NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1 I'm Back
"..."
Yila leaned against a door, looking at the neon lights flickering outside the huge glass on the corridor... the carpet spread out on the floor, and the rocks, trees, and vase decorations that could be seen at intervals outside the corridor.
Proof that the price and the status of the house's residents were not low.
Outside the door was a bustling street in this district, with countless high-rise buildings, as well as street vendors selling all kinds of things—fish balls, coarse noodles, and fish balls with coarse noodles.
Of course, there was no shortage of various electronic and paper advertisements, perfectly combined, giving both a "retro" and "sci-fi" feeling.
In short, it was Jiulong City.
Inside the door Yila leaned against, three people were conversing; a middle-aged man, a middle-aged woman, and a very young-sounding girl… and Yila just leaned there quietly.
His face remained calm, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
"..."
Then, a snake shed its head from above... yes, although it sounded strange, the snake was indeed hanging upside down from the ceiling like a real snake, appearing in Yila's field of vision.
Her hair obeyed the laws of physics, hanging down, making her look like a female ghost from an old horror movie.
"Aren't you going to see your family?"
The snake asked softly... but in fact, the house's soundproofing was top-notch. If Yila and the snake weren't "Transcendent," others wouldn't hear them talking.
"I don't understand your obsession and determination..."
The snake said, jumping down from the ceiling and patting the silent Yila on the shoulder, saying, "But from any angle, I don't see a reason for you to deliberately avoid seeing your parents and sister."
Indeed, that was the truth.
"It's not deliberate."
Yila refuted the snake's words, sighed helplessly, and shook his head slightly, saying irrelevantly, "Do you know how long it's been since I last saw them?"
Then, without waiting for the snake to guess, Yila straightforwardly said, "You should know too. It has been ten years since I returned when I was in the Federation, plus sixty years on the Main Plane... although those sixty years, time in the Federation didn't really pass."
In other words...
"Actually, is it 'fear of returning home'?"
To such a question from the snake, Yila hesitated for a moment, then nodded, listening to the conversation behind the door... he said emotionally, "They seem to be doing well, Yi Xiaoxiao has already grown up... I don't need to interfere with their lives."
If this was Yila's choice, then the snake didn't have much to say. After all, she was just Yila's Golden Finger, at best, a cat Yila had raised during his time in the Federation.
"Hey, look... I saw a video of my brother again."
"Oh~ I've been seeing it every day recently too... That kid is amazing in another world."
"Yes, but recently I heard from those who came over that it seems that world is also about to end."
"Hahaha, poor brother."
"Didn't people often come to see us before, saying they were Xiaola's subordinates?"
"He didn't clarify whether they were subordinates from the Federation or another world."
"That guy? Most likely from another world..."
"I just wonder when Yila will come back."
"..."
At the door, amidst his parent's and sister's conversation, the snake inquired Yila with her eyes... and Yila just shook his head, signaling that there was no need for him to meet his family.
Then...
"Lord Yila?"
A man dressed like an Alchemist saw Yila standing in the corridor, greeted him, and said in surprise, "What a coincidence, just bumped into you."
Hmm? What's with this guy?
With a puzzled expression, Yila watched as the male Alchemist raised the fruit basket in his hand and smiled, saying, "I died before, heard Lord Yila lived here, and thought about how much you took care of us, so I decided to come and see you."
The male Alchemist said, smiling as he handed the fruit basket to Yila, "But since Lord Yila is preparing to return, I'll just leave the fruit with you..."
This guy got it wrong, I don't usually live here... I have an approved house in Central City, which is closer to the Racial Determination Department; this house is one I bought myself.
Thinking this way, Yila chatted with the male Alchemist a bit, understanding that... this guy just died recently in the "Calamity" of Resurrection of the Dead, really too careless.
The Alchemist, smiling awkwardly, left the house... leaving Yila and the smiling snake with the fruit basket.
"So, why don't you take this opportunity... and re-gift the flowers?"
The snake said, and Yila glanced at her, then placed his hand on her head, forcing her to look at him, saying, "You, turn into a cat!"
This wasn't some strange play, but...
If Yila walked in with a woman, his parents and sister would definitely make a big fuss and say a bunch of stuff, making things very complicated.
"Hmm~ hmm~"
The snake, understanding this, made a hum like a villager from MC, then quickly transformed... into the long-haired Ragdoll cat familiar in Yila's memory.
Because no matter how you look at it, it was the cat from his previous life, Yila felt very complicated now... He looked speechlessly at the snake meowing, then jumping to lie on the fruit basket.
Though he knew it was the snake, Yila couldn't help but pet the cat a few times.
...
Wait, if the cat was the snake from the beginning, then when I used the bathroom, having human intelligence... why did the cat still like to follow me?
Also, when the cat licked itself, was it the snake licking herself? To pretend to be a cat, did she sacrifice too much, or was she too hard on herself?
This question lingered in Yila's mind, leaving him unable to calm down for a long time, and because he would never really ask, this question might remain an eternal mystery.
But for now, indeed...
"Knock, knock, knock~"
Yila gently knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
"..."
"Huff~"
Facing his mother's inquiry inside the door and his sister's "bang bang bang" running to open the door, Yila responded as any Federation person would, with "don't say your name, just say 'it's me'" —
"It's me, I'm back."