Monster Cub Live Stream – CH48

Chapter 48

Feng Wu decided to temporarily “ignore” Yin Jia, whose thoughts had gotten a little too wildly off track.

He had no idea whether the mech had been cooped up in storage for too long, or whether it had been too deeply corrupted by Xiong Yingjun’s “Giant Mega Bear,” but somehow Yin Jia’s mech consciousness had learned all sorts of bizarre nonsense.

Feng Wu honestly did not know what words to use to describe his current mood.

Fortunately, Lin An’an spoke up very soon, cutting through his tangled thoughts.

“Wolf Bro, look!” Lin An’an tightened his grip on Feng Wu’s hand and pointed ahead with the other. “Is that what Uncle Zhuang called Kailuo Stone?”

Following the direction Lin An’an pointed, Feng Wu saw a dazzling stretch of blue-violet.

That gorgeous light was actually being emitted by a pile of metallic ore.

Yin Jia flew a little closer and carefully landed atop the glowing mineral. The hatch opened, and Lin An’an and Feng Wu jumped out of the mech.

These metal ores had clearly been deliberately piled up. There were quite a lot of them, but most were only scattered small stones, and even the biggest one was not larger than Lin An’an himself.

Lin An’an crouched down and sensed them for a moment. “The Alpha energy is coming from these stones.”

This should indeed be the Kailuo Stone Uncle Zhuang had mentioned.

“No wonder people from the X-system call Alpha Syndrome a radiation sickness.” Lin An’an looked thoughtful. “Alpha energy is actually the radiation released by the energy inside Kailuo Stone. That kind of radiation is harmful to the human body. And the Gata metal used to modify the human body…”

Lin An’an thought for a moment. “If I’m not mistaken, Gata metal should also have radiation, and its radiation just happens to suppress the radiation of Kailuo Stone—or rather, offset the damage caused by Kailuo Stone’s radiation.”

Feng Wu flipped his hand over, and the Gata metal Zhuang Yi had given them appeared in his palm.

“There really is a very strong energy inside Gata metal,” Feng Wu said. “And it’s harmful to the body.”

“Harmful?!”

Lin An’an was instantly alarmed. He immediately grabbed Feng Wu’s hand, and his ability rushed into Feng Wu’s body to check his condition.

Feng Wu instinctively tried to pull back, but when he saw Lin An’an only tightened his grip, he stopped moving.

“I’m fine,” he said. “That energy only exists inside the metal. As long as it isn’t embedded into a human body, it won’t affect anyone.”

Lin An’an still kept his lips pressed tight. Only after he finished checking and confirmed Feng Wu’s body was indeed fine did he finally let out a breath of relief.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Lin An’an looked up at him, anger sinking into his black eyes—but even more than anger, there was worry. “What if that energy had affected you? What if the damage wouldn’t show on the surface, but would lie hidden inside your body?”

Lin An’an took several deep breaths, his grip on Feng Wu’s hand tightening even more. Feng Wu could even feel the slight tremble in his palm, and the faint chill there.

“Wolf Bro, can you please care a little more about your own body?” Lin An’an’s voice weakened a little. “I would… we would worry…”

Feng Wu lowered his eyes to look at him, and his dark gold pupils trembled slightly.

“I’m sorry.” He lifted a hand and gently rubbed Lin An’an’s head. “That was my fault. It won’t happen again. I promise.”

Lin An’an turned his face aside, his eye rims reddening from the strength of his emotions.

Feng Wu’s throat bobbed, and the hand on the boy’s head slid downward slightly, lightly covering his reddened eyes.

His rough palm covered those delicate eyelids, and Lin An’an unconsciously held his breath and blinked twice.

The coarse texture against the skin over his eyes stirred up a soft, tingling sensation.

…That was totally unfair.

Lin An’an’s heartbeat instantly went out of rhythm. The anger that had filled him just moments ago felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over it—it all went out at once.

He swallowed and wanted to take a step back, to dodge that hand that was making him flustered, but Feng Wu withdrew first.

Like he’d touched a live wire, Lin An’an quickly pulled back the hand that had been holding Feng Wu’s.

“O-okay.” He looked left, then right, anywhere but at Feng Wu. “As long as you know you were wrong.”

Feng Wu gave a low hum and slowly curled his left hand, hanging by his side, into a fist.

The feeling of those long lashes brushing lightly across his palm still seemed to linger there, numb and itchy, as if a tiny electric current had run through it.

