Chapter 165: It's Your Turn, Despair

"Just take it."

Su Nian kept his head lowered, organizing data and pondering where he had gone wrong.

As for the wealth of that ambitious arms dealer Zahaliyasi, he did not care; as long as he was willing, supporting an industrial chain at will was no difficult task for him.

He could simply take the products of the Umbrella Corporation from Little Garden, make appropriate adjustments, and start selling them directly in this world.

Besides, once one's strength reaches a certain level, wealth is nothing more than a string of numbers.

"Yes, King."

Liana lowered her head in response and obediently stepped forward to organize the documents.

Weierdiyana was somewhat puzzled, but she did not speak up, instead following her sister to help out.

After the recording was finished, Su Nian put away the tablet in his hand and snapped his fingers.

A stretched black Lincoln pulled up right beside Su Nian.

Xian Guyong stepped out of the car at the right moment and opened the door for Su Nian.

"Alright, girls, come in."

Su Nian beckoned to the five Vessels; they looked at the ice cream in their hands, then at Su Nian, and did not move.

Su Nian was not annoyed and spoke directly to Xian Guyong.

"There should be prepared desserts inside the car, right?"

"Considering the other Emperors' love for desserts, a refrigerator specifically for storing desserts has been prepared inside."

Xian Guyong said expressionlessly and flatly; the only pity was that she was currently wearing the Akatsuki Academy high school uniform instead of a suit.

Otherwise, she would look more like a bodyguard.

After hearing Xian Guyong's words, the other Vessels clearly showed expressions of interest.

After looking at the smiling Su Nian, they followed his wishes and walked into the car.

"Head to the location of the tenth Vessel."

Now, with only the tenth Vessel left, Su Nian would have collected all twelve Vessels, and he would be just about ready to hold the ceremony for the Flame Light Banquet.

Although there was no difference between holding it and not holding it, this declaration—announcing the return of the Fourth Progenitor to the world—still provided a bit of a bonus in terms of gaining Merit.

As the car drove smoothly, heading toward the hideout of the tenth Vessel uncovered by the Lion King Organization.

"I really don't know why you took that guy in."

A familiar voice rang in Su Nian's ear; Nangong Nayue had sat down beside Su Nian at some point.

Su Nian did not even lift his head, placing his hand on the head of the third Vessel lying on his lap, stroking her gently.

"Didn't I say? Just a test subject, a lab rat."

Hearing Su Nian's words, Liana's expression inevitably turned sorrowful, and her movements of counting the documents paused.

"But Nayue-chan, you came to find me suddenly—did you miss me?"

Su Nian turned his head, staring at Nangong Nayue with a narcissistic smile.

"Pah, who would miss a guy like you?"

Nangong Nayue couldn't help but spit, she couldn't even stand him, let alone like him.

She had only come over to shatter the unrealistic Fantasy some guy was harboring.

"I came over just to remind you to keep the commotion of the Flame Light Banquet small later."

"I don't want to run around cleaning up your messes."

Nangong Nayue turned her face away, looking at Liana and Weierdiyana who were counting the documents.

She didn't want to add a love rival out of thin air, or rather, some person who had developed thoughts they shouldn't have.

Did he really think she couldn't tell? Because of the experiment Su Nian did on a whim, Liana had developed feelings she shouldn't have.

Perhaps they hadn't fully formed, but regardless, she had to nip this budding feeling in the bud.

To join Su Nian's harem, this Liana didn't meet the standards in terms of appearance, status, or ability.

In Nangong Nayue's view, to join Su Nian's harem, one should at least meet one of those three criteria, right? At the very least, you have to make Su Nian have some thoughts about you, right?

Unfortunately, Liana had none of that; although she was a beautiful girl with decent looks, compared to those Su Nian had interacted with, or even compared to her, she was a grade lower.

But it was just as well; because of that irresponsible Fourth Progenitor, the pressure on her had doubled, and she was short-handed.

And Liana was indeed a talent worth molding, and she had been modified by Su Nian, so in any case, she shouldn't be left to wander outside.

"By the way, I'm taking these two away."

Nangong Nayue pointed at Liana and Weierdiyana and said.

"Take them if you want."

Su Nian smiled, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly as he looked at Nangong Nayue.

Nayue-chan really is as kind-hearted as ever.

Nangong Nayue was momentarily embarrassed by Su Nian's gaze and hurriedly left with Liana and Weierdiyana.

"You're shy, Nayue-chan."

Su Nian smiled and, not caring whether Nangong Nayue could hear him, said to himself.

Afterward, the car returned to silence, with only the sounds of the little girls sharing and enjoying their desserts in small bites.

Inside an ordinary apartment on Itogami Island.

Several boys and girls who looked only twelve or thirteen years old were doing their own things in the living room.

"I'm home!"

Suddenly, a bright and crisp girl's voice came from the apartment entrance, accompanied by the door being pulled open.

A girl with a very urban style of dress walked in.

The girl had short rainbow-gold hair, and flames were burning in her pupils.

She wore a jacket similar to a baseball uniform, denim shorts that reached only to the tops of her thighs, and black leather boots over striped socks of varying lengths, revealing smooth, snow-white legs between the socks and the shorts.

