Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1406: The Suspicious Dark Moon War, The Suspicious Goddess

Chapter 1406: Chapter 1406: The Suspicious Dark Moon War, The Suspicious Goddess

We’re going to spend the night in this village again tonight—this time at the Foolish Big Guy’s house. We’re planning to stay here for three days, waiting for the Louse Spirits dispatched by Bingdisi to figure out what the Heaven and Earth Bridge is, and find clues about the Goddess power before deciding where to go next: either the Imperial City or the Moon. I’ve now realized that this mission is even more complicated than initially imagined. Even though the mission’s scope should be within these two planets, the whereabouts of the Divine Artifact are unknown, and there’s this inexplicable "Goddess" that has even the veteran Bingdisi puzzled. As always: power doesn’t necessarily solve all problems. If you were to say that this universe faced Doomsday and I’m here to save the world, it’d be understandable, I’d just lead the Seven Great Armies to sweep it away, standing up to the Fallen Apostle’s army, and have confidence to drag it to the Imperial District. But asking me to find a Divine Race USB that no one has ever seen and has no clues on two planets is a headache. Not everything can be solved through fighting. Pandora can fight, right? But now is trained by her Big Sister to fall asleep at ten thirty every night...

Although we’re still at the Foolish Big Guy’s place, I felt it inappropriate to occupy the main house again tonight. Even as guests, taking the bed while the host sleeps in a side room on a straw bed doesn’t feel right. Those Louse Spirits have already found out that Sorcerers and Arcane Masters in this world can use secret techniques to carry a lot of luggage, so naturally, we can confidently take out our own beds and such in front of the Foolish Big Guy—I know it’s a bit finicky for travelers to carry a solid wood bed, but since everyone’s luggage was handled by the Big Sister, I didn’t take out that seventeen-piece dining-living-bedroom pine suite out of consideration for the Foolish Big Guy’s tolerance, while Lin Xue even brought out a pool table right there in the yard, inviting the Foolish Big Guy and Little Black to play with her...

The poor big guy stared at us in shock as we suddenly pulled out bizarre furniture able to fill his house, and no longer insisted on giving the two main rooms to the guests. But he wasn’t entirely foolish and thought about one thing: "Why didn’t you take these out last night?"

I already had an excuse ready: "Last night, you didn’t even let me finish my sentence before you yourself ran to the side room and barricaded the door. We couldn’t exactly go and take the door down to drag you out and swap rooms, could we?"

It’s all true, though the details probably need some discussion, but I figured with the Foolish Big Guy’s memory, he might not even remember what happened twenty-four hours ago, what we said and did is probably all a blur to him: after all, among all our names, he only remembered one character, and now I’m not sure if he’s forgotten even that...

The Spiritual God Cat gave me a deep look once more, full of inquiry and doubt. Let her look as she will, I don’t believe a cat can foresee we are from Another World!

By this time, Miss Lin had already set up the pool table she brought from home in the courtyard, and three of the four legs under the table were padded with thin or thick wooden pieces. Qianqian was haphazardly poking around with the cue, with Visca behind her chiming in with nonsense suggestions. The Miss extended a second invitation to the hosts: "Foolish Big Guy, Little Black, do you two want to play pool or not?"

From the moment Lin Xue set up that strange "table" in the courtyard, the Foolish Big Guy’s gaze was subtly drawn to it. Of course, he had never seen such a thing before, and likely mistook it for a regular table at first: it isn’t uncommon in the countryside for people to set up a table in the yard and have meals outside during hot weather. He couldn’t have imagined this thing was actually a toy. When Lin Xue first invited him, the Foolish Big Guy, out of reservation, didn’t agree, but now, seeing Lin Xue and Qianqian playing, his curiosity was piqued. Watching the colorful little balls spinning on the green velvet surface, both he and the cat were amazed: "What is this thing?"

"Don’t worry about what it is; it’s something for fun," Bingdisi waved her hand. "When you’re bored, you gotta find ways to kill time. Want to give it a try?"

