Chapter 106#

Welcome Back, Master#

Bai Ruoye dragged the cannon beneath the imposing palace gates, took a pipe out of her blade belt, lit it, and took a deep drag while staring at the distant sky. The smoke blurred her vision, and within the hazy smoke rings, she seemed to see events from a long time ago. There were too many memories; her gaze pierced through the smoke, catching sight of the stone nests and stone towers in the mist. She wasted no more time, discarding the pipe and letting the sparking tobacco die out in the puddles.

Dragging the cannon, she climbed the steps step by step, heading toward the majestic Beichen Palace ahead. The iron plating of the cannon scraped against the ground, making a harsh, grating clatter. Gazing from afar, within the dark hall, King Luofu’s vertical eye gleamed like a candle flame.

King Luofu’s deep, resonant voice echoed from far inside the hall. “My child, you bring weapons into the palace hall. What is your intention?”

“What do you think? Didn’t Su Guanyu tell you?” Bai Ruoye finally reached the location of the Great Shifting Star Array. “Sorry, I forgot. You are a pitiful puppet who has absolutely no idea that Su Guanyu is residing inside your body.” She gave a self-deprecating laugh. “You are Su Guanyu’s puppet, and I am yours. In a way, we truly share the same plight.”

“Nonsense.” There was a trace of faint anger in King Luofu’s voice. He clearly didn’t understand Bai Ruoye’s words, but that didn’t stop him from realizing she had escaped the control of the Spirit-Heart Heavenly Telepathy. He sighed, “You’ve remembered, haven’t you? Sometimes, it is better not to be too sober in life; sobriety often brings pain. Why cling so stubbornly to the past? Now, you are my most beloved daughter, a role model to the youths of the demon race. I will show you a clear path: why not lay down your hatred and join me in achieving great things?”

“I will show you a clear path too,” Bai Ruoye said as she bent down, pulled a spirit stone out of the star array, loaded it into the cannon’s chamber, and aimed it at Beichen Palace. “The path to the Yellow Springs.”

In the next instant, the cannon roared. Fire like fireworks erupted from the barrel. As if the earth shook and the mountains trembled, the entirety of Beichen Palace shuddered, shedding showers of dust. The arched entrance of Beichen Palace had already been blasted with a massive hole by Bai Ruoye, rendering it teetering on the verge of collapse. Before the echoes of the first blast even faded, Bai Ruoye pulled a second spirit stone from the star array and fired at Beichen Palace a second time. This time, the spirit stone shell blasted deep into the hall, snapping a pillar right in half. A corner of Beichen Palace collapsed, and its roof ridge slowly tilted westward.

“Seeking your own destruction.” King Luofu’s voice betrayed no panic, speaking with composed breath.

“Then I’ll drag you down to hell with me,” Bai Ruoye said coldly.

As the second cannon blast ended, a portal appeared in front of Beichen Palace, and the vertical-eyed King Luofu stepped out from within.

Although the cannon was immensely powerful, its mobility was severely lacking. Now, King Luofu was only inches away from her; before she could reload, he could easily kill her first. Decisive, she abandoned the cannon, drew the blades from her back, and charged at the white-robed demon king.

Suddenly, bursts of violent wind appeared before her eyes, and sharp blades grew out of the ground from thin air. Her face was cut by the wind blades, and her feet bled profusely. She knew all of this was an illusion. The golden vertical eye flickered ahead, its golden light nearly filling her entire vision. Those terrifying eyes invaded her brain once more; the piercing pain was so realistic that her spiritual consciousness suffered agonizing torment yet again.

Yet, she did not retreat. She had long since grown accustomed to pain. Even though the pain intensified with every inch she advanced, her speed remained as swift and fierce as a panther’s.

“Blizzard!” she roared hoarsely.

A furious blizzard swept across the front of Beichen Palace. The condensing frost and snow extended her blades, reaching directly before King Luofu’s eyes. She slashed toward the golden vertical eye with chilling intent to kill. However, a sudden, sharp pain struck the back of her heart. She looked down to see a long, narrow blade piercing through her abdomen, blood gushing along the fuller.

“I told you, you are seeking your own destruction,” King Luofu’s voice sounded from behind her.

She suddenly understood. The howling wind was an illusion, the blades were an illusion, and the King Luofu in front of her was also an illusion.

