The sun was shining brightly outside the window. The thick double-paned windows blocked the chilly wind outside the house, leaving only the pleasant winter sunlight to shine into the living room. I lay on the big rocking chair that Shallow shallow had bought on a whim. Taking advantage of the winter afternoon sunlight, I swayed back and forth drowsily, looking like an evil landlord. Jingle ran around the armrest of the rocking chair. Occasionally, she would come over to grab my buttons and swing on the swing, asking to go out to play. However, no one paid attention to this little thing, who had finally recovered from the jet lag and was a little too excited. From the corner of my eyes, a black-and-white maid uniform flashed past — — It flashed past the coffee table. This was Anveena, who was busy cleaning the room. The little ghost's route had always been the shortest line between two points.
Life was so leisurely, and the world was so beautiful. I felt like I was about to ascend to immortality.
Not far behind me was Little Bubble, who was quietly playing with something unknown. Ji Shanshan was sitting on a small blanket beside the little girl, staring blankly at the ceiling. Big Sis was teaching Mercury Lamp how to write our family's names. Because of this, the little puppet was filled with resentment towards Sandora.
On the other side, there were two people sitting on the sofa, having a class. One was Liliana. When I turned my head, I saw this fake loli talking to the person opposite her with a serious face. The other was Fina, the unsmiling queen, who was obediently holding a notebook and recording what the other person was telling her. This scene looked a little strange, but if you knew what they were talking about, it would be understandable. Today's topic was common sense in this world.
Funa, the former Mecha Queen who hadn't experienced human life for several hundred years, was as weak as a blank sheet of paper when it came to general knowledge. It took me half a day to get her to remember that water had to be boiled before it could be drunk. Then, I spent another half a day to get her to remember that water needed to be boiled before it could be drunk. Of course, considering the physical qualities of the Shiring Apostles, it wasn't a big deal that she didn't know these two pieces of general knowledge. However, this still showed that Funa was an idiot when it came to general knowledge. Thus, it wasn't strange that she came to listen to Liliana's lessons. No matter how unreliable she was, Liliana would always be able to handle this teaching task.
The one-meter-tall teacher was talking about China's customs and the taboos between people in this world. This was something Fina desperately needed to learn, so I felt especially gratified that a certain unreliable fake loli was finally doing something serious.
"Remember, you can't cut your hair in the first month!"
Liliana said methodically. Fei Na blinked and quickly wrote this sentence in her small notebook. Then she asked curiously, "Why? Will I catch a cold? "
"Because getting a haircut in the first month will kill uncles."
Liliana said with a sad face. Her voice was very reliable.
Fei Na nodded blankly. I don't know what she was thinking, but she suddenly had a shocked expression. She jumped off the sofa and ran in front of me. She looked at me with her big eyes full of panic, "How many uncles did you guys kill to figure out this rule?"
I was thrown off the rocking chair. Ji Shanshan, who was in a daze, raised her hand and called for help. Her neck tendons were stretched, and her sister was holding Mercury Lamp's hand to write the word "Wei". In the end, she used too much force and poked a hole in the notebook. Mercury Lamp started to scream, and Liliana immediately understood what she had to do. She dragged her recycling basket from the sofa and jumped in, "Wake me up when it's time to eat."
"What's wrong?" Fei Na looked at the group of people in the living room in confusion. She opened her mouth innocently. "Is there a problem with my question?"
So she knew it was her problem!
I patted my head and got up. I conveniently pulled Liliana out of the basket. The little girl started to kick and scream in protest. I flicked her forehead and said, "In the future, pick up normal things and teach them to Fei Na!"
"How is it abnormal to shave your head and die in the first month?" Liliana protested sternly, "I saw you say that to Mercury Lamp the day before yesterday! Do you dare say that you didn't teach Mercury Lamp this because she doesn't have an uncle? "
I was speechless.
I shouldn't have tried to communicate with Lina in the first place. I should have smashed her in the head without saying a word when I met her. That was the most basic morality of a new imperialist citizen!
After rubbing Lina's little face into a bright red bun, I spent ten minutes explaining to Fina in detail what the saying of shaving one's head and killing one's uncle in the first month of the lunar calendar was all about. It was clear that this former Queen had a hard time understanding the so-called taboo among the common folk. Or perhaps it could be said that she didn't understand the existence of such a taboo. Fina listened to me tell her that it was just a custom, but in reality, whether it was the first or second uncle, it had nothing to do with your hair. She furrowed her brows in confusion. "Then why is there such a saying? It's not scientific, it doesn't produce any benefits, and it will affect the barber's income … "
"That's what people believe." I spread my hands, "At least the people of China believe this. You don't have to believe it, but if other people treat it as a taboo, then you have to be careful. That's what the so-called custom means. Of course, you probably won't come across this saying in the City of Shadows, so you can treat this as an example of how to understand the so-called 'custom taboo'. "
"Then that's worthless knowledge." Fei Na muttered and pointed at Liliana, "Then why did she tell me these things?"
