Chapter Fifty-Two: Return!

At night, Guo Lang and his family of three—well, theoretically a family of three—sat at the peachwood dining table in their room, enjoying tonight’s dinner. The crops grown by the little elf matured the same day they were planted; the table was adorned with exquisite fruits unique to the elven race, and vegetables whose names he couldn’t even guess. Even the bread made from flour exuded a captivating fragrance. Food from the elves was renowned among all races, and this was the result of Laura’s limited culinary skills. If a master chef from the elves had been in charge…

Guo Lang watched the mother and daughter, his gaze softening. Their dining style was similar—both were ladylike. Though Alice sometimes behaved like a mischievous child when eating chocolate, she always acted gracefully at the dinner table.

“Mom, will you braid my hair tonight?” Alice asked, trying to be adorable.

“You’re sleeping by yourself tonight!” Laura replied unexpectedly, and silence instantly enveloped the room. Guo Lang was utterly frozen in place.

“So you’ll sleep in Dad’s room tonight?” Alice broke the silence with her question.

“Yes.” Laura nodded slightly as she ate her salad topped with fresh elven blueberries, her expression perfectly natural.

But Guo Lang, the person most involved, was completely paralyzed, juice dribbling down his chin as he stared, looking utterly foolish. He thought to himself, “Did I hear that right? She’ll sleep with me? Heaven help me, am I really going to lose my virginity tonight, after two lifetimes? I’m not ready for this!”

“Dad, your juice is dripping. That’s disgusting!”

“Oh!” Guo Lang hurriedly wiped his mouth.

“Dad, why are you crying?”

“I’m moved!” Guo Lang answered emotionally, tears and snot streaming down his face. “Just think—I came here, picked up a daughter for free, and now I’ve got her mother as well. This story is so damn inspiring!”

Laura: “………”

In the quiet of the night, the two sat on the large bed in the room. As an inexperienced man, Guo Lang was clearly nervous, while Laura remained calm and composed.

“Shall we shower first?” Guo Lang asked meekly.

“Mm,” Laura replied.

Half an hour later, the two finally tangled together, but after only a few minutes, Laura’s puzzled voice broke the darkness: “Is… this your first time?”

Guo Lang, having struggled for ages to find the right place, finally nodded in embarrassment.

Laura sighed. “Let me handle it.”

Guo Lang lowered his head, even more ashamed. “Okay.”

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In the real world:

In the national assembly hall of the Federation’s Northern European region, all the important officials were gathered. It didn’t matter which party they belonged to—even officers from the judiciary were present. The scene was grand; not even the last declaration of war against a minor Third World country had seen such a turnout.

Everyone, including the president, looked grim, their faces serious as they stared at the PPT projected ahead. The man presenting was the Northern European region’s CIA director: Worsen Hank.

He pointed solemnly at the Alpha Corporation logo on the slide. “Alpha is a privately established online entertainment company in our Northern European region. After more than a decade of development, it has become a giant in the online entertainment industry thanks to its outstanding games. Every year, it contributes nearly ten billion federal credits in taxes, making it a key enterprise supported by our nation.”

“No need for that fluff. Get to the point!” President Vemil Trick spoke with a dark expression, a far cry from his jovial public persona. The pressure in the room was palpable.

“Yes, Mr. President,” Hank said, bowing as he flipped through several slides. He continued, “This game called Titan held a press conference two years ago, claiming it was the world’s first neural-linked fully intelligent game. It caused a storm at the time, and coverage hasn’t stopped since. Alpha Corporation even set up an online voluntary investment fund, citing high development costs and encouraging private investors.”

“So they’re just scamming for money?” sneered the Treasury Minister. “What happened?”

“There was plenty of negative talk, and many accused Alpha of pulling a fast one, but the reality is that more than five hundred million people worldwide contributed, with donations ranging from a few credits to hundreds of thousands.”

They certainly knew how to do business, everyone thought.

