CH 115.1

Xiang Lingyun: Xiang family’s head. Xiang Kun and Xiang Hui’s father.

Neitaxi: General from the Empire, the strongest mecha soldier in the Empire.

Feng: The Imperial High Advisor.

Jian: the Imperial High Advisor’s son. Studies History.

The aroma of mushroom soup and fried meat patties wafted over, and Qiao Zhiya sniffed gently, slowly opening his eyes.

“Good morning, Baby!”

Mi Lai leaned on the branch beside his nest, excitedly leaning over to give him a vigorous kiss as he woke up. Then she picked him up and rubbed him affectionately, cheerfully saying, “It’s breakfast time! Your dad made meat patties for you today. Are you happy, Baby?”

The confusion from just waking up quickly dissipated under her enthusiastic greeting. Qiao Zhiya looked up at his mother, who seemed completely carefree, and then glanced down at his father smiling under the tree. Remembering what he had heard last night, he curled his claws, flicked his tail lightly, and nodded vigorously, saying, “Happy! Mom, I also want to eat those red wild berries from yesterday.”

He was always obedient and rarely made explicit requests. Mi Lai was momentarily stunned at his words, but quickly became excited. The sense of fulfillment from being relied upon and needed by her son surged within her. She patted her chest boldly and said, “No problem! Mom will go pick some for you!”

After saying that, the stocky woman jumped down from the tree, kissed him again with force, then tucked him into her husband’s arms and enthusiastically headed towards where the wild berries grew.

The forest was very safe, and Qiao Yi trusted his wife’s departure. He shifted his gaze to his son in his arms and gently asked, “Qiaoqiao, why did you lie?”

Qiao Zhiya glanced up at him, fluttered his wings to stand up from his embrace, and then flew to eye level with him. He gently leaned in, touching his forehead with his small head, exuding magical power.

Qiao Yi was taken aback, then quickly understood his intention. He sighed softly in his heart and unlocked the seal on his magic pool, allowing his power to slowly seep in.

After several days of rest, his depleted magic pool had already been replenished. However, this couldn’t hide the fact that there were still cracks on its surface.

Qiao Zhiya withdrew sadly, looking at him with distress, and sat back on his arm, feeling low — indeed, not only his mother but even his father was hurt, otherwise his mother wouldn’t have said those things last night.

Over the past two years, his father had advanced from a Grand Mage to a Grand Magister Mage, and was even not far from becoming a Saint Mage. This should have been a good thing, but perhaps due to rushing through space to find him as quickly as possible, his father’s magic pool was unstable, and frequent mana consumption had affected his foundation.

“Qiaoqiao, it’s just a minor injury. I’ll be fine soon,” Qiao Yi comforted, patting his head gently like any loving father who didn’t want his own pain to burden his child.

Qiao Zhiya didn’t obediently accept the comfort but instead lifted his head. Once again, he flapped his wings to fly to eye level with his father, and firmly said, “Dad, I’ve been an adult for many years.”

Qiao Yi looked into his earnest eyes, vaguely guessing what he wanted to say. His heart trembled, and he reached out to touch him, calling softly, “Qiaoqiao.”

“I also want to protect you and mom.” Qiao Zhiya didn’t evade his hand but insisted on flying to meet his gaze, looking into his eyes. Then he directly released his magic, spreading it layer by layer around.

Qiao Yi paused as he touched his hand, slowly withdrawing it.

Magic release was something every elf child did upon reaching adulthood, to inform the entire clan that a young elf had grown up and could live independently, forming their own small family.

Everyone who sensed this magic power fluctuation would come with gifts to bless the adult child.

Having grown up in a dwarf village, the coming-of-age ritual for dwarves involved forging a weapon by hand and placing it in the village’s arsenal. To adapt to local customs, and given Qiao Zhiya’s weak magic power at the time, Qiao Yi had intentionally overlooked this traditional elven ceremony.

But he hadn’t expected Qiao Zhiya to initiate it today.

The father and son looked at each other as equals for a long time. Eventually, Qiao Yi relented, extending his hand to Qiao Zhiya. Mana surged in his hand as he sighed, “Bless you… my grown-up child. May the gods protect you.”

With this level of magic intensity, Qiao Zhiya’s power spread almost immediately throughout the entire forest. Mi Lai, who was picking wild berries, sensed her son’s power, paused in surprise, thinking her son was in danger. She hurriedly stuffed the berries into her embrace and quickly rushed back to their dwelling.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong, Baby? Are you—” 

She stopped, staring dumbfoundedly at her husband and son squatting beside the wooden table, bewilderedly asking, “What are you doing?”

Qiao Zhiya’s eyes brightened when he saw her return. He joyfully flapped his wings and flew in front of her, pointing to the crystals on the table, saying, “In this world, spars have another name — ice crystals. They’re very rare and precious. The spars I have on hand have almost been used up in these two years. Dad was giving me pocket money.” Towards the end, he seemed to feel embarrassed as an adult still receiving pocket money, curling his tail shyly.

Qiao Yi watched his son clumsily fibbing and couldn’t help but smile with a hint of helplessness in his eyes. He then shifted his gaze to his wife, who was looking at them wide-eyed, and nodded, affirming, “Qiaoqiao says that the value of items in this world and that on the Magic Continent are fundamentally different. Here, spars are rare gems, whereas magical stones of various elements are just decorative gems used frequently in daily life and are not expensive.”

The more Mi Lai listened, the wider her eyes grew. Unable to resist, she reached out and pulled her son into her embrace, rushing to the small wooden table to confirm and ask, “Really? This is very valuable? Do the humans here really like spars?”

