Xyrin Empire-Chapter 734 Dingdang×3000

(I’ll try putting the request for monthly tickets at the beginning—please, monthly tickets~!~!)

An overwhelming leaf storm unexpectedly hit me in the face, but what was even more surprising was the countless green figures that burst out with the leaves. Perhaps the sight of thousands of Dingdangs chirping and rushing over was truly dumbfounding. The next second, before I could react, I was solidly knocked down by the incoming collision and buried under the forest leaves, becoming a pitiful grave.

Finally, I knew where those "Goddesses" had been hiding all along—it was such a simple answer: They were hiding under the thick layer of fallen leaves on the ground. The hiding skills of these simple-minded Little Ones were probably limited to this, judging by the behavior of the Supreme Life Goddess, I should have guessed the average IQ of the Life Goddesses wasn’t much higher than Dingdang’s.

But after all, they are Gods, plus they were hiding under the leaves which have a high affinity for life. Usually, one wouldn’t notice these Little Things until they were smacked right in the face—I then realized: Oh, so these Dou Dings all burrowed into the fallen leaves.

Adorable overload.

"Shh—these Little Things are surprisingly strong for their size."

Pelted by countless Three-inch Dings, it felt like being hit by hail. It was indeed worthy of being Gods. Even though they were sent flying while arm-wrestling with the Dragon God, the strength they possessed compared to their size was still considerable. Rubbing my forehead, which had been hit the hardest by some Little Elf, I lay on the ground, brushing the leaves off my face, and just then, I met the smiling gaze of Jiajia, the Leader of the Life Goddesses, known as Little One.

And on me, groups of Three-inch Dings were hopping about, holding hands, jubilant as if they had found a new playground, each little guy radiating victorious joy.

So, was that flurry just now a mischievous plot by the Supreme Life Goddess? Had she arranged this surprise attack using something like a Spiritual Connection?

"Hehe, it was just a greeting," exclaimed one of the four leaders of the Divine Realm, a Lady Goddess, with a laugh totally unbefitting her status, "We always pull a little prank when welcoming new friends!"

"Alright, alright, I’m not mad." I shrugged helplessly, amused by the playfulness of these "Gods," suddenly feeling something squeaky beneath me, so I reached down, and guess what?

Yep, I pulled out a short-haired Little Douding, dizzy and confused with crumpled wings. Poor kid must have been disoriented and flown into the wrong spot, and I ended up squishing her beneath me!

But this clumsy Little Goddess was just the beginning. Soon I felt more squirming under me, which made me change color rapidly, propping myself up quickly. The Dou Dings that had piled on top of me suddenly let out a chorus of cries, scattering like a startled swarm of dragonflies, while I turned to look at several "Wild Dingdangs" dizzily spinning on the ground, and a few Little Ones struggling to wriggle out from under my thighs. Some had already emerged, clumsily pulling their wings out as I lifted my leg, freeing two or three "Wild Dingdangs" who zipped away with tiny squeaks of alarm.

The Nearly-squished Little Things crookedly flew to a big stump in the clearing, tenderly smoothing their wings. Meanwhile, the others who were unscathed hurried over to help, or rather to hinder. Jiajia began to fly up and down, directing the medical efforts while Dingdang "pia ji" landed on my face: "Wow! Ah Jun is so awesome!"

Can I ask whose side you are on? Your sisters would definitely cry if they heard this!

"Sorry about that, they’re not hurt, are they?"

I approached anxiously and looked at the group of wild Dingdangs gathered on the big tree stump. Surprisingly, despite such a massive failure, each Little Douding was grinning, even the one whose wings were crushed like folded paper began to giggle shortly after a brief sulk, as if such distressing feelings never lasted more than two seconds on them. When they realized someone was watching them, many Little Doudings also looked up and waved at me cheerfully, looking very happy. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"It’s okay, it’s okay," Jiajia, standing in the middle of the tree stump, was quite the general, "These setbacks are necessary for victory, and it’s pretty fun too! The Life Goddesses aren’t so easily hurt, big Mortal."

I watched these carefree little creatures in disbelief when more "Big Dragonflies" that emitted green light points curiously landed on my shoulders. Firstly, they blinked their shiny eyes and carefully tugged at my hair. When they realized they weren’t getting smacked, their courage greatly increased. They brought their friends over and swarmed in, starting to slide down my arms. Each time halfway through, they’d fall off, but this game still seemed endlessly fun for them. Some others discovered my pockets, and the bravest ones even crawled in, undoubtedly found lollipops inside, and then cheered as they carried the lollipops to share with their sisters. Dingdang sat atop my head, her designated spot which Little One never gave up. Watching her specially reserved lollipops being carried away by sisters, this sugar-loving little creature still looked gleeful. Clearly, in the Life Goddess camp, a deep spirit of sharing was embraced.

In less than a minute, I had become an exhibition stand for this group of Little Ones who, unintentionally, took off and landed, rolled, slid, and searched for candy on someone else’s body, drawing friends along, reminding me of the time as a kid when I went to the park to feed pigeons and ended up covered in those silly birds. Clearly, these Life Goddesses were even more playful than pigeons, especially once they found most of my pockets could be searched for candies.

