Chapter 27
Bai Yue’s closeness toward the little cub helped Bai Yang steady himself a little.
Lin An’an gently patted the little kitten’s back with his tiny tentacles. A green glow lit up at the tips as he carried out a full-body examination on her.
The results showed that aside from still being somewhat weak and needing quiet rest, Bai Yue’s body had basically no more problems. Even the drug the auction house had injected into her before had fully worn off because of the treatment from the previous day.
Bai Yang was tense with worry. Afraid that talking might disturb his little sister, he deliberately used his paws to type on the terminal: [How is Yueyue?]
[There’s nothing seriously wrong.] Lin An’an answered. [Her body is recovering well. For the next period of time, she just needs more rest and more nutrition.]
Bai Yang kept typing. His white tail kept slapping against the soft mattress because of his nervousness. [But Yueyue won’t talk, and she won’t eat anything either. And… I feel like something about her isn’t right.]
Won’t talk?
The little cub immediately placed a tentacle against Bai Yue’s throat. The kitten lifted her eyelids to look at him once, but did not move.
A moment later, Lin An’an withdrew his tentacle. [Her throat and vocal cords are completely normal.]
Bai Yang did not understand. [Then how—]
[Stress disorder,] Lin An’an replied. [What Yueyue went through before was too intense. Her mind couldn’t bear it, so she developed some psychological trauma.]
In the end, it was still a lingering aftereffect left behind from the time they spent in the auction house.
Fortunately, Bai Yue was not completely unresponsive to the outside world. That meant her psychological barrier was still within a controllable range. As long as she received proper treatment, there was a very high chance she could return to normal in the future.
Bai Yang unconsciously stretched out a paw. [Can it be cured?]
[Yes, but it will take time.] Lin An’an said. [During this period, you’ll probably have to work a little harder. Don’t let her see or hear anything related to the auction house.]
[Okay.] Bai Yang nodded firmly. [Anything else?]
The little cub listed a number of things to watch out for. Afraid he wouldn’t remember everything, Bai Yang typed it all into the memo function on his terminal.
After finishing that, Bai Yang asked again: [But Yueyue still won’t eat…]
Lin An’an frowned. [Didn’t the auction house drug the food they gave you?]
[Yes. There was probably something like a muscle relaxant mixed in. I ate it once, realized something was wrong, and never touched it again after that.] Bai Yang froze for a second, then added, [Yueyue and I weren’t locked up together, but the food they gave us… should have been the same.]
[Then that’s it.] Lin An’an’s tentacle tips tensed from anger. [Yueyue may be young, but she still knows that eating those foods makes her feel awful.]
This was also one of the symptoms of psychological trauma.
Bai Yang suddenly let out a meow. Even though it wasn’t spoken in the language of mental power, Lin An’an knew exactly what it meant—he was cursing that underground auction house.
Judging from the sound of it, it was probably a very dirty curse too.
Lin An’an sighed inwardly, took the tray beside him, and first ate a bite of cucumber from the little bowl himself. Then he unscrewed the cap of the nutrient solution and took a sip as well.
The little kitten lying beside him watched his every move. Suddenly, her stomach let out a loud rumble.
Lin An’an was trying to show Bai Yue through his actions that there was nothing wrong with the food—they were all safe to eat.
That kind of behavior clearly worked. When Bai Yang held the cucumber to Bai Yue’s mouth again, the little kitten obediently opened her mouth. Her movements could even be described as eager.
Bai Yang’s eyes lit up. He quickly fed his little sister some nutrient solution as well. The rest of the food in the bowl was finished bite by bite between them until it was completely gone.
After eating and drinking her fill, Bai Yue quickly started getting sleepy again and soon fell asleep curled up against her brother.
Bai Yang looked at the little cub gratefully and gently typed on the terminal: [Thank you.]
Lin An’an waved a little tentacle at him and gave him a soft, squishy cub smile.
A few days later, Lin An’an went to He Yinghong’s new house at his invitation.