At first glance, the girl looked like one of those delinquents who didn't study properly and skipped school every day, and she even had a bit of a tomboyish air about her.

"Di Shanpo!"

Upon seeing the young girl, the boys and girls who had been busy with their own affairs in the living room all let out cries of pleasant surprise.

"I bought food for everyone, and today there are even desserts from downstairs, so hurry over and eat."

Di Shanpo grinned as she placed the large and small bags she was holding onto a nearby table.

Sitting in the center of the living room and fiddling with a massive sniper rifle, a petite Beastkin girl hopped over and excitedly took the bags.

"Great, Di Shanpo, there's actually dessert today; you've worked hard."

The petite-looking Beastkin wore a dress, looked like an elementary school student, and had a pair of cute cat ears on her head.

"Kali, I didn't have any trouble at all; the money in my pocket was all given by Teacher Qianhe."

Di Shanpo waved her hand and said nonchalantly.

The Beastkin girl opened the bag and took out pieces of bread and dessert, but instead of eating them directly, she called out to her companions.

"Loki, La En, come over and eat too."

"Coming."

The boy named Loki, who had an ordinary appearance, blue hair, and wore a very tacky green coat, responded and jogged over after hearing Kali's voice.

As for the girl named La En, who wore her hair in a long ponytail and seemed to have a deficiency in emotions, she revealed a forced smile at Kali's call and also walked over to join the dinner.

"Di Shanpo, aren't you eating?"

The three young children were enjoying this hearty dinner, and seeing Di Shanpo sitting motionless to the side, Kali asked.

"You guys eat first, I'm not hungry."

Di Shanpo waved her hand and sat down on the sofa to the side.

Di Shanpo, or rather the tenth Vessel of the Fourth Progenitor, was also one of the Vessels with the richest emotions besides Agulora.

After the Third Progenitor Gada discovered her unusually rich emotions, Gada found it interesting and let her go.

Having left the Chaos Realm, Di Shanpo wandered about, holding a great curiosity for the unknown world.

She saw a great deal of nauseating darkness.

Naturally, Itogami Island, the host site of this Flame Light Banquet, could not avoid this either.

Thinking of this, Di Shanpo looked at the three children who were happily eating their dinner.

The Beastkin girl Kali, having no father or mother, had lived in the slums since she was small, always living a life of abuse and hunger; when she was about to starve to death, she met Di Shanpo and had followed her ever since.

And as for Loki, an artificial life form gifted with the ability to conjure fire, one only had to think about it to understand what he had experienced.

After the scandal of Loki being used as a tool to create artificial life forms was exposed, he was saved by Di Shanpo just as he was about to be destroyed, and he joined them.

La En was the same, also an experimental subject, with a brain covered in micro-neural circuits sixteen times more complex than an ordinary person's, making her a human computer in her own right.

Because her brain's metabolism was too fast, she was originally like a vegetable, only able to be used as a biological computer.

However, after Qianhe Yiren taught her Necromancy Magic, La En was able to attach her consciousness to the dead to survive.

These companions were all saved by Di Shanpo from different Demon Districts.

So-called Demon Districts were nothing more than places where demons were lured and then used as experimental subjects.

The plight of these demons stirred compassion in Di Shanpo, and she wanted to save them and also destroy this land of sin.

Especially Itogami Island, where the altar of Cain existed and which was also the host site of the Flame Light Banquet.

She intended to use the holding of the Flame Light Banquet to join forces with Qianhe Yiren to destroy Itogami Island and prevent the altar of Cain from posing a threat to the world.

And while she was at it, see if she could rescue her student Nangong Nayue.

"Di Shanpo, where is Teacher Qianhe?"

The Beastkin girl, with her mouth full of cream, looked at Di Shanpo, who was sitting on the sofa in a daze, and asked.

For Kali, who had been abused since she was small and had never had a full meal, these ordinary desserts were simply the most delicious delicacies in the world.

Kali's words brought Di Shanpo back to her senses; she looked at Kali and said with a grin.

"Teacher Qianhe is setting up the base points for the activation ritual."

"Once the ritual is ready, Teacher Qianhe will use Feng Shui magic to destroy this Demon District!"

Hearing Di Shanpo say this, Kali and the others all revealed excited smiles.

But just at this moment, Di Shanpo's face suddenly turned pale, her expression filled with panic.

"Di Shanpo, what's wrong?"

Seeing Di Shanpo's body trembling and her expression off, Kali and the others hurriedly put down the desserts in their hands, walked over, and surrounded her nervously.

"He... he has come..."

Di Shanpo said with trembling lips.

"Who has come?"

Kali and the others asked in confusion.

"The Primogenitor, the Fourth Progenitor is approaching this place."

Di Shanpo bit her lip and said word by word.

She had thought the Flame Light Banquet might be held soon, but she had not expected it to be this fast.

Her plan with Qianhe Yiren had not even begun, yet was the Flame Light Banquet already coming to an end?

In the darkness, she seemed to see a man speaking to her.

You are the only one left, Di Shanpo.

As the tenth Vessel, Di Shanpo knew very well that this was not an illusion at all.

It was the Primogenitor Fourth Progenitor coming to her door, a declaration that she, the tenth Familiar, was about to be reclaimed.

Although she did not resist her own fate, if she left, what would become of these companions of hers?

(End of chapter)