Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"I will help him when it does not affect the overall situation. Your brother is a respectable man, and he will give a suitable price."

[You want to kill two birds with one stone? You eat the daughter and take the father away too?]

"Tsk, those are two different things. What I mean is, we should be able to use elixirs to save the day, and we should be able to make elixirs to cure the gods—if not, we can talk about it later. After this incident, I think Helios is indeed a trustworthy person. But in the final transaction, I am still more looking forward to Phaethon's future. If I'm not mistaken, her body given by the Taoist Ancestor is not that simple."

So Daozu sent her to you. Well, Helios said he wanted Phaethon to take some time off.

"Then let her take a vacation. Although strength is just a fleeting moment for her, losing it all at once is still quite devastating. Well, for her mental health, let's find her a job. It's work, but it's also a rare vacation for her who's always fighting on the front lines. This is called 'balancing work and relaxation'. Well, I'm such a good person~~"

"how's it going?"

When she came back, Phaethon was sitting there, she didn't look through the mail-order catalog on the table. She had no mood to eat until she got news from her father.

"Very good, your father is in good condition. He even joked with me. Don't worry about his health. Well, he seems to have calmed down."

"What did he say about me?"

"Your father said, well, he's a little disappointed in you, but not completely. He hopes you'll take good care of yourself before returning to report. For the time being, you should rest here."

Shangluo didn't convey Helios' words exactly as he had, but chose a more credible version. After all, if he simply told her to "take a vacation," she might think she was being exiled.

This is not a blind guess. Based on the experiences of the past few times, Shangluo feels that she would most likely think so.

Therefore, a more appropriate reason would be "to recharge and prepare for returning to the front line in the future." Assigning her rest as a task should be easier for her to accept.

"Okay." Phaethon leaned back and sank into the sofa. The tension that had been taut for a long time finally relaxed a little. "Then I'll take good care of myself."

"Did you choose dinner when you were asked to?"

"Uh, no. Is it too late now?"

Shangluo glanced at the clock and it was already half past seven.

"Oh, forget it, let's go out to eat."

He opened his phone and found the group "Yongshou Palace is full of hungry people", which was a dinner group. The last time Fu Yuanshan took him to dinner, he also asked him to join the group.

He first confirmed whether Fu Yuanshan had any dinner party tonight.

"Well, he's not free tonight. Good."

After confirming that Fu Yuanshan would not come to disturb him, he sent him a letter asking:

"Senior Fu, do you have any recommendations for places to have dinner?"

"Okay, that's all." He got a list from Fu Yuanshan and handed the phone to Phaethon.

"I'm the host, so you pick a restaurant. What would you like to eat?"

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Phaethon asked about the time. "If you do, we can't go too far."

"Tomorrow... Don't tell me, it's really important."

After completing all the necessary things to build the foundation and become a celestial being, the next step is your own business.

Experiencing more and gaining more information also made him more "sharp-eyed and sharp-eyed," well-equipped for the next crucial decision: choosing his path of cultivation. While he initially had to seek out Master Zhang in Wudang Mountain to lay the foundation, Master Zhang couldn't teach him everything. Should he continue his sword training? Or perhaps incorporate other styles? These were all factors to consider. The more experience he gained, the more thorough his considerations became.

Shangluo will discuss future plans with Daozu when he meets him tomorrow to report.

"It's better not to go too far. That grandfather and grandson have a habit of making 'deadly phone calls' in the middle of the night. They might suddenly ask me to come over in the middle of the night."

"In that case," Phaethon looked at the words on his phone, "then let's go with this one at the door. What is this 'state-owned store'?"

"Huh? Any recommendations for this?" Shangluo glanced over and saw it was indeed the state-owned store at the entrance. There was a note at the back saying they had a wide selection of sunflower seeds and roasted nuts, as well as snacks like dried meat, meat paper, and fish fillets. And... lots of instant noodles.

"This isn't a restaurant, it's a dim sum place. Are you sure you want to go here? Today is your birthday, so why don't we eat instant noodles here? Okay, take the shopping bags and we'll go get some food. It's your choice, it's not that I won't treat you."

Chapter 273 Apollonia

Shangluo didn't understand why he had to eat instant noodles tonight until he felt steamy.

But it tasted pretty good, with a hint of pork and pepper.

The noodles were wrapped in wax paper, and the packaging explained that they were made with high-gluten flour and duck eggs. They were thicker than any instant noodles he'd ever seen before, and took longer to soak, but once they came out, they were quite chewy and springy.

The packaging said "Delicious Minced Pork Noodles." But besides the rice noodle and the powdered rice, there was nothing else inside. There was no trace of the minced meat. Yet, it was only 1 cents—like other manufactured goods, it was incredibly cheap, much cheaper than a bowl of rice of the same size.

