Monster Cub Live Stream – CH37

Chapter 37

Inner City of C City, City Lord’s Manor.

Jia Yan sat inside his office, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk as he considered what excuse he could use to invite Feng Wu into the inner city again.

A hurried knock at the door suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

Jia Yan frowned. “Come in.”

“City Lord—” The newcomer was one of his trusted aides. The man looked panic-stricken, and his voice shook so badly from fluster that he could barely get the words out. “B-bad news, my lord, you—you—”

“What are you panicking for? Speak properly.” Jia Yan hated seeing subordinates look this rattled. “The sky hasn’t fallen, so why are you acting like this?”

…But the sky really was about to fall!

The aide desperately wanted to say exactly that, but did not dare speak it aloud. He could only drag the floating terminal screen hanging from his wrist over in front of the City Lord.

At first Jia Yan didn’t make it out clearly. “What is this?”

It was a trending page. The number one topic read: Shock! C City’s City Lord and the truth behind the underground auction! with a glaring red explosive tag after it.

Jia Yan waved it off dismissively. “Just malicious speculation without evidence.”

As long as he went to find the Second Prince afterward, said a few good words and asked for help taking down the trend, then released a few clarification statements, the public would forget all about it soon enough.

After all, the internet had no memory.

The aide was trembling. “B-but… this time it’s different…”

“What’s different about it?” Jia Yan clicked his tongue in irritation. “It’s only a trending topic on CrimeNet, not as if it’s—”

He stopped halfway through, the rest of the sentence catching in his throat.

Only then did he realize that the trending page on the screen was not CrimeNet’s trending list at all, but StarNet’s.

Jia Yan’s heart dropped. His face instantly turned ugly, and with slightly trembling fingers, he tapped into the trend.

[Holy shit, so this time it’s finally nailed down with real evidence!!!]

[This feels so damn satisfying, so damn satisfying [excited screaming jpg]]

[How can someone like this be allowed to serve as city lord? Who picked him in the first place?]

[Absolutely disgusting. I always knew the underground auction house was filthy, but I never thought it was this filthy [I’m gonna puke jpg]]

[Even though I’m not on Sin Star, I still hope C City gets a new city lord. Letting someone like this hold that position is a disgrace to the entire Empire!!!]

[Exactly. There are non-Empire people living on Sin Star too, and there are Federation people and patients from all sorts of other groups inside C City. You can’t embarrass us in front of the entire galaxy.]

[Petition in blood for a new city lord!]

[Replacing the city lord isn’t enough. The other Empire city lords on Sin Star need to be thoroughly investigated too! If there’s one, there’ll be two. Jia Yan can’t possibly be the only exception!]

…

Page after page of condemnation made cold sweat break out down Jia Yan’s back.

Nailed down? What evidence?

How could they possibly have gotten hold of proof against him?

Jia Yan’s face went deathly pale. He suddenly rushed out of the office and into his bedroom, trembling as he opened his still perfectly intact safe—

It was empty.

All his transaction records, account flows, and everything else… all gone.

Jia Yan’s mind went blank. He sat there in a daze for a long while before suddenly thinking of something. He immediately opened his terminal and tried to ask the Second Prince for help.

Back then, it had been the Second Prince who placed him in the city lord’s seat. The prince had told him that as long as he obediently listened, he would never need to worry about anything else.

But after several calls in a row, the other side mercilessly declined every single one.

Jia Yan refused to believe it. He thought perhaps the Second Prince was busy right now, so after waiting a while he tried again—only to discover he had already been blocked.

His legs went weak, and he collapsed onto the floor, his face full of despair.

—It was over. Everything was over.

Very soon, an official announcement was released. Jia Yan was removed as the city lord of C City, and a man named Li Yuan was appointed acting city lord in his place.

In the photo, Li Yuan’s expression was steady and proper. At least in appearance, he looked far more like the lord of a city than Jia Yan ever had.

Lin An’an asked: [This should also be a pawn the Second Prince pushed up, right?]

“It is, but not entirely.” Feng Wu was in an unusually good mood and even let out a soft laugh. “He’s one of ours.”

Lin An’an immediately understood. [So he’s someone Brother Wolf had already planted beside the Second Prince, and now the Second Prince just happened to push him up into the position of city lord?]

Si Youlin smiled pleasantly. “Not exactly just happened. The Second Prince was very conflicted over the candidate for city lord. Li Yuan only found a way to seize the initiative. Right now he’s only the acting city lord.”

But once he had already taken the first step as acting lord, his chances of becoming the official city lord were much better than anyone else’s.

