Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1489: The Bird and Beast Duo

Ever since the Star Domain and Xyrin joined forces to launch an attack on the gates of the Abyss, it’s been... well, actually just about twenty hours—since we only got back yesterday and have just had one night’s sleep. Even though this battle seemed anticlimactic and didn’t delay us much, the pressure was quite intense. Everyone in the family, except for Qianqian, was mentally and physically exhausted. After coming home, we basically didn’t do anything but sleep. If it weren’t for Little Crow making such a ruckus crowing on the rooftop this morning, I really wouldn’t have wanted to get up.

Has that silly bird’s crowing habit not changed yet? She’s a female!

I lay in bed for a while, staring blankly at the familiar ceiling, looking around at the familiar furniture, examining the familiar quilt over me, and then pulling out the familiar little doll girl from under the covers. It took me a long time to be sure I was actually home and back to everyday life.

It happens every time. No matter how long I’ve been away, on the first day home, there’s always this sense of unreality, as if my mind can’t keep up with the changing environments. Even back at home, my head still echoes with the booming sounds of the battlefield. I always think that this is the inertia of a Void Creature at work, but Lin Xue and Sandora both think I’m just slow in the head...

Qianqian is the only one who doesn’t think I’m slow, because her mind has never been on the same wavelength as a normal person’s...

I exhaled, a smile forming on my face. The sense of security that comes with being back home quickly diluted the battlefield’s echoes reverberating in my mind. In a better mood, I couldn’t help but bring the little doll in my hand up in front of me and kiss her on the forehead—but this little one still didn’t wake up, and just continued sleeping soundly.

Probably, she hasn’t been sleeping well while I wasn’t home. Based on how she managed to sleep into the quilt, I could tell.

Though I still can’t understand why something that needs to be wound up needs to sleep.

Getting up, dressing, tidying up the bed, brushing the little doll’s hair while she snored, and placing her on the pillow—all so routine. Though simple, it’s the kind of everyday life that gives me peace of mind. After tidying up the room, I walked to the bathroom, seeing that a Little One was already awake: Dingdang, who I don’t know when she woke up, was brushing her teeth cheerfully. When she saw me swinging my arm as I came in, the little thing excitedly swooped up and down, "Ah Jun! Ah Jun! Dingdang’s toothpaste is out again!"

I silently picked up Dingdang, wiped off the toothpaste foam on her face with my fingertip, and pondered, not for the first time, how to educate this little one whose grasp of everyday common sense was a bit off: "Toothpaste isn’t for eating..."

"Oh," Dingdang shook her wings with a happy look, escaped from my hand, and flew an eight-figure loop in the air. "Then can Ah Jun get Dingdang some toothpaste that can be eaten?"

I shrugged: this is also a part of everyday life—figuring out how to make this adorably silly Three-inch Ding happy.

Anwina had already prepared breakfast. Seeing me come downstairs, she carried out the food from the kitchen. The little ghost has lived in this house for many years, and already knows her masters’ living habits: the first breakfast after someone "comes back from a trip" is usually never a gathered meal, because there’s no telling how long everyone, exhausted mentally and physically, will stay in bed. So each time, she patiently reheats the food and cleans up after us. As I sat down at the dining table, I saw Lilina had already halfway finished her meal; this Fake Lolita Pope was sitting on a large stack of Bibles, holding half a youtiao in her mouth, dazing off while chewing. When she saw me and Dingdang show up, she raised her youtiao-clutching hand to conventionally greet her God: "Thanks to the Goddess for bestowing her follower with youtiao and tofu pudding."

Dingdang happily flew in a circle through the air, darting straight for the fruit bowl in the middle of the table: "Thanks to Lilina for saving Dingdang some raisins!"

Look at this relationship between human and god, look at this religious atmosphere! Now that’s harmony, that’s mutual respect. If all religious followers on earth could converse with their Gods like this, then... maybe there wouldn’t be any more religious evolution post-Stone Age...

