Doctor Lu Always Wants To Steal My Baby! Chapter 15
byChapter 15 The Big Monster (Part 3)
“You’re awake?”
They had passed through the reef zone. He Chen pulled He Leyan out of the mental domain. Noticing He Leyan’s hand resting on his chest, He Chen thought the boy was resisting being held, so he placed him back in the seat and fastened the seatbelt.
“It’s not bumpy now,” he said, squatting in front of the seat to comfort He Leyan, a hint of shame on his face. “Next time, I’ll let you get used to it first before bringing you out.”
This wasn’t a matter of getting used to it; he shouldn’t have brought the child out at all…
Ning Tian held back his words and once again deactivated the command mode—a mode where all starships would be under his control, automatically following his movements and route.
With the mode deactivated, the ships behind them could move freely, and the communication channel opened up.
“I want to… ugh… I want to go back!” Chu Yunqi’s voice came through the intercom system, sounding angry and haggard.
Beside him, the pilot’s serious explanation could be heard: “Your Highness, going back means we have to traverse the same route again.”
“Traverse your mother… ugh…”
The sound was too vulgar. He Chen quickly covered He Leyan’s ears, and Ning Tian once again decisively cut off Chu Yunqi’s signal.
“Damn it! Bastard!” Chu Yunqi cursed and, with persistent annoyance, reconnected the signal. “Ning Tian! Was that you who cut me off? Fine, fine, you’re great! You, you lost your battle armor!”
Battle armor? He didn’t need it anyway. Ning Tian ignored Chu Yunqi and, with He Chen’s authorization, issued a command: “All starships initiate self-checks. Report status in three minutes.”
After speaking, he closed the channel, manipulated the central control, and began checking their own starship for any damage sustained during the crossing.
He Chen patted his shoulder from behind. “If he won’t give you one, I’ll pay to replace it. Well done.”
Ning Tian was unmoved. “If you have money, first pay off your debt—”
“Of course I have money!” He Chen quickly covered Ning Tian’s mouth, secretly glancing at He Leyan, and frantically winked at Ning Tian.
Have money? Who was it who nearly borrowed from the entire team just to prepare a gift for the people at the Medical Academy?
Who was it who, for ten years straight, still wore this worn-out antique uniform? Nostalgia?
Ning Tian didn’t want to contradict He Chen in front of the cub, so he turned back to focus on his starship.
“We confiscated some things this time, you know. I’ll have money to pay you back soon,” He Chen leaned closer to Ning Tian and whispered.
“No rush,” Ning Tian replied with a straight face. “You have more important places for that money to go.”
He Chen’s money truly had important uses, Ning Tian knew.
Over the years of clearing out space pirates, He Chen wasn’t unable to acquire wealth, but he had a bottomless pit to fill: the fleet had a group of veterans who had retired due to mental power instability. The Empire provided pensions based on rank, but most people in their fleet were commoners whose ranks didn’t climb high, so their pensions were limited. He Chen had been continuously paying their expensive treatment fees.
Furthermore, when the fleet had an incident three years ago, there were many casualties, and the aftermath was another bottomless pit.
Ning Tian and a few others in the know within the fleet were silently helping to fill it.
He Chen didn’t speak, just patted Ning Tian’s shoulder with gratitude. The force was so strong that Ning Tian’s stoic expression nearly cracked.
He Chen had already turned his head, intending to ask He Leyan if he was hungry, only to find He Leyan staring at him unblinkingly.
“What is it?” He Chen subconsciously felt guilty and straightened his back. “Dad really has money.”
He Leyan was silent for a moment, then spoke. “The Empire has seven star sectors and over twenty space bases. Hanhe Base is the farthest and poorest.”
He recited this fluently, like reciting a textbook, without any emotional coloring. But lack of emotion didn’t mean it wasn’t piercing.
“Is that true?” the cub asked after finishing his recitation.
“…No,” He Chen forced a smile.
