Chapter 250
“Su Su, time to wake up.”
A-Yan entered the bedroom and spoke softly. The young man lying on the bed, eyes shut in sleep, turned over, pulled the blanket over his head, and cocooned himself like a little caterpillar.
Since he didn’t throw anything or get upset, it was clear he was awake—just stubbornly clinging to the warmth of the bed.
A-Yan kneeled on the mattress, crawling toward the “caterpillar.” He gently pulled the blanket aside, revealing the peaceful face of the sleeping youth.
Su Ci lay nestled in the blankets, eyes closed, seemingly unaware of A-Yan’s gaze. His breathing was even, but his slightly pursed lips betrayed his displeasure.
A-Yan smiled faintly and leaned closer, placing a light kiss on the corner of Su Ci’s lips. When the youth didn’t stir, he pushed further, deepening the kiss with a teasing intensity.
This continued until a pale, slender hand grabbed A-Yan’s collar impatiently and pulled him forward, flipping him onto his back.
In the movement, the blanket slipped away.
A-Yan now lay on his back, while Su Ci was fully pressed on top of him. Su Ci’s fingers grabbed A-Yan’s chin, pushing it upward and forcing his head to tilt to one side.
Even though his kiss had been denied, A-Yan didn’t seem upset. However, the position was a bit uncomfortable.
He considered the situation and then slowly released his spiritual consciousness.
This was a technique he had recently discovered while sorting out chaotic rules.
His spiritual consciousness was an extension of himself, shaped by his will. As it spread, it enveloped Su Ci…
Gradually, a flush spread across Su Ci’s cheeks. His fingers, which were gripping A-Yan’s chin, tightened. Finally, with a slight tremor in his body, Su Ci opened his eyes slowly.
His gaze, moist and shimmering, was entirely different from his usual calm and indifferent demeanor. The faint redness at the corners of his eyes carried an inexplicable allure.
A-Yan’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
Su Ci stared at him, his voice low and slightly hoarse. “You’re getting… more and more audacious.”
Hearing this, A-Yan chuckled softly. He pulled Su Ci’s hand down and kissed his palm gently, replying in a warm tone, “That’s because Su Su indulges me.”
Su Ci pressed his lips together. After this episode, there was no way he could fall back asleep.
Lazily sprawled on top of A-Yan, he thought back to what had just happened—something that felt like a dream—and couldn’t help but smirk. “You’re actually using your spiritual consciousness for something like this…”
But… it wasn’t really a problem, was it?
He wasn’t one of those stubborn, traditional old conservatives, nor did he adhere to strict abstinence and self-discipline. He indulged in good food, loved to sleep, and if even these small personal desires couldn’t be satisfied, what meaning was left in this long life?
And now there was one more indulgence… which wasn’t a problem either.
Su Ci quickly came to terms with it.
If it brought joy, then why reject it?
As A-Yan was about to get up, he was pressed back down again. He blinked, only to hear the youth’s husky voice whisper in his ear, “Do that again… what you just did.”
A-Yan’s surprise turned into a soft chuckle.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
“Yes,” Su Ci admitted with straightforwardness.
“All right.”
…
Another morning of indulgent affection passed.
Su Ci was carried to the dining table, where he lazily picked up a glass of spirit flower-infused water, sipping to soothe his throat. Suddenly, sensing something, he turned his head to look out the window.
Faintly, the sound of beasts roaring could be heard—more than just one or two.
A-Yan heard it too. “Do you want to check it out?” he asked.
Su Ci looked in that direction for a moment before shaking his head. “No need.”
He then returned to enjoying his breakfast.
*
Base 24, in front of the Medical Purification Department Building
Gu Qingchen stared at the cages being unloaded one by one from a hover truck. Inside each cage were ferocious beasts, bound tightly with thick metal chains. He couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on.
“Dr. Gu, these warriors are in your hands now!”
A middle-aged man approached, looking exhausted and travel-worn.
Gu Qingchen hesitated for a moment before finally replying with a bitter smile, “I’ll do my best.”
With the discovery and widespread use of purifying plants, nearly all the bases on Prison Star were no longer plagued by pollutants. Both air and water sources could now be effectively purified, significantly improving the warriors’ quality of life.
Moreover, it had been observed that over the past few months, the number of ordinary warriors awakening special abilities hadn’t decreased. On the contrary, their numbers seemed to increase in response to confrontations with monsters.
Some researchers had even proposed that the purifying plants might release a substance critical to triggering the emergence of abilities in ordinary warriors.
However, this theory had yet to be proven and required more time and evidence for verification.
As the bases continued to expand their areas of spiritual grass cultivation, the blood mist around the bases gradually thinned. Previously unexplorable regions were now beginning to reveal themselves to the warriors.
This batch of ferocious beasts had been discovered in a prehistoric ruin near Base Two.
The beasts had been hunting giant insects in the ruins and were fiercely battling each other for dominance. Initially, the personnel at Base Two were baffled, wondering how such large carnivorous animals could still exist on Prison Star.
It wasn’t until closer observation revealed that some of the beasts bore human medals and tattered remnants of clothing. Cross-referencing these medals in the AI database led to a shocking discovery.
The medals belonged to individuals who had been identified as beast-blood warriors—and the blood traits recorded for those warriors matched the traits of these beasts.
That’s when the realization hit:
These ferocious beasts were actually beast-blood warriors whom the base had long declared dead.
Instead of perishing after losing their sanity and entering the blood mist, they had transformed into actual beasts, surviving in the mist for years, only to be discovered now.
