Nightless Sky Fire Apricot: I developed some unnecessary feelings

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot's attitude towards Lin Yu's invitation was very clear.

"Seeing my mother in person unless absolutely necessary is definitely not a good thing for me, let alone the fact that you're going to bring up such a dangerous topic with her... I don't want to get involved."

Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and said sincerely, "Aren't we friends?"

"Stop trying to morally blackmail me, you idiot. I haven't completely forgiven you for speaking up for me to the Chosen of Wisdom in front of Mother," said Nightless Sky Fire Apricot voice ringing with conviction. "And... I haven't completely forgiven Mother either—for suddenly nominating me as a candidate for the Chosen of God."

Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and said in surprise, "Are you still arguing and being petulant with the Family Head?"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot shook her head. "Don't make it sound so easy... This isn't a child's tantrum, this is a cold war, a war, do you understand? Arthur... war!"

"Negotiations with your mother must be this serious—going into battle with a childish attitude will only lead to defeat."

Lin Yu shook his head. "I don't think I'm being frivolous... that's why I want you to come with me."

"Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, I don't intend to get you involved in persuading the Family Head just by playing the emotional card and moral blackmail," Lin Yu said seriously. "I can promise you one thing—an opportunity to leave this world—of course, not permanently."

"But I have the ability to temporarily send you to other worlds... whichever world you wish to go to."

"I can give you a chance to escape the City That Never Sleeps, or even the world, for a vacation."

"Don't you want to see what the real sea, real fish, shrimp, and crabs look like?"

As Lin Yu spoke, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot was stunned, and then she sighed.

"Wow, how cunning... Arthur, you're actually trying to tempt me with this... I'm starting to believe you're truly prepared to persuade 'Mother'—you're very good at discerning what others want and offering it as an option for 'exchange of benefits'."

Lin Yu shook his head. "This isn't a transaction of interests. The Nightless Sky Fire Apricot... isn't really relevant to your part of the story."

"This is a gift for a friend—I know you must really want to see Other Worlds."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot revealed an exaggerated expression. "Wow, I'm so touched... What kind of gift to a friend comes with conditions?!"

Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot: "Is the Captain your friend?"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot answered, "Yes."

"But you just said you were going to cut back on his chicken strips—I heard you."

Lin Yu said earnestly.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot was speechless, then muttered softly, "My relationship with the Captain is rather special... This is how the Raccoon and I get along."

"You're such a sophist, Arthur!"

Lin Yu laughed as he watched Nightless Sky Fire Apricot being refuted.

"You see, even among friends, there are all sorts of relationships and exchanges of benefits—this is not contradictory."

"However, I was just joking. The 'gift' I'm giving you really is just a gift," Lin Yu said seriously. "Whether you go or not, if there's a chance for you to see other worlds, I'll do it."

"I said this was my promise, I never said it was a conditional promise."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot did not immediately reply when she heard Lin Yu say that.

Three seconds later, she released the lever, turned around, and raised five middle fingers, including three metal claws, to Lin Yu.

"You idiot, you even put this gift after the condition of 'hoping I would go to negotiate'... You're clearly trying to mislead me!"

Lin Yu shrugged. "I was just trying it out, anyway you didn't really fall for it... Also, when you're driving a vehicle, can you not look at the road? And can you keep your hands on the control panel?"

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot raised her hand.

"Ah, actually this control panel is just for decoration, only to make driving the Fire Apricot No. 3 less boring -- even the pedals under my feet only have three that are actually useful -- accelerator, brake, and directional."

"Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said calmly."

Lin Yu was somewhat surprised by what Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said.

"Well, that's true... very much your style."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot simply stopped acting, crossed her arms behind her head, and said, "Of course, decoration and entertainment are also important aspects of designing Alchemy Vehicle."

"I hope you can consider comfort next time," Lin Yu said. "So, what's your answer?"

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot sighed softly.

"I really suspect you're playing hard to get, Arthur... deliberately saying things like 'gift' to make me actually 'emotionally manipulated'," Nightless Sky Fire Apricot sighed. "I'm not that easily fooled..."

