Monster Cub Live Stream – CH35

Chapter 35

With insufficient evidence and too few leads, Feng Wu’s suspicions ultimately could not be confirmed.

Mo Dexin said, “I’ll send people to keep an eye on the Erte Boulder Zone.”

Feng Wu nodded. “Don’t let anyone discover them.”

Mo Dexin answered with a short acknowledgment and ended the call.

The video call had not lasted long, yet the amount of information in it had been enormous. Having listened to the whole thing, Lin An’an felt his thoughts turn into a mess. He was still thinking about it even while brewing medicine.

That night, he dreamed again.

In the dream, he was groggy, half-awake and half-asleep. The floor was covered in a soft carpet, yet to him it felt terribly cold.

Voices sounded near him.

“Your own little brother… how heartless…”

The voice was somewhat blurred and strange, like some emotionless metallic mechanical sound. The surrounding temperature itself seemed to drop a few degrees because of it.

“Heh. So what if he’s my little brother?” another familiar voice said. “Since he chose to eavesdrop, he naturally has to bear the consequences…”

The two voices drifted farther and farther away. In the last moment before the version of him in the dream lost consciousness completely, the two figures passed in a blur before his eyes.

—It was his second brother, and… and a projected figure shimmering with that strange metallic sheen.

The heaviness from the dream seemed to carry over into reality. After waking, the little cub lay on the pillow, not wanting to move at all.

Feng Wu noticed something was off, reached out, and felt the little cub’s temperature. It was normal; he did not have a fever.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

The little cub turned over with difficulty. “Yingji.”

Dreaming tired me out.

A little while later, Lin An’an finally shook off the aftereffects of the memory dream and bounced up from the bed full of energy.

The first thing he did was tell Feng Wu about this little fragment of recovered memory.

“A mechanical voice. A projected figure with metallic sheen…” Feng Wu lowered his eyes in thought.

Lin An’an nodded. [It looked very similar to the prosthetic appendage on that Zerg corpse.] He hesitated for two seconds. [And also very similar to Uncle Zhuang’s artificial limb.]

Feng Wu’s brows drew together.

The little cub typed: [Should we go ask Uncle Zhuang?]

They knew far too little about the X Galaxy. If Zhuang Yi had truly come into contact with it before—or was even originally from the X Galaxy himself…

Then the help he could provide would be enormous.

Naturally, Feng Wu understood that too. He immediately took Lin An’an with him to the secondhand shop.

They arrived very early, yet Zhuang Yi was already there as usual, sitting cross-legged on the floor, clanging and banging away as if he had been working for quite some time.

“Selling something, or—” He had not finished speaking before he saw that it was Feng Wu and Lin An’an. He paused slightly. “Today isn’t pickup day.”

“I know,” Feng Wu said, getting straight to the point. “There’s something I want to ask you about.”

Zhuang Yi sensed that Feng Wu’s tone carried a subtle difference from usual and set his tools down. “What is it?”

Feng Wu asked, “Do you know about the X Galaxy?”

Zhuang Yi’s pupils shrank, and a faintly sharp light flashed through his eyes.

He did not answer, but both Feng Wu and Lin An’an understood what that meant.

Zhuang Yi put down the tool in his hand and said, “What if I don’t want to talk?”

Lin An’an jumped down from Feng Wu’s palm and bounced his way right in front of Zhuang Yi.

[Brother Wolf said that if the soft approach doesn’t work, then we’ll go with the hard approach.]

Coming from a soft little squishy blob, the line had absolutely no persuasive power.

Zhuang Yi raised a brow. “And how exactly are you planning to go hard?”

[For example,] Lin An’an thought for a moment, [we could block your shop entrance every day and loudly accuse you of abandoning your wife and child, having terrible character, and being a scumbag…]

The little cub looked at him, his tiny tentacles twitching slightly as if considering whether or not he ought to perform a live cub searching for his dad act on the spot.

Feng Wu: “……”

Zhuang Yi: “……”

“That really is very hard,” Zhuang Yi said, half laughing and half helpless. He let out a sigh. “Ask whatever you want.”

He had expected this day to come sooner or later. His identity could never stay hidden forever, especially after they had accidentally seen his unusual leg last time.

Lin An’an’s eyes brightened at once.

“But let’s be clear first,” Zhuang Yi said, pointing at his own head, “I was injured here in the past. There are many things I don’t remember. I might not have the information you want.”

Zhuang Yi shut the shop and brought them into the back room.

