But never mind.
Feeney thought this, and also softly muttered to himself.
After all, the little one had no idea that during his nap, Amos had made a special trip outside to bring back these candies that were not produced in Holy Cas.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce was liaising with various interstellar candy factories, seemingly about to make an acquisition.
Feeney never would have imagined—that the hot investment trend in Holy Cas in the coming years might be in the candy industry.
Having gotten his candy, the tiny cub was led downstairs by Amos, hand in hand.
It was rare to see such a clear expression on Amos’s face.
Feeney leaned nearby.
Amos gazed at the cub chewing on candy.
A few months had gone by, and Holy Cas had entered summer; outside, lush green swayed, and the little one’s potatoes were thriving, nearly ready to harvest.
Some time ago, the cub had craved a snack, and secretly, with his little friends, dug up a few potatoes in the palace corners, trying to roast them—then they succeeded in replacing a patch of palace grassland with a scorched area, which Mori was still cleaning up.
The cub wore short-sleeved pajamas, his chubby white arms and legs as tender as lotus roots, with joint dimples faintly pink.
Time really flew; the little one had grown a lot, his soft babylike voice increasingly clear and fluent, his logic smooth. Only when facing Amos did he keep his cub mindset, calling him “Baba” extra sweetly, but he truly was growing. Amos had a hard time naming his feelings.
Little Chu Zao looked up, blinking big eyes at him.
Then Amos spoke: “Your training location is set, it’s pretty close to your aunt’s place, but also near the pollution zone—a bit dangerous.”
It was an abandoned planet, suitable for this group of children to practice on beast-like creatures not particularly powerful.
Amos then looked at the cub leaning by the couch, who was unwrapping candy. As he nodded, the tuft of his hair on top trembled gently with him.
“Mm-hmm, Zao Zao knows.”
He hopped up, seeming a bit excited.
“Then Zao Zao will go get ready.”
Watching Little Chu Zao’s departing back, Amos paused.
“Isn’t it complicated when a child grows up?”
Feeney’s doll-like face peered out from behind the couch, speaking in a soft, ghostlike whisper.
Amos didn’t even lift an eyelid.
“Do you get itchy all over if you don’t spar for a few days?”
Feeney: …
Slowly, he withdrew his head—retreating for a Feeney.
No, not itchy, he felt just fine.
*
A few days later.
Holy Cas Military First Academy.
The classes and teams for this training had assembled, and the academy’s starship was docked, waiting.
There was quite a crowd; at a glance, it was like a prototype of the Holy Cas Army.
Similar training took place at all military academies.
But the pollution’s impact was huge. They had never trained like this in an actual habitat of beast creatures, since in places this close to pollution, the Crown Clan was easily affected and lost control.
Hence the all-Holy Cas live broadcast, and military academies researching it—even other countries and planets had people trying to hack into Holy Cas’s net to observe.
But with Little Chu Zao involved, this live broadcast was extremely strict; all permissions were limited by Holy Cas.
Though termed training, this action bore a bit of a contest flavor, more about competition between grades and classes in the advanced division.
The rules were simple—there were many beast creatures on that planet; ones that could only use simple attacks granted one point per group, squad leaders able to command a dozen or twenty creatures gave three points. Over twenty-four hours, teams could fight for prey or flee, but were strictly forbidden to use lethal weapons on classmates. Violators would be disqualified and reevaluated for military suitability.
This was a special operation with Little Chu Zao present.
Originally, Amos was to speak.
But Amos took Feeney to confirm traces of beast creatures and Hymn Organization activity elsewhere, so Anya stepped in.
Previously, even on operations, Amos brought Little Chu Zao, but as the cub matured, Amos also forced himself to loosen up a bit—especially with other Crown Clan members around him.
He would sometimes handle urgent matters—like investigating clues similar to the last beast storm, or tracking Hymn Organization.
But before boarding the starship, the Ninth Army’s insignia fluttered overhead.
Amos and Frey stood in the open hatch, seeming still stained with blood.
Amos’s scarlet eyes lowered, locking accurately onto Little Chu Zao’s upturned little face.
“Your Majesty! Holy Cas First Military Academy, Advanced Division, Grade One Class One, Class Two, Class Three… Grade Two… Grade Three… all have assembled, awaiting your instructions!”
The academy president was first to turn and salute.
The students followed, in unison: “Your Majesty!”
The cub stood at the front of the special class, looking up.
The Crown Clan’s regal halo flashed dazzlingly.
“Depart,” Amos issued two calm words.
“Yes, glory to Holy Cas, glory to the divine crown!”
…
“No matter how many times I see His Majesty Amos, I still can’t help but shiver,” murmured Peng Liang, lightly rubbing his arms aboard the academy starship before the broadcast began.
The aura was too overwhelming, you just couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Baba is actually very gentle.”
This was probably Little Chu Zao’s first trip away from parents, though not really—the starship still had Ayala, plus other parents were likely just out of the little one’s sight.
That’s just for you.
Peng Liang griped in his heart, watching Little Chu Zao, wings folded and equipped with a firearm and an energy blade, curiously gazing outside.
His features were clear, with an innocent, well-nurtured air.
It was indeed hard to imagine—how the little highness would turn out. Genetics were strong; would he end up like His Majesty Amos?
