What the heck, is this a hidden quest storyline? The few followers stared at the tall, blue-skinned man. Realizing that, among several thousand players, they were the only ones receiving this treatment, their hearts filled with excitement.
The feeling of having one's hard work rewarded was simply wonderful. As expected, games that did not require spending money were the best!!
"Lord Daddy, please, take my seat!" The player named King of Liver Kings hurriedly stood up and tactfully offered his seat.
"Hmm, not bad!" The blue-skinned giant, who was a whole head taller than Green Titan, squeezed the player's shoulder and nodded in satisfaction. "Your muscles have developed very well. The quality is excellent."
The player looked completely dumbfounded. He had no idea what the other party was saying, but judging by the look of things, it was probably praise, right? He hurriedly began nodding and bowing, hoping to earn the NPC's favor.
The Elf Player Grandpa Lu, standing nearby, was curious about the other party's language. They even added an alien language? The pronunciation is pretty interesting, though. It doesn't sound much like the alphabet-based languages commonly used by the D Planet Federation. The pronunciation is precise and resonant, and it actually sounds a bit like the mother tongue of our Huaxia region. Could this game have been made by a studio from the Huaxia region?
With that thought, Grandpa Lu decided to write an analysis post as soon as he got back. Huaxia-region players would definitely be interested in the topic, and he could earn another round of royalties. Hahahaha!
While Grandpa Lu happily imagined the contents of his article, the blue-skinned man turned his gaze toward Xi Ye. His sky-blue eyes, flickering with lightning, narrowed slightly as he smiled. "I thought you'd become a complete wreck. I never expected you to raise such a high-quality Green Titan. As expected, you inherited the extravagant style I had in my prime!"
"You flatter me, Father!" Xi Ye felt speechless inside. His old man's personality truly had not changed in the slightest. Yet his face was filled with shame as he said, "After wandering for ten thousand years and ending up with nothing, I have truly failed your investment and guidance."
"No, no, my son. Don't say that. At least you still had the face to come back, didn't you?"
Xi Ye: "..."
"To be honest, I was rather surprised that you managed to come back!" Lord Daddy leisurely sat down in the seat Green Titan had vacated, ordered a Diamond Star, and slowly continued, "What were you thinking back then? You ran off on an interstellar journey without saying a word. Your old man spent so much money sending you to school for ten thousand years. Did you really think I wouldn't support you in buying a Level 8 Planet in the end? You ran off without a word, and if you had died out there, wouldn't all the money I invested in you have gone down the drain?"
Xi Ye froze for a moment, then said blankly, "I remember that you were removed from office when I graduated. Where would you have gotten the money to buy me a planet?"
"You silly son!" Lord Daddy slapped Xi Ye's helmet. "Your old man held a high position for so many years. Did you think I wouldn't know how to skim a little off the top?"
Xi Ye immediately covered his head. "Father, is it really appropriate to say that in public?"
"What's inappropriate about it? I've already been removed from office anyway."
Xi Ye: "Did you come here specifically to pick me up, Father?"
"Of course not!" Lord Daddy looked disgusted. "Not only have you spent ten thousand years accomplishing nothing, you're also carrying tens of billions in debt. Who would have the time to come pick you up specifically? Not that I'm criticizing you, but after living this long, have you only grown in flesh and not in brains? You finally found a planet, and the moment you came back, that woman tricked you into taking on so much debt. Three-point-five percent interest—you actually dared to borrow it?!"
That woman tricked you into taking far more than a hundred billion, didn't she? Xi Ye complained inwardly, but he did not dare say it aloud. He could only ask timidly, "Then what did you come here for, Father?"
"To pick up your younger sister for the Unified Examination!"
"My younger sister?" Xi Ye was instantly shocked. "When did I get a younger sister? Wasn't I an only child?"
"See? There you go being naive again. You had good aptitude back then, so we stopped having children to concentrate our resources on you. Later, after you went off on your poverty tour, your mother and I were still young. Of course we had to have a few more children. If you died out there, who would support us in our old age?"
Xi Ye fell silent at that. He actually had a younger sister now, and judging by his father's tone, perhaps more than one. His feelings grew complicated.
"Where is my younger sister planning to take the exam?" Xi Ye felt that, as her elder brother, he should at least show some concern.
"The Divine Arcana Academy!"
"What?" Xi Ye could no longer remain calm. "Does our family have Arcane bloodline genes?"
He remembered that his family mainly cultivated the genes of the Thunder Clan and the Night Demon Clan. He had never heard of any branch cultivating Arcane genes.
