Chapter 426 – Cathulhu Meets Mao Miaomiao Again
DING
<Protagonist Zhou Yu has been slain by Protagonist Solomon.>
<Protagonist James Huntsman has been slain by Protagonist Solomon.>
<The feud between you and James Huntsman has been canceled.>
Xiaomao glanced at the notification messages. Everything went according to his plan so far.
[Mu-Nyang]: "You're crazy, master."
[Foresight]: "This is insane."
[Cathulhu Instinct]: "This is madness!"
Xiaomao giggled as he almost said, "This is SPARTA!". He reeled in the fishing hook and put the rod away as he completed the first phase of his plan.
"Solomon got three heavenly fate crystals now. He might be strong, but I doubt his [Story] can beat the power of friendship."
[Mu-Nyang]: "What do you mean, munya?"
"This is something that father, I mean, Mao Miaomiao overlooks. Mu-Nyang, remember what I taught you when you were young? About the luck of protagonists?"
[Mu-Nyang]: "I do. The protagonist with higher luck always eats the weaker protagonists, munya."
"What do you think LUCK comes from?"
[Mu-Nyang]: "Obviously, karma, munya."
Xiaomao shook his head, "This is why you're in this situation, silly cat."
[Mu-Nyang]: "I'm wrong?! What is wrong with it, munya?"
"You forgot that multiple protagonists can unite to fight common foes. Thus, the trope "Power of Friendship" is a thing. Also, stolen luck is not his. He might be strong, but he will soon succumb to the [Protagonist Trial] that I used to teach you. Remember what they have to go through before they can achieve their goals? Solomon hasn't done anything to contribute to his [Story] yet. He just starts his journey, and he hasn't proven the qualification of a protagonist yet."
[Mu-Nyang]: "Start of the journey, munya? AHHH!!"
After enlightening Mu-Nyang, Xiaomao turned his attention to the passengers on Amon. He gazed at Zhuge Liang, Bianca, Jungwoo, and the silent Lee Jinyong, who kept a low profile along the trip.
The others looked at Xiaomao in bemusement. Jungwoo asked him, "What's up? You've been talking to yourself for a long time now. Who are you talking to?"
"My silly stepson, munya."
"You have a son?!" Everybody was surprised.
"Son of mine in the previous life, munya. Anyway, has everybody packed up?"
The group of protagonists looked at each other and nodded. On the other hand, Zhuge Liang frowned at Xiaomao as he noticed everything the latter had done. Moreover, he could no longer calculate his future with his specialties.
Although Zhuge Liang was in trouble, he maintained his pokerface as he spoke.
"Lord Xiaomao. I don't think what you did can improve our situation. You made it worse! Now, we can't predict the outcome of the fight anymore. It's likely that we will all die."
"Yeah, that's the plan. What about it, munya?"
"Could you enlighten me on what you were doing and what you were trying to achieve?"
Xiaomao snickered. He pointed at the volcano, "We're going to regroup with my father and attack the dungeon head-on, munya. As for the non-participants, we will ditch them here as they will only bring us down, munya. Of course, that includes Sima Yi."
"WHAT?!"
Zhuge Liang narrowed his eyes. Although Sima Yi was his old rival, he was still a colleague. In anger, he pulled out a short knife and pointed it at Xiaomao's neck.
"Lord Xiaomao, this is not funny. Are you trying to get us killed?"
"Of course not, munya. This is the only way to kill Solomon in one fell swoop."
"BUT YOU WILL KILL US ALL! AS SOON AS WE GET THERE, SOLOMON WILL KILL US! EVERYBODY HERE IS NOT HIS MATCH!"
While Zhuge Liang panicked, Diaochan and the women observed the situation from the sideline. From their experience, these protagonists were about to fall out soon.
Mao Dandan and Mao Xueyan grabbed Jungwoo and pulled him away from Xiaomao and Zhuge Liang. Bianca hid behind Diaochan for safety. Meanwhile, Lee Jinyong quietly vanished and flew away from the group.
