Doctor Lu Always Wants To Steal My Baby! Chapter 16
byChapter 16 The Sirius Tribe (Part 1)
Spaceship 2.
Chu Yunqi, uncharacteristically silent, stared at the virtual panel the pilot had brought up, watching as the other ships adjusted their formation according to He Chen’s layout, forming inner and outer circles to guard their vessel.
Chu Yunqi felt a fraction more secure, but his heart was still pounding, and his mind was racing.
It had been nearly ten years since the Myster Beastmen last invaded, hadn’t it? What species would it be this time? Would they really start a fight?
Why was he so unlucky? It was all his Imperial Mother’s fault for insisting he compete for that little brat… But if his Imperial Mother knew his current predicament, what would she tell him to do?
Chu Yunqi’s expression shifted rapidly, a nascent scheme forming amidst his panic.
Imperial Mother would surely say this was a crisis, but also an opportunity. Discovering the Mysterians’ movements was clearly a great merit. If they could also annihilate them…
No, no, forget annihilation. Life was more important than merit.
But regardless, he shouldn’t panic. He Chen was only a Colonel, not even a General, yet he was so composed. He was a dignified Prince of the Star River Empire. So what if they were Mysterians? So what if they were Beastmen? No matter how powerful they were, the Empire had kept them firmly contained all these years!
Yet, how could he not panic? With just these dozen or so broken spaceships?
Chu Yunqi glanced around the ship, which looked primitive at first glance and even more so upon closer inspection. He asked the young pilot what weapons they were equipped with.
But when the young pilot, busy as he was, actually answered his question, Chu Yunqi didn’t listen carefully—he wouldn’t understand anyway.
He just gritted his teeth: Speaking of which, He Siyuan, the one competing with him for the Godfather position, worked in military logistics, right? Heh, is this how they plan to suppress He Chen?
Chu Yunqi’s intense anxiety transformed into resentment—You pig, just you wait!
“Can’t calculate it, can’t lock onto them.” On Spaceship 1, Ning Tian spoke, his brow furrowed.
He Chen took the virtual sandbox from Ning Tian, scanned Ning Tian’s calculations, and manually adjusted a set of parameters. Moments later, the calculation program restarted. After half a Blue Star hour, during which He Chen made two more adjustments, the calculation finally yielded a result—the attack target was locked.
Ning Tian glanced at He Chen. Before the great genius could show off his straight-A school record, Ning Tian spoke first: “Five neutron cannons. Combined, they can form one effective attack. We only have one chance.”
“One is enough,” He Chen said. “The trajectory we observed was from 30 Blue Star hours ago. If their speed was normal, or if they were aiming for a surprise attack, their current position shouldn’t be here. What does that imply?”
“It implies they might just be stragglers, some kind of space pirates from the Myster side?” Ning Tian replied.
“It implies we might even be able to save these five cannons!”
He Chen’s eyes shone with a calculating light.
“…Don’t be stingy at a time like this,” Ning Tian couldn’t help but say.
“I know, we have a sugar daddy here,” He Chen whispered—afraid He Leyan might hear.
He looked back at the cub, who had his eyes closed, seemingly asleep. Only then did He Chen relax.
He Leyan wasn’t actually asleep; he was just a little dizzy.
His brain was somewhat special; it unconsciously recorded everything he saw and heard. If he didn’t understand these things, and too much information flooded in at once, he would get dizzy and have a headache.
Dad told him it was because his information processing speed wasn’t fast enough yet, and until he grew up, he needed to learn to filter information.
He Leyan had already filtered out the crosstalk from the headset, but he had been secretly monitoring what He Chen and Ning Tian were doing. Even the programs they ran were unconsciously imprinted in his mind. Now that his information storage was “full” and he couldn’t process it, he had to close his eyes to block the visuals.
It wasn’t easy. For some reason, the big monster’s face kept appearing before him.
He Leyan tried doubly hard to block him out, and finally… he tried so hard that he fell asleep.
He was woken up by a “sizzle-sizzle” sound.
After a moment of disorientation upon opening his eyes, He Leyan realized where he was. At that moment, along with the “sizzle” static, a “gibberish” sound poured into his ears.
The tone was strange, but… was that the sound of talking?
He Leyan looked towards the source of the sound and opened his eyes wide in surprise: “Dad—where is he?”
The “he” clearly referred to He Chen.
He Chen wasn’t inside the spaceship but on the virtual panel in front of Ning Tian.
“Leyan, you’re awake?” Ning Tian turned to the child and explained matter-of-factly, “The Commander is on the Mysterian warship, negotiating with them.”
Negotiation was one aspect; carrying a signal repeater to aid in the precise targeting of the neutron cannons was the other.
Ning Tian should have gone, but the Commander wouldn’t agree.
The Commander had his reasons, such as the obscure Mysterian language, which the Commander spoke fluently, while Ning Tian could only understand bits and pieces.
“What is ‘negotiation’?” He Leyan asked.
“It means discussing things, to see if we can avoid fighting.”
Ning Tian wasn’t good at coaxing children. He wasn’t like Deng Tie, who always managed to speak in a “childlike” way around He Leyan, but he answered seriously:
“We don’t have many weapons, and they don’t seem fully prepared or aiming for an invasion. That leaves room for discussion.”