Qiao Yi looked at Qiao Zhiya in her arms, and Mi Lai followed his gaze.

Qiao Zhiya met his mother’s questioning gaze and hurriedly nodded vigorously, affirming with great enthusiasm.

Receiving the affirmative answer, Mi Lai couldn’t help but exclaim in joy, squatting down in front of the small table. She took out the wild berries and wiped one clean before handing it to Qiao Zhiya. Then, she buried her head in her magical storage tool and pulled out all the crystals, piling them on top. She said happily, “All for you, Baby. Spend them all. When they’re gone, Mom will bring more from home. There are plenty more at home!”

Mixed in with the spars were some purple gold coins, which were a higher-level currency on the Magic Continent. Qiao Zhiya hadn’t seen these in this world yet, so while he nibbled on the wild berries, he pointed to those purple gold coins and explained their significance in this world.

Mi Lai’s face flushed with excitement upon hearing this. She eagerly rummaged through various beautiful trinkets in her magical storage tool, trying to find some “unappreciated” human items that her son might like, intending to fill his little treasure trove.

Qiao Zhiya cooperated by explaining the potential value of various items from the Magic Continent in this world, happily flicking his tail, looking quite content.

The mother and son were deeply entangled in a vortex of money and couldn’t extricate themselves. Qiao Yi stood up, brought over the warm mushroom soup and meat patties. He fed a spoonful here and there, watching his son comforting his wife in his own way, a scene that brought great satisfaction to his wife, who smiled contentedly.

Since that breakfast, the way the family of three interacted had subtly changed. With his father’s tacit approval, Qiao Zhiya quietly changed his role at home from a cared-for object to one of the family pillars. Mi Lai, who was easygoing by nature, was oblivious to this, only noting that their son had become exceptionally capable now!

After communicating with the giant tree, Qiao Zhiya once again obtained a mutated yellow leaf tree root. In front of his parents, he used the roots to make two potions from the yellow leaf tree, then handed one to each of them.

“This is beneficial for repairing mana pools,” he explained, then handed them spiritual purification liquid and green fruits, saying, “These can be used as auxiliary medicines.”

Mi Lai knew little about potion making; Qiao Yi, on the other hand, was quite skilled, but he couldn’t quite understand some of the steps his son had just taken in making the potion. Moreover, they had no idea before this that the giant tree at the center of the forest had already gained sentience and could communicate.

“I’ve been here before and helped the old tree grandfather a bit, so he recognizes me. I’ve slightly modified the potion-making method, using some human techniques. Potions made from these roots are more effective than those made from branches and leaves that I used before. You should drink this first,” Qiao Zhiya answered their questions, then flew over to his mother first, saying carefully, “Mom, I once absorbed the power of the Flesh of the Stone. The healing aura in my magic can maybe help repair the injuries in your magic pool. Can I try?”

Without hesitation, Mi Lai leaned over and gave him her full trust.

Qiao Zhiya happily wagged his tail and approached gently.

Qiao Yi stood up on his own and guarded his wife and son’s side.

In the giant tree forest, the family of three busily healed their wounds.

Outside the asteroid belt, after Chu Rong roughly cleared out the Zerg on the garbage planet, he left the battlefield cleanup to Xiang Lingyun, then took the Chu family flagship into the air again, speeding toward a planet on the border where the Neitaxi was located.

A day later, the flagship arrived at its destination and met with Neitaxi.

Neitaxi did not have Chu Rong’s incredible abilities and couldn’t quickly break open the underground structure and find the building below, so he used a roundabout way to obstruct, using a comprehensive energy disruptor covering the entire planet as much as possible, causing the magnetic field of the planet to influence the success of the monsters to come here.

When Chu Rong arrived, the Empire’s soldiers had just dug out the teleportation site hidden underground.

“There aren’t many Zerg here, just this one.”

Neitaxi pointed to a row of locked test body lockers in front of him, and then pointed to a similarly mucous and blood-filled space deep inside, saying, “And that, Marshal, you’re not wrong, there’s also a teleportation site here, but it’s not big, and it’s supposed to be used to give food to the monster.”

Chu Rong nodded, looked around the room, and said, “Clean up the fake Zergs, then blow up here, the lockers sent to the flagship, and destroy the vault.”

Neitaxi immediately responded, and called the man to come up.

After spending a day clearing out the planet, the Chu family flagship flew again, returning to the Federation area.

In the command room, Chu Rong sat on the action stand, listening to the reports from various Federal commanders and putting star map on display, carefully studying the search for another monster.

He has not rested for several days in a row. He was working at high intensity every minute, but he couldn’t stop – as soon as he stopped, the suppressed thoughts about Qiao Zhiya in his mind would overflow and destroy the calmness he has maintained now. 

“…Everything has been cleaned up!”

The last commander’s report ended. Chu Rong nodded, sent a series of coordinates obtained after research to their communicators in batches, and ordered, “Set sail directly to the next planet. Possible coordinate points must be ensured that every corner of the Federation is clean.”

“Yes!”

After the uniform command, all multi-party communications were cut off.

The room became quiet. Chu Rong looked at the beautiful star map of the Blue Galaxy. His eyes subconsciously fell on the mining planet where he met Qiao Zhiya. His eyes drifted away for a while, then quickly condensed. He thought of something and stood up. But then, Fan Xiangnan strode in.

“Sir, something is wrong with the Imperial High Advisor!”

Chu Rong paused after hearing this, frowned, and walked hastily towards the infirmary.