Chapter 72
Naturally, Satan had no idea that his dear adopted son was currently using his money to support the boyfriend far away beyond the horizon. At the moment, he was wholeheartedly savoring that single “thank you” the little sheep had sent him. Two short words, and he had already interpreted hundreds of meanings out of them.
In short, his precious son was truly polite. Even the ellipsis after that “thank you” seemed to carry an unspoken tenderness toward this halfway-formed father-son bond…
He read over the chat record again and again. The more he looked at it, the more he felt there could never again be such a child in the world who suited his heart so perfectly…
That night, even in his sleep Satan wore a smile, and he dreamed a beautiful dream of mutual fatherly kindness and filial piety between himself and the little sheep. The next morning, the moment he woke and thought of that deeply meaningful “thank you” from the night before, he rushed downstairs to see the little sheep before even eating breakfast.
He had assumed the little sheep was still asleep. Not wanting to disturb his rest, he signaled for the guards to keep quiet, crept over softly, opened the small viewing hatch in the middle of the door, and peered inside with one eye.
Contrary to expectation, the little sheep was already up. He had evidently washed up not long ago, and his originally fluffy white cheeks were still a little damp. At the moment, he had one hoof raised and was calling toward the bathroom, “Pangolin, put a little moisturizer on me too. My face feels a bit dry.”
“…”
Satan held his breath. He felt as though his heart could no longer take it.
When the guards saw that something was wrong with the lord, they hurriedly called Cold Crow.
Half an hour later, the Cold Crow who rushed over could not help rolling his eyes.
At the door, the huge monster was lying flat on the ground. He had stuck his head and one arm through the little hatch that was originally meant for passing food, and was now carefully dipping vanilla biscuits from the breakfast tray into fruit jam and feeding them into the little sheep’s mouth.
“Is it good, Yangyang?”
“Mm, it’s all right.”
Satan fed him another bite, and the little sheep kept eating, crunching away with cheerful crisp sounds.
“Oh my, what a crisp sound. If I recorded that, it could be used as a ringtone… Come here, let Daddy wipe your mouth.”
The little sheep finished chewing the biscuit, lazily tilted his head back, narrowed his eyes, and did not move.
The monster did not blame him. He stretched farther in himself, until with great difficulty he managed to get the tissue in his hand to reach the little sheep’s pink mouth and wipe it.
Though he was the one serving a sheep, his face was full of bliss. “So good, so good.”
…What part of that is good? He wouldn’t even cooperate when having his mouth wiped!
Cold Crow was so exasperated he could no longer speak.
A guard tried to persuade him. “Lord, please come out already. If you go farther in, you’ll get stuck.”
Satan pretended not to hear. After wiping the little sheep’s mouth, he took the chance to pat the little sheep’s head once. Once he started, he got addicted. After that first pat, he wanted to keep going—but just then the little sheep stepped back. Satan panicked and could only stretch himself farther in…
Cold Crow could not stand it. He stepped forward to stop him. “Lord, there’s a meeting in an hour. Are you planning to greet people with your head stuck in the bars?”
As soon as he said that, he glanced at the lazy little sheep inside and thought: What a face that brings disaster.
The moment Satan heard the word “meeting,” a little of his reason returned. He laboriously backed his body away from the iron bars—but when it came time to pull his head back, the horns on his head unexpectedly got caught, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not free it.
Satan was flustered and sweating with frustration when, from the corner of his eye, he saw the little sheep in front of him tilt his head, look at him, and then come trotting over in small curious steps.
Satan felt humiliated. While trying to yank his horns free, he also stopped the little sheep from coming closer. “It’s all right, Yangyang. Daddy’s just studying the structure of this iron railing. I’ll leave in a moment. You go rest properly. Daddy doesn’t want to disturb you.”
But Yomi had already come over. He looked at the place where the horn was caught, then glanced at the tense Cold Crow and guards behind Satan. Since Satan’s body was so huge, once he lay down he completely blocked the doorway. If Cold Crow and the guards wanted to help, they would have to climb right over him.
