Translator: ChuRen/ YuQiChen
The soldier’s self-detonation cast a shadow over the mood of the civilians who had just disembarked from the spaceship. Before they could recover, martial law was suddenly imposed.
“What’s going on? What’s the situation?”
“Don’t know. The soldiers have cordoned off the crowd.”
“Looks like they’re searching for something.”
Whispers spread through the crowd. Many people were peering around anxiously. Su Shaobai was squeezed in the middle, struggling to breathe; sweat trickled down, soaking his chest.
The little kitten curled in Su Shaobai’s chest: …
“Tuanzi, why don’t you come out?” Su Shaobai said, feeling very hot and bothered. The kitten was pressed against him, its fur making him a little uncomfortable.
The little kitten sneered, buried its head, and kept snuggling into his embrace.
A hundred years have passed, and finally a good medicine for his headaches exists—there’s no way he would let this opportunity go.
Seeing the kitten relying on him so much, looking so small and pitiful, and glancing at the surrounding crowd, Su Shaobai thought for a moment and said, “Are you scared?”
The kitten lifted its head, its dark eyes showing a bit of coldness. It grabbed Su Shaobai’s shirt, leapt up, and quickly climbed onto his head. It tapped around with its paws, then nestled down.
Su Shaobai: …
Compared to having it on his head, Su Shaobai preferred having it by his chest!
He reached up, pinched the kitten on his head to pull it down, wanting to hold it in his arms. The kitten struggled a little but jumped back into his chest and continued to nestle there, snugling weakly.
Su Shaobai smiled, stroked the kitten’s forehead, wiped his sweat, and slowly moved forward. Half an hour later, he finally saw what was happening ahead.
A group of officers dressed in black military uniforms were screening the crowd, not sparing either people or animals. Behind them were more than a dozen military vehicles and flying machines. Something serious seemed to be going on.
Su Shaobai’s anxiety immediately rose. Could this be a spy roundup?
“Your terminal?” A soldier checked Su Shaobai and found he carried no items, noticing he didn’t have a terminal.
“Ah,” Su Shaobai was taken aback, looking around at others. He saw everyone wearing something like a watch on their wrists. Suddenly he understood and stammered, “I d-don’t have my terminal…”
“Probably dropped it!” Someone nearby, eager to finish registration and leave, quickly explained to the soldier, “We came from Aro Star together. When escaping, I saw him collapse on the edge of a flower bush—it was probably then he lost it.”
Su Shaobai nodded repeatedly, but his heart raced wildly, afraid someone would notice he was lying.
“Alright then, go over there to fill out the forms again and get assigned housing,” the soldier waved him off, urging him to move quickly.
Su Shaobai breathed a sigh of relief and walked to where the soldier indicated. He received a tablet and began filling in the details.
The electronic form was very complicated. In addition to basic information like name and planet, there were iris and fingerprint registrations. It looked extremely complex. The part that puzzled Su Shaobai the most was where he had to fill in his bloodline. After some thought, he entered the character han.
Confused and uncertain, Su Shaobai submitted the form.
“Ah, why did you write ‘Han’ here?” A female soldier took back the tablet, looking at Su Shaobai strangely, muttering, “Judging from your surname, you must be a person from Huaxia!”
Su Shaobai was so nervous that his palms were sweating. Afraid that he would be found out, he carefully recalled the soldier’s words and cautiously asked, “So should I write Huaxia?”
“Of course! Are you of pure Huaxia bloodline?” The female soldier’s eyes lit up as she looked at him.
More than six thousand years have passed since the interstellar age began. The ethnic groups of old Earth had long since mixed, becoming indistinguishable. But due to differing genetic proportions, mental abilities varied, so official records always required this information. In the empire, a small number of people still possessed pure bloodline heritage — Huaxia bloodline was one of them.
It was rumored their bloodline endowed them with very high psychic power. The empire’s Emperor’s mother was of Huaxia bloodline, and His Majesty’s psychic power was said to surpass the highest 3S level. Unfortunately, despite his great power, he suffered from mania that made his temperament violent. His original form was a white lion.
Since humans learned to transform into beast forms, over five thousand years ago, the emperors’ true form had always been a golden dragon. Yet this generation’s emperor was a mutated white lion with horns and wings — a strange and clumsy anomaly. No wonder some said the empire was doomed.
