Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1492: Malfunction?

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We only found out from Bingdisi that there was a problem in the world Uncle Kenser manages. He didn’t even have time for dinner and rushed off to help his followers solve the trouble.

"It seems there’s been a data overflow in the management system, causing part of the celestial bodies to become unobservable. The affected area is too broad, and the system’s own compensation and masking functions can’t keep up," Bingdisi said while extending her wings to try out a new brush, "The management system version Kenser uses is a bit too old, stable but really slow."

At first, it was just a minor issue, after all, the Tiaozi Five often encounter such occurrences, but this time I felt something was off, so I couldn’t help but look into my pocket: "By the way... Dingdang’s World Tree also sent an alert today..."

"Oh yes, we also saw some anomalies," Lin Xue said while lying on the sofa, switching channels with a crackling sound, "like large-scale optical distortions. The scenery outside flickered like a TV with poor signal, but it seems ordinary people didn’t notice it."

"Things in sight ’flickering’?" Bingdisi stopped brushing her wings, "Sounds like a ’presentation state’ issue... probably another data overflow. A partial overflow of the world management terminal data can lead to observational anomalies in certain areas. Think of the whole world as a delicate holographic image, and it’s like noise suddenly appearing on it... Hmm, you guys probably aren’t interested in this, so, did Dingdang find any issues?"

"No problems," Dingdang replied, sticking half her head out of my pocket, "the World Tree did a self-check and confirmed it was just a minor overflow, which was fixed immediately. Dingdang’s management system is more user-friendly than Kenser’s!"

"Don’t kid yourself, besides being foolproof, does your system have any other virtues?" Bingdisi sneered, "Anyway, I’ll send a report to the Divine Realm tomorrow. Kenser’s issue is a major fault, and with two Gods’ world management systems encountering the same problem, it’s better to notify those old-timers at the Pantheon. Otherwise, they’re so bored they’re almost growing mushrooms."

As an expert, Bingdisi didn’t seem concerned about this ’fault,’ which reassured me a bit as a layman, as long as it doesn’t escalate into something troublesome. I can’t handle these messy affairs every now and then, no matter how used to it I am.

Just then, Little Baobao suddenly ran over and tugged at my sleeve, pulling me out of my wandering thoughts. The little girl held a book in her hand, adorably calling out, "Daddy! Story!"

I was thrilled right away: The little girl learned a new word again!

Little Baobao was holding the storybook I bought her last time. Though human-written stories aren’t as rich and interesting as the daily happenings in Shadow City and the Macro World, the whimsical imagination still fascinates the girl, so she often pesters the adults at home to tell her stories—quite an unusual habit for a Xyrin Host. Despite her ability to scan all human media at once and instantly catch up on every novel, much like her mother, the girl clearly changed some habits and a part of her common sense living with us. She has the performance of a host but prefers this "ordinary" way of understanding in her daily life; perhaps for her, "listening to adults tell stories" is not just to read new data, but also entertainment and play.

Anyway, seeing that dinner was still early, I sat on the sofa with Little Baobao and opened the book of world fables: Ever since knowing that Lilina always concocts some cross-dimensional and worldview-shattering stuff for the kids at home, I’ve been particularly mindful about reshaping their worldviews, one crucial step being to buy them some normal reading material, at least don’t let them think that Tang Seng’s journey to acquire scriptures was actually to smuggle pirated books in Tianzhu...

As today’s "reserved program" began, the naughty kids at home gathered around, with Little Baobao and the little doll taking the closest spots to my sides. Even Xiao Xue, despite her size, shamelessly squeezed onto the sofa, while Little Crow simply exploited her bird specialty, hopping onto the sofa back to perch and wait for the story. Finally, even the Silly Fox swaggered over, plopping on my feet and wrapping her tail around my legs like a blanket... You always claim to be a Fox Fairy Lord with a thousand years of cultivation, so mature and not stooping to kids’ level, right?

"I am interested in human-made stories," the Fox Fairy Girl lazily curled her tail, "They’ve made great strides over thousands of years, but the biggest stride was in storytelling... Hurry up and tell, this Fox Fairy is warming your legs, what more can you ask for."

I shrugged and opened the storybook: "Let’s start with an old story, the Fox and the Grapes... uh, this one might not be suitable."

The Fox Fairy Girl’s ears perked up immediately: "Why not! Hurry, tell it, our clan makes an appearance!"

I couldn’t help but smile wryly: "This really isn’t suitable... let’s look at the next one, the Fox and the Tiger..."

I thought this story was even more inappropriate than the last!

Under the Fox Fairy Girl’s dubious gaze, I broke out in a slight sweat as I flipped through the book: "Oh, here’s a story where the fox is quite prominent, the Crow and the Fox story, a crow sitting in a tree with... this one can’t be told either!"

The Silly Bird, who was perched on the sofa, showing a happy expression at her compatriot’s mention, was instantly surprised: "Caw?"

I closed the book, speaking seriously to the Fox and the Crow, "This story could cause a conflict between you two..."