Yin Jia was parked on top of the Kailuo Stones. Lin An’an stepped to the side and slowly climbed down the stone pile.

He wanted to see if there was anything else below.

Feng Wu, meanwhile, lifted his head to observe for a moment. Seeming to notice something, he suddenly stood on Yin Jia’s mechanical palm and had Yin Jia carry him upward.

Hearing the movement, Lin An’an looked up. “Wolf Bro, did you find something?”

Feng Wu ran his hand over the rock wall, and his ability flashed from his palm. A moment later, he dropped back down onto the Kailuo Stone pile, while Lin An’an climbed back up from below.

“There’s nothing underneath. It’s all Kailuo Stone,” Lin An’an said, stretching his neck to look at what Feng Wu was holding. “What’s that?”

“It’s Gata metal.” Feng Wu pointed upward, then at the surrounding rock walls enclosing the Kailuo Stone. “These—this whole area—is all Gata metal.”

Lin An’an frowned slightly. “The Kailuo Stone must have been buried here for a long time, but Alpha energy only started leaking out a few days ago… So this Gata metal was used to block the Alpha energy?”

“Most likely.” Feng Wu said, “The fracture here is very new. It should have split only in the past few days.”

“Originally, the Gata metal enclosed the Kailuo Stone and sealed off the Alpha energy. A few days ago, Xia Yuanhan—or rather, the people from the X-system—caused the Gata metal to crack, and that’s what led to the Alpha energy leak.”

Lin An’an analyzed, “So what we can confirm now is that Kailuo Stone really does have a suppressive effect on Gata metal.”

Feng Wu nodded, agreeing with Lin An’an’s conclusion.

“No, that’s not right.” Lin An’an suddenly said. “Gata metal should also have a suppressive effect on Kailuo Stone.”

“Didn’t Uncle Zhuang say it before? Gata metal is used for human modification, and the more severe a person’s radiation sickness is, the stronger they become after modification.”

Lin An’an picked up the Gata metal in Feng Wu’s hand. “Let’s assume Gata metal can enhance the human body, but the energy inside it is harmful to humans. Meanwhile, Alpha energy—that is, the energy from Kailuo Stone—can suppress the harmful energy inside Gata metal, without weakening Gata’s body-enhancing effects.”

It was an extremely reasonable theory.

Feng Wu lifted his gaze toward that layer of Gata metal, a thoughtful look flashing across his eyes.

“If embedding Gata metal into the body is harmful, but ordinary contact with it isn’t,” Feng Wu murmured, “then if we use Gata metal to modify mechs, protective suits, buildings, transportation devices… would that mean they can resist Alpha energy?”

Lin An’an’s eyes lit up. “In theory, yes. We can test it!”

There was no way the X-system people didn’t know this. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have used Gata metal to shield the Kailuo Stone radiation in the first place.

And yet, despite clearly knowing that such a perfect material existed—one capable of blocking Kailuo Stone radiation—the people of the X-system still all suffered from Alpha Syndrome.

Thinking of what Zhuang Yi had said—that the people of the X-system worshipped bodily modification and believed only modified people were truly strong—Lin An’an suddenly felt much heavier inside.

He didn’t believe everyone in the X-system willingly chose to become modified. Uncle Zhuang, for instance, had been forced.

But even if they had been unwilling, they had had no way to resist it.

Suppressing the flood of emotions inside him, Lin An’an bent down and picked up a glowing piece of Kailuo Stone. His soft green power lit in his palm, wrapping around the stone.

A moment later, Lin An’an withdrew his ability.

Feng Wu’s eyes widened slightly. The blue-violet glow radiating from the Kailuo Stone had disappeared as well.

“Wolf Bro—” Lin An’an’s voice was filled with disbelief. “The energy inside Kailuo Stone can be purified!”

Feng Wu’s pupils contracted sharply. Seeing the boy crouch again as if intending to purify the whole pile of Kailuo Stones, he quickly reached out to stop him.

“Wait.” he said. “Your ability barrier is still sealing the crack above. Don’t purify them yet.”

Lin An’an paused, then immediately understood what he meant.

If someone from the X-system came here and found a pile of Kailuo Stones that had lost their radiation, it would definitely put them on alert.

Until they caught hold of the enemy’s tail, it was better not to act rashly.

Feng Wu and Lin An’an climbed back into the mech and quickly removed all the Gata metal around the site.