"No..." Lord Daddy said lazily. "But your younger sister is very good at Arcane science. I plan to spend a fortune buying her a family-purified Arcane gene. We can establish an Arcane branch within the family at the same time."
"Do you think those are that easy to buy?" Xi Ye looked speechless.
A family-purified gene could be considered the foundation upon which a family established itself. Unless a family was at the end of its rope, it would never casually sell one.
Normally, when a family cultivated a gene, it took ten or even dozens of generations before it began to take shape. The genes sold on the market were at most Level 2. Evolving them required massive quantities of gene potions, and there were limits as well, especially when one's own capacity was not high.
Only in a Great Clan would the ancestors first evolve a gene to a certain level, then pass the purified gene down to talented descendants. Through generation after generation of inheritance, the gene would become better and better. The Eldia Family had existed for an entire era, yet even so, the high-quality genes passed down through the generations were limited. After all, they were a warrior family. It was impossible for every gene to be safely inherited; some descendants had also died while adventuring outside.
Back when Xi Ye had gone to the Celestial God Academy, the family had been at its poorest. His father had sold every mine with tears in his eyes, yet he had not dared sell even one purified gene outside the family. Everyone knew that these genes were a family's true foundation!
Therefore, Xi Ye felt that his father's plan to buy a high-quality Arcane bloodline gene was essentially impossible.
"Then there's nothing we can do..." Lord Daddy also looked helpless. "If we can't find one, we'll have to buy a Level 2 gene!"
"What kind of joke is that?" Xi Ye instantly grew angry. Although he had never met this younger sister and did not have much affection for her, they were still blood relatives. How could he let her ruin her future like that? Once a gene was established, one's life was more or less set. With a Level 2 gene, unless she had the terrifying capacity of those abnormal players from Planet D, she could evolve to only a Level 5 Lifeform under normal circumstances.
The average salary of a lifeform at that level was so low that even after working for ten thousand years, they could not afford a toilet in the Federation's central star system!
"What else can we do? Your old man took on so much debt to put you through school. Do you think we can still apply for a family-purified gene for your younger sister?"
"Father, aren't you planning to pass your gene on to her?"
His father cast Xi Ye a sidelong glance and snorted. "Have you lost your memory? Don't you remember that your old man's gene was sold to your uncle's branch when I paid your tuition for the fourth stage?"
Xi Ye choked. Only then did he remember. Not only his father's gene—even his mother's Night Demon bloodline seemed to have been tricked away by his uncle's family when they paid Xi Ye's tuition.
Thinking about it now, had his uncles deliberately set up his family back then?
When their entire generation had been young, the two most talented members of the family had been Xi Ye and his uncle's son, Raine. The two of them had competed for the best Thunder Warrior gene left behind by the family's Grand Ancestor.
The Grand Ancestor had been a Level 16 Lifeform, with one foot nearly across the threshold into a Dragon-level Lifeform. Although he had ultimately fallen short, the gene he left behind was something every younger member of the family coveted!
At the time, Xi Ye's father had been the family head, and Xi Ye's aptitude was higher than Raine's. That gene should unquestionably have belonged to him. Who could have expected his soft-hearted father to believe his uncle's claims and send him to the Celestial God Academy?
His uncle had been serving as a senior officer under a lord at the time. He promised to obtain a recommendation letter for Xi Ye and even offered to pay five billion in tuition. His father had suffered a fit of foolishness and sighed that they truly were brothers, then sent Xi Ye to that wretched academy.
After Xi Ye went to become a Celestial God, the Grand Ancestor's Thunder Warrior gene naturally went to Raine.
Thinking about it now, that seemingly upright uncle had truly plotted everything with ruthless precision. The number one genius of the family had been calculated into a pathetic loser with five hundred points in a king-tier ranking, while his Eldest Cousin had already advanced to become a Level 12 Lifeform at a young age, honored as the Commander-in-Chief of the military district on a Level 5 Life Planet!
On top of that, his parents' genes had been forcibly transferred to his uncle's branch. Judging by the situation, his family would probably fall to the bottom of the clan from then on...
Ding! Esteemed guests, the train will arrive at the Adam Star System in five minutes. Passengers getting off at this station, please prepare in advance.
"Oh, we're here!" His father stretched and stood up. Looking at Xi Ye, he asked, "What do you think? Do you want to go meet your adorable younger sister?"
"Well..." Xi Ye suddenly grew nervous. He stammered, "Maybe... I'd better not..."
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