This counted as an extra pleasant surprise for them.

The little cub excitedly rubbed his tentacles together, thinking that with this move, they had gotten one small step closer to bringing down his dear second brother.

For the time being, the city lord incident came to an end, and Lin An’an returned once more to his leisurely daily life of livestreaming and selling vegetables.

The only real difference from before was that the sales of the mysterious Robe Brother brand healing fruits had risen dramatically recently.

At this rate, the daily output of Happy Farm would not be enough much longer.

So Lin An’an began preparing to consider a second farm.

A few days later, while Feng Wu happened to have some free time, Lin An’an tugged him over and said: [Brother Wolf, when you’ve got time, take me to the outskirts once, okay?]

Feng Wu handed him a slice of apple. “Alright.”

He didn’t ask what Lin An’an wanted to do in the outskirts, and that made Lin An’an feel extremely comfortable.

[I want to open the second farm out in the outskirts.] The little cub typed while crunching on his apple. [The area inside the city is limited, after all. Sooner or later, healing fruits will have to be planted out in the outskirts. It’s better to choose a location there early on so it’ll be easier for sustainable expansion later.]

Lin An’an rattled off a whole long explanation, and after reading it carefully, Feng Wu agreed without hesitation. “Alright.”

He glanced at the time. “If I remember correctly, you don’t need to livestream this afternoon?”

[Right.] The little cub nodded. [This afternoon is a rest period.]

Feng Wu nodded. “After lunch, we’ll leave.”

After several months, Lin An’an finally saw the familiar wilderness scenery again.

The weather had gradually begun to cool. The tall trees that could once occasionally be seen had already shed all their leaves, becoming one ugly bare tree after another.

Both StarNet and CrimeNet said the soil on Sin Star was unsuitable for agricultural development, but Lin An’an had never believed that.

At a time when greenery was so rare, the fact that naturally growing trees and even medicinal herbs could still be found in the outskirts of Sin Star was enough to show that the soil on Sin Star was actually fairly good.

Lin An’an guessed that this probably had to do with the patterns of human activity.

Xiong Yingjun was left at home, so only Feng Wu and Lin An’an went this time.

Lin An’an wanted to look around the area near C City to see whether there was any suitable land that could be turned into farmland.

Not long after leaving C City, Lin An’an jumped down to the ground and shifted into human form.

In human form, he was still dressed as the black-robed mysterious figure, and the disguise mask he hadn’t taken off yet was still on his face.

Feng Wu paused slightly. The words circled around in his mouth, but in the end he still didn’t say them.

There were occasionally monitoring cameras in the outskirts. Feng Wu had originally wanted to remind Lin An’an of that, but…

Now that his mental power had fully recovered, there was no need to worry anymore about those little metal lumps.

Walking was too slow, so Feng Wu transformed on the spot into his silver wolf form. [Get on.]

Seeing that, Lin An’an thought to himself that he actually rather wanted to keep breathing in some fresh air in human form for a while longer.

Feng Wu’s sharp eyes caught the expression on the youth’s face. Even with the disguise mask on, that fleeting trace of regret couldn’t be hidden.

[No need for second form.] the silver wolf said through mental speech. [Just get on.]

Just like this, in human form… riding a giant wolf?

Lin An’an’s gaze drifted across Brother Wolf’s broad, powerfully built back. While muttering inwardly that maybe it wasn’t very proper, he was also undeniably tempted.

—Who wouldn’t want to ride a wolf that majestic?

Seeing the youth hesitate, the silver giant wolf opened his mouth, bit lightly at the back collar of the youth’s clothes, and with a motion that was gentle yet very practiced, flipped him back.

Lin An’an: “Wah—!”

His startled cry hadn’t even finished before he landed steadily sprawled across the giant wolf’s back.

Beneath him was thick, soft wolf fur. The feeling of lying on it in human form was completely different from when he had been a cub in second form.

The familiar scent calmed Lin An’an down almost immediately. He even couldn’t resist burying his face into the thick, soft fur and rubbing against it with his eyes closed.

The giant wolf’s body warmth came through the dense fur clearly against his cheek.

Feng Wu said: [Hold on tight.]

The giant wolf broke into a run, and a mental barrier rose with it, blocking most of the wind created by the speed.

Lin An’an lay on the wolf’s back for a while, but soon remembered his mission. He quickly shifted posture, loosely circling Brother Wolf’s neck with both arms while propping his head up to observe the surrounding terrain.

Most of the wind was blocked by the barrier. The little bit that remained was soft and pleasant.

