Monster Cub Live Stream – CH43

Chapter 43

Feng Wu’s mental power rampage was like the opening curtain to a performance. Immediately afterward, Si Youlin beside him also showed a pained expression and slid down to the floor while clutching the dining table.

Half a bowl of tomato soup on the table was knocked over onto the ground, but at that moment no one had the energy to care about it.

The instant the mental turbulence appeared, Gu Yubai swiftly raised a mental barrier and pulled Bai Yang, Bai Yue, Shi Xiaoxing, and the three elders sitting beside her into its protection.

But at the very moment the barrier formed, Gu Yubai suddenly clutched at her chest, pain flashing across her face.

The others inside the barrier also began to show symptoms one after another, and without exception, they were all Alpha symptoms they had displayed before.

Even Gu Yubai—who had not had the chance to contract Alpha before being rescued home by Lin An’an—began to suffer severe discomfort.

After a brief moment of shock, Lin An’an quickly snapped back to himself.

He sensed a strange kind of energy filling the air. It was neither mental power nor an ability, but its concentration was extremely high, and it was constantly drilling into human bodies.

—It was this energy that was causing Brother Wolf and the others to develop Alpha symptoms.

That thought flashed rapidly through Lin An’an’s mind.

Not caring in the least that there were still people in the house who didn’t know his identity, the little black dumpling transformed into human form in the blink of an eye.

The youth braced Feng Wu’s arm over his shoulder and, with his slightly slender frame, struggled to support Feng Wu’s tall body.

“Brother Bear, come help me!”

Among everyone present, only Xiong Yingjun, He Yinghong, and Shi Xiaoxing had comparatively unusual Alpha symptoms, so the impact on them was not as severe and they still retained the ability to move.

But Feng Wu’s mental power rampage had come too violently. In such turbulent currents, He Yinghong and Shi Xiaoxing could barely move at all, and might even be injured. There was simply no way for them to leave Gu Yubai’s mental barrier.

Only the powerful Xiong Yingjun could barely withstand the savage mental current.

“How do I help?” Xiong Yingjun’s expression was solemn in a way rarely seen, and for the first time Lin An’an clearly felt on him the presence of a legion deputy commander.

Lin An’an said, “Help me get everyone together.”

The energy in the air—the Alpha energy, for lack of a better name—was too overbearing. If they didn’t do something, the several people with more severe symptoms wouldn’t hold out.

Xiong Yingjun didn’t ask why. He moved with incredible speed and very quickly dragged the immobile Si Youlin and Feng Wu over to Gu Yubai and the others.

“And then?” His voice was taut, clearly not as calm as he looked.

“Leave the rest to me,” Lin An’an said succinctly. “You stand over there too.”

As soon as he said that, he closed his eyes and raised both hands.

A soft green glow appeared in his palms. Lin An’an drew in a deep breath, and the glow grew stronger and stronger until it soon enveloped everyone before him, forming a sealed barrier.

In place of Lin An’an, the barrier itself slowly yet powerfully began treating everyone inside it.

Feng Wu’s mental rampage gradually calmed. Si Youlin gasped for breath and opened his eyes. The others’ symptoms likewise began to recede.

A few minutes later, Lin An’an lowered his hands, but the soft green barrier did not disappear.

This was large-scale group treatment. Ever since Lin An’an’s abilities had recovered to fifty percent, this was the first time he had used group healing.

The Alpha inside the barrier had once again been cured, yet Lin An’an’s expression remained heavy.

The wilderness of Sin Star was so vast. There had to be far more people affected by the Alpha energy than just those here. There would be many, many more injured because of this—and perhaps… perhaps they would even lose their lives.

If that energy spread farther still, maybe even the people in the city would be affected.

Without even needing to think about it, Lin An’an knew this had to be the handiwork of his “dear second brother.”

Such methods were too sinister and too heartless. Lin An’an was furious beyond words, but the angrier he became, the calmer he grew.

For the time being, his opponent’s exact purpose didn’t matter. Lin An’an only knew that he absolutely could not allow Xia Yuanhan’s scheme to succeed.

“Don’t leave the range of this barrier,” Lin An’an instructed. “This barrier can block the Alpha energy outside.”

After saying that, he stood up and turned to leave.

