“I want to take a child home.”
Qiao Zhiya stood in the darkness, looking around blankly.
“Mama?”
“Papa?”
No one responded to him. He stopped looking around and later realized what happened before he fainted. He panicked and quickly checked the situation of his magic pool, but he only felt nothing.
Nothing… It’s gone.
He was a little confused and walked a few steps forward in a daze. He thought of something and then immediately stopped. He looked down at his palms—they were still his hands, but they could no longer gather any magic.
What’s the matter? Had he lost his magic?
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Tkp blyav clyv hkszldvzu qsa y qlo vkxlp yde vbld iwknjzu pydj. Tl zssjle yaswde vbl rwal czynj prynl ytykd. Tkp zkrp xshle, vbld bl rwaple vktbvzu, csole bkp blye, yde zssjle yv vbl eyajdlpp wdela bkp qllv. Tkp lulp pzsozu vwadle ale.
Ekvbswv xytkn, obyv oswze bl wpl vs tlv czsse vs eayo vbl xytkn yaayu yde obyv oswze bl wpl vs ts bsxl… Eblal oyp vbkp rzynl? Rv oyp ps eyaj, oyp kv kdpkel vbyv czynj bszl? Eyp bl elye? Eswze vbl czynj bszl cakdt bkp cseu cynj vs vbl Yytkn Usdvkdldv? Tkp ryaldvp oswze pwalzu nau obld vblu pyo bkp cseu…
Mlyap eakrrkdt, bl jdlzv esod yde bwttle bkxplzq yde ckv bkp zsola zkr vs pvsr naukdt, cwv bkp cseu valxczle lhld xsal.
Tl alyzzu oydvle vs ts bsxl… Tl oydvle vs ts cynj…
Gp kq pldpkdt bkp naklp, psxl talld yde clktl zktbv prsvp pweeldzu yrrlyale swv sq vbkd yka kd vbl eyaj osaze, yde vbld xsal yde xsal zktbv prsvp tyvblale vstlvbla vs qsax vaydpzwnldv clywvkqwz zktbv akccsdp vbyv tldvzu pwaaswdele bkx.
Tl nswzed’v pldpl vbl xytkn yde bkp pktbv oyp czsnjle cu vlyap. Ckys Hbkuy eked’v alyzkgl vblka lmkpvldnl wdvkz y qlo zktbv prsvp qzsyvle kd qasdv sq bkx. Tl bwaaklezu aykple bkp blye yde zssjle shla.
G zktbv casod pvakr zktbvzu cawpble bkp nbllj, yp kq vs okrl bkp vlyap.
“Yy… Yyxy?”
Qiao Zhiya stared blankly. He then suddenly returned to his senses, reaching out to touch the strip of light, but was avoided by the strip of light and rushed into the air.
“Don’t go!” He got up to chase but his sight was blocked by a green light ribbon that suddenly appeared. He tripped himself, his body staggered, and he embarrassedly fell to the ground.
This familiar wood magic… He stood up and looked up to see the green light band that had covered the whole darkness. He was like a child who had finally found a home. He sobbed and cried out intermittently, “Take me back, Papa, Mama, take me back, I want to go home…”
The wood magic floated gently and the light brown ribbons also floated back. They wrapped the crying Qiao Zhiya up and down. After a few rotations, they suddenly converged into a ray of light which quickly drilled towards the center of his eyebrows.
As soon as his eyebrows warmed, his arm with the storage ring also became warm and his consciousness pulled away from the dreamlike scene. The familiar wood and earth magic powers were gone. The pain of having his magic overdrawn exploded in his brain. Qiao Zhiya suddenly opened his eyes, touched his arm, but felt empty. His eyebrows were cold, his dried magic pool only produced some magic, and followed the white mist floating in the air.
There was a stronger sensation of fire burning in his brain than the last time and he couldn’t help groaning in pain. His eyes closed again. He wanted to curl up but found that his body seemed to be trapped in a narrow space and he couldn’t move.
So thirsty, want magic…
He struggled a little, his face was full of pain.
“Sir, there is no data feedback.” Zhuang Yu stopped injecting healing fluid and did not look at Qiao Zhiya, who was silently crying and struggling in the healing cabin. She couldn’t bear to say, “Take him out and let him have a good sleep.”
The pain of mental collapse could not be cured but could only attempt to endure and survive. In this case, the healing fluid was completely useless and it may even stimulate his broken mental sea and further aggravate his pain.
Fan Xiangnan couldn’t bear to look at him, too. He turned his head to look at Chu Rong, who was always looking down at the healing cabin, and called out, “Sir…”
“Try again.” Chu Rong interrupted him and ordered in a deep voice, “Don’t use healing liquid, change to mist soothing medicine.”
