Chapter 397: Changes (2)
When Andrei saw that Tolle still remembered his parents, he said happily, "Not at all, not at all. Compared to my father and mother, I'm still far from their level."
"How are Uncle Sergei and Aunt Helene doing lately?" Tolle asked.
"Thank you for asking, they're both doing very well. And when my mother heard that you were in the White Bear Nation, she immediately asked me to come and bring you home.
"If you have time, you must come visit our house. Please let my parents properly host you."
Faced with Andrei's enthusiasm, Tolle found it hard to refuse and nodded. "That would be my honor. I'm traveling anyway and have plenty of time, so I'll trouble you then."
After this exchange, Tolle felt that Little Bear's relationship with Bear Uncle seemed quite good. Since his mother was still alive, he probably wasn't as rebellious as in the original timeline.
Under Andrei's escort, they soon arrived at his home.
A graceful middle-aged woman opened the door. The moment she saw Tolle, she excitedly stepped forward and hugged him. "Oh, you really are Huaisite's child! You look exactly like him when he was young—like you were carved from the same mold."
Tolle said shyly from within her embrace, "Hello, Aunt Helene."
Inside the house, Sergei looked at Helene's behavior with a look of exasperation and said, "Alright, alright, old lady, let him come in first. It's cold outside—don't just keep standing there."
Seeing the middle-aged man with a scar on his face, Tolle immediately knew who he was. "Hello, Uncle Sergei."
When Sergei heard Tolle call him "uncle," he happily pulled him over from Helene's arms. "Hahaha, it's been so long! Dax. The last time I saw you, you were still very small—maybe you don't remember.
"Back then, I was standing downstairs at your place, and you just happened to pee all over me. Your father even joked that if I ever had a daughter, he'd definitely make her marry you.
"Out of so many people around, your baby pee landed right on my head—must've been fate.
"Too bad… I never had a daughter. Three sons instead…"
Tolle's eye twitched. Where did that taciturn, stern Bear Uncle go? How did he turn into such a chatty middle-aged man?
From the later conversation, Tolle also learned that in the future—around A.D. 2298—he had saved Helene.
During a conflict over orbital elevator solar energy, Helene's Fourth Mobile Platoon had been ordered to protect the elevator from a terrorist attack.
As the commanding officer, Sergei had ordered the Fourth Platoon to hold the ground section of the elevator, an order that nearly caused Helene's death.
Fortunately, Huaisite Xiao happened to arrive in a test MS to provide support, saving Helene and her comrades. From then on, their bond was formed.
Tolle couldn't help thinking that maybe his future self had been eyeing Soma Peries. Otherwise, why would he arrange something like peeing on Sergei's head?
But then again, whether it was Soma Peries or her original personality, Marie Parfacy, neither of them seemed particularly interested in Allelujah Haptism anyway.
It was always Allelujah doing the one-sided pining, so stealing her away didn't seem like a big issue.
Over the next few days, Tolle and Nami stayed at Andrei's house, chatting and laughing together.
Soon after, a representative from the Xiao Group arrived to escort him.
At the moment they met, Nami transmitted the person's information directly into Tolle's mind.
Kinue Crossroad—the older sister of Saji Crossroad, the journalist who would later be killed by Ali al-Saachez.
Tolle nearly spat blood. Even she had been arranged onto his side. His future self was really something else.
Kinue glared at Tolle angrily and said, "Dax! Haven't you played around enough? Since you're done, it's time to go home, isn't it?
"You're the head of the Xiao Group. You can't just dump everything on me, your secretary, forever."
For some reason, Tolle suddenly thought of Tony Stark's secretary, Pepper Potts. Maybe he really could hand over that Xiao Group—whatever it was—to her to manage.
Tolle put on a timid expression and said, "Sister Kinue, how about I appoint you as the CEO of the Xiao Group? That way you can manage things properly, and I can continue traveling the world."
Veins instantly popped out on Kinue's forehead as she clenched her fists. "No! There are still many things that require your personal decision. Don't even think about running away again!"
Then she turned to Nami and said, "Nami, as his personal bodyguard and head of the IT department, can't you talk some sense into Dax? Why do you let him fool around like this? And you didn't even bring more guards with you—what if something happened?"
"Eh—?!" Nami cried out in surprise, looking helplessly at Tolle for help.
In his mind, she said, "Master, Nami can't find any information about herself at all. What's going on?"
Tolle covered his face. As expected, he had been thoroughly arranged. Even Nami had been accounted for, her data deliberately erased to catch them off guard.
Unfortunately, while Nami's computational abilities were extremely strong, she was far from adept at human scheming.
He replied mentally, "Just observe for now. This is almost certainly my future self's doing, deliberately removing your records.
"But that also means our direction is definitely correct. We can safely replace this identity.
"Just act as you normally would. Speak less, don't reveal anything. They probably won't be able to detect anything either."
"Sorry for the trouble Dax has caused you these past few days."
"It's fine, it's fine. I was the one who invited him to stay."
Like an older sister, Kinue said her goodbyes to Sergei and Helene on Tolle's behalf.
Then she pulled Tolle along and left the Smirnov home, heading for the White Bear Nation airport, bound for the Huaxia Special Economic Zone where the Xiao Group was located.
At the airport, waiting with a sign was a blonde girl with long hair, and another short-haired girl who looked about seventy percent similar to Kinue.
Tolle immediately had Nami check their identities.
The blonde girl was Louise Halevy, and the one who looked similar to Kinue was… Saji Crossroad.
Tolle couldn't help sighing—this really was his usual style.
As for male characters he didn't particularly like, they either got sent off to collect their lunchboxes, or simply got turned into women.
The moment Louise saw Tolle, she rushed over, hooked her arm around his, and pressed close affectionately. "Brother Dax, it's been so long! I really, really missed you!"
Tolle had no way to deal with such a clingy girl and could only go along with it. "I missed you too—of course I did. How could I not miss such a cute little Louise?"
"Really? You're not lying to me?"
"Really. I'm not lying."
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