I looked at Liliana, who had already been thrown into the recycling basket, and said with gritted teeth: "She deserves a beating!"
"Don't, boss!" Liliana shrunk her neck in the basket, "If Fei Na takes it seriously, then she'll beat me to death!"
I looked at Fei Na in surprise, and she nodded seriously: "You're right, she deserves a beating. You're my friend, so I'll help you."
The living room was instantly thrown into chaos again. I realized that talking to the girl in front of me was too funny. You had to be prepared to suppress your ribs before you opened your mouth. This girl, who was as white as a sheet, would take anything you said seriously — — as long as she decided to believe you, she would put her thoughts into practice and speak them frankly without any tricks. Such a clean girl was a rare animal in this era. Basically, it was hard for modern lolis to show goldfish over the age of five and a half. Out of a hundred people over the age of twelve who still believed that mermaids would turn into bubbles after they died, ninety-nine of them were in the Youth Correctional Center. The last one was called Fei Na. I was pretty sure this was because yesterday morning, she was holding a high school physics book and wanted to discuss the relationship between the Law of Conservation of Mass and the volume of a mermaid that turned into bubbles. Isana was there, and then there was nothing …
I felt that I should try my best to reduce Fei Na and Liliana's contact in the future. The latter was passionate about using her curious worldview to wash away the nerves of normal people, and Fei Na, who didn't know anything, was undoubtedly the best experimental field for her. She would definitely try her best to instill all kinds of deviant common sense into Fei Na. I didn't dare to imagine what would happen if I let Fei Na continue to interact with this fake lolita, from the inside to the outside. There would come a day when this pure mechanical girl would become curious …
"Speaking of which, Avalon seems to be quite lively these past two days. A bunch of monsters are wandering around, and they're even mingling with many Atlantean gods. They even built a large hall outside the village — — you're considered neighbors with them. Do you know what's going on?"
I asked casually as I watched my elder sister teach Fei Na how to make tea.
"Because we're celebrating a newborn." Fei Na propped her chin with her finger and pretended to be reminiscing. "They said that it's very memorable, but I don't really understand. Population growth should be a natural law, and it's a waste to celebrate it."
As soon as Fei Na finished speaking, a group of girls in the living room rushed over. Shallow Shallow, Elder Sister Bubble, Lin Xue, and even Ji Shanshan surrounded Fei Na and me, looking at us with eager eyes. Everyone had a look of gossip on their faces. Women were the most passionate creatures in the world when it came to gossip. Even the usually calm elder sister couldn't control herself at this moment. The only exceptions were Sandora, Little Bubble, and Pandora. Two of them were genuinely uninterested, and the other one was busy chatting with the ants she caught. I felt that they should be called the Big, Small, and Calm Trio.
Visca's bright, blood-colored cat eyes were especially eye-catching in the circle of people. The little girl arched forward with all her might as she shouted, "Children? Children? Whose? Whose? Renault and Zeratul's? "
I almost slipped under the coffee table. Flustered and exasperated, I pinched Visca's little face, "What kind of nonsense is this!"
Visca's soft little face turned into a funny dough shape in my hand. She pointed at Bubble, whose eyes were shining, and mumbled, "She said that Zeratul and Renault are a couple …"
A second later, Bubble and Liliana were thrown into a basket.
With so many people asking questions, Fei Na was a little flustered. She probably didn't understand why these girls were so excited, even though she was a girl herself. Then, she thought about it and decided to answer my question first. That was, whose child was so important that so many people in Avalon were preparing to celebrate? It wasn't easy to gather a bunch of monsters to do one thing.
"It's an Atlantean child," Fei Na replied calmly under the crowd's gazes. "I don't remember his parents' names, but they seem to be civilians."
"Oh …"
There was a dejected response from all around. It was obvious that the beauties were disappointed. After all, it was just the birth of an ordinary Atlantean child. That meant that the group of monsters had gathered to celebrate purely on a whim.
However, there would always be a meticulous person who would notice the things that we had overlooked. While everyone was busy being disappointed, the big sister suddenly thought of something and reminded loudly, "Wait! If that's the case … that should be the first child born in Atlantis since the new era! "
Everyone was stunned for a moment before they finally reacted. This really wasn't an ordinary newborn.
Then, another sentence from Sandora raised the atmosphere again, "Not only since the new era, but it should be the first child born since Atlantis was torn from the earth."
