Chen Xiao: My Family Has a Supernatural Background Too?

"Thank you so much, Tsugumi~!"

Before Chen Xiao even had a chance to worry, his girl had already solved the problem for him. Overjoyed, he stepped forward and pulled the girl sitting in the chair into his arms.

"Hehe~ It's all part of my job."

Like a real catgirl, Tsugumi comfortably nuzzled her head against Chen Xiao's cheek, cuddling up to him without the slightest reservation.

Then she tilted her head back, her burning gaze fixed on his lips just inches away, and a romantic atmosphere gradually filled the air.

All I need to do is lean up a little farther...

[Unauthorized indecent behavior is prohibited!]

Just then, Nymph's pixel avatar suddenly popped up on the computer screen, loudly interrupting the charged atmosphere between the man and woman alone in the computer room.

"Nymph?!"

Startled, the two of them didn't let go at her shout. Instead, they instinctively held each other even tighter.

[...]

The pixels at the corner of pixel Nymph's eye twitched.

"Nymph, did you materialize? No, that probably isn't you in person. It's this computer's AI system."

Chen Xiao immediately thought of JARVIS from Iron Man and guessed that the figure on the screen was an AI simulating Nymph's personality.

[It really is me!]

Pixel Nymph answered loudly.

[But you're right that I haven't materialized. I simply connected my consciousness to these AI systems' wireless network.]

"But why did you suddenly shout so loudly... Miss Nymph, don't tell me you're jealous?"

With her fun spoiled, Tsugumi ignored the difference in their strength and asked teasingly.

[Ugh... th-that's! That's not true at all!]

Pixel Nymph looked adorable with her feelings so clearly exposed.

Unfortunately, his current mana bar couldn't support materializing her. Otherwise, Chen Xiao would have brought her out for at least a few seconds, held her, and given her some proper "comfort."

Perhaps too embarrassed to stay, pixel Nymph gave a haughty little huff and vanished from the computer screen, which returned to the population database.

After her interruption, though, the atmosphere between Chen Xiao and Tsugumi couldn't heat up again.

"Oh, right! A-Xiao, there's something here you'll definitely find interesting."

Suddenly seeming to remember something amusing, Tsugumi changed the location in the population database to Min Province and pulled up Chen Xiao's personal information.

Chen Xiao: ?

Holy shit! Doxxed!

Boohoo, Alice shouldn't have run her mouth online.JPG

"Tsugumi, why did you suddenly pull up my information? Is someone targeting me again?"

Chen Xiao remembered the hooded man who had attacked him in his dream.

Mr. K, the man behind him, had shown no signs of activity since then, and there had even been a brief lull in criminal incidents across Shenzhou.

Had he finally lost patience again?

"Of course not~!"

Tsugumi smiled, then compared Chen Xiao's information with other people's.

"Is this... an additional note?"

Chen Xiao leaned closer and discovered that his population record had a special collapsible section that the others lacked.

"Chen Xiao, born into the Tianyun Chuanfang Chen Family of Min Province. Grandson of Chen Shifeng, only son of Chen Yuanhao, and younger cousin of Chen Hong, the current eldest young master of the Chen Family."

Chen Xiao slowly read through the information.

"Due to insufficient aptitude, he has not practiced his family's cultivation techniques or awakened an innate superpower, and has lived as an ordinary person to date... Correction: testing confirmed that his mental stat meets the required threshold, but he declined admission to [Shenzhou Nova Academy]."

After reading it, Chen Xiao fell silent for a long while.

Then he clicked on his grandfather Chen Shifeng's information, only to find it highly classified.

[Decryption in progress...]

Under an assault from Nymph's AI systems, any security system would fall in an instant, so Chen Xiao soon saw his grandfather's information.

"Peerless Iron Fist-Chen Shifeng, a high-level supernatural from the Tianyun Chuanfang Chen Family of Min Province. Son of Chen Dengtai, Grand Master of Governance. Carrying on his father's dying wish, he led the Chen Family into the Min Province Navy to defend their homeland. However, due to lingering injuries from his early years and the many enemies he had made, he was forced to withdraw to Min Province with the severely battered Chen Family."

"Correction... The Chen Family has now returned to Shenzhou's supernatural community."

"A-Xiao, so you had this identity too~! Should I start calling you 'Young Master A-Xiao' now?"

Tsugumi spoke teasingly.

With this revelation, though, the dark maid Alice's address of "young master" no longer felt out of place in the slightest. It actually suited his status as the young master of a prominent family perfectly.

Yet Chen Xiao's expression showed bewilderment amid recognition.

"What's wrong, A-Xiao? Is there something wrong with this information?"

Seeing his unusual expression, Tsugumi let her smile fade as well.

"Wrong? Sort of, but most of it is pretty much what I knew in my previous life. It's just..."

At that point, Chen Xiao couldn't help covering his face.

"Before supernatural powers were revealed to the world, I always thought this world followed the template of an urban rebirth novel set in a parallel world. Even though my family was much better off in this life, and people who hadn't been around before had appeared, like..."

He pointed at Chen Shifeng on the screen.

"In my previous life, I never met my grandfather from the day I was born, and my family rarely mentioned him. I only learned his name after I grew up... As for the family history before him, I only got curious and looked into it a few years before I transmigrated, when they were building a new ancestral shrine."

And before that?

Chen Xiao had always thought he was just a country boy from a rural family.

Of course, even after learning about it, he hadn't felt much. After all, throughout his childhood in his previous life, his family had lived no differently from people in poverty. It had taken his dad more than a decade of working away from home for them to achieve a comfortable life.

So Chen Xiao had always seen himself as an ordinary person.

After transmigrating, since the family members hadn't changed between his previous life and this one, he had never considered that their improved circumstances meant more than a renovated ancestral home, better food, and the grandfather and other relatives he had never met in his previous life still being alive.

"So my family has a supernatural background too..."

After taking a few deep breaths, Chen Xiao turned and slumped into another gaming chair beside Tsugumi, then began complaining loudly.

"Even if I didn't have the aptitude to practice our family's techniques, you still should've told me! Damn you, Dad! Hah... Great! You hid it until now, and supernatural powers have already been revealed to the public. Now you're stuck whether you tell me or not."

His stubborn secrecy had left him trapped either way!

Fortunately, with his figurine girls around now, Chen Xiao didn't feel all that resentful, so he let it go after a few complaints.

He could also understand why his father in this life had kept it secret.

Before the world took a turn toward the supernatural, all supernatural powers had stayed hidden from public view, much like the setting of The Outcast.

At the same time, the supernatural community observed a rule against harming "family outside the circle." Even when conflicts broke out, they wouldn't touch ordinary family members who knew nothing about the supernatural.

Taking that into account, there was nothing wrong with Chen Yuanhao's choice.

But the fucked-up part was...

The existence of supernatural powers had only been revealed to the public after Chen Xiao entered university, when his body was already well past the age for beginning cultivation!

"No wonder Dad hasn't called me in so long. He used to love chatting, but now he never talks to me about anything supernatural..."

As he said that, Chen Xiao suddenly realized something.

That would also explain why his dad had agreed with so little hesitation when he refused to attend [Shenzhou Nova Academy]!

He had thought his dad was simply easygoing, but in reality, he had been avoiding the issue he had kept hidden from his son for over twenty years!