Clearly, Cold Crow did not dare do that. And since Satan had not given any order, they could only wait and see whether he could solve it himself first.
Satan moved his head with all his strength, sweat pouring down his forehead.
Yomi stood on tiptoe, all four hooves stretched straight, trying hard to look upward.
While he was straining upward, Karl—who had just finished breakfast—also came over to see what was happening.
Karl clearly had no intention of helping this lord who had imprisoned Yomi. Still, he assumed Yomi would not simply leave the man stuck there, so he thought Yomi must be going over to help Satan. But then he saw the little sheep suddenly spring upward and stomp right onto the monster’s head!
Karl: ?
Cold Crow: ?
Satan: ?
Satan did not dare move at all. He was afraid the little sheep on his head might fall. “Yangyang… wh-what are you doing? Be careful, don’t fall.”
“Lord, he’s standing on your head!” Cold Crow said, thoroughly unable to bear this any longer.
“Yangyang is playing. Don’t talk nonsense.”
Yomi ignored them. He had found the place where the horn was caught, and called for Karl to come over and hold him up. Just as the people outside were puzzling over what he meant to do, they saw the little sheep, now lifted up in Karl’s arms, kick Satan’s horn hard with one hoof.
That kick was astonishingly forceful. With a sharp crack, Satan instantly felt the place where his head had been jammed loosen. He pulled backward at once, and his whole head immediately came free!
“This…” The monster looked completely dazed.
Cold Crow hurried over to help him up. “Lord, are you all right?” Then he glanced at the little sheep inside, his face carrying helpless gratitude.
Satan’s eyes were full of tears. “My son… it was my son who saved me! It was my son!”
Cold Crow: “…”
Even without that kick from the little sheep, there was no way they would have allowed Satan to stay stuck there forever. Was this really necessary?
Considering there was still a meeting coming up, Satan did not stay long. He only cast one deep look at the little sheep—especially at the hoof that had kicked him a moment before—then departed filled with gratitude.
Over the next few days, Satan made a point of wandering by Yomi’s room more than ten times a day.
Almost every meal, he personally fed his little sheep son through the bars. When luck was good, he could even sneak in a few pats on the head. When luck was bad, he would get kicked by the little sheep’s hooves. But to him that amount of force was no more than scratching an itch. Whenever he came back out, he would sigh to the guards, “My son is truly filial. He knows the weather is hot and there are mosquitoes, so now he’s even scratching his father’s itches for him.”
Guard: “…”
That day, Satan had finally finished dealing with one particularly troublesome matter. The moment he got home, he went straight to the little sheep’s room. He crouched outside the door watching the little sheep inside, who was dancing while bouncing his short tail, and after admiring him for a while, he hurriedly asked, “Yangyang, why aren’t you using the VIP songs?”
This time, having just danced his way to a high score, Yomi lifted a hoof to wipe away his sweat. “To dance a song well, I have to practice the same one over and over. Until I’ve practiced it enough, I don’t switch songs.”
Ah…
His precious son had actually answered his question seriously. His attitude was not even as cold as before. For a moment Satan did not know what to say.
Yomi saw that the timing was right and casually asked, “It’s so boring being stuck in here every day. Could you take me out to play sometime?”
Satan looked as though an overwhelming surprise had descended on him. He actually took the initiative to ask me to go out and play with him. Isn’t that a sign he’s starting to get close to me?
That very same day, Satan excitedly took Yomi out of the room.
They went to the lawn of the estate, but throughout the entire outing, a circle of big, broad-shouldered bodyguards stood around Yomi.
Those people’s gazes never left the little sheep for even a second. Yomi felt that even if he turned into a mosquito, he would still be caught at once.