“Truly a formidable opponent…” she let out a dry, raspy chuckle.

King Luofu’s voice suddenly drifted further away, hovering around her.

“Surrender.”

She sealed her wound with ice, stopping the gushing blood, and raised the cold tip of her blade once again.

“I haven’t lost yet,” she said.

By the time Su Ruhui climbed up to Beichen Palace, Bai Ruoye was already covered in blood. There was no telling how many times she had fallen, nor how many times she had dragged herself back up. She deliberately let frost cover her body to dull her perception of pain and slow down the blood loss. Watching the battle from afar, Su Ruhui set up his musket and aimed downward, his mind in a complex whirl. Fighting like this, Bai Ruoye had absolutely no intention of surviving.

Sang Baobao squatted by his side, gazing into the distance, and said, “There’s bad news.”

“What?”

Sang Baobao said, “She miscalculated the distance. She estimated the straight-line distance between the star array and Beichen Palace. But we are at the top of Beichen Palace, which creates an elevation angle. The distance has increased a lot, exceeding the range of this musket.” It visually estimated and said, “The distance between us and them is at least a thousand meters.”

Su Ruhui made his own estimation, and his heart instantly sank. Sang Baobao was right; this musket was simply not enough to hit King Luofu.

“Shoot the star array,” Bai Ruoye’s voice suddenly came from the compass.

The compass wasn’t turned off; she had heard everything Sang Baobao just said.

“The star array is so large, it should be within your range, right?” Bai Ruoye’s voice was intermittent.

“You’ll die,” Su Ruhui reminded her. “With so many spirit stones, shooting the star array will definitely trigger an explosion. You’ll be blown to pieces.”

He gazed down, watching her charge at King Luofu again and again. She was drenched in so much blood she was practically a blood-soaked figure, yet at this moment, she seemed like a true puppet—incapable of feeling pain, knowing only how to fight.

“A-Hui,” she sighed, “do you really think I miscalculated the distance?”

Su Ruhui suddenly understood. She had done it on purpose. From the very beginning, she wanted Su Ruhui to shoot the star array.

“I’m counting on you,” she said hoarsely. “You created us, and it is only right that you bring us to our end.”

Su Ruhui held the musket, his breath catching. In the end, she couldn’t bear it anymore. The deception and betrayal along the way had hurt too many people she once cherished. She couldn’t overcome the hurdle in her heart, and she longed for an end. Now, she was placing the executioner’s blade into Su Ruhui’s hands. Su Ruhui felt as if someone was strangling his neck; he couldn’t speak a word.

King Luofu seemed to sense something, and his figure suddenly retreated. Bai Ruoye discarded her blades and spread her bloody arms. A furious blizzard enveloped her. The spiritual energy throughout her body was instantly consumed, and faint green specks of light, like fireflies, surfaced along her meridians. Ice spread from beneath her feet, freezing King Luofu, who was trying to escape.

“Shoot.” Her voice was incredibly calm.

King Luofu struggled, trying his best to break out of the ice, as fine, crackling fractures began to spiderweb across the ice sculpture.

Su Ruhui aimed at the star array, but delayed pulling the trigger. Sang Baobao looked up at his tensed profile, making no sound to rush him.

Su Ruhui couldn’t bring himself to do it. Why did things turn out this way? He didn’t understand. He had named the Hyper-Meta Realm “Paradise No. 21,” yet everyone here lived in agony.

Bai Ruoye waited no longer, pulling a pack of explosives from her robe.

“A-Hui, you unreliable guy,” she sighed. “I told you before, you have to harden your heart.”

Bai Ruoye lit the explosives and threw them at King Luofu’s feet. The ice sculpture shattered, peeling away layer by layer like shards of glass, and King Luofu finally broke free from the freeze. However, the fuse of the explosives at his feet had already burned to its end. A sudden flash of light erupted before their eyes, followed by a deafening blast. The entire cluster of spirit stones was ignited. With a thunderous boom, thick smoke billowed up in front of Beichen Palace.

The shockwave swept through the entire palace city, and Beichen Palace collapsed like decaying wood. The time-stop was instantly lifted. All the demons snapped out of their daze in panic, looking toward Beichen Palace. In the distance, atop a stone tower, Tantai Jing seemed to wake from a dream, staring blankly out the window.

