Chapter 74
This time, when they left Satan’s estate, Cold Crow personally drove them out.
Yomi / Karl: So grateful!
Cold Crow: …
It wasn’t that he was especially kindhearted. He simply had zero faith in those two fools. This time, he’d gone so far as to drug the lord—something he’d never done before—and had already braced himself to be beaten half to death and locked up for half a year. Since he’d made up his mind to such an extent, if those two hopeless idiots somehow wandered right back again, he really would feel like dying.
If he personally saw them off, he refused to believe Satan would still be able to drag them back once he woke up!
In the car, the little sheep carrying the intelligence lay steadily in the back seat.
Karl looked after the little sheep while telling Cold Crow the route out, all the while vigilantly watching outside the window.
This time they really were leaving, so naturally they did not want to get caught again and thrown into a big prison cell.
Cold Crow drove their camper without relaxing for even a second. Only when they were getting farther and farther from the estate did the tense expression on his face ease slightly, and even then he could not help glancing into the rearview mirror.
The little sheep seemed sleepy. His head drooped, his eyes half-open, looking listless.
Cold Crow kept driving, but inwardly he did not feel all that comfortable either. He had looked after the little sheep for several days, after all. To say he felt absolutely nothing for such a cute and entertaining little sheep would be impossible. But for the greater cause of Pearl State, and for the sake of this little sheep’s peaceful life, Cold Crow believed his choice had not been wrong.
With that thought, he took out a card and passed it backward. “I’ll take you straight to the border of Pearl State. Once you leave Pearl State, do not come back. Even in your hometown, keep a low profile for a while, in case you get found and locked up again… This card is for you. There’s enough money in it for you to live the rest of your lives without worrying about food or clothing. Ahem… though don’t keep living quite as extravagantly as you did at the estate. Even a mountain of gold can be spent away…”
“We can’t take this money,” Karl pushed it back. “Yangyang and I both have jobs of our own, actually. Your boss treated us fairly decently too. Yangyang and I talked it over, and we won’t be taking even a needle or a thread from you.” Except the intelligence, of course.
Cold Crow: …Putting on airs now, are you? If you have the guts, spit back out all those rare delicacies you ate!
Just as Yomi was about to nod in agreement, the optical brain on his hoof suddenly vibrated.
A call was coming in.
Curious, he looked down at it—and then let out a shocked “Baa!”
Cold Crow disliked arguing over this sort of thing. Thinking the little sheep was just rejecting the money again, he was about to force them to take it, when the steadily moving vehicle suddenly jolted. A swooping aircraft had abruptly appeared in the air ahead—
Cold Crow was startled. On Junk Star, aside from offworlders, almost nobody drove aircraft.
And this aircraft was clearly coming straight for him—because in the entire vehicle, he believed only he would be a target for offworlders. After all, if anyone attacked Junk Star, the first power they’d naturally target would be Pearl State, and as the second-in-command, he would definitely be the number one assassination target among them!
Everything happened too suddenly. In those few short seconds, Cold Crow naturally had no way to think through all the illogical parts of it. He instinctively assumed he had encountered danger. At once he yanked the wheel, trying to turn around and flee.
The car was too chaotic. Amid all the noise, Cold Crow did not hear the little sheep cry out, “Stop the car! It’s someone I know!”
Cold Crow kept accelerating, his whole face turning red with strain.
The vehicle sped ahead wildly. The little sheep was nearly being tossed onto all fours in the air, and in that moment he could not even get his words out properly. Karl had no time to think of anything else and threw himself over to shield the little sheep first.
The car was shaking so violently that both he and Yomi nearly got dizzy.
No matter how fast Cold Crow drove, the car could never outrun an aircraft. Though he kept accelerating, in less than a minute the aircraft forced them to a stop.
At the same time, an intense field spread rapidly outward from the aircraft, expanding through the surrounding area. Almost instantly, the terrifying pressure crushed Cold Crow so hard he could not even raise his head. Slumped over the steering wheel, he stared with wide eyes and forced out, “Who… who is it…”
The blurred giant shadow gradually became clear.
