Xyrin Empire

Someone once said, farewell is always sad, no matter what time it is. Humans are a species that easily develop attachment and dependency; they become accustomed to having something by their side, and this habit quickly turns into a compulsion-like dependency. Even to those people who barely notice its existence in daily life, once that thing is about to leave, they suddenly realize they are sentimental beings.

The reason I suddenly turned so sentimental is completely to divert my attention because you never know how much combat power a girl who is crying her heart out next to you will have once she is at full power.

After Milia found out we were leaving, she did her best to express her sadness. The main method was crying and wiping her tears and snot on my new clothes. This thin and small girl has endurance and explosive power that don't match her size, so much so that when I mentioned I was leaving, she burst into tears. Several minutes later, I still hadn't found a chance to get a word in…

The current location is the Vatican. After the fleets completed their reorganization, and the Celestial System Fleet also finished their gravity isolation and docked in the Mobra Star System, a large group of us came here to say our farewells to the people of this world. Qianqian thought the Pope's big house was worth repurposing. However, the first hurdle of the farewell is already exhausting us: I have to find a way to calm Milia down.

The luxurious velvet hall of the Vatican has become a place for our family to chat and have fun. Bingdisi and Lilina, the two hooligans, large and small, laughed heartily as they watched Milia try hard to turn my clothes into a rag, without any intention of helping. Big Sister rolled her eyes beside me, the meaning behind her eyes very clear: Serves you right for not being able to talk properly since you were a kid!

The problem is, what did I say? I thought I was pretty clear:

I'm going to leave this world, you and Uncle Zaku must live well.

See how appropriate that sentence is, there's not a bit of…

Uh, it seems a little easy to confuse, huh.

I awkwardly scratched the back of my head, thought for a while, and still reached out to pinch Milia's small face on both sides, instantly stretching her pointy melon seed face into a watermelon seed. The little girl was still sobbing, and after realizing she couldn't sob any more, she settled down, looking at me pitifully, mumbling: "Can't you just not go?"

I felt my expression might be even more pitiful than hers: "I haven't slept in my own bed for more than a month!"

Milia: "Then go home and bring your bed over."

Me: "…In the future, stay away from Qianqian. Look at your way of thinking, you can't even talk properly now."

Milia puckered her lips. This pitiful yet pouting look really makes one forget that just a few hours ago, she was still a little hero navigating the Celestial System Fleet from within the Crystal Prism. Uncle Zaku was nestled on the sofa not far away, whispering with Biluna, giggling as they watched us. I shot a massive eye roll their way, and if looks could have substance, I think they should have been paralyzed by now from that eye roll.

"Then, I want to go with you, is that okay?" Milia thought for a moment and proposed a compromise. It was obvious she really didn't want to be separated from us.

Surprisingly, Milia developed such a deep attachment to us in a short time, and it's said that she even made friends with the Royal Guard and many High-level Commanders. I don't know how much her Heart of the World and Old Empire Heritage status played a role in this process, but anyway, her natural friendliness and lively personality always help her quickly blend in with many people. Even though she can come across as a bit willful sometimes due to her inexperience, people still quite like this little girl who always runs around the base, and conversely, Milia has gotten used to the life of being with those Imperial Soldiers who are always meticulous but occasionally scatterbrained. She enjoys the hustle and bustle, and especially likes the feeling of running around everywhere in the base. This is why she's causing such a fuss now that she has to say goodbye to the lively life she's gotten used to.

The first time I took Little Baobao to the amusement park, I encountered a similar incident. The little guy clung to the swing frame, refusing to leave. It wasn't until Lin Xue ordered the swing set to be taken apart that we managed to take the little princess back home with the frame. At that time, we drove a trailer with a swing set still smelling of earthy aroma, with a little girl attached to it—an image reprinted continuously by many local newspapers. Many editorial writers believed this was a way of promoting the innocence and joy of childhood—actually, the real situation was that the child was just making too much of a fuss…

Now Milia is experiencing the mentality of having her beloved toy taken away.

I thought for a moment, rubbing Milia's head: "Does your Uncle Zaku agree?"

I initially did not plan to bring Milia to reside permanently in Shadow City. After all, she's a native of this world, and although she stayed in Shadow City for a while, this is ultimately her home. Moreover, the unique nature of the Mobra Universe is crucial: we cannot set up a long-term passage here.

This world is in the "no-man's land" in the Void. The chaotic coordinate system established by the Old Empire to prevent enemy invasions back then has not completely settled down yet. Taville calculated it and found that it is still temporarily impossible to establish a fixed teleportation channel in this world. Currently, transportation between the Empire and the Mobra Universe can only be completed through periodic military ships and cargo spaceships. In other words, if Milia were to come with us to Shadow City, she might not be able to return home more than once a year. After all, I cannot specifically dispatch a world-crossing military ship just so Milia can go home for lunch every afternoon. Even if I'm indifferent to this, Milia would not accept it.