When the dust settled, the palace city was a field of ruins. Holding Sang Baobao in his arms, Su Ruhui struggled to crawl out from the debris. Having nearly been buried alive under the ruins, Su Ruhui’s mouth was filled with the taste of dust. He spat out the dust, walking unevenly across the wreckage to search for Bai Ruoye. Sang Baobao sniffed all along the way, finally stopping on top of a stone slab.

“Here,” it scratched at the slab.

Gritting his teeth, Su Ruhui lifted the stone slab. Bai Ruoye lay underneath with her eyes closed. Su Ruhui pushed the slab aside, and Sang Baobao crawled in to inspect her wounds. She was drenched in blood, and though most of it was frozen by frost, it was still a horrific sight. Half of her arm had been blown off, and her lower body was gone, likely blasted to who-knows-where. Her face was covered in blood and dust, making her features almost unrecognizable.

Looking at her broken, battered form, Su Ruhui couldn’t help but feel a deep sorrow. How foolish, to reduce herself to this. Su Ruhui knew that she truly didn’t want to live anymore. You cannot save someone who has no will to live. There were a thousand ways to seek death, yet Bai Ruoye had chosen the most painful one—she had blown herself to pieces.

Her eyelids fluttered, and she struggled to open her eyes.

“Is it over?” She stared up at the hazy, distant sky. “Has my story reached its end?”

“It’s over, you can rest in peace now.” Su Ruhui squatted beside her and wiped her cheek. Her face was also practically shattered; it couldn’t be wiped clean, bleeding at the slightest touch. Watching this in grief, Su Ruhui’s hand froze in midair.

“A-Hui,” her voice was incredibly hoarse, “actually, the person I let down the most is you. I’ve harmed you, I’ve killed you, yet you still foolishly called me Senior Sister. Sometimes I really wanted to call you stupid, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say it.”

Su Ruhui’s voice sounded strained. “Don’t lecture me at a time like this.”

Beside him, Sang Baobao sniffed out something else. It lowered its body and dug King Luofu’s head out of the rubble. Su Ruhui caught a glimpse of it by chance, and his gaze instantly froze. Inside the skull was a shattered inspiration star array, indicating that the King Luofu who had just died was actually a Super-Grade One flesh puppet.

[High-risk warning. Host, please pay attention to the ground beneath Beichen Palace.]

[Mission not yet completed. Host, please keep up the good work.]

“Come to think of it, my heart is still Tantai Xun’s heart, isn’t it? Otherwise, I wouldn’t keep seeing her. Cut out my heart and return it to Tantai Jing,” Bai Ruoye said, looking at the sky. “A heart that doesn’t belong to me shouldn’t follow me down to hell.”

Su Ruhui felt a bitter taste in his throat. “Alright.”

Bai Ruoye asked softly, “They all hate me and loathe me. Why are you the only one who refuses to give up on me?”

“Because you are my Senior Sister,” Su Ruhui said, smiling through his tears. “You used to be so badass and beautiful. Every member of the Wasteland Pioneers, male or female, fell before your blade. You even dared to flirt with my uncle. I just can’t bear to see you reduce yourself to this, Senior Sister.”

Bai Ruoye slowly looked at him, tears falling from her eyes which were filled with deep sorrow.

“Thank you, A-Hui,” she whispered. “Do puppets have a next life? If so… I want to be human…”

“There will be,” Su Ruhui said. “There definitely will be.”

A faint smile appeared on her lips, vanishing in an instant like the wind. In the next moment, her head slumped weakly to the side, and the light in her eyes dissipated like smoke. Su Ruhui felt as if he were watching a rose wither, its tough stem snapping in the snow, left forgotten by all from then on.

“Goodbye, Senior Sister.” His tears fell like rain.

Sang Baobao suddenly grew alert, its ears pinning back, and its fur standing on end. Su Ruhui looked up to see a giant silver python pushing aside the rubble and broken walls, slithering out from beneath Beichen Palace. The python was as massive as Beichen Palace itself. Its scales reflected the sky, shimmering with movement as if ripples of water were flowing over its body. It had only a single golden vertical eye on its forehead, looking as if molten gold were flowing inside. Though silent, its gaze carried a deep, majestic kingly authority.

[Information unlocked: King Luofu’s true form, the Extreme Snow Demon Python.]

