After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 78.2

He slept even earlier than Xiu Si. The little short-legged cat shook its head, lowered its body, and tucked its third brother’s tail back into the cat bed.

The third brother was a very capable brother, just a bit lazy.

At this time, in the bedroom.

Xiu Si suddenly opened his eyes under the covers.

He had been thinking about alchemy for a long time yesterday, believing that he definitely couldn’t figure it out just by thinking on his own, so he planned to go to the library early today to find some related books.

Yes, that’s right, get up quickly!

Xiu Si immediately got ready, and as soon as he went out the door, he saw the little short-legged cat.

The warm morning light shone on the little short-legged cat’s smooth fur, each strand gleaming beautifully, like a golden cotton ball.

The little ball of fur, with its short hands and feet, was actually tidying things up, moving the pile of books on the table. When it saw Father coming out, it turned its head, its face beaming.

A “meow” of good morning directly struck the old father’s heart.

Xiu Si froze, his heart melting at the sight. My little one is so cute.

About ten minutes later, Xiu Si closed the bookstore doors and windows and excitedly took the little short-legged cat out. Considering the recent rise in temperature and strong sunlight, he even modeled a warm yellow duck-billed cap for the little short-legged cat, asking if it wanted to wear it.

The little short-legged cat didn’t understand, but its eyes lit up at the sight, and it raised its paws with a meow.

Thus, a street-stopping look was officially established.

Xiu Si hadn’t taken more than a few steps out the door carrying the little short-legged cat when countless gazes were cast their way.

“Wow, it’s Mr. Yi Xiusi and his little kitty.”

“The kitty is so cute, how is its little hat so adorable~”

“Oh my goodness, auntie is dying of cuteness!”

The humans’ resistance to adorable things on the scene could only be described as tragic.

A group of passing magicians revealed envious and jealous expressions. How they wished they had such an adorable little kitty.

Even the battle-hardened warriors couldn’t help but be moved upon seeing such an adorable kitten, their gazes following it unrelentingly.

The kitten’s style was especially unique.

“I’ve never seen a hat style like that before, did Mr. Yi Xiusi make it himself? Wow, he’s so talented!”

“I am an indispensable talent of the Roman Kingdom.”

Someone suddenly shouted loudly, sounding very excited.

What Roman Kingdom?

The citizens of Oedipus immediately turned their heads to look at the person who spoke.

A burly man wearing a floral dress, with brown hair and blue eyes, had deep facial features – clearly someone from the Roman Kingdom.

Well well, he actually came to Oedipus Imperial City to recruit people publicly, and was trying to recruit Mr. Yi Xiusi no less.

They stared at that man with dark expressions, their gazes seeming to be laced with murderous intent.

However, the man had incredibly thick skin and still wanted to go over to strike up a conversation.

“Mr. Yi Xiusi, look over here, look over here, I came specially to find you!”

But he wasn’t able to successfully walk over, as the crowd of people blocked him.

Nevertheless, that man still felt regretful, muttering, “I’ve long heard of Mr. Yi Xiusi’s reputation, I really wanted to meet him in person. Is he going to the Magic Association? Hmm, I understand now.”

—

On the way to the Magic Association, Xiu Si occasionally glanced at the world news.

[Hammurabi: Thanks to the full assistance of various countries and free individuals, our country has safely overcome the crisis. We will surely repay everyone’s kindness in the future.]

[Roman: Congratulations to the great Hammurabi Empire for defeating the Divine Kingdom of Destruction.]

[Aust: Congratulations on humanity’s victory.]

[Alliance: Congratulations on humanity’s victory. We especially thank the human powerhouse Norman Til, as well as the Abyss Lord who defeated Federi.]

Xiu Si’s footsteps paused as he softly recited. “Abyss Lord…”

The little short-legged cat nervously looked at Xiu Si. From Its perspective, It could just see the young man’s pensive expression.

At this time, the news was still being updated.

[Hammurabi: However, the crisis is not over yet. We have detected that the anomaly index of the subspace is rising, with the risk of otherworld gods descending. We ask all countries and their people to be vigilant.]

[Aust: Our country has also detected abnormal data, but the specific location is unknown.]

