Chapter 75
The long journey back turned out to be far happier and easier than Yomi had imagined.
The whole way, he kept asking Anxius how life on Birdman Planet had been, and whether he had ever run short of money. After all, while he had been eating delicious food every day in Satan’s manor, he had always been secretly worried that his boyfriend might be outside somewhere going hungry because he had no money.
Naturally, Anxius would never fall to that point. Even if he really did, it would still be a small matter to him. The brutal training he had endured in his youth had left him with terrifying endurance and willpower in all matters unrelated to Yomi.
Even so, he had never expected Yomi to be snatched away by Pearl State’s lord. Even now, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he felt in hindsight. More than anything, Anxius desperately wanted to know every detail of Yomi’s captivity.
“Don’t worry, Karl and I were doing very well. It was basically like staying in a free five-star hotel in Pearl State for a while.” Yomi’s tone was cheerful, though as for the details, he didn’t quite know where to start… Besides, he was a little embarrassed to describe all the gluttonous eating and drinking.
Fortunately, Karl had been idle during that period, so every day he had filmed their life together with his communicator. Now those videos became incredibly useful, because seeing was far more direct than hearing it retold.
On the first night of camping on the road back, Anxius practically spent the whole night watching those videos.
In the videos, a little sheep with a napkin tied around his neck lifted his head haughtily to order food. The moment the door shut, he turned around and happily ate and drank his fill with Karl. While eating, he kept asking Karl which dishes were the most expensive. At the end, he even rolled around with a wine bottle under his belly, making Karl laugh so hard he bent over;
The little sheep, beautifully dressed up by Karl, stubbornly insisting on wearing a tiny suit;
The little sheep practiced the waltz in front of the dance game projected by the communicator, but since hooves couldn’t do the hand movements, his short swishing tail ended up stealing far too much of the spotlight…
Anxius’s eyes could not leave that short little tail at all.
And finally, after returning from the banquet, the little sheep mysteriously told Karl about the intelligence he had gathered. The sheep head leaned close to the camera and buzzed on for a while, only to be interrupted by Cold Crow outside the door…
That was the first time they were forced to leave the manor, though not long after, they went back again… As for what happened later, Anxius already knew most of it.
Early the next morning, Yomi woke up inside the RV and nearly jumped.
At some point Anxius had changed back into human form and was now leaning over him at close range, staring fixedly. Even though his boyfriend was no longer the standard size here, his height of more than twenty centimeters above Yomi still created a slight sense of pressure. The moment Yomi opened his mouth to speak, his cheek was pinched and gently kneaded, and the lips he was forced to pucker were kissed by another pair of thin lips.
!
Yomi’s eyes darted nervously around, afraid someone might see them, even though Karl already knew about their relationship…
Anxius had missed him far too much. He kissed him for a long while before finally hugging him and saying, “There’s no one in the car.”
“Dear… did you have a nightmare?” Recovering himself, Yomi looked at him worriedly. In his view, his boyfriend had been perfectly fine before bed last night, but then he woke up, stared at him in such a strange way, and kissed him for so long and so fiercely, exactly like someone who’d had a nightmare and wanted comfort.
Yomi was judging by himself. When he had nightmares as a child, he would wake up and go cling to his parents.
It took Anxius a good few seconds to understand what Yomi meant. For a moment, he simply couldn’t take the look in his baby boyfriend’s eyes, so he lowered his head and bit lightly into his cheek…
Before Yomi could even get an answer, Anxius had already resumed kissing him, first biting him and then pressing their lips together.
This time, his usually steady and dependable boyfriend was acting a little like a rogue. One moment he was sucking stubbornly at Yomi’s lips, refusing to let go, and the next he had already pressed him down, biting from his ears all the way to his shoulders. He restrained his force when he nibbled, but he loved him so much his teeth trembled. In the end, he even licked endlessly at his lips, as though he wanted to lick him clean from flesh to soul.
