Chapter 270: Extra (7)
Amidst the bamboo forest by the riverbank:
“Brother Su Lü, where are you?”
A boy of about three or four years old wandered through the woods, glancing around curiously. He examined everything, from distant corners of the forest to a tiny pebble at his feet, which he picked up for closer inspection.
“Have you seen Brother Su Lü?”
Tilting his head, he asked a nearby bamboo tree. The bamboo glistened with a jade-like sheen, clearly a spiritual bamboo.
The bamboo swayed its branches gently, indicating it didn’t know.
The little boy sighed, bowed his head in thanks, and continued searching the forest.
“Brother Su Lü—Brother Su Lü—”
He cupped his small hands around his mouth like a megaphone, calling out repeatedly in the bamboo grove. Yet there was no response. Eventually, exhausted and thirsty, he sat down by a clear pond in the forest.
“I know you’re here. Why are you hiding from me?”
Now on Earth, apart from the younger cubs, only Mu Bao and Qian Qian remained among the children personally raised by Su Ci. The others had joined Lang Ze and Zheng Xing on the interstellar battlefield.
Though these children hadn’t experienced the Star Alliance’s protection as deeply as Lang Ze, their opportunities to reach Base 24, be adopted by the nursery, and later meet Su Ci were all thanks to Star Alliance policies.
The interstellar battlefield needed manpower, and these capable young ones couldn’t stand idly by. Moreover, Lang Ze and Zheng Xing were their comrades, venturing far into unknown territory to face alien lifeforms. How could they remain indifferent?
Even the pacifists among them, like Lu Jiao, Xue Wei, and Little Li Hua, volunteered. Though they disliked combat, they weren’t weak. In fact, their unique abilities meant they wouldn’t necessarily be at a disadvantage in a fight.
After the children left, A-Yan decided to take Su Ci traveling to help him unwind. Though Su Lü stayed on Earth, he no longer needed to impersonate Su Ci at the nursery.
Ten years of effort had established self-sufficient rules among the interstellar humans and demons at the nursery, making Su Ci’s direct intervention in Earth’s recovery unnecessary.
Earth, as the birthplace of interstellar humanity, was treasured not only for its symbolic value, as promoted by figures like Li Sinian, but also for its tangible benefits—its abundant spiritual energy was the key to awakening powers.
However, access to Earth was still limited, with personnel quotas maintained for the original 36 bases. New recruits’ tasks had shifted from base defense to monster clearing, farming, and land restoration. Meanwhile, reformed interstellar criminals could stay on Earth for labor, while those with poor conduct were relocated to a newly established prison planet.
Thanks to planetary teleportation arrays, these transfers were swift, minimizing escape risks and logistical challenges.
Earth’s revitalization was in full swing, leaving Su Lü with little to do for now.
Sitting by the pond, Zhou Zhou stared at his reflection in the crystal-clear water. Slowly, his small mouth began to tremble.
Though he was a fragment of A-Yan’s soul, his power was extremely weak. Unlike Su Lü, who inherited much of Su Ci’s strength and memories due to his sealing duties, Zhou Zhou was a blank slate, akin to a newborn child.
He didn’t even fully understand his connection to A-Yan, only knowing he must listen to him.
Yet he clung to Su Lü because, from the moment they met, he instinctively liked him and felt a natural closeness. However…
Brother Su Lü didn’t seem to like him.
At this thought, the boy’s mouth quivered more and more. Soon, tears welled up in his large platinum eyes.
The more he thought about it, the sadder he became. Large teardrops began rolling down his cheeks. At first, just a few fell with soft plops, but soon they poured like beads from a broken string.
“Sniff… sniff…”
“Sniff… sniff…”
As the boy cried, the once-clear sky suddenly grew dark with dense clouds. Soon, raindrops began to fall.
At first, it was a gentle drizzle. But as the boy grew sadder, the sudden downpour intensified.
“Sniff… sniff…”
“Sniff… sniff…”
The bamboo leaves rustled in the forest, weighed down by the rain. In Base 24, people glanced at the sky, surprised by the unexpected rain.
After all, Earth’s meteorological bureau was highly accurate, and yesterday’s forecast had promised clear skies.