Feng Wu said, “Let’s go back up, Yin Jia.”

Yin Jia replied, “Yes, Master.”

A moment later, Yin Jia added, “Master, you still haven’t confessed.”

Feng Wu: “…I wasn’t planning to confess.”

Yin Jia: “Masteeer—”

Feng Wu: “Be quiet, Yin Jia.”

Yin Jia’s voice was full of regret. “Understood, Master.”

The silver mech carried them back to the surface, where Zhang Yifeng and Wu Hula, who had been guarding the crack the whole time, both visibly relaxed.

Xiong Yingjun, who had arrived at some point, slapped his chest and said, “Good thing you two came back up. If there’d been no movement any longer, I was about to go down and look for you.”

Lin An’an popped his head out of the mech cockpit in his little black blob form. [Weren’t you afraid your fur wouldn’t grow back?]

Xiong Yingjun’s face stiffened, but he still blustered, “Afraid my ass—I’m not afraid at all!”

Xiao Zaizai and Feng Wu exchanged looks, both thinking the same thing:
A tough mouth, if nothing else.

Back home, Feng Wu and Lin An’an quickly told Si Youlin, Zhang Yifeng, and the others everything about the Gata metal and Kailuo Stone.

Looking at the chunk of Gata metal Feng Wu had set on the table, Gu Yubai suddenly said, “I’ve seen this kind of metal before.”

Everyone instantly turned toward her.

“The chairman of the Federation Elder Council always used to have gemstones embedded in his walking stick,” Gu Yubai said, recalling carefully. “But later, the gemstones were replaced with a piece of metal. That metal had a very distinctive sheen.”

She pointed at the Gata metal. “Exactly like this.”

Wu Hula looked puzzled. “The way you say it, it sounds like you’re really familiar with the Federation Elder Council.”

He and Zhang Yifeng were the only two present who still didn’t know Gu Yubai’s real identity.

Gu Yubai raised her brows, then simply stopped hiding it. She ripped off her disguise mask and smiled. “Of course I’m familiar. I couldn’t be more familiar with them.”

Zhang Yifeng and Wu Hula’s pupils shook violently. “Holy shit!”

Gu Yubai looked baffled. “What? When you found out Xia Lin’s identity, you weren’t nearly this shocked. Why do I get the ‘saw a ghost’ reaction?”

“It’s not exactly because it’s you…” Wu Hula looked at her, then at Lin An’an and Feng Wu, his tone filled with astonishment. “Isn’t this basically a three-way summit?”

“A three-way summit…” Gu Yubai froze for a second, then burst out laughing. “You know what? It really is.”

Zhang Yifeng suddenly said, “Now that you mention it, I think I’ve also seen Gata metal before.”

“You too, Big Bro?” Wu Hula’s attention snapped back instantly. “Where did you see it? Why don’t I remember any of that?”

Zhang Yifeng said, “At an auction house. I saw someone auctioning this kind of metal.”

Hearing that, Lin An’an frowned. “So the people from the X-system really have already infiltrated every part of the Milky Way system.”

Without anyone noticing, they had already moved this quickly.

Feng Wu looked at him and said—whether to soothe him or everyone else present, it was hard to tell—“Realizing their existence now is not too late. Things haven’t reached the point of no return yet.”

Lin An’an nodded. “You’re right.”

They had already interrupted the X-system’s plans once. If there was a first time, there could be a second, a third, and many more.

Now that they had been exposed, there was no longer any chance of quietly carrying out plots in the shadows the way they had before.

Zhang Yifeng said, “I’ll have my people keep watching the auction houses. If any unfamiliar metal shows up, I’ll tell you.”

Gu Yubai added, “I’ll also have people pay attention to whether anything like this appears in the Federation.”

Feng Wu nodded.

Lin An’an looked from one person to another. Watching everyone sit together in such peaceful cooperation, he suddenly felt a little emotional.

Aside from the period long ago when the Zerg had been at their worst—when the Federation, the Star Pirates, and the Empire had briefly stood together—this kind of peaceful three-way scene had been extremely rare in interstellar history.

Even if, at present, all three sides were rather… “down on their luck.”

That discussion ended there. Lin An’an returned to his room, planning to take a bath.

Seeing this, Feng Wu said, “I’ll go help in the kitchen. Call me if you need anything.”

