Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Holding a bottle of cold sour plum water, Ling PingAn took a sip.
Then he slumped onto the sofa.
“Been playing games for a whole day…,” he said to himself, “…seems a little inappropriate if I keep this up now.”
“I think I’ll watch some videos instead.”
So he opened a video app and started swiping through video posts.
Ling PingAn was very amused by how funny they were.
After watching a few short videos, Ling PingAn came on some news.
At first, he was going to swipe right through it.
But just as he was about to delete it, he dismissed the idea.
Because this piece of news was from the Kunlun State.
As much as Ling PingAn could remember, the last time Kunlun State had made it into the news was because there had been a civil war in the Republic of South Kunlun one year ago.
To most people in the Federal Empire, Kunlun State was probably no different than an alien planet.
Remote, unfamiliar, barren, primitive…
However, those qualities were exactly what incited Ling PingAn’s curiosity about it.
“According to the Imperial News Agency, at 3 p.m. local time in Kunlun State, the Egyptian Kingdom’s Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statement condemning tomb robbers for ransacking the country’s oldest pyramid, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and stealing one of the most precious funeral objects of Pharaoh Khufu from the pyramid: a golden statue of the cat goddess Bastet.”
“It is reported that the cat goddess Bastet was the patron saint of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, who prospered in Egypt 1,000 years before the republican era. Scholars from ancient Daqin once described the scene at the cat goddess temple at that time…”
On the screen, a statue of the cat goddess appeared.
It was a female statue with a cat’s head and a human body, which was standing in front of the pharaoh’s coffin and his mummy in the pyramid.
“It is reported that the sabotage at the Great Pyramid of Giza took place a month ago…”
Listening to this news report and watching the video, Ling PingAn yawned.
“Cat goddess Bastet…” He turned off his phone, went to his bedroom, and lay down on his bed. “Interesting. Maybe I can use it in my next novel.”
As an online author, Ling PingAn knew that readers always liked to read about anything that was new, that they’d never read about before..
Therefore, he was always paying attention to collecting all kinds of information and attempting to broaden his horizons through wide reading.
Because an author’s job was actually to create dreams.
To weave for readers a splendid, magnificent, relaxing, and refreshing dream.
Lying on the bed, Ling PingAn soon fell asleep and had his own dreams.
In his dreams, Ling PingAn saw the kitten that he’d picked up today, curled up in the corner behind the glass door of his bookstore.
Some kind of smoke surrounded her body, gradually turning her into a naked, graceful girl.
Long black hair covered her whole body.
However, among the long hair, her fair skin and her plump pearls could be seen.
“Have I been reading too much of ‘The Snail Girl’?” Ling PingAn laughed at himself in his dream. “I can’t believe I’m actually having such a dream.”
…
When Ling PingAn woke up, the sun was already shining through the windows on him.
He got up, washed his face, and went downstairs.
Just as he was about to open the door to the store, he saw the kitten that was still sleeping soundly on the towel he’d laid down in the corner behind the glass door.
Ling PingAn smiled, stepped forward, and picked the kitten up.
The kitten was sleeping so soundly that it didn’t move at all even when Ling PingAn took her over to the counter and laid her down.
This made Ling PingAn sigh, “Poor little thing.”
He could imagine that this kitten must have been abused so much. Now that it had finally gained a measure of safety, it was able to sleep soundly, maybe for the first time ever.
After putting the kitten down, Ling PingAn opened the bookstore.
Aunt Cai’s breakfast shop next door was already open. As usual, Ling PingAn ordered two steamed dumplings and a bowl of Douhua. After scanning the QR code to pay for it, he happily returned to the store and dug in.
When he’d only finished one of the steamed dumplings, his phone rang.
Ling PingAn picked up his phone, had a look at the display, and his face took on a weird expression.
Because the screen on his phone showed that the caller was his small aunt.
He hesitated for a moment, but then he picked up the call. He changed his expression and said with a smile, “Small aunt, why are you calling me today?”
“Ling PingAn…,” the chilling female voice boomed out from the phone, “…you’ve grown bold, eh? You didn’t want to answer my call just now!”
“Small aunt, this was a misunderstanding,” Ling PingAn hurriedly explained. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“I was kinda tied up yesterday…so I forgot.”
“Tied up?” The woman laughed. “Tied up with your games, isn’t that right?”
Ling PingAn smiled awkwardly. “I’m impressed by your discernment, small aunt.”
“If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m not in the country right now…,” the woman on the phone said snarkily, “…I would’ve flown to Jiangcheng and given you a beating!”
