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“Keep looking. Don’t blame your mom for being nosy. Your grandma has been calling me nonstop since yesterday after she found out you were back. It’s driving me crazy.”

Soon, Lin's mother's voice came through the phone.

"Okay, a free car is just coming, I'll hang up now."

Lin Dong, with his sharp eyes, immediately hung up the phone after spotting a taxi that had just gotten off a passenger.

Just as he was carrying his bags and heading towards the taxi, he suddenly felt a hard bump on his shoulder. Before Lin Dong could react, the figure had already entered the car.

Before Lin Dong could even open his mouth to curse, the taxi had already sped away. The young man, whose face he had finally seen clearly, even grinned at Lin Dong through the car window before the car drove away, showing a victorious attitude. He looked quite despicable.

"Are you in such a hurry to be reincarnated...?"

Lin Dong could only weakly utter a powerless curse, then continued to wait patiently under the scorching sun for an empty taxi...

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Although the station certainly needed taxis, whenever the drivers heard the remote, desolate place Lin Dong mentioned, they either quoted an exorbitant fare that would cost Lin Dong enough to buy another ticket back to the other province, or they pretended to be clueless and shook their heads, indicating that they didn't know where he was talking about.

"Pah! They deserve to be squeezed to death by ride-hailing services."

After being refused service by the last empty taxi outside the station, Lin Dong gritted his teeth and cursed that he deserved it. Although ride-hailing apps have become increasingly popular, in a sensitive location like a train station, ride-hailing drivers don't dare risk their lives to test the temper of those taxi drivers who are like a criminal organization. Getting caught would be a death sentence!

Therefore, Lin Dong, who had been wandering outside the station for two hours, had no choice but to call his mother again.

"Oh, my dear mother, there really isn't a car willing to go. Please have pity on your son, I'm dragging dozens of pounds of luggage around!"

As soon as the call connected, Lin Dong began to wail loudly, disregarding his image.

"Okay, be careful. I saw a news report that a taxi that left your station just now rolled down a cliff."

"Thank you, Mother!"

Hearing that his mother had shown rare mercy and stopped tormenting him, Lin Dong was overjoyed and didn't care who had fallen off the cliff. He hung up the phone and immediately got into an empty car, saying with great pride.

"No meter, no fare when going back to the city."

"become"

Why does my heart feel so empty, as if I've lost something? Looking at the scenery rushing past the window, Lin Dong thought to himself...

Side Story - Chapter 2: Reverse Transmigration

"All you do when you get home is play on your phone!"

Seeing Lin Dong lounging lazily on the sofa in a "Ge You slouch" position, Lin's mother was instantly annoyed and, without saying a word, grabbed a towel and started hitting him.

"Ouch! Why are you hitting someone?"

Lin Dong, whose thigh had been lashed hard by the towel, could only put down his phone, which was still running the "Azur Lane" game, and sit up straight. He knew the principle of retreating when the enemy advances, a strategy he had mastered after living with his mother for at least twenty years.

"I asked you to go help your dad, but you didn't go. I arranged a blind date for you, but you didn't go. Tell me, what exactly are you trying to do? Huh?! You're such a grown man, and you stay at home all day glued to your phone. If you could find a wife by talking on your phone, that would be one thing! But you're playing games?! Are you trying to drive me crazy?! Huh?!"

"Who said I don't have a wife...?"

Lin Dong, who had been bombarded with questions by his mother, responded weakly. Then, his gaze unconsciously drifted to his phone. He saw that Kaga's affection level on the screen had turned into a red heart. Once he put the ring on her, she would be his wife, right?

Originally, she thought that her only son was just indulging in frivolous pursuits, but she never expected him to be so outrageous as to treat paper figures as objects of affection. How could Lin's mother tolerate such a thing?

Enraged, Lin's mother didn't argue any longer. She snatched the phone and smashed it on the ground!

"boom!"

The expected shattering sound didn't occur. Instead, as the phone hit the ground, a sound like fireworks exploding suddenly rang out, followed by a burst of white light that blinded the mother and son instantly...

As the white light faded, Lin Dong immediately pulled his mother in front of him and carefully checked her over from head to toe. After seeing that his mother was alright, Lin Dong called out with lingering fear.