He Yinghong’s new home was not very large, but if one went out through the back door, there was an enormous backyard. In one corner of the yard, some medicinal herbs had been planted, and one Scarlet Spirit Fruit plant was growing especially well.
That Scarlet Spirit Fruit plant was one Lin An’an had given He Yinghong a few days ago, and He Yinghong had transplanted it from its small flowerpot into the yard.
Over the past several days, He Yinghong had been renovating the new house. The entire third floor had been rebuilt and turned into a spacious sky terrace.
When Lin An’an followed him upstairs, his beady eyes immediately lit up.
Although the place was still empty, barren soil with nothing planted in it yet, he could already imagine how beautiful it would look once it was filled with flowers and greenery.
For anyone who loved growing things, this sky terrace was practically a little paradise.
Sensing the excitement of the little cub in his palm, Feng Wu asked, “Do you like it?”
The little cub answered without hesitation, “Yingji!” I do!
Feng Wu said, “Good. When we get back, I’ll talk to Si Youlin about it.”
Lin An’an froze slightly. [But Brother Snake’s third floor is already being used. His study is there, and so is your workshop.]
“We can add another level,” Feng Wu said. “Build a rooftop field above the third floor.”
The little cub was so touched he almost melted, but he still corrected him seriously: [This is called a sky terrace. Or it can also be called a sky garden.]
Feng Wu: “…Alright. We’ll add a sky garden.”
He Yinghong said with a cheerful smile, “I plan to use the yard downstairs for growing medicinal herbs. Up here on the terrace, I’ll grow vegetables, fruits, flowers, and all kinds of plants.”
Although he did not have plant-type abilities, he was extremely interested in growing things.
[No problem!] the little cub typed quickly. [I still have quite a lot of seeds whose quality I’ve improved with my ability. You can just plant them directly.]
The house was large, so living there alone inevitably made it feel a little empty. But He Yinghong owned a huge amount of miscellaneous odds and ends, so he had actually filled several rooms to the brim and turned them into storage rooms.
“I’ve liked collecting strange and unusual things ever since I was young,” He Yinghong said. “All kinds of things. I’ve got so much that even I can’t quite remember it all anymore. If you’ve got time, you can go dig through them and see if there’s anything you like.”
Lin An’an immediately became excited.
Who doesn’t like some weird little knickknacks? Even if there’s no use for them after bringing them home, just looking at them makes people happy!
He Yinghong was extremely generous. “Take whatever you want. Even if you clear the whole place out, it’s fine.”
Xiong Yingjun and Si Youlin were downstairs in the dining room. This time when they came out, they had also brought the white cat siblings along.
Ever since “ascending” to the status of a corpse, this was Si Youlin’s first time going out.
There were too many eyes and ears on Sin Star, so in order not to be recognized, Si Youlin had disguised himself from head to toe, making sure that even if he walked right up to the people who knew him best, they still would not recognize him at all.
The white cat siblings were similarly disguised, though the two little white cats were much smaller in size, making it far easier for them to go out than Si Youlin.
Thanks to the careful care from Bai Yang and Lin An’an over these past few days, Bai Yue’s condition had improved quite a bit.
Although the little kitten still refused to speak, she was no longer afraid of the several “big guys” who often appeared in the house. Sometimes she would even walk up to Xiong Yingjun and the others on her own and curiously watch whatever they were doing.
This was tremendous progress. Bai Yang saw it with his eyes and felt relieved in his heart. In response, he worked even harder at feeding his little sister, hoping she would recover even faster.
The one regrettable thing was that… there had been no follow-up to what happened at the underground auction house in the inner city.
Aside from the venue explosion making the trending list on CrimeNet the next day—and even that trend disappearing very quickly—Lin An’an had not seen a single piece of related news afterward.
It was obvious enough after thinking about it. The popularity of the matter had likely been deliberately suppressed, and it might even have been directly set as a prohibited topic.
Feng Wu’s explanation was: “Sin Star has, in truth, already broken away from the outside interstellar society.”