Yomi was teased until his whole body tingled. It was early morning, and he was full of energy. Wrapped in the soft, ambiguous air, they kissed back and forth. Considering there were still people outside, Anxius didn’t dare go too far. Just before Karl came in, he picked Yomi up, dressed him, and took him outside to eat.
The day they returned to the farm was blessed with good weather. They arrived at noon. Yesi and Linda had gotten the news long ago and had already prepared the meal in advance.
The whole Little Sheep Chef Squad had been waiting on the road leading to the farm. The moment they spotted the RV in the distance, they all broke into cheers and ran over to greet them.
Under the sun, a bunch of young men chased after the vehicle, laughing and shouting his name, the wind and the warmth of human presence rushing toward him.
Yomi grew excited too. Once the car stopped, he was the first to jump down. But before his feet had even touched the ground, Lynn’s tentacle had already wrapped him up and hoisted him high into the air. Immediately after, a whole crowd of tall young men surrounded the little one, demanding all at once, “Why did you take so long to come back? You scared us to death! We thought something had happened to you!”
Yomi grinned in midair. “There were special circumstances. It won’t happen again. And this time, we gained a lot.”
The young men still didn’t know about the intelligence, but after seeing the interstellar mercenaries and the starship, they couldn’t exactly refute him. “Who cares about that? It’s enough that you came back! During this time, Yesi was constantly asking people to go to Pearl State and gather information. If you hadn’t sent messages every day, we’d have set off to Pearl State to look for you already!”
“Sorry for making everyone worry.” Yomi drooped his head and obediently admitted fault.
Seeing him so meek, the boys started laughing again and lifted him even higher, treating him just like a doll and teasing him.
Yomi knew they were playing with him, so he cooperatively acted like a doll. Afraid they might accidentally drop him, Anxius beside them changed back into his original form and scooped his boyfriend away with one claw. “It’s time to eat.”
The boys were hungry too, and hollered excitedly as they headed back. “Today’s main dishes were all made by Meikai. Yesi went to town and bought tons of ingredients, and he even bought Mimi’s favorite strawberry cake! Anyway, this whole table today is absolutely no worse than a five-star restaurant! We’ll make sure you eat well!”
Yomi had already been looking forward to it. Hearing that, his mouth nearly watered.
He loved eating together with everyone. To him, even if the whole family only had noodles, it would still be incomparably delicious. He still remembered that very first bowl of noodles he had eaten when he arrived at this barren farm in the freezing winter.
On the way inside, Yomi kept craning his head out from Anxius’s arms, glancing all around. In the ten or so days since he had left, the farm was already no longer the same.
The “factory” in the distance had expanded even more. Beside it stood another workshop still under construction. The workers there had all been hired from nearby, and they had long wanted to come in and learn sewing skills. If all went well, once that workshop was finished, those people would become the first batch of new workers.
But that was only one tiny change among many. Lynn said that the portable sleeping bags they had sold some time ago had been doing exceptionally well. Especially after the earthquake, almost every local person had started keeping one. Some traders from farther parts of Junk Star had even come all the way here just to buy stock… Of course, when demand exceeded supply, there were naturally hawkers who copied the style by hand to use themselves or to sell.
“Oh, right—Yesi even set up a few offices, and one of them is the Sheep Asura Office!” Meikai said with a laugh. “And also, our Little Sheep Chef Squad is planning to open chain stores in Evil Ghost State and Skull State. So many street vendors are joining us now! We even designed the chef squad’s official logo!” With that, he pulled out his communicator and showed it to him—the chain-store logo was a smiling little sheep wearing an apron, with three letters underneath: YXL.
Yomi: …That logo looked awfully familiar.
Still, it was drawn nicely. Yomi praised it a couple of times, then went inside and gave Yesi and Linda each a big hug!
Once everyone had gathered and exchanged a few words, Yomi suddenly asked, “Where’s Gousheng?”
At once, Yesi sighed and called toward Yomi’s bedroom, “Gousheng, come out now. Everyone’s back.”
