"Alright, dinner's done—you do the dishes! I'll get ready, then we'll go uphold justice!" After finishing her meal, the Herrscher of Sentience immediately dumped the chore on Chen Luo.
"You're seriously not gonna wash them?" Chen Luo glared.
"The Herrscher of Sentience has altered your consciousness—the Herrscher of Sentience doesn't need to wash the dishes!" she declared righteously.
"..." Chen Luo knew that when she used her Authority on him, he wouldn't actually be affected—but his head would throb in protest.
But this time? Nothing.
Which meant she was just blatantly lying to get out of chores!
"You might as well actually alter my consciousness at this point!"
"Absolutely not! I am the Herrscher of Sentience—how could I possibly use my Authority for something so trivial? That'd make me no better than a child!" The Herrscher of Sentience huffed.
"Fair point. But I cooked, so you wash the dishes!" Chen Luo hated doing dishes.
"...The Herrscher of Sentience has modified your consciousness. You now want to wash the dishes."
Chen Luo's head throbbed.
"..." And you claim you're not a child?!
"I suddenly feel like doing the dishes." Chen Luo silently picked up the bowls.
This Herrscher of Sentience... really made him feel like he'd adopted a spoiled brat.
She deserved to be telephone scammed by her own mother!
While the Herrscher of Sentience watched TV, Chen Luo had looked up information on the "Herrscher of Sentience."
Turns out, her true identity was—
Holy shit, no wonder she looked familiar! It's the Ten thousand year tablet![1]
He'd seen this character before but didn't know much about her. The reason he hadn't recognized her immediately was that the Herrscher of Sentience's style and demeanor were completely different from the Shenzhou Tablet he'd seen.[2]
No wonder the name Fu Hua had sounded so familiar.
"Mmm, dishwashing is a noble tradition." The Herrscher of Sentience nodded approvingly.
...
"Wait, you're not going?!"
"Yep. Got something to do tonight, so I can't join you for justice-upholding. Seriously, not lying." Chen Luo said earnestly.
"Em... fine, I guess."
Seemingly moved by his sincerity, The Herrscher of Sentience agreed to postpone their "justice" trip to tomorrow, deciding to scout ahead alone tonight.
After successfully brushing her off, Chen Luo headed to the second-floor balcony.
From here, he could see The Herrscher of Sentience skipping cheerfully toward the exit.
Mistaking his gaze for a fond farewell, she even turned around to wave at him happily.
"Who knew this [Father-Daughter] relationship would be so useful? Damn, this is wild." Watching her retreating figure, Chen Luo checked his talent interface.
Perhaps because he'd unilaterally established their relationship—and "father-daughter" was a particularly unique bond—his talent now allowed him to track Senti's location with parental oversight privileges.
For example, right now, he could tell she'd already somehow slipped past the tightly guarded residential area using some unknown methods.
Admittedly, the security here was decent—the only reason Chen Luo could vault the gate after school was because the guards all knew him.
"Wait... how did Yun Xia even get in earlier? She didn't notify me..." Chen Luo suddenly remembered.
Wasn't visitor entry supposed to require resident approval?
The parental permissions from his talent were limited to location tracking and remote communication—though Chen Luo didn't dare test the latter.
If I call her out of nowhere and she asks how, do I say, "Oh, it's because we're legally father-daughter now"?
I'd get beaten up.
Besides location and calls, the "guardian" status also granted partial immunity to her mind-reading.
Otherwise, when he'd internally mocked her for "getting scammed by her own mom," he'd have been beaten to a pulp already.
For a brief, foolish moment, Chen Luo had hoped parental authority might let him win a fight against her. Delusional.
"Alright, time to check out that Midnight Bar." Confirming The Herrscher of Sentience was far enough away, Chen Luo stood on the balcony and summoned his talent's first expansion module.
Honestly, his talent felt less like a power and more like a glitchy system at this point.
What kind of "talent" just spawns fully formed objects the user never knew about?
Em... whatever.
It's my talent. It wouldn't screw me over, right?
When Chen Luo selected the balcony for the bar's deployment, a miniature phantom of a bar materialized—so tiny and faint that it'd be invisible unless inspected up close.
It was laughably small, barely taking up a fraction of the balcony space.
"This? This is the bar? How's this supposed to function?" Chen Luo stared.
But his talent interface insisted this was the fully expanded form.
After a moment's hesitation, Chen Luo pushed open the illusory door.
Warm amber light spilled out.
Crossing the threshold, he found himself inside a cozy yet elegant establishment—far larger than the balcony outside, easily able to seat dozens, with a second floor to boot.
The exact mechanics? No clue.
Directly ahead stood a polished counter, its back shelves conspicuously empty.
Overall, it was a charming little bar with a deliberately old-world aesthetic—nothing modern about it.
"This is just Angel's Share! You think I don't recognize this? Are you bullying me for not playing Genshin Impact?" Chen Luo pointed at the bartender's counter and yelled at his talent interface.
"Then again... I didn't play much Genshin." Seeing that the talent panel completely ignored him, Chen Luo could only answer himself.
Genshin Impact was huge in his world, but Chen Luo didn't play it for long.
The only reason he recognized "Angel's Share" was from a certain grudge-holding knight's PV.
Chen Luo used to be a die-hard player of Honkai Impact 3rd, but unfortunately he didn't have time to play it anymore.
After entering high school, the talent panel was unlocked. In the first year, Chen Luo still had the heart to play Honkai Impact 3rd, but unfortunately he became busier and busier, so he had to put the game aside.
He knew Fu Hua, but not the Herrscher of Sentience—because she hadn't been released yet when he quit.
When she introduced herself earlier, he'd assumed it was just a coincidental name match.
"Never thought I'd meet a game character IRL. Maybe I should reinstall those games... might come in handy later." Chen Luo muttered.
TL Notes:
[1]: A Chinese meme nickname for Senti. It means she is a tanky flat board
[2]: A Chinese meme nickname for Hua. It's just calling her flat