Zero began following the line of thought Hua had given him, continuing to think.
[Zero: That trick of yours seems to work well on her. She's not like me, she has the moral sense that normal people do.]
He recalled how Jingliu had tried all kinds of ways to transfer him money and take him to the cafeteria for meals, then added another line.
[Zero: To be precise, her moral sense might be stronger than most people's?]
[Hua: So, what, you want to throw money at her? When the time comes for you to confess everything, you want her to feel too guilty to bring up breaking up?]
Zero slowly typed out a question mark.
[Zero: Aren't I just following your train of thought? And also, why would I need to confess everything?]
Zero didn't understand.
According to the current values of the Xianzhou people, wasn't dating just supposed to be something fun?
If you throw money at the other person, isn't that enough to make them happy?
As for his own situation… there was no need to mention it, right?
Zero had always been in the habit of planning ahead, learning ahead, and doing every single thing to perfection.
Even if it was something that would happen hundreds or thousands of years later, he'd still think about it in advance.
Although it was just the ambiguous stage right now, still some distance from an actual relationship… his thoughts had already spread several centuries ahead.
Zero opened the forum Hua had shared before.
He couldn't bring himself to ask the younger ones directly, so he had posted online, only for the netizens to completely misunderstand his gender right away…
After a long discussion, the netizens still hadn't given him any satisfying answer, so he'd had to go find Hua instead.
This time, he planned to read through the case examples shared by users on the forum and summarize the key points himself.
Once upon a time, he'd been a top-level workaholic who never slept a single night all year, best at distilling key points from documents.
It was just love. Surely, he could summarize the key points quickly enough.
Zero searched the forum for posts related to love and scrolled through the comments left by users.
[What? He actually refuses to wear a naked apron for you? He doesn't love you at all!]
Zero, "..."
He tried to understand… but he really couldn't.
The values of young people these days were far too advanced…
Turns out he was the old fossil.
[What? He transfers money to you over chat apps? He doesn't love you at all. The correct way is to transfer it directly to your bank account!]
Zero, "..."
Was there even a difference between the two? There were even rules for this?
[Just because I accept doesn't mean I'm happy about it.]
Zero didn't understand, for a moment, he was truly shocked.
But thinking it over carefully, it actually made sense.
After all, if they were still in the ambiguous stage, giving small gifts was completely normal.
If one could detect potential issues from a small gift and cut losses early, that would definitely be a profitable move.
That logic worked for both men and women.
Besides, just because he had accepted the deal with Fuli didn't mean he'd truly been willing to give up on leading the Xianzhou people to ascension.
Gritting his teeth, Zero continued reading, and found that most couples' quarrels had the same root, money.
He thought about the endless strings of zeroes in his account and the vacation planets earning him countless credit points each year, and immediately ruled out all posts like that.
Reading on, he found that aside from money, there were two other major causes of relationship problems.
The first was companionship. Many couples on the forum broke up because one partner couldn't provide enough company, they saw each other too little, spent too much time apart.
That wasn't really a problem for him. He was a total homebody who barely wanted to move anyway.
The third type was the fading of affection over time, after dating too long, the sweet excitement of early love disappeared.
In most common value systems, women's emotions were more sensitive; they more keenly felt the difference between "before" and "after." That gap led to quarrels, and love gradually wore away.
Or sometimes, after being together too long, one side developed the illusion that the other would never leave, becoming willful, controlling, belittling their partner, thinking that their lover would endlessly tolerate them.
But really, what kind of storms hadn't Zero seen before?
When angry citizens flooded the Divination Commission under the rain, he hadn't gone mad, just ended up a little mentally unstable.
When Xianzhou people once started a rebellion over a single bowl of thin porridge, he still hadn't gotten angry.
His emotions were extremely stable, even angry mobs hadn't been enough to drive him crazy.
Arguing? Impossible.
Jingliu wasn't some clueless citizen who wouldn't hide from the rain, no big deal there.
To summarize, love was just spending money, providing company, and showing tolerance.
Zero had it all figured out.
He went back to the chat app and looked at Hua's messages.
[Hua: You're not going to tell her? Are you planning to hide it for the rest of your life? A long-lasting relationship, whether friendship or love, isn't maintained by lies, money, or one-sided effort.]
[Hua: She's the Swordmaster, you're not planning to make her leave the Cloud Knights, are you?]
[Zero: Why would I make her leave the Cloud Knights?]
Zero considered himself a mature, empathetic person now. He wouldn't interfere in others' decisions like he used to.
He respected everyone's choices, even Aha's, who wanted him dead.
Aha wanted to engage in wild, joyful acts with women, so Zero immediately had the Chief Strategist send him to a Swarm planet as a mating instructor.
They were Swarms, sure, but there were female Swarms.
Round up, that counted as women, right?
Since he could help Aha achieve his dreams, of course he'd help those close to him too.
If someone wanted to chop up their enemies, fine. Who didn't have their own ideals and goals?
He himself used to enjoy little puzzle games.
Even if Jingliu wanted to kill the Aeon of Abundance…
Uh… that wouldn't work, not right now.
Lan was too important.
After all, who could refuse a self-aware, freely moving colossus?
Lan could blow up a planet with a single arrow.
And Lan's skill had no cooldown, he could destroy planets endlessly, nonstop.
Zero hadn't even finished redirecting the other Aeons' hatred onto Lan yet… the Aeon of Abundance couldn't die just yet.
He sighed, if he'd known earlier, he would've behaved himself a bit more. Now none of the Aeons even wanted to talk to him.
He looked down as Hua sent another message.
[Hua: Then how are you planning to get along with her from now on?]
Zero sent over the three points he had summarized from the forum.
[Hua: ...]
[Hua: And what about you? What about your own feelings?]
Zero really hadn't thought about that before.
He had long gotten used to suppressing his emotions, discarding his sentimental side, and looking at every problem with pure logic.
After all, he was already a demonic manifestation. If he wasn't rational, the Xianzhou would've been doomed long ago.
Hua asking about his feelings… well, that didn't matter, right?
He barely experienced any emotional fluctuations anymore, certainly no negative emotions.
Zero had a crystal-clear understanding of his own mental state.
Anyone, as long as they were human, had more normal values than he did.
Even if someone was being willful, how willful could they be, really?
Even if they wanted him to ascend dimensions, that wouldn't be a big deal, would it?
Zero typed as he tried to reassure his successor.
[Zero: Don't worry, I understand. I'll put myself in her shoes.]
After sending that line, he added a cute cat sticker.
Then Hua went silent.
Probably stunned by that sticker.
Zero suddenly understood the joy of trolling people.
Since Jingliu liked it when he called her "sister," judging from her personality…
She was the type who responded better to softness than force.
She probably liked protecting others.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/XenosX
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