In other words, if you want to save money, it's best not to eat white rice; this is the cheapest option. Besides minced meat noodles, there are other flavors like three-fresh noodles and egg noodles, all from different manufacturers, but generally around the same price point and with similar flavors.

"Hmm" Shangluo took a bite.

I have to say, these noodles are quite delicious. Even after soaking for a while, they're still quite chewy. The packaging recommends cooking them, but they're still quite tasty soaked. The soup itself is pretty average; after all, it's hard to create a complex flavor from such a small packet of powder.

Thinking about it this way, the instant egg drop soup that Lu Huaiyang gave him before tasted quite good, much better than this mediocre instant noodles.

But Phaethon had a different opinion from him.

"Slurp, slurp, slurp." She ate incredibly fast. By the time Shangluo realized what was happening, she was already on her second bowl. And she didn't slow down at all. Besides the subtle "slurp," there was no sound at all. It was the first time he'd seen someone so respectable even when starving.

"Is this delicious?"

She raised her head from the bowl of noodles and swallowed the food in her mouth.

"Unappetizing."

"Then why are you eating so fast?"

“Because it feels good.”

The simple and direct answer left Shangluo at a loss for words.

"Ah, thank you for the treat." Phaethon leaned against the back of the sofa, his whole body limp like a cat beside the stove.

Four instant noodle bags and four bowls were left on the table. Shangluo, sitting across from me, hadn't even finished his first bowl.

"Are you full?"

"No. But I'm a little bloated. I'll eat some more later."

Shangluo was beginning to feel lucky that she hadn't gone out to eat tonight, otherwise the meal he was going to treat her to might have been a big expense. With instant noodles only costing 1 a packet, it wouldn't be a problem for her to have a few more.

"You could actually eat something else. Why are you eating instant noodles? You can afford something that costs only three cents."

"If you know what I usually eat, you'll understand why I like this."

"what?"

"Pomegranates, olives, and grape juice with honey. Meat is only allowed during sacrifices, and the fat and head meat are allowed. These are the gods' meals, and I must eat them strictly according to these standards."

"So the last time we met, the drink you gave me was your rations?"

"Yes. I gave you some drink several times because I was so sorry for grabbing you so suddenly. So I wanted to ask you to drink more because this is what I usually drink. But you know, although the pomegranate, olive and grape juices are of good quality, I can't eat anything else besides these."

Shangluo could imagine that situation: pomegranates and olives were indeed delicious. But pomegranates were full of seeds, and olives had only a little flesh. Besides these, the only thing left was wine, which was simply another level of "eating wind and drinking dew," only slightly better.

"So, instant noodles, although simple in flavor, are very direct and don't even require chewing. Just slurp them up. Ah, like all other beautiful things, eating instant noodles can also be done in such a simple and elegant way. I love instant noodles and would eat them every day if I could. I'm already fed up with things that require you to spit out the pits. I won't eat anything that requires you to spit out the pits."

"Then why did you buy so many melon seeds?"

"I want to eat some of the flesh inside the pit to see what it tastes like. Because with pomegranates and olives, you can only eat the skin."

“Isn’t this child a bit miserable?”

[It's good to have something to eat. At least there's plenty of pomegranates. I haven't had any yet.]

"Eh? What did you eat before?"

[I let it slip. It's a secret! It's a secret, don't ask.] She muttered and didn't reply.

"Miss Phaethon, I want to ask you a question. What does Apollonia usually eat?"

"Huh? Didn't she tell you? It's not really a secret."

"Ah!!! Idiot! Don't say that!"

"She stopped eating after 8 months. But since you asked, I'll tell you."

The two of them were on completely different channels. Apollonia screamed at the top of her lungs, but Phaethon couldn't hear a word she said.

"Apollonia is. Pythia."

All was quiet. Now that the truth was known, there was no point in Apollonia saying anything.

"Pythia? Do you mean the Pythia of Delphi?"

"Yes." Phaethon nodded. "Apollonia has been passed down from classical times to the present day. This generation's Pythia—not the one currently in charge of divination in the temple—is the real one. In other words, she was born as the 'Son of God' for the entire Greek world. From a mystical perspective, she is the true Prince of the Moon. Thousands of years ago, she would have been the Priest King of the entire Greek world, the leader of Athens, Sparta, and all other Greek city-states."

"So that's how it is. What was her original name?"

"Her name is Apollonia, just like mine is Phaethon. It's all part of the armor-donning ceremony. In other words, my father's ascension to the god Helios was inseparable from the help of this sister—well, but Apollonia didn't have a choice. When the Lighthouse Project began, she was only eight months old. It was my father who made the decision for her. As a true god, not a demigod, she was unable to keep her body."

