Chapter 1199

"Another bowl!"

Youma handed over the empty bowl that had just been drained by him in an instant.

At this time, You Xuan had already followed Youma back to the Ninety-Nine House. Youma's grandmother, Ninety-Nine Chun, took the bowl from his hand, smiling as she refilled it with rice and handed it back to Youma.

"Indeed, home-cooked rice is still the most fragrant."

Youma, eating dry rice, was so happy his eyes narrowed into crescent moons.

As he recalled something, he turned to You Xuan and said: "Oh right, your academy's fried shrimp is also really delicious. Having another serving of that fried shrimp wouldn't be bad either."

"Honestly, you keep running off to dangerous places—I haven't even settled the score with you yet."

Mingli stared at Youma with obvious displeasure. Youma instantly felt guilty, shrank his neck, and hid his face behind the bowl while hastily stuffing dry rice into his mouth.

Youma's sister had a head of red hair, was a beautiful and capable red-haired beauty, her perfectly curved long legs clearly suited for pedaling a tricycle. She had a strong personality and exceptional decisiveness. Oh, and her skills were likewise not those of an ordinary person.

"Well, but this time you actually brought back a pretty handsome friend." Mingli teased, looking toward You Xuan.

Upon hearing this, Youma instantly perked up, put down his bowl, and excitedly said: "Sis, you don't know—You Xuan isn't just good-looking; he's incredibly strong in duels!"

He's a champion-level duelist, the legendary kind.

But before he could finish speaking, Mingli's beautiful face immediately fell, and she said in a gloomy tone: "Youma, you secretly went dueling behind my back again, didn't you?"

Youma froze instantly: "Ah... this..."

You Xuan understood.

So it turns out, in this worldline, Youma still hasn't obtained his sister's permission to duel.

In the anime, it was the same at the beginning. Youma's sister Mingli initially strongly opposed and even explicitly forbade Youma from playing cards, only later being moved by Youma to relax the restrictions and stop interfering.

Speaking of which, not only is the sect leader an oddball, his family is no better.

The old lady Ninety-Nine Chun said her grandson inherited the adventurous genes from his father (Youma's father), and even though her thirteen-year-old grandson wanted to cross dimensions to save the world, she wasn't the least bit panicked, even sending him off with rice balls—this composure quite bears the demeanor of a transcendent hermit.

Meanwhile, Youma's sister Mingli is the exact opposite extreme. Mingli, completely unaware of the existence of the "life-or-death card" setting, firmly forbade her brother from playing cards, saying duels are extremely dangerous activities.

Oh naturally, judging from the visual expression in the ZEXAL world where people average card-playing and get blasted over ten meters by holograms, it might indeed be a high-risk sport.

If it weren't for the fact that everyone in this dimension has heaven-defying physical fitness, getting a concussion, high-level paraplegia, or even dropping dead on the spot from playing cards would seem like perfectly normal occurrences, and should be classified as the thrill-seeking type of extreme sport. Mingli sister's concerns are not without reason.

At this time, Mingli still hadn't reached an agreement with the sect leader regarding dueling, so the second half of this meal basically ended in noisy arguments between siblings over card-playing activities.

You Xuan had just arrived in this dimension today and temporarily had nowhere else to go, so he decided to stay temporarily at Youma's house, tonight making a pallet on the floor in Youma's room upstairs.

Now, the issues with Dr. Fika and the Jade Throne have already been resolved, and the remaining main trouble has become the Barians. You Xuan's main purpose in this trip is to gather information on the Barians, resolve potential problems, and also investigate why they are so obsessed with the merged dimension.

Time entered midnight, and everyone had already returned to their rooms to rest. At this moment, the Emperor's Key in Youma's hand suddenly burst forth with light, two blue beams enveloping both You Xuan and Youma, and without warning they were sucked into the Emperor's Key.

Youma seemed to have been startled, his feet landing on solid ground while he kept touching his body, as if checking whether he was missing an arm or a leg.

"Youma."

The Stellar Form floated beside him.

Youma looked up: "Stellar Form? What's going on? Where is this?"

As he spoke, he looked left and right. All he could see was that they seemed to be in some kind of cockpit-like place, with an unknown metal-laid floor smooth as a mirror, reflecting a large helm's control panel. "This is inside the Emperor's Key." The Stellar Form explained.

"The Emperor's Key!?" Youma exclaimed.

The Emperor's Key, namely the pendant left by his father, which Youma almost never takes off and wears around his neck, is his most important treasure.

But that thing is just a trinket, right? What does it mean for me to be inside the Emperor's Key? Such a tiny little thing

"I think I roughly understand now."

The Stellar Form said.

"The essence of the Emperor's Key is a spaceship."

Youma listened, growing more confused: "Sp-spaceship."

You Xuan, however, was not surprised at all; he naturally already knew: "So it is, a vehicle for traversing space."

"Yes." The Stellar Form nodded, "This spaceship can break through space and travel to other dimensions. During our previous duel, midway through, we suddenly encountered an unexpected spatial rupture, we fell into your world, and I don't know if this is related."

You Xuan nodded: "The barrier between your world and ours has already become thin, so it's indeed not impossible."

Youma said: "Wait a moment! The Emperor's Key was left by my father—if this thing is a spaceship, then is my father hoping I..."

"To use the Emperor's Key to travel to other dimensions, roughly speaking." The Stellar Form said.

You Xuan also said: "Youma's father, so far, seems to be missing?"

"Yes, that's right." Youma nodded, "He's an adventurer, and he disappeared when I was very young."

You Xuan said: "So, could it be that he is now also in some other dimension? I mean, since he already mastered the method to reach other dimensions..."

Youma's expression shifted slightly, his heart shaken, yet he faintly felt as if he also somewhat believed it.

Father in... other dimensions?

If that's the case, then did he entrust the Emperor's Key to me, hoping I would one day go find him?

Father has long been absent from my side, though I've accepted this, but Youma is after all just a half-grown child, and deep down he still feels lonely. Now thinking of this possibility, only feeling his heart pounding violently, his blood vessels also seeming to heat up.

For a moment, he only felt that if he could find his father back, that would be what kind of joyful event.

"But I brought you here not only for this reason." The Stellar Form said, "Just now, I saw the Emperor's Key transmit these coordinates."

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and inside the Emperor's Key spaceship, a projection screen was released. The projection showed something like a world map, with seven red dots marked on it.

Youma wondered: "What is this?"

The Stellar Form said: "Look at this first."

As he spoke, another projection was released from beside him. This time, the light forming the projection was no longer a map, but directly projected a humanoid figure.

Upon seeing that person's image, Youma instantly felt as if his breath had come to a halt.

"Dad... Dad?"