Chapter 23
When Feng Wu saw where the little cub and the little white cat had hidden themselves: “……”
He had not been able to stop the little cub from jumping into the cabinet.
This cabinet was obviously no good place to hide, but it was indeed the nearest and relatively safest hiding spot available.
The knocking at the door continued without pause. Feng Wu could only adjust his mask and go open the door.
Before the staff member outside could even explain his purpose, Feng Wu struck first, his tone extremely impatient. “What is it?”
The staff member outside was very respectful. “Mr. D, the venue has lost a very important auction item. We need to search your room now.”
“A missing auction item?” Feng Wu gave a mocking laugh. Even with his voice altered by the mask, it still carried thick sarcasm. “An item without legs won’t run off by itself. And an item with legs wouldn’t be blind enough to throw itself into my room.”
“Or are you… suspecting me?”
Before taking the real Mr. D’s access card, Feng Wu had actually followed and observed him for quite a while, and had imitated about ninety percent of his tone and manner.
The staff member was practically sweating cold sweat. “I-it’s an order from above. Every room has to be searched…”
At the same time, the door of the room next door was also opened by another staff member. Judging by the sequence, the person staying there should be Mr. E.
Mr. E seemed to have a very good temper. After hearing the explanation, he asked no questions and simply stepped aside to let them in.
“Mr. D,” wearing a fox mask, gave a cold snort and stopped making things difficult for the staff member. “Search if you want.”
The staff member let out a breath of relief. “We’re very sorry. The venue will compensate you afterward.”
“Mr. D” crossed his arms and leaned beside the door, watching coldly through the fox mask as the staff member searched the room.
The search was very thorough. From the living room to the bathroom, from the bedside table to under the sofa, everything was checked.
Naturally, he did not overlook the very eye-catching cabinet in the living room either. After opening it and being stunned for a second by the cabinet full of unspeakable items, he continued rummaging through every corner without changing expression.
Finally, the staff member’s gaze stopped on the metal box beneath the cabinet. “Mr. D, may I open this box?”
“Mr. D” gave a slight nod, while the fingers hidden beneath his wide sleeves flicked ever so lightly.
Inside the metal box, Bai Yang heard the sound and became so tense that all his fur stood on end. The whole cat tensed as if preparing to bolt out the instant the box was opened and smack the staff member a few times with cat punches.
But the little cub beside him clung tightly to him with his tentacles and would not let him move.
The metal box was opened. The staff member’s face appeared above the box. Bai Yang’s fur puffed up even more—but the box was quickly shut again.
“Finished searching?” “Mr. D” asked impatiently.
The staff member hurriedly replied, “Finished, finished.”
Once the person left, Feng Wu immediately locked the door, withdrew the mental power and ability attached to the metal box, and released the two little ones.
Before climbing out of the box, Lin An’an quickly lowered his head and took a look at the bottom of it—
There were all kinds of bottles and jars inside, filled with various strange things. Under the light, the glass shone in dazzling colors and was actually rather pretty.
Ah, so they weren’t the sort of things he had been imagining. The little cub could not decide whether he felt relieved or disappointed.
Bai Yang’s cat face was full of confusion and incomprehension. He could not understand why the staff member had failed to see them.
Coming back to his senses, Lin An’an felt strangely proud and smug. [You can always trust Brother Wolf!]
Feng Wu lowered his gaze slightly and said nothing.
If closing the door had not aroused suspicion, he would actually have preferred a more direct and safer method.
After the crisis passed, much of the wariness in Bai Yang’s eyes faded.
[Thank you.] he said in mental speech. [Can you open a door for me?]
Lin An’an froze. He could understand mental speech now?
But before he could even be happy, he immediately typed a refusal: [No. They’re still looking for you. The moment you go out, they’ll catch you.]
The white cat was silent for a moment. [My little sister is still in the storage area for auction items. I have to go save her.]
…There was a younger sister too?
Lin An’an’s heart sank, and he looked up at Brother Wolf.
“Then not now,” Feng Wu said. “The people searching rooms only just left. They must still be nearby. Once they move on to another area, we’ll go together.”
The white cat’s beautiful blue eyes lit up at once.
Lin An’an added another question: [Is your sister going to be auctioned today?]
After hesitating a moment, Bai Yang shook his head. [Probably not. Her condition is bad.]
