Free Web NovelRabbits were so cute, but in the end, the two little rabbits still turned into warm food.
Xi Heyan handled it himself and made the rabbit stew Wen Yuzhi wanted.
The two rabbits made quite a lot of food. Wen Yuzhi couldn’t finish it all, so Xi Heyan helped eat one of them too.
Xi Heyan’s skill wasn’t limited to roasting rabbit. His other cooking was just as good. Between the two of them, they polished off the two plump rabbits in no time.
Wen Yuzhi ate until he was full. He leaned back against the chair, and after eating his fill, he immediately turned lazy and didn’t want to move.
Those round eyes of his narrowed slightly too. The way Wen Yuzhi slumped in the chair at that moment was very much like a little ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ cat overcome by laziness. After eating and drinking his fill, he couldn’t help growing drowsy.
And for an animal as naturally alert as a cat, it would only relax enough to reveal such a defenseless posture in an environment it considered safe.
Xi Heyan thought of how cold and wary Wen Yuzhi had looked before, then looked at the little boy now sitting there obediently in the chair with a throw pillow in his arms, looking incomparably well-behaved...
Clearly, the delicate, pampered, high-maintenance cat in front of him had already let down its guard.
Maybe the atmosphere was just too relaxed, or maybe Wen Yuzhi looked too capable of stirring up the protective instinct in others, but for once Xi Heyan temporarily set aside some of the hatred in his heart.
Looking at the little boy who had accepted his feeding, for some reason, two words suddenly surfaced in Xi Heyan’s mind—
Wanted to keep him.
Xi Heyan had never kept pets before. In fact, he wasn’t the kind of owner who cared much about pets to begin with. He didn’t have the patience to look after such fragile little lives.
Even in the interstellar age, where the pet industry was already highly developed and nearly every household kept one or two favorite pets for companionship, and where plenty of upper-class elites in the Empire raised all kinds of rare and expensive pets just to compete with one another—
Xi Heyan had always kept his distance from small lives that required time and energy to care for.
But at this moment, that thought began to change.
If only the little boy in front of him really were a cat.
That was what Xi Heyan was thinking.
If Wen Yuzhi really were a cat, then Xi Heyan could take that delicate, beautiful little cat home with him. freёwebnoѵel.com
He could personally cook for it, brush its fur, clip its nails, scoop the litter box, do the cleaning—whatever household chores needed doing, he could take care of all of them.
And the cat, whose paws never touched a drop of work, would only need to accept his care. If it occasionally let him pet it, that would be even better.
The Xi Heyan of the past had never understood why some people treated a pet like a master and waited on it hand and foot.
But now he understood.
Meanwhile, Wen Yuzhi had no idea that Xi Heyan had started entertaining thoughts of keeping him. At the moment, he was busy feeling troubled too.
And what troubled him was...
Xi Heyan’s cooking was too good, and he was too attentive and thoughtful. If there were some kind of housekeeping robot on the market that was anything like him, that would be perfect.
He wanted to buy one.
He wanted to keep one.
Both of them happened to be thinking similar thoughts, and at the exact same moment, Wen Yuzhi and Xi Heyan each let out a sigh.
But in the end, thoughts like that were only unrealistic passing fancies. Xi Heyan felt a little regret, but he wasn’t the sort to keep dwelling on it.
Wen Yuzhi was the same.
After resting a little, he asked Xi Heyan when the hunting team would be going out again.
“When the escape pod crashed here, there was another person with me,” Wen Yuzhi said slowly. “He should have ended up on Blackrock Star too. I want to find him.”
Besides that, Wen Yuzhi also wanted to find some way to contact the outside world or leave this place.
He had been missing for so long. His father and the others still didn’t know what had happened to him.
They were probably worried.
He had to find some way to get in touch with them.
But to Wen Yuzhi’s disappointment, Xi Heyan shook his head.
“The hunting team probably won’t be going out again anytime soon.”
The entire base had been preparing for the battle ahead.
Xi Heyan planned to go to the laboratory those people had established here.
He had reached an agreement with Black Rabbit. They would do everything they could to assist him, and in return, the things being researched in the laboratory were exactly the kind of information Black Rabbit was interested in.
That was the deal they had made before coming.
Black Rabbit was an intelligence organization. There was no way they would pass up information that could sell for a sky-high price on the black market.
There were interference fields around Blackrock Star set up by Bernard, so ordinary starships couldn’t land here at all.
But the recent interstellar storm had affected the shielding system here, allowing Xi Heyan to slip past those people’s surveillance and enter Blackrock Star successfully.
For the past twenty years, Blackrock Star had suffered one form of oppression after another. The survivors had been forced into exile on their own homeworld, while also facing an increasingly vicious environment and watching stray beasts occupy land that had once belonged to them.
And now, at last, there was an opportunity.
It was time for them to strike back.
But...
when Xi Heyan saw the disappointed look on Wen Yuzhi’s face, something in him moved instinctively.