“Sit wherever you like.” He gestured toward the sofa and chairs inside, poured Feng Wu a cup of tea, and handed the little cub a bottle of milk.

After taking a sip of hot tea, Feng Wu got straight to the point. “Are you from the X Galaxy?”

“I used to be,” Zhuang Yi answered. “I escaped from there.”

Feng Wu repeated, “Escaped?”

“I don’t remember the details anymore.” Zhuang Yi lowered his gaze slightly. “The X Galaxy… reveres human body modification. They believe the human body is too fragile, a burden and a drag. Only a modified body is perfect.”

Lin An’an and Feng Wu immediately thought of the artificial appendage on the Zerg corpse.

“I’m not a complete modified human. I was what they called a ‘test subject.’” As he spoke, Zhuang Yi rolled up his trouser leg, exposing the special artificial limb made of metallic material.

No—or perhaps calling it a mechanical leg would be more accurate.

“The experiments in human body modification were utterly devoid of humanity. Because our batch of test subjects was being used to trial a new route, the experiments were even harsher.”

Zhuang Yi’s tone remained relatively calm, but Lin An’an noticed that the fingers hanging at his side had clenched tightly.

“I don’t remember the exact process anymore. I only remember that some of the test subjects resisted, and our whole batch escaped.”

Zhuang Yi forced himself to recall it. “We were hunted and wanted. In the end we were forced into the boulder zone. After the mech we were escaping in was damaged, I lost consciousness. When I woke up again, I was already on this planet.”

Feng Wu lifted a brow. “You came directly to Sin Star?”

“Yes.” Zhuang Yi nodded. “But Sin Star then was not the Sin Star of now.”

Feng Wu and Lin An’an immediately understood what he meant.

At that time, Alpha had not yet appeared in the Milky Way Galaxy. Sin Star was barren, with none of the cities that now existed, and no one lived there.

Lin An’an asked, [Other than you, Uncle Zhuang, were there others?]

“I don’t know.” Zhuang Yi shook his head.

Feng Wu asked, “How much do you know about Alpha?”

“Not much.” Zhuang Yi answered, “In the X Galaxy, this disease is called radiation sickness. Every single person there has radiation sickness.”

Lin An’an’s bean-like eyes widened. Every single person?

Feng Wu asked, “And it can’t be treated?”

Zhuang Yi looked at them both deeply. “It can.”

The little cub had just started to feel relieved when Zhuang Yi added, “Becoming a modified human can neutralize the symptoms of radiation sickness. There are even rumors that the more severe someone’s radiation sickness is, the stronger they become after turning into a modified human.”

Lin An’an’s eyes flew wide open, as though they were about to pop right out of his soft squishy body.

The X Galaxy pursued powerful modified humans, and radiation sickness—Alpha—apparently could make modified humans even stronger…

The little cub looked up, and as expected, saw the gravity in Feng Wu’s eyes.

They had originally suspected that Alpha was a tool used by the X Galaxy to expand its interstellar territory and weaken the combat power of those in newly encountered galaxies. But now it seemed they had still been thinking far too simply.

If the only way to cure Alpha was to become a modified human…

Then the moment the X Galaxy revealed that treatment method, every person currently on Sin Star would become property already in the X Galaxy’s bag.

What a sinister and despicable scheme.

Almost unconsciously, Feng Wu reached out and touched the little cub. Only when his fingertips met the soft texture of the little cub’s head did his mind feel somewhat steadier.

If not for An Cub, and if not for the Second Prince, the Milky Way Galaxy would sooner or later have become nothing more than a toy in the X Galaxy’s palm.

Lin An’an, too, now had a headache. Did his “dear” second brother really know what sort of people he was cooperating with?

Once Feng Wu had steadied himself a little, he asked Zhuang Yi some more questions. His gaze eventually fell on the mechanical leg.

“Can this leg be detached?” he asked.

“No.” Zhuang Yi shook his head. “My modification was incomplete, so it can’t be removed. But a fully completed modified human can.”

Feng Wu frowned.

Even if he had most likely never encountered the kind of metal used for body modification in the X Galaxy, he was still a metal-type ability user. Sooner or later, he ought to be able to learn what he needed from the metal itself.

Zhuang Yi seemed to guess what he was thinking. After a moment’s hesitation, he still spoke up.

“If you want to study it…”

His fingers brushed over his terminal, and he took a sealed box out of his terminal space.

The box was locked with biometric recognition. Inside were several fist-sized chunks of metal made of the same material as Zhuang Yi’s mechanical limb.

“They call this metal ‘Gata.’ We took it from the laboratory before we escaped,” Zhuang Yi said. “Take it.”

