All the doubts Zero had noticed before finally had an answer.
'So it was you.'
'No wonder the Xianzhou called him the Father of the Xianzhou.'
'No wonder the Xianzhou allowed Aha to publish books.'
'So there was an insider in the Xianzhou!'
Zero sent Guanliang a red envelope worth one Strale.
[Zero: Thank you]
[Zero: Without you, I couldn't have become a father either]
Zero took a deep breath.
If his exchanges with Aha could be considered even, then this time, between him and Guanliang, it was a case of killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of his own.
Zero forced himself to continue typing.
[Zero: Good child, take it ^_^]
After sending the message, Zero wanted nothing more than to throw the jade abacus in his hand as far away as possible.
He didn't even want to enjoy Guanliang's embarrassment. He turned off the device and squatted beside the box with Jingliu.
After checking them personally, they confirmed the genders.
The ten cages contained ten pairs of hamsters.
The two held their breath and observed them.
Zero had raised hamsters before.
After learning that hamsters could enter a state of "false hibernation," he had specifically researched them.
Hamsters reproduced extremely quickly and had very strong territorial instincts.
They would attack and bite other hamsters to death. They might even eat their own babies.
Zero was busy with official duties. Whether it was hamsters or puppies, he only ever kept one at a time.
Now he had to start from scratch again and participate in a research project with Zandar.
He and Jingliu already had Jade, and now there were twenty more hamsters...
Zero couldn't help sighing.
"Let's keep them separate from Jade."
He looked around and opened a delivery box that was the same color as the hamster boxes.
Inside were various hamster supplies and food.
Guanliang had been very thoughtful and had prepared everything needed for Zero's ten pairs of hamsters.
The two divided the work and stayed busy until midnight. They finally transferred all the female hamsters into larger cages.
As for the males? Every single one was locked into the cages that came with the delivery.
'Couldn't they show a little restraint?'
'A hamster litter had at least five pups and could have more than a dozen!'
'If these five hamsters gave birth, then together with the original twenty...'
'There would be at least forty-five hamsters!'
The next day, Zero hired professionals to take care of the hamsters and arrange cages and birthing areas for them.
Zero wasn't used to living with outsiders, so the staff couldn't stay around the clock. After settling all the hamsters, they organized all the precautions for before and after birth into a document and sent it to Zero.
With the hamster issue settled, next came Guanliang.
The first person Zero thought of was Hua.
As long as the fire wasn't burning her, Hua wouldn't care.
[Zero: I think every Xianzhou person should remember Guanliang]
Hua readily agreed.
After dealing with Guanliang, the last one was Hua.
Zero deliberately waited several days.
He waited until production of Guanliang's statue had officially begun.
Then he contacted Daiyang.
[Zero: Where are you?]
[Chanzhen: Daiyang and I are in Xuling, Dad]
Zero automatically ignored Chanzhen's way of addressing him and continued typing.
[Zero: Perfect. Beat up Hua for me]
Chanzhen puffed out her cheeks and looked at Daiyang and Hua.
They had originally been discussing the "Flint Emperor" that Zandar wanted. Later, following the topic of Zhu Ming, they ended up talking about General Huaiyan of Zhu Ming.
Supporting her chin with one hand, Chanzhen held up her jade abacus with the other and showed the message to Daiyang and Hua.
"Dad is really making things difficult..."
"If we hit too hard, he'll feel bad for you later."
Chanzhen pressed her palms together beside her face.
She said affectionately to Hua, "Little sister, just help us put on a show. Otherwise, we won't be able to report back..."
Daiyang shot Chanzhen a glare.
'You little traitor!'
"What right do you have to call him Dad?'
Hua spread her hands helplessly.
"Alright, tell me. What do you want to know?"
There was no such thing as a free lunch.
Chanzhen had sold out her father the moment she received his message.
If she didn't have some ulterior motive...
Hua didn't believe it.
Chanzhen smiled brightly, "Who is 'Dionysus'? Can we kill him?"
That person had already published two books.
The first was The Father of the Xianzhou and the Elation Aeon.
The second was The Uncrowned Emperor and the Aeons.
After her father sent her a picture of the second book, Hua specifically logged into the Xianzhou forums to see what people thought.
Many Xianzhou citizens had grown fond of the author "Dionysus" because of their affection for the first book.
When the second book came out, they didn't hesitate to spend their Strale on it. Then after reading it, they immediately called it a scam.
'Where were the Aeons? This is title fraud!'
Aside from the preface relating to Father, wasn't the rest just fairy tales for children? And that last story was especially ridiculous.
The protagonist was a lumberjack. How was he supposed to live if he didn't chop trees? Then somehow by the ending he became a forest ranger?