“That can’t be. Pure Huaxia bloodline people generally have strong psychic power. But the examination showed he has none,” a guard nearby interrupted.
“Hurry up and finish!” Hearing that Su Shaobai supposedly lacked psychic power, the female soldier lost interest. She urged him to complete the corrections, shoved a terminal into his hand, and told him it contained some credit points and the housing assignment address, then left.
Su Shaobai took the device, dazed, and drifted along with the crowd.
“Tuanzi, how do you turn on this terminal?” Su Shaobai looked at the wristwatch-like device with a frown. Before the kitten could reply, he looked down in surprise and found the little kitten lying in his arms was gone.
When had it gone missing? How had he not realized?
Su Shaobai panicked. Such a tiny kitten — what if it had fallen and been stepped on? “Tuanzi, Tuanzi, Tuanzi…”
“Meow!”
A white shadow dashed past, and the little kitten fell from the sky, landing right into Su Shaobai’s arms. It hurriedly burrowed into him, snuggling him.
Su Shaobai looked up and saw a large tree. Dappled light filtered through the leaves. Blinking, he lowered his head and asked with difficulty, “Tuanzi, have you come to think of me as your mom?”
The little kitten: …
Su Shaobai’s assigned lodging was in the outskirts of the city, sharing a place with a family.
The soldier explained that due to the shortage of accommodation and because Su Shaobai was only eighteen—still a minor and not suitable to live alone—the government had arranged for him to stay with a host family. The families would receive subsidies, so those with less means were willing to take in others.
Su Shaobai’s host family consisted of four people. The grandfather was a retired soldier with a 2S-level psychic ability. He had once been prominent but unfortunately suffered a sudden mania attack on the front line, lost consciousness, and killed friendly soldiers. He was tried by a military court and, though not executed, served over two hundred years in prison. After release, he was considered semi-disabled and had lived these years relying on special medicine.
The mother’s surname was Shangguan. She had no psychic power and earned a living by doing laundry, cooking, and odd jobs.
The eldest granddaughter, Tang Xinghe, was in high school and an excellent student. She earned scholarships that contributed significantly to the family’s income.
The eldest grandson, Tang Xingchen, was in middle school but a poor student. He frequently skipped school to collect electronic waste, salvaging useful parts to sell in an attempt to ease the family’s burden.
The Tang family’s father had died on the frontlines ten years ago. He had gone willingly to reduce his own father’s sentence but never returned. His father was released from prison, but he had sacrificed his life.
This family’s expenses were covered by the mother’s hard work and the late father’s subsidies. The grandfather had to take expensive special medicine. Life was understandably difficult.
Su Shaobai held the little kitten and stood by the family’s door, heart pounding. Adding one more mouth to feed — would they kick him out?
As a youth with thin skin, Su Shaobai nervously pressed the doorbell, cheeks reddening.
“You are…” Behind the iron gate came a small boy with golden hair and dark eyes and a thin face. “Ah, you’re the big brother who’s coming to live with us. Come on in.”
The small boy’s eyes brightened as he opened the gate and pulled Su Shaobai inside. He had heard from his elder sister that their family would receive a subsidy because of this newcomer, which would cover their grandfather’s medication costs. So they had to treat the newcomer well and not let him run away, or they’d lose the second subsidy.
“Hello, my name is Su Shaobai. Sorry to trouble you,” Su Shaobai said, stumbling a couple of steps from the boy’s pull, then quickly steadying himself.
“No trouble at all, no trouble,” Tang Xingchen said. “My sister is Tang Xinghe. You just call my Grandpa, ‘Grandpa’, call my mom… ‘Auntie1the word used here was 大嬸, meaning It can imply someone is old-fashioned, gossipy, or frumpy.’?” Tang Xingchen looked puzzled.
“Tang Xingchen, you’re the aunty,” a female voice rang out. Su Shaobai looked over and saw a girl with black hair and blue eyes, who looked one or two years younger than him. “Hello, you must be Su Shaobai. I’m Tang Xinghe. Welcome.”
“Thank you,” Su Shaobai smiled and glanced around. This was the front yard, filled with many flowers and a vegetable patch.
