Xyrin Empire

Lin Xue's face carried her trademark imperturbable and serene smile, claiming to be calm and composed. If you didn't consider what she had just said, you would almost think this young lady was merely chatting with you.

But what she said had nothing to do with such an expression.

"I died, right there on the front line."

Miss Lin said with a cheerful smile, looking at my expression with a curious and slightly expectant gaze.

My expression? Let me tell you, at that moment, I didn't even know I had an expression! This time, Lin Xue's words truly scared the hell out of me! I admit, Lin Xue always manages to startle people, basically since I met her, whether in the past as mortal enemies or now as a couple… and still mortal enemies, this tsundere young lady keeps giving me trouble and occasionally has shocking actions. But I thought that all the frights she caused in the past three years were now nothing compared to the impact of her current sentence.

"What did you say!?" I practically jumped in place, my startled shout echoing for at least half a mile. The two fuzzy creatures washing their faces and brushing their teeth by Fairy Lake were so shocked by my shout that they even dropped their toothbrush cups into the lake. The little monster cursed and made a nearly invisible middle finger at me, then dashed into the forest.

The Mercury Lamp, who was dozing off with a doll not far away, looked over with a dazed expression, seemingly also quite startled—startled by me.

"Quiet, quiet," Lin Xue yanked me back forcefully and rolled her eyes, her tone annoyed, "You startled me, you face off against thousands of spaceships without flinching, but this excites you so much. I knew you would react like this, that's why I didn't want to say it."

"Stop joking," I felt my heart pounding like an old steam engine, and seeing Lin Xue with that careless grin, knowing she was alright now, I couldn't help but grab her hand, "What do you mean? Dead? What happened?"

Lin Xue looked at my expression, her face slowly showing a different smile, a bit shy, but more happy—I could still see that. She pinched my nose with her other hand, "Do I have to spell it out? My ability. This trip was extremely dangerous for me, there's over an eighty percent chance of getting wiped out in a sudden enemy attack if I go to the front line, or at least severely injured, so I didn't go. Uh, your expression looks terrifying…"

"No kidding, don't you think this topic is a bit too impactful?!"

I didn't know how to describe my feelings, but it definitely didn't feel good, even if it was something that hadn't happened, it could be treated as a horror story. But when the protagonist of this story is replaced by Lin Xue herself, the internal impact is not so simple. And it's not just a story—as with Lin Xue's ability, all of this is treated as a story solely because it was avoided, if any step before had gone wrong, this would certainly have been an unavoidable reality!

Okay, I have to admit, at this moment, I felt more than ever the weight of this sharp-tongued young lady who is always bickering with me, she managed to scare me.

Lin Xue seemed to thoroughly enjoy the reaction she had hoped for from me, only then did she satisfactorily tuck her slightly cool small hand into my palm, and said with rare gentleness, "You passed. Actually, you don't need to be so nervous, after all, it didn't happen, right?"

"I know it didn't happen, but…" I stopped short, feeling I couldn't continue: indeed, these were things that hadn't happened, my worries, fears, or this unfounded heartache were all baseless. However, I couldn't help but have these feelings, all because of Lin Xue's ability: she is a Prophet, which means none of her stories are false.

If the other party were a charlatan, like those Imperial Soldiers under Erli Bridge, and they grabbed you saying, "This young friend, you have an ominous complexion with coarse skin, there is a disaster looming, but here is a bottle of blessed Da Bao SOD Honey to ensure your safety in harm's way—if not, at least it will treat your rough skin", then it would be normal for you to grab a brick or call the City Management Team. But if Lin Xue grabs you saying, "Better not go out these days, you might get hit by a landing pod," then everyone would shiver a couple of times, given that the chance of getting hit by a landing pod in a world with Imperial activities is definitely not zero, and when Lin Xue says it, that chance is just about one hundred percent. I usually treat her words as facts.

This is the girl whose words are equal to facts, how do you expect me to remain unfazed when she talks about nearly dying in the future?