It was a massive monster with wings and demonic horns. All four of its limbs bore claws sharp as blades. They resembled Satan’s rain dragon claws somewhat, yet differed in subtle ways, because this was not a dragon-type original form. It looked more like some alien monster walking upright—nonhuman and yet half-human too—something that seemed to look down upon all living things. It did not feel like a creature evolved from an animal at all, but a true demon.
This was the first time Cold Crow had ever felt such overwhelming pressure. He was seized with terror and intense regret. With an enemy this strong, even if the lord were awake he might not be able to win. And now he himself had drugged him unconscious… If anything happened to Satan because of this, he would be a sinner forever!
The black scales on the monster’s body shone in the daylight. Yet he did not exhibit the calmness Cold Crow had imagined. The instant he leapt out of the aircraft, he rushed at the camper in near-disarray. When he could not open the door immediately, he ripped one door off entirely. The moment he saw the little sheep lying there on all fours, his breathing grew even harsher. One of his claws trembled, and in the next instant he had gathered the little sheep into his arms.
Anxius!
Yomi was overjoyed. He had never expected Anxius to come back this quickly, much less in an aircraft. He wriggled excitedly in his boyfriend’s arms. “Darling, darling! Did you finish your business? What amazing timing—we actually ran into each other here! Perfect, now we can all go back together!”
“…”
The monster’s eyes were bloodshot. If he had not been afraid of frightening Yomi, he would have wanted to simply tuck the little sheep into his mouth and carry him away.
Heaven knew what Anxius had felt when he returned to Junk Star with his trusted men and saw that message and red packet…
After urgently calling the farm, he had only then learned the shocking truth: Yomi had never gone back to Ghost State during all this time!
At that point he had practically gone mad. Clinging to the last scraps of reason, he traced Yomi’s optical brain location, locked onto Satan’s estate, and came here immediately.
Anxius simply did not dare imagine what sort of days Yomi had endured while imprisoned. He wanted to slice Satan into a thousand pieces!
Hatred, panic, longing—three utterly different emotions churned violently inside him. Anxius was in agony. He regretted it, regretted bringing Yomi to Pearl State in the first place.
…
The situation was not quite that bad.
Looking at the perfectly fine little sheep in his arms, Anxius’s emotions still did not settle. He rubbed his face against Yomi’s, then lifted his head and stared coldly as ice in the direction of the estate.
By then Yomi had already noticed from Anxius’s mood that something was off. Just as he was about to ask, a starship flew in not far away.
The starship stopped promptly behind the aircraft. Immediately afterward, several monsters stepped out carrying weapons. They were well-trained and dressed like interstellar mercenaries. They inclined their heads toward the little sheep and asked Anxius, “Since Lord Sheep Asura has already been rescued, shall we still attack Pearl State?”
Hearing this from the driver’s seat, Cold Crow went deathly pale in an instant.
So it was true! It really was aimed at Pearl State! And it belonged to Sheep Asura’s side…
Sheep Asura?!
He immediately looked over at the little sheep, his face full of disbelief.
Before Anxius could answer, Yomi had already guessed the misunderstanding. He quickly shook his head. “No, no fighting. Satan didn’t hurt me, so let’s not fight.” Then he leaned up toward his boyfriend and whispered, “Actually, I was being a spy over there too. He treated me pretty well. I even got a piece of intelligence from him about the Snar royal family.”
Yomi had actually been acting as a spy too?
The emotions Anxius had barely managed to suppress exploded all over again. “Did they hurt you?”
There might not be visible bodily harm for the moment, but emotional damage? There had definitely been some!
“No,” Yomi said softly. “Did you see the message I sent you? Satan has no children and wanted me to be his adopted son. I refused, so he locked Karl and me up for a while. But I also stole his things, so let’s just leave it at that.”
Karl nodded too. He briefly explained to Anxius the whole chain of events—from their car breaking down and asking Satan for help, to everything that happened after, right up to how they escaped today with Cold Crow’s assistance.
Hearing that the moment he left, Yomi had been tricked and thrown into “prison,” and that during his imprisonment he had even risked acting as a spy, Anxius could hardly bear it. His claws trembled with lingering fear. It felt as though someone had plunged a knife straight into his heart. During all that time, if anything at all had happened to Yomi…
Anxius was furious and insisted on going to settle the score with Satan.
