Monster Cub Live Stream – CH38

Chapter 38

The giant white lioness lay collapsed among the tangled poisonous trees, her body half-hidden and half-revealed in the purple-gray poisonous mist around her.

Lin An’an froze for a moment. “It’s a lioness.”

Feng Wu gave a low hum. The difference between a male lion and a lioness was far too obvious. The white lion lying on the ground lacked that thick circle of mane, so she was undoubtedly female.

The lioness had clearly already fallen unconscious. The rise and fall of her abdomen was extremely faint, and even with such a huge mech approaching, she did not react in the slightest.

Receiving its master’s command, Silver Armor’s limbs abruptly lengthened, wrapping tightly around the unconscious lioness before swiftly lifting into the air and leaving the range covered by the poisonous mist.

By now, the sky had already begun to darken. Feng Wu found an open patch of ground near the Poison Mist Forest and stopped there, laying the weakened lioness on the ground.

The cockpit hatch opened, and Lin An’an jumped down and hurried over to the lioness.

White lion. Lioness. Sin Star’s Poison Mist Forest.

The moment those key words came together, Lin An’an immediately thought of Bai Yang and Bai Yue’s older sister—the Federation’s supreme leader, Gu Yubai.

Second forms that took the shape of lions were not uncommon, but white lions were extremely rare, especially lionesses.

He turned to glance at Feng Wu, only to see him checking his terminal. A moment later, Feng Wu said, “There hasn’t been any recent news on Gu Yubai from the Federation side.”

Clearly, Feng Wu had thought of the same thing.

No news did not necessarily mean nothing had happened. As the Federation’s highest leader, Gu Yubai drew a huge amount of attention, and under such circumstances, the absence of any news instead made it all the more likely that she had encountered some kind of accident.

Feng Wu bent slightly and lightly brushed a finger over the lioness’s forehead. In that one brief instant, he confirmed it. “It’s Gu Yubai.”

He remembered Gu Yubai’s mental power. Although the lioness’s mental power was extremely weak at the moment, it was indeed exactly the same as Gu Yubai’s.

Lin An’an’s gaze darkened slightly. He took out a few detoxification pills and shoved them into the lioness’s mouth.

As the medicine gradually began to take effect, Lin An’an covered one hand over the lioness’s front paw. Green light surged into her body, trying to expel all the remaining poison from her system.

A moment later, he withdrew his hand. The thick purple-gray poisonous gas, wrapped in green light, was rapidly broken down and disappeared into the air.

“It won’t work. Too much of the poison has entered her body—there’s no way to clear it all in one go.” Lin An’an shook his head. “Her insides have been badly corroded by the poison mist. She won’t be able to withstand a more intense form of treatment.”

They would have to find a way to get her into the city and then treat her slowly from there, but…

Lin An’an looked at the white lioness. Her size was barely any smaller than Brother Wolf’s. There was simply no way to bring her into the city unnoticed.

Unless she could return to human form and put on a disguise mask.

But in her current unconscious state, there was no way she could switch body forms.

Lin An’an felt a headache coming on and instinctively turned back to ask Feng Wu, “Brother Wolf, do you have any way to get her into the city?”

Into the city, and without being discovered. After all, a white lioness was far too conspicuous. They still had no idea what exactly was going on with the Federation. If she were discovered—

Even though they weren’t particularly close with Gu Yubai, Bai Yang and Bai Yue had genuinely lived with them for quite some time. For the sake of the white cat siblings, they couldn’t let anything happen to Gu Yubai.

Feng Wu was silent for two seconds. “We can smuggle her in.”

Lin An’an stalled for a beat. “…Smuggle?”

The defense system around the outer city of C City was not especially strong. With Feng Wu’s abilities, quietly breaking open a gap and then restoring it afterward was an almost effortless task.

Night had already fallen. Silver Armor activated its night concealment mode, its silver-white shell instantly turning into a deep ink-black that blended perfectly into the darkness.

Even the white lioness slung over Silver Armor’s shoulder was covered by a huge black cloth.

The mech rose into the air, surrounded by an additional layer of mental power shielding.

With all those layers of concealment stacked together, even someone standing directly below it would have a hard time noticing that a mech was flying overhead.

After receiving a message from his boss, Xiong Yingjun had come early to the designated location to meet them.

He had picked up Silver Armor’s positional signal from far away and stared into the sky for quite a while. It was only when the mech slowly descended from above that he finally managed to make out a lump of black unidentified object in the air.

Xiong Yingjun: “……”

He had something to say, but didn’t know whether he should.

