It was absolutely impossible that with how loudly and desperately Meng Qi was crying not to wake up whoever was sleeping upstairs, therefore, a series of footsteps soon began to be heard.
Ye Linger's face was almost as pale as that of a person who had just seen a ghost while rushing down the stairs. When she descended the last step and found her husband sitting on the couch with Bai Shilin sitting on his lap, her expression calmed down a bit, however, she was still so agitated that she didn't even notice Kali sitting quietly there.
"Old man, what- What's happening in the kitchen?" She started walking towards the kitchen as she asked aloud.
"Linger, wait a-"
Bai Delan sighed before standing up as she ignored him and ran towards the kitchen frantically.
...
It wasn't until more than twenty minutes later that Bai Zemin managed to calm down a bit not only his younger sister but also his mother who when she saw him nearly collapsed before running and joining her children on the ground, crying as she thanked the gods for returning her son to her and not tearing her family apart.
In the end, although he managed to convince his mother to let him prepare breakfast, Ye Linger sat next to Meng Qi at the kitchen counter while they watched him cook.
After about 30 minutes, Bai Zemin had finished preparing three simple dishes consisting of rice, meat, vegetables. With help from his sister and mother, soon everyone found themselves sitting at the table and before anyone could say anything Kali tugged on his clothes to get his attention.
"Bullet, after breakfast I need you to give me the pendant Seraphina's father gave you."
Bai Zemin's eyes shone slightly as he asked quickly, "Will you modify it to understand the languages of this world?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Ok." Kali nodded before she began to eat in silence.
Bai Shilin leaned forward slightly and looked at Kali who was sitting on the opposite side of Bai Zemin as she asked in a low voice, "Hey, dad. Who is this little sister? Shilin doesn't understand anything she says."
Little sister? Bai Zemin looked at Bai Shilin at a loss for words.
"My precious Shilin, she is actually bigger than you so you should call her big sister instead of little sister."
"Even though she is so short and needs to be carried? Shilin can walk and doesn't need Dad to carry her. Also, why does she always have her eyes closed? Is she very sleepy? Shilin can borrow her bed to rest."
Bai Zemin smiled wryly at his daughter's innocence and while stroking her hair slowly tried to explain, "Shilin, her name is Kali. Kali can't walk because she has a very bad disease in her body, and that bad disease won't let her open her eyes either. Do you understand? She is a person Dad like very much because while Dad was away Kali helped me a lot a lot... so I hope you will be kind to her, can you do that?"
"Oh." Bai Shilin made a small sound as if she understood but at the same time doesn't understand. She secretly looked at Kali and finally nodded, "Okay, Shilin will be kind to big sister Kali seeing that she helped Shilin's father."
Bai Zemin smiled gently and added, "Also, Shilin, remember not to tell Kali what you just said about her not being able to walk or see, okay? She might get sad."
"Okay."
Bai Delan smiled slightly as he said calmly, "To think that not long ago you were an impertinent brat.... but look at you now, caring for and raising your own daughter."
Bai Zemin chuckled as he patted Bai Shilin on the head, much to the delight of the girl who closed her eyes like a cat.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Meng Qi was a little embarrassed after her earlier behavior so she without saying anything cut a small piece of meat using her chopsticks and put it in her mouth.
"Uh..."
[You have received Stamina +19, Strength +25.]
Meng Qi's eyes lit up from the taste of the meat but the shock was mainly from the increase in stats.
She looked at Bai Zemin and stammered an incomplete question, "B- Big brother, th- this meat..."
Bai Zemin looked at her with a faint smile and said calmly, "That meat is from a big Third Order cow I killed in the other world."
He looked at his mother, but just as he was about to say something the first thing Bai Zemin noticed was how although she looked way younger than before his mother Ye Linger still had a lock or two of whitish hair.
'Before I leave I should put that plan into action.'
Bai Zemin's expression did not change but in his heart, he had already made up his mind.
"Mom, you should eat too. Ah, but you can't eat the meat alone like Meng Qi just did because your body is too weak. You should accompany the meat with that red vegetable, that vegetable serves to store large amounts of energy and help you digest it little by little."