She's different from those sisters of Mercury Lamp who come over to play two days every week.

The other party clearly knows about this situation, too. To go back with us to Shadow City, and if she wants to return in the future, she'll have to wait for a military transport ship, which comes every two or three months. Even if I give her a special permit that allows her to occupy a spot on any transport ship, she'd still have to wait. So Milia became conflicted.

Kids are like this, it's one thing to act on impulse, but truly persisting in the long-term is another. She claims she doesn't want to be separated from us, but if it means not going home for three months at her age, she might not be able to handle it—Little Baobao likes amusement parks, right? But if you really lock her in an amusement park for more than two days, well, that place could only be used as a post-earthquake ruin filming location after.

So after some hesitation, Milia still scratched her head, her eyes still red, occasionally sniffling: "Then I'll often follow the transport ships to find you guys."

"You're always welcome," Sandora patted the top of her head, "and this time the Imperial Army will leave behind a base here, the Mist God Star Base. Your pass is still valid, you can visit the base anytime as long as you don't break the rules. In the future, this universe will also be part of the Empire's territory, just think of it as a temporarily remote border town. Although transportation is a bit difficult, Ah Jun and I will solve this problem as soon as possible, and Taville will work hard as well."

Milia finally fell silent.

"Not participating in the celebration outside?"

Seeing none of us intended to go outside, Biluna suddenly looked up from her loving murmurs with Uncle Zaku and asked with a smile.

My gaze passed over the window lattice, looking at the large square where the celebration was being held, and shook my head with a smile: "The Empire values pragmatism. We don't like these kinds of activities."

"But Lord Qianqian has already gone outside and is having a blast," said Lilina, lifting her head from her murmurings with Uncle Zaku, flashing a grin.

"""

Everyone: "…"

In the end, we didn't make an appearance at the celebration event because I'm really not that interested in Mobra culture. The only ones truly going wild outside were Qianqian and Lilina. The former goes crazy in any lively situation, while the latter is perpetually in a state of frenzy in all circumstances. I even had to send two squads of soldiers to haul these two wild girls back when we left. They brought back a lot of souvenirs, especially Lilina, who returned carrying a bag only slightly smaller than herself. She handed out souvenirs to everyone on the bridge, and items like blessed little pearls and toys blessed by Sandora lingered in my memory for quite a while. You have to admit, swindlers exist in every world and possess a life force even more resilient than Lilina's. Their creativity is endless. The street vendors selling Imperial Army emblems after the Big Nebula battle pale in comparison to Mobra's merchants, although they don't quite compare to those Imperial Officers selling blessed crosses on Mount Putuo…

By the way, these souvenirs included some unexpected items, little bronze statues apparently only second to "Holy Sage"-blessed amulets in value. The statues depicted two figures: a burly uncle sporting stubble and covered with ammunition, holding either a rocket launcher meant for attacking or just clobbering someone, and a beautifully fierce long-haired girl with dual pistols, every bit the gangster lady boss, both standing back-to-back, hunched over as if facing a formidable enemy. If not for showing a little respect to beauty, I'd say this statue is totally dumb…

Do you need to be shirtless in outer space like a Terminator to ignite a planet? This statue designer must have eaten something weird, right?

Alright, as you readers have guessed, the two on the statue are Uncle Zaku and Big Sister Biluna.

Indeed, they were publicized fervently across various Mobra official media, overcoming difficult obstacles to charge forward to the front lines. In the fierce battle between Holy Sage and rebels, the super heroes ignited a giant planet in their star system, successfully delaying the invaders' advance — it's actually these two characters. An hour ago, they were fighting over melon seeds with me.

True, life can be colorful anywhere you go. No wonder I found them a bit peculiar.

Later, I asked around and came to understand the situation. Crafting Uncle Zaku and Big Sister Biluna into hero figures involved deliberate planning. Firstly, their backgrounds were fitting: from ordinary backgrounds, one was a junk collector and the other was his wife (tentative), easily relatable to common folk. Plus, they were labeled as explorers, instantly linked to brave stories among Mobra citizens. Lastly, they followed the popular macho man and beautiful woman trope, which, I believe, was especially crucial, elevating a rather mundane hero tale to Oscar levels. Haven't you heard of the Hollywood ironclad rule? Every dazzling female lead has a crooked guy behind her whose main job is saving the world and maybe chasing after the leading lady. Uncle Zaku's life truly is a drama!