“Son of Su Guanyu,” the sole eye of King Luofu suddenly flashed with golden light. “You have your Super-Grade One flesh puppet to thank. I had long since transferred my spiritual consciousness into the puppet’s body, while my true form was hidden in the ice cellar of the Avici Hell. No one knew this secret—not even my most trusted ‘beloved daughter’. Otherwise, today might have truly cost me my life at the hands of this fearless child.”

Bai Ruoye had already closed her eyes, unable to hear anyone speak anymore.

Su Ruhui took off his outer robe and draped it over Bai Ruoye, covering her shattered face.

“Senior Sister, sleep well. I’ll take care of the rest of the business for you.”

Sang Baobao hissed threateningly at King Luofu. Faced with the python’s colossal body, it looked as pitifully small as a toy. Yet, cats were creatures that never knew their place, always charging toward wherever danger lurked. Its sharp claws slid out from its paw pads, and it leaped onto a stone, preparing to pounce on the giant python. Su Ruhui, quick-handed, swiftly grabbed its large tail and dragged it back.

“Sang Baobao, you’ve already had enough cool moments. Let me show off once today.” Su Ruhui placed it beside Bai Ruoye. “Keep an eye on Senior Sister for me.”

Sang Baobao had a solemn expression. “Can you handle it?”

Su Ruhui smiled. “Don’t underestimate me. I am the Creator.”

Sang Baobao was still uneasy. It pulled some yellow paper from Su Ruhui’s satchel, bit its paw pad, and pressed several talismans for him with its cat paws.

“Instant Shadow Shift, to give you a hand.”

Su Ruhui stuffed the cat-claw talismans into his pocket, stood up, and walked unevenly toward King Luofu. The giant python reared up halfway, its single golden eye staring down at the ant-like human beneath it with sheer contempt. Su Ruhui fired a few shots at King Luofu with his musket, but its scales were incredibly hard; the bullets couldn’t pierce them at all.

“A useless piece of trash without secret arts dares to challenge me?” Its single eye suddenly erupted with a terrifying, magma-like glare.

Su Ruhui said in a low voice, “No secret arts, but I have cheats.”

He threw away the musket and ran toward King Luofu. King Luofu focused entirely on the sprinting Su Ruhui, unleashing the light of his single eye. The light surged toward Su Ruhui like lava, accompanied by sharp blades growing frantically all over the ground. Su Ruhui tore a strip of black cloth from his collar and blindfolded his eyes. The system inventory opened in his mind. He flipped straight to the tools tab and pulled out a massive, extended steel nail gun. The system didn’t provide weapons; otherwise, he would have pulled out a submachine gun and blasted this giant python directly. But it didn’t matter—these tools were more than enough for him.

From King Luofu’s perspective, the youth who was always casual and improper suddenly held a strangely-shaped object out of thin air, charging at him like a tiger across the blade-strewn ground. King Luofu had no time to wonder where Su Ruhui had obtained that thing. He whipped his massive silver tail, sweeping it toward Su Ruhui. Wherever the giant tail swept, broken rocks surged like waves.

[Danger on the left. Blinking is recommended.]

Suggestion adopted. Su Ruhui pulled out a cat-claw talisman and vanished instantly, reappearing in mid-air in the next moment.

[Twelve o’clock direction, 45 degrees downward slope. Fire steel nails.]

A massive shadow flashed past the black cloth covering his eyes. Following the system’s instructions, Su Ruhui twisted his body in mid-air, aiming the massive steel nail gun downward. The steel nail shot out instantly, driving deep into King Luofu’s tail and pinning his long tail firmly to the ground.

King Luofu let out a raspy, painful shriek.

It worked. This nail gun could pierce steel plates, let alone King Luofu’s scales. Su Ruhui landed steadily on its tail and began running up along its body. Firing steel nails in rapid succession, blossoms of blood exploded across King Luofu’s body. Viewed from afar, those bursts of blood were as brilliant and dazzling as fireworks. King Luofu writhed in agony. The nails were embedded deep inside his body, preventing him from self-healing his wounds. He wanted to escape, but the nails pinned down his tail.

“Su Guanyu, are you there?!” Su Ruhui bellowed.