Feng Wu did not refuse. “Thank you.”

The conversation ended there.

Now that his identity and former experiences had been laid bare, Zhuang Yi outwardly looked unchanged. But Lin An’an could still sense that his tone now seemed a little lighter than before.

As though the heavy secret he had always kept buried in his heart had finally found someone to whom it could be spoken.

With a poof, the little cub jumped from Feng Wu’s palm onto Zhuang Yi.

Zhuang Yi froze, instinctively catching him. The hand that could hold an iron hammer as steady as a rock now suddenly seemed slightly flustered. “What’s this?”

[As thanks, I’m giving you a gift.]

After typing that, Lin An’an tilted his head back and blinked at him with his bean-like eyes. His two tiny tentacles rested on Zhuang Yi’s arm, and soft green healing power immediately seeped out, rushing straight into his body.

Zhuang Yi’s breathing caught.

He could clearly feel that the old injuries that had plagued him for years were improving at a pace shocking enough to leave one stunned.

When the treatment ended, the little cub smiled at Zhuang Yi and hopped back onto Feng Wu’s shoulder.

Zhuang Yi touched his chest, which had always ached dully in the past, and felt that his entire body had become much lighter. For the first time in many years, he felt this relaxed.

Slowly he let out a breath and said, “That really is quite a surprise.”

Because of his experiences in the laboratory all those years ago, Zhuang Yi stayed far away from healers in white coats. The old wounds inside his body could only be slowly treated through treatment pods.

What Lin An’an had just done had truly helped him a great deal.

After returning from Zhuang Yi’s place, the newly learned information made everyone even busier.

What Zhuang Yi had revealed was not shared with many people. At present, only the four commanders of the First Legion, along with Lin An’an, knew.

Once they obtained the metal Gata, there was now one more person in the household who became so absorbed in work that he forgot to eat.

A few days later, He Yinghong found time to make another trip into the wilderness.

“The beast packs that were gathered there before are all gone,” He Yinghong said. “Looks like it was just a false alarm.”

Xiong Yingjun said, “Or it could be that the city lord and the others did something and dispersed the beasts in advance.”

He Yinghong simply gave a smiling hum.

Lin An’an asked with both nervousness and anticipation, [Grandpa He, did you find Energy-Replenishing Grass this time?]

“No.” He Yinghong shook his head regretfully. “I only found some other wild medicinal herbs.”

Lin An’an looked through them. They were all herbs useful to keep around at home as common stock.

Although they had not found Energy-Replenishing Grass, that was still better than finding nothing at all, the little cub told himself while trying to stay cheerful in adversity.

At that moment, Feng Wu’s terminal gave two sharp rings. After reading the message, one of his brows lifted slightly. “The city lord of C City is celebrating his birthday. He’s invited us to attend his birthday banquet.”

Xiong Yingjun said, “Us?”

“Me and you,” Feng Wu said. Then his voice paused slightly. “And also… the mysterious man.”

Everyone’s eyes landed on the little cub.

Lin An’an shook his head. [The mysterious man isn’t going.]

It still was not the right time for the mysterious man to appear. But…

[I can go, though.] The little cub puffed out his chest. [The city lord probably won’t forbid us from bringing family members, right?]

Xiong Yingjun glanced at the invitation Feng Wu had forwarded to him and read it aloud word by word. “Guests are welcome to bring family members.”

Si Youlin, who had already “passed away,” obviously could not go. He Yinghong did not want to go. The white cat siblings could not show themselves. In the end, the only ones attending the banquet were Feng Wu and Xiong Yingjun, who had been invited, along with the family-member Lin An’an.

The banquet was three days later. Once they confirmed that they would go, Feng Wu replied and received the city lord’s covered entry fees for the inner city.

Xiong Yingjun muttered, “You even gotta pay just to enter the city. This inner city’s harder to get into than the capital star.”

Three days later, inside the city lord’s residence in C City’s inner district.

Feng Wu and Xiong Yingjun had, for once, changed into formal wear. Sitting on Feng Wu’s shoulder, Lin An’an hardly dared move casually at all, afraid he might crease Brother Wolf’s custom-tailored formal suit.

Xiong Yingjun tugged awkwardly at the hem of his clothes. “This is exactly why I hate going to this sort of banquet. Damn uncomfortable. My arms are practically too stiff to lift.”

The attendant at the front gate of the city lord’s residence noticed them and came over proactively. “Hello there.”