As I flipped through the book, about seventy or eighty percent of the stories clashed with either the Fox Fairy Lord or Little Crow, and I wondered just how the editor of this book managed to compile these stories together, why did the predecessors always have to involve a bunch of wild animals in their stories, and also: why didn’t I notice these issues when I read these stories in the past!

"Boss, now you see how much effort I put into creating those new fairy tales for Little Baobao," Lilina, sounding like a ghost, suddenly popped out from behind the sofa, whispering in a low voice behind my neck, "flip to the back, there’s a story of a fox stealing chickens, being led into a trap by a clever hunting dog, this could almost be a ghost story for Sister Fox..."

"That’s still better than your worldview-destroying stuff," I persisted in flipping through the storybook, determined to find one story where Little Crow or the Fox Lord appeared, and where the beginning, process, and outcome were all fairly bright, and I did find one, although the story was a bit simple, fitting for elementary school textbook level, "A crow was thirsty and saw a half bottle of water by the stream..."

"Master, Master, I know this one!" Little Crow immediately exclaimed excitedly, "Then the crow went to drink its fill from the stream and flew away, crows are very smart!"

I: "...Lilina, bring out your storybook, I’m never buying this for Little Baobao again!"

Heartbroken, I tossed the storybook into my Personal Space, feeling that maybe these naughty kids at home didn’t need a normal person’s worldview—those with a normal worldview seem unable to survive among our family of high-powered species. Satisfied, Lilina finally took out her concocted story collection, pushing me aside, "Boss move over, now I’ll tell everyone a story, starting with some Liaozhai, a scholar reading at night with a Fox Spirit..."

At this opening, I chased everyone away without another word, then dragged the Fox Lord away by her tail, who clawed and scratched at the ground while I pulled, "Let go! Let go! This is from our clan’s story!"

I held on to the Fox Lord’s tail tightly, not daring to let go, "It’s still better you don’t listen, this stuff is for later when you find a mate... Lilina! Rewrite some healthy and uplifting stuff for me!"

Lilina, cradling her high-powered and unsuitable for children story collection, was left hanging on the sofa, half-heartedly yelling after a while, "How is this not healthy and uplifting! Liao Zhai is the world’s earliest work on beast-eared lovely maids! What’s wrong with me re-interpreting it..."

Unfortunately, no one listened to her anymore: for the sake of our worldviews, it’s better to steer clear of Lilina’s ghost stories.

The rest of the night went by without a word, and the next morning, Uncle Kenser returned from his world.

He looked a bit tired, evidently the trouble he went to handle wasn’t minor. The situation he encountered with his world management system seemed much more serious compared to Dingdang. Concerned for her subordinate, Dingdang immediately flew over to inquire, "Kenser, was it very troublesome? Do you need Dingdang’s help? Dingdang still has the system installation package back then..."

Uncle Kenser’s face changed instantly, waving his hands vigorously: "No need, no need, Captain, keep it for yourself. Anyway, you have to reinstall it every so often..."

Kenser was discussing the world management system issues with Dingdang when Bingdisi’s voice suddenly came from the second-floor staircase: "The situation is indeed more complicated, Dingdang, Kenser, you two better go to the Divine Realm and report once."

It’s around ten in the morning now, and today happens to be Sister Bing’s scheduled day for contacting the Divine Realm, so by the time now, she should have just reported to the Pantheon. Hearing what she said, I could guess that there might be an issue in the Divine Realm: "What’s up? Is there another hidden danger with their management system?"

"It’s not just the two of them," Bingdisi suddenly jumped from the second floor down to the living room, "I just reported to the Pantheon that two management gods’ worlds here are malfunctioning, and incidentally chatted with Old Zhao at the Pantheon front desk. It turns out that in just a short while today, there have been over thirty similar malfunction reports — those worth reporting to the Pantheon are at least as severe as Kenser’s, requiring management gods to repair personally, while minor malfunctions that the system can handle on its own, like Dingdang’s, are probably more but haven’t been reported yet. Now the Pantheon is preparing to send investigation information to all management gods to count the frequency of world management system malfunctions over the past period. Dingdang and Kenser, you’d better go to the Divine Realm sooner rather than later."

As soon as Bingdisi finished speaking, Monina, who was watching TV on the sofa, suddenly took out a crystal plate from her personal space. It’s her small device for remotely controlling the world management system, which also serves as a divine data terminal. Monina quickly tapped twice on the crystal plate: "I received a message from the Pantheon here, brother, check yours, you should have it too... Lin, you check yours too."

Then the three immortals gathered together like they were playing cards in a local area network, pulling out their crystal plates and fiddling with them. The more I looked, the more they seemed like those who were freeloading wifi in KFC or McDonald’s...

Qianqian curiously leaned over to take a look and was quite surprised: "Why does this format look like a survey form I saw online?"

