Damien read the details of his new identity with some amusement. He looked at the old man sitting opposite of him. A smirk found its way to his lips.

“An illegitimate son from an unnamed woman, huh.” He chuckled. “ Having a son younger than your own granddaughter….well, well, well, aren’t you a promiscuous one?”

Lin Zhao’s face was full of black lines. “My firstborn is no longer with us since Feifei’s childhood and my second son is a queer. What other identity was I supposed to give you that would’ve been appropriate?”

“Your grandfather? Ancestor?”

The man was at a loss for words. “That…”

“Just messing with you, ease up. It’s fine. I like the name. It’s cool.” A thought occured to him. “Say, you don’t have any Lin Dongs around here, do you?”

Lin Zhao was surprised. “How did you know? Feifei’s son is named Lin Dong, after her father.”

Damien held up a hand, “Enough said.” Just as well he’s already deceased, Damien nodded to himself.  Wouldn’t want the man to accidentally offend him. He’d have to cripple him in that case and then he’d have to go kill a kid so the boy doesn’t find some divine object in a random cave and come to kill Damien hundreds of chapters later. 

“Let’s just go already. I’m dying to stock up on some essential items.” Damien had been living in a semi-medieval world up to now. He wanted to take some things with him before he left. You know, when he eventually settled on a new planet he wondered how he’d go about opening it up to more advanced ones? Since the various realms are connected to each other. He wanted to set up like a portal or something to bring in modern-day advancements. Like soda, and video games.

Why wasn’t that already a thing on his own planet? Maybe there’s some sort of...non-interference rule? Or maybe his planet was just so backwater it was left alone to its own devices. He had no idea. Not that he cared even if some such rule did exist.

“As you please.” Lin Zhao stood. He didn’t know what the man intended to do, exactly, in regards to finding his friends. He knew Lin Zhao and his men had an ongoing search for his companions. It wasn’t as if he could do what dozens, hundreds, of men failed to do. Otherwise he would have done it by now. Was this not why he requested aid to begin with?

So Lin Zhao took this as simply the young man’s desire to stretch his legs, so to speak. As such he chose to accompany him as a sort of tour guide for the day. Other than a driver he wouldn’t bother to bring any servants. They didn’t need protection, that was certain. The man himself was too strong to be in danger from most things in the city anyway.

As they made their way to the front of the estate where a car was waiting for them, Damien felt many pairs of eyes on him. He looked around and caught several young maids busy cleaning the halls. 

Lin Zhao was the one amused this time.  Ever since the man’s arrival all the young women had been in heat. They waited on him hand and foot, far beyond what Lin Zhao had ordered them to do. Whether it be feeding him grapes or scrubbing him in the bath, everything the man could possibly need or want was taken care of by zealous maids whom he’d inadvertently charmed.

They smiled stupidly each time they saw him and would do anything to cop a feel. Seeing them offer to massage his body as he sat out in the sun by the outdoor pool was not an uncommon occurrence at all. 

This sort of behaviour was not unnoticed by the men. As the various male servants and bodyguards lived in the estate alongside their female counterparts, needless to say there were some women whom they’d taken a fancy to during their time in Lin Zhao’s employ.

Now seeing those women gush over some newcomer, well, it was understandable they were not having a good time. But it was well-known by now what the young man had accomplished that night so no one was foolish enough to speak up. 

It created a rather....tense and awkward atmosphere. But he couldn’t blame the maids for being awestruck. The young man was, Lin Zhao, had to admit, easy on the eyes. When he wasn’t covered in blood and guts, at least. 

It was to the extent that Lin Zhao truly did doubt if he was human. Recalling his introduction of himself, Lin Zhao slightly shivered. Surely not...right?

***

“Identification, please.” The uniformed man asked with a bored expression, only barely bothering to look up. But when he did, he quickly changed his attitude. He recognized this vehicle. Mre importantly, he recognized the man inside it.

Lin Zhao handed over the documents without a word. The guard scanned the papers with a critical eye, extremely serious. He dared not show any laziness in his duties in front of a man like the Lin family patriarch. However as he read one of the three identification papers his face grew slack. 

Lin...Ling Tian? As he continued to read on he only grew more and more astonished. The patriarch’s illegitimate third son!

This was incredible news, something that’d surely cause a huge stir. Such a scandal, who wouldn’t be interested? But he didn’t keep the old man waiting. The guard hid his surprise as best he could and handed the documents back while bidding them a good day. Only, his gaze lingered on the car.

He could scarcely see anything through the darkness of the open window. He only faintly saw hints of a figure sitting beside the old man. Impressions of long limbs, that was all. Yet he’d already seen the face through the identification papers. An indifferent, handsome face. Regal, almost, with eyes of a strange color rarely seen. Arrogant, powerful, like an emperor looking down upon the heavens! ...My, what a fitting name he bore!

The uniformed man was unspeakably curious. This young man, who was he? What had his life been up to now? Whatever the details, he would create waves throughout the whole city once he was revealed. One of the most influential families suddenly coming up with a new member? Hot news, indeed. Who knew how this would affect the power structure? The young man would have a lot of enemies simply for existing.

How unfortunate. 

Thinking as much, the guard shook his head and addressed the next car in line.

***

A half hour later, as he strolled through the tall buildings that littered the shopping district, a certain statue caught Damien’s eye. The old man had taken him here, a place full of towering buildings that pierced the sky, as the first on his list of places to introduce Damien to. And Damien had been pretty excited. Apparently, his expenses were going to be taken care of so he planned to buy in bulk various items he’d missed losing access to. And a change of clothes would be nice, something more modern than these robes. So he’d walked with an obvious spring in his step until he noticed it. 

The statue, he meant. It was placed at the center of the district and was immaculate. Made of what may have been silver. That didn’t matter. What mattered was how familiar the face of the man the statue was based on looked to him. Damien couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt a sense of intimacy with the man. 

And yet….the expression didn’t seem right? For some reason it made the man nearly unrecognizable, even though Damien shouldn’t be able to say he recognized him at all. It was just a feeling that the expression was wrong on his face, like it shouldn’t be there. That cold, hard way his lips were set, for example. Or how empty his eyes were. 

Though he was certain he’d never seen the man before, Damien was also certain he shouldn’t look so damn stern. Strange, very strange. 

“Who is that?” 

Lin Zhao looked at the direction the young man pointed. His gaze was filled with reverence as he replied. “The great God, Balthazar.”

Damien’s eyes twitched. “That son of a bitch is here, too?”