Cub 051: Zao Zao, Did You Give Your ‘Brain’ to Someone Else?

The starship continued to draw near.

The violent power stemmed not only from the pollution’s influence, but from the last desperate struggle of a Crown Clan member who was utterly spent.

As they approached, the owner of those crimson eyes on the screen gradually became clear.

Black tainted blood stained his cheeks, the claws of some unknown beast had pierced his shoulder. It was a face that was both familiar and strange.

That was Morlo—

Alarms on the starship were triggered one after another, starting with partial hull damage and the failure of the pollution isolation device, then escalating to the autopilot, to the auxiliary systems, to the now-disabled communication systems—all damaged, even the most basic signal could not be sent out. Then the power system, and finally, even the starship’s propulsion system was utterly wrecked.

The footage on the starship’s display flickered one last time, then vanished entirely, and the alarms fell silent.

Starships were always quiet while traveling, but once everything stilled—things became even quieter.

Quiet to the point of unease.

Until the starship crashed heavily onto the dusty ground not far away.

At this moment, Hel already felt his mental power growing agitated under the pollution’s influence. The mental strength that had once been stabilized by the little cub was now boiling over, starting to destroy his coronet. He could no longer return—this should have been the fate he awaited.

People always had things they could not accomplish.

Hel was unable to do everything well.

Hel opened the starship’s hatch. Staggering, he crawled out. His rampaging mental power instantly grazed his cheek.

Hel used the last of his mental strength to resist, taking one step after another, slowly nearing the man at the center.

Smiling Morlo, Morlo who exchanged tokens with him, Morlo who praised him, Morlo who, with determined eyes, used his own mental strength to thrust Hel entirely out of the polluted zone, while he himself fell completely into the polluted area from the backlash—

Finally, all these overlapped with the present Morlo, unable even to stand, wings twisted, original clothes unrecognizable, his whole body bloodied and sluggish.

How could it be like this—

“Morlo—”

Hel’s voice grew choked; this once stern, serious, yet elegant and knowledgeable scholar’s body shook, and in the moment when only he and Morlo remained, he cried with tears streaming down his face.

“Were you waiting for me?”

Hel reached out his hand.

“I’ve found you now. Don’t be afraid; I’m here to stay with you—”

Hel unfastened the buttons of his coat one by one, approached the dazed Morlo with difficulty, took off his jacket and tried to drape it over Morlo.

But the still Morlo suddenly moved, instinctively retreating a few steps, resisting Hel’s approach, reaching out his hand—

That movement overlapped with the one a few years earlier, when Morlo told him to live on—Go, leave here… Hel, you have to live well.

In the end, both were battered and bruised.

Hel gritted his teeth, looking at the trembling, twisted wings behind Morlo—they seemed about to take off, to get away.

Now wingless, Hel seized his last chance, lunged forward quickly, and pinned Morlo, pinning down his wings as well.

“That’s enough, Morlo, it’s enough—don’t fly anymore, it hurts, it hurts so much—it’s enough now—”

Hel’s tears fell in big drops as, after years as a walking corpse, he could finally once again embrace his scarred lover.

He felt Morlo gradually weaken, sliding slowly down his body; atop Morlo’s head was only a faint fragment of the Crown Clan’s coronet remaining.

It was even more severe than in the video half a year ago—if he hadn’t come—

His Morlo would head towards death in such devastation, once again vanishing from this star sector.

Hel reached over with his coat, enveloped Morlo, lowered his head, and gently rubbed Morlo’s forehead with his chin.

“It’s always been silent here, and lonely, right? It’s fine, Morlo—I’m here with you.”

Hel slowly closed his eyes.

If it was possible to die together in this moment, wouldn’t that be a kind of happiness?

In this moment, they weren’t Crown Clan, nor was he the Crown Clan’s imperial tutor—they were just Hel and Morlo.

Sorry… Zao Zao.