"Mom! Can't you control your awful temper? Thank goodness the battery didn't explode... Holy crap!!!"

Lin Dong was still halfway through his sentence when he saw a white-haired woman suddenly appear in the living room of the house. But what made Lin Dong's scalp tingle was not only that, but also the pair of long animal ears on the woman's head and the nine large tails behind her that kept swaying in the air. She didn't look like a cosplayer at all.

"Monster! Don't come any closer!"

Lin's mother, who was already embracing her son, mustered her courage and gave a warning. Then she buried her head in Lin Dong's arms and began to tremble. Clearly, those words had exhausted all her courage.

"You...you stay away!"

Lin Dong, equally terrified, had lost the ability to speak coherently and could only repeat his mother's words. Compared to his mother, who still dared to angrily shout "monster," Lin Dong seemed even more cowardly.

Kaga, who had suddenly appeared there for no apparent reason, was in a daze for a moment and then noticed the commander. Just as he was about to go up and talk to him, he heard the commander's order, "Don't come any closer."

Although Kaga was utterly bewildered by the commander's erratic behavior, a commander is a commander, and orders still had to be obeyed to some extent. Kaga stood there speechlessly, watching the trembling mother and child huddled together, her beast ears twitching, completely bewildered.

Seeing her son's terrified expression, Lin's mother, overwhelmed with maternal love, steeled her resolve, her eyes narrowed, and an idea came to her. She immediately whispered to Lin Dong.

"Help me stall for time, and I'll go find someone to back me up."

Thinking his mother was looking for an opportunity to call the police, Lin Dong immediately agreed to the plan. He then winked at his mother, sending a secret signal that only mother and son could understand.

Three...two...one!

"Hey! Monster, prepare to die!"

Lin Dong pushed his mother away from his arms and charged towards Kaga with a loud shout. Lin's mother, who frequented various parks and squares for dancing, was also quick to react. With the help of her son's push, she disappeared in a flash.

Lin Dong, who had been subdued by Kaga in less than half a second, endured the shame and pain of being stomped on the ground by this monster, and roared angrily at his mother's kneeling back with a look of utter despair.

"Mom! What are you doing?!"

At this moment, Lin's mother was kneeling in front of a Guanyin statue, kowtowing repeatedly while muttering to herself.

"Greatly compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva, we beg you, for the sake of our family's long-standing worship, please quickly appear and subdue this monster..."

...

Haha, I feel like the story of a whole family being tormented by suddenly appearing ship girls is much more fun than the story of the male protagonist being tormented alone.

Side Story - Chapter 3: The Real Existence

Kaga first glanced at Lin's mother, who was still praying to gods and Buddhas and muttering incoherently. Then, she lowered her head and looked at the commander who was pretending to be dead and was being trampled under her feet. Realizing that her subconscious action was too offensive, she finally moved her jade foot away and said calmly.

"Commander, what on earth are you doing?"

"commander?"

Lin Dong, who had been pretending to be dead with his eyes closed, opened his eyes after hearing Kaga's fluent Chinese and looked at Kaga, who was looking down at him, with a puzzled expression.

Short, neat white hair; nine large, snow-white tails... and the white... under her skirt...

Under Kaga's murderous glare, realizing he'd been spied on, Lin Dong mechanically turned his head to look at the phone lying perfectly intact on the floor not far away. He noticed that, due to the game running, the character portrait of Kaga on the still-on screen was completely gone...

"You! You're Kaga?"

Lin Dong, who has always been prone to wild imaginations, finally came to an absurd conclusion based on these seemingly nonsensical clues: the ship girls in the mobile game have traveled through time!

Holy crap.

Kaga ignored the dazed commander and picked up the phone lying on the floor. Such smart devices didn't seem to be rare in the ship girl world. After fumbling around for a while, her fingers were already swiping across the screen.

After a long while.

"Ha...So, all of this was just a ridiculous game?"

...

"Ms. Kaga, would you like a cup of tea?"

After reciting the tongue-twisting name, Lin's mother picked up a freshly brewed cup of Kung Fu tea and eagerly offered it to the monster.

"...Thanks"

Kaga, who was sitting upright in the main seat of the living room, subconsciously replied politely.

