Chapter 422 Extra Chapter 1: The Children of the World Tree
October 25, 2020, Beijing, China, Guyimai Street.
Autumn has arrived, and the evening breeze is cool. Even when you lean against the window frame and listen carefully at dusk, you can't hear the cicadas chirping.
However, one can hear the rumble of trains passing over the viaduct. The elevated railway in Lijing is quite developed. Locals can see a train traveling under the sky whenever they look up, whether they are walking on the main street or in the alley.
Ji Minghuan walked home, head down, playing on her phone as she stepped over the swirling fallen leaves.
The reason why the Gu family can live openly and honestly in the old Jingmai neighborhood without being disturbed by the outside world is because Ji Minghuan had specially gone to hold a meeting with high-ranking officials of the United Nations late at night.
Rather than using the polite term "meeting," it's better to say that you should take advantage of their private time, such as when they're "going to the bathroom" or "having afternoon tea," to have some heartfelt conversations with them.
The final outcome of this meeting was, of course, obvious—a planet-destroying, restricted-level monster was there, and they had no right to protest.
Therefore, at Ji Minghuan's friendly suggestion, the United Nations removed the wanted status of Gu Qiye, Gu Zhuoan, and Ayase Origami, and their arrest warrants disappeared from the Internet.
Meanwhile, "Ice Girl" Yuriel, using Ji Minghuan's name, naturally withdrew from Rainbow Wing. She had previously saved a large sum of money, enough to live comfortably for most of her life.
Just minutes before, Ji Minghuan used the spatial abilities of Unit 4 to fly to the capital of Iceland to pick up Rainbow Wing, the ice girl.
The incident started when Yu Ruier suddenly texted Gu Qiye, saying that she might fly to China tonight to have dinner with Gu Qiye, but it depended on whether the flight would be in time.
Gu Qiye was cooking in the kitchen at the time, still wearing an apron. After reading Yu Ruier's message, he immediately crossed his arms and leaned against the sink, looking down and smiling slightly.
He leaned closer to his phone and recorded a voice message, replying, "Why take a plane? My brother can fly around the world in just five seconds. Why not have him pick you up for free? It's a more economical way to travel."
Ji Minghuan couldn't help but roll his eyes at that moment, thinking to himself that this good brother really was using him as a means of transportation.
But he was too embarrassed to refuse.
After all, everyone in the family still harbored resentment towards his behavior during his time as "Black Chrysalis," such as "using recordings to provoke his father," "constantly making sarcastic remarks about his older brother and younger sister," and "knowing everyone's identities but refusing to be honest."
Everyone sat down around a table and carefully analyzed "Comrade Black Chrysalis's behavior," exchanging information with each other. Ji Minghuan listened with great embarrassment and felt extremely uncomfortable.
Finally, led by Su Zimai and Kong Youling, everyone in the family cast a judgmental gaze at Ji Minghuan.
Gu Qiye clearly had a smile on his face, but his eyes were as cold as ice, forcing Ji Minghuan to flee the family meeting halfway through and hide on the moon for four or five hours before returning.
In short, for various reasons, Ji Minghuan's status in the family is now almost lower than that of Gu Zhuo'an—you know, if one's status in this family is even lower than that of the people in the terrifying clock tower, then that's really the end of the world.
Unfortunately, this is the situation Ji Minghuan is in now.
He felt that if he ever had a reason to destroy the world, it would be because of his low social status and the oppression he suffered. It was truly a sad and lamentable thing that a dignified elementary school student was being ordered around at will.
That's why he was forced by his older brother to go to Iceland, where he spent a minute finding Yuriel in Reykjavik and bringing her back to China.
Right now, the two of them were walking quietly home. He and Yuriel didn't have anything to talk about, so neither of them spoke.
After thinking for a moment, Yuriel asked expressionlessly:
"I still don't quite understand. Should I call you 'Ji Minghuan' or 'Gu Wenyu'?"
“Call us whatever makes you happy, it’s all the same,” Ji Minghuan said. “We don’t have a fixed way of addressing people in our family, we just call them whatever we like.”
"That's true. I often hear you and Miss Su Zimai call Mr. Gu Zhuoan 'the terrifying clock tower man' and your brother 'the lightning squirrel'."
Yu Ruier was telling the truth. Two weeks ago, she came to Gu Qiye's house as a guest. At that time, Su Zimai, Ji Minghuan, and Kong Youling were sitting on the floor playing "The Outcasts". They stared at the game characters on the screen and kept saying things like, "I'll pick Lightning Squirrel this time," and "You're not allowed to play the Clock Tower Man, he's too overpowered."
