Chapter 227: Chapter 196 Superficial Father-Daughter Chapter 227: Chapter 196 Superficial Father-Daughter Ash had once thought about what kind of children he might have in the future.
Don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t the type to fantasize about children’s names upon seeing a girl he liked. In fact, Ash thought his imagination was quite barren. When he saw a girl he liked, his fantasies about couples typically stopped at classrooms, bedrooms, living rooms, beaches, and couple hotels… But these fantasies rarely appeared after he started working, with “I have a meeting later” being the best secret to abstain from carnal thoughts.
An old saying goes, overtime won’t help you find a lover, but it sure can make everyone end up without one.
The first time he imagined having children was when Ash was eight, after getting a whipping with a rattan cane from his dad for playing video games secretly, he silently vowed to raise a child who could play video games with him.
As he grew older, his expectations for his children also increased: they should like outdoor sports, know how to date, solve the last big question in the college entrance examination math test, be good-looking, know how to cook, be fluent in a second language, be able to write novels or draw comics…
Until Ash started working, after experiencing the harshness of society, feeling the hardships of life, and understanding the strictness his parents had placed on him in the past, he also felt apologetic towards his future children—Sorry, my child, I can’t find your mothers.
But no matter what, the child he expected should definitely not be .
“If you, dad, earned the highest score but had to give your wish to Hanna, do you really think that’s okay?”
Liss sat cross-legged on the bed, her face full of righteousness, and said in a lowered voice, “I feel it’s unfair for you, dad!”
“…Don’t worry, your dad’s a total mess; it’s definitely Bokin Auntie or Harvey Uncle who will get the highest score.”
“But it’s still unfair!” Liss shook her body, her freshly tied pigtails swinging: “Think about it, dad, you, Bokin Auntie, and Harvey Uncle are Shared Life and Shared Death companions. You should face difficulties together, enjoy blessings together. A reward like the Divine Lord’s wish should be shared among the three of you, not given to a malicious witch like Hanna who slanders and enslaves you!”
“Just now you called her Hanna, sister.”
“That’s not important, dad. What’s important is what you think!” Liss widened her eyes and said, “Don’t you want the Divine Lord’s wish? The All-knowing Weaver can fulfill all your wishes—reviving the dead, time traveling, immortality, even becoming a god—”
“Can I wish that all women must wear miniskirts with black or white silk stockings?”
“Ah?” Ash saw Liss sticking out her little tongue as if she was about to vomit: “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, nothing. Liss probably just isn’t used to riding in the car, feeling a bit sick.”
“But you’ve been resting for more than an hour…”
“Anyway, you want the wish too, right?” Liss forcibly brought the topic back on track: “You wouldn’t be content just giving the wish to an evil witch who deliberately harms you, right?”
“If I have to say whether I want it or not, I definitely do,” Ash said, propping his chin: “But I don’t think I’m qualified or magnanimous enough to receive this wish.”
“Since when do you need qualifications to make a wish?”
“Think about it, if you finally get a chance to make a wish to a god, should you really be only thinking about yourself, making selfish wishes? The best approach should be to make perfect wishes that benefit all beings while benefiting yourself, like let the Divine Lord grant new technology that could greatly amplify productivity, or increase the lifespan of all citizens—”
“What’s so bad about being selfish!?”
Ash stared blankly at Liss roaring at him. The little girl’s face, normally so falsely innocent and sweet, now displayed a deep resentment born from being resentful of the world. But soon she relented, her expression returning to as cute as usual, as if the previous outburst was merely Ash’s misperception.
She timidly lowered her head and said, “What Liss means is, you’re not from this country, dad. You don’t feel like you belong here, so why worry so much about your wishes? Wouldn’t it be better to follow your inner desires?”
“…Let’s have an honest conversation, Liss.”
Ash spoke calmly, “You can call me dad if you want. I don’t mind, it’s just a name after all. If we can maintain this superficial father-daughter relationship, it could even put Hanna at ease, consider it a codename among colleagues.”
“But I’m actually quite puzzled. Hanna said you lost your memory. She should be right. But your current demeanor, so full of scheming and ambition, is not something a normal amnesiac child could exhibit. Or are you a legendary young one of a race that, despite losing your memory, can’t stop manifesting your desires, with every pore oozing corrupt blood?”