"Hold on, hold on," the Spiritual God Cat, Little Black, leapt gracefully to the edge of the table, intently watching Lin Xue’s shooting action with her emerald green eyes. "Let me first understand the rules of this. You can only use the white ball to hit the others each time?"

If I didn’t know from the appearance and only heard the voice, I definitely wouldn’t believe this is a cat! She actually noticed the balls weren’t just randomly bumping around!

I nudged Bingdisi’s arm: "Sister Bing, aren’t you going to play a round or two? Aren’t you interested in everything?"

Bingdisi patted her chest: "Can’t get the angle, I’m naturally a third less good at shots compared to you guys; it’s no fun playing."

Qianqian and Lin Xue, with their sharp ears, both shot fierce glances over at this moment—it was surprisingly hard for Qianqian, who generally lacked focus, to think once like a normal girl.

Got to say, Qianqian’s pool skills are horrendous. In fact, I’m skeptical she even knows how to play pool. Judging by her usual behavior, she’s probably just goofing around, and Lin Xue... surprisely, the Miss’s skills are even worse than Qianqian’s! The two of them now apparently are playing without any Special Ability, normally, so each took turns hitting for half a day. There were still the same number of balls on the table except for those initially broken apart, none of the rest had budged. Finally, I’ve figured it out: there are no particular rules here, not even Eight-Ball, Nine-Ball, or Snooker, the only rule is the one the black cat saw from the start: use the white ball to hit the others. The two girls really were just hitting randomly, surprisingly managing to have such a good time.

Just as the Foolish Big Guy was getting ready to head up after understanding the situation, something unexpected happened—

A tiny green figure zipped out of my pocket and perched on the black ball, greeting everyone: "Good morning, Ah Jun! Good noon, Qianqian! Good afternoon, Lin Xue! Dingdang’s awake! When’s dinnertime?"

This little thing slept through the day and now awoken because of the pool sounds, jumped out without even scanning the surroundings!

The black ball which Dingdang picked as a landing spot was just a few centimeters from Little Black, who was startled, meowing in shock and leaping aside: "What is that thing! Do dragonflies talk?!"

I quickly stood beside Little Black and looked up at the sky, waiting for a few seconds but no Divine Thunder struck, then realized: we’re not on Dingdang’s turf here, far from the Divine Realm, maybe the Divine Punishment System isn’t in the service area...

"Oh, are there people?" Dingdang finally caught on to the odd atmosphere. She trotted on the black ball like performing a balancing act on the pool table, looped around, and saw the Foolish Big Guy with eyes round as walnuts and the fur-standing Spiritual God Cat. Immediately a bit dazed, Dingdang stumbled and fell from the pool ball, ending up tumbling into the pocket with it. A clumsy rumble came from beneath the pool table. Qianqian nudged Lin Xue’s arm: "Does that count as a score?"

Lin Xue stared blankly at the hole where Dingdang and the ball vanished: "But the green ball went in just now?"

"I mean the black ball..."

"Oh, then let’s give Dingdang a point; she can’t use a cue anyway."

I didn’t expect Dingdang to be exposed under such circumstances. Since there are no creatures like her in this world, Little One is not used to disguise or invisibility techniques (mainly because, with her intelligence, she might forget Disguise Technique at any time), I had told her not to fly out and about. Anyway, she’s not particularly eye-catching, and lives comfortably in a pocket as long as there are candies, to which she readily agreed.

But now exposed is exposed, it’s not a big deal: it’s simpler than world peace.

I reached into the pocket and fetched out Dingdang, who got tangled up with some pool balls, placed her on the pool table, introduced her to the Foolish Big Guy and the Black Cat: "Her name is Dingdang, and you don’t need to worry about what species she is, she is just a travel companion of mine whom I met in a distant place. Also, she’s definitely not a spirit-turned dragonfly, so watch your words, especially you, Little Cat."