Feng Wu stopped him. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going outside to have a look.” Lin An’an turned back and smiled at him. “Brother Wolf, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Perhaps because his healing ability was naturally the nemesis of Alpha, the Alpha energy in the air had no effect on him whatsoever.

Feng Wu’s brow was drawn so tightly together that even the scar above it looked more savage than usual.

He didn’t want Lin An’an going alone, but he also knew all too clearly that in his current state, the moment he stepped outside that barrier, he would basically become one enormous burden. Not only would he be unable to help, he would even drag Lin An’an down.

Then Xiong Yingjun suddenly said, “I’m going with you.”

Before anyone could react, he ducked out of the barrier. “Even if my symptoms get worse, they won’t affect my fighting strength, and they won’t put my life in danger.”

Xiong Yingjun scratched his head. When he saw the hair caught between his fingers, his expression stiffened. Then he waved it off as if it were nothing and let several short little tufts drift to the ground.

But there was still a visible flash of heartache in his eyes.

If the timing weren’t so wrong, everyone present would probably have applauded and laughed a few times for him.

Emotion flashed across Lin An’an’s eyes. He tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Okay.”

Before the two of them left, Feng Wu suddenly called out to Xiong Yingjun. Xiong Yingjun turned back to look at him and heard him say, “Protect him.”

Xiong Yingjun gave his boss a thumbs-up. “You don’t even need to say it!”

Official Sin Star livestream room.

This was a livestream room jointly established by the Empire and the Federation. It opened once a month, with each session lasting an entire day. The livestream room had an enormous capacity, large enough to allow almost all the citizens of the galaxy to enter and watch at the same time.

Multiple cameras were dispersed throughout the wilderness of Sin Star, but none entered the cities.

This time, one of the selected camera drop points happened to be near C City on Sin Star.

The instant the livestream opened, countless people flooded in. Based on their own interests and needs, they entered different streams corresponding to different locations.

Although CrimeNet had long since opened its own livestreaming section, those rooms were all shot from personal perspectives. The content was all over the place and wildly varied, and more than ninety-nine percent of it was for entertainment purposes, with most broadcasts taking place inside the cities.

The official livestreams were more serious. During those broadcasts, viewers could be shown more, and more concrete, situations relating to the wilderness of Sin Star.

Inside the livestream room for the C City drop point:

[Finally, it’s C City’s turn again.]

[Empire citizen barging in uninvited. C City just changed city lords not long ago, so I’m curious what changes there’ll be in the city. Too bad we can’t see inside the urban area. [dog disappointed sigh jpg]]

[Baby An and Brother Roe’s wilderness farm is near C City, right? I wonder if we’ll be able to see it this time.]

[Probably. I remember the farm wasn’t all that far from C City. [excited hand-rubbing jpg]]

[Look at that octopus monster! Isn’t that the same one that set fire to the underground auction house in C City’s inner city before? The squid monster beside him was with him too!]

[It’s them! I remember them. Weren’t they some kind of star pirates? [scratching head jpg]]

[Star pirates like that are cool as hell! They have the air of ancient wandering heroes. [cat star eyes jpg]]

[Did the squid monster just notice the camera? I think he waved at it.]

[No way? If they saw the camera, why didn’t they run? I remember the underground auction in C City had a wanted notice out on them, right?]

[How long have you been offline, upstairs? The underground auction in C City went under ages ago, so of course the wanted notice got withdrawn too. [hahaha jpg]]

[Hey, look, what’s that? It looks like a crack? [pulls out magnifying glass jpg]]

[Looks like a crack. How can there be a crack that huge? [pupil earthquake jpg]]

[The octopus monster and squid monster have gone over to the crack. Can the camera move closer? I want to see what they’re doing. [puppy eyes jpg]]

[Is it just me, or does that crack look like it’s getting bigger…?]

[The camera’s shaking so badly. Is the equipment malfunctioning? [my head is dizzy jpg]]

[It’s not the camera shaking! It’s the ground shaking!!!]

[Holy shit, is it an earthquake?]

[Octopus monster and squid monster, be careful—aaaah the crack just got huuuuge!!!]

[What’s wrong with the octopus monster? Why does it feel like they’re not doing too well?]

[Holy shit, why did the octopus monster collapse unconscious? [pupil earthquake jpg]]

The anomaly in the C City livestream room attracted the attention of the broadcast officials almost immediately.