Maybe the expression on my face was indeed terrifyingly gloomy, as even the normally fearless Lin Xue became quiet, tugging at my sleeve and asking softly, "Are you mad?"

"Frightened," I sighed, "Tell me, what exactly happened?"

"It seems I should have told you earlier, so it wouldn't feel so hard to accept now."

Lin Xue muttered something, and the next sentence was even more startling, "What if I told you that I've seen similar scenes of prediction more than once?"

I looked at the girl beside me with a look of disbelief, my tone almost changing: "Huh?"

"The future, ah, is always turbulent, especially for you, me, and the future of us special beings. Too many worlds and causes are entangled with us, leading to very chaotic probabilities of many events occurring. Of course, my ability can easily find the true direction of the future from this chaos, but generally, the futures I see simultaneously have different directions. This is an extremely amplified butterfly effect. Two seemingly opposite future directions may very well have the same origin, and what changes them is just a small, unnoticed detail: you drink an extra sip of water in the morning, and a world might be destroyed a few years later, or conversely, it might continue for billions of years. It sounds unbelievable, but you and I now truly have this 'power of attraction'."

"Then what does this have to do with you mentioning your own death?"

"You idiot, didn't I say I can always see several entirely different futures at once? Because these future directions overlap in most matters, only one or two key decisions cause them to diverge, so I can see them simultaneously. And this time when going on an expedition, I saw the scene of my own demise, sounds scary, doesn't it? But… this has happened many times before."

I looked at the girl in front of me in shock… no, horror, as she seemed to have just mentioned something incredibly serious.

"Death, for ordinary people, can only be experienced once, and they can only witness the death of the same person once, but I am different. By scanning the future paths again and again, I can see the same person meeting death in my presence in twenty different ways, and my own funeral has happened many times too—of course, in those scenes I can't see my own presence, but I can see the reactions of the people around me, then deduce what happened. Ha, the first time this happened, my reaction was worse than yours, I was so frightened that I cried, really, I cried, then I didn't come to see you for several days…"

She didn't finish the second half of her sentence because I had already suddenly pulled her over and held her tightly in my arms.

Lin Xue let out a low exclamation but then obediently relaxed, curling up comfortably in my embrace.

I had understood what Miss Prophet was saying.

A normal person can only know one fate, which is the path they must experience in reality, while what Lin Xue must experience or witness are all the possible paths. When a person can only die once, she has already seen multiple funerals with her own eyes; the impact of this goes without saying.

Actually, this should be something very easy to understand. For us, blinded and unaware, our future is unknown; anything could happen, and uncertain paths lead to countless endpoints. Considering that what we're doing is probably the most dangerous work in the entire multi-universe, I am convinced that 80% of these countless endpoints are disastrous obstacles leading to one's downfall.

And Lin Xue's task is to see these obstacles and then guide us to avoid them.

Naturally, she will see how those disasters would happen during this process, seeing in what situations we would meet untimely deaths, and of course, seeing her own inevitable fate—her mission is to guide us to avoid these things, and what she has to endure for this is experiencing this fear repeatedly.

Don't think that it's just like watching a movie; you could be scared to death watching a 3D version of The Ring in the cinema, so witnessing your own funeral in real life would definitely scare you into having a cerebral hemorrhage.

Yet Lin Xue had already gotten used to it.

I really am a slow-witted guy; this should have been something I could understand with just a little more deep thinking, yet I had to wait for the miss to come out and say it before I realized it. Previously, I only took it for granted to understand Lin Xue's guidance as being given. Now understanding the real process, I feel a chill running through me: this truly isn't a job for common people.

"Life, ah, is like a GAL game, and I'm like having all scenarios unlocked," Lin Xue, seeing me silent for a long time, finally decided to start babbling nonsense, "I look at all the paths and then point you to a good end. Of course, sometimes it really can't be too detailed, but the unknown things sometimes are more interesting, aren't they? Right now, I can't even experience the fun of my own strategy…"

I listened by the side, breaking out in a cold sweat; this girl surely is quite unrestrained in her words—but she is quite right in various ways.