Upon seeing someone familiar, Silver Armor lifted one mechanical arm and gave a cheerful wave in greeting.

Only after the mech flew close to the defense barrier did Xiong Yingjun notice that there was another lump of black unidentified object slung over Silver Armor’s shoulder.

Feng Wu jumped out of the cockpit, extended his mental power toward the surrounding defense system, and in the blink of an eye broke open a gap large enough for Silver Armor to pass through.

The main system was blocked by his metal ability and failed to detect the missing section. Silver Armor thus entered C City with the white lioness in tow without the slightest hitch.

After Feng Wu repaired the opening, Xiong Yingjun finally couldn’t help asking, “Boss, what is that?”

How had they gone out for one trip and come back carrying something this huge?

“We’ll talk after we get back,” Feng Wu said, climbing into the cockpit once more, leaving Xiong Yingjun standing outside thoroughly baffled.

By the time they got home, it was already deep into the night. Bai Yang and Bai Yue had long since gone to sleep.

Lin An’an had no intention of alarming the siblings right now. Gu Yubai’s condition wasn’t good at the moment, and the white cat siblings—especially Bai Yue—had only just begun to recover. They couldn’t allow her emotions to be thrown into any violent negative turmoil.

Having finished its task, Silver Armor returned to mech space. Feng Wu reached out and tore off the black cloth covering the lioness in one movement.

Xiong Yingjun stared slightly dumbly. “…Boss, how come every time you go out, you bring another one home?”

Feng Wu shot him an indifferent glance. Lin An’an snorted with laughter. “At this point, should we just switch careers and open an orphanage?”

It really hadn’t been that long, yet they had already brought so many people back into the house one after another.

Si Youlin came over and took a look. “This white lioness looks kind of familiar.”

“It’s Gu Yubai,” Feng Wu said.

Xiong Yingjun scratched his ear. “…Gu who?”

Lin An’an kindly repeated it for him. “Gu Yubai. The Federation’s highest leader, Gu Yubai.”

“Holy shit? Gu Yubai? Then doesn’t that mean little Bai Yang and the others’ whole family of three has now reunited under our roof?!” Xiong Yingjun’s pupils shook. “What kind of ridiculous drama plot is this?”

Feng Wu, Lin An’an, and Si Youlin all fell into brief silence at the same time.

It sounded a little strange when he put it that way, but the facts really did seem to work out like that.

The four of them huddled around the white lioness, muttering to one another for a long time. In the end, Si Youlin was the first to stand up. “I’ll go prepare a room for her upstairs.”

The lioness was simply too large. It took both Feng Wu and Xiong Yingjun lifting together to move Gu Yubai to the third floor, which the white cat siblings didn’t usually visit.

Considering the lioness’s current size, Si Youlin didn’t place a bed in the room. Instead, he spread several layers of soft padded blankets on the floor.

Feng Wu also set up a mental power barrier inside the room, just in case Gu Yubai woke up suddenly, found herself in an unfamiliar place, and caused some kind of chaos.

After finishing all that, Feng Wu returned to his own room—only to find it completely empty. The youth was nowhere to be seen, nor was the familiar little black dumpling.

He looked around, but there was no one on the bed or in the bathroom.

Thinking of the replenishing grass they had harvested that day, Feng Wu frowned slightly, turned on his heel, and headed straight for the door of Lin An’an’s medicine room.

He knocked lightly. “Baby An?”

“I’m here!” the youth called back from inside.

The door to the medicine room opened. The youth stuck his head out from behind it, a tool still in his hand. “Brother Wolf? How did you know I was here?”

The golden eyes and the dark eyes met for a moment before Feng Wu answered, “I guessed.”

The youth’s eyes curved. “You go to sleep first. I’ll come in a little while.”

“Mm.” Feng Wu responded. “It’s already very late. Why not make the medicine tomorrow instead?”

“Okay. I’m only extracting the seeds—just planting the replenishing grass seeds, then I’ll come sleep.” Lin An’an smiled. “It took so much effort to finally find replenishing grass. I’m still too excited to sleep right now.”

The door to the medicine room closed again, but Feng Wu didn’t go back to the bedroom. Instead, he turned and headed for the kitchen.

They had spent the entire afternoon and evening running around in the outskirts, and dinner had amounted to nothing more than a casual bottle of nutrient solution outside.

That sort of thing didn’t matter to him. His years in the military had long since trained him to treat three meals a day as something that could be dealt with however. But Lin An’an was different.

No matter how unloved he had been, Lin An’an was still the Empire’s Third Prince. There was no way he would ever have lived the sort of rough life Feng Wu had known in those early years.