On the other hand, Xiaomao dully gazed at Zhuge Liang. He deeply sighed, "You overly rely on your foresight too much. You should be aware that the future is fickle. Regardless of how much you calculate karma, the variables are always there to ruin your calculation. You shouldn't depend on it."
After finishing his sentences, Xiaomao patted Amon's head. He turned to Diaochan and the other women.
"Let's go, munya. Also, toss me some dantian crystals. I need more lifespan."
"…"
Diaochan and the women silently transferred the dragon corpses and gave the dantian crystals to Xiaomao. Even Jungwoo and Bianca cooperated.
However, Zhuge Liang no longer had faith in Xiaomao. He bit his lower lips and jumped off from Amon and floated in the sky. Then, he cupped his fist and bowed.
"Since I've made my oath, I shall support you in my way, but I will not join you in this dungeon raid."
"Suit yourself."
Xiaomao shrugged and led the group toward the volcano dungeon. As for Zhuge Liang, he headed south to rescue Sima Yi.
.
.
BOOM
Meanwhile, Mao Miaomiao managed to break the last ceiling of the dungeon. He found the clear sky at last.
"FREEDOM!"
He shuttled to the sky and laughed while Killer Queen exclaimed in confusion at her master's action.
"What's wrong, Miaomiao? You could have killed the two fools. Why did you flee?"
Mao Miaomiao didn't know how to explain to his partner, so he summarized it for her, "You have no idea that we just cheated death, my dear."
The black-winged angel let out a long sigh of relief and looked around him, checking if Solomon was in pursuit. Fortunately, the aura of Solomon was still in the dungeon, but James Huntsman and Zhou Yu's life signatures were gone.
He closed his eyes to calculate karma, adjusting his bearings. He was still mad about why Xiaomao gave Caesar's fate crystal to Solomon.
The vision was blurry. Mao Miaomiao saw himself and Xiaomao together, and he got punched in the face. He was confused about why Xiaomao and he fought.
While Mao Miaomiao was confused, Mu-Nyang contacted him.
[Mu-Nyang]: "Miaomiao, look around. Surprise Motherhumper, munya!"
"Hmm?"
Mao Miaomiao turned around and found Xiaomao's group in the sky. He was taken aback as he wasn't ready to see his son.
"Err… Hey." Awkwardly, he waved his hand, "Are you winning, son?"
Mao Miaomiao expected a wholesome reunion. He flew toward his son, expecting a hug.
Xiaomao snickered and fluttered his white wings. He wiggled his finger, taunting Mao Miaomiao to come closer, "Come here, stupid father. Let this son give you a love punch to the face."
"But why?! What did I do wrong?!" Mao Miaomiao backpedaled.
"I understand that you're a sick psychopathic pervert, but DAMN! How many women did you screw?! You're making it complicated for your goddamn son to grow up!"
"B-But I didn't expect you to pop out…"
At that moment, Diaochan, Mao Xueyan, and Mao Dandan facepalmed. Even Lilith and others who were eavesdropping on the conversation shook their heads as Mao Miaomiao chose the wrong words.
"So that means I'm unwanted?" Xiaomao's expression turned dark.
"That wasn't what I mean. It was an accident-*POW*"
Out of nowhere, Xiaomao's fist appeared and smashed Mao Miaomiao's face, sending the black angel tumbling backward. It wasn't hurt, but the impact damaged a bit of his pride.
Xiaomao deeply exhaled. The pending emotions and anger vanished with that impact. He rubbed his knuckles as Mao Miaomiao's face was too thick and hard, "That was for abandoning your son to die in the previous life. Well, I won't blame you for what you did in this life since you've been doing your best to protect me, so that punch is enough to make amends in our relationship. Now, let's go into that dungeon and kill Solomon together. I need your help."
"Huh?"
Mao Miaomiao rubbed his swollen cheek, confused. He still couldn't figure out what he did wrong or how he had offended Xiaomao.
Still, going back to the dungeon was a bad idea. Solomon was now too strong for Mao Miaomiao.
"Son, what are you on about? Why do we have to go back there? We will die if we fight Solomon now."
