After a strange silence, Amos, quick as lightning, caught the little white ball that was about to fly away.
“Awoo awoo awoo!”
Who are you saying can’t understand human language!
It was just a little ball the size of two palms, all puffed up in anger, the little halo on his head trembling, those moist amber eyes blinking indignantly.
His little wings fluttered behind him.
‘Ferocious and menacing’, but not scary at all.
The man realized, looked at this bristling tuft of fur, and waved his hands again and again: “No, no, no, I misspoke, I didn’t mean it that way.”
Little Chu Zao was gathered up and held in Amos’s arms.
He seemed easy to coax again.
He immediately decided not to fuss about it.
After puffing up, he naturally snuggled into Amos’s arms.
His big round eyes observed the circle of strangers around him.
Even though Amos had talked with the little cub on the starship about some things.
But suddenly accepting a different worldview, Little Chu Zao couldn’t quite understand it.
He hadn’t ever received proper education in his original world.
Amos hesitated a little, then noticed the little one’s tiny claws clutching him a bit tightly, seemingly a little scared.
He was still too young. Ever since he’d met Amos on the abandoned drifter planet inhabited by the Crown Clan, he’d always been crawling forward.
The little one had just gotten used to living alone and understood too well how to survive.
If you didn’t put up a tough front, others would keep pushing your limits.
Zao Zao had suffered losses before. No matter how young or weak he was, he wouldn’t let such things happen again.
The little guy hid it well, the soft little bundle looking beautiful and cute. At this moment, the Crown Clan, still tangled up about how an infant appeared out of nowhere, hadn’t noticed at all.
At that moment, hurried footsteps sounded outside, and the medical center staff rushed in.
“Your Majesty! The equipment is ready.”
Only then did Amos carry the little one, leading a group of ‘tails’ to the special medical room prepared for cubs.
This dedicated medical pod was different from the small one Amos had on the starship.
Inside were soft cushions, surrounded by various machines, all beeping gently.
The white little ball was put inside.
There wasn’t even much need for testing; the instant the little one was placed inside, the machines sensed the Crown Clan cub’s mental power and lit up instantly.
Little Chu Zao raised his little body instinctively, clutching the edge of the pod, his tiny halo on his head flickering. A red light quickly scanned across his little halo.
“Awoo?”
Huh?
The little cub flicked his tail, rolled over and looked at these machines.
“Awoo?”
What’s happening, Baba?
“It’s a checkup. Didn’t I tell you before?”
Amos stood beside the examination pod, eyes lowered, staring at the little one. Both hands propped on the pod’s edge, his demeanor looking relaxed and lazy, but in fact completely enveloping the little one within his shadow, in the scope of his protection.
At that moment, Frey, still holding the red fruit that Little Chu Zao gave him, came to his senses, unable to help but glance over.
As the alpha wolf of this generation of the Crown Clan, Amos’s mental power and character were both the most dominant.
He had learned too early the fate of the Crown Clan heading toward destruction, and had shouldered the entire Holy Cas Empire too early, strategizing for the empire.
He was the hardest to shake in the Crown Clan, the very cornerstone of the empire.
Amos might look gentler than Frey, but Frey knew—when it came to ruthlessness and brutality, there was only one right answer in the Crown Clan, and that was the Emperor of Holy Cas: Amos Dwight.
It was rare to see Amos like this, as if he had been somewhat softened.
No, no, no. More like, letting such a white ball call him Baba—this alone was a little horrifying.
None of them had seen a cub before. Even if they were in charge, they never felt they’d be all that tender toward a cub, especially since Chu Zao had an unclear background.
If even they felt so, Amos should be even more so…
“Awooo—!”
At that moment, the little cub in the pod, perhaps uncomfortable from the examination, let out a soft, milky whine through the pod’s shield, sounding muffled.
Tiny claws grasped at the transparent barrier, his pink little paw pads visible.
Baba, how long will it take?
“Uh… please wait a moment, Your Majesty. Besides the basic checkup, there’s also a mental power kinship test, plus developmental recommendations for the cub’s growth…”
The medical staff were also unfamiliar with the procedures. They glanced cautiously at the little one while answering Amos.
They also weren’t sure what to call the little one.
Should they just call him Little Highness?
But they’d overheard the other highnesses: the little one’s background was unknown. In the end, they didn’t know how to address him.
No one knew what the highnesses thought—some of the staff’s hands trembled with excitement.
Their lifespans were different from the Crown Clan’s. If the Crown Clan hadn’t raised cubs in this generation, then even more so, most citizens of the Holy Cas Empire had never even seen what a Crown Clan little highness looked like.
Let alone operate the ancient machinery left behind by Imperial Highnesses to perform checkups for the little highness.
This was really—they couldn’t find words to describe how they felt about Little Chu Zao.
Or rather, no amount of words could describe how thin most people’s feelings were toward the Crown Clan.
The entire Holy Cas Empire held a kind of fervent belief and burning passion for the Crown Clan.
Frey glanced at the little cub again, couldn’t help but look again, and finally, biting into the not-so-tasty fruit, took a bite.
Sss—sour fruit.
