Losing composure

Thump!

Although Lin Yu had guessed that Huo Xing might suddenly attack a second before she made her move at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, even under his guard, the unimaginable force still slammed Lin Yu against the wall of the Alchemy Pipelines.

"Arthur! Arthur! You bastard—I thought you were my best friend—and you actually went and slandered me to Mother, trying to make me the Chosen of Wisdom?!"

Hearing Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and sensing the anger in her tone, Lin Yu quickly tried to explain.

What are you saying? I don't understand!

"You don't understand anything, Arthur! Do you think I'm some kind of idiot like the Nightless Sky Fire Apricot Nightless Sky Huo Shu who's easy to fool? Not long after you talked to me about the 'Chosen of God'... Mother announced within the family that I'd been chosen as the next candidate for the 'Chosen of Wisdom'! That's when it dawned on me—it's definitely you!"

Lin Yu struggled to raise his Right Hand, turned it around and gripped the metal claw, and said, "But isn't this a good thing? Didn't you also think Chosen of God was a good thing last time—as long as you're not the Family Head, just a Chosen of God, isn't that quite free?"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said with dissatisfaction, "I only wavered slightly at the time... Now it seems that you were just Mother's mouthpiece..."

"Arthur, you've gone too far!"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot cursed, Lin Yu sighed.

"The Family Head is really something... You promised I'd persuade you..."

However, Lin Yu also knew that Nightless Sky Yong Lian was most likely not deliberately trying to harm him, or changing her mind at the last minute.

After all, two months had passed since he last came to the Barren Realm —the recent flow of time was indeed too fast, far beyond his expectations.

Something must have happened in the past two months to force Nightless Sky Yong Lian to announce this news ahead of schedule.

Hearing Lin Yu's sigh, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot became even more dissatisfied. "So you really are on my mother's side?! Arthur... I'm so disappointed!"

Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and immediately shook his head. "Of course not... How could that be?"

"I've been thinking of you from the very beginning, Fire Apricot... Although I did persuade you to become the 'Chosen of God' because of the Family Head, the 'objective advantages' I mentioned at the time did indeed exist."

"Be Chosen of God, not the Family Head... And assuming the Family Head really is Nightless Sky Huo Le, for you, it's equivalent to only having to give up a little responsibility and sacrifice a little freedom to gain a lot of autonomy and benefits."

"Besides, you weren't entirely without feelings for the Nightless Sky Family, or for your sisters and brothers, were you?"

As Lin Yu spoke, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot frowned.

She pouted and wrinkled her nose, saying, "What you said makes a lot of sense, but it just sounds like sophistry..."

"Because if you hadn't spoken ill of me to my mother, I could have chosen to have absolutely no 'freedom' without having to sacrifice anything!"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot spoke, Lin Yu sighed softly.

"Do you really think this is possible? Ever since your Alchemy Talent was exposed... do you think your mother would ever let you off the hook?"

"Have you forgotten those alchemy lessons from that time?"

"Even if you don't Chosen of God, you will inevitably become an important R&D staff member and alchemist within the Truth Company or the Nightless Sky Family..."

"In comparison, isn't the identity of 'Chosen of God,' which doesn't require cooperation with others or entering the workplace, a better choice?"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot listened to Lin Yu's words and fell into thought.

"Damn it, Arthur... you have a point..."

Lin Yu nodded. "Right? At least you can play the 'Fairy Queen' in the Great Wilderness again, right?"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot glared at Lin Yu, even more furious. "How dare you bring up my current situation... Do you know how much you've harmed me! You bastard Arthur!"

As she spoke, she pressed Lin Yu's hand, which he had struggled to raise, back onto the tube wall.

Lin Yu stared at the Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, his face filled with shock.

"How have I ever hurt you?!"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot spoke up, "Because all those good things you mentioned will only come true after I become the 'Chosen of God'... But right now, as the publicly designated candidate for the next 'Chosen of God,' do you know what kind of life I've been living lately?!"

"Questioning and impeachment voices filled the family. After the rumors leaked, sycophants flocked to me... There were also all sorts of people trying to bribe those around me and find out information about me... Damn it, do you know how much effort I put into making this trip?"

"Even that idiot Nightless Sky Huo Shu comes to see me every day now—he's even started to see me as the head of the Writer's imaginary enemy! Good heavens, this fool who didn't inherit a single bit of his mother's Wisdom, I feel like my brain is rusting if I talk to him even for a couple of minutes!"

"And do you know how many invitations I've received since the beginning of this month? There are seven, ten, thirteen 'dinners' alone! I was already suffering enough dealing with that silly boy from the Saint Orchid Family as a suitor, and now I have more open suitors than my Raccoon friends!"