Looking at the monster before her, who showed no signs of being about to perish after drinking the tea she had secretly sprinkled with incense ash, Lin's mother couldn't help but sigh with regret.

Based on his son's later words, it was clear that the nine-tailed fox demon had been secretly cultivating inside the phone for a long time. Only after absorbing enough of his precious son's life essence did it finally regain some of its power and dare to appear in the human world.

Lin's mother, who was superstitious and feudal in her thinking, never considered calling the police. In her eyes, the police couldn't handle such supernatural events, and if the shame of a haunted house were to be spread, it would be no laughing matter.

Lin's mother, determined to slay the demon, then turned her head to look in her son's direction. There she saw Lin Dong, who was staring at the monster with curiosity, seemingly bewitched by the beauty of the nine-tailed fox demon.

Lin's mother couldn't help but feel anxious. She immediately stood up from the sofa, first giving Lin Dong a glare as if warning him not to overthink things, then apologizing to the nine-tailed fox demon and saying, "I'll be gone for a while." After that, Lin's mother went straight into the house to continue searching for her backer, Guanyin Bodhisattva.

"Kaga, well... just relax and stay here for now."

Looking at the taciturn ship girl in front of him, Lin Dong also appeared somewhat shy, behaving like a gentleman, as if the perverted man who groped him in the game was not him at all.

Compared to his mother's feudalistic views, Lin Dong, who had undergone various forms of cultural refinement, was remarkably receptive. After his initial astonishment, he calmed down once he realized the ship girl was indeed his character from the game. After all, someone who could practically lick the screen while looking at a two-dimensional character was overjoyed to see the real thing; how could he possibly be afraid?

After discovering that everything in the world she had experienced was just a game played by the man in front of her, Kaga gradually rejected the idea after her initial disbelief.

Because she could sense that the ship equipment hidden in another dimension could manifest in this world at any time in response to her call. Similarly, the connection between the Mind Cube and the man before her had always existed. All these phenomena indicated that her original world absolutely existed, and the experiences she had had with this man were simply being carried out in another form.

The man before her, in both appearance and aura, was exactly the same as the commander she remembered. All of this made Kaga convinced that she was not some two-dimensional character, but a real person!

"I look forward to your continued support from now on, Commander."

Side Story - Chapter 4: Unfairness

Since the demon-slaying plan could not proceed as scheduled, Lin's mother decided to first appease the thousand-year-old fox demon. She then resumed her hospitable demeanor and began preparing dinner.

As for the so-called "thousand-year-old fox demon," she found it on some unknown part of the internet. It said that a fox demon's tail represents 100 years of cultivation, and this old demon named "Kaga," who already has nine tails, is undoubtedly powerful. In this degenerate age, there is really no one who can subdue her.

Slaying demons and eliminating evil is a long and arduous task!

Because of Kaga's taciturn nature, Lin Dong had to keep his many questions to himself for the time being. He then served her fruits and tea, turned on the TV, and brewed some Kung Fu tea, taking great care of the ship girl in every possible way.

"refer to..."

"exist!"

As soon as Kaga opened his mouth, before he could finish speaking, Lin Dong responded in rapid succession, just like a nervous recruit who had just joined the army.

Lin Dong's eager manner also attracted the attention of his mother, who was still busy in the kitchen. She immediately poked her head out of the kitchen and glared coldly at her good-for-nothing son. "He dares to flirt with monsters? Does he have a death wish?"

Unfortunately, Lin's mother, fearing that angering the demon would bring about the destruction of her entire family, did not dare to stop the two from communicating. After all, judging from the current situation, this fox demon was still very polite to her and her son, and it seemed that he was not yet so hungry that he needed to eat people.

Suddenly remembering this, Lin's mother immediately threw herself into preparing a sumptuous dinner, almost emptying the entire refrigerator of ingredients, all in the hopes of filling the monster's stomach and making her take pity on the poor mother and child...

Kaga, who was already somewhat used to the commander's startled and foolish appearance, didn't say anything, and then said calmly.

"Can I take a look at your phone?"

Although he was asking a question, Kaga's outstretched hand was not giving anyone a chance to refuse.