This was the Xianzhou. They weren't interested in environmental protection nonsense. Any extremists could leave.
'And finally, Dionysus, refund our money! How dare you slander our beloved Father? You deserve to die!'
Hua ordered all of the author's books to be sealed away.
She made time to read both books.
After finishing the first one, she went to Guanliang to verify the events described in it.
Guanliang replied, "This author knows too much."
Hua's suspicion was confirmed.
The author "Dionysus" was the Elation Aeon.
When Hua opened the second book, it began with a wild piece of unofficial history.
[It is said that the Aeons were willing to die for the Emperor. Why? The author believes there is only one truth: the Emperor had a special relationship with them that could not be made public across the universe. One Aeon even bore him a son...]
Hua: "..."
Yes.
Her father wanted to kill them.
A relationship like that...
How could it be made public across the universe? How was it not special?
Expressionless, Hua continued reading.
There was a lotus cat suspected to represent Fuli, repeatedly destroying the universe over a single fish.
There was a blue cat based on the Reignbow Arbiter, standing against the fish, while only a curly-haired cat suspected to be Aha stayed by the fish's side.
She read several stories in a row and found Aha's writing poor. A single sentence would be explained over and over in several different ways.
It felt like padding the word count.
Patiently, Hua continued until the final fairy tale.
This time, the protagonist wasn't an animal.
It was a human, a lumberjack.
He arrived in a forest and met its native inhabitant who was closest to humanity.
["I want humans to become human."]
[That was what he said.]
In Aha's telling, the lumberjack wrongly vented his anger on a red-haired boy and killed him in a moment of desperation.
["I can't understand."]
["Something like you..."]
["Why are you..."]
Hua silently completed the sentence in her mind.
'Something like you... why are you a god?'
After that, the lumberjack finally began working.
He cut down many trees. While doing so, he met a white-haired boy.
[The boy smiled and held out his hand.]
["Destruction?"]
["I prefer to call it..."]
["Rebirth!"]
[The boy grasped his hand in return.]
[From that day onward, there was never another peaceful moment.]
The lumberjack gained a helper.
One day, lamenting that he was an invader, he was seriously corrected by the boy, "No, you're not an invader."
"You're a visitor from beyond."
A visitor who brought new life to this place.
Then, with no buildup and no explanation, the lumberjack suddenly became a forest ranger and swore to protect the forest.
Hua couldn't help thinking that it was a terrible ending.
The native inhabitant closest to humanity was Akivili.
The red-haired boy was Aha.
The white-haired boy... was Nanook.
Then a new question emerged.
Were the allegories in the second book real?
Or were they simply the Aeons amusing themselves?
Hua returned from her thoughts.
Chanzhen's eyes were full of anticipation.
"Can we kill him?"
As if the moment Hua nodded, she would lead everyone straight to Dionysus.
Hua slowly shook her head.
The two looked disappointed.
It seemed Dionysus wasn't human.
That wasn't someone they could provoke.
Daiyang shrugged.
"Alright. So he's a big shot."
Chanzhen rolled her eyes and asked, "Then are the things in the books true too?"
Hua asked back, "Do you mean the Elation Aeon? Or the other Aeons?"
Daiyang blinked at her.
"You didn't deny the question. Looks like all of it is true."
Hua smiled helplessly.
Before she could say anything more, Daiyang and Chanzhen grabbed her from either side and pulled her out of her chair.
Hua's expression froze.
Wait, you're really going to do it?
Daiyang blinked innocently.
"Just cooperate, please, please!"
As she spoke, she pulled out her most commonly used whip.
Chanzhen likewise drew her usual sword.
"You run ahead. We'll just record a random video later."
The two patted their chests and reassured her.
"Don't worry. We won't hurt you."
Hua's mouth twitched, but in the end she agreed.
Strictly speaking, the two were her elders. They had taught her many things and often sparred with her in their spare time, never holding back.
On the surface, they were helping her deal with Father.
In reality, they wanted to test Hua's skills.
Hua pulled back her sleeves and gladly accepted the challenge.
Three system hours later, the newly appointed Chief Strategist of the Marshal's Office let out a sharp scream while staring at what was nearly a pile of ruins.
Daiyang and Chanzhen glanced at the Chief Strategist and continued arguing.
"Why did you draw your sword?"
"And what about you? Why were you swinging your whip?"
The Chief Strategist ran all the way over and threw himself before the Marshal.
"Marshal!"
"What happened here?!"
Hua shook out her clothes. Rubble fell off and dust flew everywhere.
She said casually, "Nothing."
The Chief Strategist looked frustrated and spent quite a while fixing the Marshal's clothes. When he looked up again, Daiyang and Chanzhen had returned.
Considering there were outsiders present, they behaved properly.
