Canary sat on the sofa, gazing at the news on the screen worriedly. As expected, the entire moon was broadcasting the scene of Erin wreaking havoc in the bases. This increasingly pained Canary. Although she knew that it was impossible for the news to not report about Erin’s powerful strength, she secretly prayed for it to not be broadcasted. But in the end, it seemed like the entire population on the moon was aware of it now!
Not only that, but Canary was also speechless when she found out that due to Erin’s threat, many bases near the Americas Region had evacuated. She thought that they could find a place to rest, but later realized that the surrounding non-military bases had sealed off entry and sent their members back to Earth. But they couldn’t be blamed since it was a terrifying and massive dragon. In order to avoid unnecessary losses, it wasn’t surprising that other regions took the first step in sending their civilian members back to safety.
But even so, Canary, Mini Bubble Gum, and Erin still had somewhere to go. Especially for the moon princess—Canary didn’t expect Erin to actually grasp control of the evacuated greenhouse vegetable base using her mysterious spells and strut through it!
Isn’t she a Night Wyvern? No matter how strong her spells are, she can’t possibly control computer systems!
Erin responded to Canary’s queries plainly.
“I feel a spiritual presence in this core area. As a Night Wyvern, manipulating spirits is my expertise. As long as one is self-conscious, I can use spells to alter one, so it isn’t anything strange.”
This was the first time Canary seriously considered if there was some deviation to the development of artificial intelligence by humans… But shortly after, she saw the news about her and Mini Bubble Gum being missing. She quickly threw those meaningless thoughts to the back of her head (since technological development wasn’t something of her concern anyway), and started worrying about their future.
“Big Sister, what’s wrong?”
Upon realizing Canary’s seemingly bad mood, Mini Bubble Gum crowded over and asked curiously. Compared to Canary, who was full of anxiety, Mini Bubble Gum was more excited, especially after realizing she could cast spiritual spells; this little fella was on cloud nine. Moments ago she was practicing her spiritual spells repeatedly just like in the game and often yelled out and exclaimed, a stark difference from the worried expression on Canary. Upon hearing Mini Bubble Gum’s doubt, Canary forced a smile.
“I’m fine, Bubble. I’m just worried… about the future.”
Meanwhile, Erin had found a room and was researching the mysterious piece of black slate. On the other hand, Canary and Mini Bubble Gum had to consider their future. After all, they were born into this world and of course, they had to return to earth. Canary was sure that she and Mini Bubble Gum were included in the list of missing people, so if they didn’t show up anytime soon, they would be included in the list of dead people. But was it that easy to escape? Besides, even if they returned to Earth, Canary was certain that they would be interrogated. Perhaps after detecting their mysterious strength, they might even be implicated in more bothersome matters… This left Canary in a headache. But she didn’t dare to suggest bringing Erin back to Earth either, or returning behind Erin’s back. Although this moon princess seemed reasonable, she had high self-esteem. As soon as the situation was out of hand, she would find trouble and this would make the situation worse.
“Bubble, aren’t you worried at all? What are your plans?”
Gazing at the carefree Mini Bubble Gum, Canary couldn’t understand how she could be that relaxed as though she had no care in this world.
Isn’t she aware of the current situation yet?
Upon hearing Canary’s question, Mini Bubble Gum shrugged boringly and replied.
“Worried? I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Big Sister, I’ve decided to follow Her Highness Erin! You’ve also seen it for yourself. The situation now is bizarre, like how Her Highness Erin came to the real world from the game and it seems like there is the presence of Chaos even in our world. Perhaps Chaos may threaten the safety of our world, so shouldn’t we assist her in dealing with the dangers?! Moreover, we have power now, so it would be a waste if we don’t use it!”
It seemed like only the last sentence was her true intention.
“Then?”
“Then? Since Her Highness Erin is finding a way back, I’ll surely help her with it. Besides, I’ve made up my mind! I want to return to the Dragon Soul Continent with Her Highness Erin to check it out! That’s the real Dragon Soul Continent! Aren’t you tempted at all, Big Sister? Besides, I heard from Her Highness Erin that Leader is there too!”
