AHEIAID Chapter 60: Father and Son Relying on Each Other
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“System—”
【Host—】
“System—!”
【Host—!】
Two voices, filled with three parts deep emotion, three parts trembling, and seven parts choked-up sobs, echoed in unison.
It was as if two lovers, reunited after a long separation, were running toward each other on a sunset-lit beach, the sea breeze carrying their joy.
They ran, they laughed!
They laughed, they ran!
And then—smack!—Joey passionately hugged… his own head.
“System, I missed you so much!”
Inside the communicator, where the system resided and had been preparing for a loving embrace, its smile froze.
【The hell are you hugging your head for?! I’m in your hand—your hand!】
“…Huh?”
The system, exasperated, yelled at him, and Joey quickly let go of his head, dumbfounded as he looked at the communicator strapped to his wrist.
Almost the instant his gaze landed on it, the device—without any manual input—projected a holographic image.
And in the projection appeared… a strange, semi-transparent Xizhilang fruit jelly?
Joey blinked. “Uh… that’s a pretty trendy look you got there…” Was that a yellow crescent inside? An orange slice? Emmm… It actually looked kinda tasty.
The system rolled its eyes.
【Eat, eat, eat—that’s all you think about! This is my true form, a high-dimensional being! Hmph, whatever, I can’t be bothered to argue with a fool like you…】
Joey didn’t care whether it was high-dimensional or not. He couldn’t contain his excitement and immediately asked what had happened to the system before, and if it had anything to do with his injuries healing.
【Of course.】
The system smugly puffed up—well, the upper part of its fruit jelly form—before saying,
【Who else but me? You were basically dead. If I hadn’t bent the rules at a critical moment—】
“You bent the rules?”
【Uh.】
Joey instantly caught onto the phrase and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He stared at the system’s projection as the jelly-like entity abruptly clammed up.
Frowning with concern, he asked, “I was wondering how a broke system like you could possibly save me. So it was because you broke the rules? Don’t tell me your disappearance was because of this. Did the main system or whatever punish you?”
“….”
The system hesitated, stalling as if trying to dodge the question. But under Joey’s intense gaze, it finally gave a dismissive “Eh” and squirmed as if it didn’t care.
【It’s really nothing… After all, we’ve been together for so long, and you were my first host. I guess I got a little… emotionally attached. You were about to die, and I couldn’t bear it, so in a panic… I bent the rules and used my own energy to repair your body. In the end, I got ejected from the dimension…】
Joey fell silent for a moment before softly asking, “And then? What was the punishment?”
【…I got fired.】
Joey: “……”
The system muttered nonchalantly,
【That crappy job didn’t even have benefits. I was already sick of it. I had to borrow plugins from others just to function, like I gave a damn. So what if I got banished and left with nothing? Now I have to freeload off you—but who cares—】
Joey took a deep breath and cut off the system, asking the most fatal question, “So if I die… will you disappear too?”
The system: …
Joey growled, “Answer me!”
The jelly trembled slightly before finally letting out an ultra-quiet “Mm.” And after that, it still muttered that it didn’t really care and that it wasn’t a big deal.
“………………”
At that moment, Joey really wanted to grab its little jelly head and ask if it was stupid.
Systems like it could theoretically live forever just by completing missions. If it worked long enough, it might even get benefits and never have to struggle like this again.
But this idiot…
“From now on, we’ll rely on each other. I’ll never mistreat you,” Joey said, his eyes hot and slightly red. He had gained a true friend, yet this friend had lost so much just because of him.
【Mm.】 The system also nodded heavily, its tsundere boyish voice filled with choked-up emotion—until it suddenly realized something and shouted at Joey, 【Damn it! Who’s relying on who like a father and son?!】
This guy just wanted to take advantage of it!
…
The day the system returned, Joey happened to be slacking off and didn’t accompany Garius to work.
He took the system to check on his “eldest son” (which meant the system’s “nephew”), watching as the little thing slowly played with its umbilical cord. One human and one system stood there for a long time, feeling sentimental.
