Doctor Lu Always Wants To Steal My Baby! Chapter 14
byChapter 14 The Big Monster (II)
[Daddy, what is “yufu”?]
[Dr. Lu, I took Leyan on a space patrol, why isn’t Leyan happy? Does he dislike going out?]
Lu Changqing’s terminal received two messages almost simultaneously.
He didn’t rush to reply to He Leyan’s message. The child didn’t know many characters yet, and he’d probably need to call to figure out what those two pinyin syllables actually referred to.
He immediately replied to He Chen’s message: [Did you tell him in advance that you were taking him out?]
[…]
[Is going out really that ceremonial?]
He Chen sent two messages in a row.
An assistant sent a work reminder, which Lu Changqing glanced at and dismissed, then continued replying to He Chen: [Every child has a different nature. Some easily accept new things, while others prefer order and stability. Leyan belongs to the latter. It’s not that he doesn’t like going out; he prefers to plan before acting.]
He Chen raised an eyebrow and looked at He Leyan, who was politely eating a military ration biscuit: This little guy, plans before acting?
However, it shouldn’t be surprising. He Chen thought of Han Jin—Leyan wasn’t much like Han Jin, but when it came to order, that guy was indeed demanding… He Chen smiled, then silently flattened his lips, tapping his fingers on the terminal:
[Understood. Thank you for the guidance.]
[You should get back to your work, old man.]
Old man?
Ten thousand miles away, Lu Changqing stared blankly at the unfamiliar text for a moment, then went back and looked at the “yufu” He Leyan had sent.
Very well. He put down the terminal, and his slender, jade-like fingers twirled again.
*
“Commander, we have an internal wave.” The report came through the communication channel from the forward scout ship.
He Chen clicked on the virtual panel on the left side of the central console to view the message sent by the scout. The panel displayed a long, high-amplitude waveform. This was a cosmic internal wave occasionally encountered during space navigation, related to gravity leaps. It was similar to the oceanic internal waves on Blue Star that could cause submarines to drop depth, and if not handled carefully, it could cause the spaceship to lose speed and result in a safety accident.
“Should we bypass it?” Ning Tian asked.
He Chen nodded: “You take the lead.”
This internal wave had a wide front and a short distance. To successfully bypass it, the spaceship needed to quickly adjust its attitude and angle, an operation only experienced pilots could handle.
Ning Tian certainly had enough experience, but—he worriedly glanced at He Leyan in the back seat.
The riding experience during rapid spaceship adjustments was far from comfortable.
“Leyan is—”
“When did you get so long-winded?”
Ning Tian was interrupted by He Chen’s annoyed tone after only two words.
“Fly your ship.” He Chen snorted, then squeezed into the back row again, adopting a tone that gave Ning Tian goosebumps: “Hey, Leyan, it’s going to be a little bumpy now. For safety, we—”
“No time!” Ning Tian wondered who the truly long-winded one was.
“We must plan before acting!” He Chen said something Ning Tian didn’t understand, but he didn’t try to explain to He Leyan again. Instead, he directly unlocked the child’s safety harness and picked him up.
At the same instant, the spaceship began to violently shake. He Leyan’s ears were ringing, and he almost didn’t hear the click of the harness lock, but he felt himself pressed tightly against a body—the Big Monster’s body. He was securely locked in the Big Monster’s embrace.
“Don’t be afraid! It’ll be over soon!” Amidst a flurry of alarms, vibrations, and buzzing, the Big Monster’s voice penetrated the thick helmet and reached He Leyan’s ears.
He Leyan could feel the spaceship ascending because a force was pulling him down. Papa Wen had taught him that this was called “inertia.”
This “inertia” made him very uncomfortable, and then the downward pull suddenly changed into a force pulling him to the left (or maybe the right), making him even more uncomfortable… Also, everything in the spaceship was shaking, spinning and shaking, and He Leyan was spinning and shaking along with it. His face turned pale, and he started to feel nauseous again.
But before he could throw up, the Big Monster holding him suddenly moved, carrying him. He Leyan’s face was buried in the chest, so he couldn’t see how the Big Monster moved, but strangely, every one of his movements perfectly counteracted the “inertia” that was making him uncomfortable.
Also, he couldn’t feel the shaking anymore—the Big Monster carried him, floating. Everything around them was shaking, but the Big Monster’s embrace was completely stable.
He Leyan couldn’t help but lift his small head.
“Don’t look, you’ll get dizzy.” The Big Monster pressed his head back into his chest, freeing one hand to grasp his wrist.
Before He Leyan could figure out what he was doing, he suddenly felt pulled into another world.
It was a vast expanse of bright, clean snow.
Perfectly level and steady, without the slightest tremor.
He Leyan looked at the snow beneath his feet and slowly realized that this was a mental domain.
It was the Big Monster’s mental domain.
A few snowflakes drifted onto his face. He Leyan looked up and saw that it was snowing—only in this small area around him. He lifted his head higher and saw a cloud directly above him—shaped like a big gray wolf.
“…”
He Leyan lowered his gaze and looked around. At the Medical Academy, the doctor daddies took turns lecturing him. He had an excellent memory and never forgot what he learned. He knew that the size and complexity of a person’s mental domain were related to the owner’s rank. The higher the rank, the larger the mental domain, and the more detailed and realistic the world within it.
The largest and most detailed one he had ever seen was Daddy’s mental domain, which was practically another world.
But the Big Monster’s mental domain… there was nothing but snow. It wasn’t large, nor was it “detailed.”
He Leyan wrinkled his small brow. For some reason, he suddenly felt a little worried.