I stood there helplessly, terribly embarrassed by the unabashed plundering of countless wild Dingdangs, even more so because I was afraid of hurting these delicate Little Elves and dared not make any sudden movements. Dingdang sat on her throne, commanding as if she was in charge of prisoners, like a general.

"Um, you guys..."

After enduring for a few minutes, my pockets had been thoroughly searched by the animal-like behavior of the wild Dingdangs. Seeing these joyful Little Doudings still relentlessly scrambling over me, I finally couldn’t help but speak up, and the sudden sound immediately provoked a sharp, ear-tingling scream as the "Goddesses" gathered on my shoulder flapped away in a flurry.

"Finally, it feels much better now." Although there were still plenty of daring Doudings hanging on me, at least my upper body was freed. I carefully shooed away most of the "hanging items" and sat down nearby on a tree stump. The wild Dingdangs that were previously gathered on the stump were intensely debating over a lollipop and ran to the side with the candy as soon as they saw me approach like an imposing authority.

The image-less God Leader, who had been watching the chaos unfold with a mischievous smirk, now hovered in front of me, giggling as she apologized, "Haha, sorry about that. The last time Dingdang came back, she brought a lot of weird candies, you know? We usually receive honey gifted from other mortal realms, but indeed, we still love the ’world’s best candies’ that Dingdang talks about."

Gifted honey, huh?

I sighed softly, wondering if not only my side but all believers (true) of the Life Goddess must adhere to such frustrating doctrines.

"So, the real traitor is you, little one." I reached up, plucked Dingdang from atop my head, grabbing her wings and swinging her back and forth in the air. The latter had no consciousness of betraying her master and just dangled her arms, playing along with a "hanging corpse" posture.

The nearby open ground, tree stumps around, branches not far off, even mid-air and my legs were covered with energetic wild Dingdangs. Despite their varied appearances, their love for candy seemed remarkably uniform. The number of candies they found on me of course wasn’t enough for thousands of Little Doudings to enjoy, so these loving little sisters naturally started sharing their spoils. Often, you could see a lollipop being unwrapped and floating mid-air, then the surrounding wild Dingdangs would discuss intensely before deciding the tasting order. How should I put it...

Is this group really one branch of the four Divine Systems?

I feel utterly baffled.

Dingdang and Jiajia had a very close relationship, so close that Dingdang proactively invited Jiajia to sit on my head, which I, representing their friendship, could only respond to with silence. The whispering of these two Little Ones reached my ears vaguely, but unfortunately, it was all in the Divine Race language that I couldn’t understand—Was it possibly a girlish secret topic? Anyway, I remembered something I had heard before, that Dingdang was a new generation of Gods, grown directly from the vine of the Supreme Life Goddess, and has been her close playmate since childhood. Now it seemed that this was absolutely true.

"So, uh, can any of you explain what exactly is happening now?"

I moved a bit and the nearby Little Doudings who had been tossing rope ladders onto their legs scattered with a chirping sound, leaving me, thoroughly confused by this messy situation, hoping that the two Little Ones on my head could explain.

Because I had just tried, and these Life Goddesses running around me would startle at the slightest movement of this "tall mortal;" you’d think they were timid, but they dared to rummage in a stranger’s pocket for food and slide and swing on me—if you say they were bold, I couldn’t find a single Douding that would stop and have a decent conversation with me.

"Today is the day for a gathering!"

Dingdang lay on my head, gently kicking with her little feet. "The sisters like to gather at night to play, and Sister Goddess will also attend. It’s a celebration of the Life Goddesses themselves and we rarely invite others!"

"So everyone’s a bit curious about you," Jiajia followed, "Dingdang has mentioned you, and so has Xingchen. Many people have mentioned you, and now they finally see you in person, everyone is very excited."

"But your enthusiasm is quite scary."

I sincerely lamented; it turned out that I was fast becoming a playground for the Goddesses: Were all these little guys this hospitable?

"It’s because you are a good person," Jiajia loudly affirmed. "We rarely get close to strangers, but Dingdang said you are someone very approachable. Moreover, God’s judgment tells us one thing—you are a good person, and good people are safe!"

Ding a ling a ding, saying it once is enough, what’s with the triple attack and piling on?

At this moment, I deeply suspected whether this seemingly innocent Supreme Life Goddess was actually someone who very much enjoyed teasing others, as evidenced by her plan to have a group of Big Dragonflies launch a flying pounce attack on the guests.

Jiajia and Dingdang chaotically introduced me to the Little Goddesses’ gathering activities, which I interpreted as a party of Happy Little Elves gathering with nothing better to do. Evidently, the gatherings held by the Life Goddesses didn’t have any themes; they merely got together to play when they felt like it. Since the Life Goddesses were happy most of the time, such gatherings happened quite often. As the leader of the Divine System, Jiajia was the organizer of each gathering, and this plain’s "forest layer" was their venue for activities.

