Chapter 84: Chapter 84 Little Baobao
Everything went quite smoothly.
Modis III sent people to negotiate the exchange of enhanced people technology with us on the second day, and quickly agreed to our demanding terms of supplying forty percent of the Ao Tie mining output to the Empire annually, which made me deeply regret not having raised that number a bit more…
Sandora analyzed thoroughly why Modis III could agree so easily to our heavy demand:
“If we obtain a large number of superpower soldiers, demonized creatures will no longer be a threat to humans; a superpower user could single-handedly eliminate an ordinary monster before being affected by the Abyss power, and even for creatures like the corrupted Dragon Clan, about ten superpower users could easily handle them. By that time, Ao Tie, a metal with no special uses other than being impervious to Abyss power corruption, will see greatly reduced significance to humans; exchanging a soon-to-be useless high-storage ore for humanity’s fundamental liberation from fear of demonized creatures—who would you say is the true winner?”
“…If you knew this so clearly, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
After Modis III’s envoy left, upon hearing Sandora’s analysis, I immediately grabbed her cheeks and rubbed them ruthlessly, while questioning her “ferociously”.
With our relationship growing more familiar and the nearly symbiotic mental synchronization we shared, Sandora and I now often engaged in such unrestrained acts of affection, to the point where even Qianqian had to acknowledge that her connection with me was not as close as Sandora’s—after all, such exaggerated mental synchronization is irreplaceable by anything else.
“Anyway, we just use these metals for analysis and research; why would we need so much?”
Sandora said, rubbing her somewhat reddened cheeks.
You will never understand the inner world of a seasoned miser!
This is not Earth after all; we can’t stay in this world forever. Once the Abyss power in this world is weakened to a certain extent, Qianqian and I naturally need to return quickly, so eventually, Sandora and I decided to leave an outpost here as an organization base for the Central Superpower Bureau, with Reck acting as the middleman between the Xyrin Empire and Modis III. We planned to use the base’s space transmission equipment to send the collected Ao Tie to Pandora’s Shadow World established on Earth. We would also dispatch a specialist through this outpost base and Reck’s “Central Superpower Bureau” bureau to stay informed and combat the Abyss power. Bubbles, of course, would return to Earth with us, but she would leave behind an automatically-operating incubator that could produce new nest crystals. Without Bubbles’s constant control, the automatic incubator’s effect wouldn’t be as good as the one used to enhance the Fire Blade Mercenary Corps, but it would be sufficient to allow ordinary people to gain the strength to fight against demonized creatures.
Suddenly turning from an insignificant mercenary group leader into such a significant figure linked to the world’s destiny, Reck was thrilled beyond measure; he and his team members swore tearfully to dedicate themselves to the Xyrin Empire…
This made the Vedis Empire’s envoys in the room turn green as spinach leaves.
Once we arranged the superpower users’ affairs, I went to the Mother Nest with a large group of girls from the base.
…I only realized now that the gender imbalance around me is so severe!
Sandora, Pandora, Qianqian, Sister, Lin Xue, ah right, and not to forget Dingdang, who may or may not count…
And to my further dismay, none of these girls were normal; the only originally ordinary girls, Qianqian and Sister, had transformed into powerful superpower users…
“Ah Jun?” Qianqian’s voice woke me from my wild thoughts; I turned around, just in time to see her concerned expression, “What’s wrong? Daydreaming again?”
“Ah, no big deal,” I quickly replied after regaining my senses, not wanting Qianqian to find out that I had just classified her as abnormal as well—which would probably earn me a beating, “By the way, Sandora, you said Bubbles prepared a surprise for us; what is it?”
“You’ll know very soon!”
Sandora said mysteriously while holding a cake and smiling.
In the core control room of the Mother Nest, we finally saw the surprise Bubbles had prepared for us.
Bubbles, a seasoned otaku and avid gamer who usually hid inside a crystal prism to play games with people, finally stepped out of her beloved crystal, standing at the entrance of the control room with a joyful smile as she watched us. Next to her stood a little loli, dressed in a simple white dress just like Bubbles, looking almost identical but seeming a bit younger.
“Bubbles, you’ve worked hard.”
Sandora approached Bubbles, gently rubbed her little head, seemingly very fond of the cute little girl, not showing the same untouchable yet intimate demeanor she had with other Xyrin Apostles—even though the latter was a young otaku who nearly spent twenty-four hours in a semi-sleep state playing online games.
Bubbles enjoyed Sandora’s caress for a while and then pushed the little girl next to her into my presence, saying, “Emperor Chen Jun, this is a gift from Bubbles!”
I immediately felt several sharp gazes from behind me, my sister’s face darkened in an instant, and she chuckled, “Oh my, I never thought my brother would have such a taste. This little girl must be under ten years old…”
I broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly said to Bubbles, “Wait… what’s going on here? I don’t even know who she is!”
Lin Xue suddenly remembered something, hit her fist against her palm, and realized, “Ah, I remember now! Today is the day Bubbles completed her cloning!”
According to Sandora, it normally takes about seven days for a Xyrin Host to complete a copy of its data, but because Bubbles liked to play, the process had been delayed for several days, and I had completely forgotten about this!
Looking at the little girl standing before me, who still had a dazed expression on her face, I felt utterly incredulous. A Xyrin Host had just been cloned? How was this miraculous process completed?!
I also thought of something else: This outpost was built with the help of Bubbles, the Xyrin Host, and in just over a dozen days since then, the second Xyrin Host had appeared before me. Moreover, this type of cloning could continue indefinitely—the army of the Xyrin Empire could indeed be called a plague of war…
Bubbles smiled proudly at me and said, “This is Bubbles’ child!”
Except for Sandora and Pandora, we all burst out laughing.
A girl not even eleven years old pointing at another girl about ten, almost like her twin sister, and saying, “This is my child.” The strangeness of this situation had definitely reached a four-plus level of weird!
Although we all knew that what she said was absolutely true…
Dingdang curiously landed on the smaller Bubbles’ head, reached out a little hand to pat the other’s head, and said, “You’re so strange… oh!”
Suddenly, the still somewhat bewildered little girl grabbed the “strange creature” from atop her head and started to put it in her mouth!
“Wahhh… don’t eat Dingdang! Dingdang doesn’t taste good!”
The little creature about to become a snack cried out in panic, completely forgetting that escaping with its own abilities would be a piece of cake, but luckily I was quick to react and managed to stuff a lollipop into her mouth before Dingdang was eaten as a treat.
The little girl paused, then tasted the sweetness of the candy, immediately started eating it happily, and let go of Dingdang, who was nearly in tears.
Indeed, no matter how much knowledge had been copied into her brain, she was still just a child at heart.
“Bubbles, what’s this child’s name?”
I patted the little girl who was cheerfully crunching on the lollipop, and asked her… mother.
Bubbles answered with a proud face, perfectly embodying the look of a mother proud of her child.
That name… was truly awkwardly adorable!