I’m really worried whether the Spiritual God Cat can withstand a blow from Divine punishment if the system suddenly goes online; theoretically, Low-level Divine punishment only scares without killing, but if a thunderbolt comes down and burns her fur off, it wouldn’t be good. After all, this cat spirit is quite like a person, should we consider it as physical damage or clothing compensation? The former is medical expenses, while the latter denotes spirit damage compensation...

"Is this one of those legendary Ancient Races?" The black cat nervously nudged up, pawing Dingdang’s wings, "The Dark Moon Wars made many Ancient Minor Races go into hiding; most of the ones who couldn’t fight. Some races throughout had no clue people knew they existed. I think this little one fits the bill quite well."

I immediately followed her lead: "Yep, should be, anyway, I did find her in a Primordial Forest, with no soul for miles around." Now, there wasn’t a single word of falsehood in that.

The Foolish Big Guy looked at me in admiration: "Elder Scholar, you truly travel the world!"

"You better take her further away," the black cat cautiously nudged Dingdang with its furry paw. Though Dingdang was delightedly hugging that paw with affection, Little Black couldn’t help but step back two steps. "Her size is almost like a mouse, a bit hard to control..."

I hurriedly grabbed Dingdang and tucked her into my pocket: Little Baobao had once put this twelve-centimeter-high Little Thing in her mouth, serving as a warning that Dingdang’s size indeed prone her to mishaps.

"Dingdang is hungry!" The little one poked her head out from my pocket requesting some food. I pulled out a small round biscuit for her to nibble on, while also reminding her not to drop crumbs into the pocket. Meanwhile, I continued watching Qianqian and Miss Lin playing billiards, guessing when they might finally knock all the balls into the pocket. At this moment, the Foolish Big Guy finally rubbed his hands, speaking a bit awkwardly: "Can I give it a try?"

"Of course, didn’t we just invite you?" Miss Lin casually handed the cue to the Foolish Big Guy. "Just focus on hitting the white ball, other than that, there are no rules. We’re just messing around anyway."

The Foolish Big Guy, with a bear-like build and large hands and feet, could only cautiously pinch the cue with three fingers. Following Lin Xue’s earlier awkward posture, he leaned over the pool table, exuding an aura that could only be described as tiger crouching, dragon curling: from behind him, half of the table was obscured.

Then we heard a "pop" sound of the cue hitting a ball, leaving the onlookers utterly stupefied: none of the balls on the table moved.

"Oh, I’ve broken your toy." The Foolish Big Guy exclaimed, lifting the cue, the white ball skewered onto its end, resembling a severely misproportioned lollipop. Dingdang looked up at the scene, smacking her lips as it whetted her appetite, she climbed into another pocket to find candy.

Me: "..."

Confused, the Foolish Big Guy took the ball off the cue and placed it back on the table, only to realize it wouldn’t roll normally anymore, making him blush with embarrassment: "I didn’t do it on purpose. How come it just broke like that?"

Bingdisi paused her gaze on the Foolish Big Guy for a moment, seemingly pondering for an instant, but soon returned to normal. The Female Hooligan waved it off brightly: "No worries, it’s just a ball. I have plenty."

Speaking of which, she truly fished out a bunch of round balls about the size of billiards from her Personal Space and tossed them onto the table: "These balls, you can puncture them any way you like, they won’t get damaged."

I stared closely and found those balls were golden yellow, semi-transparent, with many little red stars crafted inside them using a special technique; some had one star, some had two stars, and the most had seven stars...

"Dragon Ball?" I gaped at Bingdisi, who nodded: "Yep, made with Lin’s scales."

I began sweating profusely: "If you gather seven, can Lin be summoned or something?"

"Gathering seven weighs exactly two pounds, besides that, there’s nothing special about them. Oh, by the way, they’re exceptionally hard."

While I was feeling speechless, the Foolish Big Guy tossed the cue on the table, rubbing his hands with a sheepish grin: "Not playing anymore, what if this wooden stick breaks too?"

