At this moment, by the entrance of the main residence hall.
A stiff but poised smile was plastered on Kale’s face as he stood at the door, seeing off the banquet guests one by one. He had only detained a few troublemaking little cubs and their guardians.
Standing half a step behind him, Ren understood his Male Master’s thoughts all too well. Kale was likely on the verge of exploding; the balloon in his mind labeled “reason” was inflating rapidly, ready to pop at any second.
Kale placed extreme importance on this banquet. Every prominent Zerg on the Home Star had attended, including several highly respected S-rank Excellencies. Perhaps due to his advanced age and stable temperament, the old male Zerg who was the guest of honor hadn’t been angry upon hearing of the incident. Instead, he remained kind and genial, laughing it off and urging Kale not to be too hard on the children.
Once the guests had dispersed, a chilling draft filled a certain reception room.
“Kale, how do you intend to resolve this?” The voice was flat, betraying neither joy nor anger.
Hearing this, Ren, standing by the door, felt his heart sink. He showed nothing on the surface, remaining still as a statue, his half-downturned eyes concealing his deep worry.
Kale was filled with irritability, his tone none too pleasant: “How should I know?”
Aslanum was dissatisfied with Kale’s defiance. His temper flared as he said sternly, “Is this how you speak to me?”
He was the current head of the Jonah family and Kale’s Male Father. Having held his position for many years, he rarely encountered anyone who dared to disobey his orders. Ever since that cub was born, he and his once-proud son had grown apart; they couldn’t exchange three sentences before a quarrel broke out.
Thinking of this, he shot a cold, disdainful glance at the silent, downcast female Zerg (Ren). He grew even more dissatisfied. He truly didn’t know what was good about this female—stiff and rigid—who had even given birth to a useless male cub with no mental power to speak of. Yet, Kale stubbornly refused to replace his Female Monarch.
Kale knew there was no benefit in clashing head-on with his Male Father. He shifted a step to the side, blocking the older man’s view of Ren, and said in a dismissive, softened tone, “I will handle this. Go and rest first.”
His head throbbed just thinking about it. Why was his own cub involved in this mess? And how did he end up mixed up with that rebellious female cub from the Shiya family?
Seeing Kale’s attitude soften, Aslanum didn’t want to escalate the conflict further and said no more.
Two small figures stood before a long table laden with delicacies. Wisps of sweet dessert aromas and savory food scents wafted into their noses, while the drinks reflected a kaleidoscope of colors.
Li Xi’s dark eyes glimmered; he was in a pleasant mood. Even Yun, who was racking his brain for a way to escape punishment, could feel Li Xi’s intense, sincere desire—the desire to eat.
“…”
Yun stole a glance at his Female Father, who sat on the sofa with a grim expression, fiddling with a dark cufflink and looking deep in thought. Feeling nervous, Yun lowered his voice: “How big is your heart? You’re still thinking about eating?!”
Our lives are on the line.
Despite his words, Yun stood on his tiptoes, stealthily grabbed a small fruit, and stuffed it into Li Xi’s hand. He then shifted his body to block the probing gaze from the sofa. “Eat quickly!”
Aian was currently upstairs being examined by the family doctor; the specifics were still unknown. At the time, Aian’s coughing had been uncontrollable. Except for Li Xi—the “clueless” cub who had calmly acted as if he saw nothing—the other Zerg had all been in an uproar. If an A-rank male cub was harmed, every female Zerg involved would be punished.
The clock on the wall ticked away, each sound like the approaching footsteps of the Grim Reaper. A heavy, low pressure filled every corner. A giant stone weighed on everyone’s hearts, making breathing heavy and difficult.
Except for…
Yun sighed helplessly and fed Li Xi a cup of juice suitable for cubs. He himself didn’t care much; his Female Father would protect him. At worst, he’d spend a few days at the Cub Management Center. It wouldn’t be his first time, and he was very familiar with the process. But what about this cub? Li He’s guardian still hadn’t shown up.
Hearing the child’s nervous and frantic voice, Li Xi reluctantly withdrew his gaze from the food. He stared at the fruit in his hand, pondered for a moment, and said slowly, “Don’t…”
“Hmm?”
“…be afraid.”
Yun: “…”
I’m not afraid for me, I’m afraid for you, Yun thought silently.
He asked again uncertainly, “Are you trying to say ‘afraid’?”