“Small aunt…you’re not in the country?” Ling PingAn quickly picked up on the key piece of information. Even his eyebrows looked as if they were about to dance.
What he had feared the most was that this living statue of a buddha would suddenly come to Jiangcheng from the capital city.
That would have been a literal nightmare!
Ever since he had been ten years old, this woman on the other end of the phone had traumatized him.
The woman said, “I’m in Beizhou…”
“Things over here have been a little tricky.” She continued, “Maybe I’ll have to spend another two to three months here before I can return to the mainland.”
“Oh…” Ling PingAn hesitated. Then he asked, “Have you discovered any remarkable relics from ancient cities in Beizhou? Or prehistoric artifacts maybe?”
His small aunt was a researcher at the Federal Research Institute of Culture and History.
Her main job was to study historical relics and ancient cultures from different periods of time.
Because of the nature of her work, she was only at home for a few days a year.
Every time he asked her where she was or what she was doing, she was either researching or digging things up.
He had always thought that what was supposed to have been dug up in Beizhou should’ve already been dug up.
She said, after a seemingly bitter laugh, “Well, I guess!”
“Archaeological discoveries here concerning the Shang Dynasty have kind of made some progress…”
“Oh!” Ling PingAn didn’t give it much thought. He said, “Then, I wish you good luck, small aunt.”
Beizhou Kingdom bordered the east and west coasts of the Shang Dynasty. It had only been incorporated into the Federal Empire when the Empire had been founded.
The Federal Empire had gone to war with foreign nations for more than 100 years in order to incorporate the Beizhou Kingdom into its fold.
During the war, Nanzhou and Xisong Kingdoms had also been formed.
Before the war, the Federal Empire’s former emperor and his generals had already warned the entire world that the residents of the southern and northern Shang Dynasty were really descendants of the survivors of the Shang Dynasty who had been defeated by the Federal Empire 3,000 years ago after crossing the sea.
Therefore, these people of the northern and southern Shang Dynasty were really citizens of the Federal Empire, and their brothers of the same blood.
Therefore, the Federal Empire’s war was a righteous one.
It was a war to liberate their enslaved, oppressed, and exploited compatriots.
Whether others believed it or not, the Federal Empire believed it.
After countless bloodshed and fighting on and off for more than 100 years, the Federal Empire used the time of four generations to make the whole world accept this fact.
Afterwards, the southern and northern parts of the Shang Dynasty acquired their proper identity on the world map.
However, some recent archaeological discoveries had seemed to indicate that this fact could still be questioned.
However, nobody cared.
Putting down his phone, Ling PingAn took a deep breath. He was proud that he had kept his wits about him.
At the same time, he became happier.
“Small aunt isn’t in the country!”
“That’s awesome!”
“There’s no one else who can restrain my free will and unyielding soul around here anymore.”
As he spoke, he grabbed his phone, preparing to enter the rift. Today, he was going to strive to achieve the legendary Challenger Rank.
…
It was now nighttime in the Beizhou Kingdom, which lay on the other side of the ocean.
Xin’an International Airport was extremely busy.
Huge transport aircrafts were taking off on the runway, while countless military aircrafts were landing one after another.
In one corner of the airport, a 27-year-old beauty put down her phone.
Her eyebrows were knitted in concentration. “Very confident, eh?”
“Very well done, PingAn!”
“I’ll settle the score with you when I get back to the mainland.”
“Captain…Captain…” At this moment, a girl in a Taoist robe with many bells on her hands ran up to the beauty and said with her head slightly bowed, “Let’s go, we need to hurry up! Minister Zhang is waiting for us to assemble!”
“All right!” The beauty nodded lightly, closed her phone, and picked up an umbrella that was resting next to her.
Opening the umbrella was a revelation as it changed colors constantly like a kaleidoscope, brilliant and eye-catching.
“Weiwei…” The beauty held the umbrella over the girl in the Taoist robes. They walked close together. “What do you think of the young man I introduced you to a few days ago?”
The girl looked bewildered.
“He’s a very good young man…,” the beauty smiled and continued, “If you marry him, I will take care of you for the rest of my life.”
The girl still didn’t quite understand what the beauty was talking about. She answered gently, “Captain, I’m a Taoist nun…”
“So what?” The beauty became solemn. “Nuns also have to experience the world.”
“How can you forget love if you’ve never experienced love?”
The girl sort of understood what the beauty was talking about. She tilted her head and suddenly asked, “Captain, then why don’t you marry someone?”
The beauty abruptly altered.
Her entire person became like a ferocious beast, making the Taoist nun shudder in fear.