While thinking this over, Feng Wu had already swiftly cooked up a pot of tomato noodle soup, with four crispy fried eggs laid on top.

His cooking wasn’t as good as Si Youlin’s, but he could still manage some simple home-style dishes well enough.

Extracting seeds didn’t take too long. Feng Wu silently estimated the timing and figured that by now Lin An’an should already have finished extracting them and gone up to the rooftop sky garden.

Ever since the day they returned from He Yinghong’s house, Feng Wu had people rush to build a sky garden on the roof so Lin An’an would have a place to grow herbs.

It was obvious Lin An’an liked that garden very much. Before long, all sorts of medicinal herbs and ornamental flowers and greenery had been planted there.

At a glance, it was full of life and made one feel instantly cheerful.

And sure enough, in the darkness of the sky garden, Feng Wu spotted the busy figure of the youth.

With a click, he turned on the nearby light.

Lin An’an jumped in surprise and whirled around. “Whoa! Brother Wolf?”

“It’s me.” Feng Wu’s gaze landed on the top of the youth’s head, where at some point a little tuft of hair had sprung up, swaying back and forth with the youth’s movement in a rather eye-catching way.

“Why aren’t you using the lights?” he asked.

Lin An’an scattered the last bit of seeds into the soil, pulled over two handfuls of dirt from the side to bury them, and let a pale green plant ability slowly seep into the earth. “There was no need. It won’t take long.”

He brushed the dirt off his hands and stood up, then walked over to the garden entrance and smiled at Feng Wu. He was clearly in an excellent mood. “All done. Let’s go, let’s go.”

At some point, a smudge of dirt had gotten onto the youth’s face. Feng Wu instinctively raised a hand and wiped it off for him.

The rough pad of his thumb brushed across the skin. It made Lin An’an feel a little ticklish, but he didn’t dodge. Only after Feng Wu lowered his hand did Lin An’an rub at the spot himself. “What was that?”

“You got dirt on you,” Feng Wu said. But his sharp eyes had already noticed that the bit of skin the youth rubbed afterward had turned visibly red, standing out quite strikingly against the surrounding pale skin.

Lin An’an gave an oh. Then, obediently, he said, “Thanks, Brother Wolf.”

“It’s nothing.” Feng Wu lowered his lashes. “I made noodles. Eat first, then sleep?”

Lin An’an’s eyes lit up. “Wow! I was just getting hungry!”

As expected of his good Brother Wolf! So considerate!

The corners of Feng Wu’s lips lifted slightly. Seeing the youth’s completely unconcealed happiness also lifted his own mood.

Lin An’an immediately quickened his steps. The noodles in the pot were still steaming hot. The broth had already been partly absorbed by the noodles, making them softer and more flavorful.

“There are four fried eggs too!” Afraid of waking the people resting on the first floor, Lin An’an kept his voice very low, but it still couldn’t hide the surprise in it. “Brother Wolf, two each for us!”

There was a lot of noodles in the pot. Even after he filled two large bowls to the brim, there was still some left.

Feng Wu said, “If that’s not enough, have more after.”

The two of them moved lightly into the dining room and sat facing each other, slurping noodles.

The noodles were still hot. Lin An’an’s tongue was especially sensitive and couldn’t handle overly hot food. But he was starving, so all he could do was puff out his cheeks and blow hard on each bundle of noodles before eating them, making little huffing and panting sounds as he ate.

Feng Wu glanced at the youth’s puffed-up cheeks while he was blowing on the noodles. The fingertips that had just wiped dirt from his face suddenly felt a bit itchy, and he couldn’t help flexing them lightly.

“So good, too good!” Lin An’an stuck out his tongue after being scalded a little. The tip and surface of it had gone slightly red from the hot noodles. “Brother Wolf, your cooking is amazing!”

“As long as you like it.” Feng Wu’s lips curved slightly, his sharp eyes catching the youth’s lips—which were redder than usual—and the tip of his tongue.

His slurping motion paused. Feng Wu set down his chopsticks, stood up, and turned back into the kitchen.

Lin An’an was still wondering what he was doing when Feng Wu returned carrying a clean bowl and pair of chopsticks. He lifted some noodles out of Lin An’an’s large bowl, put them into the smaller one, and placed it in front of him.

“Eat from this.” Feng Wu said. “A smaller bowl cools faster.”

Lin An’an looked up at him and grinned brightly. “Thanks, Brother Wolf!”

Just then, the bedroom door at the side suddenly opened, and Xiong Yingjun’s head poked out. “Boss? An’an?”

