Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 285: A Report

Adrian was a little curious.

As a former Chief Justice, he rarely developed unnecessary curiosity, but when it came to Jesse Dylan, he couldn’t help but be curious.

Every summer, Jesse would choose a day to hibernate—literally. He would sleep soundly for a whole day and night, never waking up. The next day, he would be lively and energetic again, as if nothing had happened.

“Oh, it’s one of my species’ traits,” Jesse said with a smile. “Are you curious about it, Adri?”

“Yes.”

Jesse leaned closer happily. “It’s nothing actually. The successful people of the Planktonic Cocoon Clan—I mean, my clan—are used to sharing information regularly. It’s good for everyone.”

Adrian listened quietly.

“Don’t be fooled by Nemo’s peaceful appearance. His territory is incredibly large. A small galaxy can only accommodate one Pillar of the World at most. They will avoid each other.”

“Nemo has accepted me. It would be a waste of effort for other Floating Cocoons to explore this way. It would be better to tell them directly that this road is blocked.”

Jesse explained without reservation.

“We’ll mark the high-risk star regions we pass through and share tips on how to use our powers or knowledge about dangerous species. We don’t have the terrifying amount of intelligence a Pillar of the World possesses, but the power of clusters shouldn’t be underestimated.”

For some reason, Adrian thought of the mothers at the Laddism gatherings.

They always had the most secret gossip information and would exchange their favorite recipes and crochet skills with each other. Of course, he didn’t say this thought out loud, because he guessed Lord Zenni wouldn’t take kindly to it.

Now that the question was solved, not only did Adrian’s curiosity not dissipate, but it also increased.

What were Jesse’s kindred like? What was communication like among the Floating Cocoons? He stared at Jesse, imagining the whispers among the stars.

Jesse noticed his confusion and looked even happier.

“Oh, Darling Adri, you really care about me,” he murmured contentedly. “Would you like to come with me? You are my other half, my only love.”

Adrian nodded.

The next day, Jesse locked the door and added layer upon layer of protection around the house.

Then he changed the sheets, put on the softest pillows and burned some light and pleasant incense beside the bed. After doing all this, Jesse lay down on the bed solemnly and patted the empty space beside him.

Adrian: “…………”

In the past, Jesse’s preparation was only limited to protection spells, without the following steps.

Although somewhat speechless, Adrian still cooperated and lay down on the bed. In an instant, he found himself being entangled by countless tentacles and his eyes were tightly covered.

“Relax,” Jesse said in his ears, interlocking his fingers tightly. “Don’t worry, I’m always with you.”

The next moment, he seemed to be sucked into a huge whirlpool. When he came back to his senses, Adrian saw the stars.

He couldn’t find his body, only his spirit floating in the boundless darkness. All around him were countless stars that didn’t flicker, and… countless golden balls of light.

The golden ball of light was entangled with countless strange characters, which flashed rapidly and were extremely conspicuous, like a miniature starry sky—a sparse, simpler, but more present small starry sky.

“The larger the light cluster, the more valuable the information.”

Jesse’s voice rang out beside him. “As my follower, you can touch them with your mind and read their contents freely.”

“By the way, I contributed those.” A force turned Adrian’s vision, indicating that he should look at some of the light balls.

Adrian touched the largest one, and the mysterious characters instantly turned into words and rushed into his brain.

[The Pillar of the World Information]

[Contributor: Shining Morning Star]

[Coordinates XM-001.18.33119.353.6758/has been signed]

[First, let me conclude, the Pillar of the World isn’t just a rational, flesh-and-blood machine.  Under certain conditions, it can develop highly advanced emotions, even falling in love with certain beings.

I witnessed such a love story before my own eyes.

I had previously worked with another Pillar of the World. It was young, powerful, enthusiastic. I communicated with it so well that I almost believed it had emotions.

But that’s all an illusion.

I watched It destroy the entire surface of the world simply because It created a civilization similar to the last one.

I watched as the world collapsed, the seas flooded back, and natural disasters cycled day and night. The world gradually collapsed, and countless civilizations desperately tried to save themselves, praying to survive another year, another decade, another century.

From beginning to end, It just slightly moved Its body.

I have lost a lot of my power source, which is different from what we agreed to. I went to ask It, and It told me to wait—wait until this civilization is completely destroyed and a new one will emerge. It always does.

This is necessary research, It said. You are part of the research.

Yes, a part of the research, like a gentle breeze or the rain. It doesn’t care whether I die of hunger or old age. In fact, I know our cooperation was unequal from the beginning. Its indifference and generosity are almost equal.

Then It fell into a deep slumber and missed the birthplace of a new god who killed it with a controllable disease.

And so, after nearly a thousand years of wandering, I found a second Pillar of the World. It was older, more silent, and I suspected it would be even more ruthless.

At least It was experienced enough not to be killed by the local god. And I would be more careful not to harbor ridiculous illusions.

We lived in peace for a long time.

Ironically, It was much more cautious than the previous Pillar of the World. It discovered that the local civilization was conducting dangerous experiments in creating gods and decided to take preventative measures—It sent its incarnation to the surface to conduct a final observation before ultimately destroying the surface.

Then It fell in love with a human.

That human didn’t have a stunning appearance or incredible powers; he was just ordinary. I thought It was imitating humans, or perhaps subconsciously treating this as part of Its’ “observation”.

At that time, I thought, how could It possibly fall in love with this guy—compared to me, I’m no different than an ant in the eyes of the Pillar of the World. I’m just a speck of dust. The difference is so huge, so tantamount, it was quite absurd.