Lin An’an understood what he meant. Although the residents of Sin Star still technically held Federation or Empire citizenship, the laws of the Empire and Federation had far too little power over the people of Sin Star.
If he had to describe it, Lin An’an felt Sin Star was like a newly born little world. Order had not yet extended itself here. It was chaotic, disorderly, and depended entirely on individual self-restraint.
Even in an orderly world, the darkest corners could breed countless dark creatures. Let alone in a world as fundamentally lawless as this one.
About this, Lin An’an felt nothing but helplessness, and even a kind of powerlessness. In the end, he could only bury his whole head into Brother Wolf’s arms and become a little cub who did not want to use his brain.
This world was far too big. All he wanted was to live well together with the people around him.
He Yinghong had already prepared dinner in advance, but Lin An’an had brought some extra vegetables, so while the others were touring the house, Si Youlin used the opportunity to cook several more dishes.
Among them all, Si Youlin was the best cook.
Back when he had been weak and bedridden every day, all three meals at home had been prepared by Xiong Yingjun.
The little cub did not have high standards for Xiong Yingjun’s cooking—if it was edible, that was enough.
But ever since Si Youlin’s health improved and he took over all three meals, the little cub had completely abandoned Brother Bear and thrown himself into Brother Snake’s gentle harbor.
Because of this, Xiong Yingjun had grumbled resentfully for quite a long time, then in his tragic outrage ate five full bowls of rice alongside Si Youlin’s dishes.
At the dinner table, everyone ate happily. Even Bai Yue had quite a good appetite and finished an entire plate of rice and vegetables that everyone had picked out for her.
Just then, He Yinghong’s terminal suddenly rang once.
The little cub, clutching his little spoon and busily eating, couldn’t help looking up in He Yinghong’s direction. But he saw that He Yinghong’s brows had drawn together slightly, and he did not seem to have any intention of checking the terminal.
—That ringtone… seemed like the terminal’s default special notification tone?
Lin An’an suppressed his curiosity, withdrew his gaze, and continued eating.
But the person sending the messages did not seem willing to let He Yinghong off so easily. The special tone rang repeatedly, one after another. He Yinghong’s brows furrowed more tightly, and in the end he simply muted the terminal.
“I’m sorry,” He Yinghong said to everyone at the table, then stood up and walked off to the side to check the message.
There was only one person on his priority list—his adopted son, He Yuanwang—so naturally, the one messaging him now was also him.
[Qiuxia has been diagnosed with Alpha. His symptoms aren’t severe, and his emotions are still fairly stable.]
[He boarded the starship to Sin Star this morning. He should have arrived by now.]
[Qiuxia said he plans to go to C City.]
[I know you’re in C City too. Sin Star is so chaotic—maybe the two of you can look after each other.]
[What happened before, Qiuxia was only acting under my orders.]
[You really shouldn’t blame him too much anymore. The situation is special now, and I hope both of you can be well…]
As for the messages after that, He Yinghong did not want to read a single word more.
Nothing else—he was simply disgusted sick.
Tong Qiuxia’s full name was Tong Qiuxia, and he had once been He Yinghong’s disciple.
The reason he was only a former disciple now was because after He Yuanwang took over the company, Tong Qiuxia immediately switched sides and followed him. From that moment on, He Yinghong expelled him from the school.
After that, the already sparse and tiny He family’s ancient pharmaceutical branch was reduced to only He Yinghong alone.
What “looking after each other,” what “don’t blame him”—
All complete bullshit!
He Yinghong was so angry that he turned off his terminal. After taking some time to calm himself down, he finally forced his expression back under control and returned to the dinner table.
But everyone present was rather sensitive to emotions—how could they fail to notice the smile He Yinghong was forcing onto his face?
Si Youlin and Xiong Yingjun exchanged a subtle glance, then kept looking in He Yinghong’s direction with concern.
