It has to be returned.

"Big brother, are you really not going back?" Nicole asked, playing with the latest Arcane Folding Experiment Table Xi Ye had bought her, her eyes filled with longing.

"Not going back..." Xi Ye shook his head, "There are a lot of things to handle at the base."

"Oh, then I guess little brother must be disappointed..." Nicole said regretfully.

"Huh? There's a little brother?" Xi Ye looked at his old man, who was just standing by.

"What's with that expression?" The old man immediately said unhappily, "You're out there risking your life, we have to have a male in the family, right? Daughters all get married off, are we supposed to rely on them for retirement?"

"Then... then how many did you have in the end?" Xi Ye stammered.

"Not that many..." Nicole said with a cute smile, "Besides little brother, there's also older sister Sansa!"

Great... another one.

"Really not going back?" The old man also asked.

Xi Ye hesitated slightly, but still shook his head, "Son, in my current state, going back would only embarrass you, father. I'll wait until I've achieved something before returning."

"Haha!" The old man waved his hand and laughed, "It's fine, anyway, your old man has been losing face every day for the past twenty thousand years, especially the ten thousand years you sneaked away."

Xi Ye: "..."

Facing his old man's ridicule, Xi Ye didn't feel any anger in his heart. His old man had always been the type to make sarcastic remarks, and he knew that his old man cared about him.

The Federation was so big, and he ran into his old man, who happened to be there to pick up Nicole from her exam, as soon as he came back. He didn't believe it was a coincidence.

He was afraid that his old man had been paying attention to his news all the time for the past ten thousand years, right?

"Since I can't go back, can you bring two gifts for me?" Xi Ye smiled at Nicole, "What do little brother and little sister like?"

"Xiao Chen likes summoning-related things. Brother, buy him a little imp, or even a higher-level Grimoire of Demons."

He? So that's it, little brother is called Chen Ye?

Xi Ye felt a warmth in his heart and nodded, "Why buy a little imp? Brother will buy him a Succubus."

Nicole: "Brother, little brother is still developing, isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

Xi Ye: "..."

This little girl knows quite a lot...

"Then what about your older sister?" Xi Ye changed the subject and asked.

"Older sister..." Nicole's expression became not very good, "You should give up on trying to please her. She won't accept your gift."

"Why?" Xi Ye asked curiously.

"She's just like those people in the family, they're all bewitched by Raine. Older sister has always wanted to marry Raine!"

"What!!" Xi Ye immediately couldn't sit still and looked at his old man with an expression that said, what's going on?

The old man shrugged indifferently and said, "What's so strange about that? Your cousin's popularity is so high right now, he's the complete opposite of a down-and-out guy like you. Isn't it normal for him to be popular with younger siblings?"

"That's a bit too popular, isn't it?" Xi Ye said with a composed face.

Close relatives marrying each other wasn't forbidden in many families in the Federation. On the contrary, many families often encouraged close relatives to marry each other in order to ensure the purity of their bloodline.

But Xi Ye couldn't accept it, especially that kid Raine. Having grown up with him, Xi Ye naturally knew what kind of person his cousin was.

Don't be fooled by his usual carefree and generous big brother act; in reality, he's a thorough small man, with a deep and scheming mind, just like his old man!

Seeing Xi Ye's expression, his father sighed slightly, "That girl Sansa inherited your mother's beauty and has always loved the Hymn of Sacrifice since she was little. You know, the field of sacrifice has always been the domain of the elves. Your old man was in debt back then, so naturally, I couldn't openly find her purified genes in that area. As a result, that kid Raine actually found a Starlight Elf gene with extremely high purity for Da Ya. Do you think Da Ya wouldn't be won over by him?"

"Starlight Elf?" Xi Ye's pupils constricted slightly. Among the many elf branches, the Starlight Elf is the most orthodox lineage of sacrifice. With their proud nature, they wouldn't leak purified genes even if their family was destroyed.

So where did this gene come from?

"That guy Raine... he got it from the battlefield, didn't he?" Xi Ye said in a somber tone.

Hearing this, his father lowered his head and remained silent, obviously acquiescing.

Seeing this, Xi Ye's face became even more gloomy. Thinking about it, where else could that guy find purified Starlight Elf genes other than on the battlefield?

What's wrong with that girl? She dares to accept this kind of hot potato? Judging from his father's tone, she's even grateful?

Under normal circumstances, family members who die on the battlefield are unlikely to have their genes leaked, because genes need to be purified to be condensed, unless they are captured alive and forced!

Xi Ye could guess what happened with his ass. That guy Raine must have caught a Starlight Elf on the battlefield, then captured her and forced her to extract the genes.

With the pride of the elves, they must have been subjected to inhuman torture to compromise. In the end, this elf definitely didn't have a good ending. Once her family finds out about this, it's a matter of honor and revenge!

The battlefield situation is unpredictable, and everyone is fighting for their own masters. Families can understand each other. Even if members of the same family meet on the battlefield, they can't disgrace the family's honor by deliberately going easy on each other. But dying in battle is one thing; capturing family members alive to humiliate them is another!

His own silly sister still thinks she got something good? Once she enters the Sacrifice Academy and people find out where the gene came from, she will definitely be subjected to the endless revenge of the Starlight Elf family!

"Father, why are you letting her be schemed against like this?" Xi Ye asked with a blaming tone for the first time.

"I told her, but she didn't believe me, insisting that we were being petty..." His father said helplessly, "That's why they say girls are drawn to outsiders. To protect the white horse prince in their hearts, even their parents become petty people..."

Xi Ye sighed, "Father, can you be serious?"

"Be serious?" His father touched his chin, then suddenly said in a serious tone, "Then let's be serious."

This sudden change in aura shocked Xi Ye and Nicole, who was sitting beside him. To be honest, they rarely saw their father being serious.

"Sansa was already an adult when she accepted the gene. We have borne the responsibilities we should have before she became an adult, and we have educated her as we should have. But she still made a choice that goes against our wishes, so we can't control it. After all, adults have to be responsible for their own choices!"

After a pause, his father continued, "For example, you. We spent so much to cultivate you to become a Celestial, but you ran off on an interstellar trip without saying a word, without even discussing it with us. Did your old man forcibly chase after you and drag you back?"

Xi Ye: "..."

Seeing Xi Ye's silence, his father slowly stood up and walked out of the room, his voice calm, "Even if you die out there, your old man won't regret not chasing you back then, because this path is your own choice!!"

There's no need... to be so serious, right...

Xi Ye lowered his head and took the scolding, not daring to refute in the slightest, but in fact, he couldn't think of a reason to refute. When he decided to travel around in poverty, he didn't do it without a rebellious and resentful intention. A moment of anger, a lifetime of fate. To be honest, he had regretted the ten thousand years of interstellar drifting countless times.

Seeing his father reach the door, Xi Ye finally couldn't help but say, "Dad..."

Seeing that Xi Ye didn't call him Father, his father paused slightly.

"I'm sorry..."

"Hmph!" His father's body trembled, but he still snorted coldly, "Spare me that. Since you didn't die out there, the money your old man spent back then, you have to pay me back with interest!"

"Eh? I... I have to pay it back?"