The characters in this game are all based on real-life superhumans, and they also have criminal mods, which is why there are taboo characters like "Ghost Bell," "Makutaki," and "Black Chrysalis" appearing.
Yuriel also plays this game, but she just watches silently.
Because she had played with Gu Qiye once on a plane before, but at that time she did not know that Gui Zhong was Gu Qiye's father, and she thought that Gu Qiye regarded Gui Zhong as his psychological trauma, so she resolutely chose the role of "Gui Zhong" to let Gu Qiye beat her up to vent his anger.
After learning about Ghost Bell's identity, the Icelandic girl would blush slightly every time she thought about it, and over time she no longer wanted to touch the game.
“We usually only call him that behind his back, so don’t tell Dad and my brother,” Ji Minghuan said.
“Of course, we Icelanders are all very honest. There’s no need to doubt that we’ll inform on you.” Uriel nodded.
"But it's nothing. My sister calls me 'Big Moth,' and I call her 'Diaper Demon,' and neither of us has any objections. I guess my brother and my dad are already numb to their own nicknames."
"Isn't Su Zimai your older sister?"
"Sometimes I'm the older sister, sometimes the younger sister, I just do whatever makes me happy."
Yuriel rested her chin on her hand and thought seriously for a while. "I see. It really is Schrödinger's family relationship."
"Relax, Miss Yuriel, we don't need so many rules in our family. There are no normal people in this family."
As Ji Minghuan spoke, she stopped in front of a three-story residential building. Looking through the curtains, she could see a warm, orange light shining from the living room.
Gu Qiye's voice could still be heard: "Sun Changkong, don't run around, change your diaper first... Li Qingping, why did you knock over the cup again? Sun Changkong, can you please stop bringing stones into the yard all the time... Shang Xiaochi, how many times have I told you, can you please stop biting our potted plants? Eating leaves has no nutritional value."
Ji Minghuan yawned and pulled a silver-plated key from the pocket of his hoodie.
He inserted the key into the peephole, turned it once, and opened the door. Then he took off his sneakers, silently changed into slippers, walked through the entryway, and looked up with Yuriel at the little babies causing trouble in the living room.
These children look to be no more than one or two years old.
Sun Changkong was waving a monkey doll around on the floor. Because she had lost the influence of the myth fragments, her hair was black instead of red.
Li Qingping sniffed and stayed alone in a corner, hiding in the shadows and watching the other babies.
Shang Xiaochi sat on the ground with a leaf between his teeth, staring blankly at the yellowing locust tree outside the window.
Enma Rin was sitting in a baby chair, quietly drinking milk from a bottle.
The reason this happened is that a month ago, Ji Minghuan found the mythological fragment "World Tree" in the Sahara Desert.
He implanted a fragment of the World Tree into his heart, and after that, he searched every corner of the world for almost a month without eating or drinking, but in the end he only found the souls of Bai Tanlang, Shang Xiaochi, Yan Molin, Li Qingping, and Sun Changkong.
As for the others, they may have already left this world.
Finally, Ji Minghuan entered the World Tree's hollow, allowing thorns and flowers to preserve the five people's souls.
A day later, new life was born in the tree hollow. They were all new bodies, but the problem was that these bodies were just newborn babies, and Li Qingping and the others had temporarily lost their memories.
Only the body of the White Greedy Wolf has not yet formed, possibly because it is a demon and therefore needs to wait longer.
According to the research and discussion between Ji Minghuan and Restricted Level 1001, it will probably take another year or two for their memories to slowly return.
So he took four of the babies home and put Gu Qiye in charge of taking care of them.
For a moment, Ji Minghuan put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and stared blankly at the four children in the living room.
Then, he moved to Shang Xiaochi's side, squatted down, removed the leaf from her mouth, and then took out a restraint strap from his sleeve to tidy up the potted plant that she had knocked over and put it back on the windowsill.
"Good girl, listen to Brother Gu Qiye more often in the future." As he spoke, he patted Shang Xiaochi's head.
Shang Xiaochi blinked and stared at him curiously for a while before turning her face away and snorting coldly. Ji Minghuan thought to himself that this child had been awkward since she was a child.
He looked to the other side, where Sun Changkong was rolling around on the carpet, crying loudly. Gu Qiye quickly comforted him, "Don't cry, don't cry. Here, take this doll."
As she spoke, Gu Qiye handed the monkey doll to Sun Changkong, who hugged the doll tightly and stopped crying.
"How long will this last?" Yuriel approached Ji Minghuan and asked him.
"I don't know." Ji Minghuan shook her head. "Maybe in a month or two, they'll slowly start to remember what happened before?"
"Why is it Gu Qiye who is leading them?"