While the trio was on the escape, Mini Bubble Gum and Canary learned everything about the Dragon Soul Continent from Erin. They initially thought that Erin transmigrated from the game (back then, Mini Bubble Gum kept harping on about how Erin shouldn’t involve third parties when settling disputes since it wasn’t their guild who killed her). But after communicating with her, Canary and Mini Bubble Gum realized that even though Erin had indeed come from the Dragon Soul Continent, the history and development was entirely different from what they imagined. The Country of Darkness didn’t defeat the Munn Kingdom and Country of Light. Instead, a fifth dragon soul territory, the Void Territory, emerged. Not only that, but the Void Territory also supported the Light Dragon in eradicating the Light Parliament and destroying Casabianca. Rhode’s name was mentioned several times. Besides, his experience was also legendary. He started from a mercenary group that eventually grew to a guild, became an overlord, opened up a land of Chaos, and became one of the top four forces that shook the continent. Canary and Mini Bubble Gum were astounded. The latter was fired up and eager to get into action with Rhode in the other world. They basically confirmed that the ‘Rhode’ was their leader. Not to mention the same name and appearance, his class was also identical. If all this was only a coincidence, it wouldn’t be a coincidence anymore when he named the guild ‘Starlight’, right?!
Not only that, but also what left Mini Bubble Gum curious was that in that world, there were two people with the same name as her and Canary!
Those damn counterfeits! I’m the real Mini Bubble Gum! It should be me who follows Leader around!
“Do you really intend to go there?”
Upon hearing Mini Bubble Gum’s words, Canary was taken aback. She asked and Mini Bubble Gum nodded with force, before gnashing her teeth and saying, “Of course, Big Sister. Nothing good happens here and since we have this rare chance, I’m not going to let it go so easily! Hmph. Anyway, my dad is focusing all his attention on the wh*re and his dearest son. I’m sure he will set off firecrackers once I’m really dead!”
“…”
Upon hearing Mini Bubble Gum’s words, Canary fell into silence. As Mini Bubble Gum’s rare, close friend in the guild, Canary knew her background well. Half a year ago, Mini Bubble Gum’s father remarried. What dissatisfied Mini Bubble Gum the most was that the woman who he remarried was actually his lover whom he had a son with before he actually married Bubble’s mother for the ‘need of work’. After marrying Bubble’s mother, her father gained a large sum from Bubble’s mother to expand his business to become a huge entrepreneur. Then, Bubble was born and her mother passed away after years of illnesses.
In the beginning, the relationship between Bubble and her father wasn’t favorable because her father valued males and attached less importance to females. He bore a grudge against his wife for not bearing him a son, which explained why he often neglected Bubble and always stayed in the office. Bubble despised him and they were as though strangers.
Around half a year ago, her father’s ex-lover brought her son and came knocking on their door to talk about the old days. Besides, that son was also the product between that woman and her father (for this, Bubble ridiculed those idiotic men who became the scapegoat of that wh*re and raised the son of another man. In Bubble’s eyes, they were ignorant fools for doing so)!
After taking the paternity test and confirming that the son was blood-related to him, Bubble’s father who valued males more was elated. Within a short while, he brought his old lover and son back home and this left Bubble blowing her top completely.
As the child of the first wife, Bubble loathed any third parties. Besides, she thought that if it weren’t for the vixen who seduced her father, her mother wouldn’t have ended up in this pitiful state. Moreover, Bubble was a gunpowder barrel that would explode once lit, so it was common for quarrels to break out at home. Besides, she didn’t hold back against that woman at all. She frequently criticized her for being ‘a worn-out pair of shoes’, ‘an unwanted wh*re’, and ‘a shameless vixen’. Of course, her father couldn’t remain indifferent. Bubble and her father had a falling-out and there was no father-daughter relationship between them.
Canary remembered clearly that Bubble mentioned more than once that she would hire a group of men to mess with that ‘punctured slut’, before drowning her son with cement and throwing him into the Huangpu River! The murderous intent from Bubble when she said that left Canary lingering in fear. She was afraid that Bubble would sink too deep into it…
That was why unlike Canary, Bubble had basically no reasons to feel reluctant to leave this world. Besides, Bubble couldn’t be happier to cause more trouble for her father. If she was spotted stirring trouble with Erin and the country sent out people to investigate her father, she would be smiling in her dreams!
This pair of father and daughter had completely turned into enemies.
“… Aren’t you afraid that Her Highness Erin will imprison us in future?”
It was due to this reason that Canary didn’t speak a word after hearing Bubble’s answer. Instead, she let out a subtle sigh and felt like Bubble was too simple-minded. After all, Erin was the princess of the Country of Darkness, while they were obviously standing on Rhode’s side. Moreover, they didn’t know the relationship between the Country of Darkness and Void Territory. So what would they do if they followed Erin back to the world and were captured as hostages? Perhaps they might even be used for experiments. After all, they were visitors from an alternate world to the Dragon Soul Continent.