That teacher spoke like that from the beginning. You’re a smart and brave little Crown Clan; no matter which teacher, the evaluation is always the same, only those with odd attitudes from the start, who suppressed you overtly and covertly, who insisted you ask hopefully to the very last, and then silently shattered all your hope, are a different, rotten breed—don’t listen to them.

Teacher believes you can overcome anything.

Because you’re not just Amos’s cub; you are Zao Zao, the Zao Zao everyone acknowledges.

So… it’s fine, Zao Zao. Teacher didn’t dare leave you a message, he just went to a distant place. Although he lost the struggle against fate, you will overcome it. You are the miracle of the entire Crown Clan. Teacher, to see you at the end of his life—truly… it’s so wonderful.

So—

No need to cry…

Hm?

Wait a minute.

Why did it seem like he heard the little cub crying?

“Wuwuwu, teacher, Teacher Hel—can you hear me, teacher? Baba said you didn’t say goodbye to Zao Zao, wuwuwu, teacher is a bad teacher, teacher made Zao Zao cry, Baba said he’d help Zao Zao teach you a lesson—I spoke up for you already, wuwuwu—Teacher Hel, wuwuwu—”

Hel: …

Dared not listen further, hoping it was an illusion.

“Wuwuwu ahhhhh, you’re not replying, Zao Zao has brought Baba to come find you—this doesn’t count, wuwuwu, bad, bad teacher wuwu… teacher liar…”

Hel: ……….

Together with Morlo, bruised all over, Hel belatedly realized—

Come to think of it, Zao Zao could speak directly in his mind, how did that actually work?

Oh—apparently Zao Zao could see their mental power threads…

Wait, don’t tell me, that thread connected directly to his coronet?

Ha ha—

After he used all his strength, determined not to implicate others with himself and Morlo, racked his brain, and finally, under Amos’s nose, slipped away unnoticed, found Morlo, mentally prepared for his coronet to shatter completely—only for someone to now tell him all this was useless?

Kid, that’s not funny.

Hel finally opened his eyes.

He looked back.

Space was quiet to begin with, even more so in heavily polluted zones. Things should’ve been chaotic here, but maybe because Morlo had stayed near for so long, only recently venturing deeper into the pollution zone, and had killed countless beasts, it was unusually calm; several large starships were resisting the pollution, slowly arriving.

The insignia of the Holy Cas Empire on them was also stained with blood during the beast-clearing process.

This empire, built on blood, and his comrade-in-arms who fought fate side by side, appeared just as he cut off all retreats.

As if to say—hello there.

Hel: …

The little cub’s half-hoarse crying still sounded in his ears.

“Teacher Hel—wuwuwu—are you still alive? Wuwuwu.”

Hel’s face was streaked with blood and tears, with stains where tears had fallen, and the Morlo he cradled in his arms still had mental power rampaging, exploding the surroundings and even hurting himself—his hands and feet sometimes bursting into a mist of blood.

Such a sorrowful, tragic, heroic scene, prepared for a magnificent sacrifice.

Yet because of the little cub’s wailing in his mind, in an instant, Hel found himself unsure whether to laugh or cry.

He ought to have asked more clearly—

How is this a one-way communication—this is a cross-galaxy tracking system!

Hel was a clever man, calculated everything, but never calculated that the cub would follow his thread of mental power, guiding the Holy Cas fleet to chase him all the way.

Then what was his scheming, his careful planning worth?

Overthinking, perhaps?

The starship stopped not far away.

The cub was still sobbing in his mind.

Crying so hard, he was out of breath.

The dullness in Hel’s eyes flickered with light, softening slightly.

Why do such dangerous things? I’m always so stern, after class you’re scared of me, you even hide from me.

There was no need for any of it…

A small starship launched from the large one.

Carefully navigating, it finally stopped nearby.

It was Amos who stepped out.