Unconsciously, I held Lin Xue tighter in my arms, while inwardly sorting through past situations one by one, I began to see some issues, namely my own luck.

"Girl, to be honest, how many times have you saved us?"

"Not much, not little either. You figure out how many times I've given advice during the war," Lin Xue rolled her eyes to the sky, "So now I'm calm about all this: Haven't they all not happened? I now see the future as watching a horror film. Although it's 3D, I definitely don't get into it. Otherwise, if every now and then I see either myself or you all dying one or two, I'd go crazy even if I had a heart of stone."

This was my first time discussing the issue of the Prophet so deeply with Lin Xue, and naturally, my heart was touched greatly. Some things are like this; unless you experience them firsthand or see them in person, you always think it's just so-so based on imagination alone, but once clarified, it really sends a shiver down your spine.

"You really have it tough. Also, from now on, just tell things straight up, don't be so jumpy. You know, today you almost scared me to death."

Thinking for a long time, I, who isn't great with sweet talk, could only hug Lin Xue's shoulder, gently tapping the girl's head with my chin: after a period of summary, I discovered this girl's favorite way of showing intimacy. Apparently, it reminds her of her dad's scent, which is quite melancholic.

"That's cringy, get off." Lin Xue, habitually unappreciative, while speaking harsh words, lifted her head strongly to knock against my chin, determined to give herself a lump on the head but make my upper and lower teeth sore for five minutes. With a bang, I yelped and darted to the side, covering my mouth, looking at Lin Xue with helplessness: Why does this girl still lack control!

"From now on, knowing my power, just behave," Lin Xue looked over here smugly, her chin directing commandingly at me, "Don't try being daring and adventurous all the time, I know, this time you went alone again to lead the troops to attack, quite great, huh, joined forces with Sister Chen Qian to sink the War Song."

"Mainly Dingdang Ball's credit… Okay, okay, I'll fix it next time." I quickly waved my hand, showing decisive adherence to Lin Xue's directions. Going along with her was the smartest move.

"Ha, so you were here!"

While we were chatting with bits and pieces, suddenly a clear joyful yelp came from the forest behind, turning back along the sound, a Beast Qianqian jumped out from the bushes…

"Wow, so many days without visiting, can't even find the way, how come you're squeezing through the bushes." The lively short-haired girl bounced energetically out of the bushes, walking towards us while brushing off the grass and leaves from her head, yet not looking awkward but giving a cute explosion kind of feeling, and following behind Qianqian was Sandora, maintaining elegance even when drilling out from the bushes—of course, I didn't believe she'd be careless like Qianqian and get lost; the Queen might just find it fun to follow Qianqian around.

Qianqian's eyes lit up at the big toy Mercury Lamp was holding, she darted over in two steps: "Let me play, let me play!"

Lin Xue and I exchanged a smile, ready to enjoy the doll defense battle between Mercury Lamp and Qianqian. As a result, before they started, Qianqian suddenly lost interest, tossing Mercury Lamp aside who hadn't even reacted yet, bounding over to hug my neck: "Ah Jun, want to fish?"

Me: "…"

Dare I ask, how did you make this transition?

"Seeing Ah Jun makes me think about eating, seeing the lake makes me think there should be fish, then seeing Lin Xue… well, I just want to fish." Qianqian, counting on her fingers, very seriously explained her reasoning process to me.

"Fishing? Sounds interesting. I happen to be a bit hungry too. Wood, get the campfire ready, it's idle to be idle anyway, let's grill fish today~!~!"

Being bored almost to madness, unlike me, Lin Xue wasn't troubled by Qianqian's wild leap of logic. She was even quicker to get used to following Qianqian's erratic thought process, so when Qianqian suggested fishing, Miss Prophet had already started planning the meal.

