After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 103.2

But Inpos seemed unable to hear it anymore, burying His face in His arms while His melancholic demon power formed black mist that filled the entire room.

Beelzebub: “…”

This is bad, it seems He made His brother go into self-isolation, what…what should He do?

As aloof as Beelzebub was, for the first time in His life, He felt a bit nervous about “saying the wrong thing.”

And He certainly wouldn’t admit this was due to the brotherly love quietly sprouting between them.

Understanding, acceptance, comprehension, care – there were probably these stages.

He didn’t know what stage He was at, nor would He contemplate this question.

Yes, absolutely not right now, Beelzebub told Himself.

****

Early the next morning.

The cat cleaning squad launched into full action, cleaning and tidying up with flowing efficiency, jumping up and down, completing everything in one go.

“There’s still dust on this bookshelf meow!”

“This floor tile is broken, replace it quickly meow.”

“Brother Beleth, use less force meow.”

The three cats worked together with all their might, heaving and ho-ing, small bodies with great energy, though one of them wasn’t actually small.

Passersby outside the door were almost melted by the cuteness, several people couldn’t help but rush into the bookstore, only to be stopped by the “Temporarily Closed” sign, biting their lips with reddened eyes, hoping the bookstore would open soon.

“Why won’t my cat clean up? I still have to scoop their litter every day…”

“Mr. Yi Xiusi’s children are just too adorable.”

“Auntie here is about to die from the cuteness.”

Only when work hours began did the crowd of onlookers gradually thin out.

Last night’s apocalyptic crisis was one thing, but since everything was fine now, of course work had to begin the next morning.

Even in other worlds, there were dedicated workers with working spirits – neither wind nor rain could stop the path of labor.

At seven-thirty, Xiu Si woke up and found no cats on his bed.

Hearing a series of meows from outside the door, he knew his babies were cleaning.

The old father was moved to tears. All those years of hardship in another world were worth it for these healing days!

Xiu Si hurriedly got up and dressed, routinely checking his system data, then was greatly surprised.

“Level 47!”

Xiu Si was overjoyed – after just one sleep, he had made such progress, with significant increases in level, skill proficiency, and profession matching.

Looking at the system notification, he learned it was from the level-up gift package. Excellent!

Xiu Si then carefully checked if there were any inflated values, finding that all the increases were normal, meaning natural growth!

With a bit more effort, reaching level 50 was just one step away.

However, Xiu Si noticed the system reboot still showed no movement, as if it wouldn’t activate until his profession matching reached above 90%.

Xiu Si nodded, telling himself not to be hasty, “The system reboot seems to still need some time, let’s take it slow.”

At this moment, the big orange cat just came in, hearing Xiu Si’s reflective words.

Meow? System reboot? Was Father thinking about this?

The big orange cat raised His eyes, suddenly thinking of something that no demon had considered.

That is – could Father’s current system be crafted by Second Brother?!

The big orange cat was shocked by His own thought, His gaze intensely shaken.

The more He thought about it, the more likely it seemed! Rather, how had they not thought of this before?

So it had been Second Brother guiding Father’s leveling up all along!

The big orange cat was delighted for a moment, then couldn’t help but marvel at how Second Brother was truly Father’s all-around helper.

Whenever Father was indecisive, He would immediately ask Second Brother, relying on Second Brother for ideas.

The relationship between Father and Second Brother was enviably good, sometimes even Big Brother was left out meow.

“What’s wrong?”

Xiu Si turned and noticed the big orange cat, suddenly interrupting His thoughts.

The big orange cat shook His head, quickly saying, “Father breakfast meow.”

“Alright, alright.”

Xiu Si didn’t think much of it and followed the big orange cat out the door.

Since Lelagin had returned home, there were no worries about food and drink – Lelagin was truly an all-around chef.

He happily enjoyed breakfast while releasing Little Light Body and Little Dark Cloud, properly introducing their backgrounds to Lelagin.

The Devon Rex cat first looked at Little Light Body, then at Little Dark Cloud, recognizing His two sisters.

He extended His paw to them, and they seemed to understand immediately, slowly approaching to nuzzle against Him and touch faces.

The Devon Rex cat smiled slightly, with an innate noble elegance.

He told them: “Nice to meet you, I’m your Fourteenth Brother Lelagin. You can come to me with any troubles in the future.”

Little Light Body, who originally had Her eyes narrowed, couldn’t help but open them slightly. Although She couldn’t speak yet, Her pure affection was already overflowing.

She reached out Her little hands to hug the Devon Rex cat, gently nuzzling against His fur.