"Marshal, we forgot to take photos and record videos."
Hua sighed and raised her stance.
"Come on. One more round."
Another three system hours passed.
Zero received videos and photos from Chanzhen and Daiyang.
[Zero: Good children]
[Zero: Well done]
The two first sent a string of gibberish, then withdrew the message and immediately sent several cute stickers.
Zero put down the jade abacus.
Next was spending money to build a statue of Hua.
He contacted quite a few professionals, but the moment they heard his request, nothing came of it.
After asking around, he learned the Xianzhou had introduced new regulations.
For example, the Alliance had banned certain books and would conduct stricter reviews of future publications.
For example, the Sky-Faring Commission would more strictly inspect people and goods entering and leaving the Xianzhou.
The one Zero cared about most was,
Without approval, no one could privately erect a statue of another person.
The official who wrote the document seemed particularly upset about this matter and directly stated, to casually erect statues of people like this is a desecration of Father.
Zero gave up.
He shifted his attention to Jingliu, studying, and the hamster pups that were about to be born.
The two crouched side by side on the floor, staring without blinking.
The newborn hamsters had no fur. At first glance, they looked like red-skinned peanuts.
They counted silently.
After a while, Zero asked blankly, "Is this... the tenth one? Is it still not finished?"
Jingliu looked equally confused.
By the end, the hamster population had exploded to seventy.
The two instantly lost all enthusiasm. As soon as the time came, they separated the hamsters into different cages.
Sometimes they even carried them around and randomly gifted them to lucky strangers, along with supplies, food, and Strale.
In exchange, adopters had to accept occasional follow-up visits.
Perhaps because the "follow-up visit" condition was too demanding, very few hamsters were adopted out.
After some thought, Zero hired a designer and had a separate area set aside in the backyard specifically for the hamsters.
More than half a year later, the Xianzhou people began preparing for Gratitude Day early.
Last year, they hadn't been ready.
This time, no matter what, they had to make Father happy.
At the same time, with the help of ten teachers, Jing Yuan successfully passed every exam except history.
Thanks to the title of "Father of the Xianzhou," he had made a fortune.
Hearing people talk about Gratitude Day, he hesitated before going to Dan Feng again.
Sure, Dan Feng had found ten teachers for him...
But he passed, didn't he?
Anyway, when in doubt, ask Dan Feng.
After hearing Jing Yuan's purpose, Dan Feng was puzzled.
Teng Xiao was clearly preparing the way for Jing Yuan. During this year's Gratitude Day, Jing Yuan would undoubtedly shine before everyone.
Why was he still concerned about Strale? At most it was only a little over a billion.
As the High Elder, who spent money freely, Dan Feng was destined never to have a normal person's concept of money.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Then donate it."
Jing Yuan looked hesitant.
Dan Feng added, "I'm donating Strale this Gratitude Day too."
The moment Jing Yuan heard that Dan Feng was donating, he changed his mind.
Ever since becoming rich, he had never touched the money on that card.
Now he finally had a chance to spend it.
Donating it to "Father of the Xianzhou," Xian Zhiyu, counted as returning the money to Zero, right?
Seven days later, Zandar cheerfully handed over a long-distance remote transmission.
On the screen was the grand celebration of Gratitude Day on the Luofu.
In front of the golden nanmu tree in the Forest of Loyalty, General Teng Xiao had an arm around Jing Yuan's shoulder and excitedly said to the camera, "Jing Yuan has donated all the royalties he earned..."
Zero: "..."
'Jing Yuan, thank you so much.'
'I spent seven straight days attending classes just to avoid Gratitude Day!'
What else could he do?
Leave it to Jingliu.
Zero returned home and watched the video with Jingliu.
Jingliu understood immediately.
At the next gathering of six people, she stepped forward and stopped in front of Jing Yuan.
"During those seven days of Gratitude Day, did you touch your sword even once?"
The other three: "..."
'Good luck, Jing Yuan.'
Ten minutes later, Jing Yuan stepped down with a resentful look in his eyes.
Zero said to him, "I don't care about that money."
"You should just spend it."
Jing Yuan thought to himself, 'but I care.'
Zero seemed to see through his thoughts and continued, "Whether it's donating or helping students..."
"At least... don't spend it on things like this."
Jing Yuan fell silent for a moment.
"Alright."
———
Another year passed.
He passed all of his history exams and reached adulthood.
Ever since learning of the existence of the Father of the Xianzhou, all Xianzhou coming-of-age ceremonies had been moved to Gratitude Day.
One month before Gratitude Day, the Zhu Ming Fleet arrived at the Luofu.
At a section of Starskiff Haven closed to the public, Huaiyan raised his head and looked at Yingxing's face.
After a long silence, he sighed.
"You've gotten thinner."