The little cub put down the small spoon in his tentacles and typed on the light screen: [Grandpa He, after dinner, shall we go plant flowers in the sky garden together? I still have some little daisy seeds on me.]
After typing, Lin An’an realized that He Yinghong had not noticed the screen at all, so he lightly poked him with the tip of a tentacle. “Yingji!”
He Yinghong looked down, and his eyes immediately lit up. “Sure! Little daisies are lovely—I like them!”
Seeing Grandpa He’s mood lift, the little cub secretly let out a sigh of relief and silently gave himself a like in his heart.
He did not know what had happened, so he had no way to comfort him directly. All he could do was find a way to divert Grandpa He’s attention, so that he could temporarily forget the unhappy matter.
Now it seemed his approach had been very wise.
After dinner, everyone rested for a while in the living room. Just as they were preparing to go up to the third floor to plant little daisies, the doorbell suddenly rang.
It was already dark outside—who could it be at this hour?
He Yinghong stood up. “I’ll go take a look.”
The new house came with a basic security and defense system. The moment he walked over to the door, He Yinghong saw a familiar figure on the light screen.
On the screen, the round-faced young man stood properly at the doorway, tilting his head up at the surveillance camera with a docile and innocent smile.
The young man’s lips moved, and He Yinghong read the lip movements:
“Teacher.”
This young man was Tong Qiuxia.
He Yinghong’s blood pressure shot right back up. He did not want to open the door for Tong Qiuxia, but there was one thing he absolutely had to figure out.
The door opened. The moment the round-faced young man saw the person inside, his eyes lit up. “Teacher!”
“Don’t call me teacher.” He Yinghong’s face was cold. “How did you know I live here?”
“I guessed,” Tong Qiuxia said. “At first I thought you were in the inner city, and I wanted to go there to find you directly. But I happened to pass by this house.”
As he spoke, he stepped back and pointed toward the rooftop. “I spotted this rooftop garden right away. In my memory, aside from you, no one else would build a garden on top of their roof—especially a bare one with nothing planted in it yet.”
He Yinghong’s expression eased slightly. He had almost thought He Yuanwang was secretly watching him. Now it seemed the other side had not yet sunk to that level of disgust.
Tong Qiuxia tilted his head. “Teacher won’t invite me in to sit for a bit?”
“I said, don’t call me teacher.” He Yinghong’s face darkened again. “And no, coming in to sit is out of the question. There are guests in the house. It’s inconvenient.”
As he said this, he saw the fatigue written all over the face of this former student. In the end, his heart still softened just a little.
“Take the second left at the next intersection. There’s a small inn there with a decent environment. You can stay there for the night,” He Yinghong said kindly. “It isn’t expensive. The salary He Yuanwang gave you should definitely cover it.”
After saying that, he prepared to close the door—but Tong Qiuxia grabbed it in one swift motion.
“But I brought you medicinal herbs,” Tong Qiuxia said pitifully, clearly trying to win sympathy. “Don’t you love medicinal herbs the most? I know they’re hard to buy on Sin Star, so I specially brought some for you.”
As he spoke, he pulled a cloth bag out of his terminal space, and the faint scent of herbs immediately spilled out.
There was even a trace of pleading in the young man’s tone, as if he were lowering his head to make peace. He Yinghong’s heart wavered for a moment—but only for a moment, before he quickly came back to himself.
The last time had been exactly the same.
The same apologetic, ingratiating expression. The same low, humble tone. And once He Yinghong softened, forgave him, and agreed to his request—
He had turned right around and stabbed him in the back.
He Yuanwang had been able to dissolve the ancient pharmaceutical research teams so smoothly largely because Tong Qiuxia had helped him.
“No need for the herbs,” He Yinghong said calmly in refusal. “I don’t need them.”
This was not merely a remark made in anger. After seeing the high-quality medicinal herbs Lin An’an could grow, the expensive herbs sold outside looked like defective goods in He Yinghong’s eyes.