“Do you like flowers?” Tang Xingchen noticed Su Shaobai’s gaze and said, “We even have fruit trees in the backyard—trees that bear fruit in all four seasons. It’s a big area. If you like, I’ll take you to pick some.”
Tang Xingchen was very outgoing and tried to pull Su Shaobai toward the backyard.
“Tang Xingchen, stop fooling around.” Tang Xinghe came over and pulled her brother aside, then said to Su Shaobai, “Grandpa went out for a medical appointment today, and Mom is also at work. When they come back tonight, I’ll introduce you properly. For now, I’ll take you to your room—it’s already cleaned.”
“Okay, thank you. Um, I brought a cat with me. I hope you don’t mind me raising a cat!” Su Shaobai, seeing their enthusiasm, still felt he should be clear about this.
“A cat?”
Tang Xingchen and Tang Xinghe exchanged a glance, both a little baffled.
“Your younger brother? Two people?” Tang Xingchen asked cautiously, but a deeper smile crept to his lips at the prospect of two—meaning a higher subsidy.
Su Shaobai: …
“No, really just a cat.” Su Shaobai felt they misunderstood and quickly pulled out the little kitten. “See? It’s really a cat.”
“A cat is just… ah… ow…” Tang Xingchen almost blurted out that the cat was probably his younger brother, but was suddenly pinched by Tang Xinghe and gasped in pain. “Jie2older sister, why did you pinch me?”
“Nothing. Hurry up and change into clean clothes; Take Su, Su-gege, out to buy clothes later.” Tang Xinghe let out an awkward laugh and glanced at the little kitten nestled in Su Shaobai’s palm, relieved.
Just now, the kitten’s psychic pressure had pressed heavily on her mind—it was clear the kitten didn’t want Su Shaobai to know something. “Why buy clothes outside? Can’t you just buy them on the terminal?” Tang Xingchen found his sister odd.
“You go when I tell you to, stop nagging.” Tang Xinghe pushed him aside and led Su Shaobai inside, introducing the family’s situation as they walked.
This small home had two floors. Grandpa Tang, Mother Tang, and Tang Xingchen lived on the first floor to better care for Grandpa. Tang Xinghe lived on the second floor, which had just two rooms and an open rooftop terrace full of flowers, tended by her. The flowers on the first floor belonged to Grandpa Tang.
“Grandpa often soaks flower petals in water to drink, saying it helps ease mania,” Tang Xinghe said. The room prepared for Su Shaobai was quite large but sparse — just a bed, a desk, and two stools. “It’s a bit simple.”
Tang Xinghe smiled shyly.
“That’s okay. I’m grateful you can take me in.” Su Shaobai had been observing since entering the first floor. This home didn’t have many possessions, but it was clean and tidy, looking very comfortable.
“Well, I’m going downstairs now. You rest, and later I’ll have Xingchen show you around and maybe buy some clothes. We’ve already prepared daily necessities for you.” Tang Xinghe thought for a moment and asked, “You have money, right?”
Her mother had originally said she would prepare clothes for Su Shaobai, but Tang Xinghe rejected the idea. She had heard refugees received subsidies but since her family was barely scraping by, buying clothes for newcomers seemed pointless—they might as well not take him in.
“I do,” Su Shaobai quickly said. Because he was still a minor, his subsidy credits were even higher than others.
“Alright, you rest,” Tang Xinghe waved goodbye and left. Just after going downstairs, she saw her brother had changed clothes and was running over. She hurriedly grabbed him and said, “Remember one thing—you can’t tell Su-gege that the cat is a person.”
“He doesn’t know?” Tang Xingchen was puzzled. Everyone in the empire knew. How could Su-gege not?
“You know those without psychic power can’t transform. He definitely can’t transform. His mother’s hiding it from him. If you say anything, he’ll find out and be sad. And when he’s sad, he’ll run away. If he runs away, we lose our second subsidy.” Tang Xinghe spoke seriously.
Tang Xingchen nodded repeatedly, promising not to let Su-gege know.
Overhearing the siblings’ conversation by the staircase, the empire’s emperor withdrew his cold gaze and turned, stepping back to Su Shaobai’s room, thinking to himself: Clever enough. Before he could figure out why the smell of alcohol on the youth could alleviate the pain of his mania, no one could make him leave the youth’s side.
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