Xyrin Empire-Chapter 226 - Dark Shadow
Chapter 226: Chapter 226: Dark Shadow
Chapter 226 -226: Dark Shadow
Suddenly, a burst of white light and Little Baobao’s cries of panic shattered our solemn atmosphere. When I followed the sound, I discovered that Little Baobao, who had just been hugging the crystal column, had somehow entered inside it. She was now floating two meters above us in mid-air. Countless bright white light beams spread from both the top and bottom of the column, converging toward Little Baobao. The sudden change visibly terrified her; she was crying out loud while flailing her little arms and legs, trying to dodge those ever-approaching white lines. Unfortunately, hanging mid-air, Little Baobao couldn’t find any leverage, no matter how hard she tried, and the white beams continued to approach at a relentless, slow pace.
“What’s going on?!”
I blurted out instinctively and then realized instantly: wasn’t this the same scene that Bubbles experienced in the host slot before?
Indeed, standing by my side, Bubbles, seeing her daughter trapped by the crystal prism, whispered in disbelief, “…how… how is this possible!? The system was clearly locked by that error command… Could Little Baobao have cracked that strong encryption algorithm…? That’s impossible! Little Baobao’s capabilities should still be less than half as strong as mine!”
At that moment, however, I couldn’t focus on why Little Baobao could bypass the system’s lock and enter the host slot. The little one’s panic and cries were the most urgent matter. Without hesitation, I leaped, using my spiritual power that resonates with any energy to form an invisible anti-gravity platform beneath my feet, and then I stood steadily at the same height as Little Baobao. Bubbles also activated her anti-gravity floating system to come next to me. As for Qianqian, although her superpower seemed utterly useless for hovering, I had underestimated this girl’s imagination—she actually used a time pause to form a staircase out of air and walked up to us steadily…
It’s said that imagination is the catalyst for human progress… ahem, let’s put that topic aside for now…
Seeing the closest people suddenly appear in front of her, Little Baobao immediately stopped crying and lunged toward us—of course, since she was within the crystal prism’s force field, she flailed about but couldn’t get any closer to us, seeing that the little one was about to burst into tears again, I quickly patted the crystal column to calm her down.
“Sweetie, don’t be scared, this column can’t hurt you!”
Little Baobao, with tears welling in her eyes, looked at us while stretching out her little hands and desperately said, “Pa… Dad… Daddy…”
…I was all in, let it be a tragedy!
“Daddy is here! You stay here for a bit because there is something very important for you to do, and Daddy will get you out soon, okay?”
Bubbles also chimed in, “That’s right, darling, there’s something very important that only you can do, and Mommy will tell you what to do soon.”
Qianqian swept us a few times with a strange look and then suddenly blurted out, “Don’t you feel any guilt?”
… I had a strong sense of tragedy …
Fortunately, although Little Baobao was quite scared, he was a well-behaved child with a strong understanding. With Bubbles’ explanation and my reassurance, the little guy soon calmed down and then listened, somewhat comprehending, to the task Bubbles assigned to him.
Actually, for him, the task was very simple. First, quietly stay within the Crystal Prism, then pass all received information to his automatic computational module. Second, if the instructions don’t come from the fortress command room, no matter how high the execution level, deny them all to prevent the enemy from blocking our last Xyrin Host by using the same trick. Third… never touch commands that include words like “self-destruct” or “self-explode,” no matter how curious you are. …
Honestly, when I heard the third requirement, I felt cold sweat all over. Was it really a good idea to entrust these things to such a small fool?
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But the problem was, besides Little Baobao, we no longer had any spare Xyrin Hosts.
“It should be fine,” Bubbles, seeing my uneasy expression, confidently patted his washboard-like chest. “Little Baobao is my daughter; she can easily handle such simple tasks — in theory.”
… Can you not say that last sentence with such a proud expression?
Although I always felt uneasy, Little Baobao’s progress seemed quite smooth. The white beams of light, upon receiving Little Baobao’s permission, changed from their initial staggered gait; almost in the blink of an eye, they converged above and below the little guy’s head, assembling into two rings about a meter in diameter, half a meter from his head and feet. The two milky-white glowing halos successfully caught the little one’s attention. Little Baobao, who was initially frightened and crying, had now completely forgotten his fear and was showing great curiosity towards the glowing circle above his head. He stretched his little arms to try to reach the hovering halo above his head, occasionally emitting happy laughter.
