Doctor Lu Always Wants To Steal My Baby! Chapter 2
byChapter 2 Reunion (II)
[Eh, I got picked!]
[So lucky, it’s Leyan!]
[Wow, I’ve seen photos, but moving Leyan is so cute, boohoo!]
[Leyan? He Leyan? That double-S healing-type little sprout??!!]
It was 3:00 PM on August 10th, Blue Star time. In the “Love Sprouts” live stream room on Star River Network, a small window that had been dark for a long time suddenly lit up. Many fans of the live stream immediately received notifications and logged on. A small number of lucky viewers were selected to enter the live room to watch.
“Love Sprouts” was a public welfare live stream room launched ten years ago, authorized by the Star River Empire Council and jointly initiated by the Star River Network official platform and the Children’s Rights Division of the Star River Empire Ministry of Justice.
Since entering the Interstellar Era, affected by cosmic radiation, the reproduction of Blue Star humans has become increasingly difficult with each generation. Young sprouts are becoming scarcer, and citizens’ attention and protective instincts toward them have swelled daily.
Ten years ago, a child abuse case shocked the entire Empire, inciting public outrage. Many Awakened were even so enraged that their mental energy rioted, causing significant disturbances. Since then, the Empire launched the “Love Sprouts” live stream room.
The live stream is hosted by the Star River Network AI, which uses ubiquitous smart terminals to randomly select, monitor, and broadcast snippets of Imperial young sprouts’ daily lives. The snippets are very short, lasting five or ten minutes at a time. During the selection process, some blurring is applied to protect the privacy of the child and those around them. However, the selection time is completely random, making it impossible for guardians who mistreat children to predict the broadcast time and cover up their actions—thus, as the “Love Sprouts” slogan says: Let every child live in the sunlight.
The downside is that parents and teachers feel constrained even when disciplining their children normally.
To address this, the “Love Sprouts” live stream was optimized. Children from normal families are no longer broadcast to the general public but undergo smart assessment and expert review. However, for children from “non-normal” families—such as those who are adopted, fostered, or have suffered mistreatment—a public viewing and review segment is added on top of the initial assessment.
Of course, the review has limitations on the number of viewers and speaking rights, and recording or re-uploading is strictly prohibited. If viewers over-interpret a guardian’s behavior, experts will immediately step in to clear their name, preventing any cyberbullying directed at the young sprout or the guardian.
In this way, the “Love Sprouts” live stream has continued.
Three years ago, He Leyan, an adopted child, became one of the children featured in the live stream. He received immense attention due to his identity as a healing-type Awakened.
The Star River Empire originated from Blue Star, which historically had three bloodlines: ordinary people, Warriors, and Priests.
Warriors can strengthen their physical abilities. Upon reaching a certain stage, they gain their own spiritual companion beast, or Mental Avatar, which grants them even greater combat power, making them natural-born fighters.
Priests—now called the Healing Type—are few in number, and their abilities are less flashy but crucial: they can influence the Warrior’s mental domain, catalyzing and stimulating their abilities or preventing them from rioting.
Both Warriors and Healing Types are categorized as “Awakened” relative to ordinary people.
Young sprouts are precious, and congenitally Awakened sprouts are even more precious. Congenitally Awakened healing-type sprouts are the most precious of all.
Two months ago, He Leyan, upon turning three, underwent a mental domain potential assessment and received the earth-shattering SS-rank result, instantly making him a precious national treasure, the focus of global attention and affection!
[Hiss, seeing Leyan, my nearly rioting mental energy has stabilized.]
[Mine too!]
[Stabilizing is nothing. Auntie sees Leyan, my shackles are loosening, I’m about to advance!]
Nonsense. If you were about to advance, would you have time to watch a live stream? If he were truly that miraculous, she would have advanced eighty times by now.
Chu Yunqi, who pulled strings to get an expert account and thus received a notification as soon as the live stream started, curled his lip in disdain.