Li Xi looked at the child who was begging for an answer, then looked away and calmly took a bite of the fruit. In that fleeting glance, Yun confirmed his thought: this cub truly wasn’t afraid. He didn’t know whether to call it being world-weary or purely innocent.
While the two of them were “leisurely” whispering, Denier, who had just passed his childhood awakening, was not so lucky. A male Zerg was twisting his ear and scolding him.
“Were you fighting?!”
“No, Male Father.”
“Weren’t those female Zerg beaten by you?!”
“No, Male Father.”
“Then why were you involved?!”
“Male Father, my ear hurts so much.” Denier didn’t answer the question, instead pleading piteously for mercy.
“Playing the victim is useless! Why were you there?!” the irascible voice boomed. “I’m still your Male Father for now. Don’t think that just because you’re A-rank, you can be lawless. You’re still eating and drinking on my dime, so you better come clean!”
“…” Denier felt incredibly aggrieved. The other cub was perfectly fine, chatting and eating happily. In fact, Denier suspected the snake had been brought by the blue-haired cub because his mental perception told him the snake had slithered around that cub’s feet before vanishing. Plus, the cub had appeared far too coincidentally.
“Still not talking?”
“Bored, watching a show…” Denier answered honestly under the stern questioning. “My hands never even left my pockets.”
His Male Father sneered and said coldly, “Does a male Zerg need to use his hands to fight?”
Male Zerg fighting was different from the direct violence of females; it was a clash on the mental plane. It appeared calm on the surface but was actually extremely perilous. Denier had just been tested at A-rank and was still too young to accurately control his mental power. Every male cub was precious, and the government and families took them very seriously. Hearing that Denier was fighting had shocked him beyond words, followed by deep worry that he might accidentally suffer a backlash. After all, damage to the mental sea was irreversible.
“I didn’t use mental power either!” Denier felt like dying as he protected his beet-red ear. “Please, Male Father. I swear, I was just a passerby watching the fun! I had nothing to do with it, I was standing miles away!”
Denier gave a flattering smile, his eight little teeth perfectly lined up. “Can you let go? Male Father.”
Don’t I have any pride? Those two cubs over there have their eyes glued to me! Denier decided right then that he wasn’t staying on the first floor. He scrambled to escape his father’s clutches and ran upstairs; he still had to check on Aian.
Holding a soft little cupcake, Li Xi squatted by the corner of the table, fascinated by the scene of Denier being scolded. Yun chattered beside him, his hand never ceasing to feed him. He noticed this cub had a particular fondness for food.
“You…” Yun couldn’t help but reach out and poke the puffed-out cheek, causing a small dimple to form. “If they ask you questions later, um… just blame everything on me. The snake wasn’t yours, you were just passing by, got it?”
Li Xi stopped chewing and turned to look at the rounded fingertip. The nail reflected the bright overhead lights, and the knuckle showed a faint red mark. Li Xi thought it must be a mark left over from using too much force during a fight.
“Did you hear what I—” Yun followed his gaze, his voice cutting off abruptly as he thought of something and immediately hid his hand behind his back. He didn’t want any more strange things suctioned onto his hand.
Li Xi: “…”
I just took a look, why so excited?
“Did you hear what I just said?” Yun shifted a small step to the side, hiding his fingers before speaking.
Seeing the question repeated, Li Xi knew the child wouldn’t stop until he got an answer. He had no choice but to nod obediently. “Mm.”
“If they ask you, just say you don’t know.” Yun remembered the boy’s speech trouble and changed his instruction. “Don’t even speak, just shake your head.”
“Oh.” Though he didn’t know the child’s intention, Li Xi still nodded obediently.
Seeing him cooperate so well, Yun smiled and fed him a highly nutritious fruit, adding, “This will help you grow tall.”
After that, Li Xi finished the fruit and was handed a small cookie. One ate, one fed, their coordination perfectly synchronized.
When Kale entered, he first looked for his troublesome cub. Scanning the room, he finally found two sneaky shadows beneath the corner of the long table. One of them looked very familiar.
Once Kale saw clearly, he was speechless. He had reviewed the surveillance footage frame by frame. The video didn’t show where the snake came from, and because the camera had been moving, there was a gap in the footage. But Kale knew his cub’s living environment perfectly. The moment he saw that green snake, he knew the culprit. It was his cub who had released it!
