(Sorry, sorry. Winter break was supposed to start on the 31st, but the school suddenly announced that we'd be dismissed tomorrow instead. Today was also the final exam, and it was already four by the time I finished. Then I had to pack my luggage, so this update came really late. I'm sorry, everyone. To make it up to you, starting tomorrow, there will be two updates a day.)
Angel Nebula. In a quiet, beautiful garden within Merlot Heavenly Court on Meilun Meiyang, a beautiful silver-haired angel sat in a pavilion at the heart of the garden. Despite the stunning scenery all around her, her brows were tightly furrowed.
It's been a hundred years, and she hasn't contacted me even once. What the hell does that woman mean? Did she accidentally throw away my sword?
He Xi silently cursed someone over and over. She did not know why she was so angry. After all, her relationship with "that woman" did not seem particularly special.
"Yo, He Xi. I knew you'd come here to slack off again."
Suddenly, a brown-haired angel girl appeared from nowhere. She was mischievous, lively, and youthful.
The girl possessed a peculiar charm, as though she combined the innocence of youth with the alluring maturity of a wise woman. At one meter seventy-five, she was slightly shorter than He Xi, yet she was still considered tall among female God River Body lifeforms. Her figure was no less perfect than He Xi's.
"Hey, what's wrong with you lately? You keep zoning out during research, and today you even came here to loaf around."
"My sister told you to work on Lieyang's Stellar Drive. More than a hundred years have passed, but there's still no word on how far you've gotten. Can you even do it? If you can't, then stop working on it and let me handle it."
He Xi raised a delicate brow. "I can't do it? Liang Bing, you little brat, you've got some nerve looking down on your big sister."
The girl was none other than the Heavenly Revelation King, Liang Bing. She had once been a Holy Left-Wing Guardian of the same rank as He Xi, but she was now an instructor at the angel branch of the Super God Academy, as well as Keisha's younger sister.
She was the youngest of the Three Kings, as well as the smartest. Judging solely by research talent, Liang Bing might have surpassed every other angel. But talent did not mean invincibility. Keisha and He Xi were no less intelligent than Liang Bing, and when it came to temperament and experience, Keisha was undoubtedly the wisest angel of all.
"By the way, weren't you always conducting some secret research with that little boy called... Carl?"
He Xi's expression darkened slightly. "Our cooperation with the Super God Academy has indeed brought Heavenly City considerable benefits, but they insist on keeping everything secret. I can't interfere with their internal affairs, but even projects involving a large number of angels are treated the same way. I don't like that style."
Liang Bing said carelessly, "Honestly, I'm not really sure what Carl is researching either. She came to me looking all mysterious and asked for my help, but we've just been doing meaningless things ever since. She says she'll tell me once there are definite results. You know I can't suppress my curiosity. How could I miss out on the genius ideas of Principal Kiran's most outstanding disciple? What if it turns out to be another Big Clock?"
He Xi snorted with laughter at that and said with a wicked grin, "Hey, I think Carl probably likes you. She's deliberately doing meaningless experiments just to be alone with you, then fooling you with talk about secret research."
Liang Bing froze and stared blankly. "No way. Carl likes me? She's a ten-thousand-year shut-in who spends all day cooped up in the laboratory tinkering with her weird little gadgets. She can barely get two words out when she sees someone and only knows how to blush. Can someone like her really have a crush?"
Liang Bing vigorously shook her head. "I don't believe it. I refuse to believe it!"
He Xi looked at Liang Bing as though she were an idiot, feeling helpless inside. By now, perhaps all of Angel City knew that Carl, the Super God Academy's youngest, most handsome, and most gifted instructor, had Liang Bing in her heart.
Liang Bing alone remained completely unaware.
"He Xi, Liang Bing, come to the temple. I have something for you to do."
Suddenly, Keisha connected to their channel and summoned them to the Angel Temple, as though something major had happened.
He Xi and Liang Bing exchanged a glance, then spread their wings in unspoken agreement and flew toward the center of Heavenly City.
"Sister, what did you call us here for?"
The moment she entered, Liang Bing asked in her usual whirlwind manner. She did not even bother with formalities before Keisha, something unheard of in the Known Universe.
He Xi and Keisha were also deeply bonded friends, but they still had to conduct business properly much of the time. Thus, He Xi, who entered after Liang Bing, solemnly dropped to one knee before Keisha. "Queen, what important matter did you summon us for?"
Keisha had a terrible headache whenever it came to her scatterbrained younger sister. Liang Bing caused no small amount of trouble on ordinary days, yet Keisha could do nothing about her. Whenever Keisha finally caught an opportunity to lecture her, Liang Bing's seemingly foolish yet actually crafty smile would often defeat her.
As her only blood relative in the world, Keisha's love for Liang Bing ran far deeper than anyone could imagine. It was merely hidden beneath the Queen's majesty.
"He Xi, you spent a hundred years with the Protoss civilization and learned quite a bit from them, didn't you?"
Ignoring the restless Liang Bing, Keisha questioned He Xi.
"Yes, Queen."
He Xi nodded. She had indeed gained countless inspirations from Protoss Psionic Technology. For example, the stalkers' blink technology had sparked an idea in her mind, allowing her to improve the angels' Micro Wormhole Transportation technology.
Though the technological cores were entirely different, the underlying concepts were shared.
Micro Wormhole Transportation had not been pioneered by the angels. It was a joint research product of the Super God Academy and Angel Civilization, developed less than a thousand years ago.
The technology had been created because constructing Great Wormhole Bridges was too troublesome, while transporting supplies within a single star system was overly cumbersome. It later expanded into various applications, such as storing items on one's person.
Yet no one had considered using micro wormholes to move "people" across a certain distance. That distance did not need to be great, but it could not be too short either, since it only needed to enable movement within a planet.
For a long time, micro wormholes had only been used to transport objects. No one had ever used them to transport living beings. It was only after He Xi saw a stalker blink from several thousand meters away to appear before her instantly that she realized micro wormholes might be able to do the same.
That was merely one example.
Naturally, He Xi and even Keisha believed the angels owed the Protoss quite a favor.
They did not know that even without the Protoss, He Xi would have improved micro wormhole technology before long. Liang Bing had even displayed incomparable talent in that field.
"He Xi, it isn't the angel way for us to profit while others lose out."
He Xi's heart stirred. Keisha meant...
"I've decided to send an invitation to the Protoss and have them visit Heavenly City. The Super God Academy is here as well, so we can pursue more cooperation."
Keisha voiced He Xi's thoughts.
Before He Xi could show her delight, Keisha continued, "However, they do not use dark communications, and we have no way to contact the Protoss. So... Liang Bing, go to the Koprulu Sector and explain our invitation to that young Hierarch."
"He Xi, tell Liang Bing where Aiur is later."
The moment Keisha finished speaking, He Xi froze...
"Huh?"
Before you continue