Xyrin Empire

The sun outside the window shines brightly, the thick double-glazed windows isolating the cold winds, leaving only the pleasant winter sunshine spilling into the living room. I lie on a large rocking chair, a whimsical purchase presumably made by Qianqian, swinging back and forth in the winter afternoon sunshine, feeling drowsy, resembling a wicked, wealthy landlord. Dingdang runs back and forth along the armrest of the rocking chair, occasionally grabbing my buttons to swing like a monkey, demanding to go out and play, but no one pays attention to this little one who finally overcame jet lag and is now overly excited. In the periphery of my vision, black and white maid attire flashes by—from the coffee table, Anwina is busy cleaning the room; Little Ghost always travels the shortest path between two points.

Life is so leisurely, the world rather beautiful, I feel like I'm about to transcend into immortality.

Not far behind is Little Baobao quietly playing with something, Ji Shanshan sits beside the little girl on a small blanket, staring at the ceiling in a daze, while Big Sister is teaching Mercury Lamp how to write the names of our family, resulting in the little doll being resentful towards Sandora.

Meanwhile, two people are sitting upright on the sofa having a lesson; one is Lilina, stern-faced lecturing to the one opposite, the other is Fina, a mechanical queen girl listening attentively and taking notes. The scene looks somewhat odd, but it's understandable when you know they are discussing how to live in this world today.

Fina, who hasn't lived as a human for several hundred years, is as clueless as a blank piece of paper. It took me half a day to teach her that water has to be boiled before drinking, then another half a day to explain that it needs to cool down after boiling—considering the physique of the Xyrin Apostle, it seems trivial for her, but it illustrates Fina's ignorance regarding common sense, thus it's not surprising she attends Lilina's lessons, despite Lilina being unreliable, she can still manage to fulfill this teaching role.

The petite teacher, barely over a meter tall, is teaching about Chinese customs and interpersonal taboos essential for living in this world, knowledge that Fina desperately needs, which makes me feel quite pleased that a usually unreliable Fake Lolita is finally doing something serious.

"Remember, don't cut hair during the first month of the year!"

Lilina said earnestly, and Fina blinked, quickly jotting down the sentence in her notebook, then curiously asks, "Why? Will it make you catch a cold?"

"Because cutting hair in the first month will kill your uncle."

Lilina said sorrowfully, sounding very persuasive.

Fina dumbfoundedly nods, as if pondering something, then suddenly shows a shocked expression, jumps off the sofa, and runs to me, her large eyes filled with panic, "How many uncles did you kill to summarize this rule?"

I suddenly tumble off the rocking chair, while Ji Shanshan, who was in a daze, starts reaching for help: her neck has strained, Big Sister was holding Mercury Lamp's hand to write Kaelvi's "Vi", but the excessive force resulted in poking a hole in the notebook, Mercury Lamp starts wailing, and Lilina immediately realizes what to do: she drags her recycling bin over, jumps into it herself: "Call me for dinner."

"What happened?" Fina innocently looks around at the chaotic scene in the living room, her expression cluelessly asks, "Did I ask something wrong?"

Turns out she actually realizes it's her question!

I get up, patting my forehead, pulling Lilina out of the bin, the little girl starts kicking and protesting loudly, and I flick her forehead: "Teach Fina normal things in the future!"

"How is 'don't cut hair in the first month killing uncles' not normal!" Lilina protests righteously, "I saw you tell Mercury Lamp like this just yesterday! Would you dare say it wasn't just because she doesn't have an uncle?"

Me: "…"

From the start, I shouldn't have tried normal communication with Lilina, when encountering this mobile curiosity generator, a few flicks to her forehead is the basic moral of an imperial new citizen!

After making Lilina's face as red as a bun, I spent ten minutes explaining to Fina what the saying about cutting hair in the first month killing uncles really means, clearly this former Queen finds it hard to understand such folk taboos, or any similar yet irrational taboos. Fina listens as I tell her it's merely a conventional custom, but in truth, neither uncles nor aunts have anything to do with your hair, causing her to furrow her brow in confusion: "Then why have this saying? It's unscientific, doesn't generate any benefit, and could affect the income of hair stylists…"

"People just believe in it," I spread my hands, "At least Chinese people do. You can choose not to believe it, but if others consider it a taboo, you need to be mindful, that's the gist of customs and taboos. Of course, you likely won't encounter this in Shadow City, just treat it as an example of understanding the said term 'custom and taboos'."

