Chapter 392
Chapter 392 Meeting the Parents
It wasn’t until dawn broke that this incident finally calmed down.
With the endless stream of demons gone, the ones left in the city could be handled by the Eagles Alliance and the Ability Bureau. By the time the fighting ended and we moved into the cleanup stage, reinforcements from other areas and local forces returning from the Dark Zone arrived just a step too late.
What lay before them was a city in ruins.
This was the most severe invasion event since the Cataclysm, with nearly no intact places left in the entire city. Anywhere you looked, there were signs of destruction, and the main battlefields were completely flattened—a particular disaster being the stadium, which had turned into a giant pit.
Although most citizens had stayed safe inside their homes during the disaster, the spread of battle throughout the city inevitably harmed many innocent people. Hospitals soon became focal points, with every bed filled to capacity, resembling a desolate scene of post-disaster reconstruction, shocking the nation that night.
While there had been many invasions before, the quick response teams from the Ability Bureau had usually neutralized most threats right at the start. So even if some impact occurred, it had rarely resulted in such massive casualties, leading many to feel that these events were not as terrifying as they seemed.
Until this time.
For the first time, everyone profoundly realized that the game “Realm of Divine Presence” truly possessed the potential to destroy the entire world.
If Linjiang City’s disaster happened a few more times, even the strongest defenses would eventually collapse, and at that point, it wouldn’t be far from the end of the world.
This couldn’t help but send waves of panic across the entire nation.
As Linjiang City began to rebuild, the major powers located in the city started investigations into that night’s disaster—various signs indicated that there was a hidden force behind this incident, a presence that worked to amplify its impact. Eden was perhaps secondary; the primary focus was the force collaborating with Eden.
This force had managed to help those lunatics evade capture by the Ability Bureau and escalate the invasion incident in Linjiang City, essentially stirring things up right under their noses, making this absolutely something a small power couldn’t achieve.
Moreover, the revelations pried from the flamboyant man’s mouth by the Ability Bureau indicated that this backer was evidently shrewd—despite collaborating with Eden, they had revealed none of their details, leaving the flamboyant man utterly clueless about his partners. What was clear, however, was that their actions intended to topple all major powers and control the entire nation.
This approach inevitably put them in direct opposition to all forces—someone was secretly scheming to rob their home, and how could those major powers not be furious?
It is also worth mentioning that the Eagles Alliance played a decisive role in this incident. Had they not intervened, relying solely on the forces left in the city, it’s likely that when reinforcements finally arrived, they would have found a dead city. This battle also propelled the Chicks and the Eagles Alliance into fame; in no time, a large number of small and medium powers submitted applications to join the Chicks, making them the biggest winners of this entire event.
And the leader of the biggest winner was currently troubled by one thing—
Ling Mo received an invitation from the Summer family.
To be more precise, it was an invitation from Xia Xinyan’s parents, wanting him to come by for a chat.
To be honest… he wasn’t quite prepared for this.
According to his plan, in order to achieve his ultimate goal of getting Xia Xinyan’s parents to agree to marry her to him, he still needed to do a lot to make them happy. Only after confirming that would he approach them to express his wishes.
He wouldn’t fight battles without a guarantee.
But since this time it was the in-laws who took the initiative to invite him… it wouldn’t be polite to refuse.
So after pondering for a while, he mentioned it to Xia Xinyan.
“My parents want to meet you?” Xia Xinyan paused, “How come I didn’t know?”
Ling Mo showed her the message.
It turned out it really was from her mom.
This made Xia Xinyan feel a bit… strange.
She hadn’t received this message at all, meaning her parents wanted to call Ling Mo over alone. Whatever they wanted to discuss made her pretty uneasy.
“I’ll go with you,” she decided, “Let’s go now, together.”
Although the city was still busy with reconstruction, the outskirts were barely affected, and the Summer family had long since returned to the Villa Area. It was as if everything was peaceful when not coming from inside the city.
Waiting for them were Xia Xinyan’s parents, who weren’t too surprised to see her arrive, ushering them inside and having someone prepare tea.
Afterward, they just chatted about mundane things, seemingly lacking substantive topics, but Ling Mo smiled and responded to everything, putting on the full formal charm of meeting the in-laws.
To the extent that it made Xia Xinyan feel like she wanted to gag.
She had already grown accustomed to Ling Mo’s feelings, but she still hadn’t adjusted to this atmosphere of meeting parents.
Fortunately, this atmosphere didn’t last long.
“Xinyan,” after one topic ended, her mother suddenly turned to her, saying, “I almost forgot, your brother Jincang wanted to see you. We originally planned to call you over, but now it saves us the trouble.”
Xia Xinyan: “…Oh.”
What could her brother Jincang possibly want? And even if he had something, wouldn’t that bastard just go directly to the Chicks to find her?
Clearly, this was intended to separate her so they could talk with Ling Mo in private, wasn’t it?
After griping internally for a while, she nodded in agreement and got up to leave.
Since it was hinted at so clearly, even if she wasn’t too willing, she couldn’t refuse.
Anyway… Ling Mo should be able to handle it alone, right?
Her parents wouldn’t eat him.
After Xia Xinyan left, the atmosphere in the hall became a bit odd.
It had shifted from the boyfriend-meeting-parents vibe to one where the two parents seemed to lower their status, positioning themselves almost equal to Ling Mo, or even slightly beneath him.
“Ling Mo…” her mother initiated, softly asking, “You… really like our Xinyan, don’t you?”
Ling Mo sensed the change in atmosphere. His expression didn’t change; he just smiled and nodded, “Yeah, she is the most important person to me.”
Xia Xinyan’s mother acknowledged it and continued, “Have you two thought about the future? I mean… at your age, you should start considering marriage.”
Ling Mo paused.
…This wasn’t quite how he imagined it would go.
