Xyrin Empire

When it was lunch time, Lin Xue had just woken up from her nap. Miss floated leisurely downstairs in a sleepwalking state, then, with her eyes closed, started feeling around the table for her bowl and chopsticks. This process was truly awe-inspiring: firstly, her serious morning muddle impressed, and secondly, her mooching meals at our house had reached such a level that it was astounding.

Miss gets low blood pressure when she wakes up, spending half an hour in a daydream state every time she wakes. Of course, I couldn't let this opportunity slip by, so I quickly snatched the tomato egg soup from in front of Lin Xue and guzzled it down, then put the empty bowl back in front of the girl. Watching Miss spoon air into her mouth made me giggle: the Pandora Sisters are checking their health in Shadow City or watching others check theirs, so the dining table felt less lively without them, and Lin Xue fully satisfied my current sense of emptiness.

"Once she's awake, good luck to you."

Lilina, who was out partying until noon but still returned on time for lunch, sat across the table, propped up by a big stack of books. She muttered while continuing to fish for Dingdang using raisins strung on fine thread.

"What happened to your yoga?" I glanced askew at this little girl, "Didn't you say you joined a yoga training class and wouldn't be coming back for lunch?"

"Boring, those middle-aged women even said the Pope has a stiff body and stagnant blood flow," Lilina grumbled, "Then I demonstrated to them how to bend my arms in seven different directions simultaneously, and now she should already be in the hospital on pure oxygen."

Me: "…"

Just then, the doorbell suddenly rang.

"Ding dong ding dong—" two urgent monotone syllables echoed in the living room. Lilina, bored to the point of itchy meowing, had put a lot of effort into modifying the doorbell at home, giving it sixteen-channel surround sound and a deep, melodious classical music effect, so much so that every time the doorbell rang, you could close your eyes and think you were sitting in the Sydney Opera House.

I exchanged glances with Big Sister amidst the undulating mellow two syllables, wondering who else besides Lin Xue would so precisely time their visit at our mealtime, pondering who this important person could be.

Anwina, remembering her duty as a maid, drifted out from the soup pot on the table (I'm very curious why Anwina is so fond of passing through these strange items) to open the door, but I, quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbed Little Ghost and tossed him into the TV, signaling to Sayaka to see who was at the door.

Are you kidding me, Anwina had forgotten her Dead Souls status? Floating in mid-air as a half-transparent ghost maid to open the door for you, any sane ordinary person would be scared out of their wits, and in fact, we've already sent several water meter inspectors to the hospital for similar reasons, oh, and one gas delivery guy, who got scared breathless after opening the door, and later it was Lilina pouring her footbath water over them that revived them.

As it turned out, my decisive action was correct: Sayaka brought three people in front of us, one of them was Ding Ling.

Ding Ling, who is said to have the power to disassemble the most powerful tank humans ever made instantly with sound waves, killed over two hundred terrorists with one scream in Africa's tropical rainforest, remotely detonated an illegal missile base from thirteen kilometers away with a burp, such an impressive high-level cadre of the Superpower Organization, dismantled my living room just because she glanced at Anwina.

Because she's afraid of ghosts, this girl who can be considered superhuman within the human domain, is afraid of ghosts!

"Ah-ha, having a meal are we."

Following Ding Ling into the living room was also our old acquaintance, Lin Xue's brother, Lin Feng, this slightly cheeky young man has a pretty good relationship with our family, belongs to the friend level, I think maybe it has something to do with him considering me a brother-in-law. Lin Feng inherited the Lin Family's glorious tradition well, or rather Lin Xue's glorious genes, which is being particularly unruly—though they claim to be wealthy and powerful heirs seeing his sister holding a sleepy-eyed empty bowl and slurping air, Lin Feng immediately understood what was happening, gave me a look of admiration, then reached for the chili sauce on the table…

Are these two really siblings?

Five seconds later, Miss started chasing Lin Feng, who was screaming from the spice, remembering when I deceived Qianqian into stealing and eating raw ginger when I was six, my point being Lin Feng's IQ just now was about equal to mine at six—though I also admit my IQ when sneakily drinking Miss's tomato egg soup didn't exceed six either.

People, you just have to maintain a childlike heart; speaking of which, what are these two rare guests doing here at our meal time today?

"Well, it seems my sister doesn't know yet," Lin Feng said with an egg-sized bump on his head, sighing while looking at Lin Xue who was gulping down water with big gulps, "We've encountered some trouble."

"Trouble?" Lin Xue puffed air upwards, she had just swallowed enough extremely spicy chili sauce to last me half a month; even though her physical resilience allowed her to handle it, this sensory assault was quite substantial, no wonder she was chasing her brother for a full ten minutes, "Trouble from the organization? Can you not embarrass me? Face it, coming here for help elevates the issue to the height of racial autonomy…"

Miss was talking nonsense, so I could only stuff Mercury Lamp into her arms and let her play with a doll on the side while letting Lin Feng speak slowly.

