Chapter 73

Early that morning, when everything was still dark and unclear, Xiao Manjing quietly got up from the bed.

She had already sent Antin off on his one-year honeymoon trip, and also taught Rona a few self-defense techniques she had learned in the competition arena for free. It was time to leave.

Xiaoman changed into her going-out clothes and quietly left her place in the City of Art through the window without waking anyone.

The travelers wandered around in the morning mist - she placed a handmade fish hook and a roll of fine guitar strings that she had taken with the help of the Winchester on the old man's windowsill. The old woman who painted water birds got a new paint box, and the peddler's family got colorful painted building blocks, which Rona helped to choose.

Xiaoman had already placed the gifts for Rona's family at the door. She then left two manuscripts in front of the window of the female scholar who had taught her to play the piccolo these days. The female scholar had looked at them for a long time but was reluctant to buy them immediately. Then she came to the last stop.

"I'm leaving. Goodbye."

The note had these words written on it and was pressed against the door of the mansion.

Xiaoman turned and left, walked out of the wealthy area, wrapped his coat tightly in the damp and cold wind, and joined the yawning crowd that was queuing to be the first group to leave the city.

Since Yuan Qian was not so observant and alert, his consciousness was dozing in his awake body. Amara, who had woken up early to exercise as planned, could not have suddenly come here for no reason. Of course, he didn't know that Xiaoman had quietly left the City of Art until several hours later.

Wearing delicate gloves, Chen Xing picked up the note sent by the butler and said lightly, "I understand. There is no need to send anyone to follow me in the future.", and seemingly put the matter behind him.

"Why didn't you call me?" Yuan Qian asked after the butler left.

[Now I feel the need to emphasize a common sense to you: we demon kings also need to sleep... Just because we are not out of touch doesn't mean we will always keep an eye on the comic characters for you! Don't cosplay as a businessman and really become a capitalist.]

"……Feel sorry."

Yuan Qian thought silently: I'm so sorry, your presence online late at night every day makes you look too much like those netizens who surf the Internet all night long. I almost forgot that this is a fantasy world without industry, and it should still be an era where people work from sunrise to sunset and rest from sunset to sunrise.

When did I start to follow the modern lifestyle? Yuan Qian began to reflect.

In the past, or in other words, in his lifetime, he always went to bed and got up early to avoid strikes. Even if he showed up at a family banquet, he would leave quickly. If he was not ready to rest after 8:30 pm, it would be considered staying up late. So after coming to the other world... Sumei would act late at night and even kill people. Lazaris, as a home-based undead, was a typical example of day and night reversal. The Dragon King also often visited the night snack stalls. Chen Xing had a huge amount of assets, so he could naturally live a lazy and decadent life of the powerful and noble class, sleeping late and getting up late.

It was not until I started to control "Amara" that my biological clock was half-returned to the performance. Physical health really makes people degenerate!

"Okay, I forgive you. Anyway, it's the beginning of a new chapter, so get to work!" The adjutant said as he quickly activated No. 5.

Then, "Nirvana" stood up from the magnificent empty city that was gradually shaped into crystal-like snow, crystal, jade, and broken glass, and walked towards the innermost circle of the smelting furnace that had sunk into a deep well.

The flames rising from the well, which were enough to fill hundreds of palaces, were... a faint blue color with occasional flashes of golden flint.

A mass of fresh flesh and blood frozen in solid ice emerged out of thin air and was thrown randomly into the furnace.

Vaguely, something long and dangerous was being forged in the fire, taking on its currently illusory outlines.

The scene was so cool and mysterious that it was worthy of another full page, but only Yuan Qian knew that he was also muttering "original soup turns into original food", which would make all the slightly mature alchemy theories in the world collapse... What is this, belief forgeology?

But Yuan Qian said this during a casual chat, and he admitted that he had aggravated his teammate's mental problems.

"There's still a lot to go..." Niebu stared at the fire intently and muttered to himself, "Father, do you think we should try other raw materials?"

The Star God rarely even responded to His beloved beastmen, so naturally no one responded to His words.

"The blood of the orc royal family, the brain of a bishop or above, the roots of a tree spirit, the heart of a kind person, or... a piece of you that left you? Which one is more suitable? It seems that they will affect the sharpness, which is not acceptable."

Therefore, the only dark shadow in the city of Serro suddenly extinguished.

"——Don't come over here." Yuan Qian said alertly.

Whether it was Chen Xing or Amara, the actors who played them expressed their stern refusal to receive this madman.