The staff member assigned to monitor the C City stream quickly reported the abnormality. “Captain, emergency—there’s been what seems to be an earthquake near C City.”

“An earthquake?” The captain came over for a look. “An earthquake in this area? Why didn’t the sensors detect it in advance?”

No one could answer him. The captain said, “Move the camera. Check whether there are injured people.”

Fortunately, the earthquake was not a strong one. It lasted only a short while before stopping. As far as the camera could see, aside from the already-existing crack becoming much larger than before, the rest of the area didn’t seem to be too badly affected.

The captain was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he noticed that the octopus and squid near the crack didn’t seem to be in the right condition.

He had been with this livestream team since its earliest days. For many wilderness creatures who frequently appeared on screen, he had a certain amount of familiarity. He had even gone out of his way to look into some of their background information.

The moment the octopus and squid appeared, he recognized them as two star pirates who frequently roamed the wilderness—Zhang Yifeng and Wu Hula.

Likewise, he knew very clearly what their Alpha symptoms were, and what they looked like when those symptoms flared up.

…At this moment, the state they were in on screen looked exactly like the condition they had shown during previous Alpha flare-ups, only much, much more severe.

The captain’s heart skipped. He told the staff member who had been monitoring the C City stream to get up, took his place himself, and switched the camera movement from automatic mode into manual mode.

He personally controlled the camera and swept it rapidly across the surrounding area. The more he looked, the more alarmed he became.

The camera caught many familiar second forms, and at this very moment they were all lying on the ground—some writhing in pain, others howling and struggling in agony…

The captain was no inexperienced rookie. The moment he saw their state, he instantly guessed the connection between the “earthquake” just now and Alpha.

The inference was absurd, yes—but after the earthquake, centered around that crack and covering a very wide radius, the patients in the area all seemed to have experienced Alpha flare-ups at the same time.

Many of those who lived in the wilderness were Sin Star patients with especially severe symptoms.

Even without any trigger, their flare-ups were already horrifying to witness. Let alone now, when an unknown “trigger” had suddenly appeared. Within the range that “trigger” covered, pained howls, groans, and cries stretched on without break, like a human hell on earth.

The captain’s first reaction was that he had to find some way to stop this from spreading.

His second reaction was that the public absolutely could not be allowed to know the true situation here.

—If something like this were exposed to the public, it would definitely provoke panic across the entire galaxy, perhaps on a scale no less than when people first learned that “Alpha” even existed.

But just as the captain finished sorting out those thoughts, one of the team members called out, “Captain, StarNet’s trending page has exploded!”

…Exploded? What exploded?

The team member pulled up the trending topic for him to see: Did the earthquake in Sin Star C City’s livestream trigger a second massive Alpha outbreak?!

The captain’s eyes widened in shock. He watched as the staff member tapped into the topic and scrolled through its contents for him.

[It really did explode again. In the blink of an eye, everyone flared up, and it’s all extremely serious.]

[You can see it in the livestream drop point near C City! It’s terrifying. [teary eyes jpg]]

[Can it be confirmed that that’s Alpha? Couldn’t it maybe be something else, like abilities or a mental shockwave or something?]

[It’s Alpha, definitely. I’ve never missed a single official stream. I remember the second forms of a lot of the people in the wilderness, and most of their Alpha symptoms are public. If you don’t believe it, go compare for yourself—their condition right now is exactly what severe Alpha flare-ups look like.]

[Why would an earthquake make Alpha worse? I don’t get it. [totally baffled jpg]]

[Maybe the ground crack caused some kind of substance underground to leak out?]

[Could that substance be related to the origin of Alpha? The bigshots at the research institutes could investigate in that direction. Maybe it would lead to new progress in treatment.]

[Forget that for the moment—what about all those people who are flaring up? It’s this severe, and there’s no treatment method right now. Doesn’t that mean not a single one of them will survive???!]

[Wasn’t there supposed to be some kind of healing vegetables that could ease symptoms? Can someone contact him?]

[Can’t get in touch! Baby An hasn’t started streaming yet, and it isn’t time for Brother Roe to set up his stall either. [anxious jpg]]

After reading the contents of the trending topic clearly, the captain’s mind went blank.