Meanwhile, Little Dark Cloud also slowly floated near Lelagin, Her cotton-soft body lightly touching Her Fourteenth Brother, seemingly expressing affection in Her own way.

Xiu Si watched and was almost melted by the cuteness, even thinking he might be living in heaven! So blissful.

After breakfast, he carried the little short-legged cat back to the room, crouching in front of the third cub’s cat bed to check its condition.

The big white cat, surrounded by one person and three cats, still showed no movement, with only shallow breathing proving He was alive.

Taking advantage of the inattention, Xiu Si stroked His plump body, the sensation both subtle and indescribable.

If he had to say, He was just too fat. Although his third cub was lazy, it shouldn’t be lazy enough to become a big fat cub.

But…

Xiu Si shook his head, wondering what he should do with the third cub.

“Is the authority awakening encountering difficulties? Why isn’t there any movement at all?”

He stroked the white cat’s back. Fortunately, this level-up had brought physical enhancement, his strength had increased considerably, and lifting wasn’t tiring at all, though the size was a bit too big – like carrying a gas tank, probably visually shocking.

The white cat hadn’t just grown in body, but His fur had also grown wildly, now covering His face, making Him furry all over like a big ball of yarn.

To deal with this situation, Xiu Si created a cat hair brush for removing loose fur, patiently helping the big white cat brush His floating fur.

The little short-legged cat managed the loose fur that was brushed off.

Little orange helped arrange the big white cat’s big paws and tail.

The Devon Rex cat seemed somewhat tired and went to sleep in the cat bed by Himself.

The current big white cat was now twice the size of the big orange cat, His build wasn’t like a cat’s anymore, but rather like a lynx.

Speaking of which… Xiu Si rubbed the fur and looked carefully, surprisingly discovering that the originally pure white cat fur seemed to have slightly changed color, or rather developed some patterns, with silver-white frost spots. Looking at the paws again, he found His claws seemed to have grown larger, and His paw pads were getting thicker.

“These should be good changes, right?”

Xiu Si was surprised internally, not knowing what kind of situation this was.

The little short-legged cat nodded at his words, saying in a soft voice, “Third Brother is getting better meow.”

But the big orange cat suspected that Third Brother might have even changed species, looking more and more like a lynx.

After brushing the fur, Xiu Si put the third cub back in the big cat bed. While tucking in His tail, He comfortably meowed once, looking completely fine, just steadily leveling up in His sleep.

Then everything must be fine, haha. The old father was relieved.

Good, today would be another day of studying hard and taking care of the children.

Xiu Si carried the two cats to the bookstore, turning the “Temporarily Closed” sign at the door to “Open for Business.”

****

Meanwhile. In subspace.

“So slow.”

Buer was dying of boredom.

Next to Her, Bachin was almost falling asleep, His dark circles were too severe, His complexion extremely poor, looking like He might drop dead at any moment. In fact, He was already dozing off, head lowered, eyelids heavy as mountains.

Aelioge, however, was still excited, pacing back and forth on the balcony, seeming to conduct war exercises in His mind.

Gusin was already sunbathing.

He wore sunglasses while lying in a hammock, completely at ease. For Him, the only urgent matter was seeing Father, but since current circumstances didn’t allow it, of course He had to wait patiently.

Aelioge’s mumblings sometimes disturbed Him, but He viewed it as a kind of social observation, finding it interesting.

Now His siblings all seemed to be working hard to reclaim their previous powers.

Speaking of necessity, it was indeed necessary. But if you didn’t want to, actually no one could force you.

Gusin could probably sense that He used to be an extremely efficiency-focused, abnormally rational god, but now, after being born as Father’s child, He chose to slack off.

Rationality? Efficiency? To hell with that, it had nothing to do with His new baby self. Besides, Father only wanted Him to be at ease, what’s wrong with being at ease? This was a manifestation of great filial piety!

Speaking of which, Sixth Sister had gone over to the chaos side to check the situation.

Indeed, a demon needed to check the situation. Bachin was about to drop dead, and His monitoring efficiency didn’t look very high. It was better that Sixth Sister went over.

Gusin was cheerful, not forgetting to pick up a glass of orange juice for a small sip.

At this time, Aelioge successfully contacted Beelzebub through special means within a limited time.

“That’s how things are. After Amon controls the chaos authority, I think we have a chance of winning.”

Beelzebub was silent, thought for a few seconds, and surprisingly agreed with Aelioge: “I think so too. Your war, my destruction, Amon’s chaos, plus Botis’s sin and punishment – if we execute our combination technique well, beating Big Brother isn’t impossible.”