A trace of surprise flashed through Tong Qiuxia’s eyes. Seeing that the door was about to close, he suddenly gave a small sneer, and a faint mocking look appeared in his gaze.
“So Yuanwang-ge was right after all.” Tong Qiuxia put away his earlier expression and tugged lightly at the corners of his lips. “You’ve already lost your ability to make medicine.”
The hand gripping the doorknob tightened abruptly.
Tong Qiuxia smiled. The mockery in his eyes deepened, as though the person in front of him were not his former mentor, but some mortal enemy crushed beneath his feet.
He said nothing more, but his sharp eyes caught a flicker of pain on He Yinghong’s face. Satisfied, he turned to leave.
Yet in the very next second, a water balloon flew out from inside the house and hit Tong Qiuxia squarely on the back of the head.
The balloon burst on his head, and a whole pouch of water splashed all over him.
The neatly dressed young man was instantly drenched like a soaked chicken, and the whole of him looked rather pathetic.
Tong Qiuxia was furious. He wiped the water from his face, turned around, and sneered, “Since when did your methods become so low-class? Even if you’re embarrassed into rage and self-destruction, there’s still no need to resort to something so childish, is there?”
But He Yinghong looked equally stunned. “It wasn’t me.”
Tong Qiuxia: “What?”
“I wasn’t the one who threw the water balloon.” He Yinghong stepped slightly aside, revealing the scene inside the house behind him.
A little black dumpling bounced out from inside, hopping all the way until it came to Tong Qiuxia’s side.
Tong Qiuxia lowered his head to look at the monster cub, and the little cub lifted his head to look right back up, his glossy black bead-like eyes reflecting Tong Qiuxia’s current bedraggled state.
Tong Qiuxia was so angry he laughed instead. “Where did this—”
Before he could finish, the little cub suddenly opened his mouth wide. “Yingyingji apu-pu-pu-pu——”
The sudden crying sound made Tong Qiuxia freeze in shock, and the words he was in the middle of saying got jammed right back into his throat.
He Yinghong stood off to the side in a daze, for a moment having no idea what kind of stunt Lin An’an was pulling now.
Why was he crying all of a sudden?
This was crying, right?
But then why—why wasn’t there a single tear?
At that very moment, heavy footsteps sounded from behind him. He Yinghong instinctively stepped aside, making room just in time to see Xiong Yingjun stomping out, thudding across the floor at top speed.
As he charged, he roared, “Cubby! What happened, cubby?! Who bullied you, cubby!!!”
Tong Qiuxia was so startled he instinctively took a step back. His body size compared to the newcomer’s was far too lopsided; he was genuinely afraid the other man wouldn’t be able to stop in time and would crush him flat to the ground.
—If that much weight fell on him, forget anything else, he’d probably walk away with internal injuries at the very least.
The moment the little cub saw his backing arrive, he cried even harder with his yingyingji noises. While crying, he pointed with a little tentacle at the pink piece of rubber lying on the ground—the “corpse” of the water balloon.
After pointing at the balloon corpse, the little tentacle swished and pointed at Tong Qiuxia. The crying immediately rose another octave.
With that expression, it looked exactly as though he were accusing Tong Qiuxia of ruining his beloved toy.
Xiong Yingjun was furious, his eyes wide as bells. “You burst cubby’s balloon?!”
Tong Qiuxia flinched slightly. “N-no, it wasn’t—”
Xiong Yingjun stomped forward a step, even fiercer than before. “How dare you break cubby’s balloon?!”
Tong Qiuxia felt utterly wronged.
Who the hell broke this damned little brat’s damned balloon?! This damn bear child was the one who threw it himself! He was the real victim here, okay?!!
Unfortunately, Xiong Yingjun had no intention of giving him a chance to explain.
He took another step forward, bent down swiftly, and picked up the balloon corpse. His voice was full of righteous accusation. “How old are you already? Stealing a little cub’s toy was already shameless enough, and then you even went and broke it? How thick is your face, huh?!”
At the side, the little cub chimed in, “Yingji yingying!”