Ye Linger nodded, but even while eating her eyes were permanently fixed on her son's body. She even ignored the messages flashing in her eyes and seemed to be willing to push away even the tiniest speck of dust floating in the air and disturbing her little prince.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"Zemin, regarding your eyes..." Bai Delan hesitated as to whether or not he should continue, so he paused and looked at his son as he asked trying to keep calm, "Is everything all right...?"
"It's everything fine, father. This is just a skill of mine that occasionally kicks in." Bai Zemin smiled and told them not to worry.
He didn't lie, but he didn't tell the truth either. This was an important moment for everyone after all.
As they ate their meal now calmer, Meng Qi who had managed to stabilize her mood a bit asked, "Big brother, were you really in another world?"
"Em." Bai Zemin nodded and calmly said, "As you already know, after Xuanyuan Wentian launched a nuclear missile I tried to find a way to counter it, but it's not that easy to take down a weapon capable of killing Fourth Order existences. After crossing the portal to the other world I managed to get out of the range of the explosion and radiation, but the cost was falling unconscious for a week due to the use of a skill that boosts my stats exaggeratedly."
Bai Zemin put down his utensils and looked at Bai Shilin as he said with a gentle smile, "Shilin, do you want to hear a story about another world? A world full of powerful beings, princesses, princes, kings, queens, demons, and many exciting things."
"Mm!" Bai Shilin didn't even think about it and nodded intently while chewing her food with her sharp teeth.
Bai Zemin looked at his father, mother, and younger sister. After a short pause, he began to narrate his life over the past nearly six months.
"The world I was transported to is called Eventide World...."
Two hours passed, and during those two hours Bai Zemin made sure to paint a large and considerably detailed picture of his life in Eventide World with his words.
Ye Linger looked at her son with surprise after he stopped.
"Zemin, you... You really did all that in just six months?"
"Not six months, Mom." Bai Zemin shook his head and pointed, "I was 2 months unconscious, you forget? My battle against the Demon Lord was really hard, and a big part of that victory is due to Kali actually sitting by my side, otherwise... I'm afraid things would have gotten complicated for me."
It was thanks to Kali that Bai Zemin learned Soul Manipulation, and it was thanks to her that he got his grandsword upgraded. These two fateful trap cards were undoubtedly the most important in his fight against Ar'gon, and without them Bai Zemin would definitely not have been so sure of his victory against the fully unleashed Demon Lord.
After hearing the whole story, the way the family looked at Kali was completely different. To them, the 14-year-old girl was practically a heroine to whom they owed everything.
Meeting a princess, invocations, betrayals, becoming the hero of a kingdom, opposing the whole world, killing legends, becoming a legend, fighting against armies of demons, becoming the human hero who fought and after a fierce battle defeated the terrifying Demon Lord who had terrorized the human race for so long....
"Were it not for the fact that you are my son and I know you better than anyone else I fear it would be hard for me to believe what I just heard." Bai Delan put down his chopsticks and sighed as he looked at his son with a complicated expression.
"Really, this all sounds like a fairy tale, something out of a fantasy." Meng Qi nodded. However, she seemed interested in something else as she soon asked casually, "By the way, big brother. This princess... Seraphina Di Gales was her name? What happened to her after she learned that her Fate Eyes don't show her a 100% safe fate?"
Bai Zemin chuckled as the image of the second princess of the Gales Kingdom appeared in his mind.
"She is fine, despite being young she is a very strong girl. Seraphina Di Gales is, in fact, the strongest girl I have ever met in my entire life."
She lost her mother, she lost her friends, she was betrayed by her sister, the ocular skill she blindly trusted turned out not to be absolute, Kali left, Bai Zemin left.... All in less than six months.
"She won't fall." Bai Zemin said confidently. "We will definitely meet again, and when she really needs me, I will definitely be there. I'm sure that when the time comes she will have become a powerful Third Order soul evolver and her name will be known far and wide in Eventide World."
"Mmmm..." Meng Qi looked at him and subconsciously her index finger began to gently tap on the table while saying with both eyebrows raised, "Big brother, from the way you talk about her it wouldn't seem strange to me if the prophecy of that princess what's-her-name's eyes ends up coming true. What do you think?"