“Okay.” Lin An’an gave him a hand sign and walked into the bathroom holding a set of clean clothes.

The hot water seemed to wash all the fatigue out of his body. Soaking in the tub, Lin An’an felt warm and comfortable all over.

It seemed that only at times like this could he truly feel that he didn’t have to think about anything or worry about anything.

Lin An’an let out a long sigh, ducked his head underwater, and blew out a string of bubbles. The burbling sound alone improved his mood a great deal.

Unfortunately, that good mood didn’t last long.

After finishing his bath, Lin An’an discovered that he had brought his shirt and outer layer, as well as his underwear and towel—but had somehow forgotten his outer pants.

“Wolf Bro!” Lin An’an shouted twice at the top of his lungs. But perhaps because Feng Wu was in the kitchen, he didn’t hear him, and no reply came for a long while.

Lin An’an sent a message to Feng Wu’s terminal, but still got no response.

Left with no choice, he pushed open the bathroom door and peeked cautiously outside.

Good. No one was in the room.

Lin An’an darted out and crouched in front of the wardrobe, pulling open the lower drawer.

The upper half of the wardrobe held his and Feng Wu’s shirts and coats, while the pants and socks were folded below.

Logically speaking, they were both men. It was only his outer pants he hadn’t put on yet. There was really nothing to be shy about.

But the moment he thought about the other person being Wolf Bro, every part of him started feeling awkward.

The drawer slid open with a rustle, and Lin An’an quickly found the pair of pants he needed.

It was getting colder and colder on Sin Planet. One thick pair of pants wasn’t enough anymore. He also needed to fasten on a thermal button to keep out the cold.

To save time, Lin An’an simply pulled the pants on while standing by the wardrobe, hopping as he yanked the waistband upward.

And that was the exact moment Feng Wu pushed the door open.

What he saw was this:

The boy’s black hair was still wet enough to drip. The back of his white shirt had been soaked through, faintly outlining the slim lines of his waist.

His pants were only halfway up, and he was bent over, tugging at one twisted pant leg.

The shirt was slightly too long on him, but even so, it did not hide that flash of pale skin.

Hearing the door open, Lin An’an whipped around, and his eyes collided directly with Feng Wu’s golden gaze.

Feng Wu parted his lips. “…Sorry.”

The next second, the door slammed shut with a bang.

Lin An’an: “……”

Lin An’an woodenly pulled up his pants, sat on the edge of the bed, and buried his face in his hands. His face was so hot that his palms felt like they were about to catch fire.

If Feng Wu had just walked in and acted as though nothing had happened, Lin An’an probably wouldn’t have reacted this strongly.

But… but Wolf Bro had shut the door!

And before doing so, Lin An’an had clearly seen Feng Wu’s ears turn red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

What should have been no big deal at all had become something huge in Lin An’an’s mind purely because of the flush on Feng Wu’s ears.

A long while later, Lin An’an finally wiped his face and felt the temperature there ease a little.

Then came a knock on the door. “An’an, are you done? Dinner’s ready.”

“I-I’m done!” Lin An’an shot up from the bed instinctively. Listening to the footsteps fade away outside, he felt as though the tips of his ears were about to burn red again.

…Why knock on the door at a time like this, aaaah!!!

The safe house was soon completed, but on Xia Yuanhan’s side, the personnel he intended to send to Sin Planet still had not been finalized.

The Qiu family, meanwhile, had been sending an inquiry every single day, clearly already unable to wait any longer before coming to Sin Planet and carrying their grand “spread farming everywhere” plan to glory.

Lin An’an stalled them a few more days, waiting until Feng Wu had finished developing the latest portable defense system before finally giving the Qiu family permission to send people over.

This portable defense system was essentially a miniaturized version of the safe house defense system—something that could be carried around. Since Lin An’an had infused it with his power, it was able to block the invasion of Alpha energy waves.

The people sent by the Qiu family arrived on Sin Planet very quickly.

Ever since Alpha Syndrome had first appeared, this was the very first case of a non-patient voluntarily coming to Sin Planet.

The Qiu family had wanted to keep it low-key, but Lin An’an attracted far too much attention now. It did not take long before media reporters stationed around Sin Planet discovered the matter and splashed it all over StarNet.

On the day the Qiu family arrived on Sin Planet, Lin An’an simply went live.

[An’an, so you do remember you have a livestream account!!!]