Yomi turned his head to look. The door to the bedroom he shared with Anxius was partly ajar, and through the narrow crack, one could vaguely see a blurred silhouette…
It was Gousheng!
Yomi immediately ran over. He pulled the door open, and behind it the wolf pup had grown quite a bit bigger, yet he stood there with his head lowered and didn’t move at all.
“…Gousheng?” Yomi crouched down to pet him. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
Gousheng lifted his head to glance at him, still without making a sound. He first circled Yomi once, then sniffed him all over, and afterward simply stood in front of him like a mute, totally unmoving. It was very abnormal.
Yomi was frightened out of his wits and turned around to ask, “What exactly happened to Gousheng?”
Lynn scratched his head. “At first he was okay after you left, but when you still hadn’t come back after so many days, one time I went to ask Yesi how you were doing, and he followed along to listen. Yesi said he suspected something had happened and your return date would have to be delayed, and that he was going to get someone to ask around in Pearl State… Gousheng seemed to understand. After that, he got really strange. Every day after herding the chickens, he would lie down at the farm entrance and wait for you. He never made a sound all day long. At night he wouldn’t come back inside either. If we tried to forcibly carry him in, he bit people. We had no choice… In the end, we had to move his little house right to the farm entrance.”
“…But I’m back now.”
“Exactly. Today he had originally been outside waiting with all of us too, but the moment he actually saw the vehicle, he tucked his tail and ran back into the house. And now… he’s like this.”
Yomi stared blankly at Gousheng. Involuntarily, he pictured a child separated from his parents for a very long time, then too shy and uncertain to step forward when they finally met again. At the thought, his heart ached terribly. He turned around, took out the snacks he had brought back from his bag, tore open a packet of biscuits, and held one out in front of Gousheng. Softly, he said, “Gousheng, this is a biscuit from Pearl State… I was only on a business trip there. This is a gift I brought back for you. Do you want to try it first?”
At first Gousheng stubbornly refused to move, but when the little man’s hand landed on his forehead and stroked him, the tightly shut little wolf shook all over, suddenly let out a wretched howl, and threw himself onto Yomi. Then he began crying and wailing miserably, sounding pitiful beyond measure.
Yesi took one look and finally relaxed. “Good, good. At least he hasn’t gone mute.”
Everyone: “…”
Anxius saw right through Gousheng’s little scheme at once. But this was, after all, the son he shared with Yomi, so being attached to Yomi was only natural. He briskly collected Yomi’s luggage, then led the reunited human-and-wolf pair to the dining table.
Gousheng had his own meal. Linda had specifically prepared a large food basin for him near the table, filled with his favorite meaty bones and fresh pork. Yomi also found a small plate for the biscuits—Gousheng’s very own dessert.
Gousheng ate shyly, occasionally rubbing himself against Yomi’s trouser leg, then glancing over at Anxius.
Anxius understood his meaning in one glance. After a moment’s thought, he said, “…Tonight you can sleep with us. After that, you go back to sleeping on your own.”
At once, Gousheng bounced about with excitement, wolfing down the meat in loud chomps, blissful like a silly little dog.
Everyone’s mood was excellent at this long-awaited meal together. As for the real nature of Anxius’s return this time, even if he said nothing, every single person there understood it perfectly well. Those mercenaries and that starship were more than enough to explain everything.
The number of interstellar mercenaries Anxius had brought back this time was not small. They were all in plain clothes. After escorting him back and hiding the starship in the underground hangar, they had immediately gone out in a group to eat at a restaurant, and at the moment, none of them were around.
“Those people… are they going to stay at the farm?” Yesi asked, worried there wouldn’t be enough space.
Anxius replied, “They’re leaving today. They’ll spread out across the major states of Junk Star and won’t gather here.”
Everyone was a little taken aback. Before anyone could ask anything, Yomi said, “Spread out across the major states? Then we’ll have people everywhere… Doesn’t that mean we’re basically going to become the little emperors of Junk Star someday?”
Anxius smiled. “Mm. You’re the little emperor of Junk Star.”