Cub is sweet… cough, this little cub really was a bit cute.
After the simplest preliminary scan, the previously calm beeping of the machine suddenly triggered a fierce alarm.
The alarm was much like what Amos had heard on the starship before.
The group of Crown Clan members froze.
Then—a wind rose in this not-so-large medical room.
No, it wasn’t wind, but their mental power being stirred into movement.
On their casual or cold faces, an inexplicable emotion rose, as points of light condensed above their heads.
This slight turbulence had no effect on the Crown Clan present, but the staff instinctively retreated, eyes shut against it. When the turbulence subsided and they looked up again, they were suddenly stunned.
Starting with Amos, all the Crown Clan members present had halos floating above their heads—the ones other races of the universe called the Devil’s Crown: pitch black, edges crumbling bit by bit.
A nightmare for countless blasphemers.
Such overwhelming mental pressure, it was almost suffocating.
But for the Crown Clan, having their mental power forcibly called out was uncomfortable too.
That was a mental echo left behind by a previous Crown Clan ancestor, who, upon scanning the child’s dire physical condition, roared with rage to all Crown Clan across the universe—There’s a cub here!
There’s a cub of theirs here!!
He’s not doing well!! Where are his parents!!
This was the cub they had prayed for, day and night!!!
Why hadn’t this baby’s parents cared for him properly?
Hurry and come hug him!
Little Chu Zao was startled too, but what he felt was the comforting caress of an unknown mental power. The little halo above his head brightened for a moment.
“Awoo?”
What’s the matter?
What’s wrong with Zao Zao’s halo?
Little Chu Zao looked up, couldn’t quite see, and was considering whether to pull his little halo down to take a look.
Meanwhile, in a special room at the edge of the royal palace.
Curled in the corner, a man whose black hair had turned completely white slowly lifted his head, crimson madness burning in his eyes. The Crown Clan halo floated above his head, yet the crown was nearly shattered, its dim light casting shadows on his defined, handsome brows.
“…Cub?”
How could that be…
Haha…
How could that be.
They had lost their home, had no more cubs—those soft little bundles, like their last dream.
They would, in the end, step by step walk toward the conclusion, toward a fated destruction.
He seemed to hear the echoes of destiny from the depths of the universe—Crown Clan, you must resign to your fate.
In the next instant, as if losing his reason, the violently restrained mental power exploded, blasting the ruins around him far away, the instruments completely destroyed.
The rumbling noises and trembling ground made the guards outside freeze for a moment.
“Not good! His Highness Meilun’s mental power is rampaging again! Go report to His Majesty!!”
Meanwhile, by the little cub’s side.
The data report was being generated, the kinship test sifting through candidates. The pod’s transparent hatch opened.
The little cub was obediently sitting on the cushion, the golden halo on his head beautiful and exquisite, wings folded, his little dragon tail comfortably curled around himself.
He looked at Amos. The others’ crown halos fading above their heads, little Chu Zao wanted to say something.
Zao Zao didn’t understand at all, what just happened?
Why did it suddenly light up, and then suddenly dim again, why was there wind just now—was it magic? And, and, there were white things floating outside; Zao Zao wanted to see.
But he hadn’t had time to say any of this.
Outside came a rush of footsteps.
The pod room’s door suddenly burst open.
In ran a man in black military uniform, hair wild and rumpled, looking a bit frantic as he strode in.
“Bro, you came back early? What’s going on? What cub?”
This was, before little Chu Zao, the youngest of the Crown Clan, Amos’s youngest brother, the fifth prince Anya.
“What happened just now? The habitat has already been destroyed. How could the Crown Clan have any more cubs? Don’t let it be some sort of plot! I’ve been running recon lately and even heard there are labs trying to experiment with our Crown Clan genes. Did you check kinship? I really want to know which weakling managed to leak their gene—for all we know, this is a plant—”
Anya, clearly flustered, charged to the front of the pod, hands gripping the edge, only to have Amos frown and yank him back by the collar.
But it was a bit late. Anya hadn’t finished his sentence when he met those clear amber eyes.
Anya stared dazedly at the adorable little one, slowly finishing, “Ti—time bomb?”
The little cub had been sitting properly on his cushion. Startled by this man’s sudden entry, his little wings shot up, he grabbed his own halo, holding it in both paws, and smashed it down on Anya’s hand.
‘Baby dragon roar’: “Awooo!!”
Take that!
“Can’t you be less impulsive?”
“Anya—”
He’d rushed too fast. The other Crown Clan, who’d just had their mental power shaken, were a half-beat late to react, and so he’d gotten right up close to the cub. The others’ words of restraint hadn’t left their mouths, hands half-raised.
And then they saw little Chu Zao whack someone with his own halo.
Amos:……
Everyone else:……
Aaaaahhhh!!!
Oh my god, what is this little one doing?
He, he’s using his ‘brain’ to beat someone!!
No, how can your halo be taken off?!
Help, my head is starting to ache phantomly, aaahhh!!!
[Author’s note]
No-prize quiz: Who’s the “weakling”?
I also wanna know how he can take off his halo lmao