Chapter 54: Bringing Family
The two of them did not hide their trip, so the relevant news spread quickly. Not only the staff at the marriage registration office, who were on the front line of gossip, but also many Imperial media outlets reacted quickly.
Compared to where a disaster had occurred and how many people had died, the residents of the Imperial Capital obviously preferred to read some celebrity anecdotes. Perhaps it was to deliberately create a happy atmosphere, or perhaps they were already used to the Cataclysm. The public opinion in the Imperial Capital was much more relaxed than in the Undeveloped Zones.
In a short while, various eye-catching headlines appeared in people’s terminal news feeds.
[Shocking! A Former Marriage Contract Leads to a Match Made in Heaven?]
[This year is almost over. Let’s see who the 10,001st couple to get a paper marriage certificate at the registration office is?]
[A Detailed Account of That Bonded Guide-Sentinel Pair with a Compatibility of Only 60.01%.]
[A Question Arising from the Union of the Former Chief Guide and the Current Chief Sentinel: Does a Low Compatibility Rating Really Affect the Relationship between a Guide and a Sentinel?]
Deep within the palace, in the last room at the end of the corridor.
It was still a dim environment with the attendants dismissed. The Minister of Intelligence, Lu Si, stood at the lower end, his appearance neat, his face deadpan as he conscientiously reported.
“As per your request, I am here to report on the news of those two. At 11:30 this morning, the first article with pictures about them going to the marriage registration office to take photos and get a paper marriage certificate appeared on the entire network. The topic’s popularity has since skyrocketed, and the discussion has become the highest in recent days.”
“In the relevant discussions, many citizens have expressed optimistic views, but there is also no lack of questioning, conspiracy theories, and serious inquiry. But this does not seem to have affected the mood and behavior of the two parties involved. At present, no media has expressed a desire to interview them…”
Standard pronunciation, with a cadence that was extremely comfortable to listen to. Lu Si’s presentation could have reached the level of a gold-medal host in the Imperial Capital. Unfortunately, he was the only one whose voice was continuously heard in the room.
To be honest, he really didn’t want to be reading this kind of news intelligence. He himself was almost middle-aged and hadn’t even found a bonded partner yet. Damn it…
Ever since the Endless Snow incident and the Emperor had asked him to collect relevant intelligence, Lu Si had been given a long-term task of keeping an eye on the movements of Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui.
It was difficult to refuse a private mission issued by the ruler of the Empire, especially since it wasn’t something that would risk his life. But reading about someone else’s love life every day like this was an experience that could not be described as anything but frustrating.
Lu Si was not an old minister who had followed the Emperor for many years. His father and his older siblings had died four years ago when they went to Ghost Town with the Emperor, leaving him, the eldest and who happened to be in politics. After the Emperor returned, he had promoted the Lu family’s rank, and only then had he inherited this position that should not have been his.
As a Guide, his talent and combat ability were only mediocre, but the higher education he had received since childhood allowed him to learn quickly and adapt to new environments.
However, this did not reduce Lu Si’s rich inner life since he was a child.
Alright, he had finished reading the collected intelligence, but the one sitting at the head of the room still did not speak.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Lu Si bowed again, raised the hand wearing his personal terminal, and made a few virtual swipes in the air in front of him.
A semi-transparent screen was projected into the air by his personal terminal, facing the Emperor.
Lu Si’s tone was calm, and he said without a change in expression, “This is the first post that started the public discussion. After inspection, the poster is undoubtedly an ordinary employee of the marriage registration office… Do you need me to read these words for you?”
Please don’t make me read this.
“Yes,” the figure at the head of the room said.
Lu Si shuddered.
It wasn’t so much a “yes” as it was a strange guttural sound from the person at the head of the room.
Has he not spoken for too long? Is his throat dry? Or am I not wearing enough clothes today?
Forget it, I’m too lazy to overthink it. I’ll just do as I’m told and read.
Lu Si: “Alright. The poster’s ID is [Please Call Me to Work When You See Me]. The following is the content of the post…”
The semi-transparent screen projected by his personal terminal was still floating, glowing faintly in the dimness. The screen background had been thoughtfully adjusted to a mode suitable for reading in low light, and the font size was also completely sufficient.
It was clearly very convenient to read.
The Imperial officials who often handled political affairs all had the ability to read ten lines at a glance without missing any information, and the language of online posts was complex and redundant, with many meaningless words.
It was clearly much more efficient to scan the screen himself than to listen to a subordinate report word by word.
Lu Si didn’t understand.
Because he didn’t know that everything looked different in the eyes of the current Emperor.
The dim room was filled with black silhouettes. Every one he looked at was so familiar.
At first, there was only one such silhouette, the old guard who had saved his life but had been the first to die. As time passed, the shadows multiplied, occupying all the space around him.
It was best for him not to rest, best to keep his eyes open. As long as he kept his eyes open, those shadows would not approach.
But how could a person never blink?
Four years.
Now, there were already shadows with their backs to him in front of him. Those few silhouettes were standing at the position of the light screen released by Lu Si, causing that place to be dark and everything to be unclear.
In addition, there were often blurry whispers in his mind, like the wind blowing through a rainforest on a cloudy day, or a mouse running across a wooden board at night.
[This person is not as submissive as he appears.]
[Should we try some torture on him to test his loyalty?]
[Although he is not submissive, he is at least a Guide. Sigh, we can’t contaminate him for the time being.]
[Even the heir can’t do this. Perhaps only that Guide can directly contaminate his own kind, but he is lucid.]
[It’s still best to start with young Sentinels.]
Were these his own thoughts?