This childish, ridiculous romance would eventually end. When the incarnation of the Pillar of the World returns to its true body, that little bit of emotion will vanish, like dew. That human will also have to make a choice, shouldering the responsibility of his civilization’s survival.

Indeed, they soon separated, in an almost desperate manner.

I seemed to be seeing the end of a world again, seeing the shattered earth and the burning ocean. I no longer wanted to stay out of it. For some selfish reason, I hoped that this civilization could survive, at least continue to be stable for centuries.

But things didn’t turn out the way I thought. You know, our kind rarely make mistakes in our predictions.

The human had an almost terrifying persistence. He firmly believed that his lover wouldn’t disappear, and he chased the unintentional glance of an almighty god. They didn’t spend much time together, and they didn’t experience many ups and downs. I didn’t understand what he was obsessed with, nor do I understand where that pathetic love and trust come from.

But he undoubtedly loved It, and I could see that his love wasn’t false.

I must have gone crazy. I promised to help him build a magic circuit so that he could quickly become a local god and qualify to meet the Pillar of the World.

This approach was extremely risky, and the Pillar of the World would regard it as hostility. If he fails, I probably would be eliminated by the Pillar of the World as a “harmful factor”. But I can’t bear to see this story end, just like I can’t bear to leave.

I’ve always thought poetry was just silly romance. The possibility that a tiny being could produce such poetic prose astounds me and fascinates me with this almost absurd conjecture… Anyway, I helped that human and he succeeded.

Until that moment, I still had no hope for the ending of the story. Human love has always been as arrogant as fantasy, but I understand the Pillar of the World. They are unmoved by anything. They are constants in the vast universe, slowly evolving over time, never even glancing at the annihilation of stars.

It turns out that the Pillar of the World was just as crazy as I am.

I stayed here because of my curiosity about that ridiculous emotion, heading toward death. But It saw that ridiculous emotion as evolution and preserved it completely.

It—He actually loves him, and he actually loves Him too.

It was just a fleeting moment, a raindrop about to disappear into a lake. It silently touched Him, shook Him… A light kiss caused the stars to deviate from their orbits.

I couldn’t understand it at all, and I was terrified as much as I was shocked.

Love is always worth watching more than destruction. Perhaps the universe is just as absurd like this. My madness has been rewarded and so has He—He embraced His lover seemingly incredibly content. He was happier than any Pillar of the World I’ve ever read, heard, or seen.

To this day, I’m still analyzing their love. I still don’t understand how it works; I just know that it still exists and continues to grow stronger.

Now I have become good friends with that Pillar of the World… We are probably friends; at least we’re equals. I can clearly feel this.

So I will record until the end, about their love, about everything on this wonderful planet.

Including myself, and what I am fascinated by &*¥ #……]

Perhaps someone had done something wrong, but Adrian suddenly couldn’t read the rest of the article. He could, however, understand the following messages—

[I’m Not Full: Is this some kind of fantasy you had before starving to death?]

[The Pillar of the World Doesn’t Exist At All: What is connection? What are the chances of encountering two Pillars of the World?]

[Starting From Scratch: The part about the flesh he shared earlier was very useful, so it must be real. Besides, if this is all delusions, he would have imagined that the Pillar of the World would be infatuated with him, but he said It loves someone else.]

[Wherever You Drift To Is Fine: Is anyone bored enough to go to that coordinate?]

[Save Me: Whoever wants to go can go. I’m avoiding that place… I rather believe.]

[Starting From Scratch: I believe in him. I have encountered even more outrageous things myself. See -> “Basic Characteristics and Countermeasure Against Star Stealer Sol”]

[Destiny Cannot Be Defied: Hey, above, don’t make up such bullshit. No one has ever heard of such things.]

[How to Deal With Grumpy Neighbors: When will I encounter a Pillar of the World? Even the most ordinary one will do. Maintaining an ownerless civilization is really troublesome…]

……

Adrian: “……”

There’s no end to the comments; just reading the text was so noisy, it was overwhelming. Compared to this group of chattering Floating Cocoons, Jesse Dylan had an even more divine aura.

“What do you think?” Jesse’s voice sounded again. He actually sounded a little nervous.

“Very…” Adrian thought for a moment and chose a positive word. “Lively.”

“But does Mr. Light know that you are writing this?”

“He knows, and he said it’s okay as long as the privacy isn’t exposed. By the way, Mr. Ramon also knows.” Jesse hummed. “Especially, Mr. Ramon. He wishes I could really become a bard and sing their sweet love story to the universe.”

“Alright,” Adrian said. “It seems there’s a second half of this article…”

“I haven’t finished it yet!” Jesse’s tone suddenly tightened.

“Wait until I finish writing it. I mean, it still needs revisions and adjustments…”

“Okay.” Adrian paused. “Do you understand now?”

“What?”

“Regarding the part about ‘he actually loves Him’,” Adrian said calmly. “You seem to have understood that he loves Him.”

Jesse was silent for a long time, and when he spoke again, his tone was unusual.

“If you mean the Pillar of the World, I still don’t understand. But if you mean me—”

He didn’t continue.

Adrian felt his lips become warm. No doubt it was a kiss. The next moment, the “stars” before him vanished.

He fell towards their home again.

---

The author has something to say:

Qixi bonus extra! An Ollie x Nemo love story from Jesse’s perspective—yes, he even wrote it down ♥

Mainly I wanted to write something about the Cocoon Forum (???

---

Kinky Thoughts:

This is only the abridged version. For the full version, read Stray (which you already have if you’re reading this).

Pretty sure I know who “Starting From Scratch” is…

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>