I watched Lilina and her household God interact joyfully, and then suddenly felt that something was off at home. After thinking it over, I finally realized: "Hey, where are Dingdang’s bunch of little friends?!"

You guys probably remember Dingdang inviting her sisters over; the scatterbrained little gal sent out an undated invitation and then dispatched it to every Life Goddess in the entire Divine Realm, directly causing our home and Shadow City to become the second division of the Life God System. Every day, countless Wild Dingdang traveled back and forth through the Divine Realm-Xyrin direct channel—some visiting the house, others simply came to join the fun seeing everyone else here. Considering these Little Ones’ lawlessness once mobilized and the Divine Clan’s bizarre sense of time, I roughly estimated that Dingdang’s "gathering" could last three to five hundred years at least, and very likely, from now on, a Life Goddess in Shadow City would become a common entity—but why is home so quiet today? Where’s that wild bunch of Three-inch Ding?

"Most of them temporarily returned to the Divine Realm," Dingdang said, holding a raisin and running along the table, dipping it in my soy milk and gnawing on it as she said, "because there’re a lot of injured soldiers to deal with, the God Sister called all the Trainee Life Goddesses back to practice their skills..." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

I nearly spat out half a meter of soy milk: Calling back the Trainee Life Goddess to practice skills... Jiajia’s approach has quite the majesty of a chief nurse in a big hospital!

"They all left, huh?" I glanced around the living room, and the sense of dissonance I felt was indeed because the house was too quiet: usually, when the Three-inch Ding are home, they’re anything but peaceful. Don’t be fooled by their palm-size; when they start jumping around, their scale is no less than that of naughty kids. Do you know how many times I had to rescue them from corners and crannies recently? These Little Ones can get lost just running a few laps under the sofa...

"Not all of them left," Dingdang continued her bizarre method of eating raisins dipped in soy milk, keeping her head down as she spoke, "Most went back to the Divine Realm, they’ll be back in a few days, a small part are bored at home and went to play in Avalon, lastly there’s still..."

Just as Dingdang spoke halfway, I felt the cushion behind me move, and then a sleepy Three-inch Ding squeezed out from the chair seams to greet us: "Hi, Momo says good morning to you all! Time to eat?"

"Lastly, there are those who love to sleep late," Dingdang finally continued, "Most of them are sleeping in the sofa seams or somewhere else, they might even be in the coat rack... Ah, the raisin fell in!"

At this time, the Wild Dingdang who claimed to be Momo but I couldn’t recall when this extra one appeared at home, leaped onto the table too. She hugged a peanut from the plate and started dipping it into my soy milk like Dingdang. I was stunned and then heard her exclaim: "Oh! The peanut fell in!"

"Oh! The raisin fell in again!"

"Oh! The date fell in!"

"Oh! The candied fruit just fell in!"

"Oh! Dingdang fell in too!"

In these few minutes, the two Little Ones created a mess, and my good bowl of soy milk turned into Eight Treasure Congee, plus a Dingdang soaking in it... This counts as meat, right?

At this time, Anwina floated out from the laundry room, and I immediately noticed she was holding several wet Three-inch Ding—there was even a Little Crow among them. I was quite surprised: "Were you bathing the little ones?"

Anwina awkwardly held up the few Little Ones she had just fished from the water: "I was washing the dirty clothes hanging on the rack—turned out several squeezed in..."

As soon as she spoke, one of the Three-inch Ding in her hand awoke, raising its hand to greet Dingdang, and when it opened its mouth, it blew out several bubbles... the more I looked, the more familiar it seemed, thinking for a long time before I realized: last time it was Dingdang who got washed like this.

"Looks like everyone has gotten used to life here just like Dingdang." Dingdang, rolling and wiping herself in the tissue box, poked her head out and told me, her face gleaming with joy. I silently watched this little one, thinking to myself: Does Dingdang measure adaptability to the environment by the level of carelessness of her sisters? Is she implying that staying around me too long makes one more carefree and reckless!