Amos’s coronet was especially favored by the cub. The little one had seen several Crown Clan coronets break and had nightmares about something happening to Amos’s coronet.

So every morning after waking from a nightmare, the cub requested Amos to show his halo, to compare it to the previous day’s photo, ensuring it hadn’t changed.

Amos had nearly gone numb from the cub grabbing his ‘brain’.

Hel had seen this several times, and had thought—

Such endurance—no wonder Amos was the emperor of Holy Cas.

“Leaving without saying goodbye isn’t a good habit.”

Amos struggled in the pollution, using his mental strength to resist.

It was obvious, Amos’s mental power was being influenced step by step; the coronet above his head flickered suddenly, fading and reappearing.

But Amos’s expression remained calm, steady; outwardly, there was no sign the pollution affected him.

“Hel, that’s exactly what you said to Job and Joshua before.”

Hel, holding his lover, gave a low laugh, more like a sob.

“Your Majesty Amos… I can’t bring such danger to you, to the little prince, to the Crown Clan. Zao Zao can’t even get close to Morlo—how could I ask as you do, to suggest maybe Zao Zao could try, maybe Morlo could be saved?”

If it were truly possible, he would even beg little Chu Zao.

Save Morlo… save him…

But he couldn’t do that.

“You didn’t say goodbye to Zao Zao.”

Amos said, heedless.

“He heard Feeney say you were about to die. He cried himself hoarse.”

In Hel’s mind, the cub’s sniffling, sobbing sounded again: “You’re a bad teacher, teacher, teacher, wuwuwu, teacher you lied to Zao Zao—”

The light in Hel’s eyes trembled violently.

Amos reached out his hand.

“At least, you can’t find rest here.”

Amos said softly.

“This is not Holy Cas, nor normal interstellar space; this is the pollution zone the Crown Clan hates most, which destroyed our home planet and led to our extinction.”

“Morlo’s mental power is spent; Dwight is already there; we’ll do all we can to suppress Morlo’s powers—leave here, even if Morlo collapses the moment we exit the pollution zone. As Holy Cas emperor, as Crown Clan royalty, as your student—Teacher Hel, trust me, I have the ability, and the confidence, to grant you the most peaceful rest when Uncle Morlo’s power detonates and destroys everything.”

To grant you… the most peaceful rest—

“Too many beasts here, too noisy, right? Uncle Morlo was on his way home when the accident happened, left to rest here. Hel, could you bear it?”

The emperor before him had taken the Holy Cas Empire from his father, ruled for a century, had grown from that cheeky, unruly cub into someone so reliable at all times, in all places.

Your Majesty Clansis… Emperor Amos was truly, truly outstanding.

How fortunate for Hel, to have taught Emperor Amos, several Dwight princes, and—Zao Zao.

Hel finally couldn’t hold back. He lowered his head and sobbed, choked: “Alright—”

He looked at Morlo, expression frozen in pain and void of awareness, as gentle tears fell on his face.

“Morlo, we’re going home.”

Morlo’s coronet halo crumbled completely.

As said before, he was alive only by a subtle balance of harsh conditions.

Any tweak of those conditions and Morlo would return to the same destructive path of years before.

Previously, exposed to pollution, his coronet left only a small shard; even boarding the starship had been extremely difficult.

They’d thought of this. The small starship was equipped with a special compartment to better isolate from pollution.

Including little Chu Zao, the other Crown Clan members were already on the small starship.

As Amos helped Hel and Morlo approach, Feeney was already by the starship door, his mental strength promptly pressing down; next was Feiman, Frey, and Anya.

Little Chu Zao, his tear-streaked face red from crying, was shielded by the adults, watching as Hel staggered in with a bloodied man to the special compartment.

Amos boarded, and behind him, the hatch slowly closed.

Little Chu Zao heard Hel whisper—“Sorry, Zao Zao, teacher is a bad example, don’t be like me.”