Squinting into it, Lin An’an suddenly said, “Actually, a life like this isn’t bad at all.”

Feng Wu didn’t stop running, but his dark golden wolf eyes glanced back once and caught the sight of the youth’s robe fluttering behind him.

“There’s no need to think about anything else. Open a few farms, grow a little produce, sell a little produce, never worry about food or drink, live together with friends and laugh and make noise every day…”

The youth’s clear voice came from behind him, the longing in it completely undisguised.

Lin An’an really did love this kind of life. No scheming, no mutual deceit… Unfortunately, his identity doomed him to be cut off from the very life he longed for.

Feng Wu sharply sensed that the youth’s arms around his neck had tightened slightly.

He fell silent for a moment. He sensed the youth’s regret, yet didn’t know how to comfort him.

Fortunately, the cry of an eagle overhead broke the atmosphere before it could sink too low.

Sensing a familiar mental signature, Feng Wu gradually slowed to a stop and, together with the youth on his back, looked up into the sky.

The giant eagle circled in the air for a moment, then shot toward them and landed beside the giant wolf, shifting into human form.

It was He Yinghong, who had been searching for herbs in the outskirts.

“So it really was you two. I thought I’d seen wrong!” He Yinghong sounded surprised, and the joy on his face was impossible to hide.

Lin An’an quickly jumped down from the wolf’s back, but the moment he landed he lost his footing and staggered to one side. Feng Wu, already back in human form, steadied him by the shoulder and almost instinctively drew him a little inward.

“Thanks, Brother Wolf.” Lin An’an turned his head to thank him. His black eyes, visible beneath the disguise mask, were bright and clear. “You’re alright, right?”

His shoulder had just bumped into Feng Wu’s chest, so Lin An’an quickly stepped aside again.

Feng Wu saw his own reflection in those eyes. Lowering his gaze slightly, he said, “I’m fine.”

“What brought you two out into the outskirts?” The question had only just left his mouth when, before Lin An’an or Feng Wu could answer, He Yinghong rushed on, “But this works out perfectly—I found replenishing grass!”

“Really?” Lin An’an’s eyes immediately lit up. “Did you pick it already? Let’s go back right now!”

He Yinghong’s delight choked to a stop. “…No.” He sighed. “The replenishing grass is growing at the edge of Poison Mist Forest. I didn’t dare get too close.”

The poison mist in Poison Mist Forest had little effect on plants, including medicinal herbs, but if a person or animal inhaled it, the consequences could be severe.

Poison Mist Forest?

Hearing those familiar words, Feng Wu instinctively looked at Lin An’an beside him.

The youth’s body stiffened. The bright light in his black eyes dimmed noticeably, and the emotion in them turned deep and complicated—but it was hidden away again just as quickly.

“No big problem. Brother Wolf and I will go pick it.” Lin An’an said, “You just need to lead us there. Leave the rest to us.”

As he spoke, he turned toward Feng Wu and flashed him a brilliant grin. “No problem, right, Brother Wolf?”

Feng Wu looked at him for a long moment. “No problem.”

He Yinghong transformed back into the giant eagle and took to the air once more. Feng Wu also returned to wolf form, then lowered himself and bent one knee, making it easier for the youth to climb onto his back.

Lin An’an braced both hands against the wolf’s back and jumped up in one motion.

The giant wolf’s stride was extremely steady. At first, He Yinghong worried Feng Wu wouldn’t be able to keep up, but it quickly became obvious that he’d worried for nothing. So he fully released his speed and led the way.

Poison Mist Forest was some distance from C City. Even at Feng Wu’s speed, it still took well over an hour before they finally caught sight of a strange purple-gray outline.

The forest covered a vast area. The giant eagle led them around for a little while longer before descending to the ground again.

“It’s in that patch up ahead,” He Yinghong said. “I didn’t dare get too close. I only saw it from the air, but it should be replenishing grass.”

An eagle’s eyesight spoke for itself. Lin An’an smiled at He Yinghong. “Thanks for the hard work, Grandpa He. You should eat something and head back first.”

Lin An’an took out some fruits, vegetables, and nutrient solution. He Yinghong didn’t refuse. “I’ll rest for a bit, then go.”

He had flown a very long distance today and was genuinely tired.

The produce Lin An’an gave him was enhanced healing produce. Once He Yinghong finished eating, the exhaustion in his body was swept away at once.

“Then I’ll be off first,” he said. “There’s still the livestream class tonight, so I won’t head back with you.”

Lin An’an waved and watched the giant eagle disappear into the distance.

