Guanliang maintained his grip on the briefcase. A buzzing filled his ears.
'More than ten children with personalities similar to Zero's...'
Guanliang stared blankly.
'Forget the Xianzhou Alliance...'
'The entire universe probably wouldn't be enough for them to split up!'
'Were they going to lead fleets beyond the edge of the sea of stars, head to other universes, and eventually conquer countless worlds to become rulers of all realms?!'
Guanliang's heart turned to ashes. Subconsciously, he looked toward the coldly gleaming knife and fork on the dining table.
The moment he opened his eyes, he could no longer see a future for the sea of stars.
When he looked up again, Zero's expression was just as ugly.
Zero spoke stiffly, "Zandar, don't worry, the people who know about this..."
Zandar forced a smile and immediately interrupted, "They're all one of us? What? Jingliu knows too?"
Zero lightly shook his head, "She doesn't know."
He actually wanted to tell her.
He just hadn't found the chance.
Maintaining a relationship required effort from both sides.
Jingliu had already been tolerant enough toward him.
He couldn't keep hiding it forever, could he?
Fortunately, Zero was very good at putting himself in other people's shoes.
If he were about to fall into mara, and Jingliu tried to seek death, and after he finally stopped her and proposed to her...
If during such a romantic moment, Jingliu repeatedly kissed him, tried to make him bite her hard enough to draw blood, then turned around and told him her flesh and blood could solve mara...
Zero would be extremely angry.
By the same logic, Jingliu would also be extremely angry.
Zero could only give up.
Zandar examined his student and casually said, "Oh, I thought you just hadn't found a chance to confess yet."
Zero, "..."
Zandar continued, "Luckily you're not the type to hide nothing from your lover and spill every secret like some lovestruck idiot."
Zero, "..."
'Who was a lovestruck idiot?'
Zandar kept talking nonstop, "The human heart is hard to predict. If something happened to her friends, can you guarantee she wouldn't ask you for help?"
Zero let it go in one ear and out the other. While nodding, he raised his eyes toward the champagne glass on the table.
When it came to intelligence, he really couldn't compare to Zandar.
Better to avoid eye contact as much as possible.
He raised his hand and picked up the champagne glass. Using the motion as cover, he turned his head to avoid Zandar's gaze and casually said, "How could that happen?"
Zandar instantly understood.
So he really just hadn't found a chance to say it.
What was so good about that woman? How had she managed to charm his student so badly?
Zandar took a deep breath and patiently said, "Your constitution is special, but that's fine. The Luofu happens to have an experimental subject..."
He paused briefly, then tapped the briefcase on the table.
"And you also have your children..."
Zero stayed silent for a long time.
There were many questions in his heart that still had no clear answers.
Zero's constitution was special.
He could easily interfere with and change other people's fates. But to what extent could he actually change them?
What exactly were the effects of his flesh and blood? Would long-term contact with Jingliu negatively affect her?
The experimental subject Zandar mentioned, Shuhu, might answer a small portion of those questions.
As for the remaining questions...
What exactly was his backup plan? During the cycle where he met Zandar, what had happened that made the other party repeatedly avoid the topic?
Perhaps only Hui Feng could answer Zero's confusion.
And this time, Zandar had specifically brought Guanliang over and gone in a huge circle all for his sake.
The other party didn't want him to get hurt.
Nor did he want anyone else learning the secret of his flesh and blood.
But... don't tear the roof open in this way.
One moment talking about raising more than ten children, the next talking about using his children for experiments...
Zero sighed inwardly.
He had no room to refuse.
Zero put down the champagne glass and looked toward Guanliang.
The other party tightly gripped the briefcase handle and refused to let go for a long time.
Zero sighed, "Guanliang, open it."
Hearing this, Guanliang let go. His palms were covered in sticky sweat. He picked up a napkin from the dining table, hurriedly wiped his hands, then opened the briefcase and showed its contents to the other two.
This entire case of blood samples was the medicine Zero left behind for the Xianzhou people to cure mara.
It was also the solution left for those seeking death.
Zero glanced at it briefly, "Alright, give it to me."
Zandar smiled and asked, "Does the quantity match? Check carefully."
"If someone with bad intentions used your blood to create your bloodline, wouldn't that be troublesome?"
At this point, Guanliang finally understood.
Zandar had gone through such a huge circle because he didn't want Zero to get hurt.
Guanliang sighed in admiration.
To be honest, it really worked.
No matter who it was, nobody wanted extra children appearing out of nowhere.
Guanliang closed the case, scrambled the password, and handed it to Zero.
"Returning it to its rightful owner."
Zero took it and immediately placed it into the system backpack.
He sighed, "Zandar, I really don't like children."
Zandar brought up Jingliu, "Did you ask your lover? Does she dislike them too?"
Zero thought to himself, 'Of course I've asked!'
'...Just not that directly.'
Back then, he had hinted indirectly to Jingliu that children were the most useless thing.
Jingliu treated him as Hua's child and thought the two had gotten into a conflict, so she tried hard to mediate between them.
Zero didn't want to keep thinking about it and could only change the subject.
"...Anyway, I don't plan to raise children."
Guanliang's mouth twitched slightly, "What are you thinking? Nobody needs you to raise them."
Looking through all the beings Zero had raised, Hua alone was the exception.
She neither ascended into godhood nor turned into a machine. She was still one of the few truly normal people in the Xianzhou, and one with extremely high value.
It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime rarity.
Like opening blind boxes, and after over five thousand years, only Hua came out.
If Zero personally raised children... that would be a disaster.
Zandar smiled and nodded along.
Zero frowned, "...Raising children isn't something simple."
"I don't want them to be born just to inherit the family business."
Zandar understood, "I get it."
"You want them to be like you."
Zero nodded.
In his memories of the past, he could not find any trace of family. He could only rely on the few words Zandar had mentioned to try piecing together that distant, untouchable past.
"My children..."
"Will grow up surrounded by love."
He paused briefly and softly said, "They don't need to understand me."
"And they definitely don't need to become me."
———
[The Alchemy Commission]
Dan Feng dismissed his subordinates, took out his jade abacus, and opened the group chat formed by the High Elders.
Just as he was about to start a video call, one of his subordinates entered uninvited. A few steps behind him was Dan Feng's assistant.
The assistant stammered, "C-Comission Head..."
The subordinate joked half-seriously, "You're still calling him Commission Head? Time to change that."
He revealed a sympathetic expression.
"Imbibitor Lunae, someone reported you for abusing your authority. After investigation, they discovered you used your position to have your subordinate take assessments in your place..."
"You've now been suspended."
Dan Feng, "..."
'So it was because of the psychological test!'
The subordinate comforted him, "Relax, Imbibitor Lunae. It's not a big deal. Just one week. You'll still receive your salary, just treat it as vacation."
Dan Feng, "..."
Was this a salary issue?
Did he lack money?
He really had underestimated Xiaolin.