The mist soothing medicine, although its name was similar to the soothing medicine, was dozens of times higher in purity than the soothing agent. It was also mild and easy to absorb. It was a rare drug with a very complicated manufacturing process. Even if they had it on board, they didn’t have much stock of them. Furthermore, they had used up most of them just now in a hurry and now, only a few of them were reserved for first aid. In case, after using them, the Chief suddenly becomes mentally frantic…
After many thoughts flashed in her mind, Zhuang Yu glanced at Chu Rong and turned around. She went to the inner room and took out all the mist soothing medicine. She released the healing liquid in the healing cabin and injected all the mist soothing medicine into the instrument like free flowing water. Her eyes were terribly bright— no matter! Chief’s current contamination level was below critical level and he would no longer be suddenly mentally violent. It was important to save Little Cutie! Even if there was only a little bit of hope, she would try!
The white mist flooded the healing cabin. Qiao Zhiya’s face gradually became unclear. Chu Rong manually released him from the healing cabin and did not move away.
In the burning chaos, a refreshing wave suddenly came and eased Qiao Zhiya’s pain. He moved and his body relaxed. He didn’t know how much time passed. The painful digging he felt in his brain finally disappeared and the thirsty feeling became more and more apparent.
“So thirsty…” He murmured and slowly opened his eyes.
After a light sound, a familiar tall figure appeared above him. Looking at it without focus, he faintly noticed a trace of pure earth magic fluctuations. He struggled to sit up and reached towards the figure with his arms. His hands grasped the source of magic, closed his eyes, and absorbed it with peace of mind.
Chu Rong, who was about to check his condition, was hugged upright. His body stiffened. He paused and also held him.
“Uh…” Zhuang Yu, who came one step later, was stuck when he saw Qiao Zhiya, who was desperately drilling into Chu Rong’s arms. Her mouth twitched in jealousy— Little Cutie really had no eyes. The Chief was very tough. Also, how could she hug him in this situation?
They gazed on the two bodies, which were not clothed, and suppressed the wicked thoughts that had risen unconsciously in their minds. Zhuang Yu pretended to be busy with the healing cabin and said1[T/N: I have no idea who’s talking. It was said to be “They” but I assume it’s Zhuang-jie.], “What Qiao needs most now is rest. Although the pain of mental sea collapse has been over, he should pay attention to it in the next few days and try to keep his activity as little as possible. It is best to stop the training. Later…” Her voice went down, her hands were on the instrument, and she couldn’t speak anymore…
A child who had not had time to integrate into society, after completely losing the possibility of possessing mental power, what kind of future could he have? Unfortunately, he previously had a spiritual power for healing which was a good potential for being a doctor.
The atmosphere went dreary again.
Fan Xiangnan coughed, ignored the appearance of his Chief’s untidy clothes who was also being hugged, and reached out to Qiao Zhiya. He said, “Let me, sir, you also need to have a proper rest.”
Qiao Zhiya, who was clinging to Chu Rong, seemed to be aware of the threat of being pried away. When Fan Xiangnan came near, he tightly and fittingly snuggled himself in Chu Rong’s embrace and grasped the back of his neck. He murmured something and buried his face in Chu Rong’s neck.
Fan Xiangnan, who was obviously being disliked, also let out an “Uh”, not knowing what to do.
“You go and help with the aftermath.” Chu Rong frowned and adapted to the intimacy of being close to another person’s skin. He blocked Fan Xiangnan’s approaching hand, pulled up a blanket to wrap Qiao Zhiya, and said, “I’ll take him to rest first and let Lin Zhen call all the leaders of the mining and the investigation teams to discuss the return journey.”
Fan Xiangnan was taken aback when he heard this. He asked with surprise, “Sir, you want to return to the Capital Star2[I’ll change this term later if I happen to be wrong.]?”
“Yes.” Chu Rong nodded. Unwilling to say more, he waved his hand and strode away with Qiao Zhiya, who had begun to struggle in uneasiness again.
“But the border inspection hasn’t finished yet…” Fan Xiangnan frowned.
He didn’t know when Zhuang Yu came to his side. She retracted her gaze from the door, reached out her hand to pat him on the shoulder, and said, “What are you being stubborn and worried about? This inspection was originally made by the Chief as a diversionary tactic in order to deal with the old man above. Now, the Chief’s spiritual strength has improved. He has found out the Xiang family’s bugs and imperial warships as well as the possibility of the black hole reappearing. Naturally, we should hurry back as soon as possible and then send someone to take over this kind of work! Don’t forget those slaves who are also waiting for us to settle them. Most of them are from the Empire. Maybe we can find out something.”