Considering their identities, I also believe that their roles as heroes were not merely about stirring the public's bloodlust. Milia was indeed at the time within the attacked Mist God Star defense line, and these two parents definitely risked their lives trying to save people — Milia was deeply moved.

Returning, arranging, regrouping the fleet, sending off the recruited Servant Army from various worlds, tallying post-war losses, proceeding to reward certain personnel, and handling numerous affairs seems like the post-war troubles aren't any less than during wartime. But fortunately, we've established a relatively complete middle and higher tier command agency as well as service departments that fit the current Empire structure. These matters were handed off to the Command Center, Military Integration Department, and Imperial Service General Bureau to handle headaches. Sandora and I could finally have some peace — mainly because both of us were exhausted to the extent we couldn't bother with these things. Sandora experienced perhaps the most difficult month of her life, while my task was to help her quickly return to her carefree state — we were incredibly busy.

The Celestial System Fleet returned ahead of schedule to the Civilization Community, delivering their Sun back to the locals. The Community Fleet, which performed outstandingly during this battle, proudly returned in triumph. Old Master Roland Gale once again became a battle hero, but another battle hero didn't quite bring as much joy: Tex, as always, maintained his laid-back demeanor, even as the Supreme Commander of the New Eden Federation's fleet this time around didn't change his nature. This old drunkard led his ferocious Marine Corps to sweep through all of Mobra's bars and underground markets before departure, and on their return, every battlecruiser burped alcohol, the soldiers' power armor seams reeked of ethanol. Celestine regretfully informed me that Reynolds prepared a custom confinement room for Tex long before this fleet's departure: they're such close buddies to fully understand each other.

An additional mention-worthy matter is Dingdang — at last, this little thing successfully adjusted her jet lag when the fleet sailed back…

"Oh, hometown, I'm back!"

After a bout of disorienting jumps, I finally set foot again on Shadow City Starport's alloy ground, the familiar ionized air around made my heart surge with emotion, lifting my spirits to exclaim.

"Lame." Lilina sneered from the corner of her eyes.

"Lame." Bingdisi nodded.

"Lame." Qianqian shouted to join the fun.

"What do you mean by lame?" Dingdang popped out of my pocket, filled with a head full of question marks, chirping away.

I was hit by a series of combos in five seconds, and my life value reached bottom on the spot, particularly with the pet emerging at the end to throw dumb remarks, making me feel furious. I grabbed the panicked Dingdang, waved vigorously in the air, my tone fierce: "I mean, don't any of you feel a bit sentimental? It's hard to get home finally! This month has felt like a year at least…"

Sister gently pinched my cheek with a smile: "Ah Jun is indeed like always since childhood. Dingdang, stop biting."

I let out a howl, only to realize amid the swinging in the air, Dingdang had gone berserk, combat power jumped twenty percent reaching a startling six, specifically she could actually bite someone to bleed!

"Ah Jun is such a big fool! Dingdang ain't a ball!" The little thing protested fiercely, showing deep fear towards the Dingdang Ball, leading to surrounding people gazing at me with weird looks.

Exactly as imagined before, returning home immediately resumes the immoral daily routine…

"Yo, Wood, did you live to come back?"

Just as our family reunion was lively and amicable, a voice suddenly emerged from behind, I casually passed the gnawing Dingdang to Sister, turned around excitedly, and unsurprisingly found Miss Prophet grinning behind me.

I must say, after a long absence, I do miss her quite a bit.

Lin Xue standing beside, followed by Anwina who always comes to the starport at this time to bring us home, the other side was Sayaka apparently just dismissed from school, also came to greet us. It seemed like a big sister leading two little sisters, she cheerfully waited for me to step closer, hesitated slightly, before doing something as unexpected:

Gently embracing me.

The softness in the arms caused my mind to momentarily halt, what's unreal, was the light whisper from her: "It must have been hard this time."

"You really know everything." I awkwardly pushed this girl away, rubbing my nose replied.

"Better off not knowing." Lin Xue in a double-meaning responded, then turned to the other people, cheeks slightly flushed, clearly the hug earlier took quite some courage, given Sandora and the others were present, and this was the first proactive gesture she made publicly since our relationship became known. I'm unsure what spurred this miss, maybe that legendary 'absence makes the heart grow fonder,' or concerned about the front-line lover or something?

I couldn't care less to think about it, after a journey of hustling, my sole desire now is to head back and rest. I looked at Lord Sister's hand holding Dingdang; the little thing was now sleepy, yawning repeatedly. If she wasn't out of her familiar pocket, she'd probably have been asleep — this little thing probably will continue adjusting the jet lag now. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it, your support is my biggest motivation.)