"Then that's worthless knowledge," Fina muttered, pointing at Lilina, "Why did she tell me these things?"

I glare at the already disposed Lilina in the recycling bin as if blessing her ancestors, gritting my teeth, "She deserves a beating!"

"Please, boss!" Lilina shrinks her neck in the bin, "Fina's really taking it seriously, if she actually beats me to death!"

I look at Fina in surprise, she nodded solemnly, "You said it, she deserves a beating. You are my friend, so I will help."

The living room erupts again, realizing talking with this girl is hilariously dangerous, requiring readiness to suppress any nonsense beforehand, for this blank slate-type girl will take anything you say seriously—once she decides to trust, and she would execute any thought without hesitation, stating it honestly, devoid of tricks, such purity in today's age is rare, nowadays a Loli over five and a half years old rarely leads goldfish sightseeing, among those over twelve who believe mermaids turn into foam after death, 99 out of 100 are in juvenile correction centers, the remaining one is named Fina, I am certain because just yesterday she brought a high school physics book to discuss the law of mass conservation related to a mermaid turning into foam's corresponding volume, having Isana present, and then not mentioning it again…

I think in the future I should keep Fina and Lilina apart; the latter enthusiastically rinses normal people's minds with her curious worldview, and for Fina who knows nothing, she is undoubtedly the best experimental field, she'll undoubtedly struggle to impart various deviated pieces of common sense to Fina. I can't imagine if I let Fina continue interacting with this Fake Lolita, what quirky persona this pure mechanical girl would become…

"Speaking of which, lately I noticed Avalon seems lively, a bunch of demons is wandering about, mixing with numerous Atlantis Artificial Gods, they even built a large auditorium outside the village—you're neighbors, any idea what's happening?"

I casually inquire while watching Big Sister teach Fina how to brew tea.

"Because they're celebrating the birth of a new child." Fina taps her chin, recalling, "They said it's quite significant, but I don't really understand; population growth should be a natural rule, celebrating seems wasteful."

The moment Fina finishes her sentence, a cluster of girls in the living room rush over, Qianqian, Bubbles Sister, Lin Xue, even Ji Shanshan, everyone crowded around Fina and me, gazing eagerly, faces full of gossip spirit: women are the most fervent creatures at seeking rumors, with no exception, even the usually composed Big Sister couldn't hold it this time. The only exceptions are Sandora, Little Baobao, and Pandora, two genuinely not interested, and one chatting with a captured ant, I deem them Big, Medium, and Little composed trio.

Visca's gleaming blood-red cat eyes stand out in the crowd, the little girl pushed forward, exclaiming, "Little kid little kid? Whose whose? Reynolds and Zeratul's?"

I almost slipped under the coffee table from shock, grabbing Visca's little cheeks in panic: "What kind of nonsense is this!"

Visca's soft little face turned into a comically shaped dough in my hand, while she pointed to Bubbles beside her with bright eyes and muttered, "She said Zeratul and Reynolds are a couple…"

A second later, Bubbles and Lilina were thrown into a basket.

The surrounding crowd's barrage of questions confused Fina a bit. She probably didn't understand why this group of girls was so excited, even though she was one of them. After some thought, she decided to answer my question first: just whose child had such significance that they prompted so many people in Avalon to prepare a celebration—congregating those mischievous demons for a task was no easy feat.

"It's an Atlantean child," Fina replied calmly in the midst of hungry eyes, "I didn't remember the parents' names, but they seem to be civilians."

"Oh—"

A wave of disappointment echoed around, evidently the beauties felt let down: after all that it was merely a normal Atlantean child's birth, suggesting the demons gathered purely on a whim.

However, there's always someone with a keen mind who notices what we overlook. Big Sister suddenly remembered something while others were busy with disappointment and loudly reminded everyone: "Wait! That means… this should be the first child born since the New Era of Atlantis!"

Everyone paused, finally realizing that this was truly not an ordinary newborn.

Then Sandora's soft voice lifted the mood again: "Not just since the New Era, but since Atlantis was torn from Earth and floated away into the Otherworldly space, this is the first child born."

I shot a puzzled glance at Sandora, who was smiling softly while approaching, and she explained, "Maybe none of you paid attention to those documents; I only found out by chance when browsing materials: once Atlantis was torn away and cast into the Otherworld, it implemented a ban on reproduction. After all these millennia, they're welcoming a new child for the first time."

