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In the rest pod of the spaceship, the sound of breathing was the heaviest.
Si Huaixi furrowed his brow tightly, his blue pupils contracting and dilating, sweat forming on his forehead. Just awakened from a nightmare, his pale hand was still clenched with visible veins.
He dreamt of Brother Pei disappearing in an explosion.
He desperately tried to grab Brother Pei’s hand, but there was an untouchable barrier separating them, despite the visible distance. In his dream, he ran and shouted desperately, feeling as if his heart was being strangled by a rope, gasping for breath as he stared at Brother Pei, who knew nothing, being swallowed by the explosion, leaving no trace.
He vanished completely, as if he had never existed in this world.
The dream was so vivid, the pain tearing through his throat, heart, and limbs, rendering him speechless with a dry throat. A sharp, low buzzing noise rang in his ears as he widened his eyes, forgetting to breathe.
Suddenly, he woke up.
Si Huaixi was dazed for a few seconds.
“It was just a dream.”
He covered his face, laughing bitterly as if he had escaped a calamity.
Suddenly, urgent knocking came from outside the door.
“Vice Officer Si, General Pei’s spaceship has lost contact.”
Si Huaixi’s smile froze on his face, his eyes turning dark in an instant.
[Your little sister?]
Yi Chengze’s gaze froze, suddenly realizing that the owner of this voice in his mind could hear his inner thoughts. He immediately cleared his mind.
“Then may I ask where this six-month-old kid is?” Yi Chengze’s face wore a hypocritical smile as his brown eyes swept the surroundings like a sharp hook.
[Uncle, I’m in a big metal sphere to your right front. Dad and I are both trapped here. Please save him quickly.]
Yi Chengze’s smile remained unchanged. “Call me big brother.”
[……]
[……Big brother, have you found me?]
Yi Chengze walked for two minutes and saw a burnt metal sphere, with several people trying to pry it open to see what treasures were inside. When they saw Yi Chengze approaching, their eyes filled with rejection and hostility, but they were scared away by Yi Chengze’s cold and dominant Alpha pheromones.
He knocked on the metal sphere, listening to the crisp sound accompanied by peeling paint.
Yi Chengze said, “Your big brother has come to find you. Are you there?”
[I’m here.]
Yi Chengze’s eyes narrowed slightly. He wanted to see what was inside this thing.
[It contains Little Soybean and its daddy. Uncle, you’ve been talking for so long, why haven’t you done anything yet?]
Yi Chengze’s brown eyes flickered with annoyance. He almost forgot that this little monster could read minds.
He began dismantling the massive metal lump, thinking it would be resolved quickly. Unexpectedly, the lump proved unusually tough. He had no choice but to find some cutting tools and start from the damaged seams of the metal sphere. It took him half an hour to cut open a small piece of metal plate, revealing a gap, and finally catching a glimpse of the appearance of the figure inside the metal sphere.
There was a severely injured Alpha inside, and the internal structure of the metal sphere resembled a mech cabin, mostly damaged and charred. It was hard to imagine that anyone inside could still be alive.
Indeed, the person was still alive.
Yi Chengze observed the Alpha’s weak and almost stagnant breath. The person had varying degrees of burns on their body, but what caught his attention the most was…
He noticed the slight bulge on the Alpha’s abdomen. Surprisingly, it was an Alpha male who was pregnant.
[You’ve found me,] a voice echoed in Yi Chengze’s mind.
If Yi Chengze hadn’t carefully inspected the metal sphere and found no one else inside except for the unconscious pregnant Alpha, he wouldn’t have believed that the little creature speaking in his mind was really six months pregnant.
“Yeah, I’ve found you,” Yi Chengze’s expression was rare and complicated.
Perhaps due to experiencing strange incidents with his sister, he hesitated for a moment but eventually accepted the fact. At this moment, he was conversing with an unborn baby.
As a precaution, Yi Chengze rented a small transport spacecraft and moved the entire metal sphere onto it, making sure that no one caught a glimpse of the person inside.
It wasn’t until he brought the metal sphere to his underground operating room.
He meticulously cut open the metal sphere, trying his best to avoid touching the person’s wounds.
When he finally fully revealed the person’s face, Yi Chengze thought he could maintain a calm expression, but it instantly crumbled.
“Your father is General Pei?!!”
Yi Chengze suddenly realized that he had rescued a massive trouble.
[Huh?]
[What’s General Pei? Uncle, please save my Daddy quickly. He’s been trapped inside for a long time.]