When he came closer and saw the noodles in front of them, his eyes widened in disbelief. “You two were actually eating supper behind my back?”

Lin An’an was suddenly struck by the guilty feeling of being caught red-handed.

“I was wondering why, while sleeping, I kept smelling tomato noodle soup.” Xiong Yingjun swallowed. “So somebody really was eating! I thought I was dreaming!”

Feng Wu glanced at him. “There’s still some in the kitchen.”

“Got it!” Xiong Yingjun immediately broke into a grin.

Lin An’an rummaged around in his bowl. “I still have one egg—”

“Keep it for yourself.” Feng Wu said. “He doesn’t like eggs.”

“Oh, alright then.” Lin An’an moved the egg into the little bowl to let it cool, looking mildly surprised. “So there really is something Brother Bear doesn’t like.”

The noodles left in the pot didn’t look like much, but once served up they still filled a whole large bowl.

Xiong Yingjun carried his bowl over and sat beside Lin An’an. Then, with his sharp eyes, he spotted the fried egg in Lin An’an’s bowl. “How come you two got fried eggs too?!”

“Brother Wolf and I got two each,” Lin An’an said. “Too bad you don’t like them. There was still one just now.”

The fried egg had cooled quickly, and Lin An’an had already eaten half of the last one.

Xiong Yingjun looked utterly incredulous. “Who said I don’t like fried eggs?!”

Lin An’an paused in the middle of slurping noodles and looked up at Feng Wu.

Feng Wu had just finished his noodles and was wiping his mouth with slow composure. Hearing that, he said, “I remembered wrong.”

Xiong Yingjun looked grief-stricken. “So there really aren’t any eggs left……”

“It’s okay, Brother Bear.” Lin An’an, suspecting nothing, patted Xiong Yingjun’s thick arm in sympathy. “Tomorrow I’ll have Brother Snake fry a few extra eggs.”

“I want two too!” Xiong Yingjun ground out fiercely. “No—three!”

Lin An’an comforted him, “Four would be fine too.”

Xiong Yingjun felt that his wounded little heart had finally been healed. Quite satisfied, he lowered his head and resumed happily slurping noodles.

Gu Yubai had a chaotic and far too long dream.

She dreamed of the elders’ council rising as one against her. She dreamed of her still-young younger brother and sister disappearing. She dreamed of the mech she was piloting being attacked and crashing down…

It was obviously not a good dream.

Gu Yubai struggled awake from it. Sunlight from outside the window slipped through the curtains and fell across her face, a little too bright.

She narrowed her eyes instinctively. Her consciousness was still heavy and muddled.

Little by little, Gu Yubai adjusted to the sliver of light, and her gaze slowly swept across the furnishings in the room.

…Unfamiliar. Every single part of it was unfamiliar.

This wasn’t any place she knew. Realizing that, Gu Yubai immediately became alert. She tried to sit up, only to discover that her body was extraordinarily weak and heavy, and there was even a faint ache coming from inside—

As her awareness gradually returned, the giant white lioness curled inward slightly, and her memories flashed rapidly through her mind.

Her younger siblings had disappeared… she had had a huge falling-out with the elders’ council… her subordinates had discovered that her siblings had been thrown onto Sin Star… she had gone to Sin Star alone, bringing a full set of protective gear…

And then after that came the deafening explosion that had seemed almost enough to shatter her skull.

Her mech had been ambushed and attacked. In the last moment before losing consciousness, she had detached the mech’s consciousness and climbed into the escape pod to eject.

What happened after that, Gu Yubai couldn’t recall clearly. She only vaguely remembered that someone seemed to have found her, injected her with something, and thrown her into the hold of a starship.

Her head felt as though it were splitting apart. The white lioness couldn’t stop herself from letting out a low, painful groan. Her massive paw hooked into the blanket beneath her and, with a harsh rip, tore several gashes into it.

The room’s door opened from the outside, and someone walked in quickly, trying to approach her.

The severe headache blurred Gu Yubai’s vision. She couldn’t make out who had come, but her nose caught an unfamiliar scent.

That made her heart tighten. She let out a low growl instinctively, trying to drive the unfamiliar person away.

But the growl was far too weak and lacked any real intimidation.

The one who had come in was Lin An’an, having sensed that the white lioness had awakened. He wasn’t frightened by her “angry roar” in the least. Instead, he crouched calmly down beside her.

“Don’t move,” Lin An’an said. “There are still toxins in your body. The more you move, the more the poison spreads, and the worse you’ll feel.”

Feng Wu stood the whole time beside Lin An’an, his golden eyes fixed on the weakened lioness, ability gathered at his fingertips. The instant the lioness made any sudden move, he would be able to subdue her immediately.

