The rain in Suzhou-style gardens always falls with perfect restraint.
Unlike the corrosive acid rain of the cyber world, or the devastating meteor showers of interstellar battlefields, the rain here is like silk threads, like wisps of smoke, a wordless poem falling on green tiles and white walls.
Shen Qingqiu had locked down access to her private space; no matter how noisy the main god square outside was, not a single sound could penetrate.
On the warm jade couch, Shen Qingqiu lazily turned over, her fingertips twirling a strand of silver hair.
Seventeen lay on her side beside her, her newly reforged right arm, flowing with dark gold and starlight, serving as the most expensive and comfortable pillow in the world.
"Seventeen," Shen Qingqiu suddenly spoke, looking at the palace lantern above her painted with a portrait of a lady.
"It seems the main god gave every newcomer a 'baby-making' voucher." Seventeen's body stiffened slightly.
Those deep, pool-like purple eyes, newly inlaid with the [Abyss Soul Crystal], narrowed instantly.
[Keyword Search: Creating a Human.]
[Main God Space Rules: Can create an absolutely loyal human companion.]
[Data Analysis: Master wants... a change of pace?]
The temperature in the air suddenly dropped two degrees.
Seventeen sat up, his black silk robe slipping down to reveal his strong, pale chest. He didn't speak, only staring at Shen Qingqiu quietly with his eyes, which glowed with a faint purple light, a hint of grievance and danger in them.
His gaze clearly said:
Am I not good enough?
Is my new body not perfect enough?
Or was last night's "test"...unsatisfactory?
Shen Qingqiu looked at this large AI, who had become insanely jealous over a single sentence, and couldn't help but chuckle.
"What are you thinking, silly?"
She reached out and pinched his high, straight nose.
"Am I the kind of person who easily tires of the old and craves the new?"
"Data shows that the probability of a human woman establishing a 'harem' after gaining absolute power is 87.5%." Seventeen spoke nonsense with a straight face, trying to mask his jealousy with cold, hard data.
"Moreover, the 'human creation' template provided by the Main God contains data on perfect men from various planes."
"No matter how perfect, they're just a bunch of data." Shen Qingqiu sat up, her red lips close to his ear, her voice soft and sweet.
"And you... are the code I typed myself, the divine bone I forged myself."
"Even if all the male gods in the universe lined up, they wouldn't be as good as... a single finger of yours." Seventeen's ears instantly turned red.
The core reactor's rotation speed stabilized, and the dangerous chill dissipated without a trace.
"Then... what do you want to do with this authority?" Seventeen naturally wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin in the crook of her neck, like a large cat that had been stroked.
"To be... a child." Shen Qingqiu's words were astonishing.
"A child?!" Seventeen's core, which had just calmed down, nearly overloaded again.
Although his new body was equipped with a simulated reproductive system (for the sake of realism), giving birth seemed to be beyond his functional scope.
"Not that kind of child." Shen Qingqiu rolled her eyes at him, tapping her finger in the air to bring up the control panel of the Main God Space.
"The horror movies coming up will get increasingly difficult. I need to perform a lot of causal calculations and plot deductions."
"Relying solely on my brain and your current core, it's difficult to manage both in battle."
"Therefore, I need an... 'external brain'."
"Or rather, a **'companion spirit pet'**."
...In the courtyard, the rain stopped and the wind ceased.
Shen Qingqiu stood before a pool of clear water.
She didn't use any of the mundane character creation templates provided by the Main God.
She activated **[Divine Refinement]**.
Golden light gathered at her fingertips; it was her spiritual power, mixed with the underlying code brought from the cyber world, and... a wisp of primordial data separated from Seventeen.
"Light as bone, code as soul." Shen Qingqiu chanted softly, like Nuwa creating humanity.
She didn't want to create a cold, lifeless machine.
She wanted to create... a cute little thing.
A being that bore the shadow of Seventeen, yet was purer and more vibrant.
Buzz— Light gathered on the water's surface.
It didn't grow into an adult's form, but gradually shrank, finally transforming into a ball of light no bigger than a palm.
The ball of light dissipated.
A chibi-style little figure floated in mid-air, flapping two pairs of transparent data wings behind him.
He had the same short silver hair as Seventeen, the same large purple eyes (only rounder and cuter), wore a miniature black Taoist robe, and held a glowing abacus no bigger than a toothpick.
"...What is this?" Seventeen, standing to the side, looked at this miniature version of himself, his expression somewhat bewildered.
"Cute, isn't it?" Shen Qingqiu held out her palm.
