Translator: ChuRen/ YuQiChen
The buzz over the Romani Red Wine tasting on StarNet showed no signs of dying down. Tang Xinghe and Tang Xingchen soon heard about it. Xinghe was working a summer job at the Mecha Club when she overheard classmates gossiping about the tasting event, catching Su Shaobai’s name. Meanwhile, Xingchen was scavenging electronic waste. Hearing Su Shaobai’s name, he grabbed the other person’s terminal to check, clutching the useful parts he’d found as he hurried home.
“Ge, ge, you’re famous now.” Tang Xingchen dashed from the first floor up to the second, seeing Su Shaobai muttering to the terminal. Listening closely, he caught, “Huh, we actually made money today. The livestream had 70,000 viewers with 200,000 views, earning 500 credit points in rewards, plus 200 credit points from gift shares. Tuanzi, we have money today! Let’s eat braised pork!”
Just as Su Shaobai was about to pick up the little kitten beside him, he realized it had disappeared and looked at Tang Xingchen.
“Ge, what’s braised pork?” Tang Xingchen licked his lips, having heard of grilled, fried, and boiled meat, but this was the first time he’d heard of braised pork.
“It’s stewed pork belly. Come on, let’s go buy some meat.” Su Shaobai stood and pulled Tang Xingchen outside.
Sharp eyes followed the two as they left. The white figure retreated to the room, focusing to use his spiritual power to restore his human form. After a long while, a deep, rough voice echoed, but the little kitten remained a kitten.
His spiritual seal throbbed painfully, with the threat of energy leakage.
He shouldn’t be trying to restore his true form now. Staying with Su Shaobai lately had stabilized his spiritual seal, making him forget the severity of his injury.
Suddenly, an oppressive force descended from nowhere. Residents in Shishi star zone T239 without spiritual power felt instant stabbing pain in their heads, swaying and nearly collapsing. Those with weaker spiritual power paled instantly. Even those above A-grade barely held on, but those suffering from spiritual storms were close to breaking…
“Grandpa!” Tang Xingchen shouted, clutching his throbbing head as he rushed indoors but staggered twice and fell. Luckily, Su Shaobai caught him, tremblingly asking, “Xiao Chen, what’s wrong?”
“Grandpa, hurry, check on Grandpa!” Tang Xingchen’s pale face gripped Su Shaobai’s hand tightly. Back then, a person with double-S rank mental strength had come to the Capital Star to look for his grandfather. A conflict broke out, and that person used their mental power to suppress them. Back then, his head had throbbed with this exact same agonizing pain. His grandfather’s mental threshold, which had finally shown a slight sign of recovery, was torn apart all over again. As a result, his grandfather hasn’t even been able to step foot outside the house to this day.
This force was even more terrifying now—someone far worse had come.
Seeing Tang Xingchen’s pain and his urgent gesture towards Grandpa Tang’s room, Su Shaobai dashed inside. Before he entered, Grandpa Tang appeared, leaning against the wall.
“Hurry, where’s that cat? Go find it!” Grandpa Tang gritted his teeth, sweat pouring.
Su Shaobai panicked, “Grandpa, what’s going on with you all? You look so unwell… are you feeling sick? I…”
“Go find that cat, now,” Grandpa Tang interrupted.
Su Shaobai’s heart sank, confused but still dashed upstairs. Just stepping on the second floor, Su Shaobai felt his body sway. An earthquake? No, that wasn’t it…
“Roar!”
His spiritual sea felt as if it was being torn apart, the pain agonizing beyond bearable. An involuntary low beastly growl escaped his throat, an attempt to clash away the pain in his head. But it was no use. From his mind to his body, an overwhelming force was ripping his spiritual seal apart, pushing him to the brink, tempting him to destroy…
To annihilate everything.
If he just unleashed that power, the pain would cease. What did the lives of the residents matter to him then…
“You lowborn, you’re nothing but a mutated white lion. Your father will never pass the throne to you.”
“I am a Golden Dragon. How could my crown prince be a white lion? You wretched woman, are you the one who bore that man’s child? Slap—”
The tall man violently threw the frail woman aside. Watching as she slammed into the wall, collapsed, and coughed up blood, her eyes flickered with pain and relief mixed. His large hand grasped a small neck. The little child struggled in midair, the rolled-back eyes signaling imminent suffocation—
Everyone go die…
“Tuanzi? Tuanzi, what’s wrong?”
Su Shaobai pushed open the door, witnessing the little white kitten rolling on the floor, banging its head sharply against the ground. Alarmed, he rushed over and scooped up the palm-sized kitten.
“What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?” Su Shaobai saw it clutch its head with tiny paws, emitting pitiful ‘meow meow’ cries, and his heart ached. “Is your head hurting? Fever? No, how can cats get fevers…”
His words trailed off awkwardly as he gently held the kitten before his eyes, softly stroking its head with worry, coaxing, “Blow, blow, let the pain fly away.”
In his clear, pure eyes reflected a tiny creature. He cradled it carefully, as if holding a priceless treasure.
Breathing in the familiar scent, his spiritual sea gradually stabilized. The kitten closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.
The mysterious oppressive aura over Zone T239 vanished as mysteriously as it came. Some said only those with at least 3S spiritual power could emit such pressure.
Everyone buzzed with lively discussion, but only Su Shaobai remained confused about what happened. These past days, for some unknown reason, the kitten had been half-conscious, tightly clinging to Su Shaobai’s belly, crying pitifully whenever separated by a second—making it impossible for Su Shaobai to leave home.