Exactly! Exactly! How shameless!!
They were making such a racket that many nearby residents opened their windows to see what was going on.
Tong Qiuxia had never imagined this could develop like this. “Are you sick?!”
He shouted and tried to leave, only to have Xiong Yingjun grab his wrist with lightning speed. “You think you can just leave like that? You break someone else’s stuff and want to walk away?”
Tong Qiuxia struggled twice, but couldn’t break free. The brute in front of him was far too strong—there was simply no outmuscling him.
“Big brother, it really wasn’t me.” Tong Qiuxia softened his voice and once again put on a perfectly innocent expression. “That child threw it himself, and I’m the one who got splashed all over by the water…”
Xiong Yingjun looked utterly incredulous. “You’re even slandering cubby now? How old is cubby? How big was that water balloon? Cubby couldn’t even lift it! If you’re going to make excuses, at least come up with one people can believe!”
More and more onlookers were gathering.
Xiong Yingjun was not afraid of causing a scene, but Tong Qiuxia, who had only just arrived on Sin Star, definitely didn’t have the nerve for it.
He cast a pleading glance toward He Yinghong—only to find him standing there with his arms folded, leaning against the doorway and watching the show, with absolutely no intention of stepping in to help.
By now, He Yinghong had completely figured it out. baby An and Xiong Yingjun were putting on an act. As for why…
Most likely, it was for his sake.
Seeing Tong Qiuxia’s look for help, He Yinghong spread his hands and said, “Xiao Qiu, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. But you broke cubby’s toy. No matter what, you should apologize, shouldn’t you?”
Tong Qiuxia: “……”
He was so angry he laughed instead. “Fine. I’ll apologize. Is that enough?”
“How could a mere apology possibly be enough?” Xiong Yingjun clearly had no intention of letting him off so easily. “One thing for one thing. You broke cubby’s toy, so you have to compensate cubby with a new toy!”
The crowd around them chimed in:
“Exactly, exactly! If you break something, you have to pay for it. Don’t try to wriggle out of it!”
“What kind of people are there in this world? Are you really even snatching toys from little cubs now?”
Tong Qiuxia had grievances he couldn’t voice. He couldn’t leave, so he could only grit his teeth and say, “…I don’t have any toys.”
“Then use something else to compensate!” Xiong Yingjun snorted. But when he lowered his head to look at the little cub on the ground, his voice softened into something gentle and coaxing. “Cubby, see if there’s anything you want.”
As he spoke, his gaze swept over Tong Qiuxia and landed on the cloth bag in the other man’s hand.
“What’s with just one lousy cloth bag?” Xiong Yingjun said with open disdain.
But the little cub suddenly jumped up and wrapped himself around the cloth bag with a paji. “Yingji!”
“You like this?” Xiong Yingjun frowned so hard his brows nearly tied themselves in knots. “Pick something else. This thing looks too shabby—it’s not fun at all.”
The little cub shook his head. “Yingji yingji!”
“Alright then, if you like it that much.” Xiong Yingjun grumbled in dissatisfaction, then very reluctantly snatched the “ragged cloth bag” straight out of Tong Qiuxia’s hand.
Tong Qiuxia’s eyes widened. “Hey—”
Xiong Yingjun looked fierce enough to eat people. “What? You got a problem with that?”
The force on Tong Qiuxia’s wrist increased by several degrees. He even felt that if the other man still didn’t let go, his wrist was genuinely about to be crushed.
So he could only say, “No problem, no problem. Big brother, please let go of me. My wrist really is about to break.”
Xiong Yingjun gave a cold snort and finally released him, then carried the little cub and the ragged cloth bag back inside.
The surrounding spectators gradually dispersed. Before leaving, one of them even sighed with feeling, “What a nice-looking young man he is too, and who would’ve thought his heart would be this rotten. Tsk tsk, truly, you can’t judge a person by their face.”
Tong Qiuxia: “……”
Damn it!
What a fucking unlucky day!!!
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