Chapter 58: Daddy, Mommy, and Daughter

Although her Sixth Epoch courtly vocal fry was a bit grating, to be fair, Cici was a caring and considerate big sister.

Because Jiang Qianqian was also a childhood friend deeply infatuated with her male best friend, Cici saw a bit of her own past reflection in Jiang Qianqian and generously offered guidance.

As for what had happened between Cici and her childhood friend in the past, Jiang Qianqian never asked; that seemed to be a forbidden zone in the caring big sister's mind.

Everyone had memories they preferred not to touch, which was entirely understandable.

It was probably a rather unglamorous ending. Since ancient times, childhood sweethearts have often met with sorrow, and even Lilith, who had ascended to the sixth tier, could not avoid tragedy in matters of the heart.

After listening to the fifty-nine-second voice message, Jiang Qianqian extracted the main points—

The natal phantom spirit of a Singer of Souls required careful emotional regulation while simultaneously preventing mental berserkness and loss of control. There was a lot of profound knowledge hidden within that.

Mhm, this was valuable practical advice!

Additionally, Cici slipped in some personal bias, suggesting that when choosing other phantom spirits for combination, it was best to consider those of the enchanting faction, especially the ones capable of directly targeting the psyche.

[My Childhood Friend Cannot Lose: Eh, mental manipulation... It always feels too complicated and prone to backfiring, right?]

[Cici: Yes.]

[Cici: But it is a necessary safeguard.]

[Cici: Otherwise, when the childhood friend you adore falls into the arms of another woman, you will taste the flavor of utter helplessness.]

[Cici: Hehe, trust me, that taste is not pleasant.]

[Cici: [Voice Message 17'']]

Beneath the covers, Jiang Qianqian tapped on the voice message.

Her little face flushed bright red.

Good grief, why was this older sister always imagining such extreme scenarios... We're just forming a battle team, not staging some melodramatic catfight from a divine romance TV show. How could a twisted drama like the one she described ever happen, ugh...?

Moreover, Cici always liked to steer the conversation in that direction, urging Jiang Qianqian to conquer her childhood friend on a physical level as soon as possible, which left Jiang Qianqian terribly embarrassed.

Sigh, perhaps this was simply the generation gap. Jiang Qianqian guessed that Cici was likely someone active around fifty years after the supernatural resurgence; due to possessing a special phantom spirit or fusing with a unique bloodline, she aged very slowly in any case.

When all was said and done, she was just an internet friend, so her advice should be taken selectively. Only the commands of A-Ming were things Jiang Qianqian would obey completely.

Playing with her phone until she grew sleepy.

Time to sleep.

She slept until she woke up naturally. By the time she opened her eyes, the daylight was blindingly bright. In winter, this meant it was already at least half-past eight.

Jiang Qianqian spent a few minutes searching for the phone she had been scrolling through before falling asleep last night, which had now mysteriously vanished. This was a common occurrence for her—girls loved tossing and turning in their sleep, after all. A phone was still relatively easy to find; the truly elusive items were hair ties and hair clips...

Wait for Jiang Qianqian to push open the master bedroom door holding her phone, and a rich, pungent aroma rushed over her.

"You're awake. Come eat the river snail rice noodles," Li Xingming called out.

Ye Sheng also gave her a pursed-lip smile and said, "Good morning, Qianqian."

"Good morning. Um... you're both already up?"

"Yeah, we're both used to waking up early."

"We already played a round," Ye Sheng glared at Li Xingming. "I suspect he tweaked the parameters of his VR gaming console."

"No way, you're just tarnishing my innocence out of nowhere! Why assume I cheated just because I played well? Pure jealousy, unadulterated jealousy."

"..."

At the dining table, Li Xingming and Ye Sheng sat opposite each other, bantering and complaining.

Judging by the arrangement of the tableware, the spot between them was clearly reserved for Jiang Qianqian. However, judging by the ambient atmosphere, it looked remarkably like a mother and father waiting for their late-sleeping daughter to join them for breakfast...