Fan Xiangnan also remembered the real purpose of the Chief’s inspection this time, raised his hand, and patted his forehead. He shook his head, “I’m confused. There are too many things these days that my mind is in a mess.”
“You’ve been working really hard these days… But it’s better to go back early.” Zhuang Yu slowly revealed a lost expression, lowered her eyes, and said in a low voice, “QiaoQiao can’t stay on our ship all the time. He’s still young and needs systematic study. It’s better to have a skill…” In the end, she couldn’t help sighing.
Fan Xiangnan glanced at her, remembered the Chief’s intention to cultivate Qiao Zhiya, and said nothing.
After returning to the room, Chu Rong put Qiao Zhiya on the bed and rubbed his wet hair. Seeing that he was still squirming in restlessness as if looking for something, he frowned, reached out and held his forehead to keep him from moving, and asked, “What do you want?”
Qiao Zhiya reached out to pull down his hand, but he didn’t have much strength. He opened his eyes blankly and stared at him for a few seconds. His eyes moved, fixed on an ornament in this strange room, and squirmed in an attempt to go near it.
“Not enough, so thirsty…”
“Speak the Common Language.” Chu Rong helped him wipe the sweat off his forehead. He followed his gaze, laughed angrily, pinched the tip of his drooping ear, and coldly said, “You’re still thinking about these things even if you’re sick. Tsk, childish.” His mouth said in disgust but his body immediately moved. He strode over, took the black jade ornaments on the table, put them in his hand, pulled the quilt to cover him, and awkwardly patted him.
“Just go to sleep, so you can wake up well-rested.” A large group of rich and pure earth magic power was stuffed into his arms, Qiao Zhiya settled down almost immediately. He curled up and hugged them into his arms, closed his eyes, and absorbed them eagerly.
The flailing person finally fell asleep. Chu Rong sat quietly by the bed for a while. After confirming that he was fine, he got up and walked to the small living room outside. He took out his communicator and dialled a number.
A few seconds later, an image of a handsome man appeared in mid-air.
“Ge.3[Ge (哥) means older brother.]” Chu Rong looked up and said in a tone that couldn’t be rejected, “I want to take a child home.”4[T/N: I am honestly, silently screaming. (>///<)]
The handsome man’s eyes moved and slightly raised his eyebrows. His serious expression collapsed in an instant. He glanced up and down. His eyes stopped on his messy bathrobe and slightly reddish skin around his neck. He asked in an unfathomable tone, “Lao’er5[Lao’er (老二) means second-eldest child in the family. It could also be translated to Old Two. It can be observed that this translator prefers to write kinship terms in pinyin because I find them more intimate, like ‘Shizun’ when compared to just ‘Master’ and ‘Kuya’ (Filipino) when compared to ‘Brother.’], did you finally get laid6[开窍 literally translates to start to understand things properly, in other words, enlightened.]?”
Chu Rong was taken aback and then frowned, “What?”
“It’s not good to get someone pregnant when you’re unmarried. You also have a bad reputation for girls, so you must get married as soon as possible.” Elder Brother Chu lowered his head and flipped through the astronomic calendar and asked, “You should go back immediately to discuss the wedding. Who is the bride? How many people are in her family? We have to make a list of guests as soon as possible. By the way, your sister-in-law’s family—”
Chu Rong’s forehead bulged with blue veins and he mercilessly hung up their call. He leaned on the sofa with a cold face and tapped the armrest of the sofa impatiently— forget it, he should raise Bald Chicken by himself. As for the terrible education of the Chu family, how could he let a good child be misguided!
Translator’s Note
VIP chapters will start at the next (23rd) chapter. See the ‘Original Src’ button below? It is linked to the novel’s original page. The following chapters won’t be exclusive to the novel’s supporters but don’t forget to buy the raws when you happen to have some money to spare.
Also, the next chapters are going to be divided into parts because they are more than thrice the usual length.
Lastly, thank you so much for the readers who encouraged me to continue. Our journey is only about to truly start. Let’s go!
Thanks for the chapter and I’m glad we all made you feel better, I will be along side you as you translate this 😊
How did I miss the updates? I mean, thrilled I have a small backlog to work though, but this has been in my mind since last week! Haha! I fully agree on using the original language terms of address. It loses something when that’s translated I think. I am really growing my love for our cold tongue but warm hearted ML! He wants to do what’s right for his little dwarf! Without reading further I am betting recovery goes much better than expected. Thanks for your hard work translating!
Didn’t know you also learned Filipino! Kaibigan!