Qianqian's appearance undoubtedly and rightfully disrupted the rhythm for the three of us. I was still dazed by Lin Xue's explosive topic for today, and at the other end, this girl was already cheerfully dragging Lin Xue to prepare fishing rods—this magical girl's Personal Space has always been a more mystical spot to me than some pitch-black pocket from Doraemon; she once pulled out from it the whole family's lunch, rubber boat, bicycle, palm tree, SCV, hydrogen fuel tank, vending machine, packaging line, a nest of hamsters, relic tower, and a Siemens tri-door refrigerator; now, I wouldn't be surprised if she pulled out two fishing rods from her Personal Space or even a deep-sea fishing net: This girl has the habit of collecting things she's interested in at any time, and when there isn't room at home, she would casually stash them in her Personal Space.

So the tranquil time just now with Lin Xue and a certain ill-tempered daughter at the lakeside got expanded by Qianqian into a delightful afternoon fishing for a family of five. Qianqian sat side by side with Lin Xue, each holding a fishing rod, in the clear forest sunlight of Avalon, the beauty of the two young girls could directly be hung in the Louvre, while Sandora, having no interest in fishing, was assigned to watch the stuff nearby, and my task was to watch Sandora—I feared she might steal the bait.

Mercury Lamp's task was to sit on the grass not far away, her task was to wait and eat.

Leisurely lying on the grassy lakeside of Fairy Lake, the nostrils were filled with the unique fragrance of vegetation from the Fairy Forest, looking at the blue sky, white clouds, grass growing and warblers flying, and the Mercury Lamp flying back and forth overhead, such days are so leisurely and free, the heavy topics just discussed with Lin Xue gradually faded away, indeed, peaceful daily life is the highest, except there's one point starting to linger in my mind—

"Girl Lin, do you know how to fish?"

I clearly heard the sound of the fishing rod hitting the ground.

"Qianqian, do you have the patience to fish?"

"Aha, ahahaha."

The sound of Qianqian's giggle came.

Sure enough, I really shouldn't have any expectation from these two unreliable folks!

Lin Xue is a rich lady, she might know how to fish, but definitely only for fun. Really making her rely on this to whip up a meal for us, I suspect Sandora might starve till she goes berserk and gnaws on bark, and Qianqian is a three-minute heat. You could say at the moment she swings the rod and hooks, this girl is about to lose interest, and I still foolishly wait for these two oddballs to fish for me!

"Get up, get up," I quickly stepped forward and squeezed Qianqian with Lin Xue aside one by one, grabbing the fishing rod with a dragon-like squat on the rock, "I'll fish, you two go watch Sandora, don't let her steal the bait."

Sandora looked pitifully at the fish basket, after a while, she said: "But I'm hungry…"

"If you eat it, I won't dare to kiss you ever again." I answered honestly, Sandora instantly behaved.

While we several were fussing, I actually felt the fishing rod in my hand suddenly became heavier!

"Don't mess around, don't mess around! It feels like something's bit the hook!"

I was overjoyed, holding the fishing rod with immense pride, speaking to Lin Xue who was dumbstruck.

Miss had a face of disbelief: "Wow, what's wrong with the fish of Avalon? Just now, Miss couldn't dare to breathe for a while and it was silent. How come you stirred it up, and it bit the hook?"

"What can you expect from Dingdang-made things—this guy is a big one!" While slowly stabilizing the continuously vibrating fishing rod, I excitedly and pleasantly surprised said, who would've thought, who would've thought that Qianqian's impromptu idea would end up with me shining bright: Avalon's fish are really dumb!

The splashes on the lake's surface were getting larger, by feel, I found that I was lifting at least a 45-kilogram creature, thinking to myself that could Dingdang have stocked Loch Ness Monster juveniles here in Fairy Lake, then while my thoughts were wandering, only to hear a burst of splashing, with a "Kapow," a shining figure under the sunlight leaped out of the lake!

Isana held onto my fishing line, looking innocently at the stunned crowd on the shore…

I feel this scene looks kind of familiar…

(I think maybe I startled you all yesterday…)(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it, your support is my greatest motivation.)