If her condition was bad, fewer people would like her, which meant she would not fetch a good price. The auction house would not do such bad business.
Once he understood the connection, Lin An’an got so angry he slapped Brother Wolf’s foot with a tentacle, his bean-like eyes full of fury. “Yingji!”
Brother Wolf had better teach them a lesson!
Feng Wu picked up the little cub. “Don’t worry.”
They soon got their chance.
The warm-up items in the auction had ended, and the event was about to enter its second stage. In the scene projected onto the screen from the main hall, it was clear that there were now even more security personnel on the floor.
More people in the hall meant relatively fewer people in the suite area.
Feng Wu cautiously extended his mental power and confirmed that there was no one else nearby anymore.
Lin An’an handed him several bottles of healing Blue Potion. Feng Wu drank one bottle, while storing the rest in his terminal space for later use.
Even Bai Yang got a bottle of ordinary Blue Potion and recovered a little mental power.
Lin An’an and Bai Yang were tucked beneath Feng Wu’s wide robe, and one man, one cub, and one cat pushed open the door, ready to set out.
At that exact moment, the door of Mr. E’s room next door opened almost simultaneously.
Feng Wu’s fingers tightened slightly, but his expression did not change as he stepped out of the room and brushed past the also-departing Mr. E.
Mr. E, wearing a wolf mask, did not speak, so Feng Wu said nothing either. But he keenly noticed that Mr. E’s body was somewhat tense.
It was like he was in a state of alert, ready for battle.
Feng Wu’s footsteps shifted, and he turned into another corridor. At the same time, the ability at his fingertips flicked out and destroyed every surveillance device in that corridor.
Under his clothing, Lin An’an finally let out a breath of relief.
How terrifying. He had really thought they would be exposed the moment they stepped out the door.
Their path to the auction-item storage area seemed unusually smooth. Some of the security staff and venue workers were still searching other areas for the “missing” white cat, while most of the rest were in the main hall.
From time to time they encountered one or two staff members, but the moment those people saw the Supreme VIP card pinned to Feng Wu’s chest, they respectfully lowered their heads and stepped aside, never once asking where Feng Wu was going.
The aura around the storage area was a chaotic mess of mixed scents and presences. There was no need to look for the way—so long as Feng Wu kept following that tangled aura, he would find the destination.
At the entrance to the storage area stood two security guards, while two humanoid mechs patrolled back and forth nearby.
Compared to the guards, the two humanoid mechs were obviously harder to deal with. Unfortunately for them, Feng Wu’s metal-type ability was exactly what specialized in dealing with such mechs.
Two tiny strands of ability shot swiftly into the central control units of the mechs. Both humanoid mechs collapsed to the ground at the same time, producing a harsh metallic crash.
The guards were not even surprised. “Broken again? Which time is this now this month?”
“The fourth,” the other answered. He walked up and kicked one mech twice in the chest with practiced ease. “Wake up. Get up and do your job.”
His companion also went over to the other mech and kicked loudly against its chest.
But this time, the fallen mechs did not react to them.
The two men were just beginning to find it strange. The method that had always worked before suddenly was not working today.
The next second, the dim lights in the mechs’ eyes abruptly lit up. Their mechanical arms twisted around the men’s legs, and the moment the two lost balance and fell, the mechs flipped over and pinned them to the ground, immediately following with a heavy, solid elbow strike.
The two guards were knocked out before they could even cry for help.
Lin An’an secretly peeked out through a gap in Feng Wu’s robe. His bean-like eyes shone brightly, and the little person in his heart was practically tap-dancing with excitement.
Even though Brother Wolf had not personally made a move… he was still unbelievably cool!
No wonder he was the coolest man on Sin Star.
Using the security guard’s terminal, Feng Wu opened the door to the storage area.
The lots scheduled to go on the block today were all in the backstage area of the main hall. Everything stored here was not being auctioned for the time being.
“Inanimate Objects,” “Alternates,” “Already Reserved”…
In the end, inside a room labeled “Defective Goods,” Feng Wu found a white kitten cub that looked very much like Bai Yang, locked inside a transparent containment chamber.
All the surveillance devices in the room had already been destroyed by Feng Wu. Bai Yang jumped out from beneath Feng Wu’s robe and ran several steps straight to the chamber holding his sister, letting out small, anxious mews.