[Long time no see, aaaah, baby! Auntie missed you to death! [sob sob sob jpg]]

[If you’re streaming again, does that mean your body has basically recovered?]

[Did this sudden livestream have something to do with the Qiu family? Are those media reports true—that the Qiu family has sent support personnel to Sin Planet? [my excited heart and trembling hands jpg]]

[The Qiu family doesn’t really have many plant-type ability users, right? Even if they sent all of them, that’d still just be a drop in the bucket.]

[Why isn’t An’an working with the Shi family? The Shi family has more plant-type ability users. [confused scratching head jpg]]

[No matter how many people it is, if support has arrived, does that mean the output of healing fruits and vegetables can finally go up?]

[What? Are healing fruits and vegetables finally about to go on sale online?!!! [kitty starry eyes jpg]]

From the barrage of rapidly flashing comments, Lin An’an picked out the important ones and began answering them one by one.

An’an: [My body has basically recovered now.]

An’an: [Yep, this really is about the Qiu family. The Qiu family’s support personnel are about to arrive on Sin Planet. See that open space up ahead? Their starship is going to land there soon. Let’s go welcome them together!]

An’an: [The Qiu family really did come to Sin Planet to help with farming. Once we’ve had a few days to get used to working together, we’ll start the next phase of the outfield farm plan.]

An’an: [Selling healing fruits and vegetables online will happen within the next few days. Very soon, so please be a little patient.]

While Lin An’an chatted with the viewers, the roar of a starship suddenly sounded overhead.

The little cub and the floating camera both looked up at the sky at the same time. A gigantic starship had broken through the clouds without anyone noticing and now hovered above them.

[Damn, that starship is huge!]

[I remember the Qiu family only has six or seven plant-type ability users, right? They only sent that few people, so why use such a giant starship? What a huge display. [pupils shaking jpg]]

[What’s wrong with the people saying they’re “putting on a show”? This is Sin Planet. Anyone willing to come here right now is already brave as hell, okay? If it were you, would you dare come to Sin Planet?]

[Trolls get lost! Any support is already amazing, unlike certain Shi family people—with all their plant-type ability users, and not a single one dared to come. [eye roll jpg]]

[Didn’t the Shi family not come because An’an never cooperated with them?]

[So then why didn’t An’an work with the Shi family? [confused jpg]]

An’an: [The Qiu family brought a total of 163 people.]

An’an: [Back then, the Qiu family was the one who contacted me first and said they could come help with farming.]

An’an: [The people the Qiu family sent are already enough for now, so I haven’t considered working with anyone else yet.]

An’an: [I’m very grateful to every single supporter from the Qiu family, so if I see any comments targeting them, I’ll be deleting them. [cute smiley jpg]]

The starship landed on the open field.

Feng Wu raised a hand over his palm to shield the little cub from the grass clippings and dust kicked up by the ship’s landing.

The hatch opened, and the first one to step out was a very young man.

At the side, Shi Xiaoxing paused, then suddenly said, “Qiu Baiyu?”

Lin An’an pushed Feng Wu’s hand aside and asked, [Sister Xingxing, do you know him?]

“Didn’t I say most of what I know about farming came from studying with the Qiu family?” Shi Xiaoxing waved at the leading Qiu family member, then smiled at Lin An’an. “The friend who brought me into the Qiu family’s training hall back then—that was him.”

Lin An’an’s favorability toward Qiu Baiyu instantly skyrocketed.

The Qiu family members quickly filed out of the starship. Lin An’an counted them—there were actually 170 of them, several more than Old Master Qiu had originally said.

[Holy crap, there really are this many people. [pupils shaking jpg]]

[But what’s the point of that many? Without plant-type abilities, they still can’t grow anything. Coming here would be useless.]

An’an: [It doesn’t matter if they don’t have abilities.]

An’an: [After being enhanced by my power, these seeds can be grown even by people without plant-type abilities.]

An’an: [As long as they know farming techniques, they can help grow healing fruits and vegetables.]

An’an: [Patriarch Qiu told me the whole Qiu family—all two hundred-plus people of them—know how to farm. That’s one of the reasons I chose to work with the Qiu family.]

As they spoke, Feng Wu carried the little cub closer to the starship.

Qiu Baiyu had already led the Qiu family’s 170 people down from the ship. Upon seeing Feng Wu and Lin An’an, he gave a solemn Imperial salute.

“Marshal Feng, the Qiu family’s 170 members have arrived to report in!”

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