---------------------------------
David tersenyum sejenak, lalu meyodorkan tablet miliknya.
Main- ji dad wo to karna hi hai.
"Think about what you did in there!"
"So what do you call that new move of yours?" Simon asked as he was curious.
He just exited the cavern when the cloak skill deactivated.
But he didn't want to do that. While Roland could directly make the entire Subcontinent into his Kingdom, he didn't see the need anymore. Most of his resources were mined at the seabed of the ocean and he didn't need a workforce because of his Bots. So he decided to vassalize the remaining 80% of the Subcontinent, they could remain as independent Duchies and Kingdoms, but they had to listen to his commands first. It would spare him a lot of trouble.
"Aden!" yells Kate. "Wait for me!"
Okay so I need to talk about this scene between Fang Yuan and her mom because it genuinely wrecked me. On the surface it's just a casual bedtime chat—mom asking about Aili, teasing Fang Yuan about her height, all that—but underneath? It's this whole ocean of unspoken love and fear. Fang Xiaoqin deliberately didn't ask about Aili. Fang Yuan noticed and complained about it. Why? Because Aili is the younger sister who's away, and the mom knows her daughter is sensitive about being mentioned. That's not oversight—that's maternal calculation. She's protecting Fang Yuan from feeling like she has to compete for attention even in a conversation. And then the height thing. "You're too tall yourself. Luckily you haven't grown any more. Otherwise you'd look like a telephone pole, and no one would want you in the future." Sounds like casual teasing, right? Wrong. Fang Yuan is 169cm. She's not even one meter seventy yet. This woman is her MOTHER and she's already internalized the societal pressure that a tall woman is undesirable. She's projecting her own fears onto her daughter. But then—the pivot. "The reason she wanted to keep her daughter with her for another two years was because she could not bear to see her marry so early. In her heart, no matter how capable her daughter became outside the home, she was still a child who needed her care." THIS. This is the line that got me. The entire chapter builds to this quiet confession of a mother who knows the world will consume her daughter but wants just two more years of keeping her close. And Fang Yuan's response? She just pouts and says she's not even 170cm yet. She doesn't know. She can't know. And that's what makes it so achingly real. I've read so many novels where the family emotional beats are either over-the-top dramatic or completely flat. This? This is the Goldilocks zone. Not too much, not too little. Just a mother and daughter sitting in a dimly lit room, both pretending everything is fine while everything is actually so much more. I don't know how the author does it but every time Fang Yuan comes home from the countryside and shares watermelon with her brothers, I feel something in my chest tighten. It's domestic. It's mundane. It's everything.
Lan Jiang nodded to imply that he got it and asked "mhm.. I get it but how do you know that?"
"I'm just looking. That's all."
We arrived at the tall building. I thought Cory was gonna piss himself. He look like he got his candy took away from him.