Complex Family

"Big Brother, this planet has excellent potential! If developed properly, it might even evolve into a Level 7 Life Planet. And with the abundant Fire Ant Mine beneath it, its assessed value may not be lower than that of a Level 6 Life Planet!"

"Uh... really?" Xi Ye stared blankly at the little girl playing with the planetary data analyzer as he replied.

His younger sister was Nicole Aierdia. She looked younger than he had imagined, appearing to be a child of only around two hundred years old. Her appearance was quite different from his own. He had inherited more of his mother, the Night Demon's, features, while she resembled their father more: azure skin, a small, round apple-shaped face, and a pair of deep-blue eyes unique to the Thunder Clan, patterned with heavenly lightning. They looked like two beautiful Diamond Stars!

Still, it was not very good for someone so young to become a bespectacled girl. Her glasses were so thick, too. She must be a child who loved reading. Should he give her a set of Ten Years of Gaokao and One Hundred Years of Mock Exams?

"Big Brother, I feel like you got scammed. Given the quality of your planet and those high-grade Energy Ores, you could have borrowed ten billion at four percent interest from a legitimate bank."

Xi Ye: "..."

I knew it!

"Wait, why are you so familiar with loans?" Xi Ye asked curiously.

"I got curious and looked into it while going through Dad's bills. Speaking of which, how did both of you manage to trip up over the same woman? Was she really beautiful?"

What on earth had Dad been teaching her all day? What did getting scammed have to do with whether the other person was beautiful?

Xi Ye prepared to restore his little sister's values and said solemnly, "Don't focus on superficial things. Teacher is a Celestial God who has lived for tens of thousands of eras. He is unfathomable. The reason he managed to get money from us was his unparalleled skill and experience!"

Nicole: "..."

"Ahem..." Dad coughed. "Your sister is still young. Don't drive recklessly!"

Xi Ye: "I didn't!"

"Big Brother..." Little Neeko seemed not to have heard them. She picked up the data analyzer and examined it carefully for a long while. "Although your planet has high development value, because of its location, it shouldn't be able to give birth to intelligent life without artificial intervention. How did you cultivate the Green Titan so quickly?"

"Well..." Xi Ye paused, unsure how to answer. If he honestly said he had kidnapped it, he would seem rather sleazy. It was their first meeting—he could not leave his little sister with that kind of impression!

Seeing that her brother would not answer, Little Neeko turned and glanced at the players chattering nearby.

The players could not understand Xi Ye and the others' language. With nothing else to do, they had started discussing the NPCs' appearances.

"Wow, the lord's sister has such a cute model. What do you guys think the lord looks like?"

"Who knows? He wears such a thick helmet all day. Isn't he afraid of getting prickly heat?"

"Do you think he looks as mighty as his father?"

"I think he might be a dummy..."

"Nope!"

A cute voice suddenly interrupted the players' discussion. Several players froze and turned around. When they saw the little girl's round face leaning toward them, they all grew excited.

"Whoa, the NPC talked to us! And she spoke Federation language! The plot's starting! The plot's starting! Who's going to respond?"

"I will, I will!" Grandpa Lu leaped over with all his might and deliberately put on a formal tone. "Honorable... um... Princess Your Highness, may I ask how I can be of service to you?"

"My brother is very handsome!" Little Neeko retorted.

Xi Ye stared blankly at the little girl. He had not transmitted the language database to her, yet she could actually communicate normally with those guys?

That planet's language system was considered rather complex, especially the language of the Huaxia region. It was somewhat similar to the main language of the Cosmic Federation—both were difficult to learn and master. Back then, even the AI had spent more than half a month analyzing it. An ordinary person would need several days to digest the analyzed language database even after receiving it.

As far as Xi Ye knew, the only things capable of instantly analyzing an opponent's language were the Ancient Elves' "Listening" and the arcane Word Comprehension Spell!

Ancient Elf bloodlines were high-end bloodlines second only to the Celestial Race. They were not sold on the market at all. In Little Sister's case, she should have used the second method. But... wasn't the Word Comprehension Spell a Level 4 arcane spell?

This girl could use a Level 4 arcane spell even though she had yet to convert to an arcane bloodline?

This talent... as expected of a descendant sharing the same origin as this lord!

He secretly swore that he would get her an excellent arcane gene. He absolutely could not let her talent go to waste!

While Xi Ye was secretly thinking about the little girl's future, Nicole continued angrily because of the players' disbelief. "My brother really is very handsome! His helmet was personally custom-made for him by his teacher at Celestial God Academy. It was because he was too handsome and might affect everyone else's studies!"

Everyone was instantly shocked!

"Holy crap! In all my life, this is the first time I've heard of someone being so handsome that he could affect other people's studies. I have to see it today!" Grandpa Lu declared first.

"I don't believe it either! Neither I nor my athlete's foot believe it!" Little Fairy with Athlete's Foot hurriedly chimed in.

"If someone can't study well, it's because they themselves aren't good enough. Saying it affected their studies is nothing but an excuse from a poor student!" Academic Overlord Yu Nv Wu Gua adjusted her glasses and said seriously. "Back then, I watched Zhong Ji Oppa's videos obsessively, yet I still became the Science Top Scorer in my province!"