The official livestream had only just caught the earthquake on camera—how could the matter already have such huge heat so fast?!

His eyelid twitched. Keenly, the captain sensed that this matter was anything but simple. He suspected someone was deliberately fanning the flames behind the scenes.

But… who would stir something like this up? And what exactly was their purpose?!

The storm on StarNet was something Lin An’an knew absolutely nothing about at the moment.

Whether in human form or in second form, Lin An’an’s speed was very, very slow. So he simply stayed in cub form and rode on the giant bear’s back.

Xiong Yingjun was fast. The wind kicked up by his running blew across him, sending clumps upon clumps of bear fur shedding off him and scattering over the barren wilderness.

The little cub lay across his back, sensing the Alpha energy in the air and directing him where to go.

As Xiong Yingjun kept running, he suddenly felt that this direction was strangely familiar. [Baby An, this is the same direction as yesterday’s ground?.]

Lin An’an frowned slightly and inwardly thought just as I suspected.

He had already felt yesterday that the ground split wasn’t normal. What he had not expected was that the split was actually connected to his “good second brother.”

The rupture was about five kilometers from the farm. At Xiong Yingjun’s full running speed, it would take about ten minutes to get there.

Suddenly, Lin An’an’s eyes caught a dark shape not far away.

[Brother Bear!] The little cub tugged lightly at Xiong Yingjun’s bear fur, pointing one tentacle ahead. [Go take a look over there!]

Xiong Yingjun changed direction at once and charged toward the shadow. He could smell an extremely strong scent of blood.

The dark shape turned out to be a huge black panther. The beast was skin and bones, covered all over in wounds both large and small, and blood had already pooled on the ground beneath it.

Lin An’an’s heart sank.

Those wounds were far too severe. If the bleeding was not stopped in time, the black panther would probably die of blood loss very soon.

The creature had been reduced to this state because of Xia Yuanhan’s plot. Lin An’an simply couldn’t leave it there and ignore it.

At the same time, inside the Sin Star livestream room:

[I’m panicking, I’m panicking. Is that stuff underground only on Sin Star? Or does every planet have it? Because if the capital star has an earthquake and the ground splits, doesn’t that mean we’re all finished together?!]

[Don’t spread panic. Wait for the official statement. [hugging my weak, pitiful, helpless self jpg]]

[What was that thing that zoomed past just now?]

[Looked like a bear? Why did it have a long tail dragging behind it? [stunned jpg]]

[What tail? That looked like… uh, bear fur that fell off him?]

[That fur loss is way too serious. [pupil earthquake jpg]]

[The direction he’s running… is straight toward the crack?]

[You big idiot, wrong way!!! Turn around and run for your life, aaaah!!!]

[Strange. Why isn’t he affected? [confused jpg]]

[Doesn’t the fur loss count? I remember someone’s Alpha symptom was baldness—no, not baldness, fur shedding or something.]

[How can someone have such terrible sense of direction? By the time he reaches the rupture, isn’t he going to shed until he turns into a bald hairless bear???]

[He stopped! Zoom in, everyone! It looks like something just jumped off the bear!]

[A blackish little lump. What is that?]

[Holy shit, isn’t that Bear Bro? Then that little black lump is Baby An!!!]

[Help help help, Bear Bro, take Baby An and run! That place is too dangerous. [wuwuwu jpg]]

[What are they stopping there for?]

[There’s a black panther there. It’s hurt so badly, it’s covered in blood. [can’t bear to look jpg]]

[What’s that monster cub doing? This is not the time to play games! And why isn’t the black bear doing anything to stop him? Wuwuwu. [worried sick jpg]]

Under the gaze of everyone in the livestream, the little black dumpling, carrying several stalks of herbs on his back, climbed up onto the black panther’s massive body.

The tiny, palm-sized monster cub worked hard to smear crushed herbs over the panther’s wounds. Then, carefully shifting his body to avoid the smaller cuts, he moved to the next large wound and repeated the same motion.

His movements were fast and practiced. In no time at all, he had treated all the larger wounds on the black panther.

After doing this, Lin An’an waved his little tentacles and spread a thin protective barrier of ability around the black panther’s body before jumping back onto the giant bear’s back.

Xiong Yingjun set off again, though he was puzzled. [Baby An, why didn’t you just heal him directly?]