At present, Yomi had no intention of fleeing anyway. He wholeheartedly enjoyed this chance to get outside—taking a walk, smelling the flowers, watching the birds in the sky, and meanwhile committing the rough layout of the outside grounds to memory.
Once he got tired, the little sheep flopped down on the grass and started playing with little wildflowers.
Satan had originally not wanted to disturb him, but after watching for a while, he could no longer hold back. He went over and gently rubbed the little sheep. “Yangyang, you’re so cute. Your legs must be sore from walking. Daddy will massage them for you.”
The little sheep pouted. “Gently.”
Satan was already being as gentle as he could possibly be, but the moment he heard that, he became so cautious that when he pinched Yomi’s hooves, he only dared lightly pinch the wool on top. After a while of that, he started rubbing his back instead. As he rubbed, he quietly sighed, “Is this what family happiness feels like?”
Yomi: “…”
At lunchtime, they sat in the shade of a tree. Satan had the food brought over, then held out a bowl of soup made with luxurious ingredients that the little sheep had specifically requested, feeding him one spoonful at a time.
The little sheep was terribly picky. The moment an ordinary ingredient entered his mouth, he immediately stuck out his lips and spat it back out. Then, after spitting it out, he said, “If I eat ordinary ingredients like that, my stomach probably won’t be able to digest them.”
The bodyguards nearby: …That was the tenderest tip of fresh grass. How exactly could that not be digestible?
This was clearly a rotten little sheep who had become corrupted by extravagant living and forgotten his roots!
“Quite right. Daddy will pick all those out for you!” Satan fished out the pieces of grass from the soup and continued feeding the little sheep.
The little sheep reluctantly accepted the spoonful.
After lunch, the little sheep gave a token little bow in thanks.
Satan immediately waved his hand. “Between father and son there’s no need for that. Forget this little meal—even all of Pearl State can be yours.”
Yomi: …If he hadn’t heard this same person say earlier that he intended to personally slaughter Sheep Asura, how heartwarming those words would have been.
When Satan escorted the little sheep back, he very clearly felt the little sheep had become much more reliant on him. For example, after only walking a few steps he would ask to be carried… Heavens, the hand holding the little sheep felt as though it were about to melt. Satan was so happy he nearly forgot himself.
Sure enough, his methods were working. In this world, there was no such thing as affection that could not be cultivated!
That same day, Cold Crow—who more and more felt as though the lord had been cursed—began taking action. He sent people out to investigate the little sheep’s background. But the results were far from ideal. The little sheep truly was nothing more than an orphan from near Skull State.
For the first time in his life, Cold Crow actually wished the little sheep did have ulterior motives. At least then the lord might be shocked back to his senses… Sigh.
Naturally, Satan did not fail to notice that Cold Crow had sent people to investigate the little sheep.
Although displeased by Cold Crow’s presumptuous actions, after looking over the little sheep’s background, Satan himself was thoroughly reassured.
Cold Crow had no choice but to remind him, “Lord, focusing your energy on Ghost State is what really matters. Those generals have already begun returning. Before long, they’ll all be back.”
“I know that perfectly well.” Satan cast him a displeased glance. “But the way you are acting leaves me very uneasy.”
“…What does that mean, my lord?”
“It means that in the future Yangyang will definitely take over from me. With you carrying this much hostility toward him, how can I possibly rest easy?”
Cold Crow was dumbstruck. “What did you just say? Have you gone mad?”
“Take it that I have.”
“Lord!”
“I’m going to rest. Leave.”
Driven out, Cold Crow’s mind was in utter chaos. He truly had been frightened by Satan this time. Uneasy, he could only comfort himself with the thought that the lord had said it impulsively and spoken nonsense in the heat of the moment.
After all, letting that little sheep inherit Pearl State was simply too absurd!
At eight o’clock that night, Yomi noticed the little window in the door being opened—Satan had come again.
At the time, Yomi and Karl were watching a movie together. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door and suddenly came up with an idea.