… I once again began to worry about that pile of commands containing the dangerous words “self-destruct” and “self-explode.”
Just as Little Baobao was joyfully playing with the halo above his head, the entire Central Machine Room also underwent significant changes. A deep humming began emanating from every corner of the space, and the previously shut down equipment started one by one, displaying various complex symbols and text. The pale blue glow that filled our surroundings gradually disappeared, replaced by bright ordinary lighting. In the middle of the machine room, the large holographic projector, same as in the command room, hummed back to life, showing the scenario in the dimensions where Sandora and others were. What reassured me was that, although the reckless Undead Air Force was still desperately launching attacks, our fleet had not suffered major losses yet. Most of the Energy Shields were still saturated. It seemed that in just a short fifteen minutes, the enemy hadn’t managed to destroy our Defensive Force Field. As for the Eternal-class enemy ships still charging their Main Cannons in the distant clouds, the beautiful galaxy-shaped Energy Vortex now almost took up the entire area of the Eternal-class Ship Bow. However, now I suddenly felt that this thing wasn’t as dangerous as before…
“Our task is completed, right?” I let out a breath of relief. Although such a task wasn’t dangerous, it brought me pressure no less than fighting a war. After all, we were doing the job of repairing the command system in an extremely dangerous situation where the whole army could be annihilated. If the task failed, the outcome would be obvious.
I was about to contact Sandora and return to the Main Material Plane when, out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly noticed a shadow flashing past the door of the Command Room, which wasn’t fully closed.
I thought it was an illusion, but Qianqian suddenly called out sharply next to me, “Who’s there?”
I asked Bubbles, puzzled, “What’s going on? Is there someone else here?”
“Impossible! Before you arrived, I was the only one here!”
I exchanged a glance with Qianqian, and we made a decision simultaneously.
“Bubbles, you stay here with the child, Qianqian and I will go take a look!”
“Alright, be careful, and remember, never leave this Command Tower. The scope of this dimension crack is limited to the Command Tower and a narrow space around it. Once you leave that range, you will be instantly squeezed into the Endless Void. Even your powers won’t last long there.”
After Bubbles briefed us with this, she turned back and, although I didn’t notice any pockets on her simple dress, pulled out two Xyrin Military Daggers that twinkled faintly with light. She excitedly said to Little Baobao, “Come, Mommy will teach you how to dismantle the enemy’s bones…”
I stepped forward and gave her a noogie. “Teach her something normal, will you! Do you want our kid to become a bandit!?”
Qianqian came up and gave me a noogie. “Say ‘our child’ again and see what happens!”
…In conclusion, I’m just a tragedy.
After coming out from the Central Machine Room, Qianqian and I started searching the corridors for traces of the shadow we saw earlier. To relieve the boredom, I started looking for idle chit-chat, like about that “mother-daughter” duo we saw earlier.
“I didn’t expect Bubbles’ real personality to be so…alternative…”
“Yeah…”
“So staying indoors really should have a limit; I think Bubbles even has some tendencies toward being abnormal.”
“Um…”
“You think Little Baobao won’t end up with the same personality as her mom, right? As parents, we must pay attention to nurturing our child’s character.”
“Uh…”
…Alright, I give up. Qianqian after her personality change really isn’t as cute as the usual lively girl!
Qianqian immediately scanned me with a dangerous look.
“Do you dislike how I look now?”
Her tone was so cold, I felt like I was streaking in the Alps.
So I hate this mind-broadcasting feature that always puts me in awkward situations.
Qianqian spoke again, coldly, “Only you would make this mistake, and frequently at that—like right now.”
Me: “…”
To reiterate, Hei Qianqian is indeed not cute!
Just as I was feeling embarrassed, a blurry black shadow suddenly streaked across my vision.
Before I could even react, Qianqian instinctively activated her ability, she swung her arm furiously at the shadow, and said in a low voice, “Your time ends here!”
The shadow vanished in a flash, and I was left frozen mid-air in a silly pose, emotionally overwhelmed inside.