I glanced at Sandora, who was smiling as she walked over, with a puzzled expression. She explained with a gentle smile, "Maybe you didn't pay attention to those files. I found it by chance when I was flipping through the information. Ever since Atlantis was torn from the earth and thrown into another world, they implemented a law that forbade childbirth. After so many years, this is the first time they welcomed a newborn."
"Forbade … childbirth?" Shallow Shallow was speechless. "Why? Why did they implement such a strange law? "
"It's simple. It's because the Atlantean God is immortal."
Sandora replied. Very quickly, we thought of many things and fell silent at the same time.
They were immortal, so they wouldn't have a decrease in population due to their lifespan. The Empire's modification had given them abnormally strong bodies, so it was difficult for their population to decrease due to daily accidents. Under such circumstances, these immortal modified humans were sent into the cold space of another world. There, they couldn't find a way to restart the starship, nor could they find any other planets that they could land on. There was no way to replenish their resources. The only thing that maintained the survival of the survivors was a large number of ancient machines that were in disrepair and were constantly malfunctioning. Even though those ancient machines produced enough materials to maintain the basic operations of the city, they couldn't provide them with enough living space. With the living space locked and the replenishment of resources that could dry up at any time, natural childbirth was prohibited.
In fact, the prohibition of natural childbirth was just a temporary measure. For the Atlantean survivors who didn't know when they would end their wandering lives, the limited living space of the starship was like the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. If one of those ancient machines that could stop working at any time stopped working, it would mean that tens of thousands of people in the city would lose their supplies. When that happened, it would be the greatest disaster. Not only would newborns be prohibited from being born, even the old, weak, and sick would be forced to give up. In fact, it was just a guess, but I was sure that such a thing had happened before.
When the disaster first arrived, the city of Atlantis became the final shelter for all the man-made gods. Almost every Atlantean who stayed near the "Holy City" rushed into the city with extremely limited space. After that, the city was thrown into another world and became a starship floating in space that had lost all its power. What awaited them was the ensuing shortage of resources.
This was a situation that would occur in every civilization during times of disaster. The last safe shelter would always be crowded with refugees that far exceeded its capacity. As the disaster continued, a large number of refugees would die due to the lack of living space. Something similar must have happened in the city of Atlantis. After all, even though they had been modified to resemble Gods, they weren't truly immortal Shiring Apostles. Even though they could travel in space with their physical bodies for a certain period of time, they still needed a stable supply of supplies in order to survive.
The sudden thought of this made us speechless. Even though Lin Xue had said more than once that our family was the most heartless group in history, even the Shallow Shallow couldn't bring herself to be heartless at this moment. However, this gloominess did not last long because no matter what, everything had passed. The Atlanteans had survived after all.
"This is indeed something worth celebrating."
The elder sister stroked Little Bubble's head gently and said in a low voice, "They didn't invite us. Perhaps they felt that the birth of a commoner child among them wasn't worth disturbing the 'gods', but …"
"Isn't it more appropriate to go and take a look?"
Shallow Shallow said what was on everyone's mind.
This was the first time that everyone in the family had unanimously agreed with Shallow Shallow's idea. We all felt that if we didn't get involved, we would be letting down the illustrious reputation of the First Family in the entire multiverse!
"Fina, when will the celebration begin?"
Seeing that Shallow Shallow was about to head back to her room to freshen up and get ready to set off, I quickly turned to Fina to understand the situation. Even though I was the 'God Leader' in the hearts of the Atlanteans, I didn't know much about their customs. I also didn't know what taboos there were in the so-called newborn celebration. Just a moment ago, I was still educating Fina about the taboos in normal social interactions. Now, the tables had turned on us.
What if the newborn celebration started on an auspicious day? It would be awkward for Shallow Shallow to barge into the delivery room and ask to carry the child out to take a look.
"If it's a celebration, it will be held this afternoon." Fina thought for a moment and nodded affirmatively. "There should still be some time. They said that the baptism can only be carried out after the newborn is 72 hours old. This is the 'newborn cycle' set by the Gods."
"It seems to be the time needed for the Schilling Host Machine to replicate the next generation of Mother Machines." Sandora explained to me in a low voice. I nodded in understanding. It seemed that this was another deified common sense of the Empire.
Hmm, in that case, it would actually take three days for a Mother Machine to replicate the next generation of Mother Machines. This was much longer than the time needed for a MP Machine. I remembered that the time needed to replicate a MP Machine was even shorter than cooking a plate of tomatoes and eggs. (Don't ask me why I linked the production time of a MP Machine to cooking. Didn't I just discuss this with Sandora when she was eating?) I didn't expect that Bubble would take three days to give birth to Little Bubble. Mother, you must have worked hard.
Bubble glanced at me and muttered in a low voice, "Why do I suddenly feel a little cold?"
I was speechless.
What a cruel sixth sense! Mother, you're awesome!
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