[Save my ability.] Lin An’an answered briefly. [We still don’t know what the situation at the crack is like, but that’s the source. If we want to stop the Alpha energy from spreading, healing alone won’t be enough. We have to cut off the source.]

His abilities had only recovered to fifty percent. Just healing Brother Wolf and the others had already used up quite a lot. What remained had to be saved for stopping the source.

Those herbs had been grown by Lin An’an some time ago in preparation for making wound medicine. Since he had infused healing ability into them during growth, using them on the black panther could at least temporarily prevent the wounds from worsening.

As long as the bleeding was stopped first, the black panther wouldn’t die anytime soon.

The viewers in the livestream were completely dumbfounded.

[That little monster cub… was he treating the black panther?]

[I remember that black panther. The livestream caught him before. His Alpha symptom is that his wounds can’t heal. Herbs like that should be useless on him. [sigh jpg]]

[Baby An, don’t waste your strength! Hurry and make Brother Bear turn back, or before long Brother Bear is going to shed all his fur. [worried jpg]]

[Come to think of it, what is Baby An’s Alpha? He’s never mentioned it, has he?]

[What was that green light at the end? A healing ability?]

[Isn’t Baby An supposed to be plant-type? How could he also have a healing ability? [shocked jpg]]

[I’m moved to tears. Even knowing he can’t fully heal him, cubby still couldn’t bear to just leave the black panther lying there. [crying wildly jpg]]

[Damn this Alpha syndrome. When will this crappy disease finally disappear? Wuwuwuwu.]

[Wait, everyone, look! Is that black panther waking up?]

[Holy shit holy shit! His eyes moved! They really moved!!!]

[Am I seeing things? I feel like the wounds where the herbs were applied… have stopped bleeding?]

[You’re not seeing things! Not only has the bleeding stopped, they’re slowly healing!!!]

The captain of the official livestream team had been watching this room the entire time, and just like the audience, he noticed the black panther’s “abnormal condition.”

The captain’s heart pounded sharply. Was this only a special case—or…

He didn’t hesitate anymore. Remotely switching to manual control, he directed the camera to follow the rapidly departing giant bear and little cub.

The giant bear ran at extraordinary speed, stopping only when it encountered someone on the brink of death. Then the little cub would quickly jump down, provide simple treatment to those in second form, and then the bear and cub would set off again.

Very soon, they arrived at the rupture.

Near the crack there were only the enormous octopus monster and squid monster. The giant octopus had already fallen unconscious. The squid was in slightly better shape and was desperately trying to drag the octopus away from the crack, but was moving excruciatingly slowly, clearly also affected by the rupture.

Seeing the giant bear racing toward them, the giant squid raised one tentacle and waved frantically. [Run! This crack is strange!]

Xiong Yingjun heard him, but ignored it. Instead, he charged even harder toward the rupture and only barely stopped himself at the edge of it.

[…They actually came toward the crack?]

[Holy shit, dangerous! They almost fell straight in. [kind of terrifying jpg]]

[What is Baby An doing? I suddenly can’t understand anything anymore??]

[The livestream cameras from other districts came over to help! I just went to look, and those people Baby An treated earlier… all improved to varying degrees!!!]

[What does that mean? Does it mean this little monster cub can actually treat Alpha?!]

[Really? I want it to be true so badly. [ugly crying jpg]]

Lin An’an jumped down from the giant bear’s back and went to the edge of the fissure. Sure enough, the Alpha energy was leaking out from there.

The Alpha energy beside the crack was far too dense. Bear fur cascaded off Xiong Yingjun in sheets, and one tuft brushed against the tip of his nose.

He couldn’t help it—he let out an enormous sneeze, and the fur came off him even faster.

Xiong Yingjun asked, [Baby An, what now?]

The little black dumpling waved a little tentacle at him lightly but didn’t answer.

He carefully bounced all the way to the very edge of the fissure, took a deep breath, and lifted both little tentacles above it.

A soft green glow spilled from the tips of his tentacles. It grew brighter and brighter, swiftly spreading out to both sides.

The official livestream camera hovered above the rupture, capturing the scene with perfect clarity.

Centered on the spot where the little cub stood, that gentle green light completely, flawlessly, and without a single gap covered the pitch-black, enormous, bottomless crack in its entirety.

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