Zero sat up and, facing the one god and one human in front of him, said with emotion,
"I'm about to fall in love with sleeping."
What he longed for most right now was eternal sleep.
Sadly, Zero couldn't free himself for the time being.
So he settled for the next best thing. Getting some sleep wasn't too much, right? Rounded off, it kind of counted as fulfilling his wish.
As Zero was thinking this, a sudden pain came from the back of his neck.
He subconsciously raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck.
Seeing his superior's movement, Guanliang discreetly glanced at the Aeon.
Lan calmly asked, "Does somewhere feel uncomfortable?"
Zero answered casually, "My neck hurts. Probably slept wrong."
Lan, "..."
'I clearly held back!'
Guanliang, "..."
'Reignbow Arbiter! Aren't you being a bit unreliable! That was close, almost exposed.'
Zero kneaded the back of his neck with one hand, waved the other, and started shooing people away.
After they left, he picked up the jade communicator at the bedside and checked the messages.
Akivili had sent him over a dozen messages, along with several photos, sharing scenery from the journey.
Zero patiently replied one by one, and finally asked whether the train was short on credits.
[Akivili: Oh come on, dear friend, honestly…]
The Aeon once again refused his credits. After chatting for a while, he ended the conversation and opened another person's unread message.
It was from a subordinate attending the Star Sea Community meeting in his place.
Zero had already told them his real thoughts early on. For example, classifying runaway intelligent machines and the insect disaster as natural disasters.
And for example, explicitly banning all intelligent life from conducting research related to intelligent machines and the insect disaster.
This intelligent life, besides humans, also included intelligent machines.
Although enslaving them wasn't illegal, if they researched the "anti organic equation" or got involved with the insect disaster, then they were breaking the law.
Once the situation became uncontrollable, all members had to open their borders to jointly fight the disaster.
Zero wasn't worried about the Xianzhou at all.
How much foundation had he saved up already? If they still needed other member states to cross Xianzhou borders to help… then he might as well restart on the spot.
Zero scrolled back to the first message and started reading from the beginning.
The subordinate's wording was extremely official, saying they had exchanged opinions with other Star Sea Community members and deepened mutual understanding.
Zero understood immediately.
Exchanged opinions meant everyone said their own thing and no consensus was reached.
Deepened mutual understanding meant their differences were huge.
Zero had expected this.
Too much time had passed since that war.
Not just others, even the Xianzhou people had mostly forgotten. Some of them were even causing trouble together with the intelligent machines.
Zero kept scrolling through the message record.
The subordinate suddenly changed tone and began complaining to him, politely without swearing.
Zero thought for a moment and replied.
[Do you still remember how I taught you before?]
The subordinate's tone carried a bit of caution.
[You mean… lift the roof?]
Zero tapped the screen.
[Lift it however you want]
Zero didn't care about the process, only the result.
He trusted his subordinate and believed they would do the best job.
Even if it got messed up, so what? A boss should cover for their subordinate.
After comforting the subordinate, Zero started focusing on raising his successor.
On a whim, before Hua went to school, he would call her over.
"Come, I'll braid your hair."
Hua looked hesitant.
She remembered the long life braid he tied when she was sick before.
Crooked, uneven thickness, honestly very ugly.
Hua clutched her backpack straps with both hands, hesitated for a moment, then finally turned the back of her head toward her guardian and quietly asked, "Do you even know how?"
Zero was full of confidence and immediately got to work.
During the process, he couldn't control the strength in his hands and pulled out several strands of hair one after another.
Hua raised a hand to press the faintly aching back of her head and turned to look at the hand Zero hadn't withdrawn yet.
She stared at those strands of hair in his hand, seemed to think of something, and her expression grew more and more shocked.
Hua said in disbelief, "So that's why… no wonder you kept making me drink black sesame paste during that time… it was because of you!"
Zero tried to argue, "This is normal body metabolism. Losing under a hundred hairs a day is considered normal."
He held Hua's shoulders with both hands and forcibly turned the child back around.
"Alright, alright, this time I'll definitely tie you a nice hairstyle."
This time, Zero deliberately used less force.
He awkwardly smoothed Hua's hair.
But he was used to tying his own hair, and for a moment really didn't know how to tie someone else's. After fiddling for a long time, there was always a strand sticking up.
Hua endured it silently, waited and waited, and finally Zero withdrew his hands.
She raised a hand to touch it and casually said, "Isn't this just a normal high ponytail?"
Zero thought for a moment. "Then I'll braid it again for you?"
If Guanliang heard the Marshal say this, he would definitely become alert instantly.
The Marshal never gave up easily. Even the simplest thing would be pushed to the extreme.
Unfortunately, the one hearing this was still young Hua.
Thinking of the hair that had been pulled out, she refused right away.
"…Forget it, I'm going to be late for school."
Hua grabbed her backpack straps tightly and ran out.
She originally thought her guardian was just acting on a whim. But the next day, he waved her over again.
Hua was very alert, stared at the comb beside him, and hesitantly said, "You're going to comb my hair again?"
Zero patted his chest and promised her, "Relax, this time it's not a high ponytail."
After a while, Hua touched her hair, face blank.
"Not a high ponytail. Twin ponytails, right?"
Zero was quite satisfied with his work. He looked over Hua's twin ponytails and nodded.
He asked, "Better than yesterday, right?"
Hua felt speechless but still answered her guardian seriously.
"Yes. At least this time… you didn't pull my hair out."
Zero smiled and sent the child off to school.
He was used to doing things the best possible way.
Even tying a child's hair… was no exception.
Ever since he pulled out more than a dozen strands last time, it had bothered him.
This time, he could finally wash away the shame.
Zero retired early and started a 996 work schedule, using the remaining time to sleep.
Besides sleeping and bathing, he gained a new hobby, tying Hua's hair.
The hairstyles he was good at gradually went from simple ponytails to various small braids.
And the subordinate attending the Star Sea Community meeting in his place also brought new news.
The subordinate said all members had approved the Xianzhou resolution.
From now on, the entire Star Sea would work together against natural disasters.
The next day, Zero saw this news again in the jade communicator's push notifications.
If the disaster caused trouble again later, Hua wouldn't need to go negotiate with those people on a cruise ship.
Zero was in a good mood, and at the same time received a message from Zandar.
They had exchanged contact info before parting, and this was Zandar's first message to him.
The other party mentioned the new resolution passed by the Star Sea Community, praised him as usual, then brought up a certain Genius Society member, saying this person was secretly researching the "anti organic equation," and very thoughtfully attached an address.
Zero fell silent.
He had a very strange feeling.
Like a player used to late pity suddenly pulling a gold early.
He had just banned research related to disasters, and immediately someone violated galactic law.
And it was even an Emanator.
Zandar really understood him.
Looks like they had a good relationship.
So much so that this scholar obsessed with research actively paid attention to Xianzhou news.
Even sincerely gave him a chance to make an example out of someone.
Zero tapped the jade communicator a few times, contacted the Yaoqing General, and asked him to pull up Zandar's entry application.
Soon, he received the picture sent by the subordinate.
Zero stared at the few handwritten words on the entry application form.
Zandar's handwriting… was exactly the same as his.