After eating, I idled in the living room, torn between taking a day off or doing something productive. After much contemplation, I remembered an unfinished task. So I took out my pen and tore a sheet from Little Baobao’s homework notebook, starting to write a letter to Father God with a vexed handwriting:

"My friend Xingchen:

I hope this finds you well. Since we last parted ways, it’s been... it seems not many days, but I wish all is well.

The joint military campaign failed to achieve the greatest success, which is regrettable, but the Abyss Zone has been nearly hit hollow by us, which is a good thing. Our homes should be much quieter from now on. After the Divine Race starts their expedition, perhaps the Abyss Zone won’t have much power to act, let’s celebrate together.

Today’s letter mainly tells you about a few special situations; first, is our unexpected encounter with the Fallen Apostle’s supreme leader. You wouldn’t believe the amount of information we got from this encounter! It would knock you over—oh, must remain dignified, must be proper. Anyway, we’ve confirmed that the Fallen Apostles have internally split into the New Army and Old Army. The aggressive "New Army" was the one attacking the Divine Realm, while the Fallen Apostle’s original leader has now taken a back seat. We had a brief contact with her, and upon retreat, reached an "agreement"...

The second matter is the major issue you and I are most concerned about. We’ve roughly inquired about the Fallen Apostle’s "great undertaking"...

I was halfway through writing, all literary-like, when suddenly I heard laughing and playful sounds coming from the hallway. As soon as I heard it, I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to finish writing...

Sure enough, as soon as I hastily jotted down a conclusion, two figures charged in like a whirlwind from the direction of the door. Leading was Lin Xue, who comes to the house every day at this time to freeload meals. Following her was Bingdisi, likely back from a walk. Upon seeing me sitting upright on the sofa with a pen in hand, Sister Bing exclaimed with curiosity: "Wow, when did you become so principled? Starting work early morning in the living room?"

I sighed silently and put away the paper and pen. This female hooligan is clearly in a state of excitement—although to be fair, she seems to be in such a state most of the time, and I don’t know why. I handed the mostly completed letter to Sister Bing: "This is a letter for Father God. Aren’t you supposed to report to the Divine Realm tomorrow? Take this along."

Bingdisi solemnly tucked the letter into a small Star Gold Stone box, then placed the small box into the Rune Storage Box, then put the Rune Storage Box into the Oracle Covenant Box, then covered the outside of the Cabinet Box with a two-meter-high Apocalypse Text Box, and then looked at me seriously: "Is this a suggestion to raise my salary?"

I gawked at the piece of paper I had casually torn from Little Baobao’s workbook stuffed like a doomsday document into a pile of boxes by this unconventional female hooligan, breaking out in a cold sweat: "It’s just about post-war matters and the meeting records with Abyss Xyrin... You really don’t need to exaggerate this much."

Bingdisi showed a look of painful recollection: "Don’t bring it up. Last time you asked me to bring a note to Father God, I didn’t guard it properly and my dad saw it at home, chased me around the entire temple. Although it wasn’t exactly right to use the highest-grade envelope for a note, wasn’t I just not paying attention..."

Me: "..."

"Why are you not staying home early in the morning, who are you going out to cause trouble for?" Seeing Bingdisi ready to infinitely extend the topic on whether the highest-grade envelope should be used for a note, I hastily shifted the subject, "Did you see Little Crow when you came back? Just heard her crowing up on the roof, but she’s not down yet."

"I went out for morning exercise," Bingdisi plopped down next to me, nearly pushing me to the floor, "That silly bird in the yard was practicing standing on one leg like a golden rooster, probably now imagining herself as a water bird..."

Me: "... So I’ve always felt there’s something wrong with Little Bird’s three views. Do you even need to go out for morning exercise? A True God of your stature, going to the park and playing Tai Chi Boxing with old men and women?"

"Could you be a bit more imaginative?" Bingdisi rolled her eyes at me, "I just came back from the Creation Pillar, calibrated the reaction rates of all the stars over there—Dingdang’s careless egg, using batch processing to manage celestial bodies, made the burning rate of the Creation Pillar increase at least two or three times, and I went over to repair it just as morning exercise."