Xiaomao let out a long sigh. He hated to explain everything to the crowd, so he summarized everything.
"Battles between protagonists are usually decided by fate or luck at a glance, but if you understand the nature of their storylines, you can exploit the cogwheel of fate by hastening the developments. Whenever this happens, the cogwheel of fate will temporarily stop to reevaluate our life and karma."
Mao Miaomiao nodded. He understood this point as he used to intervene with a protagonist's fate. For example, he used to hasten the development of Xie Tian's story and made him fight super experts when he was still weak.
Xiaomao paused and checked everybody's expression. As he had expected, no one but Mao Miaomiao understood his point. He elaborated.
"In this case, Solomon is fated to regain his power by killing one of the protagonist-class players. I simply made it happen sooner to reset the cogwheel of fate so that all protagonists can temporarily gain a grace period of free will, and fate is not predetermined. Some who are destined to die can survive while those who are destined to live can die."
Xiaomao looked at Mao Miaomiao, "Did you know that you were destined to die for the sake of my storyline development?"
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Mao Miaomiao realized something. He recalculated his karma before he entered the dungeon. He also thought from the perspective of a reader of a story.
Mao Miaomiao muttered to himself, "I'm a father. My son is a protagonist. I was ordered by Mu-Nyang to fight Huntsman to prevent his death. This scenario is… a FUCKING DEATH FLAG! I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE KILLED FOR DEVELOPMENT! Then, you would have discovered my death and established the enmity toward Solomon. Those people's status will change into antagonists in your story and you will…"
"Either defeat them or end the story or be killed by Solomon to enrich his story, yes."
"…"
As the others still looked lost, Xiaomao gave them an example, "Our journey's result WAS predetermined by fate. Had I never given Solomon the heavenly fate crystal, father would have already killed James Huntsman, Zhou Yu, and Belial. However, Solomon would have gotten his hands on Sima Yi's fate crystal from his corpse and regained his power. Afterward, you two would have fought, and Solomon would have won and consumed your soul, dantian universe, and fate crystal. That is not the future I like so I've changed it."
Bianca and Jungwoo looked at each other as if they couldn't understand anything. However, the veterans, such as Diaochan, Mao Dandan, and Mao Xueyan, were familiar with this type of conversation. After all, Mu-Nyang already informed them of the nature of this universe. They grasped the big picture.
Xiaomao looked at everybody. He searched for Zhuge Liang, but the guy had already left, missing this conversation. The cat dad slightly snorted and ignored the strategist to give everybody a meaningful look.
"From here on out, no karma prediction is accurate. We should stop calculating karma but resume what we had intended to do. I want everybody to kill as many dragons around here as possible and bring their dantian crystals to me. I need lifespan for the final fight."
Jungwoo scratched his head, "What about Zhuge Liang's advice?"
"Following his plan will end up killing my father and my mothers. True, I will defeat Solomon in the end, but I'll be the last survivor. The sacrifice isn't worth it."
Mao Miaomiao gazed at Xiaomao in astonishment. He didn't feel like he was looking at a junior but someone from Mu-Nyang's peers.
"Who are you exactly, Xiaomao? How did you know all of that? I don't think you could have learned this from Mu-Nyang alone."
Xiaomao then dropped a bomb, "I was originally Mu-Nyang's mentor in my first life. I forgot how I died, but Mu-Nyang got my soul and put it in his dantian universe. He's trying to resurrect me and bring me back to the higher realm, but I'm still too weak to do so. Oh, did I mention that I've managed to recover some of my memory?"
"…"
Jungwoo and Bianca's minds were blown. They looked at Xiaomao in a daze, but their minds already went to exploring deep space and countless supernova explosions.
Xiaomao widely grinned. He looked at the sky as if he gazed at Mu-Nyang.
"You don't have to wait long, Mu-Nyang. I'll give you the true ending, and we can be together again."
Mu-Nyang instantly replied. His voice cracked in happiness.
[Mu-Nyang]: "Yes, master! Be the true protagonist! Show us your true ending, munya!"
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