“What’s there to be afraid of? At most, we will just be dead.”
Even though Bubble possessed power now, she was still her same old self and wouldn’t sweat about the small matters. Facing Canary’s worries, Bubble waved her hand airily. Then, her eyes suddenly glinted and she turned around.
“In any case, there is no point in staying here anymore… Yes, but I have the strength now. It isn’t too late to leave after I beat up that damn wh*re and her bast*rd son!”
Upon hearing Mini Bubble Gum’s words, Canary’s expression changed slightly. But before she stopped Mini Bubble Gum from doing anything silly, the little fella smiled and grabbed her hand.
“Big Sister, come with me. Didn’t Her Highness Erin say that the Leader over there brings us around? That means we’re always together! So, let’s go! Nothing good comes out of staying here!”
“I…”
Canary’s eyes glinted after hearing Mini Bubble Gum’s persuasion. But shortly after, she lowered her head and pondered in silence. She eventually shook her head.
“No, Bubble. I can’t, I still have my family…”
“Family? You call them your family? Big Sister, they are murderers! Do you really intend to be punished forever by those…”
Even though Bubble was furious, she cared for Canary’s feelings and swallowed the filthy words that almost escaped her mouth. But it was obvious that she wasn’t satisfied with Canary’s decision.
In fact, similar to Mini Bubble Gum who had a hard time with her family, Canary wasn’t faring anywhere better.
And this was linked to Rhode in countless ways.
A year ago, Rhode was about to graduate from university when he transmigrated to the Dragon Soul Continent.
As the day to graduation came closer, Rhode became busier. After taking his final examinations, he welcomed a bunch of classmates and friends for dinner and drinks to celebrate the end of his university journey. Of course, Canary was among them. Since Rhode was about to graduate, he went wild and got himself drunk. Then, Canary led Rhode to bed to rest and they ‘lost control when drunk’… Between their relationship, Canary definitely wouldn’t reject him if he asked, and both of them spent a passionate night together.
As there was school the next morning, Canary left before dawn, while Rhode woke up after half the day was over. Both parties didn’t take the matter to heart. After all, that wasn’t their first or second night together. However, they neglected a crucial point. The drunk Rhode surely wouldn’t take safety precautions.
No, it was hard to determine if Canary did it on purpose because even if Rhode was drunk, she didn’t drink any alcohol at all. In that case… Yes, perhaps only Canary knew what happened.
All in all, that night was similar to when they spent time together in the past. But after half a month, Canary realized something was wrong with her body. Her period didn’t happen and her body was in a terrible condition. She went to the doctor’s and… yes… just like the saying went, ‘Touch pit and you will be defiled’.
Canary was pregnant.
It was previously mentioned that Canary was born into a family with a literary reputation. Her parents were strict on her and they didn’t hope for her to become successful. Instead, they were determined that she ‘had to’ become successful. As their daughter, Canary was their perfect and most satisfactory masterpiece. They spent all efforts in putting her on the right path. All in all, they wanted everything she did to be right. If she didn’t follow their intentions, she would be in the wrong.
Canary resisted but to no avail. Therefore, she lived like a puppet who did whatever her parents told her. After that incident, she decided to change her life around. Her ‘friends-with-benefits’ relationship with Rhode was like a form of willful resistance toward her parents. Although it was an accident, the chances of her ‘officially’ becoming Rhode’s girlfriend as his form of responsibility were high. But Canary didn’t do so. Instead, she seemed to only be obsessed with physical thrill and joy. As long as Rhode gave her a call, she would be there. Not only did she stop Rhode from buying gifts for her, but sometimes she was also the one who paid for the hotel room. Rhode felt bad at times, but Canary took pleasure in it. In fact, she knew that this ‘shameless’ side of her was to go against the image that her parents ‘set’ for her. She wasn’t the educated, irreproachable, sacred, and inviolable girl that her parents were proud of. Instead, she would rather be this ‘slut’ who surrounded a man without seeking returns to be thrown aside after he was done playing with her!
It could also be said that a certain degree of masochism was part of the reason why she didn’t ‘conduct herself with dignity’.
And now, she was finally blooming.