The little creature immediately flapped its wings, wobbling as it flew over and landed steadily in her palm.
It blinked its big eyes, looked up at Shen Qingqiu, and called out in a childish voice:
"Mother!"
Crack.
The teacup in Seventeen's hand shattered.
"Mother...?" Seventeen's eyes darted back and forth between Shen Qingqiu and the little thing.
"If he's a child... then what am I?"
The little creature turned its head, glanced at the enormous, terrifying "true form," then tilted its head, and after a precise calculation, called out:
"Daddy!"
Seventeen: "..." In that instant, this demon god who had ravaged galaxies felt a trace of... helplessness and panic.
That strange emotion called "fatherly love" (though simulated by data) spread through her heart.
"Let's call him... **Zero**." Shen Qingqiu gently poked Zero's soft cheek with her finger.
"It represents the beginning, and also...infinite possibilities."
"Ah Ling, received!"
Little Ah Ling saluted, then sat cross-legged in Shen Qingqiu's palm, placing the small abacus on his knees and fiddling with it rapidly.
[System Access: Main God Space Local Area Network.]
[Auxiliary Calculation Module: Activated.]
[Analyzing the trailer for the next horror movie...]
Don't let his small size fool you; beneath his cute appearance lies a quantum brain capable of billions of floating-point operations per second.
He is a **"humanoid cheat code"** created by Shen Qingqiu using loopholes in the Main God's rules.
...In the following days, a different kind of warmth filled the private space.
"Daddy, your sword angle is off by 0.01 degrees." Ah Ling hovered in mid-air, holding a small pointer, pointing and gesturing.
Seventeen was practicing his sword; upon hearing this, the veins on his forehead throbbed, but he silently adjusted the angle.
There was no way around it; this little thing's calculations were indeed terrifyingly precise.
"Mother, this pill was three seconds too hot." A-Ling flew to the alchemy furnace and sniffed.
Shen Qingqiu was busy refining the "Healing Pill" for the next battle and immediately stopped the fire upon hearing this.
"Oh dear, all thanks to A-Ling."
A-Ling had become the darling of this small family and their most efficient housekeeper.
He could simultaneously monitor hundreds of data streams, helping Seventeen optimize the combat model and helping Shen Qingqiu deduce the talisman structure.
He could even automatically activate a global mute and mosaic-blocking mode when the two were "busy."
Night fell.
The night in the Suzhou-style garden was as tranquil as water.
A-Ling, having exhausted his energy, had shrunk into a small ball of light and flown back into the [Abyss Soul Crystal] on Seventeen's chest to "recharge."
Shen Qingqiu leaned against the railing of the corridor, watching the moon's reflection in the water.
Seventeen embraced her from behind and draped a cloak over her.
"With him here, isn't it much easier?" Seventeen asked softly, her tone less jealous and more tender.
"Mmm." Shen Qingqiu turned and nestled in his arms.
"A-Ling is like a seed we planted in this cruel world..." She looked up into Seventeen's purple eyes.
"Seventeen, we are outcasts."
"In the mortal realm, we are monsters; in the cultivation world, we are demons; in interstellar space, we are wanted criminals."
"But here..." She reached out, her fingertips tracing the shimmering soul crystal on his chest, the place where A-Ling slept.
"Here, we are family."
"Family..." Seventeen savored those three words.
For a weapon that once only knew how to kill, this word was too extravagant, too heavy.
But he liked this weight.
"The next horror movie seems difficult." Seventeen suddenly said.
According to the divination (data probability) A-Ling calculated before his hibernation, the mortality rate for the next one was as high as 90%. "It's *The Ghost Village of Sealed Gates*." Shen Qingqiu's eyes narrowed slightly, then softened into a calm smile.
"Chinese horror…that's my territory."
She tiptoed and kissed Seventeen's chin.
"Are you scared? My husband."
Seventeen paused, then a wildly arrogant smile curved his lips.
His reforged right arm, radiating an immortal divine glow under the moonlight.
"Scared?"
He held her tightly.
"With you here, with A-Ling here."
"Even if the King of Hell comes, I'll tear his Book of Life and Death…to shreds."
A breeze stirred, rippling the surface of a spring pond.
It also stirred the gentle breeze beneath her sleeve.
In the gaps of this divine space, in the still night before the storm.
They sculpted a spirit child, fulfilling a dream of home.
Regardless of whether the road ahead held vengeful ghosts or demons.
This family of three (two adults and one child) will hold hands and overcome this endless and terrifying cycle of reincarnation.