Su Shaobai had Tang Xinghe help find a vet for Tuanzi, but the vet said there was nothing seriously wrong—it was some congenital issue from birth and just needed time to recover.
Su Shaobai: “…”
The wine tasting event was quickly finalized, set to take place at the Empire Star Wine Association’s main office. Six sommeliers were selected. Considering Su Shaobai’s financial situation, Elder Du specially bought him three tickets for the boat.
The trip from Shishi Star to Empire Star required a full day aboard the spaceship. Tang Xinghe mentioned there were space jumps along the way, and if someone’s body couldn’t adapt properly, they might experience dizziness and nausea.
Tang Xinghe was reciting something to her terminal while Su Shaobai nodded repeatedly holding Tuanzi, only realizing after a while.
“Xinghe, why are you reciting words to the terminal?”
“Because I’ve never been on a spaceship before!”
Su Shaobai: “…”
The day to depart for Empire Star arrived quickly. Tang Xingchen followed behind, tearfully. With only three round-trip tickets, he couldn’t go.
“Xingchen, what gift do you want? I’ll bring it for you.” Su Shaobai looked at him with pity but had no choice. Tuanzi couldn’t leave his side, and fortunately, the spaceship company allowed him to bring a cat on board.
“I don’t want any gift, ge. When you reach the Imperial City, open your hologram. I want to touch the Imperial City.” Tang Xingchen had heard from his father that his workplace was in the Imperial City, but his father had gone on campaign with His Majesty and never returned. He wanted to see what the city looked like.
“Alright then, behave yourself and take good care of Grandpa at home. Oh, by the way,” Su Shaobai crouched and whispered, “I transferred 500 credit points to your terminal. Remember to buy Grandpa something tasty.”
The Tang family’s finances were dire. Adding one more mouth to feed, Grandpa Tang’s recent severe spiritual storm relapse consumed a lot of medicine. The family fell into financial struggles again. But no one wanted Grandpa Tang to know. Su Shaobai overheard and felt especially distressed.
“Su-gege, it’s almost time. Let’s go up!” Tang Xinghe urged.
“Half an hour left!” Tang Xingchen clung on reluctantly.
“Dummy, we don’t even know how to board a spaceship. Of course we have to go early to get a seat. What if the spaceship takes off and we can’t find a seat?” Tang Xinghe was very nervous. This time, Mother Tang had her follow Su Shaobai and watch over him. But she, too, was unfamiliar with Empire Star!
“Well, we’ll go first. Xingchen, take care of Grandpa!” Su Shaobai patted Tang Xingchen’s shoulder and left.
Compared to Tang Xinghe’s unfamiliarity, Su Shaobai had been on a spaceship once before—though this time he needed tickets. The two nervously approached the cabin door, raised their terminals; infrared scans swept above, no alarm.
They sighed in relief and entered the ship, found their economy class seats. Su Shaobai sat by the window holding Tuanzi, Tang Xinghe beside him, an empty seat with some simple luggage between them.
Half an hour later, the spaceship took off. Su Shaobai entered space for the second time. The unreal dizziness returned, and instinctively he reached down to stroke the sleeping Tuanzi on his lap.
Lowering his head, Su Shaobai smiled, lifted the little white kitten, and took a deep breath.
Tuanzi the Tyrant: “……”
The nearly twenty-hour flight wasn’t frightening in itself. What was scary was the spatial jumps—many passengers became unwell and had to take injections to stop their vomiting.
“The spaceship’s spatial jumps cause spatial compression,” Tang Xinghe explained. “The longer the light-years, the greater the compression. Compression is graded into ten levels. Under level seven, non-spiritual humans can withstand it. Above level six, you must have spiritual power to endure the ride. Above level three, at least B-grade spiritual power is required.” Su Shaobai’s files said he had no spiritual power, but when Grandpa’s spiritual storm broke out, Su Shaobai was completely unharmed. Tang Xinghe inferred from this that Su Shaobai must have some spiritual power, though the military hadn’t detected it. The reason, she didn’t know.
Su Shaobai looked at her, confused.
“From Aro Star to Shishi Star, compression is under level seven, so it’s no problem. But from Shishi Star to Empire Star, the distance is far longer, so the jump uses a higher compression level requiring spiritual power. When you get to Empire Star, if anyone asks about your spiritual power level, say you’re E-grade but unstable—that sometimes it can be measured, sometimes not. While on the spaceship, you got dizzy and vomited and had injections, understand?” Tang Xinghe looked at Su Shaobai seriously. The empire divided people into those with and without spiritual power. The powerless couldn’t transform forms. Those with spiritual power ranged from E-grade to 3S-grade. It’s said that currently only six people in the empire have reached 3S.
“Why can’t I tell the truth?” Su Shaobai asked curiously.
“If a person without spiritual power boards a level-six-or-higher spatial jump ship, they may, in severe cases, literally explode.” Tang Xinghe felt there was something special about Su Shaobai. What that special trait was, even Su Shaobai might not know. She wasn’t sure whether she should ask, so for now, she helped him hide it.
“I understand. Don’t worry!” Su Shaobai nodded solemnly.
He felt Tang Xinghe was taking this very seriously—making him a bit uneasy.
The next afternoon, Su Shaobai and Tang Xinghe arrived at the empire. The moment Su Shaobai stepped off the airship, he was dumbfounded.
A city in the sky.
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