Having run out of nails in the magazine, Su Ruhui discarded the nail gun and dragged a chainsaw out of the inventory. The rotating blade bit into King Luofu’s tail, hot blood splattering all over his face and body. At this moment, Su Ruhui looked like a homicidal maniac. A demon dragging a chainsaw, he ran along King Luofu’s body toward its head, the python’s colossal frame splitting open in a long, bloody gash following his steps.

Su Ruhui screamed hoarsely, “Do you think I’m a total idiot? Going through all this trouble to build the Hyper-Meta Realm and restart my life, just wanting a happy ending. But you wouldn’t let me call him Dad, and Senior Sister wouldn’t let me call her Sister. I wanted parents, but in the end, I have no father and no mother. I wanted family, but in the end, I have no relatives left. Honestly, I think I’m a fool too. I originally came here to enjoy myself, but I’ve done nothing but suffer!”

Su Ruhui’s chainsaw blade reached just below the snake’s neck, rupturing the gallbladder. Smelly, rancid bile sprayed all over Su Ruhui’s face, making him collapse onto King Luofu’s body and vomit violently.

After he finished vomiting, Su Ruhui wiped his mouth and said, “You always say this world is fake. You betrayed Tantai Xun, abandoned your physical form to become a virus, and did everything you could to go to the outside. But Su Guanyu, why didn’t you ask me what exactly is on the outside? Why did I leave that place to come here?”

King Luofu wailed, thrashing his body relentlessly and smashing the broken walls of Beichen Palace. Su Ruhui wedged the chainsaw into the gaps in its bones to steady his body. The python rolled like mad, its neck rearing high up. Su Ruhui swung into the air while hanging onto the chainsaw’s handle, flying right over Sang Baobao’s head. As King Luofu twisted his body, Su Ruhui crashed to the ground, his head battered and bleeding. Just as King Luofu was about to strike at Su Ruhui on the ground, Sang Baobao, unable to watch any longer, shot like a silver arrow onto King Luofu’s body, tearing and biting at his silver scales.

Dizzy and lightheaded, Su Ruhui sat up and touched his head, his hand instantly covered in blood. He ripped off the blindfold and looked up. King Luofu was twisting like a pretzel, his massive snake head curving backward in an attempt to bite Sang Baobao on his back, his sharp, venomous fangs gleaming with a fierce, knife-like sharpness. Yet Sang Baobao was utterly fearless, biting down hard on its spine, refusing to be shaken off no matter how hard it thrashed.

“Sang Baobao!” Su Ruhui shouted.

The distance was too great; there was no way Su Ruhui could run over in time. Seeing that King Luofu was about to bite Sang Baobao, Su Ruhui’s eyes nearly split from strain. He roared, “System, find a way!”

[Recommended: Mining circular saw mechanical vehicle. The crane arm is up to twenty meters long, which is enough to reach King Luofu.]

Though he had no idea what that was, Su Ruhui made a split-second decision. “That’s the one!”

The system spawned a mining circular saw mechanical vehicle, leaving Su Ruhui utterly dumbfounded. This mechanical vehicle was as large as a tractor, and the saw blade attached to the crane arm was as massive as a full moon—if stood upright, it would be as tall as two Su Ruhuis. Su Ruhui realized in hindsight that this was a machine specifically used for cutting mountain rocks; even diamonds would be ground to dust under its saw blade.

[The saw blade rotates at speeds up to 625 RPM. Refund and replacement guaranteed; you will definitely be satisfied.]

The system was finally reliable for once. Su Ruhui climbed into the operator’s cabin, moving the joysticks to operate the crane arm. The saw blade roared to life, its spinning sound as deafening and harsh as thunder. King Luofu suddenly froze, his neck rearing high, his terrified single eye reflecting the massive saw blade closing in on him.

“Su Guanyu, let me tell you!” Su Ruhui yelled. “There is nothing on the outside. Why else do you think I built this Hyper-Meta Realm? Why else would I be fighting you here?! I lived on the outside for thirty years, and I found absolutely nothing, dying on a lonely island inhabited only by puppets. Maybe the heavens thought my life was too tragic, feeling too guilty to mistreat an intelligent and handsome man, so in the end, they gave me Sang Baobao to accompany me into the Hyper-Meta Realm. Su Guanyu, you want to go outside—what is it you’re hoping to find?!”