Feng Wu showed the digital invitation the city lord had sent. After taking a clear look, the attendant respectfully lowered his head. “So it’s Marshal Feng. The city lord has been awaiting you for quite some time.”

It was not especially early when Feng Wu and the others arrived. Plenty of people were already inside the city lord’s residence.

The moment they stepped inside, Feng Wu frowned lightly and took the little cub from his shoulder into the palm of his hand.

Lin An’an looked up in confusion. “Yingji?”

Feng Wu lowered his voice. “There are a lot of people.”

Translated, that meant: In my palm is safer than on my shoulder.

The little cub was instantly moved and patted Feng Wu’s thumb gratefully with a tiny tentacle.

The attendant led them straight to a lounge at the back of the hall. “The city lord is inside.”

He knocked on the door, and a voice sounded from within. “Who is it?”

“My lord, Marshal Feng has arrived.”

Faint footsteps sounded behind the door. When it opened and the stout figure of the city lord saw Feng Wu and Xiong Yingjun, his eyes lit up. “Marshal Feng! General Xiong! Rare guests, truly rare guests!”

The city lord of C City was named Jia Yan. He was not tall, but his voice was especially booming.

Lin An’an could not resist sneaking a glance at the top of his head. That hairstyle… honestly makes his hair-loss condition look way worse than Xiong Yingjun’s, even though Brother Xiong is the one officially diagnosed.

Jia Yan peered behind them. “Did Mister Mysterious Man not come with you?”

Feng Wu said, “He said it wasn’t convenient. If there’s something you want to say, tell me and I’ll pass it on.”

Jia Yan sighed regretfully. “That’ll do, then.”

He dismissed the others, and the lounge was left with only the three of them—as well as Lin An’an, sitting in Feng Wu’s palm.

“Before this, I had no idea you two had come to C City,” Jia Yan said, his face piled high with smiles. “If there was any neglect on my part, I hope you won’t take offense.”

Feng Wu shook his head. He had little patience for empty polite talk.

Unfortunately, Jia Yan seemed to be the sort who could not read the room at all. He went on and on with one string of pleasantries after another. By the time Xiong Yingjun had already finished three cups of tea, he finally changed the subject.

“The reason I invited you, aside from the birthday banquet, is that I’d like to ask you two a bit about the healing produce,” Jia Yan said. Seeing that Feng Wu only gave a slight nod, he continued, “I hope Mister Mysterious Man’s healing fruits and vegetables can be provided to the inner-city residents of C City first.”

The moment he heard that, Xiong Yingjun’s brows drew together sharply. He opened his mouth as if to say something, only for Feng Wu to lightly kick him, stopping him at once.

“About that matter, the mysterious man has discussed it with me,” Feng Wu said. “The offline sale locations won’t change for now. Once production increases after some time, the healing produce will be sold through the livestream throughout all of Sin Star.”

Though he had not explicitly said no, what Feng Wu meant was a clear refusal of Jia Yan’s proposal.

Naturally Jia Yan understood the refusal, yet he still smiled broadly. “No rush. Please just pass word to Mister Mysterious Man and have him think it over carefully again.”

When Feng Wu did not respond, Jia Yan added, “Profit is naturally no issue. If it’s sold through my side, I guarantee the returns will be sufficient—absolutely no less than if you handle it yourselves.”

There was a trace of greed in his tone that he had failed to fully conceal. Lin An’an’s brows pulled together the instant he heard it.

Feng Wu had no desire to say more. He gave a few perfunctory lines about relaying it to the mysterious man for consideration and then rose, preparing to leave the lounge.

Jia Yan did not appear annoyed. “The banquet’s about to begin. It’s all rather simple, so please don’t mind.”

Simple…?

Thinking of the arrangement they had just seen inside the city lord’s residence, Lin An’an felt deeply shaken.

Before leaving, Feng Wu seemed to remember something and asked, “Some time ago, exotic beasts gathered in the wilderness outside C City. Do you know about that?”

“Exotic beast gathering?” Jia Yan froze slightly, then immediately understood. “I remember. Of course I remember.”

He glanced at Feng Wu’s expression and smiled cheerfully. “What? Is Marshal Feng worried about a beast tide? If you’re truly concerned, you can move into the inner city. The inner city’s defensive system is extremely well-developed. A mere beast tide couldn’t possibly break through—”

“Alright. I understand.” Feng Wu cut off his endless chatter and turned to leave.

Xiong Yingjun could not hold back. On his way out, he shot Jia Yan a fierce glare and hurried after Feng Wu.