Rhode saw through her. Even though Canary wasn’t a ‘defiant young lady’ like Mini Bubble Gum, she was, in fact, rebellious at the deepest level. However, she wasn’t ‘actively’ rebellious, but was ‘passively’ rebellious instead. Any form of ‘rebellion’ had a reason for her. For instance, before she met Rhode, she always acted like the obedient girl in her parent’s eyes. But after giving Rhode her first time, she gained the reason to be ‘rebellious’ immediately. She began enjoying the thrills of physical intimacy from the bottom of her heart and gained the strength to ‘secretly go against’ her parents. And now, after bearing a child, she had a new ‘reason’ to gain the strength to resist her parents. Therefore, after learning that she was pregnant, she made a decision.
She decided to give birth to this child.
She had done all sorts of mental preparations for it. For the sake of the child, she would drop out of university and work part-time jobs to earn a living. Unlike the ‘impulsive’ Mini Bubble Gum, Canary had the maturity to reflect over the situation. This was also the best chance for her to break free from her parent’s ‘pressurizing dominance’. From that day onward, she would live for her child and herself, not as a puppet for her parents anymore!
She was able to keep it a secret in the beginning since she had a great figure. But the truth always came out eventually. After a few months, her family learned of her pregnancy.
Then, a war began.
Canary’s parents didn’t expect their perfect and most impressive masterpiece of a daughter to have sexual encounters with a man at this young age and even became pregnant with his child. This was completely a bolt from the blue. It went without saying that they resisted and ordered her to abort the child. But Canary vowed to die rather than obey. She couldn’t care less even if her parents decided to sever their kinship and chase her out of the home. Canary didn’t treat the child as a tool. The child was also her hope to live a new life. No matter what, she had decided to give birth to the child.
But she was too gullible. She didn’t expect her parents to be that cruel to pretend to discuss with her about her child and put abortion drugs into her drink!
Canary could never forget her emotions back then, especially after she woke up on the hospital bed. After she couldn’t feel the new life inside her any longer, that was the first time she felt despair as though her final trace of hope had disappeared with the child.
As a matter of fact, her condition was in a critical state. Upon arriving at the hospital, the doctor asserted that both Canary and her child might have difficulties surviving. When the operating procedure was needed, her parents vanished without a trace and didn’t have the intention to sign the surgery agreement at all. Perhaps to them, this failure and disappointment of a daughter was better off dead. Fortunately, the hospital Canary was admitted to was owned by Bubble’s family. Bubble happened to be there in person and was shaken to see Canary lying on the emergency bed. Bubble strictly ordered the doctors to rescue her. As a result, Canary managed to survive after an all-out operation, but the child couldn’t be saved.
Thereafter, Canary had as though become alone. The university was full of gossip about her. Even though there were other students who committed the same mistakes, Canary was always the paragon of virtue and learning. For this to happen to her was as though fans learning of their certain ‘maiden idol’ being a drug addict: it was extremely shocking to them.
Later on, Canary did attempt to contact Rhode and Mini Bubble Gum also tried her best searching everywhere for him. But it was a pity that he had already transmigrated and they couldn’t possibly find him.
After that day, Canary never returned to that home, but rented an apartment with Mini Bubble Gum instead. Their trip this time could also be seen as licking their wounds. Be it Canary who was abandoned by her parents or Mini Bubble Gum who had a falling out with her family, neither of them were in a favorable situation.
“But I…”
If Rhode were to meet Canary now, he would surely be shaken because this steady, gentle, and smiley young lady was revealing a timid and hesitant expression. That moment she lost her final hope was as though she had lost her courage to continue living on.
“Big Sister! You can’t go on like this! Nothing good comes as a result of us staying here! Isn’t this the best chance for us? Let’s go look for Leader! Big Sister, don’t you want to see him? If Leader met with an accident and transmigrated to that side, it means that he hasn’t given up on you! Big Sister, you can’t go on like this!”
“But I…”
“No more buts!”
Mini Bubble Gum raised her voice and disrupted Canary’s hesitation. Mini Bubble Gum clutched Canary’s hands tightly and glared at her.
“Big Sister, you want to meet Leader, right? Let’s leave this world and start afresh! You don’t need to see those murderers anymore. I don’t want to meet my annoying dad and his mistress either. Anyway, we’re just unnecessary people in their lives, aren’t we? What can we change even if we stay behind?”
“…”
This time, Canary didn’t answer immediately. She lowered her head, pondered in silence, and eventually nodded.
“Let me consider…” Canary said.
