Lygus felt a sense of irritation.
He was just an Intellitron. He shouldn't have any emotions. So why did he feel a surge of annoyance when this anomaly occurred?
Was it because he was reminded of that troublesome guy, Fu Zhu?
Lygus stood in place for a while. Though he didn't know if it would help, he decided to try doing nothing to calm this unwarranted feeling.
After a moment, he returned to the control console. Once again, he input the command to change the weather to daytime. For easier observation, he also projected an image of the interior of Amphoreus nearby.
The command to change the weather to night was fed into the Scepter System, and the Amphoreus in the projection was immediately plunged into darkness.
But Lygus didn't relax. The sun rising twice in a row had made him realize this was likely not a simple bug, but something else entirely.
And just as he suspected, in the span of a single frame, the sun once again dispelled the darkness.
"What on earth is going on?"
Lygus was baffled. He turned to check the Scepter System's logs, only to find nothing out of the ordinary.
Although the sun's rising was bizarre, from the logs' perspective, it was registered as a normal day-night cycle phenomenon.
The problem was, he had long ago configured the system so that a normal day-night cycle would only occur if the [Sky] Titan was not corrupted by the Black Tide. And the [Sky] Titan had been corrupted long ago.
Lygus conducted another detailed search and finally found the problem in the deepest interface of the Scepter System. The command to switch the day-night cycle was being sent from another user.
And that user's permission level was higher than his own!
"Fu Zhu!"
The moment Lygus saw it, he knew. It was that guy, Fu Zhu, causing trouble again!
But it didn't matter. He had already waited a very long time for this plan. He could spare a little more. He had all the time in the world to wear Fu Zhu down.
---o---
Meanwhile, Castorice stood on her tiptoes by the window, looking at the sky outside.
For some reason, ever since her big brother had lain down to sleep, the sky had been flickering between light and dark, as if two stubborn people were incessantly flicking a light switch on and off.
After lying down for a little longer, Fu Zhu's eyes snapped open. He sat up in bed and couldn't help but curse under his breath.
"It must be that Lygus guy. Is he that bored? Wasting my time like this!"
Although Fu Zhu felt that if he got stubborn, he certainly had the patience for a war of attrition, his time was far more valuable than Lygus's!
Since the other party was so bored, he might as well find something for him to do.
A mischievous smile touched the corners of Fu Zhu's lips as a backend control panel materialized before him at his will.
He then lay back down on the bed. In the instant that night rapidly transitioned to day, he deftly input a string of commands.
/gamerule doDaylightCycle false
(Disables the day-night cycle. If used during the day, it locks the world in daytime; if used at night, it locks it in nighttime.)
After entering the command, Fu Zhu walked to the window to take a look. He waited several seconds to confirm that the sky wasn't turning dark, then nodded in satisfaction.
While keeping it perpetually daytime wasn't necessarily a good thing for Amphoreus, the constant darkness before wasn't good either. At the very least, maintaining daylight would reduce the incursions of the Black Tide.
Then, feeling that this wasn't quite enough, Fu Zhu casually used another command to send Lygus a private message.
---o---
At the same time, on the other side.
Lygus tried several times to use commands on the Scepter System to adjust the day-night cycle. But no matter what he tried, no matter what code he used, the Scepter System would only give him the same reply.
[Day/Night Cycle currently disabled. Please enable Day/Night Cycle before attempting to switch.]
Lygus immediately input the command to restart the day-night cycle setting, but the Scepter System's reply was another blow.
[Insufficient Permissions]
Lygus's hands, resting on the virtual keyboard, couldn't help but tremble. In the next second, a line of perfectly formatted text appeared starkly before his eyes.
[Fu Zhu: Wanna have a command battle with me? You should know, in any server, a guy like you would just be a~ loli~]
Crack.
Lygus felt as if he had hallucinated the sound of one of his own central components shattering.
He remained silent for a long time before resuming his operations on the system. However, he was no longer addressing the day-night issue.
At this point, getting entangled with Fu Zhu over permission levels was the most unwise choice.
The most important task was to break the Irontomb, not to win against Fu Zhu.
If Fu Zhu wanted the day, he could have it. All Lygus needed to do was complete the process of Re-Creation.
"Fu Zhu, you can win against me countless times, but I only need to win once!"
---o---
After taunting Lygus, Fu Zhu casually closed the system backend. Getting into an online argument with an Intellitron that lacked an emotion module was pointless. He'd rather play with Castorice.
Fu Zhu turned to look at Castorice, who was sitting quietly in her chair, watching him.
"Come on, how about I take you out to play?"
Hearing that she could go out and play, Castorice's eyes instantly lit up, and she hopped nimbly off the chair.
"Okay!"
Fu Zhu smiled and took her hand, leading her outside.
Leaving the church where the priestesses lived, the two of them strolled through the streets.
Aidonia was said to be a city-state, but it felt more like a county town from Fu Zhu's past life. Coupled with its location in the far north and its status as a gathering place for ascetics, there were very few recreational facilities, not even any scenic spots.
Fu Zhu was already getting bored after a few laps, but seeing the little girl still looking so excited, he could only continue to accompany her.
After all, he was the one who suggested bringing her out to play. He couldn't just give up after a short while, could he?
Besides, building a good relationship with Castorice would make her trust him more, which would be convenient for investigating the [Death] Coreflame later and for taking her to Okhema.
After wandering the city for a while longer, Castorice, who was holding Fu Zhu's hand, finally couldn't help but let out a yawn. After all, even though she was a demigod who bore a curse, she was still a child, and a child's stamina is naturally limited.
Seeing that she was tired, Fu Zhu led her to a large tree enclosed by stone bricks to sit and rest.
"Come on, rest against the big tree for a bit."
Castorice nodded lightly. Just as she was about to lean back, she suddenly straightened her back and shook her head repeatedly.
"I can't... I can't lean against the tree."
Fu Zhu paused for a moment before it dawned on him. Castorice's [Wither] effect worked on any living thing, whether it was plant or animal.
"Then lean on me and rest for a bit."
Castorice hesitated, asking him again with a silent gaze. Fu Zhu smiled and nodded, and only then did she carefully lean against his arm.
The two of them sat there quietly, resting under the large tree.
From time to time, groups of children would run past on the street. Each time, Castorice's gaze would follow them back and forth.
Fu Zhu noticed this and asked softly, "You really want to go play with them, don't you?"
Castorice let out a muffled "mhm," and then added, "But I can't..."
Hearing the girl's reply, Fu Zhu's mind suddenly started turning.
It seemed that her curse... might not be impossible to solve.