[Khaos: Our country has recently experienced frequent anomalies, such as blood rain falling from the sky, giant beasts emerging from lakes, deserts turning into seas overnight, and so on. We speculate this is also caused by the subspace.]

It really was one wave after another. But compared to the Gods Era, it was still better. The human side was progressing, although there was still a long way to go.

Xiu Si was somewhat thoughtful, and then the tone of the subsequent news suddenly changed.

[Roman: Our country has no abnormalities. We are planning to hold a grand wandering poet epic conference soon. Since the human crisis has been resolved, we hereby invite poetry enthusiasts from all over the world to participate together.]

[Khaos: …Can your Roman Kingdom have some sense of crisis?]

[Roman: We have a very strong sense of crisis! We are working hard to preserve the glory of human civilization.]

[Aust: Is your country’s statement premised on the assumption that we humans are doomed to extinction?]

[Roman: No, no, no, we mean that recording glory and passing on glory is also a big deal.]

Reading to this point, the news channel was practically like a diplomatic conference scene. Or rather, wasn’t this just a diplomatic conference?

It was unclear how the system filtered the intelligence.

Among all these countries, the Roman Kingdom seemed to have the most peculiar mindset.

It felt like their people didn’t care about survival or destruction, but rather about momentary happiness and satisfaction.

This attitude was a bit like his eighteenth cub, Bachin. Xiu Si recalled that Bachin was just like this back then. While everyone else was working hard to level up, only It was unhurried and carefree, often staying by his side, asking him all sorts of questions about the Blue Star.

What did he say back then? Xiu Si thought back, and a scene naturally appeared in his mind: Bachin in Its cub form sleeping nearby, the firelight flickering in the cave, while he slowly shared those Blue Star animations he had watched, starting with the three major children’s anime, recounting them according to his memory.

Bachin listened with great interest, always liking to cling to him, saying It wanted to hear more.

Of course, he was willing to tell stories to the cub, but he was human and easily fatigued. Talking too much would even make his mouth dry, and he often had the will but not the strength. As he spoke, he would fall asleep himself.

He wondered where Bachin was now, what It was doing, hoping all was well.

Xiu Si put away his memories and passed by various foreign magicians on his way, even encountering a familiar face, Ms. Xili.

As a foreigner, Ms. Xili had adapted quickly to this place and was even helping to lead apprentice magicians.

Xiu Si recalled that he himself was only at the apprentice level just over ten days ago. He was shocked at how quickly he had progressed.

He must have a talent for magic, but it hadn’t been manifested before due to his lack of magic power.

Xili greeted him. “Mr. Yi Xiusi, are you adapting well here?”

Xiu Si came back to his senses and smiled, “It’s fine, the people here are quite friendly.”

Xili agreed, then looked at the time and said to Xiu Si, “It’s 10 o’clock now, I need to go lead the apprentices. See you next time, Mr. Yi Xiusi.”

“Goodbye.”

Xiu Si nodded farewell.

Today, there was a larger flow of people at the Magic Association. He didn’t know if it was stimulated by the recent human crisis, but everyone’s urge to become stronger was growing stronger.

This should be a good thing.

However, as Xiu Si brushed past them, he heard some discussions, seemingly about Norman Til or something.

“The greatest contributor to resolving this human crisis must be His Excellency Norman Til, right? It feels like he almost did everything single-handedly.”

“His achievements among humans are undoubtedly the greatest, but the toughest nut to crack, Federi, was dealt with by the Abyss Lord.”

“But why did that Abyss Lord go after Federi? Is there some conflict between Them?”

A few white-robed apprentice magicians were discussing, but they didn’t have first-hand information and weren’t even clear about who that Abyss Lord was.

Xiu Si’s destination was the library, and they were right at the entrance of the library. Although there were three people talking, there were actually four people standing there. One of them, for some reason, had a wide hood covering their eyes and their entire body was shrouded in shadow, giving them a somewhat eerie appearance.

This person was completely out of place with the other three, not fitting the same style at all.

The person seemed to sense Xiu Si’s gaze but showed no reaction. Or perhaps, showing no reaction was a form of reaction in itself.

Xiu Si looked at this person once more, feeling somewhat familiar but not knowing why.

He was somewhat concerned.

But before he could remember anything, Xili came over and led them all away.

She seemed to be their group leader.