Or were these voices from the depths of Ghost Town?
Regarding this, the Emperor himself was not clear. Sometimes he felt that the latter speculation was more reasonable, and sometimes he felt that it was not right, that his life for the past fifty years had been very abnormal.
Why have I been staying here all this time?
The residents of Ghost Town are also residents, and the level of those residents should be even higher. After all, they are beings similar to me.
Similar individuals belong to the same group, but the people here are all different from me. Their thoughts must also be different from mine.
It was temporarily difficult for him to turn them into beings like himself. When he encountered a stronger Sentinel, it was difficult to erode them, let alone a Guide. He could only use his status and authority to drive them to their deaths.
…Wait.
What is a Guide, and what is a Sentinel? How do I know these things?
Since I am not of the same race as these people, how did I become the king here?
“[…Then the two of them also took a kissing photo. Wow, they kissed for a full minute! Oh no, I can’t say that. It was the Sentinel who kissed the Guide’s cheek first, and then the Guide kissed the Sentinel’s lips for a minute. To be able to kiss for a minute for a photo, they must be doing much more in private…]”
A few meters away, surrounded by layers of black shadows, the somewhat familiar Guide stood in a formal suit, his face expressionless, clearly unaware of the shadows.
He read with a cadence.
“[…When the marriage contract came out, they all said that a low compatibility had no future, that their personalities were too different, and that they would definitely get a divorce once the hype died down. But now it seems that’s not the case. I can only say that fate is sometimes so strange. But I’m still very curious how that person would point out this marriage contract? This is the first and only marriage contract that person has given in over twenty years. He has such a good eye…]”
“That’s enough.”
Lu Si, who had been immersed in his recitation with a numb mask on, was stunned, thinking he had misheard.
He tentatively looked up at the Emperor, and could still only see a blurry figure shrouded in shadows.
“You don’t have to read anymore. You can leave now.”
The person at the head of the room had spoken more, his voice even sounding a little gentle.
…Then what was that “guttural sound” before?
Forget it. Overtime is over. I’m leaving.
The room, without the Minister of Intelligence, was truly empty. The black silhouettes of countless deceased people almost swallowed the living.
In the shadows that no one knew of, the expression of the one in fine clothes changed slightly.
His gaze went from that direct, sharp, inhuman indifference to weak, empty, and dazed. He began to pant heavily, his hands trembling non-stop.
He looked completely like a Sentinel with a serious problem.
He slammed his fist on the armrest next to him. The armrest shattered, and a commotion came from outside the room.
The attendants quickly knocked on the door and asked, but he refused them entry.
[After being in a daze for several months, you’re getting excited again just by hearing those two names.]
[That Sentinel doesn’t know. That Guide might have already become someone like you. At that time, you can unite with the heir and him to rule this continent!]
“Shut up, shut up…” he covered his ears, his voice full of hatred. “I will kill you. That day will come soon! I will kill you! Kill you!”
[Don’t talk nonsense.]
The black silhouette with its back to him moved a little closer, the voice in his mind saying with a faint smile.
[We are the same person.]
“The compatibility is over 85%.”
On the first floor, the long, usually empty table was covered with paper documents. Zhu Hui looked at the number displayed on his personal terminal, his eyes and brows filled with joy.
This joy was of course not just because he could see the compatibility increasing with every test. Xu Xunyue looked at him and also smiled.
“The last time we tested it in the Endless Snow, it was 81.08%. Now it’s 85.23%.”
“Over 85%… that seems to be the highest level in the Empire now, right? I remember that in this era, there’s no one whose compatibility with anyone else is over 85%,” Zhu Hui was very satisfied with this relative data, but he still hadn’t lost his enterprising spirit. “In the past few hundred years, there have been a few pairs with a compatibility of over 85% or even 90%. Mmm, no problem. Anyway, our compatibility will definitely exceed 90% in the future.”
“I’ve seen a lot of reports mentioning that our compatibility is 60.01%… I’m actually a little unhappy about it, but I feel that the effect will be better if we announce that our compatibility is over 90% after everything has settled down. We can have another wedding then, and scare them to death!”
Zhu Hui spoke with great confidence, and in a blink of an eye, he had arranged the future in a tight and orderly manner.
Xu Xunyue was smiling and about to pinch his cheek when he heard the doorbell of the manor gate ring.
It was Luo Mingxu who had come to visit with his child.
Xu Xunyue had met Luo Mingxu right after he graduated from the Guide Academy. Because their views coincided and he had helped a little, he would be invited to his home for dinner every time he returned to the Imperial Capital.
At that time, Xu Xunyue was all alone, and Luo Mingxu’s son was only two or three years old and was just learning to speak. The twenty-something Xu Xunyue quite liked to tease him.
At that time, Luo Mingxu’s partner had not yet gone to Ghost Town with the Emperor. She was a good cook and could also make drinks, which was one of the reasons why Xu Xunyue was always very active in accepting his invitations. He had learned his technique for making drinks at that time.
Later, the other’s life had stopped four years ago, and Xu Xunyue’s level of making drinks had also gradually improved, with completely different colors and styles.
The memory flashed through his mind. He opened his personal terminal, controlled the manor system to open the gate, and at the same time, connected to the doorbell’s communication device.
Before he could speak, he heard the child’s somewhat immature but trying-to-be-mature voice on the other end.
“Happy wedding, Guide Xu. You seem to have been very busy recently and rarely come to my house for dinner. The last time you came to my house, I didn’t even know you already had a partner. It was my dad who told me. I just saw the news report today, and I’m also very happy for you. In short, congratulations.”
“In the future, you can bring your family to our house for dinner.”