Yomi had only been joking. At first, he assumed Anxius’s reply was also a joke. But after thinking it over, he realized that even for revenge, they would need a proper power base. The reserves Anxius had hidden in the past could never be enough by themselves. They needed new people under them. There was no way they could simply go back alone and charge in single-handedly.
And that thought of gathering manpower immediately made Yomi think of Satan in Pearl State. As an outsider who had started from absolutely nothing and managed to become the lord of the most prosperous state on Junk Star, Satan’s abilities were naturally formidable… Thinking about it, it made sense. So many Rain Dragons lived permanently near Rhea Continent, but only Satan had gained a human form. He must have originally been the strongest Rain Dragon of them all.
By that same logic, didn’t it mean Yomi himself was the strongest human of them all?
Yomi started giggling foolishly at the flattering thought, but then sighed. He and Satan were still different. He was the only human left in this world. Maybe any human who came to Rhea Continent would be stimulated in the same way…
If Lynn and the others knew he was human and knew what he was thinking right now, they would surely shake their heads like mad: Out of all those people, only you made it here. You’re terrifyingly powerful!
But impossible questions like that weren’t things Yomi thought about for long. He only found it a pity that Satan bore hostility toward Evil Ghost State. If such a powerful figure could have been worked with on friendly terms, that would have been ideal.
Most of them were stuffed half to death by the end of this meal. Afterward, Anxius went off to settle the mercenaries he had brought back, while Yomi handed out gifts, then strolled around the farm with his little friends and Gousheng to help digest.
Before they had walked long, someone came looking for Lynn to dress a wound. It was a nearby hunter who had been injured while out hunting that day.
Lynn skillfully led him into the little house beside the main farm gate. Yomi followed to watch, and the moment he stepped inside, he was astonished. The room was lined neatly with dried medicinal herbs and packaged medicines of every kind.
Lynn settled the patient into a chair. Several of his tentacles moved with great flexibility, cleaning, disinfecting, applying medicine, and bandaging the wound. Once he was done, he gave a few instructions, handed over some medicine for external use, and sent the patient home to rest properly.
After seeing the patient out, Lynn smiled shyly and explained to Yomi, “I’ve been studying with Yesi all along, so something like this simple external wound is still manageable for me. After the earthquake, a lot of people had wounds that got infected and started festering. I treated them several times, and they healed quickly, so after that, whenever it’s just an external wound, they come directly to me… I get to build experience, and I can also earn a bit of money… There are more and more injured people coming to find me now. So, so as not to disturb everyone, I cleaned up this little house by the gate and turned it into a place to receive them.”
Yomi’s eyes were full of admiration. “That’s amazing. You already have your own clinic!”
Lynn jumped in shock at that. “N-no, no, no! How could I possibly have a clinic?”
“It is a clinic,” Yomi insisted. “This isn’t Snar Star. Even many village healers can open clinics. And you’ve got a great doctor like Yesi watching over you. This is absolutely a little clinic!”
Lynn blushed at his words, but his heart was jumping with joy. Even though this really did not count as a proper clinic, the way Yomi said it—combined with the thought of how he had been treating these injured people lately—made him suddenly feel as if he were truly already standing on the path toward becoming a doctor. The dream that had once seemed impossibly far away now felt as though he had one foot set firmly upon it…
After a day of rest, Yomi turned into a busy little whirlwind again.
As for the intelligence on the Snar Star royal family, at present only he, Anxius, Karl, Yesi, and Linda knew about it. All of them understood that this would become vital evidence when the time came to return to Snar Star and strike back at the royal family… Yet compared to being shocked by the royal family’s actions, they were even more desperate to know how on earth tiny little Yomi had managed to get hold of such intelligence by himself.
So, the entire night of videos Anxius had already watched over and over was once again screened for those four in turns, complete with Karl’s commentary as an eyewitness.