Thus, the plan to save these beast-blood warriors began.
Although these ferocious beasts had lost their sanity and would indiscriminately attack any approaching life form, the warriors at the bases harbored no complaints.
Base Two, in collaboration with several surrounding bases, spent over a month capturing these lost beast-blood warriors and bringing them back into the fold of human civilization.
However, the challenge of rehabilitating these creatures, who had completely lost their sanity, presented another major issue.
The base reported the situation to the Star Alliance, which in turn notified the families of these beast-blood warriors.
Many of these families, which were often from influential and powerful backgrounds capable of nurturing such formidable warriors, were overwhelmed with a mix of joy and sorrow upon receiving the news. Many immediately set out for Prison Star.
These families expressed a strong desire for Prison Star to use all available resources to help these beast-blood warriors regain their sanity and return to being normal humans.
This seemingly excessive request inevitably brought up the case of Lai Ze.
Lai Ze, a panda-blooded warrior, had reunited with his wife and daughter after years apart. He had stayed at the Nursery center until he fully reverted to human form, after which he reported back to the base to request the revocation of his status as a fallen hero.
When this news reached the Star Alliance, it caused a brief stir but was quickly forgotten.
After all, Lai Ze came from a humble background, and his case was a rare anomaly. Most dismissed it as a fluke. The officials handling his case, though moved by the story, quickly approved his request.
Since his military record had been deleted, Lai Ze could not regain his rank or re-enlist. Instead, he was granted retirement benefits at his original rank.
Given his powerful panda-blood lineage and extraordinary experience, it seemed a waste for him to retire. The Star Alliance proposed assigning him to a military academy, but after careful consideration, Lai Ze declined.
Having been lost in the blood mist for years and now given a second chance at life, he only wanted to fulfill his responsibilities as a husband and father.
So, he applied for a position at the Nursery center.
Although the center didn’t have a shortage of caretakers, his unique situation led the base to make an exception and hire him.
Lai Ze’s story should have ended there. Apart from old acquaintances at Base 24 occasionally discussing him, it shouldn’t have caused any further waves.
However, the discovery and rescue of a group of fully beastified warriors at Base Two brought Lai Ze’s case back into the spotlight of influential figures.
If Lai Ze could recover, why couldn’t other beast-blood warriors?
After some lobbying, the pressure ultimately landed on Base 24.
Since Lai Ze had recovered there, Base 24 was presumed to have the solution!
When Gu Qingchen was assigned this task, he was completely at a loss.
He couldn’t understand why the base leaders had so much confidence in him. While he had recently been studying purification techniques under Su the caretaker and had made considerable progress, particularly in controlling the techniques, this task felt monumental.
But—
Expecting him to purify a dozen ferocious beasts of varying sizes was really overestimating him!
No matter how much Gu Qingchen protested, the responsibility ultimately fell on his shoulders because…
“If it’s truly impossible, couldn’t we…” The Base Two leader, the middle-aged man from earlier, lowered his voice and suggested, “…ask that Caretaker Su for help?”
Gu Qingchen knew it! That was exactly their plan!
Because he was listed as a student under Caretaker Su, learning purification techniques from him, they assumed that if Gu Qingchen couldn’t handle it, Su Ci could be called in.
Did they not realize that Su Ci was not someone who could be summoned so easily?
Gu Qingchen felt helpless.
Still, the warriors had already been delivered—could he really turn his back on them?
The beasts in the cages, with their bloodshot eyes, constant roars, and restless struggles, had once been honorable beast-blood warriors—the backbone of national defense.
Living out their days as mindless beasts was not the fate they deserved. Somewhere in the galaxy, their families were still waiting for their return.
Gu Qingchen gave a bitter smile, nodded, and said no more. After parting ways with the officials, he directed robots to transport the cages to the back of the building for containment.
He would need to carefully formulate a plan to help these beast-blood warriors regain their humanity.
Though the odds were against him, how would he know if he didn’t try? He wasn’t the same Gu Qingchen as before! At the very least… he could consider himself half a student of Su the caretaker.
“Roar—”
From that day on, the roars of the beasts echoed incessantly from the Medical Purification Department.
Even the cubs at the care center noticed.
One by one, they climbed up to the wall, peering through the transparent greenhouse windows, curiously looking in the direction of the Medical Purification Department.
“Did a monster get into the base?” Lang Ze asked.
“Probably not. There hasn’t been an alarm,” Lu Jiao replied, shaking his head. “And these roars have been going on for days. If the operations teams couldn’t handle it, they’d definitely call us.”
After all, their cub squad wasn’t famous for nothing!
“Then something interesting must be happening. Let’s go check it out!” Lang Ze said excitedly.
Winter had already arrived near Base 24, and the cold weather meant the cubs were no longer allowed to go out during the day without reporting, especially beyond the purification barrier to fight monsters.
Over the past week, Wen Yan and the other caretakers had taken advantage of the cubs’ downtime to conduct gender education lessons.
After the basics were explained, how much the cubs retained remained to be seen, but the rest would have to be reinforced through daily life guidance.
As a result, the cubs had been relatively idle these past few days.
While they could visit the wooden-tribe spaceship to stargaze, the process of interstellar travel was inherently monotonous. After a few visits, the novelty wore off, and the cubs lost interest.
After being cooped up for several days, it was unbearable for this group of wild and restless cubs.
Since they couldn’t leave the base, surely just wandering around inside the base wouldn’t be a problem, right?
