Chapter 21
After the morning livestream ended, Lin An’an received a message from Ying Youyou.
It was an extremely long message, but when boiled down, it was really only about three things—
Thanks to the little cub, Ying Youyou had gotten a raise. Her treatment within the team had improved quite a bit, and she had even been nominated for Outstanding Manager of the Month.
The one on the opposite end of this development was Chang Feng.
Chang Feng had recently made one mistake after another. Scandals kept surfacing about unfair ranking arrangements and secretly suppressing “disobedient” streamers. Not only had his salary been docked and his title as a gold-medal manager revoked, but many of the streamers under him had also taken the chance to apply for a transfer to other managers. Quite a few of them were fairly well-known, even ranking high in the SinNet livestreaming section.
When Ying Youyou talked about this, she was clearly in an excellent mood. Every word in that long message practically sparkled with her delight.
There was a very obvious sense of satisfaction and long-awaited vindication in it.
Besides that, Ying Youyou also mentioned Shi Xiaoxing at the end of the message. She wanted Lin An’an to help ask whether Shi Xiaoxing would be willing to become a signed streamer again.
Of course, if she signed this time, she definitely would not be signing under Chang Feng, but becoming a streamer under Ying Youyou instead.
Shi Xiaoxing happened to be right there. The little cub poked her with a tentacle and pushed the terminal screen in front of her.
“A signed streamer?” Shi Xiaoxing froze. “But I already have a job now.”
And she was extremely satisfied with that job. In the short term—no, if possible, she even felt she could happily stay in it for the rest of her life without ever changing jobs.
Lin An’an typed: [These two jobs don’t conflict. I don’t mind if you take on one more side job.]
The little cub looked up and blinked at Shi Xiaoxing. The encouragement in his bean-like eyes was impossible to miss.
No one would turn down money, and Shi Xiaoxing—who was still somewhat strapped for cash—was certainly no exception. After getting permission from her current boss, she immediately signed a new contract with Ying Youyou.
Spending the same amount of time to earn two incomes—how could that not be wonderful?
Ying Youyou successfully secured a high-quality streamer for herself, while on the other side, Chang Feng was beginning to waver under his assistant’s persuasion.
“This is a special period right now. Losing a little face is still better than never being able to hold your head up again in the future.”
“Shi Xiaoxing would be a good choice. She’s been appearing frequently in An Cub’s livestream lately. Not only has her popularity not dropped, it’s even showing signs of rebounding.”
“If you go say a few nice words to her, she’s still at a low point right now. With your past relationship, she definitely won’t refuse…”
Chang Feng was persuaded.
He suddenly thought back to several years ago, when he had still been a rookie manager and had met Shi Xiaoxing, who at the time had also been a rookie streamer. He signed Shi Xiaoxing, and shortly afterward his own career took off.
Now he had just terminated his contract with Shi Xiaoxing, and his career was already beginning to slide downhill. Perhaps… perhaps Shi Xiaoxing really was his lucky star?
Chang Feng did not truly believe in that sort of thing, but he urgently needed an opportunity to stabilize his standing among the managers again. Shi Xiaoxing might just be that opportunity.
So he stopped hesitating and sent Shi Xiaoxing a contract invitation.
This time, Chang Feng brought enough sincerity. Instead of using a standard invitation template, he wrote a long message that looked extremely genuine, as though it came straight from the heart.
[The last termination was a decision my assistant made on his own… We’ve worked together for so many years and have always gotten along well… Do you remember a few years ago? We were both newcomers then, supporting each other and achieving what we did together. There’s no way I would just abandon you now…]
Balabala, he wrote a long string of emotional nonsense. After finishing it, Chang Feng felt deeply satisfied and sent it to Shi Xiaoxing’s backend right away.
Half a minute later, he received Shi Xiaoxing’s reply.
[Sorry, I’ve already signed with another manager. Wishing you smooth work and all the best, mwah mwah =w=]
Chang Feng: “……”
This reply looked damn familiar.
Who was the other person? Don’t tell him it was Ying Youyou again?
Shi Xiaoxing’s backend very quickly recorded the new contract information. Full of frustration, Chang Feng clicked in to look—and sure enough, in the manager column, he saw the three characters:
Ying Youyou.
Damn it.
Now he was even more pissed off!!!
On the other side, Shi Xiaoxing watched as the little cub used her terminal to reply to Chang Feng, and asked somewhat worriedly, “Wouldn’t replying like this be a little inappropriate? What if he takes it out on Sister Youyou?”
The little cub slapped the screen confidently.
[Don’t worry. With us here, there’s no way Sister Youyou will be bullied!]
