Monster Cub Live Stream – CH58

Chapter 58

The days at the base passed quickly, and the birthday banquet of the Empire’s eldest prince, Xia Changluo, was almost here.

Mo Dexin had prepared new disguise masks for the two of them in advance. He had specifically found two people in his squad whose builds were close to Feng Wu’s and Lin An’an’s, and had custom-made masks based on them.

“Boss’s mask is He Wen, and sister-in-law’s is Fang Liang. The two of them have never attended this kind of occasion with me before. They’re both pretty quiet and not very talkative, and they haven’t had much contact with Yu Jin and the others. Yu Jin doesn’t know much about them either, so as long as nothing major goes wrong, he won’t notice they aren’t the real ones.”

“I have an impression of them,” Feng Wu nodded. “Did you talk to them personally about this?”

“Don’t worry, I already explained it,” Mo Dexin said. “I told them there was a special mission and that I needed to borrow their identities for a few days. I gave them leave during this period and had them stay in the special dorms to rest for two days.”

On the way out of the base, Feng Wu checked the ring-shaped protective device on Lin An’an’s finger, put a necklace-shaped protective device around his neck, and fastened a mechanical wristband onto his wrist.

“They’re all newly made protective gear,” Feng Wu said. “The necklace works the same way as the ring from before. It can block three attacks as well, but it’s better at defending against mental attacks. There are ten highly potent anesthetic needles hidden inside the wristband. The firing mechanism is here.”

Feng Wu demonstrated it once for Lin An’an, then added, “In a special situation, press this button on the wristband and throw it out. It’ll explode into a cloud of anesthetic mist. The effective radius is about five meters.”

The necklace and mechanical wristband quickly disappeared from sight as well.

Lin An’an looked at where the ring was, then at the wristband, smacked his lips, and said, “Wolf bro, one more is missing.”

Feng Wu froze. “One more what?”

Lin An’an suddenly stretched out one leg, pointed at the bit of ankle exposed below his trouser hem, and grinned. “There should be one here too.”

That slim, pale stretch of ankle instantly captured all of Feng Wu’s attention.

It was only when Lin An’an poked him in the arm that he came back to himself and realized what Lin An’an meant.

Since his finger, wrist, and neck were all equipped, naturally his ankle could not be left out.

Seeing Feng Wu fall into thoughtful silence as though he were actually considering making one for his ankle too, Lin An’an immediately burst out laughing. “All right, wolf bro, I was just teasing you.”

“Actually, it’s not impossible,” Feng Wu said. “Make an enhancement-type protective device. When triggered, metal would pop out and cover your foot—or even your whole leg. It could strengthen your attack power.”

The more he talked, the more feasible it sounded to him, and fortunately Mo Dexin suddenly spoke up, “Boss, time to get off the car.”

Only then did Feng Wu temporarily stop following that train of thought, and Lin An’an quietly let out a sigh of relief.

The First Legion was stationed too far away. From there to the Capital Star, it took nearly five hours, and the only good news was that they only needed to go through two spatial transfers for the whole trip.

Now that he had experience, Lin An’an prepared a sleep-inducing potion for himself in advance. The moment he got into the mecha, he drank it, leaned against Feng Wu, and slept like the dead, not feeling a thing.

When he woke up, the mecha had already entered the Capital Star’s territorial range and was about to arrive at Aimeo Palace.

For Xia Changluo’s birthday banquet, the palace had opened the small peripheral landing field to outside visitors two days early, making it convenient for people arriving from other planets.

Lin An’an rubbed at his drowsy temples and, together with Feng Wu, checked once more to make sure there was nothing missing from their disguises.

Mo Dexin’s Black Crow landed smoothly, and almost at the same time, another mecha came down nearby.

By sheer bad luck, the people who stepped out of that mecha were Yu Jin and his adjutant, the very same ones they had been in contact with a few days ago.

Still inside the mecha, Mo Dexin rolled his eyes so hard at the light screen that it was almost comical. Ever since that last conversation with Yu Jin, he had wanted to beat him up every time his name came up, let alone seeing him in person.

“Vice Commander Mo.” Yu Jin came over with a smiling face. “What a coincidence.”

Mo Dexin gave him a slight nod. “Commander Yu.”

Yu Jin looked at Feng Wu and Lin An’an. “These two look unfamiliar. Are they your new adjutants, Vice Commander Mo?”

“He Wen and Fang Liang,” Mo Dexin introduced briefly.

Yu Jin did not press further. He nodded amiably at Feng Wu and Lin An’an, then walked side by side with Mo Dexin as though the two of them were on very good terms.

Fortunately, there were other people at the landing field, so Yu Jin did not mention the contents of their last secret conversation. He only kept smiling as he made idle conversation with Mo Dexin.

Two lines of guards stood outside Aimeo Palace. The palace steward had already been informed by the landing field staff that Mo Dexin and Yu Jin had arrived and had long since been waiting at the palace entrance.

“Commander Yu, Vice Commander Mo.” The steward bowed respectfully and ushered them into the palace.

Rooms had already been arranged for them in the royal guest residence for the next few days. Whether by coincidence or by someone’s deliberate arrangement, Mo Dexin’s room was right next to Yu Jin’s.

The two balconies were directly adjacent. If both sides wished, the balconies could even be opened up to connect with each other, allowing passage without going through the front door.

It was an ideal setup for certain kinds of private talks.

Lin An’an would not believe for a second that this arrangement had nothing to do with Xia Yuanhan.

By contrast, Lin An’an and Feng Wu’s rooms, though on the same floor as Mo Dexin’s, were at opposite ends, one in the south and one in the north, very far apart.

The only good thing about that was that they were also far from Yu Jin, so there was less need to worry about him paying too much attention to their movements.

As evening fell, mechanical housekeepers delivered dinner to each room.

Lin An’an carried his meal to Feng Wu’s room so they could have dinner together.

“Wolf bro,” Lin An’an said after some thought, “I want to go see Mom.”

Feng Wu paused slightly. He recalled that Lin An’an’s mother, Bai Cenrou, the current Emperor’s third empress, had already passed away. So what Lin An’an meant by “go see her” should be a visit to the royal mausoleum.

The royal mausoleum had been built on the mountain behind the palace. Security there was not as strict as in the rest of the palace, so for Feng Wu, sneaking there for a look did not pose much risk.

So he said, “All right. We’ll go after dinner.”

Lin An’an nodded.

The last time he had gone to the royal mausoleum was before Xia Yuanhan sent him to Sin Star.

Though by this world’s passage of time, it had only been a few months, to Lin An’an it had actually been more than twenty years.

It had already been a very, very long time.

After dinner, Feng Wu told Mo Dexin where they were going, then took Lin An’an out of the royal guest residence.

A lot of people were leaving the guest residence at that hour, so Feng Wu and Lin An’an did not stand out.

Most people, however, chose to stroll around nearby or gather in twos and threes to chat, while the two of them quietly slipped toward the mountain behind the palace under cover of moonlight.

At that hour, apart from two guards, there was no one else in front of the tomb area. There was not even a single detection instrument.

Reassured, Lin An’an activated the concealment mode on the wristband and slipped inside with Feng Wu.

Relying on his memory, he quickly found his mother’s gravestone. The woman in the photo was smiling, her brows and eyes carrying a gentle warmth that seemed to come from the inside out. Lin An’an crouched in front of the grave and said softly, “Sorry, Mom. It took me so long to come see you, and I didn’t even bring flowers.”

Unfortunately, bringing flowers would make it too easy for someone to notice that someone had come, so Lin An’an had no choice but to give up on the idea.

“When I come next time, I’ll bring you a bouquet of white lilies, okay?” Lin An’an said softly. “I remember lilies were your favorite.”

Feng Wu crouched beside him too. “Your Majesty the Empress…”

“Why are you still calling her that?” Lin An’an interrupted him. “Call her Mom… forget it, call her Auntie for now.”

They had not even gotten engaged yet, so it was better not to jump straight to Mom.

Feng Wu obediently corrected himself. “Auntie.”

Lin An’an’s eyes curved. “This is the daughter-in-law I found for you. I don’t know whether you’re satisfied or not. If you aren’t…”

He clearly felt Feng Wu’s hand tighten around his, and even his breathing slowed, as if he were very nervous about what he was about to say next.

The smile on Lin An’an’s face widened a few degrees. He soothingly rubbed the back of Feng Wu’s hand with his thumb. “If you aren’t satisfied, there’s nothing to be done. You only have two choices—bless us, or beat him up first, and then bless us.”

Feng Wu was momentarily stunned, then turned his head to look at Lin An’an and found laughter dancing through his eyes.

The roots of his ears flushed red, and he cleared his throat. “Auntie, if one beating isn’t enough, you can do it a few more times. I’m tough. I can take it.”

Lin An’an burst out laughing. Fortunately, Feng Wu had set up a mental barrier around them, otherwise that laugh might have alerted the guards.

“What kind of promise is that?” Lin An’an laughed so hard he could barely stop. “When people meet their mother-in-law, they promise things like they’ll treat me well, stay with me for life, never abandon me, and so on. Why are you volunteering to get beaten up instead?”

The flush spread from Feng Wu’s ears to the side of his face. He pressed his lips together. “Sorry. I… I don’t have any experience with this.”

“What’s there to apologize for?” Lin An’an leaned lightly against his shoulder. “Even if what you said was kind of strange, it sounded way more sincere than all those other promises.”

He lowered his voice a little, and it softened. “Don’t worry. Wolf bro is so good—Mom will definitely approve.”

Feng Wu responded in a low voice, “Mm.”

The two of them stayed by Bai Cenrou’s grave for a while longer, talking to her. Just as they were getting ready to leave, Feng Wu suddenly frowned. “Wait. Don’t move. Someone’s coming.”

Feng Wu pulled Lin An’an back a few more steps deeper into the tomb grounds.

Lin An’an frowned lightly, suspicion and vigilance rising in his heart. At this hour, who would still be coming to the cemetery?

He quietly followed Feng Wu, carefully avoiding the dry leaves and branches on the ground that might make noise.

By the moonlight, he saw four—no, five—figures in the distance. One of them seemed to be in poor health and was being supported by someone else, walking rather slowly.

Once they drew nearer, Lin An’an’s eyes suddenly widened.

That figure being supported—wasn’t it his elder brother Xia Changluo?!

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