Chapter 3: Magic Stone

Third-degree disability

The black mecha soared again, with a large number of gray mechas dragging a huge cage, and flew towards the unknown distance together.

Qiao Zhiya was trapped in the corner by the silver net. He glanced at the black-haired man who was concentrating on manipulating the mecha, and then at the white-haired man who was playing with a small metal box. Qiao Zhiya squeezed back, leaned sideways, pulled the thread of the silver net, and pulled hard—

The silver silk thread was stretched with his strength, but it never snapped. He frowned and let go, and the thread retracted to its original length.

Strange material.

He gave up trying, took out the clear and beautiful nutrient from his arms, hesitated, and opened the lid.

A sweet, fruity fragrance wafted out, his spirits lifted, and his ears could not help moving. Both elves and dwarves were creatures that admire nature. Elves liked vegetarian food and fresh fruits. Although dwarves eat meat as their staple food, they also loved fruit as a gift from nature.

Although the food provided by the bad guys in protective clothing were also in this kind of tube, those are colorless, bitter, and super unpalatable. Those were completely different from this one that was exuding the fragrance of fruit.

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Chu Rong turned off his light brain and looked over to the boy’s corner. His slender fingers were regularly tapping on the back of his chair. His expression became more and more unpredictable. After drinking the nutrient, the other party fell asleep, which proved that he had not had a good rest for at least ten days… Ten days, this was not a number that would make people feel happy.

“Dip— After detection and repair, please open the treatment capsule.”

Qiao Zhiya opened his eyes in a daze, then quickly became alert after thinking of what happened before falling asleep. He wanted to sit up and observe his surroundings, but found that he was weak and couldn’t even move a finger.

His nerves tightened quickly. He moved his eyes to observe the narrow instrument he was in while scolding himself for his carelessness.

He didn’t expect he would be stupid enough to fall asleep in front of strangers with unknown motives, so he had only one explanation left for his previous sleep— the food that the White-Haired Monster gave him had a problem! Although the ball had not detected harmful substances, it did not mean that there were no other harmless but relaxing things in it!

What should he do now? Was that White-Haired guy a good person or bad? Where was he now? His body seemed to be soaked in a kind of warm liquid and there were some strange lines connected to him. What were these? An experiment by an evil wizard?

“Still no spiritual response.”

A gentle female voice suddenly sounded not far away. Qiao Zhiya looked sideways, but found that his vision was blocked by the inner wall of the instrument and he could not see anything.

“The bone age test is seventeen years old, maybe even younger. Those thieves are too much. They actually let minors whose spiritual power¹[T/N: According to Baidu and Google Translate, 精神力 means mental strength, which is not incorrect. However, other interstellar novels often use spiritual power/strength, so let’s all board their boat together.] is still in the budding and developing stage to dig red tin ores.” The female voice slowly took on a trace of anger and her voice rose slightly, “This kind of damage is almost irreversible to minors! Those damn bugs!”

“Is there no remedy?”

The familiar soft male voice asked, Qiao Zhiya was taken aback. He immediately recognized that it was the voice of the black-haired gentleman. His tight nerves slightly relaxed. Although he didn’t understand what they were saying, the two people lacked a malicious tone— he would never hear it wrong. Maybe things were not as bad as he thought.

“I hope there is!” Zhuang Yu, who had always been good-tempered, couldn’t help but glare at Fan Xiangnan. She said, “This kid was still wearing a suppressor on his limbs when he was sent over. Why didn’t you dismantle it earlier? If we could tear it down earlier, his spiritual power might not disappear completely! How can you be so careless?!”

Fan Xiangnan frowned while looking at the still closed restoration instrument, speechless to Zhuang Yu’s accusation. This time, he and the chief²[T/N: Chu Rong’s specific military rank is hard to determine the way he was addressed as 长官 (Zhǎngguān) — which means commanding officer, senior official/officer, sir, and chief.] were careless and did not find the suppressor.

“I’m sorry, it was my negligence.” He apologized immediately, feeling a little heavy. In today’s society, a child who has no spiritual power will definitely have a difficult life in the future. Not everyone can stand at the top of their peak by relying on their strong physical strength after their mental strength was injured and cannot be used³[T/N: An individual’s strength is measured through mental (AKA spiritual) and physical (AKA physique) powers.].

Seeing him blaming himself, Zhuang Yu calmed down a bit. She rubbed her throbbing forehead and said slowly, “No, it’s me who should apologize, but I’m really angry. Also, I gave the child a physical examination and a qualification test—  the results should’ve come out already. Wait a moment and take these together to the chief to see.”

Fan Xiangnan also calmed down, nodded, and said nothing.

The conversation outside seemed to have ended. Qiao Zhiya found that his body had recovered a little strength and moved tentatively. He did not know where he had touched, the warm water around his body suddenly receded. The instrument was turned on and soft light poured in. The air with the smell of medicine rushed over. The strange thin threads on his body fell off automatically. His body was very relaxed and comfortable. He raised his wrist and looked at it. He found that the metal ring on it had disappeared and there was no trace of the wound on his arm when he dug a hole.

“The results came out.”

 The female voice sounded again. He sat up tentatively with his arm on the edge of the instrument and looked at the place where the voice came from. For the first time, he was not vigilant.

First, the food, then the treatment. Now, they helped him get rid of the things the bad guys put on him. Although he fell asleep midway because of the food, the feeling of relaxation after his body was fully rested and the scars that disappeared told him that his previous drowsiness should be for a good cause.