Aian’s Male Father wasn’t someone easily fooled either…
While Kale was feeling frustrated, Li Xi was eating happily.
“The security measures of the Jonah family leave much to be desired.” Just as Kale was telling himself not to be angry because it was his own cub, a sarcastic voice drifted down from the second floor into the hall. “A venomous snake appearing at such an important event—who will dare attend your banquets next time?”
The moment the voice rang out, Li Xi felt the aura of the child beside him shift; he even heard a nervous swallow. Curiously, he looked toward the source to see the Zerg that scared this kid. A high-ranking male Zerg with cold eyes and an unfriendly gaze appeared by the second-floor railing.
The male Zerg first swept a cold, expressionless look over them without pausing, then looked at Kale with a fake smile. “My favorite cub suffered such a great fright. Don’t you intend to give an explanation?”
Kale crossed his arms impatiently. He despised Weismann’s hypocritical “gentle and refined” act—everyone knew what he was really like behind closed doors. However, he couldn’t show it directly. He forced himself to be patient: “As you said, the security measures were inadequate. I will punish them later. I will handle the medical fees and all follow-up costs for the little male Zerg.”
Weismann was clearly dissatisfied, staring at Kale without a word.
“How about this: all the female cubs involved will be sent to the Cub Management Center. I’ll instruct them to teach them some proper rules,” Kale continued.
Weismann, thinking of something, said out of the blue, “Females? That cub was also present.”
Kale’s eyes turned cold. This guy better not fall into my hands.
Kale looked up at the second floor. They stared each other down in silence, neither willing to speak first. The air crackled with hidden currents as the mental powers of two high-ranking male Zerg silently intertwined. One was gentle but focused, the other was reckless and unrestrained; every Zerg in the hall was affected.
The mental power, carrying an all-sweeping aura, made it difficult to breathe. The female Zerg looked particularly pale; those of lower rank knelt on the ground the moment the mental power was released, enduring the pain in silence. Meanwhile, the male Zerg who had just scolded Denier leaned back casually on the sofa, having no intention of mediating, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of watching a show.
Li Xi timely grabbed Yun’s wrist, preventing him from being caught in the crossfire. He stopped eating his snacks and watched the confrontation between the two with an uncharacteristic excitement.
“Male Father, I was the one who didn’t stand steady and accidentally fell into the water. It has nothing to do with them.”
Aian emerged from the room, feeling the intense pressure. He spoke up despite the weight of two powerful mental powers. He had only coughed because he’d swallowed some water; it wasn’t a big deal. More importantly, this was incredibly embarrassing! If his Male Father pursued the matter, many female cubs would be implicated, and Aian considered himself soft-hearted.
Kale and Weismann snorted simultaneously, and their mental powers vanished. Both had held back and hadn’t used their true strength; otherwise, every Zerg within a hundred miles of the Jonah family estate would have been affected.
Weismann turned to leave, but his peripheral vision caught his other cub and his Female Monarch. His expression changed, and he said with a beaming smile, “Does Yun want to come back with me?”
The child who was named couldn’t stop his body from trembling. He wanted to hide behind Li Xi but stopped himself for some reason. His lips moved, his voice so low it was almost inaudible: “I…”
The female Zerg (Yun’s Female Father) who had been sitting steadily on the sofa stood up, considering what to say to stop the male from taking Yun away.
Yun looked at the female and called out helplessly, “Female Father…” His voice was filled with an uncontrollable tremor and despair.
The air froze for three seconds.
Li Xi also stood up and tilted his head. “Don’t want to go home?”
Yun twisted his hands and said in a small voice, “That’s not my home.” I’m dead meat if I go back!
Li Xi looked up at the second floor. Weismann had been watching Li Xi; he was one of the few who knew the cub’s true identity. As the cub looked over, their eyes met. Under those pitch-black pupils, Weismann’s mind gradually became hazy, his gaze vacant in a way no one noticed. He heard his own airy voice: “Forget it. You stay with the Jonah family. The cub beside you also suffered a great fright; soothe him well.”
It wasn’t until Weismann was sitting in his flight vehicle that he realized what had happened. He asked his attendant how he had gotten back. The attendant, forcing himself to stay calm, told him exactly what happened.
After hearing it, Weismann muttered to himself, “Strange…”