I listened with a leisurely fascination: The daily life of the Divine Race is so richly colorful, darn it.

By now, Lin Xue had already polished off breakfast, she came over and pushed Bingdisi aside, then sat next to me, leaning naturally against my shoulder: "Wood, did you meet Abyss Xyrin?"

"Ah, met her, and chatted about something particularly high-energy," thinking back to the incredibly informative "negotiation" with Abyss Xyrin, I couldn’t help but show an odd expression on my face, "Did you already predict it?"

"I vaguely knew Abyss Xyrin would play a role in this event, but didn’t expect she’d directly jump out to negotiate with the New Empire," Lin Xue relaxedly changed position, "Network split... How did she mess up?"

"If even you don’t know, then I’m certainly clueless," I patted my forehead, feeling my brain buzzing again, "These matters make people feel chaotic inside, and I’m slightly obsessive-compulsive. You say there are so many secrets looming before our eyes, how uncomfortable is that for me? Now we’ve all confirmed that Abyss Xyrin just wants to use this chance to delay time and continue her great undertaking while we have no choice but to follow her rhythm, then strain hard to gain the upper hand next time... Ugh."

Lin Xue looked at me for a while, her silent gaze made me feel uneasy, and before I could ask anything, Miss suddenly stood up: "Wood, come shopping with me."

I scratched my head: "Now? You just came over, didn’t you?"

It’s just fifteen minutes after Miss finished freeloading breakfast, and according to typical patterns, she’s usually in her lazy period. Normally at this time she should go off to fight Lili or Little Doll for the TV remote—didn’t expect her sudden desire to go shopping.

"Are you coming or not?" Lin Xue tugged my sleeve upward, "In this situation, ten out of ten men who choose to shake their heads have abnormal sexual orientations, you know..."

Looking at Miss’s expression on her face, linking it to our previous conversation, I suddenly realized: I’ve been too absorbed in those big, messy "issues," the spiritless look perhaps was too obvious, Lin Xue was only forcing me to divert attention using her usual capricious yet affectionate way.

"Why are you smiling?" Lin Xue looked at my odd grin, instantly getting goosebumps, "What’s going on, I suddenly feel chilly..."

"Ah-ha, don’t worry about the details." I happily patted Lin Xue’s hair, immediately changed into my outdoor clothes, then saw who was left in the house: Little Baobao was busy drawing little turtles on her textbook, Lilina was at the window doing photosynthesis, it’s best not to mess with the Tiaozi Five, and others are basically still sleeping—seems like only Lin Xue and I could go out.

Lin Xue and I went out into the yard, just about to summon my precious ride of seven thousand billion, when two figures suddenly dashed in front of me. One was particularly striking with a large bundle of fluffy tails trailing behind her; the other hopped over standing on one leg like a golden rooster—they were Little Crow and the Fox Fairy, when did they synchronize their steps?

"Master, are you going out gaa?" Little Crow rocking on one leg, excitedly flapping her arms, "Take me gaa?"

I supported this silly bird with slightly skewed views, urging her to put her leg down: "Where did you pick up this habit again? After crowing you learned to stand on one leg?"

"Saw it on TV gaa!" Little Bird puffed her chest, "As a bird, resting on one leg is quite relaxing!"

I was stunned: "And then?"

Little Bird looked miserable: "TV might be lying... leg’s gone numb."

I: "That’s obvious! You’re in human form now! And even in bird form, you’re a crow for goodness sake! Can’t you do what a normal crow should do?"

"But Mom doesn’t allow me to catch mice..."

I: "..."

By this time, the Fox Fairy Lord had already made several rounds around us, and impatiently approached seeing I finished lecturing Little Bird: "Please take me out too?"

Lin Xue looked at this bird-beast duo suddenly causing chaos, finally couldn’t help but hold her forehead: "Crap... there goes our two-person world..." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to recommend it, vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)