"Actually, I don't believe it either!" Little Neeko suddenly changed sides and giggled. "There aren't any pictures at home. Mom was the one who said it. She also said this helmet cost several million!"

Dad spent several million on this lousy helmet? The corner of Xi Ye's eye twitched. He suddenly felt that his family being bled dry and which school he had entered might not have had any necessary connection after all. Why had the Grand Ancestor chosen such a spendthrift as the clan leader back then?

"Big Brother, take off your helmet and let us see, okay?" Nicole shook Xi Ye's arm and pleaded.

It was the first time anyone had acted spoiled with Xi Ye. He felt his heart nearly melt into water, and he could no longer maintain a stern tone. All he could do was force himself to stay silent.

The last time he had lost his composure and removed his helmet, something extremely terrifying had happened because he was far too handsome. Even now, it had left him traumatized. That was why he still wore his helmet even when sleeping!

Dad sighed beside them and picked Nicole up. "Don't be naughty. Your brother's appearance really can't be exposed..." He stopped, seemingly recalling something terrifying, then shook his head. "I'll tell you about it later."

Nicole could only say dejectedly, "All right..."

Could that really be true? The players were utterly bewildered. Although they could not understand what the burly man was saying, his tone made it sound as if removing the helmet would make this fellow so handsome that it caused a disaster.

What a load of crap, right?

At the same time, somewhere on Ziyao Star in the Federation, a tall Thunder Warrior received a report from his subordinate about Xi Ye's return while strolling through a park.

The Thunder Clan burly man looked extremely heroic. His features resembled Xi Ye's father's by seventy or eighty percent, but he appeared even more imposing. Compared with Xi Ye, that half-baked fellow, he looked much more like a powerful lord of high rank!

Ziyao Star was one of the ten major Administrative Stars in the eastern Federation. It had once been the birthplace of the Ancient Elves. The planet possessed extremely high energy levels, and all its buildings were constructed from the planet's unique Purple Dragon Crystal. As a result, land prices were exorbitant, and it had long remained among the top ten planets of the Federation's central star system!

Only long-established families with foundations spanning more than an era could settle on this planet. The Eldia Family had only barely managed to move in after he became a Star Marshal!

That was right. He was the Old Ancestor of this generation of the Eldia Family: Aierdia Longjue!

Longjue could be called the most accomplished Thunder Warrior in the history of the Eldia Family. He had been only one step away from bringing the family into the ranks of the upper nobility. Unfortunately, he had ultimately fallen short and failed to cross that threshold to become a Dragon-level Lifeform!

In fact, he had still possessed a thirty percent chance at the end. However, he had not dared to take the risk. If evolution failed and he died, and his purified genes were not preserved, all his efforts over the years would have been wasted!

That was the sorrow of being a family leader. He could not recklessly stake everything on one attempt. He had to consider the issue of inheritance. Thus, he had ultimately decided not to take the risk, instead gathering his life's essence and refining his genes.

Once the genes were refined, it meant that his evolutionary journey had come to an end!

By now, he had spent tens of thousands of years as a leisurely old man, and he probably had less than ten thousand years left before his natural death...

He had fewer and fewer days left to look after the family...

Fortunately, the younger generation of this era had been fairly promising. One Thunder Warrior had emerged whose aptitude was no weaker than his own. There was actually also a Celestial God with even better aptitude, but unfortunately, things would have been fine if they had not schemed against each other...

Longjue sighed softly. As an old monster who had lived for so many years and had even risen to the position of Star Marshal under a high-end lord, how could he fail to see through his eldest son's schemes to cheat his younger son?

However, he had also been selfish at the time. Deep down, he had hoped that the family would produce a Celestial God Lord. After all, once that happened, the family would instantly rise by an entire tier. Perhaps his eldest son had seen through this as well, which was why he had dared to scheme against his younger brother so openly?

By now, he had gotten his wish. His second son's family had been cheated miserably. They had lost the clan leader position, lost their money, and even had the genes of the old couple taken from them. His eldest son had truly gone all-out against his own brother. If Longjue had not still been around, who knew what excessive things he would have done!

Thinking of this made him increasingly helpless, but there was nothing he could do. His eldest son's child, Raine, was now the pillar of the family's next generation. At such a young age, he had already evolved to Level 12 and was even more outstanding than Longjue had been back then, forcing him to tacitly approve some of the things his eldest son had done.

This was also partly his fault. He had never expected his enormous fortune to be unable to withstand such expenses. He had indeed underestimated the money-grubbing ability of the Celestial Group Academy!

After the second son's child graduated, the family would at most be able to provide her with a Level 8 Planet. After that, there was a high likelihood that she would continue taking risky investments. By contrast, the eldest son's child, Raine, was in the golden period of rapid evolution. At that time, Longjue could only choose to concentrate the resources on the safer option and tacitly allow the second son's child to travel the stars alone!

However, what he had never expected was that the child from his second son's family had not died outside. She had even luckily found a Level 8 Life Planet, and there was also a Level 2 Energy Ore on it!

This should have been an unexpected delight, and he ought to have felt relieved. Yet at this moment, an inexplicable worry rose in his heart instead.

The eldest and second sons' families were already locked in mortal conflict. It would have been one thing if one family had completely dominated, but who would have thought that the child from the second son's family would also be so promising...

This might actually not be a good thing. The decline of a family sometimes did not come from outside, but from internal strife!