They had already been in this estate for over a week now. The day of Anxius’s return was growing nearer and nearer, and Yomi did not want to remain passive.
If he wanted more information, he had to take the initiative.
Pretending not to know Satan was outside, he pointed at the scene in the movie and said to Karl, “It would be so nice if Daddy would take me to a banquet too.”
Karl nearly choked. Understanding the little trick at once, he immediately played along. “Stop that. If he really thought of you as his son, would he keep you locked up?”
The little sheep froze, his ears trembling. “Don’t say that. Daddy is actually pretty good. These past days I haven’t gone hungry or thirsty. I’m just a little bored, that’s all…”
…Daddy?!
Satan completely turned to stone. When he recovered, his hands had already pulled the door open, and his voice was trembling. “Yangyang… my Yangyang…”
The little sheep wore a startled face, then lowered his head shyly as though some secret had been discovered.
Satan felt he was about to melt. “Yangyang, are you willing to acknowledge me now?”
Yomi stiffened his neck and said, “No. I don’t want to be locked up all the time. If you keep locking me up like this, then you clearly don’t treat me like your son.”
Hearing this, Satan’s face changed slightly.
Yomi knew he was still on guard and thought Yomi wanted to escape, so he pouted and said, “Take me out to play a little. You’ve got so many people around you. Do you really think I could get away? If you can’t even offer me that tiny bit of trust, then what sort of father and son are we supposed to be?”
The Satan who had still been hesitating was instantly charmed senseless. “Y-you’re right, Yangyang!” What bad intention could such a tiny little sheep possibly have? And where could he even run to?
“Daddy will take you out tomorrow… Didn’t you say you wanted to attend a banquet? There happens to be a wine banquet in Pearl State tomorrow. Daddy will take you there!”
Suppressing his excitement, the little sheep put on a calm and composed expression. “Mm. Tomorrow I’ll make proper preparations.”
As a sheep, there was naturally not much Yomi could prepare. Early the next morning, after washing up in advance, he had Karl tie a handkerchief around his neck as a scarf, making it into a bow. “I need to look more formal. There’ll definitely be a lot of important Pearl State people at the banquet. Maybe I can draw some useful information out of them.”
Karl smiled as he tied the little sheep a beautiful bow. To make him look more “businesslike,” he also put black pet shoes on all four of his hooves.
At a glance, it looked as though he were wearing tiny leather shoes.
Looking at the “business-style” little sheep in the mirror, Yomi was very satisfied. But when Satan came in carrying a custom-made formal outfit for the little sheep, both of them were stunned.
Yomi had never expected Satan to have prepared clothes for him in advance, while Satan had not expected the little sheep to have already dressed himself up this cutely… After one look, Satan almost no longer wanted to put a suit on him, but the little sheep stubbornly insisted on wearing it.
“You’re wearing a suit to a banquet. Why aren’t I allowed to wear one?” the little sheep accused him. “Just because I’m a sheep, does that mean I don’t deserve dignity?”
Satan nearly wanted to kneel. “Daddy just thinks you already look beautiful and formal enough… Fine, wear it, wear it. Do you want to wear two watches too?”
Yomi glanced at the expensive watch on the monster’s wrist, then looked down at his own empty limbs and nodded. “Then I’ll wear two.”
That way, when drawing close to people and trying to get information from them, he could raise a hoof and check the time with an air of elegant composure.
…
At ten in the morning, a luxury car stopped in front of a hotel in the center of Pearl State.
Satan had originally wanted to lead the little sheep out by the hand, but since the little sheep had to walk on hooves, that obviously would not work. Fortunately, the little sheep came up with an idea of his own. He pulled one end of his scarf longer and indicated that Satan should hold the scarf and guide him out that way.