“The game’s first test was highly anticipated by the nation. Logically, such a game shouldn’t be possible—our military technology is usually a decade ahead of civilian markets! Our region has always led the global science scene, yet even our senior experts insisted that with current technology, such a thing couldn’t be made.”

The president frowned. “So what were the test results?”

“The National Cyber Security Agency organized the largest systematic test ever, and found nothing wrong. Alpha actually produced this game!” He paused. “So the public test was approved. You all know what happened next: within an hour of the test launch, people began reporting that those in the game pods had vanished. Thousands of such reports flooded in, prompting a major investigation. We found that everyone inside a game pod had disappeared without a trace.”

The president pressed, “Did you find out why?” He was anxious—nearly fifty million people in the Federation had participated, making this the largest incident since the Federation’s founding.

“The research department is studying samples, but the materials used in the game pods are bizarre and impossible to dismantle. We’ve tried everything, even lasers, but nothing leaves a mark.”

Everyone was stunned.

As if the shock wasn’t enough, Hank dropped another bombshell: “And at our research institute in Newell City, one of the sample game pods suddenly produced a person. She appeared out of nowhere; we had checked thoroughly during transport, confirming it was empty. But a living person suddenly emerged, just like in a sci-fi film.”

The president’s expression changed, clearly unsettled by the surreal story. He took a breath and asked, “Where is she now? Has her identity been determined?”

“According to surveillance data, we used the SkyEye system to identify the girl. Her name is Natalie, an undergraduate at Newell University, majoring in monetary banking. Her father was a Navy major who died five years ago in the Third World conflict. Her mother is a kindergarten teacher living over a thousand kilometers away in Yorkel Town.”

“Surveillance?” The president immediately caught Hank’s choice of words.

“Yes, as you suspect, Mr. President—she escaped.”

“Newell City’s research institute is as secure as the capital. How did a university girl escape?”

“Regrettably, this girl seems extremely skilled. Here’s the surveillance footage of her escape,” Hank said, opening the video.

Everyone watched as the girl took down the guards with swift, precise movements—far superior to any of their own security agents. Then came the jaw-dropping moment: she approached the building’s glass, produced a short sword from somewhere, sliced through high-strength reinforced glass, and leapt from the thirtieth floor. The external cameras caught her rolling as she landed, and she ran off without a scratch!

The entire assembly stared in disbelief. Skilled? This was superhuman! Let’s not even discuss the glass—she jumped from the thirtieth floor and was completely unharmed?

“Her rolling technique upon landing was quite professional,” Hank commented sincerely.

Everyone gave him strange looks. Was that really relevant? While most hadn’t served in the military or police, they knew these moves from movies—and they weren’t exaggerated. Rolling upon landing does help cushion the impact, the military standard for high-altitude drops. Straight-legged landings shorten the force duration and cause injury; a roll extends it, reducing average force and cushioning the fall. But that works for three floors at most—even elite soldiers are limited to that. This was thirty floors. Does proper technique explain that?

And the girl’s running speed after landing was like a fully tuned F6 race car. Was this surveillance footage, or a sci-fi movie?

“I was also floored by the footage, but unfortunately, it’s all real,” Hank said, shrugging helplessly at the shocked senior officials.

“Deploy guards around her mother. The girl is likely to contact her. Assign your best men—I want her captured alive!” The president, recovering, showed a hint of excitement.

“Mr. President, I ordered that the moment I received the footage yesterday. But I’m sorry to say,” Hank’s face darkened, “my men, along with local special forces—a total of fifty, fully armed—were all taken out yesterday. Judging by the wounds, the girl did it with that short sword.”

Once again, everyone was stunned, the hall falling eerily silent.

“Gentlemen, the bad news doesn’t end there. Since yesterday, this is the third such incident, not counting those we don’t know about!” Hank leaned forward, hands on the table, staring coldly at the assembly. “This event may be far more serious than we imagined.”