Inside the chamber, the cub weakly opened her eyes, only to close them again two seconds later. Her breathing was very faint.
Bai Yang was frantic, his whole little cat body pressed against the transparent chamber, pawing at it helplessly.
Lin An’an jumped down right after him and gently tugged at his little cat paw with a soft tentacle, signaling for him to step back.
The transparent chamber was a specially made containment pod designed to imprison living creatures. Feng Wu crouched down and studied it for a moment, then covered the chamber door with his ability. With a click, the lock was damaged.
Feng Wu picked up the weak white kitten cub and motioned for Bai Yang and Lin An’an to jump into his arms as well.
Their objective had been achieved, and by all logic they should not have lingered here any longer.
But Lin An’an did not want to leave just like that.
That would let them off far too easily, he thought.
Since they had come all this way, they had to do something.
The little cub poked Brother Wolf’s abs. The moment his bean-like eyes met those dark golden ones, he knew Brother Wolf had thought of the exact same thing.
When they had passed one of the rooms earlier, Lin An’an had seen it packed with the latest batch of weapons, including some shells that could be set to fire on a timer.
Besides that, there were also rooms holding vicious-looking exotic beasts.
The little cub’s inner abacus clattered away noisily.
Then, suddenly, a tremendous boom rang out, and the entire venue seemed to shake.
Feng Wu’s first reaction was to shield the little cub in his arms. When the trembling finally stopped, he frowned and looked in the direction the explosion had come from.
…That seemed to be the auction hall itself?
Just then, a figure suddenly charged into the storage area. The moment he saw Feng Wu standing in the corridor, his steps came to an abrupt halt.
The two of them were dressed almost identically, except one wore a fox mask and the other a wolf mask.
It was Mr. E from the next room.
Mr. E was the first to break the silence. “Cooperate?”
Feng Wu asked, “Your target?”
Mr. E replied, “A document.”
Feng Wu nodded. Two smart men only needed one glance to understand: both sides had their own objectives. As long as those objectives did not conflict, they could join hands.
“The lots involving books and written materials are in the third room from the end of the corridor,” Feng Wu said, pointing the way.
Mr. E nodded. “Many thanks.”
“After you get it,” Feng Wu said, “we work together and blow this auction house to pieces.”
Mr. E gave two low chuckles. “Exactly what I had in mind.”
There were still quite a few living beings imprisoned in the storage area, all victims just like the white cat siblings. Naturally, they could not simply be blown up together with the place.
With someone helping, the task became much easier.
Feng Wu mapped out the layout in his mind. The storage area and the auction hall were on the same level, which meant the area directly above them… was a barren construction site.
Mr. E found the target document very quickly. When he later found “Mr. D,” he stood there stunned for several seconds.
“…What are you doing?”
Without even looking at him, Feng Wu replied, “Transporting victims.”
In the few short minutes Mr. E had spent searching for the document, “Mr. D” had already punched a skylight into the storage area. There was now a huge hole in the ceiling, through which the night sky and stars could be clearly seen.
Mr. E fell silent for two seconds, then decisively stepped forward and started helping.
All the living creatures in the storage area were moved up to the surface. Feng Wu had somehow acquired a construction mech, and all the transparent chambers were now hanging beneath it.
The sight was truly spectacular.
Mr. E clicked his tongue. “Take them somewhere safe. Leave the rest to us.”
Feng Wu said, “…Us?”
But Mr. E only waved a hand and jumped back down underground without answering.
Lin An’an poked his head out from beneath the robe and only managed to catch Mr. E’s cool departing back.
Bai Yang gently gripped the back of the white kitten cub’s neck and dragged his younger sister to an empty seat nearby so she could lie more comfortably.
Feng Wu closed the chamber door. The mech slowly rose into the air, carrying that long string of transparent pods beneath it as it flew off into the distance under cover of night.
Lin An’an asked: [Where are we going?]
Feng Wu replied, “I have people in the inner city. We’ll leave these exotic beasts with him for now and find a chance later to release them into the wilderness.”
The city was never where exotic beasts belonged. The wilderness was.
The little cub relaxed. [That Mr. E… Brother Wolf, do you know him?]
“Maybe,” Feng Wu replied ambiguously. “Do you remember Wuhula?”