These people were helping him. They were good people. He was very sure of that at the moment.

“Oh my God…” Zhuang Yu, who had just taken out the qualification examination result from the instrument, stared at a certain data on the list, and took a cold breath, “The constitution is S, but no spiritual power… Those thieves at the mine ruined a genius!”

Fan Xiangnan heard the words, strode over, and took a look at the list, frowning deeply.

Didi— there were two soft sounds and the physical examination list fell to the ground. Zhuang Yu picked it up in a daze, read it at a glance, and almost fainted: “The body has stopped developing… No, this child is only seventeen years old. How could he have stopped growing? Isn’t red tin ore only harmful to spiritual strength? This is unscientific.”

“What’s unscientific?” Chu Rong walked in from the door, glanced over at each of his stupid subordinates holding a list.  He turned his eyes and looked in the room. He asked impatiently, “It’s been a day. Why haven’t the people you brought here yet—?”

The voice suddenly stopped. The deep eyes and the wide aquamarine eyes were directly gazing at each other.

Qiao Zhiya, who was lying on the instrument and secretly looking around, did not expect that the White-Haired Monster would come in suddenly, and he happened to meet his sight. He was shocked and shrank back reflexively, and he reflexively touched his storage ring. However, he felt nothing. He was stunned and looked down. After finding that there was nothing on his body, he immediately stood up and turned around to look for it. His eyebrows were wrinkling because of anxiety and his eyes unconsciously turned red.

“My God…” Finally, Zhuang Yu, who at last found out that he had recovered, turned to look, raised her hand, and held her face. She felt that she was really going to faint this time. How could she not find out in the previous examination that the little patient sent this time was so, so…

Fan Xiangnan also followed and then was stunned.

Milky white and flushed skin, slender limbs, soft platinum and semi-long hair, exquisite and sharp ears that were different from ordinary people. His beautiful eyes widened from panic, small and erect nose, pink and tender color lips, soft lines but not feminine facial contours… They had seen many good-looking children, but they all didn’t look as good-looking as this youth…

“Close your eyes, turn back!”

Chu Rong was the first to come back to himself. After giving the order, he pulled the blanket on the hospital bed and strode forward. He forcefully covered Qiao Zhiya who was still looking around. He reached out and pinched the tip of his ear, which was pink and tender. “Don’t play around. Look at me.”

Qiao Zhiya ignored him and even shook his head away from his hand. He glanced across the pile of tattered clothes and saw a faint green under the instrument. His eyes lit up. Then, he stepped out of the instrument and squatted forward.

Once a petite person squatted down like this, he looked smaller. With the blanket covering, from Chu Rong’s perspective, he could only see a small head with wet hair and a little tip of an ear.

It’s indeed a good-looking bald chicken, just a little disobedient.

Ancestor ⁴[T/N: 大爷 (father’s older brother AKA uncle) is an arrogant way of addressing oneself. The term ‘ancestor’ fits Chu Rong’s arrogance more.] Chu felt better than ever before.

He turned his head and glanced at the two subordinates who had been thinking with their eyes closed and facing the wall. He bent over to hold Qiao Zhiya’s thin waist from behind, lifted him easily, and shook, “What is your name?”

Qiao Zhiya’s body became stiff. He quickly squeezed the storage ring he had just taken, turned his head to look behind him, and opened his mouth.

Chu Rong’s gaze fell on his slightly opened lips, his eyes showed a pleasant light. He asked in a low voice, “What is your name? Tell me.”

“Hiccup.” Qiao Zhiya, who had been a little choked on his chest since waking up, couldn’t help but hiccup heavily under his shaking.

Chu Rong was taken aback, then his eyes turned cold, and said, “Little Demon, are you kidding me?”

The hand that was holding his waist tightened, Qiao Zhiya moved uncomfortably, and hiccuped again uncontrollably. He then struggled violently, reaching out to break the iron claws on his waist. After five years old, no one would dare to hold him like this. This kind of behavior was an insult to a dwarf warrior, and he wanted to fight this opponent!

Ancestor Chu, who was moody and had limited patience, whose eyes slowly darkened, put the person back into the capsule and reached out to pull at the other person’s pointed ears, “Since you don’t want to talk, then keep quiet.”

After speaking, he retracted his hand, looked at Zhuang Yu, and asked, “What did you say before that is unscientific?”

Zhuang Yu, who  had long been unable to bear the commotion, immediately turned around and looked over. She glanced over at Qiao Zhiya, who was sitting at the instrument and looking at the chief. Her cheeks were strangely red. She quickly said: “Sir, I just got the examination results of this patient. In comparison to the  standard set by the Federal government, his physical constitution of S is an absolute genius, but his spiritual power was destroyed by the red tin ores from the mine. His body is also unusual and stopped developing. According to the identification standards of disabled people, it is a three-level disability.” She said in a low voice and finally sighed regretfully.

Chu Rong frowned and turned to look at Qiao Zhiya.

Qiao Zhiya, who had taken out the small hammer under the blanket, was startled. He hurriedly hugged his arm and stuffed the hammer back. However, he was not aware that the shield behind him was moving. He fell back and pressed his hand on a round object in a panic. A familiar magical sensation was felt from the palm of his hand.

He was taken aback for a moment, ignoring the slipping blanket, looking at the round and lovely green stone under his palm. His heartbeat slowly speeding up— Was this a high-grade wood magic stone?