Ying Youyou was now something of a rising favorite among the managers and was being highly valued. Chang Feng, whose career was sliding downhill, could take his anger out on anyone—but he absolutely did not have the nerve to act against Ying Youyou.
Not unless he truly intended to quit the job altogether.
The little cub gave an excited yingji and high-fived Shi Xiaoxing.
He was petty like that. Anyone who had bullied someone he liked—well, there was no way he would let Chang Feng have an easy time.
Just then, Feng Wu, who had been out for half the day, returned from outside.
“An Cub.” Feng Wu removed his disguise mask and accurately found the little cub’s position with one glance. “There’s a shop in the inner city’s underground trading hall that sells pharmaceutical tools.”
Lin An’an’s eyes lit up instantly.
Feng Wu asked, “Want to go?”
The little cub immediately jumped into Feng Wu’s palm and raised two little tentacles high in the air. “Yingji!”
Did that even need to be asked? Of course he wanted to go!
Lin An’an reported the outing to Ying Youyou, hung up a leave notice on the homepage of his livestream account, and immediately set off with Feng Wu.
The inner city of C City was located at the exact center of the entire city, occupying the best land and encircled tightly by the outer city like the center of a target.
Unlike the outer city, entry into the inner city required not only registration of one’s Sin Star identity card information, but also the payment of a certain fee.
The entry fee was one thousand star coins per person, valid for three days. If one stayed longer than three days, an additional payment had to be made. Every extra day cost five hundred star coins, or compulsory measures would be taken.
If one wanted to settle in the inner city, one could apply for an inner-city residence permit with a one-time payment of five hundred thousand star coins.
For ordinary people, those costs were extremely expensive. So unless they had important business, people living in the outer city rarely entered the inner city casually.
When Feng Wu handed over two thousand star coins to the inner-city guards, Lin An’an’s eyes nearly turned red.
The little cub kept tugging at Feng Wu with his tentacles. “Yingji!”
Couldn’t cubs get a discount? Or at least half price? Charging a cub the same as an adult was a bit unreasonable, wasn’t it?
Unfortunately, the inner city really had no such rule. Having painfully lost two thousand star coins, the little cub clutched his chest and felt as though his heart were breaking. He did not think he would ever love again.
The layout of the inner city was very different from that of the outer city. Lying in Feng Wu’s palm, Lin An’an stuck out his head and observed the surroundings.
Compared with the outer city, the architecture of the inner city was much more similar to the world he used to know. The houses and buildings all carried a certain metallic feel, and from time to time one could even see humanoid mechs flying across the sky.
“Resources on Sin Star are extremely scarce,” Feng Wu said. “The Empire periodically delivers supplies to imperial citizens, but the effect is limited.”
The little cub nodded in understanding.
Sin Star’s productivity was not as high as the outside world’s. When local productivity was insufficient, relying only on outside aid was undoubtedly like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water.
To save time and reach the underground trading hall as quickly as possible, Feng Wu found a mech rental shop by the roadside and prepared to rent a small transport mech.
His own mech was stored in mech space, and practically everyone in the Empire recognized it, so it was not convenient to take it out.
Before they even had the chance to enter the shop, a commotion suddenly broke out around a corner not far away.
“Quick! Stop him!”
“Hurry up, don’t let him get away!”
The next second, a snow-white cat suddenly shot out from the corner. The little blue-eyed cat did not even glance at them. It darted into the narrow gap between two nearby buildings and vanished in an instant.
Lin An’an was stunned.
This little cat was very obviously someone’s second form. Judging by its size, the owner had probably not yet come of age.
A few burly men quickly rushed around the corner in pursuit. They were dressed in uniform clothing and carried identical weapons. One of them saw Feng Wu and asked, “Did you see a white cat?”
The weapons looked something like electric batons.
Lin An’an keenly sensed that someone among them was secretly looking at him, and that gaze carried a greedy desire that made him deeply uncomfortable.
Feng Wu lifted his eyes and glanced at them. Then he slightly turned and pointed behind him—in a direction completely opposite to where the white cat had escaped. “That way.”
The men quickly left. Lin An’an asked: [Who were they?]
“The auction house,” Feng Wu answered softly. “The underground auction in the inner city.”
At the instant the white cat brushed past them, Feng Wu had sharply noticed that there was a half-bitten tag hanging from its neck.
Feng Wu had seen pictures of that tag before, and his subordinates had once mentioned the underground auction in the inner city to him.
He lowered his eyes slightly, his golden gaze darkening. “Where there are people, there will always be filthy things that can only thrive in the shadows and never see the light.”