Lin An’an nodded. That tattooed brute who had spent two hundred and fifty million on the medicine—of course he remembered him.
Feng Wu said, “This ‘Mr. E’ looks a little like his older brother.”
The little cub looked up in shock. That older brother? The one who had scolded Wuhula so thoroughly that Brother Xiong had been muttering about it for days afterward?
As if hearing the little cub’s inner thoughts, Feng Wu nodded and said, “That’s him.”
The little cub let out a silent wow in his heart. Thinking of how Mr. E had just helped them, his good impression of him instantly shot up, up, up.
A much louder explosion suddenly erupted in the direction of the underground auction house. Lin An’an climbed onto Feng Wu’s shoulder and looked at the scene outside through the screen.
It looked exactly like fireworks blooming in the night—brilliant and beautiful.
At the side, Bai Yang lifted his head. A flash of fierce satisfaction passed through his blue cat eyes. He gently licked his sister’s cheek, a low, restrained little meow rumbling in his throat.
Feng Wu’s subordinate was deeply shocked by his sudden visit, but after the initial surprise, he still accepted the exotic beasts.
Once the beasts had been settled, Feng Wu did not linger. He brought Lin An’an and the two white cats back to the hotel.
Bai Yang’s younger sister was named Bai Yue, and her current condition was indeed very bad.
Her high fever would not go down, the wound on her leg had become inflamed, and her heartbeat was much slower than normal.
Bai Yang was worried sick. He kept circling around his sister, completely at a loss for what to do.
“There’s a hospital nearby with emergency services,” Feng Wu said, searching on his terminal. “If we go now—”
Before he could finish, he was interrupted by a meow.
[No!] Bai Yang objected at once. [We can’t go to a hospital!]
Like a cat protecting her cubs, the white cat placed himself in front of his sister. [Yueyue and I were targeted at the hospital. We absolutely cannot go there! Absolutely!! Their reach is too long. Hospitals aren’t safe at all!!!]
Bai Yang was extremely agitated, his tail lashing back and forth anxiously. [We can buy a treatment pod. I-I don’t have money right now, but could you lend me some first? I’ll pay you back later, I promise! I’ll definitely repay it!]
[I understand.] Lin An’an typed quickly. [We won’t go to the hospital. But for now, there’s no need to buy a treatment pod either.]
As he spoke, he lightly bounced over to the white kitten cub and rested a soft little tentacle against her injured leg.
Bai Yang opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then he suddenly remembered the Blue Potion they had been fed at the venue. He immediately shut his mouth again, and a trace of hope flickered through his blue cat eyes.
A gentle green light flashed. The white kitten cub’s breathing gradually steadied, and the bloody wound on her leg—so deep the bone had been visible—began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, finally forming a somewhat ugly scab.
A moment later, the little cub withdrew his tentacle. [For now, she’s alright. Once the wound recovers, the fever will naturally go down slowly.]
He let out a breath and collapsed in Feng Wu’s palm like a flattened little cub pancake.
He had only treated one inflamed wound, yet he was already this exhausted, and nearly eighty or ninety percent of his ability had been consumed.
Lin An’an sighed inwardly. Finding energy-replenishing grass really had to be moved up the priority list.
Bai Yang carefully rubbed against his sister and said gratefully, [Thank you.]
The little cub waved a tentacle, said nothing, tilted his head to one side, and quickly fell asleep in Feng Wu’s palm.
Early the next morning, Lin An’an saw a trending topic on the SinNet hot list, with the explosive tag attached:
#Star Pirates Cause Chaos at Auction House#
The little cub jolted and instantly woke up. With a plop, his little tentacle tapped into the topic.
The hottest post was a video over three minutes long.
It had been filmed outside the auction house. The filmer’s voice could be heard, full of shock and excitement. “Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! The underground auction house exploded!! Who did this? That’s so damn awesome!!!”
In the video, the location of the underground auction house was already engulfed in huge swathes of fire. From time to time there were rumbling explosions, but compared with the “firework” blast Lin An’an had heard the night before, these smaller explosions were nothing.
The auction house had been destroyed very thoroughly, and Lin An’an finally felt the bad anger in his chest vent out.
The only thing he was a bit worried about was the safety of that Mr. E from yesterday.
He wondered whether he had escaped successfully.