And so, the important personages of Pearl State, who had been waiting in the banquet hall for some time, were forced to witness a scene that shattered all common sense:
Satan, the lord who was always a bandit-like brute, was actually bending over deferentially and leading a little sheep into the hall…
At first, a server thought it was merely the lord’s pet and stepped forward. “Good day, my lord. You can leave your pet in my care, or I can hold the leash for you.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Satan glared at him fiercely. “This is my son, not some pet!”
The server was greatly shocked, and then the little sheep added, “This is a ribbon, not a leash.”
Everyone: “…”
Cold Crow stepped up in time to explain. “This is our lord’s adopted son Yangyang, a genuine Junk Star person. He simply can’t return to human form… Please don’t misunderstand.”
At once, people began whispering among themselves.
The lord adopting a son at all was already surprising enough. But an adopted son who was disabled?
If they had not known very well what sort of personality Satan had, they might have suspected the lord was staging some kind of charitable performance to buy goodwill…
Still, astonished as they were, the proper banquet niceties had to be observed. A whole crowd of people, each harboring their own thoughts, stepped forward to congratulate Satan and greet the little sheep one by one.
Dressed in a tiny little suit, the little sheep was lovely beyond measure. His eyes were so black they seemed almost wet with moisture, and he looked at them all without blinking. Then, following Satan’s introductions, he bent his hooves slightly and made little bows to the elders…
At once, sharp intakes of breath rose one after another throughout the banquet hall.
…Too cute. Where had the lord found him? They wanted one too!
Seeing his son cooperate so well, Satan felt flowers blooming in his heart. After making a full round of introductions, and worrying that the little sheep might get tired, he had several bodyguards escort him over to a sofa to rest, while he himself turned back to keep speaking with a duke of Pearl State.
Yomi sat in a less crowded corner. Perhaps because of the halo of his new identity as the lord’s adopted son, there was a constant stream of people coming over to flatter him and try to befriend him.
This was not Yomi’s first banquet, and he handled it all with ease. He even managed to get one of the men—who claimed to be the son of one of the lord’s capable subordinates—drunk, then casually began fishing for information.
“You’ve really got incredible luck, kid. Becoming the lord’s son means you’ll never worry about food or clothes for the rest of your life…” the man said in a tipsy voice, then smiled at him. “But you’re so cute, if it were me… I’d be willing to raise you for the rest of your life too.”
Yomi ignored the ambiguous undertone in his voice and sighed. “If Father ever has a child of his own in the future, he may not want me anymore.”
“You’re overthinking it. The lord will never have a child of his own.”
Yomi froze. “Why?” Even though Satan was already over a hundred, weren’t there plenty of aliens who still had children at that age?
“You’re the lord’s adopted son. Don’t tell me you don’t know the lord came from Snar?”
Snar?!
Yomi’s hooves tightened.
“The lord accidentally came here a hundred years ago. They say he was once a rain dragon who by chance gained human form, though he was also the only rain dragon of his kind ever to do so… Normally that wouldn’t matter. Junk Star is full of people of different original forms getting together. But the lord’s thinking is extremely traditional. Perhaps because the memories of having once been a rain dragon still remain in him, and rain dragons of course only pair with rain dragons… Yet there can’t possibly be a second rain dragon in the whole world with human form. So tell me—does that sound like someone who could ever have a child of his own?”
Yomi was completely stunned.
He had never imagined that Satan was actually a rain dragon.
Unexpected—yet, in a way, still reasonable.
He remembered the rain dragons he had once seen on Leia Continent. They had not possessed human forms, but they clearly came from the same lineage as Satan!
At the same time, Cold Crow was leading an important figure from a neighboring state over to see Satan.
After exchanging a few polite greetings, that man, who had business to ask of Satan, naturally had already found out that Satan had adopted a son. He glanced toward the little sheep in the distance and affected surprise. “Who is that little sheep over there? What extraordinary poise, what a splendid appearance!”
Everyone: “…”
Satan did not feel in the least that the man was exaggerating. He smiled faintly. “That is my son Yangyang, and also the successor with whom I am very satisfied.”