Oh, Your Highness, we clearly didn’t serve you enough hardship.
“Hanhe Base is really not poor, Leyan. Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be on the surface.”
He Chen himself wasn’t particularly wealthy, but Hanhe Base was far from being as poor as the accounts suggested. Their starships and battle armor only looked old; their core components were genuinely high-tech and sophisticated. Plus, their stockpiled weapons and equipment, if revealed, would likely shock everyone.
All this was because Hanhe actually had a major backer behind it.
“Also, even if Dad doesn’t have much money, it’s certainly enough to raise you,” He Chen said seriously.
“I can be a Therapist and earn money myself,” He Leyan said instinctively.
“Silly boy, how old are you?” He Chen smiled and ruffled He Leyan’s hair. Their eyes met, and he froze for a moment, then withdrew his hand as naturally as possible.
He Leyan also felt a little stiff and lowered his small head.
Why did he say something like that? It sounded like he intended to stay. No, he was going back to the Medical Academy… He wouldn’t stay just because the man smelled good and his heartbeat felt familiar…
“Ahem, are you hungry? Want something to eat?” He Chen pulled open the backpack he had brought for He Leyan, and his expression suddenly became even more rigid—
Damn it, he packed the milk powder but forgot the bottle…
“Drinking milk all the time is boring. Do you want to try the nutrient solution that real men love to drink?”
Commander He closed the backpack, looked up, and gave a strained smile.
“I’m not hungry yet,” He Leyan said. Then he picked at his fingers. “You…”
He wanted to ask the big monster if he had held him before, but his small mouth opened and closed. Just before speaking, the child changed the question: “You’re not a Therapist, so why could you pull me in?”
His childish words didn’t specify where “in” was, but He Chen understood his meaning—he was asking why he could pull him into the mental domain.
“It’s not only Therapists who can link to the mental domain. Warriors, ahem, smarter warriors can too. Dad graduated from the Command Department and took courses on linking to the mental domain when I was in school.”
He had taken the course, but he failed it.
After two full years of high-intensity tutoring from that terrifying senior, he finally managed to learn it.
Let bygones be bygones.
“Ahem, do you know about the Command Department?” He Chen changed the subject. “Only the smartest warriors can enter that department.”
“I know,” He Leyan whispered. “Daddy told me.”
“Is that so? Your Daddy knows about this?” He Chen was a little surprised.
He Leyan nodded, scratched his small fingers, and suddenly raised a pair of large, grape-like eyes. “Did you used to—”
“Commander!”
“Hmm?” He Chen turned to look at Ning Tian.
Ning Tian pointed at a distant spot on the large screen, his expression serious. “Starship trajectory detected. Based on spectral analysis, it’s not ours. It should be space pirates.”
Hearing this, He Chen stopped listening to He Leyan, turned around, took over the central control, checked the analysis report, and frowned at the white triangular trace.
“Integrate signal resources, switch to centralized mode, and expand the search range.”
“How large?” Ning Tian asked.
“As large as possible,” He Chen replied.
Ning Tian frowned. “What do you mean?”
“It means search with full power to see how many ships there are. The engine on this thing is fundamentally different from Imperial standard models,” He Chen said calmly.
“Are you saying this is… a Miste starship?”
“It could also be a warship. But judging by the trajectory, it’s not a large one,” He Chen said.
A flicker of tension crossed Ning Tian’s eyes. He immediately re-indexed the detectors as He Chen requested.
“Don’t panic. He’s in the open, we’re hidden,” He Chen said, his fingers flying as he adjusted the fleet’s propulsion mode and activated enhanced stealth.
“He Chen, what the hell are you doing now?” Chu Yunqi, feeling a bit better after another bout of vomiting, felt the starship vibrate again.
He Chen’s voice was calm with a hint of amusement. “Your Highness’s trip will not be in vain.”
What the hell? Chu Yunqi looked at his pilot. “What does he mean?”