So he said, “If you want to leave this place and go back to find your family, there is one place where you can contact the outside world.”
Blackrock Star was cut off from the outside because of the interference fields placed around it, but there was one place on Blackrock Star that absolutely could not be fully severed.
That laboratory.
The laboratory wasn’t far from here, and its research data had to be transmitted out. Under those circumstances, the laboratory was the only place on the entire planet that still had contact with the outside world.
But... this operation was dangerous to begin with. They had no idea what might be inside that laboratory. The only thing they could be sure of was that it would be the nest of all the stray beasts.
And because of that, Xi Heyan had no intention of dragging Wen Yuzhi into it.
After all, this was a matter belonging to Blackrock Star. Wen Yuzhi had only ended up here by accident. There was no need for him to risk his life for Blackrock Star.
But after hearing that, Wen Yuzhi said, “I want to go too.”
His tone was firm.
Before Xi Heyan could say anything to oppose him, Wen Yuzhi continued, “You saw it before. I can kill stray beasts.”
In an instant, Xi Heyan remembered the sight of the little boy under the moonlight, his expression cold and distant, one hand gripping a dagger, the other holding a stray beast’s corpse.
At his feet lay several more stray beasts that had already died.
There had still been blood on his cheek, and when he lifted his eyes and looked over—
Even now, Xi Heyan could still remember the feeling of his heartbeat speeding up.
Wen Yuzhi really did have the ability to kill stray beasts.
Those few stray beasts that had died at his feet were the best proof of it.
But not wanting him to face danger was also Xi Heyan’s instinctive reaction.
Still, when he saw the stubborn look on Wen Yuzhi’s face, Xi Heyan swallowed the refusal that had been about to leave his mouth.
“All right.”
“But...”
After the delighted expression appeared on Wen Yuzhi’s face, Xi Heyan added in emphasis, “When the time comes, you stay by my side.”
Only if he kept Wen Yuzhi where he could see him would Xi Heyan be at ease.
Naturally, Wen Yuzhi had no objection to that.
He nodded obediently and promised, “I’ll follow your arrangements. I absolutely won’t act on my own.”
..........
Meanwhile, the StarNet was still filled with all kinds of discussion about the Saint Clan.
“Can someone tell me what this bunch of Saint Clan maniacs is actually trying to do?”
“They’ve already turned the Third Star Sector and Fourth Star Sector upside down. Judging by the direction those warships are heading, they’re probably going to the First Star Sector next.”
“Good riddance. Thank God those killers are finally leaving!”
“They seem so frantic. Do you think they’re looking for something really important?”
“I think they’ve just gone insane. Wasn’t there a rumor before that the Saint Clan tyrant’s mental turmoil had already gotten really severe? Maybe all this recent chaos is just the Saint Clan losing their minds.”
One message after another kept scrolling across the screen.
Dan sat on the sofa, holding a glass of red wine as he leisurely read through those comments.
He looked relaxed, even pleased.
Behind him, a person in a white lab coat was reporting cautiously, “There’s still been no response from Number One.”
“Do you think he’s doing it on purpose, or do you think he really didn’t notice?” Dan asked with a smile.
The person in the white coat didn’t dare say a word.
The inhibitor they had put on Number One was designed as a collar. Its existence not only kept that monster firmly restrained, it also allowed them to monitor his condition at all times.
According to the data from the monitoring chip, Number One was still alive.
And if he was still alive, then there was no way he had failed to notice the messages they were sending from here.
Unless...
Number One was deliberately choosing not to respond.
Dan took a sip of red wine and pushed up the glasses on his nose.
“Number One has always been very obedient. He may be a failed product, but he has never once resisted my orders. All these years, he has remained loyal to the institute. If he’s suddenly changed, then there must be a reason.”
And Dan thought that reason might also be connected to the Saint Clan’s new royal-blood cub.
At that thought, Dan instructed, “Pinpoint his location and send the coordinates to the nearest base.”
“At any cost, bring him—and that little highness—back to me.”
The moment Dan’s words fell, the sound of a wheelchair rolling across the floor came from behind him.
It was Bernard.
For some reason—perhaps because of the constant nightmares, perhaps something else—the Emperor looked even older than before.
He wore a breathing apparatus, and his cloudy eyes were fixed on Dan.
“Y-you... when exactly are you going to give me what you promised...”
Bernard spoke with difficulty.
He had struck a deal with Dan. He had provided all the information he knew, but after all this time, Dan still had not given him what he wanted. freewebnøvel.coɱ
That left Bernard with no choice but to suspect that Dan had deceived him.
Faced with Bernard’s dark, suspicious stare, Dan only smiled, entirely unconcerned.
“Right now.”
As he spoke, Dan personally pushed Bernard’s wheelchair toward the laboratory ahead of them.
The instant the laboratory doors opened, Dan said with a smile, “Welcome to another world.”
Bernard didn’t understand what he meant. But the moment he saw clearly what lay before him, his breathing suddenly turned rapid.