Still, no one thought much of it.
It was just rain, after all. It might stop soon or at worst last a day. Over the past decade, Earth’s climate had been remarkably stable, free from the extreme weather of the past.
But no one expected this rain to persist for so long.
Though it paused occasionally, the breaks lasted less than an hour before it resumed.
“Whoosh—whoosh—”
Rivers began to overflow, and the rain continued spreading outward from Base 24.
No one could explain the origins of this relentless storm. It arrived without warning, like a child’s temper—sudden and capricious.
The wood clan members grew increasingly uneasy.
Those who had taken human form could still find shelter from the rain, but countless transplanted wood clan members remained in a muddled state. Some had regained a sliver of sentience, but not enough to take on human form.
They could only watch helplessly as the rainwaters rose, flooding and eventually drowning them.
Beyond the wood clan members, the rudimentary ecosystem painstakingly established over the years was also at risk of devastation.
The wood clan members were deeply anxious, seeking help from their clan leaders.
The clan leaders, however, were powerless to stop this strange rain, and Mu Yuncheng couldn’t locate the two deities. Was this a divine punishment for some failure of theirs?
Under the relentless rain, the wood clan members prayed fervently while implementing disaster prevention and mitigation measures, striving to minimize losses.
Finally, after half a month of continuous rain—
A soft sigh echoed from the bamboo forest, and Su Lü’s figure appeared behind the crying boy.
The boy was still squatting by the pond, sobbing bitterly.
This particular bamboo forest, enchanted by Su Ci and A-Yan, had remained unchanged over the years. While many places outside were heavily flooded, this area only experienced a gentle drizzle and was largely unaffected.
Su Lü hadn’t expected this fragment of the Heavenly Dao’s spirit to be so persistent in his crying.
He couldn’t understand what could be so upsetting as to make the child cry for half a month straight. Throughout this time, Su Lü had been enduring the child’s endless wailing.
This couldn’t go on any longer.
Su Lü had chosen to maintain his autonomy because he understood the complications that arose from excessive emotions.
If not for his past entrapment in feelings of despair and detachment from the world, leading to long periods of slumber, Earth wouldn’t have been so ravaged by the very lifeforms born on it.
Thus, maintaining Earth’s order and ensuring its revival and sustainable future was Su Lü’s purpose.
But Zhou Zhou’s incessant crying was clearly disrupting this order, and Su Lü couldn’t just sit back and allow it.
He approached the boy quietly, his usually calm eyes now tinged with helplessness. Even his gentle smile faltered.
Although he had raised Little Sparrow for a time, the sparrow was carefree and chirpy, never requiring much attention. Su Lü had little experience comforting children.
He could only awkwardly say, “Stop crying.”
His voice, soft amidst the patter of rain, was almost drowned out.
Yet the moment Su Lü spoke, the crying boy looked up in a daze.
The boy clasped his small hands in front of him, sniffling as he gazed at Su Lü with tear-filled, swollen eyes. He looked pitiful beyond words.
He stared blankly at Su Lü, tears still streaming down his cheeks as if he had no intention of stopping.
Zhou Zhou had no idea about the chaos he had caused. In his innocent ignorance, he only knew that Brother Su Lü didn’t like him and refused to meet him. This thought made him more and more heartbroken.
Now, seeing Su Lü appear before him, he hadn’t yet registered it fully. He continued crying mechanically, completely overwhelmed by his emotions.
Su Lü sighed again as the endless rain, spurred by the Heavenly Dao spirit’s grief, poured on. He crouched down in front of the child.
“Stop crying. I’ve come to see you now.”
His tone was far from gentle, but his slender fingers reached out to touch the boy’s tear-streaked face, softly wiping away the falling tears.
However, the boy didn’t stop crying.
Realizing that the person in front of him was indeed the Brother Su Lü he longed for, his little mouth quivered in grievance before he threw himself into Su Lü’s arms, crying even louder.
Holding the soft, delicate body of the child, Su Lü found himself at a loss.
Why is he still crying?
Fortunately, the boy cried himself to sleep in Su Lü’s embrace.
As he dozed off, the thick clouds in the sky finally dispersed, and the rain ceased.
The skies had finally cleared.