It was very obvious that the underground auction he mentioned was one of those filthy things.
Lin An’an was not stupid. Hearing Feng Wu say just that much, he immediately guessed most of the truth.
He leaned out to peer into the narrow gap, but did not spot the beautiful white cat.
Not seeing it was perhaps for the best. Hopefully, he or she had already escaped far away.
The little cub shrank further into Feng Wu’s palm, his previously decent mood completely ruined.
After one man and one cub entered the mech rental shop, a faint rustling sound suddenly came from the narrow gap between the two buildings. A white cat’s head cautiously poked out from the shadows, then withdrew again just as quickly.
Feng Wu drove the rented mech and soon brought Lin An’an to the underground trading hall.
Since this was not a peak traffic hour, there were not many people in the hall. Lin An’an had pharmaceutical tools on his mind and had no interest in looking at any of the other shops.
But when they reached the place they wanted, they found the shop tightly shut, with a notice posted on the door:
[Closed / Resting]
The little cub wilted immediately and flattened into a pancake in Feng Wu’s hand.
Feng Wu comfortingly stroked him. “Let’s come again tomorrow.”
The little cub nodded listlessly. That was all they could do.
Feng Wu found a hotel next to the trading hall and stayed there. Just as the man and cub had settled down to sleep, someone suddenly knocked on the door.
“Hello, room service. The late-night snack you ordered has arrived.”
The drowsy little cub instantly woke up, his bean-like eyes shining bright.
But Feng Wu frowned and said softly to him, “We didn’t order a late-night snack.”
Lin An’an froze, and in the next instant Feng Wu got up, yanked open the door, and swiftly dragged the person outside into the room with one hand before shutting the door behind him.
A burly man in black clothes and sunglasses. Somewhat familiar.
Lin An’an recognized him at once—he was one of the men they had run into earlier that day while they were chasing the white cat.
Feng Wu’s gaze was icy. His overwhelming mental power pressed down on the man so hard that his legs could barely remain straight, and he could only be dragged stiffly into the bathroom.
Very soon, a low but painful groan sounded from inside the bathroom. The next second, the noise stopped completely, and the bathroom door was pushed open again.
The little cub, who had been eavesdropping outside the door, lost his footing and flopped face-first onto Feng Wu’s foot.
Oops.
Caught red-handed.
Lin An’an did not look guilty in the slightest. He even stretched his head out, trying to see what had happened to the man.
Feng Wu said, “I crippled his mental power.”
The little cub clicked his tongue inwardly. Anyone who dared set their sights on him clearly had not first checked whether the wolf backing him up would agree.
Sensing that Feng Wu’s mental power was becoming somewhat unstable, the little cub quickly jumped onto Feng Wu’s shoulder, placed a tentacle against his brow, and began a brief round of treatment and soothing.
A moment later, Feng Wu dragged the half-dead burly man to the doorway and made a call to the hotel manager.
Someone soon came to drag the man away. The hotel manager apologized to Feng Wu over and over, not only refunding the room fee but even voluntarily offering a substantial compensation payment.
After the others left, the little cub happily rolled over on the bed. “Yingji!”
Not bad at all! They’d earned back the money they spent entering the city!
After breakfast the next day, Feng Wu and Lin An’an returned once more to the underground trading hall.
This time, their luck was good. The general store called Everything You Need was open, and the shop owner’s figure could vaguely be seen inside.
Feng Wu carried the little cub into the shop. The owner, sitting behind the register, did not even lift his eyes. “If you want something, look for it yourself.”
Lin An’an spotted the pharmaceutical equipment in the corner at a glance and immediately pointed with a tentacle. “Yingji!”
Feng Wu said, “I heard you have a set of pharmaceutical tools here.”
At that, the shop owner’s movements paused slightly, and he finally looked up at them. Only then did Lin An’an and Feng Wu get a clear look at him as well.
The shop owner looked fairly old. He was tall and thin, with rimless reading glasses on his face. His already-thin lips were pressed into a tight line, making him seem like a difficult man to deal with.
Feng Wu said, “Name your price.”
The shop owner replied, “Not for sale.”
Feng Wu said, “Any price is fine.”
The shop owner said, “No matter the price, I’m not selling.”
Lin An’an typed: [Can we borrow it?]
The shop owner replied, “Borrowing is out of the question too. I won’t lend it, even for money.”
The little cub’s bean-like eyes widened in disbelief. How could this man be so completely impervious to reason?
Feng Wu knew just how important the pharmaceutical tools were to the little cub, so he said sincerely, “Set a condition. Anything is fine.”
