Immortal Kingdoms

"These holographic screens are really something interesting, don't you think?" A man seated on a rounded table with a serving of hot black coffee and a set of baked pastries casually tapped away on a colourful blue screen.

The screen's header read [Daily News, January 1st of the year 4,023], and an article below displayed the trending topics around the globe with a mini window designated for regional news.

The top-rated article displayed a batch of newly introduced human-like androids with realistic expressions thanks to the new 3D digital laser printing technology. With the tap of a finger, the article would enlarge to cover up the entire screen, and various videos and broadcasts begin to stream in over 73 different languages.

Of course, the man couldn't understand a single word and thus he turned to look at his partner for this morning's treat while voicing out his confusion, "Do you understand what these people are saying?"

Seated in front of him was a man dressed in the steward uniform of the ISC auction house, and he looked very anxious. Shockingly, this was the man who introduced Leonardo to Nier on that fateful night over eight months ago. He woke up to find himself abducted by a group of convicts that are either crippled to the bottom levels of the first mortal cycle or non-cultivators, to begin with.

However, these convicts are the cruel, heinous, and dangerous type of locusts if released on a backwater civilization like this planet. Currently, he was face to face with one of these convicts entitled to a secret mission of investigating Leonardo, his family, and relatives, and gathering as many resources as possible to make the earthling slave submit in one way or another.

This operation was done in secrecy by the household leading the twelve houses, not even those involved with the alliance knew of these contingencies, thinking that their entire focus was on the middle realms.

How would they expect that the young master was so paranoid he even dispatched rogue criminals to the peaceful environment of a planet in the lower realms?

"I- I understand them…" The man responded with a pale face, not daring to play any tricks as he was no more than a little steward with only his affiliation to the ISC to be proud of. However, that affiliation wouldn't help him the least bit here.

"Good!" The convict continued browsing through the holographic newspaper.

"These people are disgusting! They're really kidnapping these robots for sex? How depraved must one be?" He exclaimed in shock, not finding the words to describe men who would stoop so low to fuck a machine.

"Here, your coffee is ready!" A beautiful woman in a maid uniform and flashing high heels that literally hovered above the ground approached their table, on her hand was a silver tray with two cups and a mug of coffee ready for serving.

She had long purple hair, much like her radiant eyes. The maid uniform did her body absolute justice by highlighting all the right curves while stoking one's imagination. Her thick red lips reflected a sunlight warm smile that melted some of the ice around the convict's heart as he responded with one of his own.

When the maid turned around, he couldn't help but size up her elastic buttocks with a shine in his eyes. Seeing this, the ISC steward coughed awkwardly and said, "Erm, she's also an android…"

The convict was about to swallow his coffee with a silly smile on his face before he choked on the drink, almost killing himself then and there before releasing the pressure with a coughing fit.

A moment of composing himself later, he glared at the steward and barked at him, "What has that got to do with me?! Your job was to hand me a detailed file and a background check on Leonardo, that damned slave, have you got it ready?! The boss is impatient!"

The steward shuddered, knowing that this was a direct breach of human rights protocols in the ISC code of conduct concerning the privacy and protection of planets in the lower realms. However, he was a man, and man is selfish, and a man wouldn't choose death when they could continue living.

Gritting his teeth, he handed over a stack of documents to the convict.

The convict put on a solemn face and began reading through the papers.

[Full name: Leonardo Evernight.]

[Age: Seventeen years old.]

[ Mother: Maria Evernight, worldwide entrepreneur.]

[Father: Unknown.]

[Bio: CEO of the Evernight Group International.]

The convict skipped through everything that seemed like extra, focusing his attention on the Evernight Group International company. Apparently, the new generation of Artificial Intelligence in conjunction with the new generation of realistic androids took the market by storm over a decade ago when Maria Evernight established the first branch of her company, introducing her first android, Project Nightshade, to the world.

Twenty years later, she brought her company into becoming a massive behemoth in the world of industry, branching into various known capitals and metropolises across the globe. However, to this day, her very first android; Project Nightshade, receives priority for any and all updates and or upgrades to both software and hardware.

The company explicitly stated that Project Nightshade will always remain at least two generations ahead as the predecessor to the new style of androids on the planet. Infiltrating the headquarters and sensitive facilities of the company is nigh impossible as all of the important positions in the company and laboratory are carefully monitored and occupied by intelligence androids.

If he thought that this maid android was something, then he should buckle up for a world unknown, unimaginable, and incomprehensible to someone who relied on cultivation his entire life. On a planet without the introduction of cultivation, the population has already advanced beyond comprehension in fields of science.

The convict could tell that this report was no mere exaggeration as he looked all around at the flying hovercrafts, neon lights, towering skyscrapers, intangible holograms guiding the traffic, not to mention androids; mere machines, that he couldn't tell apart from the living and breathing human beings.

This was all too novel for him.

The two had no idea that their entire interaction was recorded and live broadcasted through the maid's eyes and ears to the futuristic fortress of this era.

Evernight Group International's HQ.

In an office room on a floor hidden within the clouds, a beautiful woman with long silver hair, pitch-black eyes, and pale skin stood weakly facing a projected screen on her wall. She held a white napkin to her thin colourless lips as she coughed lightly, but the napkin was quickly stained red from her gushing blood.

Her tall figure swayed lightly, and she couldn't help but find the nearby desk for support. The next moment, a beautiful woman dressed in a tight-fit black suit with her black hair tied into a ponytail stepped forward.

One can see four rings of dimly lit neon lights in her iris, leaving the pupils within sparkling white a white glow. She was obviously not human, regardless of how similar she was to one.

This was Project Nightshade, the android who raised Leonardo during his mother's difficult times.

The other woman was obviously Maria, Leonardo's mother.

"Madam!" Nightshade spoke with a hint of concern in her eyes while supporting Maria, comforting her Madam with the words she knew were best to speak aloud.

"They're using the divine tongue, their presence here must mean that the young master is doing just fine! Isn't that great, Madam?"

Maria smiled weakly and shook her head, speaking in a whisper-like voice, "I'm not worried about my son at all, I'm simply worried we might drag this whole planet into our mess if we don't handle these pests silently…"

"I don't want the perfect image I worked so hard to build around my son to come crashing down due to a moment of carelessness… I want to welcome him into a warm embrace ten years from now… He said he will be back in ten years, and I believe him."

As she spoke, she eyed a decorated handwritten letter on her wall. She smiled, not knowing whether she should feel guilty about trapping her beloved son in the illusion of them being an abandoned, unwanted mother and child.

"He will understand, Madam!" Nightshade seemed to see through Maria's worries and spoke up, "Moreover, this Interstellar Supreme Court seems like a neutral and fair organisation, they won't allow those pests much leeway, so you don't have to worry about our whereabouts being discovered anytime soon!"

Maria took a deep breath, her dull, midnight-black eyes flashing coldly as she watched the two clowns prance about on her screen while nodding her head.

"I guess we can entertain those idiots for the time being and buy my son some time…"

Nightshade smiled dazzlingly at the mention of the young master.