The moment those words were spoken, the entire area fell silent.
The expressions on everyone’s faces were full of disbelief.
“My lord, have you had too much to drink? Come, I’ll take you to sober up…” Cold Crow immediately cut in, desperately trying to smooth the situation over. He had never imagined Satan truly entertained such thoughts, let alone that he would declare them publicly. He had truly gone mad! Using an excuse, he supported Satan away, and once they were somewhere no one could hear, he lowered his voice. “How could that little sheep possibly rule Pearl State? He has no human form and he’s so weak. Most likely he’d be thrown down from power the very first day!”
Satan was not drunk. He knew perfectly well that Cold Crow was not exaggerating. But he wanted to give the very best of everything to his precious son. What was wrong with that?
Thinking of Yangyang’s future, Satan was filled with paternal worry. He lowered his head and began thinking of a solution. At the same time, he ordered Cold Crow, “You think about it too. Given Yangyang’s situation, how can we make it easy for him to become lord in the future without anyone being able to threaten him? Once you think of a good solution, come tell me.”
Cold Crow was so furious he felt smoke should be pouring from his seven orifices.
On the other side, Yomi had made a new friend—the son of a diplomat.
Yomi wagged his tail and danced with his new friend in the dance floor area. From the boy, who happily boasted about his father, he learned another new piece of information: a month earlier, his father had captured a fugitive Phizhi Star criminal who had escaped to Junk Star. During the period that criminal had been imprisoned, they had obtained a classified document related to both Snar and Phizhi Star. It was currently being kept in the lord’s study safe.
Yomi firmly memorized that. Glancing once toward Satan in the distance, he began thinking about how he could make a copy of that information and get it back home…
By the time the banquet ended, Satan was once again smiling as he led the little sheep back to the car.
Cold Crow, who was driving, glanced into the rearview mirror and looked at the adorable little sheep, then at Satan. His heart sank all the way to the bottom.
No matter what, he absolutely could not allow Satan to keep indulging himself in this whole “raising a son” fantasy.
He had assisted Satan for many years. He could not stand by and watch the foundations of Pearl State be destroyed by one little sheep before Satan had even been defeated by outside enemies! He hardly dared imagine what Pearl State would become in the hooves of that little sheep…
Cold Crow gripped the steering wheel. Very quickly, an idea came to him.
On the way back to the estate, Yomi had a persistent feeling that something about Cold Crow was off. Still, he could understand that mood. If the lord publicly declared at a banquet that a newly adopted son would become his heir, it was only normal for his strategist to be unhappy.
What Yomi never imagined, however, was that Cold Crow was not merely unhappy.
He had gone insane.
The moment he got back to the room and had just finished telling Karl about the classified document, Cold Crow came to him.
Cold Crow had brought a little sheep doll with him, and the moment he came in he said, “The lord has gone out. Right now is your best chance to leave.”
At once, both Yomi and Karl gaped at him.
Cold Crow urged them, “Hurry! I bribed the guards on duty for this shift. I’ll put this sheep doll inside to stand in for you for a while, so that it delays the discovery of your escape. I also had your vehicle repaired. It’s right outside. I’ll take you there now. Once you get in the car, drive as far away as you can—farther the better. Never come back. I’m begging you!”
…
An hour later, after sending off the little sheep and his friend, Cold Crow finally let out a small sigh of relief.
He was not afraid of Satan’s anger. What he feared was Satan continuing down this muddled path.
Still, perhaps it was only his imagination, but when the little sheep left, he had kept turning back again and again, almost as if he could not bear to go…
Heavens. Don’t tell him that little sheep had actually developed Stockholm syndrome?
Some time later.
In the conference room at the top floor of a building in the city center, Satan had just finished discussing serious matters with a neighboring-state force. Looking invigorated, he rose and was about to invite them all to dinner when his optical brain suddenly rang.
It was one of the guards from the estate calling.
“M-my lord… your son has run away!”