The shop owner gave a light snort and asked in return, “Anything?”
Feng Wu said, “Yes.”
“Fine then.” The shop owner casually pointed toward another corner of the shop, where several flowerpots filled with soil but otherwise bare and empty were sitting. “See those pots?”
Feng Wu and the little cub nodded.
The shop owner said, “There are medicinal herb seeds planted inside them. If you can make them sprout, then for every one that sprouts, I’ll lend you the pharmaceutical tools once. Two sprouts, two uses.”
Lin An’an typed: [What if all those seeds grow to maturity and become usable herbs?]
The shop owner was startled by the little monster cub’s “arrogance” and took it only as childish bravado. He sneered, “If all of them grow into usable medicinal herbs, then I wouldn’t mind giving that set of pharmaceutical tools to you outright.”
The little cub’s eyes lit up immediately.
There was such a good deal in the world?
After saying that, the shop owner lowered his head and resumed what he had been doing, clearly convinced that the two before him could never meet his conditions.
Lin An’an could not wait even a moment longer. He jumped down from Feng Wu’s palm and bounced all the way over to the corner full of flowerpots. “Yingji!”
He wanted to get the shop owner’s attention, so that the man could witness the entire process of the seeds sprouting and maturing with his own eyes.
The shop owner looked up—and saw the little cub, already standing beside the pots, take a deep breath. A pale green light glowed at the tips of his soft little tentacles, and the life-filled power was poured into those pots of soil.
Tender green shoots pushed up through the soil above them. The little sprouts grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In only a few breaths, the flowerpots that had been bare moments before were now completely covered in lush green. The color was so vivid it instantly added a bright splash of life to the entire shop.
The shop owner’s pupils contracted. For a long moment, he could not say a single word.
The little cub let out a long breath, then accepted the healing tomato Feng Wu passed him and started munching on it, slowly replenishing the ability he had just exhausted.
As he ate, he did not forget to blink at the shop owner and point with a tentacle toward the herb-filled pots, as if to say:
You saw that, right? Don’t even think about going back on your word.
It was a long while before the shop owner finally found his voice again. “…A plant-type ability?”
Lin An’an nodded. One tomato disappeared into his stomach at speed, and immediately afterward Feng Wu stuffed a cucumber into his hands.
The shop owner suppressed his racing heart and slowly let out a breath. “This, I truly did not expect.”
Feng Wu lightly lifted his eyelids. “Boss, the pharmaceutical tools…”
“What’s the hurry?” The shop owner stepped out from behind the register and slowly walked toward the corner now overflowing with herbs. “This old man keeps his word. I never go back on it.”
He crouched down and reached out to touch the leaves of the herbs one by one, his eyes full of amazement and satisfaction.
Standing very close to him, the little cub noticed that the shop owner’s tightly pressed lips were trembling slightly, as if he were suppressing emotions that were too intense.
A moment later, the shop owner straightened up and said, “I have one more condition.”
Feng Wu’s brows drew together slightly.
“Well, not really a condition,” the shop owner added. “Think of it as a small request from an old man.”
Feng Wu said, “Go ahead.”
“The first time you use the pharmaceutical tools, use them here in my shop. Alright?” he asked.
Feng Wu looked toward Lin An’an. The little cub nodded, agreeing.
A person who knew how to make medicine did not necessarily possess healing-type abilities. And although Lin An’an would use a little healing power while preparing the medicine, no one would notice the fluctuations in his ability unless they were right beside him.
Since the little cub agreed, Feng Wu had no objection either.
Seeing this, the shop owner immediately closed the shop and hung a [Closed / Resting] sign on the outside of the door.
Lin An’an’s eyes widened in shock. Wh-what, he wasn’t even doing business anymore? Didn’t he need to make money?
As if understanding the little cub’s astonished look, the shop owner’s tone softened from its earlier hardness and became fairly gentle. “I didn’t open this shop to make money in the first place.”
Otherwise, he would not be closing and resting every few days.
The little cub sighed inwardly. The world of rich people really was beyond him.
Lin An’an was not in a hurry to start making medicine immediately. Stimulating the seeds just now had used up all his ability, so he needed to eat more fruits and vegetables first to replenish himself and prepare for the medicine-making.
The shop owner was not in a hurry either. After closing the shop, he pointed toward the sofa inside and let the man and cub sit down, clearly intending to chat with them a little.
“My name is He Yinghong,” the shop owner said proactively to Feng Wu. “You can call me Uncle He.”
Feng Wu nodded. “Uncle He.”
But inwardly he paused in surprise, because the name sounded a little familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.