The pilot, who had already received orders to enter combat readiness, answered honestly: “Your Highness, we seem to have discovered a Miste warship.”
“What did you say?” Chu Yunqi understood every word, but combined, why did it sound like such utter nonsense?
“That’s impossible! Miste hasn’t caused trouble for many years!”
“Who knows? Maybe they ran out of resources again,” the pilot replied. He was also uneasy, but as a soldier, and a soldier of Hanhe Base, his nerves were infinitely tougher than those of Chu Yunqi, a prince raised in a greenhouse.
“That’s impossible…” Chu Yunqi muttered, though he was starting to believe the pilot’s words.
Unlike the stable and orderly Star River Empire, the Empire’s neighbor, Miste—whose full name should be the Anni Miste Alliance—was inherently a highly chaotic power.
The Miste people were all inherently warlike Beastmen. The Alliance’s resource planets were carved up by various Beast Tribe lords, leading to long-term conflicts between different races. Some tribes that lost internal wars in Miste and were squeezed out of living space would risk attacking the Empire to seize necessary resources.
In terms of overall strength, the Star River Empire had an edge over Miste, but that edge lay in technological power and organized military structure. In terms of individual combat, the Miste Beastmen, who could physically withstand mecha, definitely had the upper hand.
And now, their mere dozen or so patrol starships were no different from individual combatants!
“He Chen, return to base! That’s an order!” Chu Yunqi reacted and screamed frantically!
“Your Highness does not seem to hold a military position,” He Chen said, unhurriedly. His calm voice steadily suppressed Chu Yunqi’s panic.
“I—You! You wait!” He Chen’s words reminded Chu Yunqi. The most urgent matter was to contact his Imperial Father to dispatch troops to protect him!
He fumbled to open his terminal: Shit, no signal!
He then remembered that the moment they left the coverage area of the Star River Network outside the base, the terminal had lost signal.
“He Chen, Cousin, you have a military channel, right? Quick, quick, quick, notify them that I’m here!”
“There is no signal in this area,” He Chen replied.
Chu Yunqi’s face turned ashen, looking utterly devastated. Before setting out on the patrol, his Imperial Mother had warned him to be cautious, saying the star sector around Hanhe Base was a lawless zone. He hadn’t believed it. Well, now he did.
This lawless zone was truly chaotic!
“Attention, all personnel!” He Chen’s calm and cold voice came through the intercom system. “Enter combat status. Check weapons and equipment. Anyone who violates orders or disrupts morale before battle will be executed!”
Executed? Who was he going to execute? Who was that aimed at?
Just as Chu Yunqi was about to erupt, He Chen spoke again: “Switch to shield formation. Starship 2, carrying His Highness, will be the core of the alert. Ships 3, 4, 7, and 9 form a diamond array for interception. Ships 5, 6, 8, and 10 provide dynamic outer defense. Ensure His Highness’s safety with full effort.”
Alright, Chu Yunqi swallowed most of his anger.
“Attention, all formations, prioritize stealth detection. Do not act rashly,” He Chen added.
Chu Yunqi’s anger subsided a little more.
“Stealth is correct, Cousin. You must consider the bigger picture. Safety first. When we return safely, I will ask my Imperial Father to commend you.”
“It’s part of my duty. No need for commendation.”
He Chen sounded very reasonable.
“If we can return safely, perhaps Your Highness could help the brothers upgrade our patrol starships. Many of our weapons and equipment are lagging behind those of friendly forces, which puts us at a disadvantage when facing the enemy.”
“Upgrade! Replace them with new ones!” Chu Yunqi agreed readily, while mentally cursing the military logistics department: Were their quartermasters pigs? Why weren’t the most critical areas being upgraded?
“Your Highness is generous!” He Chen praised, then disappeared from the channel, presumably busy with deployment.
*
“Did you record that? Starships, upgrade.” On Starship 1, after a busy period, He Chen nudged Ning Tian.