Just kidding, the emotional value is already enough. If he appears next to No. 4 or No. 6 and says something that gets drawn into the comics, what will happen?

"I thought I heard someone calling me."

Contrary to expectations, Nirvana, with squinted eyes and a weird smile, chose a lucky spectator and teleported him in front of him.

The good news is that his move did not make Amara's current situation in the forum any worse.

The bad news is that Chen Xing is in trouble.

Adhering to the principle that the more you talk, the more mistakes you make, Yuan Qian chose to just ignore him and pretend he didn't exist.

"Are you angry? I haven't done anything bad with your things..." Nie Pu took out the cigarette stick that had been dyed dark purple by evil thoughts and wanted to put it together with the one in Chen Xing's hand that had just turned from pure white to light purple due to recent use.

Chen Xing in the armchair raised his fingers to take it back, but missed it again.

Two aliens with similar hair texture and purple hair ends were sitting and standing. The latter was walking back and forth casually, holding the cigarette that the former used to consume emotions, and was thinking about plans in a happy tone.

They both spoke at the same time:

"Then give it back to me."

"——But it's just 'not done yet'. What do you think would happen if I took enough evil thoughts and threw them into that commercial city in one go?"

"But those lowly beastmen will die very soon. The pain they endure is not even one ten-thousandth of what my father endured. Obviously, the evil thoughts came from their own hearts. Why?"

As the one with the horns spoke, his voice and expression suddenly turned cold.

The warm grey eyes from the dead were dull and indifferent, meeting the bright red eyes like gems.

"Don't you hate them? Even for a moment? Say it, it's okay."

"Ha. As a fragment of the Father, what do you want me to say? Are you forcing me to give you a hypocritical statement on behalf of Him that you have resentment towards the world and are just deceiving yourself... so that you can use it as a basis to justify losing your temper and causing trouble in the civilization of His love?"

After the confrontation, Chen Xing seemed to be infected with a bit of mockery, and he responded with a rare sharp and unyielding retort.

"Nothing." The monster raised his lips again and became polite again, "I respect you."

"Then let's leave the remaining cities alone for now, at least let her see what they look like first." Nirvana nodded, talked to himself happily and seriously, and left without a trace.

"What respect do you have? You just said you wanted to throw number four into the stove..." Yuan Qian could only complain during the connection.

[Hey, hey.] As for the details of the passionate performance just now, the teammate obviously chose to muddle through.

"Should we really throw it in?" Yuan Qian then thought about the feasibility. He felt that if this kind of thing was to be implemented, it should be finalized in advance.

[Of course not! How can you do such a cruel thing to No. 4 who has the same face as your friend? You have admitted that we are friends.] The other party did not hesitate at all, and it seemed that he was just saying it to create a personal image.

Well, regardless of whether the readers are reassured or not, Yuan Qian was really relieved after hearing this.

"How was the cooperation just now?" he asked.

[One hundred and twenty points, you were super hot just now.]

"…You'd better say spicy."

Yuan Qian said this, but in his heart he had already accepted his fate, just as he was adapting to his teammates' pointed questions.

He sat alone in his armchair, thinking silently: Since Chen Xing was not going with Xiao Man, it was impossible for No. 4, who looked soft but was actually very stubborn, to chase after him. So he would probably be offline for a long time in the future plot from the protagonist's perspective.

Of course, he has enough balance now, so he doesn't have to worry about survival even if he is offline for a long time, not to mention that he has Amara.

I think as long as I calculate the time, the Templar Sword should be able to arrive at the Commercial City, which has just changed its lord, at the same time as Xiaoman while he is restoring order along the way caused by Nirvana. Then we will have something to unfold.

"By the way, why didn't you mention the story of Xita City Lord in the last update?"

Yuan Qian thought of the unlucky city lord who was convinced that "Pan" was related to the death of Elretna, and therefore insisted on sending people to hunt down Xiaoman in secret. As a result, in the end, he was killed by a monster who secretly paid special attention to Xiaoman, and asked.

[What’s the point of drawing a cannon fodder without a face…] The murderer, who counterattacked in self-defense for Xiaoman and said nonchalantly that killing someone was easier than eating a small puff.

“You’re right, but that’s also the foreshadowing mentioned at the beginning of the City of Arts.”

[That’s right. So I just go and fight a city lord every now and then, so that when Xiaoman reaches it, I can always trigger the event. Anyway, there are many people in the Xita family, and there will be no shortage of descendants...]

“That’s not how this phrase is used.”