He Yinghong did not talk about anything else. He simply asked Feng Wu a few things about the little cub, such as how old he was, how long he had been on Sin Star, what his Alpha symptoms were, and so on.
The questions were very much like a household registration check. Under ordinary circumstances they might have made people uncomfortable, but because of Old He’s natural, gentle manner, the conversation never turned unpleasant.
He Yinghong had no ulterior motive. He simply felt that the little cub was someone with real potential, and the idea of taking him as a disciple had begun to stir in his heart.
Before coming to Sin Star, He Yinghong had been a fairly well-known healer, and also a pharmacist. As early as the beginning of his old age, he had always wanted to take on a disciple and pass on his pharmaceutical knowledge.
Unfortunately, interstellar cultivation techniques were now far too lacking, and medical treatment had come to rely more and more on high technology rather than traditional medicine-making and basic healing. He Yinghong had tried taking in a few apprentices, but without exception, every single one had run away.
And after arriving on Sin Star, the Alpha Syndrome he contracted caused an ability disorder. His ability had not disappeared from his body, but it had completely slipped out of his control, leaving him unable to use it at all.
From then on, He Yinghong gave up on his original plan. He opened a little shop and intended to spend his final years muddling through however he could—living if he could manage it, and if not, then simply lying flat and waiting for death.
The appearance of the little cub suddenly made his long-dead heart begin to beat again.
Lin An’an knew nothing of He Yinghong’s thoughts. After finishing three tomatoes and two cucumbers, the ability within his body had recovered enough to support the medicine-making process.
Though his stomach felt a bit overfull, and he could not help it—a loud little hiccup came out, still carrying a soft babyish note.
Feng Wu had already moved the pharmaceutical tools into a small separate room inside the shop. Thoughtfully, He Yinghong had placed several stools by the equipment so the little cub could climb up and work properly.
Lin An’an took out the medicinal herbs from his terminal. Besides the Mind-Calming Grass, there were also the other common supporting herbs he had gradually collected over time.
The quality of the herbs was not particularly good, but they were just barely usable.
The medicine Lin An’an planned to make today was a potion that could rapidly restore mental power. He had worked out the formula himself and named it Blue Potion.
Once all the herbs were laid out, the long and meticulous process of herb preparation began.
Watching the little cub’s practiced movements, a flicker of surprise passed through He Yinghong’s eyes. Such smooth, familiar actions did not belong to a beginner.
—Then again, a beginner would not even know that something like manual pharmaceutical equipment existed.
He shook his head to himself, thinking that perhaps his plan to take on a disciple would fall through yet again. But this time he did not feel regret or disappointment. Instead, his heart was full of relief.
At the very least, pharmaceutical craftsmanship would not end with his generation and become nothing more than interstellar history.
He Yinghong patted Feng Wu on the shoulder. “Come on, keep this old man company and chat a little.”
Medicine-making was delicate work, especially the brewing stage. Under no circumstances could it be disturbed by other people.
He Yinghong closed the room door behind them, leaving the little cub alone inside.
The tiny black blob bounced between tabletop and stool, seriously and intently stirring the potion in the pot. A nearly imperceptible stream of healing power flowed along the conductive rod into the brew.
No one knew how much time passed before the murky mixture in the pot turned into a clear pale blue. Lin An’an took out the prepared medicine bottles and portioned the finished potion into them.
Outside the room, He Yinghong and Feng Wu were still casually chatting back and forth.
The little cub thought for a moment, then grabbed one freshly brewed bottle of Blue Potion and gulped it down in one go.
The special characteristic of Blue Potion was its speed. It was meant for emergency restoration of mental power on the battlefield.
Not long after drinking it, Lin An’an clearly felt that the mental power that had remained empty for such a long time was recovering at a very gratifying speed.
One bottle of Blue Potion could not restore very much mental power, but even so, the sensation of being filled again was enough to make the little cub sigh in comfort.
At the same time, however, there came an abrupt and utterly unfamiliar pulling sensation.
It came from inside his body, and within only a few seconds it became so intense that it was nearly unbearable. The little cub’s comfortable sigh instantly changed pitch.
Lin An’an had no idea what was happening to him. In his panic, his very first reaction was to seek help from Brother Wolf outside the door.
But in the next instant, the little cub’s soft body stretched and shifted, and in a flash he changed from a palm-sized monster cub into a slender black-haired boy.
Entirely unprepared, the boy lost his footing and fell to the ground. A chair beside him was knocked over, crashing down with a harsh clang.
At the same time, hearing the sound from inside the room, Feng Wu outside immediately got to his feet and knocked on the door.
“An Cub?”
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