Cub 016: Who could it be? Bullying his young one.

Amos went upstairs to see this scene.

The little cub seemed to have adapted a bit to the environment, no longer as tense as before, even wildly flirting with the royal system AI here.

Those four little short legs stood rather proudly at the door, while the smart machine behind him obligingly made a clattering applause.

Completely to amuse a child, but clearly, Little Chu Zao liked this very much.

This AI belonged to the entire Holy Cas’s high-level intelligence; it long ago gained its own personality template, and now it was putting on a prim and proper face.

Little Chu Zao turned at the sound, seeing Amos standing at the stairwell. The little one leaped twice, then launched himself in a flying pounce, landing directly into Amos’s arms.

“Awoo!”

Baba! This is so much fun!

He wondered if it was just his imagination.

Amos felt that the halo on Little Chu Zao’s head was even brighter than before.

This young one didn’t seem to have the habit of hiding his halo; he always liked to keep it right on his head.

“Yuan.”

Amos held the little cub in his arms, looked up, and called into the air.

“Esteemed Your Majesty, is there anything you would like to instruct?”

The overhead light flickered, and that mechanical voice suddenly changed a bit, carrying a hint of emotion.

“Not bad.”

An AI pretending to be a prim and proper system.

“Thank you for your compliment, I still have much to learn.”

The light overhead flickered again, then went dark.

Little Chu Zao, who had never seen these things before, opened his eyes wide, pupils dilating as he looked around.

He wanted to figure out where exactly the voice was coming from.

He made a soft sound: “Awoo?”

Where are you?

“This is the royal AI Yuan. If you need anything in the future…”

At this, Amos suddenly realized, this little guy was still a fluffy ball, only able to speak with awoos and barks. He paused only a moment before continuing.

“You can just tell me directly.”

Little Chu Zao lay nestled in Amos’s arms, nodding his little head repeatedly.

He curiously looked around again.

A faint laugh came from behind, not entirely friendly.

Little Chu Zao immediately turned to look.

Anya stood a few steps down the stairs, that handsome face with a wild, rebellious look, his posture a bit casual, leaning back against the rail, eyelids lifted, those crimson eyes just like the other members of the Crown Clan, staring straight over.

Night had fallen, and this residence was for the royal family of the Crown Clan. Amos had no interest in occupying an entire palace alone, so besides the two princes who had not yet returned, the first prince Frey and the fifth prince Anya both came back here at night as well.

After being charmed away in the afternoon, Anya had clearly done a lot of mental preparation.

He considered himself the most rational one of the Crown Clan, truly in control of his own rhythm.

So, come night, Anya was rebellious again.

“What are you? Where did this little nobody come from? Why doesn’t the AI understand you?” Anya stared at the little cub, trying hard to provoke a response. “Go on then, tell us, what was around you before?”

Anya always felt this was some conspiracy against the Crown Clan, meant to accelerate their demise. Raising a cub wasn’t a problem, but he wanted to find out who was behind this cub.

“Anya, aren’t you going a bit too far?”

Frey, coming up behind, looked at his youngest brother, frowning and speaking a low warning.

“I haven’t said anything wrong, have I, Your Majesty?”

Anya couldn’t help but talk back, then looked at Amos.

“It’s been anything but peaceful lately, with turmoil all around. This recent spatial turbulence near Holy Cas’s imperial planet isn’t just from polluted alien beasts, but also organizations out in the universe. I’ve been chasing for several nights now, cutting off many reaching hands.”

At times like these, who could say if this wasn’t another threat?

Amos simply carried the little one downstairs; passing by Anya, this invulnerable emperor let out a light breath.

“You’d best get a good night’s sleep.”

As for Little Chu Zao, curled up in Amos’s arms, he thought for a moment, and softly said, “Awoo.”

Zao Zao used to be a little angel, living on the grasslands!

Angel? Living on the grasslands?

“Awoo!”

Zao Zao was amazing—Zao Zao got up early every day to collect dew, picked berries, and had meals at noon and night, basked in the sun outside in the afternoon, and filled the whole day.