"Don't you think my brother looks like he'd be perfect for taking care of kids?"
Yuriel was slightly taken aback.
Then, a slight smile suddenly appeared on the corners of her lips.
"That's true."
As the two were chatting, Ji Minghuan's phone suddenly vibrated slightly in his pocket. He took out his phone with the restraint strap, turned on the screen, and glanced at the message he had received.
[Caesar: Aguru, when are we finally going on our trip?]
[Ji Minghuan: Can we wait a little longer?]
[Caesar: When will we get there?]
[Ji Minghuan: I want to wait until Li Qingping regains his memories, and then until he's old enough to take care of himself. Then we'll go together.]
There was a long, long silence on the other side of the screen.
[Caesar: You're right. I was only thinking about myself. Yes, we should go on the trip with Li Qingping; otherwise, it would be unfair to leave him behind.]
[Ji Minghuan: So, what about eight years from now?]
[Caesar: Eight years?]
[Ji Minghuan: Yes, Sun Changkong and Li Qingping had grown up by then.]
[Caesar: Okay, eight years it is. Does anyone else know?]
[Ji Minghuan: I've talked to Theresa and the others, and they've agreed that we can go on a trip together again in eight years.]
[Caesar: Okay, do you guys still have any seats tonight? I'll fly over on my sled and mooch a meal. Blue Arc's cooking is really, really delicious!]
[Ji Minghuan: Yes, come on over, I'll have them prepare bowls and chopsticks for you.]
[Caesar: Mm-hmm.]
At this point in the conversation, Ji Minghuan put his phone back in his pocket. Then he suddenly noticed someone staring at him, so he slowly turned his head away.
He glanced silently at Li Qingping, who was huddled in the shadows at the stairwell.
He thought to himself, "So Li Qingping has always been this introverted since he was a child. Why does he have to pretend to be so outgoing in front of me? How silly of him."
After a while, Ji Minghuan moved over to the quiet child, picked him up, put him on the sofa, and stayed with Sun Changkong, Shang Xiaochi, and the others.
“Play with other kids more. Do you think you’re so cold and great?” He leaned down and stared into Li Qingping’s eyes.
The baby stared at him quietly, and then slowly nodded.
"He's your friend, isn't he?" Yuriel suddenly asked.
"Um."
Ji Minghuan nodded and looked away from Li Qingping's face.
How would you feel if you saw your friend turn into a baby?
Ji Minghuan thought for a moment and said, "I don't have any particular feelings about it, but when Li Qingping regains his memory and finds out that I raised him with all my love, he will definitely be so grateful that he will kowtow to me twice."
"Can't we find out who's been taking care of everything, from cleaning up after them to changing their diapers?"
"Thank you for your trouble, brother." Ji Minghuan shrugged.
"Thank you for your trouble, Mr. Blue Arc." Yuriel said, recording a video of Gu Qiye taking care of the children on her phone, intending to take it back to the orphanage to show the children who admired him.
“You two stop chatting and come help me,” Gu Qiye sighed, looking up at the two of them. “Otherwise, I won’t have time to prepare dinner.”
"Here you are." Yu Ruier said, putting down her phone, getting up from the sofa and walking towards Gu Qiye. "Even our Blue Arc superstar has times when he can't handle things?"
"Please, taking care of children is much harder than fighting criminals," Gu Qiye sighed.
“But in my eyes, there’s nothing you can’t do,” Yuriel said softly.
Ji Minghuan silently watched the two of them, then glanced at Enma Rin, who was sitting in a high chair drinking milk.
He looked at her for a while, and she stared back at him with those dead fish eyes for a while.
The two stared at each other in silence, and then Ji Minghuan suddenly glared at her.
Enma Rin, holding the baby bottle, suddenly twitched her mouth slightly, startled by that fierce glare, and burst into tears.
"Can you please stop bullying the child?" Gu Qiye approached her irritably and gently patted her back.
"It's alright. She's done so many evil deeds, she deserves it." After saying that, Ji Minghuan turned to Gu Qiye and asked curiously, "By the way, brother, where's sister?"
“She didn’t have enough diapers for the baby, so she went to the supermarket to buy some, and Origami went with her,” Gu Qiye said.
"As expected of our diaper devil, he really puts his heart into diapers."
As Ji Minghuan spoke, he used the restraint straps to take a bottle of iced cola from the freezer compartment of the refrigerator, then used the restraint straps to unscrew the cap, handed the cola over, and put it in his mouth.
"Who's talking badly about me?"
Su Zimai's voice suddenly came from behind. She walked in through the entrance carrying a heavy shopping bag, then turned her face and gave Ji Minghuan a fierce look.