"Um, maybe I was a bit rash, the one in trouble is not me, it's him."

Lin Feng cautiously glanced at his formidable sister, then pointed to the third person who had been silent since entering.

This person immediately caught my attention when he appeared; he was a tall, burly man nearly 1.89 meters tall, wearing a thick long down coat, his head completely wrapped in a dusty gray wool hat from who-knows-what-era, a large white mask covering his face, sunglasses over his eyes, even a double-layer scarf wrapped around his neck, with the scarf so thick that it entirely masked any shape of his lower face. Even the white mask was deduced from a glimpse of a white edge exposed beside his cheeks; such thorough coverage prevented anyone from seeing any bit of his appearance. I truly can't imagine how Lin Feng and Ding Ling managed to bring this man, wrapped like he just returned from an expedition in Antarctica, all the way here. This guy standing in the street almost has the same eye-catching effect as 200 big girls running naked in the wind, especially in this boring city where tying your shoes for more than two minutes can gather a crowd curiously tying shoes together, such an odd outfit definitely makes anyone with a camera feel guilty if they don't quickly press the shutter to do justice to their memory card!

Of course, the more important reason why this Antarctic expedition uncle caught my attention was: he's a stranger.

This person carried a presence I hadn't seen before; he wasn't from our circle, not even close to it. Since entering, he'd sat silently on the couch, not willing to remove any of his thick covering from his face, I didn't dare to look at him too much because of sympathy for his heat discomfort.

Lin Feng and Ding Ling knew our identity, and also knew what entering this seemingly ordinary big house meant, yet they decisively brought a stranger in, with Lin Xue, as the Prophet, tacitly agreeing to it, having me gaze more at the heavily wrapped "Bearman" on the couch.

He emitted special energy fluctuations, and Lilina's spiritual communication indicated that this man's physical strength might be close to an Imperial Soldier.

"This is Count William, the leader of the European Moonlight Monastery and an old-timer in the Dark World," Ding Ling cautiously crouched on the couch, always alert to the ghost maid cleaning nearby while speaking in her uniquely hoarse voice in a low tone, "He knows you guys are Boundless Love members. Moreover, Count William holds significant weight in the Dark World."

Ding Ling's subsequent statements were easy to understand: this gentleman didn't know our true identities, Ding Ling and Lin Feng had fooled him over using the resonant name "Boundless Love," persuading him to come here; he's an influential figure in the earthly world, and he's encountered considerable trouble, leading Lin Feng and them to risk Lin Xue's wrath in bringing him directly here.

"Earl, you can take off your mask now—everyone in this room is a high-level cadre of Boundless Love."

Lin Feng turned his head and said to the "Leader of the Monastery" who was tightly wrapped up, while instinctively scanning the room with his eyes. First, his gaze fell on Lilina, who was busy building a castle with chopsticks, causing him to pause, then landed on Mercury Lamp, who was being continuously rearranged and protesting by Lin Xue, pausing again, and then rested on Qianqian, who was teaching Little Baobao how to play cat's cradle, where he paused for ages. Finally, he earnestly repeated to Count William, "I'm serious…"

"No worries, nothing ever goes normal when it comes to you siblings," the burly man known as Count William spoke for the first time, surprisingly in a fluent Tangshan dialect. His voice sounded peculiar to me—deep, hoarse, and having significant wind and tone issues—likely caused by his double scarves and a large mask. He began unwrapping his scarves and mask while curiously looking at me, "Are you the Leader of Boundless Love?"

"How could you tell?"

Count William hesitated, pointing at the dining table, "Except for the few little ones, you're the only one who doesn't clean up after eating."

I was suddenly speechless; turns out, being the leader of Boundless Love means having the privilege to not wash dishes after meals. Also, Count William's way of speaking… makes it feel like his hometown isn't far from here?

Anwina and Mercury Lamp were in the living room, and one of them was quite noisy in their protest, yet these two entities, which at first glance are far from human, didn't surprise Count William much. He accepted the scene before him naturally, indicating he's a well-traveled person. Even though he couldn't say what a 92.3cm life-sized doll-like black-winged girl was about, he assumed it was another secret within the dark world organization. Count William, with a leisurely pace, unwrapped everything from his head, revealing a furry "face" before us.

Furry face, long snout, sharp ears, and a pair of glittering dark golden eyes. After taking off his disguises, "Count William" even gave us a grin, "Funny, you don't seem surprised at all?"

Frankly speaking, I felt I should be surprised that the so-called Count William revealed a wolf's head after removing his disguise, yet he is an Earth native. However, our family wasn't surprised at all, and Lilina even snorted disdainfully, "Tch, a werewolf huh, have you seen a five-meter tall werewolf?"

"That tall?!" Werewolf William was astonished, hissing with air through his teeth, "My grandpa is only two and a half meters, and he's the tallest werewolf I've ever seen."

Lilina mumbled, "Thrown into Anubis, considered severely disabled."