She paused for a moment, then leaned back even further.

"But it seems... going to see your mother with you isn't such a big deal after all."

Lin Yu looked at the Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and said softly, "Thank you."

"I'm the one who should be thanking you," Nightless Sky Fire Apricot poked Lin Yu's shoulder with her metal claw, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to see the outside world..."

She thought for a moment, then said, "Oh, Arthur, although you said you were investigating the 'Supreme Evolution' and couldn't hide it from Mother... is your eagerness to see her also because you know she doesn't have much time left?"

"For people like you, every time you see your mother is one less time you'll see her, right?"

Although she had kept quiet about it after kicking the vehicle, now that they were almost in the City of Never Sleeps and the topic had circled back to the head of the Never Sleeps family, Huo Xing couldn't help but bring it up again.

Her tone was no longer as intense or emotional as before; it was more like casual conversation.

But it didn't seem that relaxing.

"That's part of the reason," Lin Yu admitted. After all, part of the reason he arranged this trip was because he had promised the head of the Nevernighting Heaven family that he would bring "Forpollo" to see her more often. "My relationship with the head of the family isn't exactly close, and calling us friends would be presumptuous... but our previous interactions have at least given us some degree of acquaintance."

"That's why I advised you to stop wasting time 'cold war' with your mother," Lin Yu said in a low voice. "Even though her status Family Head is always her top priority... she hasn't given up her identity as a mother because of it."

"Moreover, she probably only did this so hastily designate you as the next Chosen of God because she herself doesn't have much time left."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot pursed her lips. "I understand the logic, but that's a different matter from whether I should oppose her... Besides, for me, she still has five years... not a long time, but not a short time either."

"At most five years, that's what she told me last time," Lin Yu Righteous Path. "And... last time she was willing to give me time, saying she'd wait for me to persuade you to be the Chosen of God, but now... as you've seen, she's had to announce this before you've even made your decision clear."

"Her decision changed, it must be because something changed," Lin Yu analyzed. "And if we think about it in a more cruel way... perhaps her time was shorter than she expected, who knows."

As Lin Yu spoke, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot fell silent again.

Because she realized once again that Lin Yu was right.

In fact, when Lin Yu told her just now, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot had already vaguely sensed this.

Although she disliked these convoluted situations, her intelligence was enough to overcome them all.

However, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot simply didn't want to think about these things at the moment.

This is only natural – anyone who suddenly realizes such a cruel reality would instinctively avoid thinking about it.

However, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot is indeed different from ordinary people.

In just a few tens of minutes, she had already adjusted her mindset and prepared herself to face everything.

"So sometimes I find my mother really annoying, and I only found out about this from you, Arthur... Sorry, Arthur, I didn't mean to say you were an outsider."

"Nightless Sky Fire Apricot muttered a complaint."

Lin Yu shrugged. "It's nothing, I really am an outsider—I'm not from Nightless Sky City."

"Besides, to be honest, I'm not even from your world. There's no one more of an outsider than me."

"That's true," Nightless Sky Fire Apricot laughed, but the smile quickly vanished. She shook her head, paused slightly, and said, "However, I'm really strange... Maybe with someone else, I would find this kind of concealment quite interesting, but with her... I just can't think of it that way at all."

Lin Yu said in a low voice, "Because you two really aren't outsiders... After all, you both share the surname Nightless Sky, and you're direct Bloodline relatives."

How could you treat your closest family members the same way you treat strangers?

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot retorted, "I don't think my mother is really my closest relative... She's more like the Family Head, or even completely the Family Head to me—this guy is planning to marry me off at my coming -Coming-of-Age Ceremony!"

"My relationship with her only recently improved... and that's only because she discovered my Alchemy Talent. To put it bluntly, she's a completely self-serving person."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot patted her cheeks.

"Forget it, let's not talk about her anymore... It's true that I had a little emotional fluctuation just now, but now that I think about it, it was really unnecessary—although according to Arthur, it's 'human nature'... but that doesn't mean it wasn't unnecessary."