While he was worrying, the owner of the mental domain was clearly unconcerned: Right in front of him, the snowflakes on the ground automatically rose, and in a few seconds, they formed a spinning snowball. The snowball seemed alive, bouncing in front of He Leyan, then happily diving into the snow, plowing a long track. When it emerged again, it had grown significantly larger.
After repeating this process several times, the small snowball grew and transformed right before He Leyan’s eyes, quickly turning into a snowman—no, a… snow wolf.
It was short and stout, with two triangular ears and a large white tail made of snow.
It stood motionless, looking at him expectantly.
He Leyan tried to resist, but couldn’t help approaching the small snow wolf, which was about his height. The snow wolf stood still, appearing to be a truly lifeless “snow” wolf, but as He Leyan got closer, its tail, also made of snow, couldn’t help but wag.
“Is that you?” He Leyan stopped, his voice childish but his expression serious as he asked.
The “snow” wolf froze again, completely still.
“I know it’s you.” A mental body could transform arbitrarily within a mental domain. He Leyan was sensitive to mental bodies, and when he got close, he felt a faintly familiar fluctuation—it was the Big Wolf.
“You…” He Leyan bit his lip. He was still a little afraid of the real Big Wolf, but if it was in this form…
He Leyan was conflicted, and the “snow” wolf remained motionless like a statue.
But with a snap, its snow tail broke off…
The little “snow” wolf couldn’t help but look back, but it stopped instantly, maintaining an awkward angle where its head and body were uncoordinated. Its two snow eyes were still peeking at He Leyan…
…What to do? He suddenly felt even more worried.
He Leyan stood there for a moment, finally making up his mind. He walked toward the little “snow” wolf, squatted down, scooped up some snow, and began making it a new tail…
“Bypass complete. Command mode disengaged.” Ning Tian issued a command over the communication channel and turned to He Chen, “Commander—”
“Shh!” He Chen stopped him, a mysterious smile on his face, while his body—to protect the young cub in his arms from the turbulence—was still held in an odd posture, floating mid-air with his head braced against the cabin wall.
What was he up to now? Ning Tian looked at He Leyan in his arms, noticing that He Leyan was unusually quiet. Seeing He Chen continuously holding He Leyan’s wrist, he suddenly understood: “You took him—”
“He Chen! You bastard!” Chu Yunqi’s exasperated voice suddenly came through the communication channel. “You’re going to make me dizzy—ugh…”
He Chen controlled his body to step onto solid ground. Hearing the “ugh,” he instinctively backed away a bit, his smile widening: “He’s cursing you.”
He looked at Ning Tian, who was piloting the ship.
Ning Tian stared at the communicator and coldly snorted.
He Chen suddenly looked at the navigation map and blinked: “His Highness cursed you. Shouldn’t you give him a little treat?”
“He cursed you,” Ning Tian said, but he also glanced at the route.
Ahead was a patch of dark matter “reef zone,” which consisted of dark matter crystals only observable with special instruments. Because the speed of light dropped sharply around these crystals, they would counteract the ship’s engine thrust. Simply put, they were like pools of transparent asphalt. A ship flying into them would speed up and slow down erratically, making the ride extremely uncomfortable for passengers, and risking loss of speed if not careful.
One of the reasons the Han River Base area became a “lawless zone” was the abundance of this material, which made it easy for star pirates familiar with the environment to evade capture. Normally, they would bypass this area during patrol.
But there were abnormal times, such as when their neurotic commander occasionally made them charge through it to train their adaptability to special environments, even organizing reef-crossing races.
In other words, he and his comrades were highly adaptable to the reef zone. The only ones who weren’t adaptable were the Third Prince Chu Yunqi, and He Leyan in He Chen’s arms.
“Don’t worry.” Seeing Ning Tian look at the cub, He Chen instantly understood what he was thinking and grinned, tightening his hold on He Leyan.
He looked like a human kangaroo.
Ning Tian turned his attention back to the control panel, steadied himself for a moment, and issued a cold command: “High-density dark matter zone detected ahead. Distance too short to bypass. Engaging command mode. Flight temporarily taken over by me. Repeat, flight temporarily taken over by me.”
“What zone? Damn it, are you guys still going—”
“Click!” Ning Tian cut off Chu Yunqi’s communication access.
Good boy, He Chen’s eyes were bright, and he gave Ning Tian a solid thumbs-up.
*
Fighting against repeated breaks, in the pure white mental domain, He Leyan finally reattached the tail to the little “snow” wolf.
He also straightened its crooked head.
Then he looked at the motionless little “snow” wolf and bit his lip.
He remembered the majestic Big Wolf that always looked at him pitifully.
“Actually, you’re quite nice,” He Leyan mumbled. “But we aren’t suitable to be friends…”
Your real form is too big and too scary. And I have to go back to Star Capital.
He Leyan hadn’t forgotten Wen Yi’s promise. If he didn’t adapt within a month, Papa Wen would pick him up. He, he definitely couldn’t adapt… right?
So… I’m sorry.
He Leyan silently apologized in his heart, then reached out and touched the triangular little ear on the “snow” wolf’s head.
There. I didn’t touch you last time, so this makes up for it. He said in his heart again.
A gust of wind blew through, and he felt his hand become empty. He subconsciously looked up, meeting a silver-white battlesuit.
He was back in the real world, and he was still being held by the Big Monster—He Leyan thought, his mind clear and agile, far exceeding that of an average three-year-old.
But there was one thing that wasn’t clear: this scene felt like it had happened before.
He was firmly secured in “his” hard yet soft embrace, whether sleeping or awake.
“His” body was his cradle, and his heartbeat and breathing were his lullaby.
Heartbeat, breathing…
He Leyan suddenly tilted his head back, reaching toward the “Big Monster’s” chest.