As the little cub was thinking that, the video suddenly showed two enormous figures bursting out from the flames.
One was a giant squid, and the other was a giant octopus.
The firelight lit their shapes brilliantly, making their dark bodies stand out starkly even in the middle of the night.
The video ended there abruptly, and in Lin An’an’s ears still echoed the filmer’s extraordinarily addictive stream of “holy shit, holy shit.”
The little cub rubbed his eyes, dragged the video back to the last frame, and stared at the octopus in the flames again and again.
—Th-that wasn’t the Octopus Brother who had saved his life back in the wilderness, was it?!
He had heard Brother Xiong say before that Wuhula was a squid. So that meant the octopus in the video… was none other than Mr. E?!
The video had not captured what happened to the squid and octopus afterward. Lin An’an scrolled through the comments and finally found the one he wanted.
[I was nearby. After the squid and octopus caused chaos at the auction house, they swaggered off. A lot of the auction house people went after them, but they probably didn’t catch them and had to come back looking miserable to put out the fire.]
The little cub felt deeply reassured.
[Someone finally blew up the underground auction house. I’d heard ages ago that the place was disgusting—full of dirty things that can’t stand the light.]
[That auction house has serious backing. Even the city lord doesn’t dare touch them.]
[I heard the city lord also invested in the underground auction house. Just saying, just saying. [wearing pot lid jpg]]
[The staff there are unbelievably overbearing. One time they were transporting live creatures, and I was only passing by, but they almost shot me into a honeycomb with a photon cannon. [so gross jpg]]
[Kind of worried about those two star pirates. I hope they don’t get caught. [praying jpg]]
[Those two star pirates probably had accomplices. I got a picture yesterday, let me show everyone. [gif]]
[What even is that? I can’t see clearly.]
[Looks like a construction mech, with a whole string of… uh, a string of balls hanging below?]
[Looks like transparent chambers. I edited the picture a bit—inside them are a bunch of exotic beasts, and they all look to be in bad condition.]
[They must’ve been rescued from the underground auction house, right? Bless those kind people. [amen jpg]]
[Oh my god, I even saw a baby Rollball Beast, a first-class protected species of the Empire! This auction house is really courting death, isn’t it?! [pupil earthquake jpg]]
…
The comments were a complete jumble, but at a glance, most of them were praising the destruction of the auction house and saying it was richly deserved.
That alone showed just how long this underground auction house had been committing evil, and how terrible its reputation had already become.
The little cub stretched lazily on the pillow, only then realizing that Brother Wolf was no longer on the bed.
Bai Yang jumped onto the bed with a piece of bread in his mouth and gently placed it beside Lin An’an, saying:
[He went to the bathroom. Do you want some bread?]
Inside the bathroom, the sound of running water very cooperatively rang out. Lin An’an nodded and stretched out a little tentacle, just about to take the bread, when Bai Yang beat him to it, tearing open the wrapper first and nudging the bread closer.
[Hurry and eat. I’ll go get you some milk.]
The little cub took the bread and bit into it. Not long after, Bai Yang jumped back up with a bottle of milk in his mouth and thoughtfully inserted the straw for him.
Lin An’an was a little stunned.
He very much wanted to say that, actually, when it came to inserting straws, his little tentacles were much more convenient than cat paws.
But looking at Bai Yang’s bright, sparkling blue cat eyes, Lin An’an said nothing in the end.
…Why did it feel like after just one night, Bai Yang’s attitude toward him had suddenly changed so much?
The little cub ate one bite of bread and one sip of milk, while Bai Yang lay by the head of the bed, a trace of contentment in his cat eyes.
[Yueyue only turned three this year.] The white cat flicked his tail. [You should be about the same age as her, right?]
Lin An’an’s chewing paused for a second.
[I’m already thirteen. You can call me big brother.] Bai Yang sounded a little shy. [My sister is always praising me for being really good at taking care of little cubs. She says I’ve taken very good care of my younger sister, and I can take care of you too.]
A hint of nervousness entered his voice. [Y-you… would you be willing?]
The already-grown little cub blinked, then answered without the slightest hesitation:
“Yingji!”
Willing!
Of course he was willing!
![After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]](https://i1.wp.com/panda-translations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20220822190944_300_420.jpg?resize=151,215 "After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]")