What was “room”? He Leyan didn’t quite understand, but he didn’t ask again. His attention was drawn to the virtual panel.
“Is he a Mysterian?” He Leyan asked, looking at the person on the screen who looked quite similar to a Blue Star human but had furry ears, a furry tail, and furry paws.
“Yes.”
“Is he a wolf too?” He Leyan asked again—those triangular ears were too familiar.
“The Sirius Tribe,” Ning Tian replied, his expression grave.
Ning Tian had graduated and joined the military eight years ago, just in time for the Mysterian incursion on the border stars. But that time, the invaders were the Fire Lizard Tribe—a small population that required special volcanic environments to survive and was considered a minor, disadvantaged group within Myster.
However, the young leader before them, judging by the iconic wolf ears and deep green eyes, belonged to the Sirius Tribe, one of Myster’s top-tier powerful races.
“What are they discussing?” He Leyan looked at He Chen on the screen again, asking with a hint of worry.
Mysterians were a size larger than Blue Star humans. The “big monster,” when contrasted with the truly big monster, looked somewhat slender.
“They are discussing,” Ning Tian paused, “I don’t understand much.”
In truth, he wasn’t quite sure—listening to the Commander talk to the young leader, who still had a touch of youthfulness, they seemed to know each other already.
Moreover, the Sirius man looked sullen:
“Well, the Sirius God has answered my prayers. The moment I entered the Star River Empire, I ran into you, Pasni… Brother.”
The one word Ning Tian understood most clearly was “Brother,” but he seriously doubted he had heard correctly.
“Or, should I not call you Pasni? What should I call you?” The young Sirius man’s green eyes flashed with a strange, cold light. “Sneaking into my tribe’s sacred land, stealing the Sirius God’s favor, you, Blue Star ant, deserve ten thousand deaths!”
His tone was somewhat high-pitched, making Ning Tian forget to analyze his words and instead hold his breath, his finger resting on the weapon launch button.
But contrary to his high tension, the Sirius man calmed down after his outburst, narrowing his eyes and scrutinizing He Chen.
The damned Blue Star liar wore a silver-blue streamlined battlesuit. The soft metal material clung to his agile physique. The armor was quite old, the joints dull, and the goggles scratched, but the pair of eyes behind the goggles were clear and bright as stars.
The Sirius man examined He Chen from his feet to his head. Meeting He Chen’s gaze, he sneered: “Where’s the little wolf cub? Where are your beast ears, your tail? You look ugly like this!”
What the heck was he saying? Ning Tian, whose nerves were taut, ready to analyze the probability of the Sirius man attacking, was slow to react.
Was he calling the Commander ugly?
“Ugly your sister,” Ning Tian heard He Chen mutter in Blue Star language the next second.
But quickly, He Chen switched back to the difficult Mysterian language.
“What are they saying?” He Leyan asked anxiously again.
Ning Tian was also trying his best to distinguish the words.
Ning Tian had studied auxiliary subjects in school, including Mysterian language, and his grades were excellent.
But Myster had numerous races, each with its own language, which were different variants of the same language family. Ning Tian had learned the common grammar—with that, and a bit of guessing, he could understand about half of the Mysterian languages. If it were the Fire Lizard Tribe, he could understand eighty percent because of previous contact. But the person before them was from the Sirius Tribe, a race with almost no interaction with the Star River Empire.
Ning Tian didn’t understand why the Commander could speak their language so naturally.
Why was that Sirius man so familiar with the Commander? What did “wolf cub” mean in the other party’s mouth?
As Ning Tian pondered, he suddenly turned and glanced at He Leyan.
He Leyan didn’t notice his gaze; he was still intently watching the image on the virtual panel.
In the image, He Chen was looking at Rupert, his gaze lingering particularly on the other party’s tattered leather armor and the wound on his chest, full of meaning.
“Speaking of sneaking into sacred land and stealing favor, Rupert, you and I are evenly matched.”
“What, you soaked in the pool for so long, yet you still couldn’t compare to your tribe’s young master, and you were chased out with your tail between your legs?”
“Chased? Yes.” Anger flashed in Rupert’s eyes. “They received the favor for decades, soaking in the Sirius Lake since birth. How could a bastard like me compare? However—”
Rupert lowered his voice and leaned closer to He Chen: “Pasni, you just wait and see who is the most outstanding descendant of the Sirius God!”
“I have no interest in watching.” He Chen suddenly drew his sword with one hand, using the scabbard to block Rupert away.
“Out of respect for our acquaintance, get out of Star River territory. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite.”
“Impolite? Fine,” Rupert licked his sharp wolf fangs, stepped back two paces, and adopted a starting stance. “Since you, Brother, ran away, I have thought about this day and night—”
“Ran away my sister, I just had enough soaking.” He Chen twirled his lightsaber and put it away. He also flexed his fingers, staring at Rupert, his eyes sharp.
“He Chen! What’s the situation? Are we fighting or not?!” Seeing them adopt this bare-handed posture, Chu Yunqi demanded angrily, “Why are you engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a Beastman? Weren’t the cannons ready?!”
He Chen instantly frowned: Who told him to speak?
Rupert had already dropped his starting stance and looked at the communicator on He Chen’s wrist, a cunning glint in his eyes: “Who is this, daring to shout at Brother?”