Even someone as slow to catch on as he was could hear the meaning in Jia Yan’s words.

After Feng Wu informed him of the gathering beasts, Jia Yan had not taken it seriously at all. He had only mentioned the inner city’s strong defenses. He had not said one single word about the outer city.

Lin An’an jumped back onto Feng Wu’s shoulder. Unable to help himself, he threw a huge eye-roll at Jia Yan behind them.

Combined with the city lord’s earlier attitude toward the healing produce, how could Lin An’an still fail to understand?

In Jia Yan’s eyes, only the paying residents of the inner city counted as real city residents. The outer city and the people living there were nothing more than a defensive line to protect the people inside.

If the gathered beasts had not dispersed, and had really turned into a beast tide…

Lin An’an did not dare imagine how badly the people of the outer city would have suffered.

A city lord like that truly was—

The little cub was scooped back into a large hand. Fingers rubbed his forehead gently, as if soothing him.

Lin An’an sighed in his heart and buried himself into the warmth of Brother Wolf’s palm.

The banquet began.

Jia Yan’s speech was long and boring. Feng Wu and Xiong Yingjun remained in a corner of the crowd, unwilling to squeeze in and join their noisy revelry.

Lin An’an poked his head out of Feng Wu’s palm, his bean-like eyes fixed unblinkingly on the dining table not far away.

Cake!

Not those dry little cakes, but the kind loaded with cream, the kind whose sweet smell could be caught from far away—real cream cake!

The little cub could not help swallowing.

It had been so, so long since he had eaten cream cake!

“Want some?” Feng Wu noticed the almost tangible intensity of the little cub’s gaze.

Lin An’an nodded madly. “Yingji!”

Yes, I want some!

He felt he could inhale three whole ones in one go!

Jia Yan’s speech finally ended, and the banquet guests began moving around freely.

Feng Wu picked up a plate, took several exquisitely made little cakes for the little cub, and found a quieter corner with fewer people to sit down in.

Xiong Yingjun, meanwhile, had his eyes on the food station at the other end of the banquet hall. It was the hot-food section, with all sorts of meat dishes laid out there. Just looking at it had him drooling.

“Go eat,” Feng Wu said. “Since we’re already here.”

Since they were already here, there was obviously no reason to pass up the chance to eat and drink for free.

Xiong Yingjun instantly understood what Feng Wu meant. With a grin, he headed off in that direction.

Lin An’an was set down on the small tea table in front of Feng Wu. He was holding a little cake almost as big as half his body and eating so enthusiastically that his face was covered in cream.

Feng Wu took a tissue and helped wipe the cream off his face.

Lin An’an: “Yingji!”

Today too, Brother Wolf is the most thoughtful wolf in the whole world!

As he ate his cake, Lin An’an rolled his bean-like eyes around and secretly listened in on the gossip people were chatting about at the banquet.

Something about the city lord’s elder brother’s wife’s younger sister being cheated on… some important figure in A City supposedly contracting Alpha and being sent to Sin Star… someone in A City losing their sense of taste as an Alpha symptom and eating a mouthful of poop without noticing…

At the last one, the little cub’s movements froze, and suddenly the cake in his hands no longer seemed delicious.

Just then, Lin An’an noticed a thin, tall figure in the distance glance over at them several times before going to the drinks table and picking up two glasses of fruit wine.

The thin man looked around somewhat furtively. With his sharp eyes, Lin An’an saw him drop a small white pill into one of the glasses. It dissolved quickly and vanished without trace.

The little cub’s heart skipped a beat. Was this poison?

After drugging the drink, the man walked straight toward them.

“Marshal Feng, I’ve long admired your name,” the man said, sitting down on the sofa beside Feng Wu and offering him one glass of fruit wine. “Let me toast you.”

Feng Wu glanced at him. “Sorry. I don’t drink.”

“It’s fruit wine. Hardly any alcohol,” the man said. But seeing Feng Wu still refuse to take it, he awkwardly placed both glasses on the tea table.

Lin An’an noticed that the drugged one had been set down directly in front of Feng Wu.

…Well now. So it really was aimed at Brother Wolf!

The thin man seemed to want to make conversation. Lin An’an glanced at him, then lowered his gaze to the cake in his hand.

Feng Wu lowered his eyes slightly. “What’s wrong, An Cub?”

The little cub: “Yingji!”

The little cub suddenly began waving his tentacles, as if he had become overexcited from happily eating.

The next second, the cake on the tentacle went flying with a whoosh and struck the thin man squarely in the face.

A beautiful cream flower bloomed all over his features.

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