What they had expected to be some nail-biting spy thriller documentary instead very quickly turned into a session where everyone was squealing over the adorable little sheep in the footage. The younger boys who had been peeking in from outside soon couldn’t resist anymore either and rushed into the room as a pack. They didn’t care at all about the intelligence Yomi had gathered. Instead, they all crowded around the little one and begged him to turn into the little sheep from the videos so they could properly rua him to their hearts’ content.
Yomi was helpless. Still, after making his friends worry for so many days, he felt he should make it up to them a little. So before long, he lazily transformed into his little sheep form, squinting his eyes and letting the whole crowd of monsters pet him to their heart’s content.
Not long after, the sofa that had been screening the little sheep documentary was left with nothing but a white, stubby-legged little sheep sprawled on it. Monsters crowded all around him, shoving and elbowing each other for the right to stroke the sheep…
Yomi’s human form was just as cute, but a human form was still a human form. There had to be boundaries. Even if he was the size of a doll, they didn’t dare recklessly rua him. Most of the time, all they dared was patting his head, hugging him, or sneaking glances, and a single careless move would cross the line. But the little sheep was different. A tiny, adorable sheep baby—no matter how much you rua a sheep, it all felt reasonable, and they could plug their ears and tell themselves they absolutely were not bullying Yomi, only rua-ing him a little.
Countless hands rubbed, kneaded, and massaged him from all directions. Yomi was actually enjoying it rather a lot—until Anxius arrived with a dark face, shoved aside the thick-skinned monsters, and with even greater shamelessness wrapped the little sheep tightly in his arms and began massaging the sheep’s back with far more professional techniques.
Yomi shut his eyes. Maaah~ It felt amazing!
His monster boyfriend looked down at him with eyes as dark as the abyss.
After everyone finished watching the “documentary” of Spy Sheep, the topic naturally turned to Pearl State.
Yesi proposed that they start making preparations at once. Since Satan had already spoken of attacking Evil Ghost State, it could not possibly have been an empty remark.
Karl agreed. Although he had witnessed Satan’s affection for Yomi with his own eyes, the two things could not be mixed together. Sometimes, power struggles within royal families could kill even the closest kin. And besides, Yomi had stolen intelligence from him. No matter how one looked at it, Satan had ample motive for revenge.
Anxius, however, did not think very much about any of that. If Yomi hadn’t stopped him, he would already have fought Satan to the death. If Satan really came, then all the better—it would simply satisfy his wish to avenge the kidnapping of his baby boyfriend as soon as possible.
A few days later, most of the interstellar mercenaries left on missions in flying crafts for other regions. Only two elite mercenaries remained at the farm.
Since the powers in Evil Ghost State had long since been put in order and Sheep Asura was now its lord, no one dared come make trouble. Anxius also disliked having people constantly trailing after him while he worked. So the two idle elite mercenaries very quickly transformed into Yomi’s personal secretaries.
As the temperature changed, two more months passed, and though the farm still had no internet, it had changed dramatically.
The factory had now truly taken shape. Yomi brought his secretaries to cut the ribbon for the new workshop, then returned to the Sheep Asura Office to review the design drafts for new factory products. Once finished, he held a teacup in both hands and sipped tea.
The pretty little man gazed out the window and smiled in a mysterious way: A busy life is really quite fulfilling~
Secretary A stared hopefully at his teacup. Once he confirmed there was only half the water left, he immediately stretched out his hand. “President Sheep, let me refill your tea.”
Secretary B lunged to snatch the chance, but missed. He could only go over and start organizing documents for the little sheep boss instead. Just then, he saw the little boss turn toward the bookshelf and go up on tiptoe to reach for a book. Instantly thinking that his chance had come, he rushed over to help—
But as the saying goes, the weather is unpredictable. At that very moment, a huge figure appeared out of nowhere, stepped directly in front of him to block him firmly, and then lifted the little sheep boss into his arms.
“Anxius?” Yomi turned back with the book in his hands. “You came back from town?”
Anxius nodded. He motioned for the two elites to withdraw. Once they were gone, he lowered his head and kissed him once, then pulled out a thick stack of letters and handed them over to the little man nestled in his arms and still clutching the book. “These came from Pearl State.”