"No one treats you like a mute if you don't speak, go box with Mercury Lamp!" I grabbed Lilina and tossed her toward Mercury Lamp, and the two little girls who never got along started brawling immediately, with Lin Xue squatting by to referee, while Lin Feng let out a melodious sigh watching the scene.

"A werewolf—" Qianqian suddenly exclaimed in delight just then, taking two or three strides to grab the ears, but I quickly held her down, yet she still flailed her arms and shouted, "Ah Jun, there really are werewolves on Earth!"

"Why is someone only showing surprise now?" The werewolf version of Count William struggled to keep up with our bizarre and abrupt rhythm, already feeling dizzy, as I suppressed Qianqian's head and just laughed, "You'll get used to it, everything she does is random… anyway, let's get to the point, I heard you need help?"

"Ah right, help, help," Qianqian worked her head out from under my arm, handing out a flyer with her elbow held out, featuring a colorful corporate logo, "This is our Boundless Love poster, our services cover everything, all you can't handle, we can fix, from realigning Neptune to unblocking sewers… oh right, you're here for help, no need for the flyer, have you eaten? I'd have Anwina make you something?"

I was nearly collapsing at this point; Qianqian's talent for thinking erratically at crucial moments was still so sharp, and Werewolf Bro was clutching the flyer with mixed emotions as Ding Ling muttered while dodging Anwina's curious gaze over here, "Where did she even catch on just now…"

"I'll just get to the point, do any of you have a way to make me human again? I know your name, Boundless Love, is practically a legend in the dark world, and I hope this legend can help me out."

Werewolf Bro took several deep breaths, barely calming himself in this noisy and chaotic environment, finally remembering his purpose here, pointing dejectedly at his wolf head, "I've been like this all night, it used to be only a forced transformation once a year, find a secluded place and a pile of bones and it's over, but now I've been like this for over twelve hours, since midnight last night until noon today, it's too itchy!"

"Let's not talk about this first," I waved my hand to cut off his Tangshan twang, finally unable to suppress my curiosity, "Your Chinese is very good."

"We werewolves must travel around the world before adulthood, only then can we inherit the family, I've been to China since the Tang Dynasty, lived in China on and off for over two hundred years, the last time was residing long-term in Tangshan, even saving people during the earthquake," Werewolf Bro hesitated, speaking with a mouthful of leaking air, "Li Shimin had hemorrhoids…"

And then I was horrified.

Before me was clearly an absolute China expert, knowing more about China than I did, because theoretically no top-tier historian could have personally seen Li Shimin's hemorrhoid scene, yet for this werewolf over a thousand years old, he had seen it. He journeyed long distances to China in the early Tang Dynasty, met Li Shimin, and even saw Tang Sanzang, though not the legendary "This humble monk came from the Eastern Tang" in Shadow City. He knows that the first draft of "Heavenly Craftsmanship" originally had two typos in the opening sentence, which later historians justified as phonetic loans. This werewolf senior is among the very few "barbarian creatures" allowed to freely enter China's borders, with the Superpower Team having close cooperation with the Monastery he leads. He is truly a legendary figure surrounded by various secretive mysteries never revealed publicly.

Of course, this doesn't mean much to us.

We aren't concerned about what the Monastery is or its nature as a group, nor are we terribly curious about this seemingly unreliable Werewolf Uncle's "World History Famous People's Hemorrhoid Statistics" gathered during his world travels at a young age, a document signed by Tang Zong Song Zu Kennedy and Hitler personally. The only thing of interest regarding this werewolf is his character contrasting with his "Count" title and the reason he can't turn back to human form after transforming.

The former is easy to explain because this werewolf bro is inherently this way. His count title was self-appointed; you can't expect a werewolf to accept a knighting from the Queen of England, as for the latter…

"The moon, it's all because of the moon."

The werewolf bro looked sorrowful at the ceiling, as if seeing through it and into the distant moonlight in outer space, "But this time I just can't figure it out, when I was forced to transform yesterday, there wasn't even a moon in the sky—Europe has a time difference with this place, the moon hadn't even risen yet, but I could clearly feel the moonlight calling."

The werewolf lowered his head to look at his furry hands, looking utterly bewildered.

"More than just moonlight causes a werewolf's transformation," Lin Xue curled her lip, "There's also lun… the moon's energy, as long as its energy reaches a certain level, even if the moon is on the far side of the Earth, you'll transform."

"You're quite knowledgeable about werewolves?"

Werewolf William's eyes sparkled, looking at Lin Xue with intrigue.

"More knowledgeable than you," answered Lilina on her behalf, floating over with a victorious air after wrapping Mercury Lamp with a bunch of vines like a zongzi, handing a bracelet-like item to the werewolf bro, "Wear this, then go to the balcony and shout: 'Pope, grant me power!' and you'll transform back…" (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast a recommendation vote or a monthly vote. Your support is my greatest motivation.)