Chapter 1 Hao Ren's Misfortune

Hao Ren had no idea what he and Hesperiana had done to offend each other in their past lives, but ever since he met this neurotic "mini-Vivian," he was always on tenterhooks whenever he was with this brat. He simply couldn't understand the worldview in this little bat spirit's mind and where her prejudices against him came from. In the end, he could only attribute it all to the inevitable psychological problems of children left behind—Vivian had left this girl in Athens for hundreds of years, and the fact that the latter was only slightly neurotic was a testament to her strong will…

Anyway, the little bat spirit calling him "Second Dad" had embarrassed Hao Ren and Vivian for a full half hour.

Regardless of how much trouble she caused others, Hesperiana was quite happy herself. For the first time in thousands of years, she had successfully gotten closer to her beloved "Lady Vivian," so she was in a state of elation for the next two or three days. As long as she didn't go out and cause trouble, Hao Ren was too lazy to bother with this neurotic bat spirit. After entrusting the task of disciplining the child to Vivian, he buried himself in his work again.

The new ecosystem of Tanagus-Tromm was thriving, and the range of activity of the detection drone swarm was increasing day by day as the swarm proliferated. The construction units on the Purgatory Planet erected the first lightning rod tower late yesterday, and Becky sent a greeting letter. All kinds of information were gathered and presented to Hao Ren, and he was able to handle them with ease, disposing of them in no time.

Izhaks didn't go out with his daughter to collect old appliances today. He was whiling away the time on the sofa with a copy of the People's Daily. Seeing Hao Ren come out of the room, he grinned and said, "All done?"

"All done," Hao Ren patted his shoulder and threw himself onto the sofa, incidentally kicking away the stupid cat that never learned its lesson and was squatting on the armrest watching TV. "How many times have I told you not to squat up here!"

"Meow," it fell to the ground with a cry, then rolled over and balled up its paws to slap Hao Ren in the face, the whole movement smooth and without hesitation. While Hao Ren effortlessly dealt with this cat demon, whose combat power was even worse than Nangong Sanba's, he chatted with Izhaks about some trivial matters. He asked about the situation at the Demon King's Castle and Elizabeth's recent studies, while Izhaks was curiously inquiring about the customs and conditions on the Purgatory Planet. The old demon king was somewhat yearning for that wonderful planet, and he quite regretted not going along this time.

Despite having retired, Izhaks had after all marched into the stars and the sea, and his surging curiosity and spirit of exploration had not yet withered.

Then, as the two of them were chatting, Izhaks suddenly fell silent. He stared blankly behind Hao Ren, not moving for a long time.

"What's wrong?" Hao Ren asked as he turned his head, but this turn almost gave him whiplash. "Holy shit?"

He saw a golden-haired girl radiating a faint glow standing expressionlessly behind him. Her golden hair was draped over her shoulders, her figure was thin, and her face was familiar: it was actually the "Corpse Princess" form that the data terminal had taken in the Dream Ark of Tromm.

"Yo!" The golden-haired girl raised her hand in greeting, the expression on her face rapidly changing from stiff to lively. "Partner, do you think this unit's restoration is high?"

Hao Ren was finally sure that the one in front of him was his data terminal, but he never expected to see this version of the other party in the real world. "Terminal?! How did you suddenly become… like this?"

The golden-haired girl pointed to herself with a chuckle. "Because this unit has a maiden's heart."

At this moment, the sound of the door opening suddenly came, and Lily happened to be returning from a walk outside. The husky girl immediately saw a strange foreign girl in the living room and exclaimed, "Oh, who's this, Landlord? A new guest?"

"This is that brick!" Hao Ren was having a headache, thinking that having a husky with a bizarre mind was already enough trouble, but he never expected that this data terminal was also the type to do whatever came to mind. He reached out to grab the terminal's arm. "Maiden's heart my ass! What application did you download for yourself… huh?"

His hand passed directly through the other party's body, and the golden-haired girl's figure also began to sway unstably. When it vibrated up and down, even half of her calf sank into the floor, looking like a ghost. The golden-haired girl frantically retreated while shouting, "Don't move! Don't move! This unit hasn't stabilized yet!"

