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Admittedly, what the survivors were discussing amongst themselves was of interest to me, but I had no intention of approaching them at this point.

The entire warehouse itself was surprisingly dry, not at all humid as you would expect from a dockside property.

Seeing as it was dinner time, the girls and I picked a quiet spot where we could gather before dismounting from our exosuits.

Having just stepped out of the cockpit, I began rummaging through my inventory for food, but I was quickly tackled aside by a frightened Qiaoqiao who had just dismounted her own exosuit.

“Big brother… that was so scary…” She wept, and given how much had been piling on her till now, she probably wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. At the end of the day, she was just an eleven year old kid; the fact that she held on so long was commendable in itself.

But being the good girl that she was, she did not cry for long.

With Qiaoqiao placated, I took out a large tablecloth and neatly laid it out on the ground. I gently lowered Qiaoqiao down onto the cloth first, then began laying out the food, at which point the girls took their seats without me asking.

We were all seated close to each other, proximity borne out of a palpable sense of insecurity in each of the girls, the difference being that Lixiang and Bitong were a lot better at hiding their fears. While the exosuits were designed to be easy to control, extended periods piloting them would still wear a person down, especially in stressful situations like battles. And once the tension of battle had well and truly passed, all that stressed and pent-up emotion came flooding back in.

Although… This close proximity afforded me a first-row seat to the slightly sweet, slightly warm smelling fragrance wafting off the girls… Ahhh… there wasn’t a sweaty quality to this smell either…but it had to be stressed that this wasn’t me being creepy… Absolutely, no.

By now, Qiaoqiao had mostly recovered while seated in my embrace. In fact, she was starting to lean in, eyes half-closed, and little face rubbing slowly against my shoulder like a kitten.

“Big brother smells so good…”

Hearing that, Lixiang leapt on me and began sniffing like a bloodhound.

Finally, after a long, drawn-out sniff, she calmly stated in the most matter-of-fact tone ever, “His Highness is an exalted Fallen Angel, it’s only to be expected that his body exudes only the most sublime of fragrances!”

What do you mean sublime? Can you not describe my body in such a creepy fashion! And I’m a guy -what do you mean ‘fragrance’?!

“Ke has always had a strange fragrance to him, ever since I’ve known him as a child. Without vigorous exercise, you can’t even smell it.” Bitong proceeded to nonchalantly pull Qiaoqiao off me. “All right. Stop troubling your big brother, it’s time for dinner.”

“But Qiaoqiao wants a hug…” Qiaoqiao vehemently resisted Bitong’s hands, clamping down on me even harder. “Qiaoqiao wants to eat with big brother!”

At that point, an invisible vein seemed to pop in Bitong’s head. Her lips cracked into a sinister grin, “Qiaoqiao… Do you want your big sister to hang you by your feet and beat you up?”

I immediately recoiled backwards reflexively when I saw that black grin on her face, pushing away Qiaoqiao without a second thought. “That’s right. Qiaoqiao, be good, don’t make your big sister angry.”

“Hmph. Qiaoqiao isn’t afraid.” Qiaoqiao muttered under her breath, but sulked away in the end.

Maybe you aren’t scared of her, but I am… you haven’t seen Black Bitong yet -you don’t want to go anywhere near that…

Now that Qiaoqiao was out of the way, our meal began in earnest.

Originally, this tablecloth was meant to be used for a picnic, but ever since our hotspring visit, we never had a chance to go on a picnic, what with all the zombie nonsense going on…

Dinner itself consisted of simple fare -bread and whatever snacks and condiments we picked up from the inn. While munching, we started discussing what our future plans were. More importantly, how to tackle those ghosts.

Lixiang took the lead in declaring confidently, “Those ghosts are employing a psychic attack that targets the soul directly.”

“Targets the soul?” I asked in disbelief, but the moment I did so, I realised how logical that conclusion was.

An accomplished writer of her own fictional life, Lixiang firmly stated in an ironically shaking voice, “Your Highness, that has to be a soul attack!”

Just the fact that those ghosts were able to pass through solid matter alone was proof that conventional logic did not work on them. The idea of a soul attack wasn’t that far-fetched. At the same time, that meant those deactivated exosuits were a result of the ghosts directly assaulting the pilots within.

However, all that talk about ghosts employing an intangible form of attack had yet to be proven. After all, they could have easily used some sort of physical attack after passing through the exosuit. Without inspecting one of their victims, there was no way to prove these theories.

The soul was still an unexplored realm on Gaia. To begin with, the entire atmosphere of this world was filled with spiritual energy. These invisible energy particles were the antithesis of anything soul-like. That was how Gaia remained ghost-free till now….

Because of that, no one knew how to deal with ghosts, not even the military who suffered immensely as a result.

All that begged the question: what are ghosts doing in Southern Plains? Was it because of that strange green fog, or perhaps something else?

“That’s because the laws of the world have been warped around the vicinity of Southern Plains.” As if on cue, the system suddenly chimed in with an explanation. “Rather, the laws of the world have begun warping with Southern Plains as its centerpoint.”

The laws of the world have begun warping?

“Valued host, your ever-helpful system has something to clarify at this point. The laws of the world do not just refer to the laws on Gaia, but rather the laws of the entire galaxy. Gaia is merely one of the many life-bearing planets in this galaxy. This planet forms just a tiny portion of the galaxy, but even such a tiny portion can effect change. In a lot of ways, the laws of the world can be likened to the ‘laws of Heaven’ -don’t the humans of this planet always use that term? That’s basically it”

So the laws of the galaxy, then? But what do you mean ‘warped’? And ‘laws of Heaven’… I thought this was a scientific world we lived in. Have I been living in a different world all this while? Am I the one that’s delusional?!

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE