Chapter 171
“An entire… entire planet?”
Li Sinian was dumbfounded. He stared at Su Ci, hoping he had misheard. Unfortunately, the caretaker’s calm and unwavering smile confirmed otherwise—he had heard correctly.
But how was that even possible?
Although Li Sinian wasn’t sure of the exact size of the Prison Star, he was well aware of its dangers. On top of that, the current state of the planet had only worsened.
He had already experienced the power of the blood mist today. Just managing its effects on Base 24 was a monumental challenge, let alone cultivating crops across the entire planet.
Li Sinian exchanged a glance with Yan Ya. After a moment of silent communication, he cautiously spoke again.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘the entire planet’?”
“Exactly what it sounds like,” Su Ci replied nonchalantly, picking up a chip and leisurely crunching on it.
The sound of the crispy snack seemed deafening to Li Sinian, making his scalp tingle. “Are you suggesting turning this planet into an agricultural hub?”
Thankfully, Su Ci shook his head.
“Just cover it with greenery,” he said.
Li Sinian let out a small sigh of relief, though a heavy weight still bore down on his chest. He knew that given the planet’s current state, this condition wasn’t much more lenient.
Did this mean Rong Heng would have to spend his entire life on the Prison Star planting vegetation?
“Caretaker Su, isn’t this… condition a bit…” Li Sinian hesitated, struggling to find the right words.
“Rong Heng and Fu Qiu have always believed in the principle of equivalent exchange,” Su Ci said softly, meeting Li Sinian’s gaze. “Do you think this condition isn’t worth it?”
Li Sinian froze, momentarily at a loss for words.
Equivalent exchange… Wasn’t that a principle he himself lived by? He hadn’t realized that Rong Heng and Fu Qiu had internalized it as well.
Was it not worth it?
Was his son’s life not worth the price?
No, his children’s lives were priceless!
If planting greenery across the entire planet could save his son, then so be it. It wasn’t as though Rong Heng had to do it alone—he and Yan Ya would dedicate themselves to helping as well. If it meant selling everything they owned, they would do it!
“It’s worth it!” Li Sinian declared. “Please, I beg you, save Rong Heng’s life.”
Su Ci hadn’t intended to stop anyway. As he’d said earlier, this was a deal between him and Rong Heng—it had nothing to do with the Li couple.
Of course, if they were willing to help, that was their choice.
“From now on…”
Li Sinian gritted his teeth, then spoke firmly, “The two of us will remain on the Prison Star. We’ll do our part, and I hope you can guide us.”
Given Li Sinian’s skills and standing, securing a position on the Prison Star was certainly feasible.
If they didn’t stay, even with the emperor’s permission to use the imperial warship, each round trip would take two months.
Moreover, Li Sinian understood that the warship belonged to the empire, and this personal use was already an exception. If he chose to stay, the crew stationed on the ship would undoubtedly return to the empire immediately.
If they were to travel by regular spacecraft in the future, each round trip would take over half a year or even longer.
How long would it take to complete this deal under such circumstances? As for taking their son and daughter and fleeing? Li Sinian had never entertained the thought.
Since they had agreed to these terms, they were determined to fulfill them—even if their son’s bloodline conflict was resolved, they would see it through to the end.
Su Ci looked at the determined expressions on the Li couple’s faces, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly. He said, “Alright. There are rooms on the seventh floor of the nursery; you can pick two to stay in.”
“We’re a married couple, so one room will suffice,” Li Sinian replied.
“Suit yourselves.”
Having addressed this, the Li couple didn’t leave immediately.
Yan Ya looked at the strikingly beautiful young man before her. Recalling the trust her son and daughter had placed in him, she clasped her hands tightly together. Finally, she couldn’t help but speak.
“Caretaker Su, I… I have one more thing…”
On the fourth floor, in the siblings’ room, Rong Heng was peeling a fruit for his sister. The bright red Star-chain fruit, once peeled, revealed crystal-clear flesh with a sweet aroma filling the room.
Meanwhile, Little Li Hua was scooping spoonfuls of mashed sweet potatoes from her bowl. As she ate, she excitedly shared with her brother all the places Su Ci had taken her, what they had done, and the fun things that had happened.
Seeing the little girl’s flushed cheeks from excitement, Rong Heng couldn’t help but smile faintly.
But her next sentence made him freeze mid-action.
“Brother, did you meet Weiwei’s…” Little Li Hua paused, recalling the word, “the madam and sir?”
Rong Heng stopped what he was doing and looked up at her.
When Little Li Hua mentioned those two people, her eyes didn’t hold much negativity. Instead, they were filled with curiosity and a desire to share her thoughts with someone.
“They said they were our parents,” Little Li Hua continued after a pause. “Our mom and dad.”
“Brother, do you know… what mom and dad are?”
Looking into her clear, innocent eyes, Rong Heng pressed his lips together tightly. After a moment, he nodded. “Yes.”
Little Li Hua’s eyes widened in surprise.
Brother knows!
“They’re the people who gave birth to us,” Rong Heng explained, aware that his sister had no concept of parents.
After all, she had grown up in the nursery, surrounded by orphans. The role of parents was absent from her life.
“Gave birth to us?” Little Li Hua tilted her head, confusion evident in her expression.
Rong Heng thought for a moment and offered an analogy. “See these seeds?”
He split the Star-chain fruit in half, pointing to the seeds inside. “We’re like these seeds. If planted in the ground, with sunlight and water, they’ll grow into small saplings.”
“And the tree that bore this fruit is… those two people.”
Little Li Hua didn’t notice her brother’s strained expression; she was too shocked by this revelation. Her small mouth hung wide open. So this was how she and her brother came to be!
She had never thought about where she and her brother came from before.
In her memory, they had always just been.
Seeing her engrossed in her questions and no longer eating, Rong Heng picked up the bowl and began feeding her spoonfuls of mashed sweet potato.
“Does Lang Ze also have parents?”
Little Li Hua ate the mashed sweet potato her brother fed her while asking, her round eyes full of curiosity about this new knowledge.
“Mm, everyone has parents.”
Although Rong Heng wasn’t particularly eager to continue this topic, he patiently explained when his sister asked.
“Then why have I never met them?” Little Li Hua asked, puzzled.
Rong Heng pressed his lips together, tightening his grip on the spoon. Eventually, he chose to tell his sister the harsh truth.
“Because they abandoned us,” Rong Heng said softly. “The children in the nursery are either abandoned by their parents or their parents have died.”
If those two adults weren’t dead, then they must have abandoned them.
Hearing her brother’s words, Little Li Hua thought back to the two adults she met earlier. Somehow, they didn’t seem like the type to abandon them. But if her brother said it, it must be true!
Besides, she didn’t feel particularly sad about it. After all, she and her brother, like the other children in the nursery, had been living just fine without parents all these years.
Especially now, with Su Su around, everything had gotten so much better! Not only did they have delicious food every day, but also beautiful flowers to look at!
Little Li Hua felt incredibly happy and fortunate in her current life. So, she didn’t feel sad about being abandoned by strangers she had never known.
“Why would they abandon us?” Little Li Hua asked curiously.
How could Rong Heng possibly know the answer to that?
Shaking his head, he replied, “I don’t know either, but it doesn’t matter. We don’t need to care about them.”
Seeing her brother’s indifferent expression, Little Li Hua felt that he didn’t seem as unconcerned as he claimed. Of course, she didn’t dare say this aloud.
Her instincts told her that it was better to quietly finish her meal for now.
However, as she moved on to eating the fruit after finishing her mashed sweet potato, a calm and gentle voice reached their ears.
“Xiang Yang, Little Li Hua, come to Room 303 after dinner.”
They were used to hearing Su Ci’s voice suddenly in their ears, but this was the first time he had summoned them to his room so late at night.
“Brother, why do you think Su Su is calling us?” Little Li Hua tilted her head in thought.
Rong Heng already had a guess in his heart and couldn’t help but feel some resistance. But on second thought, it was better this way. He could clear things up in front of Su Su and tell those people never to show up again.
That way, he wouldn’t have to be bothered by this matter any longer.
“You can keep eating the fruit. I’ll wait for you,” Rong Heng said.
Seeing his unwillingness to talk more, Little Li Hua understood that he was in a bad mood. She obediently closed her mouth and continued munching on the sweet and juicy Star Chain Fruit.
Once she had finished eating the fruit, Rong Heng held her hand and led her out of the room.
*
Room 303
Yan Ya and Li Sinian sat anxiously on the sofa, constantly glancing toward the door. Meanwhile, Su Ci sat at the dining table, enjoying dinner with A-Yan.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity for the couple, the tightly shut metal door opened, and the lion siblings appeared.
Seeing the couple rise from their seats and walk toward them, Rong Heng showed no surprise. Holding Little Li Hua’s hand, he continued walking toward Su Ci.
Little Li Hua glanced at Li Sinian and Yan Ya. When Yan Ya smiled at her, Little Li Hua returned a faint smile before her brother tugged her hand, quickening their pace.
“Su Su, we’re here,” Rong Heng said.
Su Ci nodded and gestured for Ayan to pour the siblings some honey water. After taking a sip of his own drink, Su Ci looked at the couple and said, “You’ve already confirmed their identities, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” Rong Heng replied reluctantly with a brief nod.
“Then go talk to them for a while,” Su Ci said gently.
Rong Heng’s hand, hanging by his side, clenched into a fist. He spoke directly, “Su Su, my sister and I don’t want to leave the nursery. To us, they are just strangers!”
Li Sinian and Yan Ya both froze, their bodies trembling slightly.
At this moment, Su Ci raised a hand and lightly placed it on the young boy’s head. A faint golden glow flickered, and the resentment on Rong Heng’s face gradually softened.
Rong Heng looked at Su Ci, momentarily stunned.
“Feeling more clear-headed now?” Su Ci asked as he withdrew his hand.
Rong Heng nodded.
“From now on, unless accompanied by me or Ran Lie, you are not allowed to enter the blood mist alone,” Su Ci instructed.
Although Li Sinian’s familial bond had temporarily soothed Rong Heng that afternoon, his condition was unusual. The blood mist’s invasive influence, combined with his unique circumstances, was not the same as a typical bloodline frenzy.
The resentment that had entered his body had not been entirely purged but instead lurked within, subtly influencing his temperament. Without Su Ci’s intervention to cleanse it, the situation might have spiraled out of control.
Rong Heng, being a bright child, quickly grasped the gravity of Su Ci’s warning.
“Understood,” he replied calmly.
His voice was steady, and when he looked at Li Sinian and Yan Ya again, his resistance seemed to have softened somewhat.
Rong Heng looked at the man and woman before him. Memories resurfaced in his mind. Unlike Little Li Hua, who had no recollection of them and thus no emotional connection, Rong Heng’s feelings were different.
At just over three years old, he was still a child himself, yet he had to shoulder the responsibility of caring for his younger sister.
The hardships he endured over the years were known only to himself.
After understanding the concept of “parents,” whenever hardship struck, he couldn’t help but wonder: If his mom and dad had been there with them, would he have had to suffer so much?
But they were gone—they had left this world forever. That’s why he and his sister ended up in the nursery.
Given that reality, he had accepted it.
But today, they appeared again.
How could his heart be without resentment? Yet, after Su Su had patted his head earlier, Rong Heng felt much better, and his thoughts became clearer.
Once a Star Chain Fruit leaves its mother tree, it relies on itself to find life and grow.
The joy and sorrow that follow have nothing to do with the mother tree. So, what was there for him to resent about his parents?
Regardless of their presence, he and his sister would grow up well, just like the seedlings of the Star Chain Fruit thriving on the green field.
With this understanding, he finally felt at peace.
The four of them sat on the sofa, facing one another for the first time at such close range.
But now that the moment had come, no one seemed to know where to start. The atmosphere felt awkward and heavy.
In the end, it was Little Li Hua who broke the silence.
She studied the two adults in front of her, thinking they looked quite nice. Since she had no negative feelings about them to begin with, she found them even less dislikable.
So, with innocent curiosity, she asked bluntly, “So, why did you abandon me and my brother?”
Her question left Li Sinian and Yan Ya, who had been racking their brains on how to build a connection, completely stunned.
“Abandon? Sweetheart, why would you think that?” they exclaimed in disbelief.
Little Li Hua glanced at her brother, then tilted her head in confusion. “Isn’t that what happened?”
Rong Heng was caught off guard as well.
“Of course not!” Li Sinian and Yan Ya denied it in unison.
Yan Ya stood up from the sofa and crouched in front of the two children. She held their hands tightly, her voice trembling with emotion, her eyes reddened with tears.
“You two are Mommy and Daddy’s treasures. How could we ever abandon you?”
Tears filled her eyes as she said, “It was bad people who took you from us. Over these years, Mommy and Daddy have been searching for you. But the universe is so vast, and…”
Thinking of how her children had been subjected to human cryogenic experiments, Yan Ya’s heart filled with hatred. She wished she could personally tear those who had taken her children, as well as the mad scientists, to pieces.
But it had been so many years, and the perpetrators had already been dealt with. There was no way for her to exact revenge herself.
All she could do now was to do her utmost to make up for what her children had endured.
“Please believe us. Mommy and Daddy never abandoned you. For the past ten years, we’ve thought of you every day and night. You have no idea how happy we are to see you again!”
Rong Heng felt the warmth and softness of the woman’s hand, and after a brief moment of hesitation, quickly withdrew his hand.
This time, however, it was not out of resistance or rejection but rather…
The tips of the teenager’s ears turned slightly red. He shifted backward a bit, putting some distance between himself and Yan Ya.
Yan Ya looked at him, and it was as if she was seeing her son from years ago. Her Yang Yang had always been easily embarrassed. A single kiss on his cheek would leave him blushing for a long time, though he would stubbornly try to maintain a serious and composed expression.
Her eyes filled with tears, but a smile broke out on her face.
Li Sinian, standing nearby, chimed in, “That’s right. Your mom and I never gave up on you. Especially your mom—she’s been traveling across star systems to find you and even ruined her health in the process.”
Hearing this, Rong Heng and Little Li Hua couldn’t help but glance at Yan Ya, looking at her with some concern.
“Mommy is fine now.”
Yan Ya shot a reproachful look at Li Sinian, then gently patted her children’s hands in reassurance. “I awakened the Red-Tailed Lion bloodline recently. My health is great now.”
Little Li Hua’s eyes widened in astonishment. “You’re already so grown up, and you can still awaken a bloodline?”
“Yes, I’m an exception.”
Yan Ya stroked her daughter’s chubby little face. Seeing that she didn’t flinch or pull away, Yan Ya couldn’t resist pulling her into an embrace. Feeling her daughter’s small, thin body in her arms, she choked up, her voice trembling. “It’s Mommy’s fault for coming too late. I let you suffer. I’m so sorry…”
Little Li Hua turned to look at her brother. Seeing that his expression had softened and no longer looked so hostile, only a bit awkward, she smiled. Tilting her head up to look at Yan Ya, she gently used her fingers to wipe away her tears.
“This… this isn’t your fault… You didn’t… mean for it to happen.”
Her soft, childish voice was slightly halting, her words not yet fluent. But to Yan Ya, it sounded like the sweetest music. She held her daughter tighter, overwhelmed by joy and relief, tears of happiness streaming down her face.