“Is there such a race?”
“Yes, the Capitalist race.” Ash crossed his arms and said, “You haven’t lost your memory at all. How did you deceive Hanna?”
“No, dad, you are wrong,” Liss tilted her head, “I really did lose my memory, my furthest memory is getting captured by those hooded villains, I can’t remember anything further back.”
“But I know what I need to do.”
Liss raised her head to look at Ash, “Just like Hanna, that old witch, I want to use the identity of someone from the Exotic Realm to become a Resonator. However, the difference is that Hanna can only rely on you, dad, whereas I want to become a Resonator myself.”
“I have a wish that must be fulfilled.” She spoke very earnestly, “I absolutely cannot let anyone else have it!”
Ash blinked, “Not to mention whether we can resist Hanna, but even if we can, how would you steal the wish from us?”
“That’s enough.” Liss held up her hand, splaying all five fingers, “Dad, I, Aunt Bokin, Uncle Harvey, Witch Hanna, there are five competitors.”
“As long as you, dad, can unite with the others to forcefully exclude Witch Hanna, then the competitors would be reduced to four. If you, dad, become the Resonator with the highest Hidden Points, then the only competitors left would be you and me! Just take care of you, dad, and the wish would be mine!”
Liss folded all other fingers, leaving only the middle finger extended toward Ash.
“You’re so confident you can beat me?”
“It’s not about confidence, but of course, it’s simpler to just deal with you, dad, rather than five others,” Liss confidently stated. “And dad, don’t forget, you and I still have two contracts!”
“So what if we do, they are bidirectional anyway.”
“Not quite, your contract with me only lasts 101 days, while my contract with you is indefinite. If neither of us ends up getting the wish, then you’d become a servant to me for life!”
“Hey hey, how did my status go from dad to servant?” Ash felt this girl was getting more and more audacious. “Besides, that’s just a Two-winged Mage contract, there’s always a way to break it, you can’t scare me.”
“Indeed, there is a way to break it.” Liss nodded, “But I have a way to make sure you can’t break it. If you go out, I’ll demand you feed me doughnuts; if you enter the Void Realm, you’ll have to tell me a fairy tale; if you want to read, you’ll have to give me a piggyback ride. Let’s see what you’ll do! Not only will you be my servant, but I’ll also make sure you never get married for the rest of your life!”
“Liss, you are so evil!”
“Humph, if you don’t want to end up old, falling in the bathroom, paralyzed, and then dying tragically from hunger, then do your best to grab the wish… What are you doing! I’m going to scream! The contract decrees you can’t hurt me! Stop right now!”
“You can’t tell me to stop! Don’t forget our contract is bidirectional at this moment, you can’t restrain me!” Ash tucked Liss under his arm, furiously rubbing her white puppy head: “True, I can’t hurt you, but I can mess you up… Hah! Gotcha!”
Liss strived to break free from this evil man, and when she turned to look in the mirror, she discovered her pretty twin pigtails had turned into a messy explosion of hair, utterly destroying her cute appearance.
She cried out loud, covering her ears as she retreated, angrily yelling at Ash, “Don’t you dare leak our conversation to anyone else, you can’t countermand this order, you can’t countermand countermanding this order, don’t—ah, it’s so annoying, just do not let it leak, otherwise you’ll be in trouble too! Just you wait, Ash, over these 101 days we’ll act like father and daughter, but after 101 days, I’ll show you what cruelty is!”
Liss dashed too hastily and turned around, slamming her head into the alloy blast door, wobbling and then collapsing on the floor.
Ash was baffled by her series of actions, thinking this girl had half of his silliness from when he was young.
He went over and patted her cheek: “Hey, wake up, the floor is cold, you might catch a cold, and you need to brush your teeth before sleeping, otherwise, you’ll get cavities.”
“She just fainted, it’s nothing serious.”
Ash turned around and saw a young girl lying on his bed, wearing a black and white checkered dress. She had shiny black hair, her legs mismatched with one white and one black stocking, smiling cunningly at him.
“Shouldn’t it be a miniskirt and black and white dyed hair?”
Ash was disappointed, “Why don’t you look like your profile picture at all?”