Ji Minghuan ignored her and instead turned to look at Ayase Origami, who was also carrying shopping bags as she walked in.
"Why are you going with them?" he asked.
"I bought this," the girl in the kimono said softly, picking up her shopping bag, which contained a box of pacifiers.
"Oh, thank you for your hard work."
As he spoke, Ji Minghuan extended a restraint strap and took the shopping bag from her hand.
"Baby Jack, be good."
The girl in the kimono spoke expressionlessly, gently picking up the baby in the high chair and putting a pacifier into her mouth.
Enma Rin's eyes widened in surprise, and she kicked her chubby little legs in protest, but to no avail. With a pacifier stuffed in her mouth, she couldn't even make a sound of resistance.
Seeing this, Ji Minghuan's cheeks puffed up slightly, and he almost spat out the cola he was drinking. He thought to himself that if the Ripper's memories were restored, he would probably be tempted to commit suicide.
“Ji Minghuan,” the voice of restricted-level 1001 suddenly rang out, as if reminding him of something, “to Iceland.”
"Okay, okay, I'll go right away."
Ji Minghuan responded softly in her heart, then looked up at the people in the living room and said, "I'm going out for a bit."
After saying that, he got up from the sofa, used the restraint straps to throw the Coke can into the trash can, and then walked towards the entrance.
"Leaving at this hour?" Gu Qiye glanced at the time on the wall; it was already 5:50 PM. He then asked, "Are you coming back for dinner?"
"Come back and eat, it won't be long."
As Ji Minghuan spoke, he used the restraints to put on his sneakers, then drew a spatial rift with his index finger and stepped into a snowy landscape on the other side of the rift.
Just now, he and Restricted Level 1001 both sensed that a brand new life was born in the World Tree that he had planted in Iceland.
Ten minutes later, in Beijing, China, at the underground bar "Grey Crow".
An old-fashioned radio sat on the bar, playing a slow jazz tune. The surrounding light wasn't dim, but it wasn't bright either, and the crow symbol on the neon sign flickered on and off.
Ji Minghuan was standing at the entrance of the bar. Today he was wearing an orange hoodie that fit him fairly well.
He glanced at the bar's sign, then looked down at the half-open door, before putting his hands in his pockets and wrapping his entire body in transparent restraints.
Maintaining their camouflage restraints, they moved forward without leaving a trace, like air, easily blending into the interior of the underground bar.
Ji Minghuan sat down on a chair in the corner, resting her chin on her hand, and curiously looked up, silently observing the scene inside the bar.
At this moment, Qi Yuanli and Anlens are sitting at the bar, chatting with Filio.
"Hahaha, let me tell you, Old Wolf, he..."
Anlens patted Filio on the shoulder with a laugh and told him about the White Wolf.
Philio pricked up his wolf ears and listened silently.
Qi Yuanli sat alone at the bar, head down, playing with the playing cards on his fingertips. Every now and then, Philio would ask him a question or two, which he would answer patiently.
On the other side, Mario was playing a game with the hacker.
The two kids were playing Mario Kart 6 online using a Switch console, and they seemed to get along very well.
"Hey everyone," Ji Minghuan suddenly said.
Everyone was slightly taken aback, and then turned to look at his face, following the source of the sound.
"Ji Minghuan!" Philio was taken aback at first, then excitedly perked up his ears.
"Can you please stop acting like you're in Scream every time you appear, you traitor?" Mario added.
"Otherwise what?" Ji Minghuan said calmly. "Mario is so smart, he should have told you everything, right?" As he spoke, he looked curiously at the three members of the troupe.
Back in the Jurassic World arc, he had already revealed his identity to Mario. Judging from their reactions, they probably already knew that Xia Pingzhou was one of his machines.
“Yes, he told us everything,” Qi Yuanli said. “You are… Xia Pingzhou.”
“I was really shocked when I first heard it. I never imagined that our traitor was a creation of superpowers,” Anlens said.
“This guy is a traitor no matter where he is,” Mario said. “He’s incorrigible.”
“We’ve been lingering here for so long, aren’t you coming with me?” Ji Minghuan asked him.
Mario said expressionlessly, "I'm not leaving. I get along quite well with this guy." As he spoke, he nudged the hacker's shoulder with his own.
The hacker said disdainfully, "You were clearly beaten by me in the game, and you're not happy about it, so you want to get your revenge. Too bad... By the time you win, you'll probably be a hundred years old."
"Too long-winded," Mario muttered.
"Then you stay with the troupe, remember to do as few bad things as possible, and also remember to tell them not to corrupt Philio."