"Ban… reproduction?" Qianqian asked in disbelief, "Why? Why would they implement such a strange law?"

"It's simple, because Atlantis Artificial Gods are immortal."

Sandora answered, and we quickly made many connections, leading us all to lapse into silence.

They are immortal, thus they don't experience population decline due to aging. The Empire's transformation gave them exceptionally strong bodies, so they rarely suffer population reduction due to daily accidents. In such a situation, these ageless, immortal transformed people were sent to the cold space of the Otherworld, where they couldn't find ways to restart their starships or locate other planets to land on. Resource replenishment was out of the question, and their survival depended on ancient machines that were constantly breaking down due to age. Although those machines produced enough materials for basic city operations, they couldn't provide surplus living space. With living space locked and resource replenishment always on the brink of exhaustion, natural procreation was prohibited.

In fact, banning natural procreation was merely a stopgap measure for Atlantean refugees who had no idea when their wandering life would end. Their extremely limited starship living environment resembled the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Should any of those ancient machines cease operating and never restart, it would mean thousands of people would lose their material supply — that's when the greatest disaster would strike: not only would newborns be banned, but even the existing elderly and infirm would have to be abandoned. In fact, it's only a guess, but I'd be willing to bet such events have occurred.

When the disaster first struck, Atlantis City became the ultimate sanctuary for all the Artificial Gods. Almost every Atlantean who lingered near the Holy City surged into the extremely limited city space. That city, later tossed into the Otherworld, became a powerless starship floating in space, faced with subsequent shortages.

This is typical in times of disaster within civilizations: the last safe refuge always crams far more refugees than it can support, and as the disaster persists, many refugees perish in the lack of living space. Similar incidents likely happened in Atlantis City as well. Although they were transformed like deities, ultimately they weren't truly immortal Xyrin Apostles — able to travel space for a time with their physical bodies, nonetheless, they required stable material supplies for survival.

Suddenly thinking about these things made us all fall silent, even though Lin Xue repeatedly said our family is history's most carefree crew. Yet, even Qianqian couldn't be carefree now. However, this somber mood didn't last long, because everything was now over, and the Atlanteans ultimately persevered.

"This is indeed something worth celebrating."

Big Sister gently stroked Little Baobao's head and softly said, "They didn't invite us; perhaps they felt the birth of a civilian child in their midst wasn't worth alerting the 'Great Gods,' but…"

"Going to take a look seems appropriate, right?"

Qianqian candidly voiced everyone's thoughts.

For the first time, the family unanimously supported Qianqian's idea. We all felt it was imperative to involve ourselves in the affair, with our reputation as the First Family in the entire Multi-universe!

"Fina, when does the celebration start?"

Seeing Qianqian gearing up to dress and prepare for departure, I quickly turned to Fina to figure things out, because although theoretically I'm the "Great God Leader" in the hearts of Atlanteans, I know barely anything about their customs and have no clue about the taboo in so-called newborn celebrations. I was just advising Fina on learning social norms, and now the tables have turned onto me.

What if their newborn celebration is scheduled for an auspicious day, and Qianqian barges into their maternity ward demanding to see the baby, wouldn't that be awkward?

"As for the celebration, it's this afternoon," Fina thought for a moment, nodding affirmatively, "There should be some time left since they said the baptism can't occur until the newborn enters its seventy-second hour. This is the 'newborn cycle' set by the Great Gods."

"It seems to be the time needed for the Xyrin Host Mother Machine to replicate a new generation," Sandora whispered to explain to me, and I knowingly nodded: it appears this is another divine Empire commonplace.

Hmm, speaking of which, a Mother Machine requires three days to replicate a next-generation Mother Machine, which is much longer than the time needed for a Mass Production Machine. I remember that replicating a Mass Production Machine actually takes less time than making scrambled eggs with tomatoes (don't ask why I associate production time with cooking; it happened while discussing with Sandora when she was eating), and surprisingly, Bubbles spent three days giving birth to Little Baobao—baby's mom, you've truly worked hard.

Bubbles suddenly glanced over feeling something, and mumbled, "Why do I suddenly feel a chill?"

Me: "…"

What a fierce Sixth Sense! Baby's mom, you're mighty! (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you're welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com) for recommendation or monthly tickets as your support is my greatest motivation.)