"A holographic projection?" Hao Ren finally understood what was going on. After understanding, he had a dark expression on his face. "You went to all the trouble of making a panoramic projection just to change your theme pack?"

The golden-haired girl put her hands on her hips (actually, just projecting an image of hands on hips). "This unit has decided to compete with Nolan for the position of battleship host in a dignified manner! Didn't she want to pull this unit out of the control slot last time? This unit thought about it carefully when it came back. Both are AIs running in the logic unit, so why does she have the right to speak? This unit thought about it all night and felt that the main reason was because she had a human appearance. This is the only difference between this unit and her…"

As she said that, the golden-haired girl spun around in place. "Cerebral Thrombosis Unhealed Type Corpse Princess Pattian, this time I will definitely make her give up the console slot willingly to this unit!"

Hao Ren was immediately stunned by this guy's neurotic remarks. He really didn't know where to start complaining—should he complain that this guy brazenly used "Cerebral Thrombosis Unhealed" as her signature, or should he complain about the power struggle between the two AIs for a host slot?

Even Izhaks was dumbfounded. The demon king looked at it for a long time before stroking his chin and nodding thoughtfully. "That's a bit interesting… I remember there's a creature called 'Mirage Demon' in my hometown that's like this. Their main body is a large insect, but they can project a realistic image around themselves through the crystal on their back. They use this method to disguise themselves as tempting traps. They're very interesting fellows."

Hao Ren chuckled dryly. "I don't care whether it's interesting or not. I just want to remind this guy: your calf is sinking into the floor again."

The data terminal's holographic image quickly lifted itself up: during this process, there was no physical movement at all, just the entire figure rising up like a ghost. As a result, this lift exceeded two decimeters, and the whole person became floating in mid-air. "She" adjusted several times before finally stabilizing. "Hoo… that wasn't easy. This unit's height sensor isn't meant for this."

Lily curiously went forward to study this "body" formed by holographic projection. She even reached out and shook her hand inside the golden-haired girl's stomach twice. "The appearance is almost indistinguishable from a real shadow—except that it glows. Hey, I seem to be touching something?"

As Lily said that, she pinched something she touched and shook it back and forth, and the golden-haired girl's entire body immediately shook with it. "Don't… don't! That's this unit's main body! You're touching this unit's shell!"

The terminal's protest was useless. This instead greatly aroused Lily's playfulness. The husky girl smoothly lifted the data terminal's main body into the air—and visually, it looked like she was lifting a golden-haired girl into the air, with her hand stuck in the other's stomach. The whole scene was as bizarre as a restricted horror movie. "Gun" was originally just lying lazily on the side watching the fun, but after seeing this terrifying scene, he meowed in fright and jumped up high, directly stepping on Hao Ren's head and the back of the sofa to jump to the opposite side of the living room.

Just as Hao Ren was about to tell Lily not to play too rough, he suddenly heard the kitchen door open, and Elizabeth ran out yelling, "Uncle Ren, Uncle Ren! Something's wrong! Doudou doesn't look too… eh?"

The little demon raised her eyes and saw Lily holding a person in the air and shaking her back and forth. She opened her mouth blankly, and after a few seconds, she squeezed out a sentence: "...That's so exciting!"

Hao Ren waved his hand in front of Elizabeth's eyes. "Don't mind her—what did you say was wrong with Doudou?"

Elizabeth immediately woke up and immediately gesticulated to explain to Hao Ren: "I don't know what's wrong! Doudou suddenly said her stomach was uncomfortable, and then she couldn't stop spinning in circles in the water!"

After hearing Elizabeth's explanation, Hao Ren immediately became nervous and ran to the water room.

In the water room, Doudou was staying in the large water basin specially for her to frolic in, her body crookedly swimming in circles in the water, occasionally slapping her tail hard, stirring up a scattered splash of water. When Hao Ren ran over to check the situation, the little guy jumped out of the water, looking very energetic and greeting him: "Daddy! Swimming, huh?"

Seems like she's okay?