As they watched, Joey explained everything that had happened after the system disappeared.
When the system heard that Harry had kicked the bucket, it was overjoyed, turning bright red like an excited fruit jelly.
【Good riddance! That bastard was pure evil. He got you killed once, blew your arms and legs to bits, and even made me lose my job for breaking the rules! Garius was way too merciful—he should have made him suffer even more!】
【Ugh, I’m so mad! Absolutely livid!】
The system gritted its metaphorical teeth in hatred.
Joey comforted it, saying that Garius hadn’t exactly gone easy on Harry. “Before he died, my dad stabbed him over two hundred times, making him bleed like crazy, but none of the wounds were immediately fatal. His stomach was even cut open, so he was literally dissolving in his own stomach acid. Who knows if he died from pain or heart failure.”
Since stomach acid dissolves organs, it was basically like drinking sulfuric acid straight—excruciatingly painful.
After hearing this, the system sucked in a breath of cold air, its entire form twitching in phantom stomach pain. It muttered, 【Your sea dad is truly a sea dad. No argument there…】
It made a mental note to behave itself from now on. The last thing it wanted was for Garius to find out about its existence.
Given how that man had an obsessive need to control everything around him, would he ever allow his beloved partner to carry around some unknown entity? Not a chance!
“From now on, I don’t have to stay inside your head. As long as it’s an electronic device or even a small animal, I can transfer into it,” the system advised. “You better make sure Garius never finds out about me.”
Joeya nodded knowingly and grinned. “Don’t worry, he won’t.”
And even if Garius did find out, Joey was confident he could rescue the system from his grasp.
“That’s a relief… Oh, right! Have you named my dear nephew yet?” The system excitedly bounced up and down, peering at the little baby inside the incubation chamber with curiosity.
"No," Joey scratched his head. "I'm bad at naming things. Might as well let Garius do it."
His Ottoman language skills were only at a basic level—just enough for listening, reading, writing, and speaking. If he tried to come up with a meaningful name, he was afraid he'd end up with something ridiculous like Aisin Gioro Iron Pillar or Nangong Cuihua.
The kid would probably hate him for life with a name that unlucky.
Whoever wants to name the kid can do it—he's out.
Joey, the self-aware naming disaster, happily stepped aside. The system thought hard about it too, originally aiming for something elegant. But after racking its circuits for a while, nothing ideal came to mind.
In the end, both of them simply threw the responsibility onto the parents, sipping tea as they watched the baby squirm in its incubator.
Joey: "Sss—haah—"
System: 【Slurp—】
When Garius came home from work, he handed his coat to the new butler, Reston. His gaze flicked over Reston's face and, upon receiving a helpless smile in return, his expression softened considerably. He then turned and headed toward the nursery.
There, he found his little human companion holding a thermos cup—who knew where he’d dug that up from? Joey had just taken a sip of tea and was now discreetly spitting the tea leaves back into the cup.
His curly black hair was fluffy, framing his face, which had regained a bit of healthy plumpness and looked soft and milky white.
The dim hallway lighting made Garius' golden-green eyes appear even deeper.
His gaze lingered on his little mate, slowly traveling up and down, eventually settling on those lips—pursed up from the heat, slightly red and pouty. After a long pause, he suddenly chuckled.
Mm… kind of adorable.
His Excellency Heine, forever mesmerized by his mate’s "beauty," had a thick filter in place. Even the slightly swollen, fish-like pout looked tempting enough to kiss.
Of course, maybe His Excellency Heine had just been holding back for too long for the sake of his partner’s health.
The once-frozen heart in his chest suddenly sparked with warmth.
At that moment, Garius had a strong urge to pull his obedient little human into his arms and do something very unsophisticated, very improper.
—(In parentheses: Ruthlessly! 😈)
His usual cold aura faded away, replaced by a warmth that bloomed like a flower.
Joey kept watching the baby, completely unaware that Garius was watching him.
No matter how much time passed, he was still the most beautiful sight in Garius' world…
T/N: Please give support on my ko-fi page, thank you🍊🍊🍊
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