Xiu Si watched them walk away, still wearing a thoughtful expression.

The little short-legged cat was also looking in that direction.

The little short-legged cat poked its head out from its father’s arms, unsure if it had caught a glimpse of that person’s figure in the end.

****

A few minutes later, at the entrance of the library.

Millard had been waiting for a long time. As soon as he saw Xiu Si approaching, he said happily, “Mr. Yi Xiusi, I heard you were looking for books related to alchemy. I’ve found some for you here. Do you want to take them all home, or just select a few?”

He was very generous, with clear intentions of building a relationship.

It was partly purposeful, as Yi Xiusi was Matros’ student, but also sincere. In Millard’s view, Yi Xiusi was a good young man dedicated to learning, approachable, polite, and friendly. He couldn’t find any fault with him.

In response to Millard’s question, Xiu Si replied, “No need to trouble yourself. One or two books will be enough for me. I mainly want to understand the daily life of alchemists. There are so many people coming to study today, it wouldn’t be right for me to take too many books away.”

Millard paused, his eyes revealing some shock, then nodded and said, “Alright, we’ll do as Mr. Yi Xiusi says!”

A few minutes later, Millard left first, probably to renew the national protection magic.

Xiu Si looked at the more than a hundred alchemy-related books on the table.

Time was limited. Going through them one by one, he didn’t know how long it would take to find the book he wanted.

What should he do?

He scanned all the books, picked up the one nearest to him, and started flipping through the pages.

“The Origin and Evolution of Alchemy”, “The Seven Principles of Alchemists”, “A Brief History of Alchemy and Alchemists”, “The Path to Becoming the Strongest Alchemist”, “The Philosopher’s Stone and Resurrection”…

Xiu Si read through the titles of these books, each more interesting than the last. However, he became even more hesitant – which ones should he take back?

The little short-legged cat paced on the table, suddenly raising its head and meowing.

Xiu Si: “What’s wrong?”

The little short-legged cat pointed its paw at the books, then at him, exchanging its paws, “Use little brother Inpos’s ability meow.”

It was usually silly, but now It seemed a bit smarter, showing visible progress.

Xiu Si understood Its meaning, but he had never consciously used the cubs’ abilities before. The few protections on him were all passive.

“How can I use your powers?”

Xiu Si fell into deep thought, then concentrated, imagining Inpos in his mind.

At the same time, Inpos put down his pen and paper, his eyes shaking as he looked incredulously towards the Oedipus Imperial City.

In the ethereal realm, it was as if something had connected, or perhaps it was because “father and son are connected in heart”.

Xiu Si’s pupils subtly turned green, as if magical power was circulating. He opened a page of a book, and in less than a second, all the knowledge on the page entered his mind.

He had a sudden inspiration and casually picked up a book, quickly flipping through the pages. At the same time, the knowledge was being stored in his brain.

Storage didn’t mean understanding or digestion, but at least it was stored.

Seeing that it worked, Xiu Si exchanged hands to flip pages rapidly, huffing and puffing as he stored the information in his brain. His speed of flipping through books amazed even the magicians not far away.

“…”

The little short-legged cat raised its head, wearing an expression of peaceful contentment, with a hint of possessiveness hidden in its eyes.

It really wanted to freeze time like this, with no other brothers or sisters around, only It accompanying Father.

****

Meanwhile, in the subspace, in a certain star region where it was easy to get lost.

There was still a demon, forgotten by His brothers and sister, helping to find other demons.

“Aelioge, Beelzebub, that’s about enough, where on earth are you?! Come out right now!”

Morax was extremely irritated, His eyes overflowing with a bloody light. In a fit of anger, He smashed a small planet with one punch.

He was about to die of anger, suspecting that those two were deliberately not coming out.

However, at this moment, a bystander demon suddenly spoke up. “Morax, are you still looking? Those two went back long ago.”

Morax widened His eyes and said, “What did you say?”

The bystander demon nodded, recounting as if It knew every detail. “So They returned to the continent long ago, but They all forgot to tell you, or maybe deliberately didn’t tell you, causing you to keep wandering around in the subspace alone. In other words, you’ve been played, little brother Morax.”

Before the words had finished, Morax exploded.

Kaboom!

“I’m going to beat you all to a pulp!”