The Captain was clinging to Lin Yu's leg, reported, "Commander Fire Apricot, you currently have twenty-five open suitors! The Huoxing Raccoon Squad now has one hundred and thirty-three Raccoon —don't worry, we have an overwhelming numerical advantage!"

"Once your suitors and the Raccoon go to war, your suitors will face an average of five to six elite Raccoon from our brigade!"

Lin Yu couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot sighed, "Who asked you, Captain? If you keep this up, I'm going to cut your supply of delicious fried chicken strips!"

The Captain quickly said, "I'm sorry, sir! I misunderstood you!"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot looked at Lin Yu: "You're not allowed to laugh anymore, Arthur —Anyway, this kind of life... I don't know how long it will last until I officially become the 'Chosen of God'."

"This is completely, entirely your fault."

Hearing Nightless Sky Fire Apricot's complaints, Lin Yu suppressed his laughter, thought for a moment, and said, "Uh, I don't think I should bear the main responsibility for this..."

"First of all, I admit that I did mention to the Family Head that we might consider you for the role of Chosen of God, but I absolutely did not intend for her to announce it recently; that should be entirely her own decision."

"If I find out... I will definitely help you persuade her to go public—I don't want your freedom to be restricted in any way."

"But I still sincerely apologize for this, because this matter really started because of me... I'm sorry, Fire Apricot, I didn't think that much about it, I didn't expect things to turn out this way."

Hearing Lin Yu's sincere apology, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot also sighed.

She raised her hands, and her three alchemical claws released Lin Yu, allowing Lin Yu to fall back to the bottom of the pipe with the Captain hanging from his calf.

"Indeed, indeed... you certainly weren't the cause of this, but how could I blame my mother—what good would it do me to blame her?"

Lin Yu lifted his leg, hoisted the Captain— who was heavier than he had expected—and placed him on his shoulder. He then walked over to Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and patted her on the shoulder.

That's life... nine times out of ten, things don't go as planned.

"Perhaps you could try to enjoy this life under the spotlight—even though you don't yet have real power or the blessing of being Chosen of God."

"But look... so many people are trying to curry favor with you and paying attention to you. Being a 'candidate' isn't entirely useless—you can try using your current status to create some 'rights' and 'conveniences' to try and have some fun."

As Lin Yu spoke, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot fell into thought.

"Wow, that makes sense... Arthur, you're a very Wisdom friend indeed."

Lin Yu couldn't help but complain after hearing what Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said.

"These suggestions have absolutely nothing to do with life Wisdom..."

"And actually, there's one more thing."

As Lin Yu spoke, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot tilted her head and looked at Lin Yu.

"A little bit more?"

"This kind of life is... well... let me think about it," Lin Yu pondered for a moment, and finally decided to tell Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, "Maybe it won't be as long as you think."

"The Family Head of the Nightless Sky Family... she should be stepping down from both her position as Family Head and her status Chosen of God in the near future."

Lin Yu recalled the scene with Nightless Sky Yong Lian last time and spoke softly.

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot casually remarked, "It's possible that she'll step down as Family Head. Sister Huo Le is growing more and more capable of handling things independently; once she's fully matured, she should be able to step down."

"But the identity of being Chosen of God isn't something you can 'step down' from; it's a lifelong commitment..."

At this point, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot suddenly paused and looked at Lin Yu.

"You mean..."

Lin Yu nodded.

"Yes, the Family Head once told me... that her days are numbered."

"At most five years—that's all the time she has left."

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot remained silent for a moment before laughing.

"This is indeed good news... Arthur, whether I Becoming a God the chosen one or not, at least I only need to endure this status Chosen of God Candidate for another five years at most."

Then, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot fell silent again.

Lin Yu looked at her, and a few minutes later, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot turned around and suddenly kicked Fire Apricot No. 3 in the side.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The massive, heavy metal vehicle shook violently and teetered on the brink of collapse with every kick from Nightless Sky Fire Apricot. The metal shell slammed against the pipe walls, making heavy thuds.

"That irresponsible bastard, that woman... how dare she just say she only has five years left?!"

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Nightless Sky Fire Apricot cursed, her expression unusually gloomy and indignant. "That woman who hasn't fulfilled her maternal duties for a single day... no wonder she was in such a hurry to declare me Chosen of God! How dare she go to such lengths?!"

Inside the pipe, no one responded to Nightless Sky Fire Apricot.

Only the echo of her words and the noise of the vibrating pipe walls overlapped and traveled far away along the alchemical torrent.