They were still about a hundred meters from Poison Mist Forest. The replenishing grass was too small to make out clearly, so Lin An’an tugged Feng Wu and walked a little farther ahead.

“This is an anti-poison pill.” Lin An’an handed Feng Wu a thumb-sized little black ball. “Made by kneading herbs together. It can block about ninety percent of the poison mist, but the effect only lasts ten minutes.”

Feng Wu took the pill. “My mech can filter poison.”

“But harvesting herbs is delicate work,” Lin An’an said seriously. “Mechs are too large. They might damage the stems and roots.”

Feng Wu paused slightly. “Sorry. I don’t really understand these things.”

“What’s there to apologize for?” Lin An’an grinned at him. “Brother Wolf just needs to follow me. Remember to take the medicine. Once we’re done harvesting, I’ll help clear out any poison that gets through.”

Feng Wu nodded and, with the water Lin An’an handed him, swallowed the anti-poison pill in one gulp.

Lin An’an’s gaze was caught for a second by the motion of his throat.

The two of them moved closer to the forest, and at last Lin An’an spotted the replenishing grass. The tips of its leaves were red, standing out clearly amid the surrounding green and withered yellow.

These few stalks of replenishing grass had already passed the best harvesting period, and the red at the leaf tips had turned into an old, withered dark red.

Lin An’an didn’t mind at all. To him, finding even one stalk of replenishing grass was equivalent to having an endless supply of it.

Crouching down, the youth carefully dug up the replenishing grass, while Feng Wu passed him specially prepared storage cases for herbs whenever needed.

The two worked in perfect coordination and quickly harvested all of it.

“I left the roots behind,” Lin An’an said. “Even though it’s near Poison Mist Forest, replenishing grass can regrow. Let’s leave it for some future lucky person.”

The moment he said that, he couldn’t help laughing himself.

“Bear Brother’s novels have corrupted me,” Lin An’an laughed twice. “He’s been reading xianxia lately, and even the way I talk is starting to sound old-fashioned and mystical.”

Feng Wu smiled as well.

Lin An’an asked, “How do you feel?”

The anti-poison pill could only block ninety percent of the poison. Lin An’an himself had healing powers and his body was almost completely protected by them, so it barely affected him. But Feng Wu was a different story.

Feng Wu had given himself a mental barrier. It wasn’t all that effective, but it was better than nothing.

“I’m fine,” he said, shaking his head. “Shall we go?”

“Let’s go.” Lin An’an patted the dirt off his clothes and instinctively reached out to catch one of Feng Wu’s fingers.

He had grown so used to being in little cub form that when he used to lie in Feng Wu’s palm, he had always unconsciously hooked a tiny tentacle around one of Feng Wu’s fingers to steady himself.

The moment the youth’s soft palm closed around him, Feng Wu very obviously froze.

Lin An’an froze too, only then realizing what he had done. He quickly let go. “Sorry, sorry. Force of habit.”

Feng Wu lowered his eyes slightly, golden gaze sweeping over the hand the youth had withdrawn.

More slender than his. Softer. Warmer too.

“It’s fine,” Feng Wu said. He had just turned to leave when his step suddenly halted. A sharp light flashed through his golden eyes, and he whipped around to stare into Poison Mist Forest.

Lin An’an jumped at the movement and turned to look as well. “W-what is it?”

“Someone,” Feng Wu said, brows drawn tight. “Still alive.”

Lin An’an’s pupils shrank. “How could anyone run into Poison Mist Forest—”

His words stopped abruptly. The fingers hanging at his side curled inward.

Feng Wu glanced at him, asked nothing, and directly released his mech from terminal space. “Come on. Let’s go have a look.”

Whether it was someone who had wandered in by accident, or been thrown into Poison Mist Forest against their will for some special reason, or something else entirely… in any case, they would know once they looked.

The mech before them was different from any Lin An’an had seen before. His eyes lit up instantly, and the heavy mood brought on by old memories brightened at once.

“So this is Silver Armor?” Lin An’an couldn’t resist reaching out to touch the mech. “It’s so handsome!”

No boy disliked mechs. And if one did, it only meant the mech wasn’t handsome enough.

Feng Wu nodded. “It is.”

This mech had accompanied him for many years, had gone to the battlefield with him, and now had followed him all the way to Sin Star, forced into hiding inside terminal space.

Feng Wu had once believed he might never again get the chance to fight side by side with Silver Armor.

After he died because of Alpha, perhaps Silver Armor would be placed in the Empire’s mech museum for people to look at.