... Was Seraphina's name so hard to remember or mention? Because Bai Zemin didn't think so...
On the other hand, Ye Linger's eyes lit up as she looked at Bai Zemin with excitement. She took her daughter's hands and began to express her thoughts, "This girl, Seraphina Di Gales has the blood of a noble family of a great legacy in her veins right? An educated, classy, talented girl with the title of princess of a great kingdom! Zemin, although mom has yet to meet her to give the final vote I am 90% sure she will be a good addition to your harem!"
Bai Zemin nearly choked to death with the piece of meat he was chowing down on and hurriedly began to drink water. After his life was out of danger, he patted his chest in fright and looked at his mother in shock.
Talented, noble blood, princess title; so far everything was fine.
However, classy???? Bai Zemin winced at the memory of Seraphina's blonde ponytails flying all over the place as she pointed her finger at him and yelled Orc this and Orc that.
To everyone's surprise, however, he didn't renege on the harem matter this time but instead asked a curious question.
"Mother, you seem to be fine with one man having many wives?"
"Well, you are on the point of becoming the King of the new China aren't you? What king doesn't have one or two wives and ten or fifteen concubines? Zemin, you are this strong and even in other worlds you are considered a hero by all humans, so what's bad about you having some loving girls?"
To everyone's surprise, Bai Zemin nodded, "I see, it makes sense."
Ye Linger's eyes shone like stars in the night sky, but before she could say anything else, her son stepped in front of her.
"In that case, mother, what about father?"
"Uh? Your father? What does your father have to do with all this?"
Bai Zemin wiped his mouth with a napkin and didn't seem to notice the slight change in his mother's voice as he calmly said, "Well, Dad is the father of the future King of China, isn't he? Besides, he is a Second Order soul evolver who will eventually break into the Third Order so he is powerful and even looks handsome thanks to his Soul Power."
Ye Linger's expression was not good as she slowly asked, "Zemin, what do you mean? Be clear with mom."
Bai Zemin ignored his father's signals and continued, "Under my rule, as long as one has the strength and ability to feed their willing partners, polygamy is not frowned upon regardless of whether it is male or female. Therefore, I think Dad could also have his own harem. What do you think, Mom?"
Ye Linger looked at Bai Zemin with a serious expression and said in a firm voice, "As long as it is under my roof, who is in charge here is me. The same applies to you, are we clear?"
"Of course, of course." Bai Zemin raised both hands and nodded innocently.
Ye Linger switched her attention to Bai Delan who was squirming uncomfortably in his seat and opened her eyes wide as she raised her voice a little, "And you, old thing. Are you still not rejecting such an indecent proposal? You are already this old but are you still thinking about perverted matters?"
"But, mother. Dad looks young and-"
"Zemin, keep your mouth quiet!"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Delan, we need to talk." Ye Linger stood up and walked toward the stairs as she said in a serious voice, "Princess, Zemin, you two clear the table and wash the dishes."
"This, Linger I-"
"Upstairs!"
Bai Delan gave a wry smile as he stood up silently. Before he left, however, he motioned to Bai Zemin with an open palm as if telling him to get his butt ready.
Bai Zemin pretended to tremble in fear as he watched with a big smile on his face as he walked away.
"Big brother, you're really mean." Meng Qi covered her mouth and giggled under her breath.
The smile on Bai Zemin's face slowly receded, and after a few seconds of silence, he calmly said, "Meng Qi, we have to get mom to start evolving. She doesn't need to be strong, we just need to let her gain Soul Power on a regular basis and gradually level up."
"... I'll help you." Meng Qi nodded with a serious expression.
She had also noticed the obvious difference between her mother and father after all. Although no one said anything since Ye Linger was protected by everyone, it was inevitable to receive some weird glances since she looked like a 35-40 years old woman dating a young man in his 20s.
Of course, what really mattered to Bai Zemin and Meng Qi was that neither of them wanted their mother to die of old age. Therefore, they had to find a way to make her evolve of her own free will.
Bai Zemin rubbed his chin as a funny and torturous plan shaped in his mind.
He secretly scrubbed his hands together as he laughed like a little devil hoping to see a good game.
* * * * * * *