Silently turning off his terminal, he adjusted his collar and cuffs, then suddenly bent down, beating Ning Tian and Wen Yi to unbuckle He Leyan’s safety belt. “Leyan, be good, we’ve arrived. Come, Cousin Uncle will hold you.”
What is he doing? He wasn’t this enthusiastic toward the young master the entire trip. A flicker of vigilance crossed Ning Tian’s eyes. “Third Highness, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Chu Yunqi held He Leyan protectively in his arms. “Do you know how to hold a child? Can you hold him? You haven’t changed that uniform in days, have you? Aren’t you afraid those things on your chest and shoulder will poke Leyan?”
What “things”? Those were his epaulets and rank insignia. Also, he did have a few small items tucked into his pocket—his handy gear. To protect the young master, he naturally had to be fully prepared.
But, holding the young master, perhaps, yes, it was a bit poky?
Seeing the bumpkin speechless and frozen, a flash of smugness crossed Chu Yunqi’s eyes. “Besides, are you familiar with Leyan that you just rush up to hold him? Did you speak more than three sentences to the little treasure the entire trip?”
[What’s going on?] someone asked in the live stream.
[Does anyone still not know? Leyan’s mental energy is stable, so he can be discharged. The Third Prince personally escorted him to find his father.]
Although the live stream prohibits recording, He Leyan receives so much attention that anything related to him easily becomes a trending topic. Especially with the “internet celebrity” Third Prince frequently surfing the web, showing off his “sprout-sucking” daily life, and incidentally leaking all of He Leyan’s information.
Now the entire Empire knows that He Leyan has a father who stepped in dog poop luck named He Chen. Because the sprout’s biological father was his comrade-in-arms, and the comrade had no other relatives, he entrusted the child to He Chen before he sacrificed himself, and He Chen adopted the good sprout.
However, the sprout’s mental energy was unstable, so he was raised almost entirely in the Imperial Medical Academy after birth. He Chen, meanwhile, continued his service as a Great Captain for three years, receiving a wonderful sprout raised by others until the age of three, for no effort of his own.
How… enviable.
[I have to say, I completely understand the Third Prince.]
[Well done, don’t let them hold him!]
[Wait, some people are too jealous, aren’t they? It’s a father-son reunion, which is only right and proper. Why are you stopping them?]
[Exactly, what kind of decent person lives in a hospital forever? The sprout needs a stable home.]
[The problem is, Leyan looks nervous, sigh.]
This comment drew everyone’s attention back to He Leyan. Sure enough, the sprout, held in the Third Prince’s arms, looked a little nervous, appearing timid and shy.
[Let me state first, I’m not jealous, but for a child this small, suddenly being sent to a completely unfamiliar place and told to call a stranger ‘Dad,’ how scared must he be?]
[Yes, and it’s such a remote place, a border base with nothing.]
In truth, most of the Star River Empire’s military is controlled by major Warrior noble families, who are far from poor and are actually rolling in money—even though there hasn’t been much fighting for years, they still levy high taxes on their jurisdictions under various pretexts, making them highly unpopular. However, the Han River Base is an exception. It only governs two and a half semi-abandoned resource planets. Although it belongs to the He family’s sphere of influence, it is clearly the type that is marginalized and lacks resources.
[Having nothing isn’t the main issue. The key is the constant harassment from space pirates, people! Even Myster space pirates!]
[WHF!!]
*
“Ahem.” Xiang Heng hesitated, following He Chen and continuously receiving the epaulets, collar tabs, chest badges, and cuff links—all the gold and silver treasures—that He Chen quickly removed.
Seeing him even forcefully dismantle his cuff links, Xiang Heng finally stopped him. “That’s enough. You’re clean. I guarantee nothing will poke him.”
If he removed anything more, even the buttons would be gone.
Handing the items to a subordinate, Xiang Heng followed the silent He Chen through the corridor, down the elevator, and onto the shuttle vehicle, arriving at the small port in the innermost ring of the base where the shuttle craft lands. Finally, he couldn’t help but ask, “Nervous?”
“Who’s nervous?” He Chen stood with his hands behind his back, completely unmoving, giving him a calm glance.