Yuan Qian held his forehead with his hand, sank deeper into his armchair, and opened the comics forum in an attempt to seek some spiritual support.

This time he was lucky, and following a short comic strip he came across the original post of a short story written by a reader.

"The Fourth Shaved Ice War (Modern Setting)"

-Original Poster-: First of all, this contains a lot of unofficial personal settings, so please don’t trust them or post comments on other ladies’ posts.

…

-84L-: Wuwu is so cute. I also want to eat the shaved ice made by the little fox! Ice obviously has a taste, a sweet taste of happiness (tears)

-85L-: Just a hand-cranked shaved ice machine for home use, order it now! I am happy again. It is the perfect time to eat shaved ice nowbr>

-86L-: What a successful recommendation! But I also remember that there was one at home when I was a child. I am lazy but I quickly took it out and washed it. I added a little sugar to the water and I can eat it tomorrow. Hehe

-87L-: Uh, it's hard to tell who's the winner. The shaved ice from Little Fox, the chocolate-filled cone from Lielie, the high-end ice cream from Belu, the handmade snow-capped coffee and ice cream soda from Chenxing, and even the weird frozen yogurt with roasted nut pieces and popping grapes from Nie Zong. I want to try all of them.

-88L-: Among the above choices, Amara took out warm boiled water with salt (eyes shifted). I understand the logic, but you deserve to be eliminated immediately!

-89L-: ...very cute but her friends pushed her hard and she got stabbed. What's going on? Nine out of ten modern designs say that her right eye is a prosthetic eye she got after a car accident. It hurts, Hart.

-90L-: Belu clearly ordered a special car to deliver a large box of luxury ice cream, but in the end he would rather throw it to the children and his friends to share a bowl of shaved ice. So arrogant and cute, I declare this to be the original work!

-91L-: I was wondering how to live without cute fan fiction when I’m not updating!

-92L-: Confucius said that fan fiction needs to be eaten. I suggest that the initiative of Fanxing to update twice a week should also be launched. This will allow us to have enough food and know etiquette, and then write more and better Amara literature (dog head saves life)

-93L-: Oh, after watching it again, everyone is an angel. I always like the peaceful and stable modern settings!

-94L-: Forget about it. I just got hooked by modern fan fiction. I just finished reading the original work up to the middle of the fourth volume, and the person disappeared completely... I really can't hold on any longer, so I quickly climbed up to find some candy.

I say you are too strict! No one told me there were knives everywhere! (Bleeding from the corner of the mouth) (Crying) Lasi, my Lasi, the gentle and beautiful teacher who was consistent in appearance and heart, is gone just like that! Even the Dragon King can’t bring back the soul’s eternal farewell! Wuwuwu ah ah ah (Sobbing)

-95L-: Without a knife, there is no sweetness! Only after eating a knife can we realize the true meaning of modern if happiness?

But I admit that t original is a dangerous food.

-96L-: The original is shabby! The ladies patched it up! I eat it, I eat it (including a mouthful of shaved ice I bought downstairs)

The modern design is very good, even when passing by the barbecue stall, you can imagine that your friends and children are inside...! What a nice family!

…

Seeing this, even Yuan Qian began to think about the cycle of sugar and knife: when readers are stabbed, emotional value is generated; when readers create fan fiction to heal themselves and feel happy, emotional value is generated; when readers with enhanced resistance return to the original work to review it, new emotional value is generated when they are stabbed again... It seems like this is such a healthy system, and as long as the author's painting style and storyboard skills do not regress, the cycle can continue for a long time based on love.

So the relationship between a work and its readers is truly magical. Yuan Qian thought.

He took a perfectly cooked kebab from the adjutant who had just returned from hunting, and allowed him to take the key to the wine cellar to get two bottles of drinks, and they had a very uncharacteristic and relaxing dinner in the part that the author would not include.

"It's the same if we look for Amara. It's me anyway. No matter how you look at it, that one looks more like a carnivore," he said.

"Those lions have a good sense of smell. Would it be appropriate if they found out that the Templar Sword was having a barbecue dinner with its mortal enemy?" said the teammate in the Nirvana costume as he flipped a slice of bread.

"...That's right." Yuan Qian thought that even in the author's official modern setting, Amara might be arranged as a role like the dean of studies. Then he imagined the scene of No. 6's particularly upright and stern face being placed among a group of happy people having dinner. Not only would the temperature drop to freezing point because of him, but the environment that made a child with Xiaoman's personality feel safe and comfortable would suddenly become a very troublesome occasion. He already felt it was a difficult situation.