Although the weak white lioness didn’t look like she had any strength left to resist, Feng Wu wanted no room for any accidents.

Lin An’an’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried the calming force unique to a healer.

Gu Yubai’s hearing wasn’t functioning all that well at the moment either. She only vaguely heard the clear voice of a youth sounding near her ear, followed by a gentle, reassuring power slowly flowing into her body.

—This youth was treating her.

The moment she realized that, Gu Yubai gradually calmed down.

She didn’t know his identity or his real purpose, but the goodwill he was showing right now was genuine.

The pain that had made her feel as though her head were about to explode slowly vanished under the soothing effect of the healing power. Gu Yubai finally let out a breath, and her vision at last returned to normal.

She saw the youth before her. He looked very young, as though he had only just come of age, and his black eyes were startlingly bright.

As someone who dealt with disguise masks often, Gu Yubai saw at a glance that the youth’s plain, ordinary face was not his real appearance, but rather a highly realistic disguise mask.

Gu Yubai shifted her somewhat stiff limbs slightly. [Thank you.]

“It’s nothing.” Lin An’an shook his head.

An arm reached over from the side, holding a bottle of nutrient solution. It was a common brand sold on the market, still unopened.

Gu Yubai took it with her lion paw and turned her head toward the person beside her. [Tha—]

The words stopped before they could fully leave her mouth.

She froze on the spot.

Silver hair. Golden eyes. A somewhat savage scar slashing straight across his left brow—

Wasn’t this the Empire’s First Legion Supreme Commander, Marshal Feng Wu?!

Gu Yubai was abruptly alarmed. Had she been kidnapped by the Empire? But the very next moment, she rejected that guess.

No… that wasn’t right.

The Empire’s Marshal Feng had long since been diagnosed with Alpha and sent away to Sin Star.

That matter had once remained on StarNet’s trending list for a very long time. Of course Gu Yubai had not forgotten it.

So this meant she was now… on Sin Star?

Gu Yubai tested the waters by asking, [Where is this?]

Lin An’an answered, “C City on Sin Star.”

—As expected.

Gu Yubai instinctively wanted to rub her brow, but then remembered that she was still in second form. A lion paw couldn’t perform that motion.

So she circulated her mental power and immediately shifted from white lion form back into human form.

With Feng Wu here, she did not believe for a second that he wouldn’t recognize her true identity. Since that was the case, there was no need to keep hiding things.

Gu Yubai fell into thought.

She was not someone without a brain. Now that the pain clouding her thoughts had receded, Gu Yubai quickly pieced together the situation.

After she escaped from the exploding mech, she had probably been found by the elders’ council’s people. They had injected her with drugs, thrown her onto a starship bound for Sin Star, and then dumped her there.

Feng Wu and this youth had most likely happened to come across her, recognized her identity, and brought her back to the city area on Sin Star.

But Gu Yubai did not believe for a second that the elders’ council would be so “kind” as to merely throw her onto Sin Star and leave the matter there.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down as quickly as possible.

Lin An’an said, “We didn’t let anyone else discover you.”

A burden in Gu Yubai’s chest loosened slightly. She thanked them with complete sincerity. “Thank you for saving me. Can you tell me where you found me?”

Lin An’an and Feng Wu exchanged a look. “Poison Mist Forest.”

Poison Mist Forest…

Gu Yubai repeated the words in her heart. Then yes, she thought, that was exactly the style of the elders’ council.

Her gaze instinctively dropped to her wrist. When she saw that her terminal was still properly encircling it, she relaxed just a little.

Perhaps because they had assumed Gu Yubai was as good as dead, the elders’ council had not bothered to take her terminal away.

She had hidden her mech consciousness within the storage space. As long as the mech consciousness remained, she could find it a new mechanical body.

“A great kindness cannot be repaid with mere thanks.” The severe tension in Gu Yubai’s features softened slightly. “If you ever need anything in the future, come to me.”

She supported herself, trying to rise. “I won’t stay long. I still have urgent matters to attend to. I’m sorry.”

The healer’s instinct in Lin An’an made him immediately press her back down. His tone was downright severe. “No.”

Gu Yubai’s body was still weak, and under that push, she ended up falling right back down onto the floor.

“You can’t leave yet.” Lin An’an’s tone was firm and left no room for refusal.

Gu Yubai was slightly startled.

There was a trace of reproach in the youth’s voice. His dark eyes were fixed steadily on her, as though they were saying—

With your body in this miserable state, you still want to run around outside?!

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