“Then put it away,” Xiang Heng whispered.
“Put what away?”
“Look behind you.”
So mysterious. He Chen suppressed a faint flicker of impatience and turned his head to look back.
Then he turned back, expressionless.
The soldiers and officers who had been traveling with them or were already on duty at the port all wore strange expressions, struggling to hold back their laughter—
The large wolf Mental Avatar that had followed the commander the entire way lowered its head, tucked its tail, and vanished.
“You should have reminded me sooner,” He Chen said in a low voice, filled with embarrassment and annoyance.
“I thought you knew,” Xiang Heng replied just as softly, completely composed.
The Mental Avatar and its master share a connection. Normally, the master naturally controls the avatar’s movements, just as the brain always knows where the hands and feet are and what they are doing.
But in rare cases, the mind can forget the hand, such as during a riot, or when nervous.
“Control it. The live stream is open right now,” Xiang Heng reminded him.
“I know,” He Chen replied. That face, which was originally handsome and unparalleled, suddenly contorted into a stiff, strange, and indescribable smile.
Xiang Heng followed his gaze and happened to see the vacuum hatch of the shuttle craft slowly opening.
“Don’t smile,” Xiang Heng quickly advised as he walked with him toward the boarding ramp.
He Chen’s steps paused briefly, then quickly resumed as normal.
The strange smile on his face was indeed gone.
Xiang Heng breathed a sigh of relief and finally focused on the figures emerging from the hatch.
*
[They’re here? Is this the Han River Base? I can’t see anything.]
[It’s a military facility, can you just look around? We only need to see the sprout!]
[We also need to see Leyan’s dad. I heard he’s a big menace!] A comment briefly appeared, only to be quickly cleared by the AI, which is known as the “Internet Cleanup Model.”
No one posted similar comments, but driven by a strong protective instinct for the sprout, a feeling of vigilance and scrutiny spread and resonated throughout the invisible network space.
Under the gaze of a thousand pairs of eyes belonging to the thousand lucky viewers, several figures, straight as blades, appeared in the live stream frame.
“Leyan.” A clear, rather pleasant—at least not annoying—voice sounded. “I am Dad.”
[Cheesy…][I’m jealous, I admit it…][How to trigger my hatred in one sentence: Leyan, I am Dad. [Bomb][Bomb][Bomb]]
The live stream room was first silent, then a scent of vinegar that had been fermenting for eight hundred years spilled out.
[Although, Leyan seems a little scared. He doesn’t dare look at Dad.]
In the live stream, He Leyan was still held in Chu Yunqi’s arms. He indeed wasn’t looking at He Chen—to be precise, he glanced once, then lowered his head, his small hands tightly gripping the back of Chu Yunqi’s collar.
Truly scared? The little rascal. They said he had SS-rank talent, photographic memory, and keen intelligence, yet he was easily startled by him every time. Chu Yunqi secretly curved his lips upward, then pressed them down, and spoke in a gentle, soft voice, “Leyan, be good, don’t be shy. This is your father.”
As he spoke, he made a move to pull the child out of his arms. Predictably, the child, who had been squirming uncomfortably in his embrace, immediately clung tighter when pulled outward, locking his hands around Chu Yunqi’s neck.
Ouch, ouch, ouch, he was digging into his flesh!
Chu Yunqi suppressed this slight discomfort and looked at He Chen. “Cousin, perhaps you should wear gloves? Aren’t you afraid of frightening the child?”
Frightening him? He Chen lowered his gaze, looked at the hand he had instinctively extended, then looked at the little sprout tightly hooked around Chu Yunqi’s neck. Without a word, he retracted his arm and clasped his hands behind his back.
But everyone in the live stream had already seen it—
While the live stream blurs faces to protect privacy, body parts like hands are not obscured: He Chen’s right hand, except for his thumb, index finger, and the part of the palm connected to those two fingers, which were normal flesh, was entirely a dark silver, cold-gleaming mechanical prosthetic limb!
Cold, eerie, and utterly terrifying!