Peacemaking little sheep Yomi could not physically stop him in his sheep form, but he truly did not want his boyfriend fighting Satan. So he let out a plaintive sound and said, “No, don’t! He’s already my adoptive father in name!”
Anxius froze, looking puzzled.
The little sheep pouted in embarrassment. “Um… for the sake of good food, I called him Daddy and accepted his red packet… Everyone in Pearl State already knows I’m his adopted son now. If you go fight him, then won’t I end up with the reputation of being unfilial?” As he spoke, he hugged his boyfriend’s claws with both hooves and shook them. “Darling, let’s just go home.”
“…”
Anxius was tossed between surges of rage and the softening effect of the little sheep’s coaxing.
Meanwhile, Cold Crow heard everything from inside the car. While his heart was racing wildly, he could not help admiring how unfathomable this tiny little sheep really was.
Such an overwhelmingly powerful monster had been handled by him until it was completely obedient.
By now Anxius’s heart had already been softened by his boyfriend-baby’s pleading. He cast an indifferent glance toward the estate and finally suppressed the urge to lash out, agreeing to Yomi’s request. He arranged for the mercenaries returning from Birdman Planet to take the aircraft, while he himself would drive the camper back with Yomi.
Now that the danger of being away from home was gone, Yomi no longer needed to keep pretending to be disabled. Right there in Anxius’s arms he transformed back into his original human form, touched the fake horns still on his head, and tilted his face up with a small smile.
Those dark eyes looked at him for a moment, then Anxius put a sapphire necklace around his neck. “I bought this on Birdman Planet. The name of this gemstone is Human Star, so it belongs to Mimi.”
Yomi’s eyes widened. He lovingly stroked the gemstone. “…It’s so beautiful. Thank you.”
Anxius watched him gently.
“So, did everything get done over there? Did it go smoothly?”
“Mm.” To see Yomi as soon as possible, Anxius had wanted nothing more than to finish every last thing in a single day.
Once the anger and hatred faded, what remained was a love so full it threatened to overflow. Anxius held Yomi and kept looking him over again and again. Every time Yomi smiled, Anxius felt like lifting him up and giving him a little shake, just to see whether some adorable bubbles might fall out of him.
Inside the car, Cold Crow’s heart had already turned to ash. He had assumed his death was certain—as one of Satan’s subordinates who had now discovered both Sheep Asura’s identity and the matter of the spying, there was no way he would not be silenced, was there?
Though he also had no idea what exactly there was in Satan’s estate worth stealing in the eyes of another power…
He closed his eyes and waited for death. Yet after a long while, the only thing he finally heard was:
“Cold Crow, thank you for helping us leave that place. But once you go back, please tell Satan that he should abandon any thoughts of attacking Ghost State as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will definitely retaliate twice as hard.”
Yangyang was so serious…
No, not Yangyang—Sheep Asura was serious!
Cold Crow glanced at the group over there, his hands and feet growing cold. If not for the little one’s earnest expression, he might have thought the words were meant as mockery.
A starship that could be summoned at will, an aircraft, armed interstellar mercenaries… With that kind of array, they clearly even had offworld forces behind them. How could Pearl State possibly win in a fight?
Most likely, before long, Ghost State would simply come and annex them outright, wouldn’t it?
A few minutes later.
Cold Crow stood dumbly by the roadside, watching as the camper sped away under the protection of the starship. Only after a long while did he come back to himself.
The more he thought of how he had once believed that tiny little sheep would bring Pearl State to ruin, only to discover that the very same “tiny little sheep” was actually the terrifyingly capable leader of Ghost State, the more ashamed and frightened he felt.
Compared to worrying over whether the lord would go insane once he woke up and learned the truth, he was now even more concerned for Pearl State’s future.
…The rumors truly had not been false. With Sheep Asura possessing such overwhelming powers of enchantment, how could anyone possibly resist?
Sigh. All of Junk Star was already within the palm of his sheep hoof.