Coincidentally, today was the day the Little Elves had gathered to "celebrate the Supreme Life Goddess producing tastier Blue Ice Grapes than before," and a previous minor scuffle involving someone and a group of rowdy, fiery creatures was precisely the direct cause that had drawn out our Lady Goddess.

Unexpectedly, just coming out for a stroll in the evening could lead to such an interesting event; I felt today was truly worth it, as the peculiar daily habits of the Life Goddesses were truly eye-opening. In an instant, the mysterious Divine Race felt a lot more humanized to me—although they hardly retained any sense of mystery in my eyes anymore.

"There are no requirements for the gathering, come if you want, leave if you wish, any Life Goddess can join, and the venue is filled with lots of honey to eat!" Dingdang cheerfully explained while hopping on my hand. I looked around, indeed, this casual and spontaneous gathering really seemed just like a pure honey feast—crowds of Three-inch Dings without any celebratory program nor someone leading, mainly congregating into groups to chatter or play some games I couldn’t understand, but the one thing in common was the sugar crumbs sticking to their mouths.

A little one with hair tied into two small ponytails and a somewhat timid expression came up to me and gently tugged at the hem of my shirt. The tug was so light that one might not even feel it unless they happened to see her do it—I might have completely missed her otherwise.

"Um, Dingdang’s friend, do you have any more candy?" The unknown wild Three-inch Ding spoke up softly, then lifted a round golden yellow ball, "This is Lulu’s stored candy, I’ll trade with you!"

"Wow, you’re not afraid of cavities," I laughed as I saw a circle of expectant eyes around me (which needed serious observation). I simply took out the portion originally kept for Pandora from my personal space, a big pile of delicately made candy, some of them I even made myself from Shadow City, were stacked on a tree stump. The little one claiming to be Lulu immediately stowed away her sugar ball and darted toward the pile of candy: "Whoa—plop."

The little one collided into a huge arm.

"Hey, what about the candy we agreed to trade?"

"I’m not trading anymore, not trading!" The little one quickly reneged, "You have so much already, it’s not a good deal!"

I was deeply shocked by the audacity of a Dou Ding Goddess to unhesitatingly renounce her words right to my face; I thought they were all as silly as Dingdang, but it turned out there were such characters among them!

A whole lot of candy was swept away in moments again, this cheap mortal world food certainly wasn’t considered a delicacy in the Divine Realm, but I was sure there were tastier things here. However, the Life Goddesses were a group who loved novelties; apart from appetite, what they felt about Dingdang’s highly praised lollipops was probably more of curiosity.

While I was smiling and watching the group of Three-inch Dings continue to play, a pink bubble suddenly floated before my eyes, and hilariously, inside it was a startled little one dancing frantically—well, it seems a bubble gum got mixed in by accident, but who can tell me how on earth eating bubble gum ends up trapping oneself in a bubble? And bubble gum isn’t a helium balloon, how did it even fly up?!

This is unscientific!

The Three-inch Ding trapped in bubble gum was only the beginning, soon I found myself surrounded by all sorts of ridiculous dramas: a little goddess who shared that accidentally mixed bubble gum now had her entire face covered, blindly bumping around like a headless fly; two energetic Dou Dings swinging half-eaten lollipops in a fight, laughing mischievously while stealthily licking each other’s candy sticks; a clumsy goddess on the opposite tree stump seemed puzzled by the lollipop wrappers and was trying to eat them—wishing you a stomach as good as Sandora’s. The first pitiful one I had flattened earlier had grabbed a piece of elastic candy, now she was struggling to tilt her mouth to avoid the awkwardness of being bounced by the candy every time she bumped her head against it. The funniest was a pair of Three-inch Ding Goddesses who looked exactly like twins, sharing a piece of highly chewy Silvia specialty liquorice. We all know that stuff is sticky, and Silvia’s specialty...

Anyway, now the two sisters have turned into conjoined Slimes, and they are struggling hard. I’m really curious how they ate the candy to end up this way. However, strictly speaking, even eating candy can lead to so many situations, how odd Life Goddesses are.

Having just one Dingdang at home was already joyful enough, but now with thousands of Dingdang-like creatures gathered together, the scene was spectacular. It’s just unfortunate that Qianqian and others didn’t come along this time, and the gathering is almost over (their spontaneous gatherings only last a short while; once the candy is gone and the chatting is done, they disperse), and now it would be inappropriate to go back and bring a bunch of people over for the fun. Otherwise, I would love to have my family come see this.

At that moment, Jiajia just happened to fly past, and I suddenly remembered something, so I asked, "Jiajia, you mentioned Xingchen several times just now, who is that?"

I was a bit curious; has my name already started to spread in the Divine Realm? How did that Xingchen know my name?

Jiajia looked over here with a surprised expression, somewhat astonished, "Eh? You don’t know? Xingchen is Father God, Xingchen is Jiajia’s best friend!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote at qidian.com your support is my greatest motivation.)