For a moment, Yi Chengze didn’t know whether to be astonished by the fact that the person in front of him was Pei Zhaozhou or by the fact that the Alpha idol he had once admired was actually pregnant.
During his medical studies, Pei Zhaozhou had already gained fame in the Imperial Army. At some point, Yi Chengze had aspired to become a hero like General Pei, defending against the insectoid enemies.
But he never expected that their first encounter would be in such circumstances.
As an imperial citizen, even though he was currently an unrecognized fugitive, Yi Chengze still held some respect for General Pei. Through certain channels, he learned that when General Pei went to the battlefield, he unexpectedly suffered from the disorder of pheromones and became seriously ill. His other kind-hearted personality wanted to go and treat this civilian general but was stopped by him.
Treating the illness was possible, but the person behind might not necessarily want him to recover.
“Little Soybean, right? Your father can be treated, but I need a fee,” Yi Chengze said.
[But… I don’t have money.]
The pitiful and tender voice couldn’t move the money-minded Yi Chengze.
“If you don’t have money, we can write an IOU,” he said.
The ignorant Little Soybean was burdened with a huge debt even before being born.
One month had passed.
Severely injured Pei Zhaozhou was placed inside a special treatment chamber. Transparent blue fluid continuously repaired his body. Floating in the blue liquid, he closed his eyes. His long and dense eyelashes floated with the water ripples, and his originally pale lips finally regained some rosy color. Pei Zhaozhou, immersed in the slumbering blue water, resembled a mermaid.
Yi Chengze, however, anxiously chewed on the end of his pen, his brown eyes restlessly staring at the data in his hands. It was a miracle that Pei Zhaozhou’s body could survive from the beginning. Later, he consumed countless precious restorative materials, enabling his body, which had faced death multiple times, to recover to 91% functionality. But Pei Zhaozhou remained in a comatose state, and there was no certainty that even if he was saved, he wouldn’t become a vegetable.
Yi Chengze had suffered a great loss in this deal.
[Little Soybean wants to watch TV.]
Annoyed, Yi Chengze sighed and, while saying that children shouldn’t watch too much TV, turned on the television. He deliberately tuned it to the cartoon channel.
“If children watch too much TV, their eyes will go blind,” Yi Chengze seriously threatened the child.
[Hmph, Little Soybean doesn’t use eyes to watch. I use my ears to listen.]
As the sound of the cartoon filled the room, Yi Chengze continued to peruse the data and there were several medical books about brain death on the table. Suddenly, a tender sob reached his ears.
[…Daddy, will he never wake up?]
Yi Chengze’s gaze froze. He, who was known as the heartless black doctor in the sinful star, has never comforted anyone. Instead, he took advantage of patients being under anesthesia, unable to move, and raised the prices without hesitation.
“It’s not impossible, but the surgery fees still need to be paid.”
Yi Chengze’s cold and ruthless words made Little Soybean’s crying voice instantly stop.
Angrily, the child said, [When I find another stinky Dad, I will definitely pay you back, Uncle Black Doctor!]
Yi Chengze sneered, “Where will you find him? Inside the television?”
Unexpectedly, Little Soybean actually admitted it.
[Well, I remember my stinky Dad’s voice. If he comes out on the TV, I will definitely know.]
Yi Chengze couldn’t help but laugh at Little Soybean’s naive idea. Even if they could find his another father, he wouldn’t dare to reveal the news about General Pei being alive.
The outside world believed that General Pei had died in that planetary-level explosion. If a body hadn’t been found, according to the empire’s regulations, a person could be officially declared dead three months later. They could even start preparing for the funeral.
And those who wanted to kill General Pei, if they knew that he was still alive, they would surely take measures.
As for the other father that Little Soybean mentioned, he seemed useless— a small celebrity who relied on looks for a living.
Yi Chengze didn’t think such a celebrity could help them in any way. In Pei Zhaozhou’s current comatose and unresponsive state, it would be more advantageous for people outside to believe he was dead than to hear news of his survival.
“Enough, kid. Don’t watch so much TV.”
Yi Chengze turned off the television, accidentally pressing the wrong button, and the screen switched to another channel.
In that instant, Si Huaixi’s face flashed across the TV screen before immediately going black again.
TL: Hey guys! I’ve posted some adorable fan art of SH & PZ on my Kofi page. Enjoy the cuteness overload!
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters.  (๑>ᴗ