The little white ball stretched out his tiny paw to demonstrate.

Amber eyes, clear and bright.

The three all fell silent together.

Never mind where he lived—

Up early to collect dew? Picking fruit?

Anya’s voice was a bit hoarse: “Were you always alone before?”

“Awoo.”

That’s right.

The fluffy white ball curled up, still maintaining curiosity about everything, and that soft demeanor.

Zao Zao had always been alone.

So he raised himself that way.

After drinking the specially made milk, the young one looked clearly more energetic, his halo flickering above his head.

Even Anya went quiet as he watched Amos carry the cub downstairs, following with Frey behind.

In the end, he couldn’t help but mutter, “Growing up alone is a bit too much, isn’t it?”

Frey folded his arms, coolly mocking his silly brother: “Amos is right, you’d better get a good night’s sleep.”

Anya instinctively wanted to argue, but thinking of the little cub, he choked back the words.

Amos sat on the sofa with the cub in his arms.

He looked at the little one’s halo: complex, intricate, and delicate, petite and exquisite. At that moment it really did seem brighter.

The little one yawned, then suddenly thought of something.

“Awoo awoo.”

Baba, Baba, can Zao Zao see your halo?

The cub tentatively stretched out a paw, looking at Amos.

Chu Zao hadn’t forgotten what he’d overheard—the condition for realizing his wish was stopping Baba from blackening and collapsing.

Didn’t that have to do with the halo?

Although at that moment Little Chu Zao seemed very close to Amos, it was like a child finding an easy-going adult: he liked to snuggle close, yet kept himself slightly apart, brisk and bright, but always carrying a shell that kept the world at bay.

Seeming affectionate, but not quite enough—unsure where Amos’s boundaries lay.

Of course, Amos’s own attitude was much the same.

Amos looked at the little one. Why look at the halo?

He was a bit puzzled, but soon, the atmosphere in the room grew still. Above Amos’s head, the elaborate, pitch-black, withered and fractured coronet halo gradually appeared.

Then the little one climbed up onto his shoulder, reaching out a paw to touch.

A piece really had broken off—

Didn’t it hurt?

Little Chu Zao reached out his little paw, unable to really touch, but instinctively tried to piece the halo back together for Amos.

A rather silly gesture.

The fracture of the Crown Clan’s coronet was irreversible.

But before they could speak, the little one thought for a moment and blew on his halo.

“Awoo!”

Baba, a blow and it won’t hurt.

Amos stared, a bit dazed.

As the little one lowered his head, his golden halo overlapped with Amos’s broken one for a moment.

In that instant, it was as if countless images raced across his mind.

Finally, they froze on one—

In a little nest of soft grass and leaves, a two-or-three-year-old cub, strange yet familiar, exquisitely cute, with tousled black curls, a golden coronet halo on his head, all scraped and bloodied on his arms and legs, amber eyes filled with tears, just lowering his head and asking softly—“Why does everyone have a mom and dad to hug them, but Zao Zao doesn’t?”

That tiny back that wanted a hug, curling into a small ball in loneliness, then fiercely wiping away tears, lowering his head to blow on his own wounds: “It’s okay, Zao Zao is okay, a blow and it won’t hurt anymore.”

…

Amos blanked for a moment, then came back to himself.

Looking at the little one blowing gently on his coronet.

The cub, soft and small, full of curiosity, also seemed unusually well-behaved.

Baba, a blow and it doesn’t hurt anymore.

Zao Zao knows.

In that instant, Amos felt a strange emotion—something like heartache, something like rage.

Silently spreading through his chest.

At last, it became a peculiar ache, even the coronet where it was blown upon felt strange.

—Who was it?

Bullying him.

Bullying his young cub.

The feeling made him reach out unconsciously, and, as the cub looked blankly up, he hugged him close again.

Giving him a slightly solemn embrace.

---

【Author’s Note】

The instinct to protect one’s young is awakening—

Old father’s rage bonus rising—