“It’s alright… Anyway, Old Man Philio isn’t a good person either,” Mario said. “Besides, with you, a restricted-level character, watching over us, how dare we do anything reckless? We’re just afraid you’ll fly around the world and come here to punish us for our misdeeds.”
"That's true, I doubt you'd have the guts," Ji Minghuan shrugged. "By the way, where's the doctor?"
"After learning that Xia Pingzhou and Hei Yong were both your puppets, he left with a satisfied look on his face, saying he wanted to go back to the countryside to live," the hacker said.
"What a baffling person."
After saying that, Ji Minghuan suddenly curled the corners of her lips, "By the way, I have some good news to tell you."
"Stop keeping me in suspense, I'm busy, Mario and I are going to play World of Warcraft later," the hacker said.
"Are you really busy?"
"So what's the news?"
"Of course, your beloved White Greedy Wolf is back." Ji Minghuan said, suddenly stretching out his finger and pulling out a grayish-white wolf cub from it.
It lay soundly asleep in his palm.
“Although… that’s how it is now,” Ji Minghuan continued.
Philio stared blankly at the wolf cub, his lips moving slightly, "Dad... Dad?"
"Be careful, don't drop it and kill your dad, or I won't be responsible."
As Ji Minghuan gave the reminder, she used the restraint straps to hand the little wolf in her palm to Filio.
"No way?" The hacker was stunned.
"What's so surprising?" Mario said expressionlessly. "Mature rating, isn't that amazing?"
Qi Yuanli and Anlunsi exchanged a silent glance as they watched this scene.
The latter shrugged and smiled slightly:
"It's surreal, but anyway... it's good that Old Wolf is back, right?"
After saying that, he turned to look at Ji Minghuan and asked curiously, "By the way, what about our Uncle Takikage, Radish Head and Ripper Sister? Although it would be a bit too much to ask you to revive them."
"I've traveled all over the world, but I haven't found Takikage's soul."
“Radish head?” Anlens asked again.
"I don't know him well."
"And what about the Ripper?"
"Hehe, as for the Ripper... I can only tell you that her situation is extremely dire. I don't even know if she will take a toy knife and cut herself after she regains her memory."
As Ji Minghuan spoke, he tilted his head and suddenly revealed a meaningful smile, "Indeed, children should stay away from knives."
Qi Yuanli and Anlunsi exchanged another glance. Neither of them could guess what kind of torture their former friend was enduring, but they could tell from Ji Minghuan's expression.
Five minutes later, in Reykjavik, Iceland, in a dilapidated and desolate basement.
At this moment, a man dressed in a hospital gown is being bound to a chair by black restraint straps.
And at this moment, a black restraint strap, completely black from head to toe, was walking around in the basement, taking care of his daily needs.
Its purpose was to ensure that men would not starve to death in the basement due to lack of food or water.
At this moment, the restraints, in their guise, walked over carrying freshly brewed tea. A blood-red smile spread across his face as he poured warm tea into his mentor's thermos once more.
Then, it suddenly stepped back and said in a low voice, "Ji Minghuan, a member of the Salvation Society, number 54250, mentor, and restricted-level ability user, has come to visit. Please prepare to be interrogated immediately."
Immediately afterwards, the basement door creaked open, and a figure wearing an orange hoodie walked in.
The restraints silently retreated to the side, a blood-red smile still on their lips.
Ji Minghuan walked over.
"What do you want from me?" the tutor asked.
“It’s what I told you a month ago,” Ji Minghuan said.
The tutor thought for a moment: "The World Tree?"
“Yes, I succeeded.” Ji Minghuan said, pulling up a chair and sitting down opposite him. “I used the power of the World Tree to retrieve the souls of Li Qingping and Sun Changkong.”
He lowered his voice, "Unfortunately, you've got a few more superhumans to deal with now."
"Is that so... then congratulations."
The mentor spoke expressionlessly.
The restraints materialized and shuffled over, unscrewed his thermos, and fed him a sip of tea.
"Are you happy living here?" Ji Minghuan looked up and met her mentor's eyes. "By the way, don't try to commit suicide next time. I won't let you bite your tongue to kill yourself."
As he spoke, he pointed to the restraint collar around his mentor's neck, "No matter what form you want to take to commit suicide, this collar will stop you."
He paused: "Just like when you shocked me before, understand?"
"Why didn't you just kill me?" the mentor asked.
“I’ve already said it, we still have half a lifetime to go on, killing you would be too easy for you.”
After Ji Minghuan finished speaking, she stood up from her chair. "I will have plenty of good news to report to you in the future, so just listen carefully here."
The mentor remained silent, watching his retreating figure.
(End of this chapter)
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