Obsessed with money. Ning Tian didn’t want to talk, but glanced back and calmly reminded, “Leyan, shouldn’t you comfort him?”
He Chen turned to look at He Leyan, who was sitting very straight and tense. His expression became more serious.
The cub was very smart. Judging by his demeanor, he probably understood what was happening.
If he had known they would encounter trouble, he wouldn’t have brought him out. Although He Chen would ensure the cub’s safety no matter what, he was afraid of leaving a psychological shadow…
So, who was so tactless as to cause trouble right after he had cleared out the space pirates and reunited with the cub? A trace of unfamiliar sharpness crossed He Chen’s expression.
But when he turned around, most of the sharpness was hidden, and his face was exceptionally gentle. “Leyan, don’t be afraid. We just encountered a small fly. With Dad and all these uncles here, nothing will happen.”
He Leyan wasn’t afraid. Daddy had taught him that the most important thing in an emergency was not to panic, as only then could he do the right things afterward.
He Leyan looked at He Chen like a little adult. “Besides this ‘fly,’ are there any other flies?”
He had immediately hit the crux of the matter.
“Currently, no,” He Chen answered very seriously. “Our detection signals have covered a great distance. We can basically conclude that this fly has no companions, and—”
He opened a virtual panel, brought up a model of a warship, enlarged it, and rotated it 360 degrees for He Leyan to see.
“We have already detected what this fly looks like. It’s not a large warship, just a battle cruiser, and a very primitive one. Miste technology is backward, and we’ve thoroughly studied all their models of warships and battle cruisers.”
“Do you know where its weak points are?”
He Leyan honestly shook his head.
“Your Daddy probably didn’t teach you that, huh?” He Chen even had the leisure to show off a little, then pointed to the mid-to-lower section of the ship—
“Here is its reactor ignition chamber. Here is the bridge control system. And here,” he pointed to several symmetrical nodes around the ship’s engine, tracing a circle around them. “This is the jump stabilization ring. Destroying any one of these points will prevent them from jumping, and they won’t be able to go home. They’ll have to stay and take a beating.”
However, these places were not “easily” destroyed. They were only on routine patrol and hadn’t brought weapons with sufficient destructive power.
Ning Tian remained silent about He Chen’s “bluffing,” but his mind automatically followed the points He Chen indicated, inputting them into the system to calculate firepower.
“Even if those places don’t work, we still have a trick. Do you see this area? It’s the midpoint of their gravity structure, but they haven’t added special protection. If we hit here, what do you think will happen?”
He Leyan couldn’t guess, but Ning Tian’s eyes lit up. He glanced at He Chen, met his gaze, and quickly turned back to modify the calculation parameters he had just set.
“Boom!” He Chen looked back at He Leyan, dramatically simulating a sound, and his palm sliced through the middle of the virtual warship, scattering the image.
“Their ship will break in half?” He Leyan asked innocently.
“Something like that,” He Chen replied. “It might not look broken, but with gravity failing, they will all float up, and their weapons will be unusable.”
He Leyan nodded, half understanding.
He Chen couldn’t resist stroking his head again. “Good boy, you are very brave. You are helping Dad scout the enemy and protect the entire Empire.”
“I, I am very brave,” He Leyan said, biting his small cheek, and seriously raised his eyes. “But you are braver.”
Just like Daddy said, brave and formidable.
The timing was wrong, but He Chen’s eyes curved into a smile from the compliment.
“Good boy, Dad needs to be busy for a while. Listen to this.” He Chen placed a pair of over-ear headphones, which were slightly too large for He Leyan, on his head and turned them on.
A burst of explosive drum beats came through the headphones. Before He Leyan could react, He Chen’s brow twitched, and he hurriedly pressed skip—the next track was even more explosive.
“Ahem, wrong one!” He Chen pulled off his own headphones and turned to grab Ning Tian’s headphones for He Leyan.
This time it was “correct.” Inside was: One Hundred Classic Crosstalk Routines.