Yomi froze for a few seconds.
Once Anxius set him down lightly in his seat, he hesitated, then nervously opened the envelope.
Even though he didn’t think Satan would go so far as to send a letter full of insults, he was still a little scared.
Inside the envelope, besides the letter paper, there was also a newspaper.
Yomi gathered his courage and read the letter first. After only a few lines, he stopped dead.
—
Yangyang (crossed out) oh, your name is Little Sheep, right? How have you been lately?
Can you still eat the food over in Evil Ghost State? Have you gotten thinner?
About what happened that day, Cold Crow already told me everything. I originally thought you were a spy from some other state. I never, ever imagined you would turn out to be Evil Ghost State’s Sheep Asura… You really scared me badly.
Do you know how angry I was?
I was so furious I nearly died of it. If I had known you were Sheep Asura, I absolutely would never have let you go that day! (At this point there was an entire line of garbled swearing.)
I’ve met spies before. Even though I don’t sympathize with them, I know some people are forced into saying things they don’t mean. When you said you had a lover, I started thinking—could they be holding your lover hostage to threaten you? Otherwise why would you rather give up being the heir to a lordship than work as a spy?
I was f**king fooled!!!
If I had known from the start that you were Sheep Asura, I would absolutely have kept you in Pearl State. Sheep Asura becoming my heir—I’d like to see who would dare object! If pushed too far, I’d just go with you to Evil Ghost State! I absolutely refuse to give up custody!!! Absolutely!!!
Wuwuwu baby baby baby… Daddy misses you. When will father and son be reunited?
by your loving Daddy Satan
Yomi: “…”
Blankly putting down the letter, he absentmindedly opened the newspaper. The first thing that met his eyes was a giant headline: Major Internal Upheaval in Pearl State: Lord Announces Imminent Surrender to Sheep Asura!
He froze, rubbed his eyes hard, and then noticed that below it was a text interview with Strategist Cold Crow.
Reporter: “Mr. Cold Crow, many people asked me to ask you—has Lord Satan recently lost his mind? (laughs)”
Cold Crow: “I believe so.”
Reporter: “…Could it be that Pearl State is preparing some major move behind the scenes? Please give everyone a bit of reassurance. A lot of people are saying Sheep Asura defeated Satan. Is that true? Or is it just baseless rumor?”
Cold Crow: “Here’s the situation. For a period of time, I wasn’t appearing in public, so many people assumed the lord had imprisoned me. Because of that, a lot of false rumors began spreading to drive a wedge between us. The main reason I’m accepting this interview today is also to refute those rumors.”
Reporter: “Please go ahead!”
Cold Crow: “To state it again clearly: I was not imprisoned. It’s just that after seeing Sheep Asura’s human form, I failed to take a photo in time, so Lord Satan ordered me to draw it. I can’t draw, and in the end Lord Satan signed me up for a sketching course… After studying for this long, it still doesn’t look very much like him. So while we’re here with xx Metropolitan Daily, I’d like to ask everyone: are there any fast-track drawing classes you’d recommend? Please contact xxxxx.”
Reporter: “…Haha, surely this portrait of the human form is meant to better understand enemy information.”
Cold Crow: “If you say so. Stop wiping your sweat.”
Reporter: “Uh… could there really be some internal problem? I’ve heard that a whole batch of generals recently returned together. Could it be… could it really be, as people suspect, that Lord Satan has been controlled? Is that why he’s throwing everything away? Can you reveal anything at all?”
Cold Crow: “Who could possibly control him? The lord is willing to live and die for a son. In the future, he’ll definitely be willing to charge to his death for that son and conquer all of Junk Star. Throwing everything away? Doesn’t that sound pretty hot-blooded to me?”
Reporter: “…That concludes the interview. Thank you, everyone.”
Yomi: “…”
Anxius, who had already read that newspaper in the morning, spoke in a cool voice: “He wishes.”