Aghh!!

Jiang Qianqian emitted a silent howl of rage.

Yet her face wore a look of apprehensive politeness: "Shengsheng, you just arrived, how could you wake up early to do housework? I'm so embarrassed..."

"I didn't do any housework," Ye Sheng explained. "I was just playing video games with Li Xingming."

"Eh, then when he was cooking..."

"I watched him cook."

Jiang Qianqian mentally pictured that scene.

She still felt uncomfortable... Sigh, what good was feeling uncomfortable! Ye Sheng liked waking up early, and her biological clock happened to match A-Ming's. Wasn't she much more reliable than you, a lazy good-for-nothing childhood friend?

"Th-Then I'll wake up early too! I'll wake up early tomorrow to help A-Ming cook..."

"That's quite enough. You just handle dinner," Li Xingming said.

"And lunch!"

"We'll eat lunch outside. Today I'm taking you two to the training grounds to practice some simple team coordination. We have a mission tonight."

"___Oh."

Prompted by Li Xingming's reminder, Jiang Qianqian finally snapped back to reality. Ah, tonight was Dawn in the North's very first operation.

Hehe.

Li Xingming had already discussed this matter with her last night, yet he only told Ye Sheng this morning... Victory!

The river snail rice noodles were prepared in three portions. Li Xingming and Ye Sheng had theirs extra spicy, while Jiang Qianqian had hers mildly spicy.

After the meal, they took fruits and yogurt from the refrigerator. After devouring the spicy noodles, one simply had to follow up with dessert, and it had to be iced to truly hit the spot.

Even in the dead of winter, iced treats were a must.

On this particular point, the three of them surprisingly reached a rare consensus.

Fully fed and hydrated.

Time to head out.

Destination: Maple Sugar City Training Ground.

A training ground officially established for the city's supernatural beings to conduct daily training, complete with dedicated areas for combat, meditation, metric testing, and so on.

After parking the car, Li Xingming strode directly to the front desk, gave a wave of his hand, and purchased a four-hour pass for "Multiplayer Training Room No. 7 - Ancient Golem Soldier".

"Ancient Golem Soldier... Is that the one that uses a halberd and boasts superior physical combat techniques?" Jiang Qianqian asked, somewhat excited.

"That's right. The tier of this golem isn't particularly high, but both its offense and defense are solid, and its combat logic is comprehensive. It's very suitable for novice supernatural beings to hone their skills..."

The front desk attendant chimed in upon hearing this: "The customer certainly has a discerning eye. However, no matter how you look at it, this golem is still a tier-one mid-stage humanoid supernatural creature. Low-tier supernatural beings can easily be beaten to death if they aren't careful, so please be cautious, customers, and bind your resurrection crystals in advance."

"Thanks for the reminder," Li Xingming acknowledged the attendant's good intentions, tossing a small cloth pouch to Jiang Qianqian. "Here, hurry and bind all of these to your sea of consciousness. You don't need me to teach you that, right? Any random short video platform has tutorials on how to bind resurrection crystals; it's dead simple."

"So many?!" The heavy pouch shocked Jiang Qianqian. "To think A-Ming has already saved up... Wait, you shouldn't bind them all to me, either. These should be considered joint property of the team."

"Why stand on ceremony? They were prepared for you in the other girl's case—Shengsheng brings her own provisions, and if she runs out, she can just ask Professor Ye. As for me... I have my own methods."

"Alright, well... A-Ming is so nice to me~"

"Seeing as you don't have much combat foundation, you'll have to rely on this golem for the next four hours to train your basic combat instincts, and by the way, get you quickly accustomed to dying."

"___Wait!" Jiang Qianqian realized something was amiss. "Aren't the three of us training together?"

"That's the afternoon session. The morning session is you going one-on-one with the golem soldier."

"___"