When the doors opened, Chu Zao, who’d been protected by special equipment, rubbed his eyes and climbed up, his little nose sniffling, clinging to the edge of the instrument.

“It looks really bad—”

Frey said objectively.

“He probably won’t hold out till we exit the pollution zone.”

“Mhm, just now, as we got on, the five of us were already struggling to control things.”

Feeney was twirling his beard, unreadable, leaning on the door.

“If there’s anything to try, try before we leave the most polluted area.”

He looked up. “I doubt Morlo can even get out; that coronet fragment will collapse directly from the imbalance.”

Everyone expected as much.

“Baba, Baba—”

Little Chu Zao pressed against the device, little face smushed flat, calling for Amos.

Amos came over and picked him up.

He heard the little one say: “Zao Zao wants to try.”

Very dangerous.

Amos had never wanted to let him try.

Morlo’s situation was unlike any other Crown Clan Chu Zao had met before.

But Amos truly had no resistance against the little cub.

He realized he was gradually yielding even on the so-called ‘principled’ issues, starting to believe in the cub’s miracles.

“Baba, Zao Zao wants to try—Baba, you must know a way, right?”

Little Chu Zao clung to Amos’s neck.

“Baba already tried everything. If Zao Zao doesn’t even try—he’ll have nightmares. Zao Zao will give it his all.”

He’d finally found the stern but always kindly smiling teacher.

Zao Zao still wanted Teacher Hel.

Little Chu Zao had tried to do many things.

He’d seen too much—some succeeded, some didn’t, but he knew, if you don’t try anything, nothing will happen.

At last, under the protection of Amos and the others’ mental strength, the cub entered the chamber.

Hel seemed to have accepted the outcome, gently wiping blood and stains from Morlo’s face and body with a damp towel, careful as the wounds overlapped old scars—until he heard a sound behind him.

Hel turned his head.

He met a pair of large, round, shining, still watery amber eyes.

He spoke out of habit: “Your Majesty, this is not a rational action, you should leave with Zao Zao right now.”

“Hel.”

Amos, with little Chu Zao in his arms, had already squatted by Morlo’s side.

He looked at Hel.

“Right now, you’re the last person qualified to talk to me about rationality.”

Hel was momentarily speechless.

“If you feel bad, tell Baba.”

Amos lowered his head.

The eager cub reached out and grabbed the small coronet fragment floating above Morlo’s head.

Morlo, until then sluggish, suddenly shivered, confusion mixed now with fear in his eyes.

Clearly, having someone else grasp your coronet was shocking even for a Crown Clan who had lost all sense and self-awareness—Who? What happened? Why? What is this feeling?

The cub worked hard to piece Morlo’s broken coronet together.

But there was too little left.

There just wasn’t enough left of Morlo’s coronet.

Not even to make a small circle.

The little cub, bewildered, gripped the fragment with one hand, while with the other, he tried to grasp something out of the air—but despairingly, caught nothing.

No one spoke.

“Amos.”

Frey spoke from the doorway.

“Time’s up.”

The cub couldn’t stay exposed to such an environment—at least, not for long.

Amos stood up without hesitation.

The last chunk of Morlo’s coronet in Chu Zao’s hand slipped free, its destruction accelerating.

“Baba—let Zao Zao try again—”

The golden coronet over Chu Zao’s head flickered anxiously.

The small body twisted a little, wanting to slide down from Amos’s arms.

“It’s enough, Zao Zao—”

Hel spoke. He looked up at the little cub.

Wingless, loverless, now nearly stripped of everything, he wore an unreadable smile.

As if relieved, as if grateful, as if full of regrets and unwillingness.

Crown Clan sacrifice for their race, sacrifice for the empire—is worth it.

It’s just… there’s still some unwillingness. They could do more, but—

“Zao Zao, teacher really, truly thanks you, it’s fine, your Grandpa Morlo is just too tired, he needs a good sleep, teacher too, you did very well.”