Upon hearing this, I became curious too, went over to take a look, and indeed, it was just like Qianqian said. Although I’m not very familiar with the divine script myself, I can understand the statistical letter the Pantheon sent to all levels of gods using the Total Network’s online translation function:

Have you recently used the quick version of the world management system?

Below are two options: Yes/No.

If you have used the quick version of the world management system, may I ask which brand machine or piecemeal system you are using?

Below is a pile of options: Golden Canon Special Edition (whole machine or separately installed system package) / Pantheon Brand Machine / Final Decree Series Brand Machine / Radiant Holy Temple 8.5 or later / Xifeng System / Hemar Quasi-System / other piecemeal systems or unbranded, unguaranteed, frameless systems with untraceable origin.

Has your system recently undergone an official upgrade or whole machine replacement?

Yes/No (users of three-no systems are exempt from this question and all subsequent questions.)

Then there is a long list of real-time and quite professional survey options, with a final sentence on the questionnaire: Thank you for participating in this Pantheon’s survey. Please keep the original survey carefully. You can participate in a periodic lottery draw of the Pantheon or Brilliant Divine Court once with the survey return code. For specific event details, click to enter the Pantheon navigation archives. The final interpretation of this event belongs to Hawke Fending from the personnel and logistics comprehensive office on the second floor of the Pantheon — anyway, he insisted on adding this lottery after the survey form, you can ask him for the prizes.

I was astonished that the Divine Realm even conducts surveys with lottery codes at the end (this might be inspired by their mortal believers, and more likely, various lotteries in the Mortal World are influenced by Divine Realm’s information interference). Then I discovered another worth-ridiculing affair: Monina and the others only filled out the first two questions of the survey, leaving the rest blank...

"Are all of you using knock-off systems like Dingdang?" I stared in amazement at the several True Gods present, "Monina, you too?"

"Do you think anyone under Dingdang would use a high-end system?" Bingdisi glanced at me and then continued tinkering with her crystal plate: she also received the investigation information from the Pantheon. I leaned over for a look, and immediately felt unwell: "...How come you also picked the last option for the second question..."

Bingdisi nonchalantly waved her hand: "The world management system I’m using is self-written, so of course, I can’t fill out product information."

As soon as she finished speaking, Monina, Yelsen, and others shrank into a small pile on the sofa, looking as if they were trying to distance themselves from the entire world. I glanced at Bingdisi, then at those with mediocre grades, this is truly the same options, different realms — by the way, how do you average students feel living under the same blue sky as the top student?

After Sandora let Bingdisi finish filling out the questionnaire, she nudged her arm: "What do you think is the situation this time?"

"I don’t know, those old experts at the Pantheon are all worried, how could I analyze it," Bingdisi leaned back on the sofa, "Anyway, this is definitely not normal. The world management system does have its problems at times, but malfunctions aren’t this frequent. Most of the time, their self-repair ability is sufficient to cope with any situation. Each management system has pre-set plans for the various contingencies they might face. Basically, any situation a universe may encounter from birth to extinction can be found in the management system as a corresponding plan. Such situations requiring a management god to repair by hand, and where malfunctions are severe enough to be noticed by mortals... there’s not even one report every ten days to half a month."

Sandora raised an eyebrow: "Could it be related to the Fallen Angel Envoy again?"

I trembled all over: "Don’t bother me, I’ve just had a few peaceful days..."

"It shouldn’t have much to do with them," Bingdisi waved her hand, "the systems are not compatible at all; the basic parts of the world management systems used by the Divine Race are different from yours. Even if we opened those things for the Fallen Apostle to interfere with, they might not be able to cause such a big disturbance. Moreover, the most important thing is that all currently reported issues are ’regular malfunctions’..."

Qianqian casually inserted: "A malfunction in itself isn’t regular, right."

"Theoretically possible malfunctions are regular malfunctions, while theoretically impossible malfunctions might be related to the Fallen Angel Envoy," Bingdisi glanced at Qianqian, "For instance, if you are watching TV and find it suddenly displaying a bunch of snowflakes, that’s certainly a problem with the TV, but if a ghost appears while you’re watching, that’s a ghost’s problem... ah, truly a ghost appeared!"

Anwina’s half body stuck out of the TV as she muttered while cleaning the TV cabinet: "I’m just here to tidy up the room; you all keep talking."

"That’s what I mean," Bingdisi turned back, "all currently encountered malfunctions are system malfunctions that can occur during normal operation; the most common issue is data overflow, which doesn’t seem like the work of the Fallen Apostle and has no significance for them. The only current problem is that the probability of these regular malfunctions has suddenly increased."

After pondering for a long time, I could only come up with one thing: "So your world management systems have collectively gotten infected too... Why does it feel like a network virus to me?"

"The Pantheon has already checked; it’s not a virus, nor an Abyss infection," Bingdisi shook her head, "ever since the Old Empire’s incident, the Divine Realm got quite a scare, we’ve added several layers of barriers to everything with information exchange functions; and Father God hangs on all networks, can’t be infected."

Me: "..."

Turns out void creatures are still universal firewalls, aren’t they! (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)