Aelioge smiled with satisfaction, “I knew you would judge it this way. But will Botis help?”

Beelzebub returned a smile. “I can’t speak for other demons, but Botis will definitely help us. Botis fears Big Brother’s return the most because once Big Brother comes back, He won’t have a place anymore.”

Botis’s self-cultivation as a toxic fan demon was well-known. Since childhood, He had envied and hated Big Brother, but unfortunately couldn’t fight Him at all – one punch would make Him sleep for years, leaving years of accumulated resentment in His heart, full of grudges.

However, while Botis’s authority was very strong, His physical body was slightly weaker – actually a fragile snake. This point must be noted.

Aelioge naturally understood, “I’m asking because I’m worried Botis might change His mind in a short time.”

Beelzebub chuckled, “How could He change? That guy is single-minded.”

Aelioge detected something strange, “What single-minded nonsense, stop saying creepy things.”

Beelzebub casually “oh-ed,” with an unreadable tone that seemed somewhat teasing.

Aelioge’s eyes darkened, “Forget it, let’s not talk about this. How’s the situation on the continent?”

Beelzebub immediately answered. “Haven’t found any major problems so far.”

Aelioge questioned. “Are you watching properly?”

“You don’t trust my work?”

“Don’t know who’s slow-hearted and forgetful, not paying attention to details.”

Beelzebub: “Stop with this, what exactly do you want to say?”

Aelioge’s expression became serious, saying earnestly, “I want you to protect Father well. The mastermind behind the scenes hasn’t made any moves, which is very strange. Perhaps this chaos situation is just a diversion, and Their real goal is to approach Father during the confusion.”

Beelzebub’s gaze became heavy, “Alright.”

Now Father had four demons – Celerios and Beleth were both unreliable demons, one a fool and one too carefree. Vassago was slightly more dependable, but unfortunately asleep.

As for Lelagin, His perception was extremely strong, very sensitive, but He was in an amnesiac state, likely reducing His power.

All of them together weren’t as reliable as Him alone.

Aelioge emphasized. “You know what you should prepare for, right?”

Beelzebub affirmed. “Of course, I would rather die than let something like that happen again.”

Aelioge nodded. “Your resolve is good. I want to remind you to pay attention to the ground.”

“What?”

Beelzebub was confused.

But Aelioge spoke in an unusually serious tone. “Think carefully, every time something happened to Father, the ground shattered and then He fell. Have you noticed this pattern?”

“…the ground.”

Beelzebub thought quickly.

Aelioge said in a deep voice. “Either this method is convenient enough to create accidents and They like to use it. Or They have some obsession with this method. Either way,They might use this old trick again.”

“I understand.”

Beelzebub took it to heart.

Sometimes He had to admit that Aelioge was quite useful when not having episodes, but unfortunately the episodes happened more often.

The brief temporary call ended.

A few minutes later, the three demons from the library went home with their history homework. Botis was overjoyed, but Inpos seemed absent-minded and had to be pulled along by Beelzebub.

At home, They transformed into three cats, carrying small notebooks, lined up in a row, and wrote with full concentration.

This focused and serious appearance was, in Xiu Si’s eyes, another higher-level critical hit.

Xiu Si was happy They came home, and also noticed what They were writing, but They all said he couldn’t look.

It was like They had a secret They couldn’t tell their father.

They… actually had secrets now.

Xiu Si’s heart skipped a beat, but thinking about it, this wasn’t the only secret.

“…”

Xiu Si felt a bit melancholic, but thought it was a good thing – when children no longer share everything with their parents, it means They’re growing up and developing their own little world.

Though it was inevitably a bit disappointing.

And as a father, overcoming this sense of loss was also necessary for growth!

Xiu Si worked on his mindset, completely unaware of the secret conversation between the three cats.

“What’s wrong with Father?”

“Is he happy that we’re studying hard?”

“Ah, Father smiled, meow, our most beloved Father~”

Beelzebub and Botis were chatting happily, completely caught up in their joy of seeing their father.

But as for Inpos.

Beelzebub’s question kept lingering in His mind, causing Him to be preoccupied with — “What god am I?”

The gray cat Inpos lowered His head, timidly withdrew His paws, His eyes glistening with tears.

He thought of a possibility.

The concept of learning easily makes one think of learning “human characteristics,” right? So…He might be the Primordial God of Humans.

That is, either the culprit who hurt Father, or a major accomplice.

Thinking of this, Inpos’s heart was overwhelmed with immense sorrow, and large tears rolled down His face.