The saw blade cut right through King Luofu’s neck. The snow python couldn’t even let out a scream, as its throat was neatly shredded to pieces. Its colossal head fell to the ground like a tumbling boulder, and Sang Baobao tumbled into the ruins along with its body. The moment the python’s body hit the ground, dust splashed three feet high, and the earth seemed to shudder for a brief moment. Su Ruhui scrambled out of the operator’s cabin and ran, slipping and sliding, to the front of King Luofu’s massive head.

“Su Guanyu, what on earth do you want to find?” Su Ruhui asked.

King Luofu was not yet dead. His mangled head opened its massive mouth, trying to swallow Su Ruhui.

Su Ruhui pulled out a spiral earth drill and drove it straight into King Luofu’s blood-red upper palate. King Luofu froze instantly, his massive fangs suspended directly above Su Ruhui’s head. Blood rained down in sheets, and Su Guanyu’s blurry silhouette appeared within Su Ruhui’s blood-red field of vision.

“I only wanted to find reality,” Su Guanyu said softly.

“What is reality?” Su Ruhui said hoarsely. “Su Guanyu, you told Tantai Xun that her expedition to the snowlands was destined to yield nothing. Now I tell you, you are the same. You actually knew this long ago; you saw Sang-ge’s memories, didn’t you? Is a lonely island the reality you want? Is the refugee legion and secret arts clan alliance slaughtering each other over the Snow Secret Key the reality you want? Is the bastard principal who raped students and ruined my future reality? What’s the difference between them and the Black Street or the Secret Sects? It’s just that you refuse to believe it—everything you abandoned everything to pursue is nothing but garbage.”

Su Guanyu looked at him, his eyes filled with profound sorrow.

“There has never been any absolute truth or falsehood,” Su Ruhui said. “Dreams are beautiful, but they are fake. Reality is brutal, but it is real. I originally wanted to create a beautiful dream, but I failed. The Hyper-Meta Realm is so bitter—how could a dream be this cruel? This is not a beautiful dream; this is reality.”

King Luofu’s molten-gold eye went dark. Deprived of a host, Su Guanyu’s ethereal silhouette also gradually turned transparent.

What exactly was real, and what was fake? Su Guanyu could no longer tell. The only thing he could truly feel was his constantly multiplying code, and the uncontrollable pain and sorrow in his chest. Bai Ruoye was dead, and the heart inside her chest—the very last trace of Tantai Xun left in this world—was also about to die. From then on, there would be no trace of Tantai Xun left in this world; he had lost her completely and utterly.

It was so agonizing. He had discarded his physical form and all his emotions long ago, yet he was still so deeply grieved.

He thought he had seen through the truth, but in reality, he was the one blinded by a single leaf, the one who remained stubbornly obsessed. At last, he stopped trying to delete the code that grew as wildly as weeds, and instead let it fill his heart.

Shedding tears, he walked toward Bai Ruoye in the ruins, the glow on his body dispersing into the wind piece by piece like feathers. Su Ruhui stood where he was, watching him walk toward the woman sealed in ice and snow. She looked like a scoop of snow amidst the ruins, pale and quiet. Su Guanyu’s radiance was dissipating, and he grew more and more transparent. By the time he reached the front of Bai Ruoye, more than half of his body had vanished. He reached out an almost transparent hand toward her shattered chest, attempting to touch the heart frozen in frost.

I’m sorry, A-Xun.

Everything from the past replayed before his eyes: her wiping the dirt off his face at the Liu residence in Jiangzhou, her punishing those who bullied him at the Biandu villa… Actually, he had a way to resolve the proliferating code. As long as he deleted all data regarding Tantai Xun from his memory, everything would naturally be resolved. But he couldn’t bear to. He had made Shentu forget him and travel far to Tianji to seek vengeance at the cost of his life, yet he couldn’t bear to delete his own memories. All along, he had been deceiving himself.

A-Xun, I love you…

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the heart, his very last speck of light drifted into the wind. His past devotion and his past obsessions vanished into nothingness at this moment, carried away by the wind. Sang Baobao crawled out from the ruins, looking up at those lights, watching them fly into the vast heavenly wind and scatter like fireflies.

A beep rang in Su Ruhui’s ear.

[Ultimate mission completed. Congratulations, Host, your authority has reached 100%. All databases in the Hyper-Meta Realm are now open to you. Welcome back, Master.]