Just as he finished speaking, we suddenly heard a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, startling everyone. The Foolish Big Guy looked up at the sky: "Hey, is it going to rain? This season doesn’t see much rain."

I considered if it could be the Divine Punishment Little Black Cat summoned: the delayed packet loss was so severe that it was not only ten minutes late but couldn’t even find the target?

Soon it was proven that it was not Divine Punishment, for the sky became visibly overcast, and not long after, a torrential downpour was imminent. Everyone hastily packed up the pool table and other things. The Foolish Big Guy ran to collect the raw hides air-drying in the yard and brought them to the nearby little warehouse. Subsequently, we dashed to the respective houses under the darkening sky, and just as I reached the eaves of the side house, the rain splashed down behind me. Everyone exchanged waves through the misty yard, and after the man and the cat entered the house, we returned to our temporary resting place for the night.

Qianqian and Lin Xue had already arranged the space similar to a presidential suite: they even put a layer of little star wallpaper on the wooden ceiling. I have no doubts that Qianqian used her Special Ability when setting up the room.

As previously mentioned, the side house opposite the main house is just a single level. It’s essentially a vast wooden shed without any room partitions. Lin Xue and Qianqian divided it into separate small compartments using alloy plates. Tonight, it appears everyone will sleep in their own. However, it was still early for rest, and we were certainly not aligned with the local’s habit of sleeping at eight o’clock. Hence, we all gathered in the largest "room" to discuss the day’s findings.

Bingdisi casually placed the Black Skin Bible she obtained from Ron on the table, unleashing an aroma of meat. Upon acquiring the book, I had scanned and uploaded it to the Total Network. The text on it has been fully translated, and the translation program sent an intelligent font library for immediate reference. Utilising this font library, in the future, we should directly call up a bilingual subtitle set into our minds while reading this world’s texts. Bingdisi, having glanced over this big book during her leisure (Remember, Sister Bing is truly a literature-loving girl, right?), was the first to speak: "I’ve already basically grasped the ins and outs of the Goddess Sect, summarizing three points. First: the power the sect venerates and borrows is 100% from the Star Domain Artifact, our investigation direction is correct. Second: the ’Goddess’ mentioned by the sect probably did appear, but she clearly is not the same god as that reconnaissance soldier who died in battle, nor is she a reincarnation of a lingering soul. Third, and most suspect: this Dark Moon War has issues, the Goddess Sect appears normal in other aspects, but the explanation on the Dark Moon War is quite dubious. Following this lead, we might be able to decipher what kind of existence the ’Goddess’ they worship truly is, , and the source of her power, ultimately we will find that this source, ten to one it’s a Divine Artifact."

Bingdisi’s words pointedly outlined a direct path to problem-solving: to find the Divine Artifact, we need to locate the faith core of the Goddess Sect, the "Goddess," who rarely shows up. We haven’t discovered traces of the so-called "God" here, thus clues must be sought in the Dark Moon War. History in this world records several instances of the goddess’s descent, each time right at the end of a Dark Moon War, appearing as a Savior. But every time, the salvation was incomplete—this alone is enough to raise suspicion.

What is suspect isn’t just the always-world-saving "Goddess." I feel that even the record of the first Dark Moon War may not be entirely historical.

Everyone remembers Ron’s description of the pre-Dark Moon War world, right?

A "peaceful, loving, united" "Heavenly Age," how could it erupt into such a sudden war? And shortly after the outbreak, all races across Earth to Moon quickly declared participation, and rapidly formed two opposing camps?

The rapidly escalating warfare and the swiftly divided conflicting camps, this reads more like a deeply-engrained vendetta...

While I was unraveling how many secrets the Dark Moon War might conceal, Bingdisi suddenly mentioned a seemingly unrelated matter: "Hey, what do you all think of the Foolish Big Guy?" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please consider visiting Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes, monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)