Crown Clan’s little cub, the future king of Holy Cas, should not feel guilty, should not self-blame; no one will think you didn’t try. The Crown Clan will always be your strong support, you can keep striding forward.

Without hesitation, Amos held the cub and prepared to leave the chamber, ready to return later to give Hel and Morlo the peace he’d promised.

Little Chu Zao grabbed around blindly, tears falling again.

His halo flared, and he saw threads of shattered mental power floating from Morlo’s coronet.

He yanked hard, winding it around his own halo, crying hoarsely, the childish voice still choked.

“Grandpa Morlo…”

The cub’s halo suddenly gleamed; the golden glow was his unique spiritual power.

“Grandpa Morlo, can you hear me? It’s Zao Zao… Teacher Hel has found you; Teacher Hel is going to take you home—”

Zao Zao wanted to make everything better, but didn’t succeed; if Grandpa Morlo could hear what Teacher Hel wanted to say, if only he’d know that Teacher Hel especially came for him, to take him home.

Hel didn’t have time to speak, just watched.

Amos paused in his steps; all the Crown Clan watched too.

The branch on Chu Zao’s halo that had grown recently turned into golden dots, followed the spiritual thread attached to his halo, childlike, leaping, towards Morlo’s halo.

The broken fragment was gently lifted by the golden force; the golden dots stretched, then stretched again, forming a slender ring that encircled the broken coronet.

Atop Morlo’s head, a delicate halo of gold intertwined with the typical Crown Clan silver-black coronet appeared, then, under all the Crown Clan’s eyes, gradually faded—not disappeared, just the normal way a Crown Clan’s halo goes invisible.

Morlo’s spasming body suddenly relaxed, even his breathing, all at once, smoothed out.

What just… happened?

Feeney reacted the quickest.

“Teacher Hel!! Hurry, get Morlo out of the chamber!!”

“Ah, right, hurry!!!”

Anya snapped back instantly.

He was closest to the chamber door, helped pull, and then looked to Feiman nearby.

“Feiman, quickly, let’s get back to the flagship.”

Feiman immediately piloted the small ship, speeding along after the slower-motor flagship ahead.

Once Hel and Morlo were hauled out of the special chamber, shields restored, the Crown Clan finally breathed. Everyone was sweating through their hair.

Feiman quickly spoke: “Accelerating as fast as possible as requested, but—something’s odd—”

“What?”

“We thought this was all severe pollution zone, but that way, the pollution lessens—it could be another passage. The pollution once divided the universe; maybe there’s another sector or… somewhere unknown.”

Feiman pondered, but decided to report this info anyway.

“Let’s get back and recover first, decide later.”

Amos quickly made the decision, looking at the cub in his arms.

Chu Zao seemed dazed, momentarily spaced out, clinging to Amos’s neck, no longer crying.

“Zao Zao?”

Amos asked quietly.

“Are you unwell anywhere?”

Little Chu Zao snapped back blankly.

His soft, nasal voice was confused, as if he didn’t quite grasp what others meant: “Hm?”

“Hurry back for a thorough checkup—and also—”

Amos looked at Chu Zao’s coronet.

He was puzzled.

“Did the branch you grew earlier disappear?”

“Seems so…”

Hiss… Cub, did you give your ‘brain’ to someone else?

Hel had not yet recovered. Cradling the still-comatose Morlo—Morlo’s breathing had become steady, the rampaging power gone, new flesh exposed—no new wounds would appear.

The little cub, dazed, still managed to look at Hel from Amos’s arms, the blank face so docile, resting on Amos’s shoulder, soft and small, saying in a childish, milky voice, wings trembling slightly.

“No more crying…”

Hel looked up at little Chu Zao—there were no more crying sounds, just messy blood all over, staring, and then tears fell, unexpectedly, one after another.

How to describe all this?

Surrounded by suffering, unbowed by fate, determined to find relief in death—yet, in the end… defeated by tenderness.