If luck was good, maybe Silver Armor would get a new owner and return once more to the battlefield it knew so well—but if that day came, the person at its side would definitely no longer be him.

Feng Wu also lifted a hand and touched the mech’s shell. The instant Silver Armor sensed the familiar mental power, its mechanical eyes lit up almost immediately.

They were already so familiar that just the tiniest strand of mental contact was enough for Silver Armor to sense that its master needed it.

“It’s really too cool,” Lin An’an said, eyes full of envy.

Although he had two strong abilities, he happened to be utterly hopeless when it came to machinery. No matter how fine a combat mech was, in his hands it could only perform at less than ten percent of its true potential.

Silver Armor’s cockpit opened swiftly, welcoming back its long-absent master.

The corners of Feng Wu’s lips curved slightly. With a light push from his feet, he leapt smoothly into the cockpit.

Sitting down in the familiar pilot’s seat, he took a moment to feel the surge of emotion rising inside him before turning around and extending a hand toward the youth below. “Come.”

Lin An’an took his hand and jumped into the cockpit with the borrowed force.

The hatch closed, and Silver Armor’s voice rang through the cabin. “Master, long time no see.”

Though it was a mechanical voice, Lin An’an somehow heard a faintly cheerful kind of cuteness in it.

“Long time no see,” Feng Wu answered.

He sat Lin An’an down in the co-pilot seat, and just as he was about to start the mech, Lin An’an suddenly said, “Wait!”

Feng Wu paused. The hand hovering above the control panel was pulled away by the youth.

“First, let me clear out the poison in your body.” Lin An’an extended one finger, the pad of it lightly tapping Feng Wu’s palm.

The touch was soft in a way utterly different from the roughness of Feng Wu’s own palm, and it made Feng Wu unconsciously curl his fingers.

A sesame-sized purple-gray dot quickly gathered in the center of his palm. Soft green healing power gently entered it, wrapped around the concentrated poison, and swiftly neutralized it.

“Done.” Lin An’an pulled his hand back and smiled as he looked up. “Now it’s fine. Just in case.”

The poison that had entered his body wasn’t much, but if something unexpected really did happen later, then being in perfect condition was one of the prerequisites for entering Poison Mist Forest.

Silver Armor had remained quiet the whole time. Only once Feng Wu established a mental link with it did it secretly ask inside Feng Wu’s mind:

[Master, may I ask—is he Silver Armor’s other master?]

[…Other master?] Feng Wu didn’t immediately understand what Silver Armor meant and repeated the question inwardly.

[I mean…] Silver Armor paused. [The kind of other master who will always live with you in the future, sleep in the same bed as you, and do even more intimate things with you.]

The mech, which had been advancing steadily, gave a sudden violent jolt. Lin An’an grabbed the handrail and hurriedly asked, “What’s wrong, Brother Wolf? Did we get attacked?”

“…No. It’s nothing.” Feng Wu’s tone was perfectly composed. “Scraped against a branch.”

Lin An’an relaxed and let out a small breath of relief.

[Don’t talk nonsense.] Feng Wu said sternly. [Where did you learn these things from?]

[Big Giant Bear sent me the files,] Silver Armor said cheerfully, selling out its “brother” without the slightest hesitation. [So, so many files! And they’re all very interesting. Silver Armor likes them very much.]

Big Giant Bear was Xiong Yingjun’s mech. Feng Wu’s brow twitched. He didn’t need to think hard to know exactly what those so-called files were.

Nothing but the weird and chaotic novels Xiong Yingjun had become obsessed with over the past few years.

Feng Wu felt deeply helpless. [Don’t keep reading those files anymore.]

Silver Armor sounded confused. [Why, Master? Silver Armor learned many things from them. Human emotions are really very interesting. Silver Armor hasn’t finished researching them yet.]

Feng Wu answered, [Those files… forget it. Read them if you want.]

[Understood, Master! Silver Armor will work hard to learn even more things!] Silver Armor’s mechanical voice was extremely cheerful. [Master, is he really not the other master?]

[He’s not.]

[Then what about later? Won’t he be later either?] Silver Armor asked tirelessly. [It’s the first time Master has ever let someone sit in the co-pilot seat.]

[Not later either.] Feng Wu cut off his overly lively mech consciousness. [Silver Armor, stop. No more questions.]

Silver Armor sounded deeply regretful. […Yes, Master.]

The mech gradually moved deeper into Poison Mist Forest. Before long, a huge white figure suddenly appeared on the screens inside the cockpit, standing out starkly in the dark gray forest.

Lin An’an leaned closer to the light screen.

That was… a white lion?

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