyness, Lin Xue and I successfully collected this record of Bingdisi’s growth that could be called her dark history. We also checked the nearby columns and found some very funny doodles, clearly also masterpieces of the Goddess Sister from her loli era. I wonder what kind of face Bingdisi will make when she sees these embarrassing remnants from her "ignorant youth"—it should be quite funny.

As for the two of us—well, spending the middle of the night not sleeping but teasing each other and lying down taking photos, Lin Xue and I must be quite the unique couple! (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote and support on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)