This was indeed a bit cruel. A child who hadn't had time to make a choice, lost his body before he even had time to realize it. No wonder Apollonia hated him.

"Sorry. I won't make fun of you about this anymore. You can't eat either, right?"

"No," Apollonia muttered. "Actually, I'm quite honored to have been born a Pythia. And as for the deification itself, I don't have any objections right now. Being a god is a bit lonely, but the power itself is irresistible. And since I met you, everything has been fun, except I still can't eat. Ah, if only I could have a bite of instant noodles, even pomegranate ones, it would be so much better."

She went on to say:

But I'll still remember this grudge. It's one thing for me to think I'm good, but it's another for him to do this to me without my permission—there's a decades-long age gap between us, he could be my father. He's truly a wicked man for using such a young sister as a tool. I will never forgive him, and I'll never call him brother again. I'll definitely get revenge on him if I get the chance.

Chapter 274: Holy Nature Remains

"Is she saying she doesn't like my father?"

"Yeah." Shangluo nodded.

"Think about it and you'll understand. Although I helped her ascend to godhood, this is equivalent to sending her to the Conferred God List and turning her into a Yin God. No matter how you look at it, she's a bad guy."

"I kind of know why he's like this." Shangluo saw it more clearly—Helios's divinity and humanity were constantly at war, and only rarely did he think in terms of both at the same time. Aside from the shared promise and causal relationship, it was hard to see this as just one person making a decision.

"However," Shangluo still had something he didn't understand. "Is there something wrong with the title Pythia? Why doesn't Apollonia want to mention it?"

"Really?" Phaethon rubbed his head. "She wasn't like this before. From the beginning, she thought Pythia was amazing, incredibly amazing, and there was no reason not to tell her. Is she only like this with you?"

Phaethon thought for a moment. "Ah, I know why. Actually, while the position of Pythia is sacred, it often doesn't symbolize power. Those chosen as the Pythia's priest-kings are confined to a small house from a young age. Unable to read or write, forbidden to go anywhere, and forbidden to see anything—this is to prevent the Pythia, as the priest-king, from truly becoming the emperor of the Greek world. If a child is confined like this, even the brightest will appear... simple. Yes, simple. So Pythia is sometimes a synonym for simple."

Shangluo touched his chin and said, "So, people who become Pythia sometimes give people a kind of...stupid feeling?"

[Ahhhhh! Stop it! Stop it! I'm going to die!]

"No, no, no, that's what you said." As if sensing something, Phaethon quickly changed his words, "We call this innocent, and 'stupid' is what you said. Although Apollonia really hasn't seen much of the outside world, so... forget it, forget it, I won't say anymore, the more I explain, the worse it gets."

"Got it, it's the same holy nature as before. Yes, the same holy nature as before." He said seriously, but still couldn't hold it in. "Pfft~ No wonder I always get so angry when I repeatedly poke at 'Benben's' pain point these past few days."

[Hey! You can't take my jokes anymore!]

"Cough, sorry, I couldn't help it." Shangluo took a sip of water, but the corners of his mouth were still raised.

"By the way, Miss Phaethon, you seem to know a lot about the Lighthouse Project?"

"I'm one of the core participants, so of course I know. If you saw the Lighthouse system, you should have heard the system prompt tone, right? Did you recognize it as my voice?"

"I didn't hear it at first. Then I heard it after someone reminded me."

"Because I was a few years younger then, my voice was more childish."

"Since you're a deep participant in the Lighthouse Project, everything is easy to discuss. As I mentioned before, you want to get your father's 'Golden Elixir' back, right? Also, you want to continue helping Roma complete her Ascension. Now, there's a great opportunity before you: our Ascension Plan and Roma's are on the same path, and I'm in charge of advancing it. So, if you're willing to work for me and accept my employment, I can pay you."

"Oh! That's great! This couldn't be better. I used to feel a little guilty about taking a vacation here, but now I feel much better. So, how much are you going to pay me?"

Shangluo stretched out two fingers.

"2000 drachmas? No, no, no, that's too much. 1000 is enough."

"I have two complaints I don't know how to express. First, 2000 drachmas is worthless now. Second, I'm not giving you drachmas. I'm giving you two taels of silver."

"Wait." She was stunned for a moment, "This doesn't seem right, not just seem. This is too little! At least I am."

"What are you? You're not a demigod anymore."

"I carry a lot of top secrets on my back."

"So, if you go, who are you going to tell? Are you going to sell it on the street?"

"."

"So you have no other job besides me, right? Or are you planning to go back on your own? It's not impossible, if you think you can end your vacation now and go back to eat pomegranate seeds and olives."

"I just want to ask, are you still angry and taking revenge on me?"