The ten-year-old boy checked his equipment one more time, nervously rubbing his hands—
He glanced at Chao Huangmu, crouched by Little Chu Zao, hands protectively reaching out to shield the cub as he looked outside, all eager sunshine like a shameless puppy desperate to improve. Peng Liang wanted to kick him.
This guy was always troublesome; worse when it came to the young highness—utterly shameless.
But Yun Songquan didn’t talk, quietly huddling aside, so Peng Liang had to deal with Chao Huangmu.
“Hey, Ah Huang, say something—”
“His Highness is very cute today,” Chao Huangmu replied, grinning.
Peng Liang: … You really just say whatever is in your head, don’t you?! Actually, you say exactly what you’re thinking!
Moreover, Peng Liang found that this brute didn’t share his reaction to the Crown Clan. He seemed to have no fear of their intimidating presence, even eager to challenge the strong—in fact, on his first day in special class, he’d tried to cheekily provoke the instructor.
The cub turned around: …
He’d gotten used to blushing at compliments; now his little wings didn’t even flutter.
It was fine, Zao Zao had figured it out—when it came to behaviors like Chao Huangmu’s, he should be tolerant.
“Your Highness.”
A voice came from behind.
Little Chu Zao turned at the sound.
The four members of Teng Kelin’s squad greeted the cub respectfully, but looked serious when they next raised their eyes: “This time we won’t yield so easily.”
The cub blinked.
They were among the future planned members who didn’t quite fit with peers; behind Teng Kelin, their expressions were solemn, brows lowered.
Teng Kelin continued: “Our ambition and pursuit to become strong—we will not lose to anyone. Please watch us.”
They were not useless side characters in the plan—they were just hard to integrate, and at this age, everyone typically had their own friends; the formerly gifted ones fell far and couldn’t quite adapt.
For a moment, Little Chu Zao flapped his wings, but couldn’t hold back, and spoke with innocent confusion: “Nihao? Who are you?”
Teng Kelin, who felt he’d tried many times to prove himself in front of the little highness, froze: …
Yes, before coming to Holy Cas, Little Chu Zao couldn’t even read—an incurable illiterate, so his schedule was really packed. Aside from activities at the military school, he usually received education in the palace.
With so little time, the cub didn’t even recognize the upperclassmen.
One hit, instant defeat; awkward, Teng Kelin stumbled out a promise to make His Highness remember him and hastily left.
The cub still hadn’t processed what happened.
Chao Huangmu was already cracking his knuckles.
With a sunny face: “What did he just say?”
Peng Liang: …?
Peng Liang yanked Chao Huangmu back—you can’t just go forward cracking your knuckles like you’re going to do something!
“Chill—Brother Quan!”
Yun Songquan stepped out, pressing down on Chao Huangmu’s shoulder, his face cool: “Calm down, Ah Huang—can’t you be less reckless.”
Peng Liang: “Yeah! Who cares what they think, saying all these weird things, but no need. Remember the rules? If we want to trip them up, for example—”
Yun Songquan: “Once it starts, find them and give them a proper beating.”
Peng Liang: …
You’re not that calm yourself.
“It’s fine, Zao Zao doesn’t mind.”
Little Chu Zao looked at his friends, waving a hand.
Because he didn’t care at all, it hit the “opponents” all the harder.
He genuinely didn’t mind.
Flapping his wings, he looked outside—”Are we almost there?”
*
On a certain interstellar planet.
After months of development, a faction centered around Shenghua was faintly emerging.
Shenghua was no saint; she excelled in tactics of the powerful, exploiting information gaps, and used the vulnerabilities arising from disparity to gather people together.
Everything seemed to move according to the prospects she’d painted.
But in fact, these people felt little allegiance to the Hymn Organization; they just followed Shenghua’s lead. As overtly respectful and ambitious as she seemed toward Hymn, so too did the group appear.
Sometimes the truth was not what met the eye.
Shenghua knew this well.
Except—
She couldn’t find the ever more handy “little leader” sent from above.
“Called back? When?”
Shenghua looked at her underling in confusion.
“Not long ago, boss, what now?”
“What do you mean, what now? He’s from the Hymn Organization, why should we worry?”
“But, our new batch of supplies isn’t here yet! What do we do, boss? Without Leader Xi to hurry them, their efficiency is terrible!!”
The lackey clutched his head.
“They don’t want to improve at all—not nearly as much as I do!!”
Shenghua: …
Ah, that was a problem.
“No rush, I’ll ask—”
Elsewhere, in Hymn’s mobile base.
Of the Hymn’s Seven Virtues, only five remained, as recently, beset by targeted attacks, Holy Cas had them running everywhere.
“How’s it going on your end?”
“The Holy Cas group has incredibly sharp noses—really annoying.”
“Same here—activities that had already been scaled back had to shrink again, and several operations were destroyed. Still, Holy Cas doesn’t have our secrets.”
“Gentlemen—”
The Seven Virtues’ leader—Chastity—spoke slowly under his cloak, his voice rasping.
“——The God’s Gifted Stone keeps flashing and appearing. The god or the god’s messenger keeps sending messages; the Crown Clan has completely angered ‘God’. ‘God’ has given us more power to destroy the Crown Clan, break through the pollution barrier, let messengers enter our part of the stars and deal more damage to the Crown Clan. Colleagues, this is something unprecedented since ‘God’ saved us.”
“‘God’!”
“Almighty ‘God’, we have always failed to offer you the holy rites—this is our neglect!”
At the mention of ‘God’, their eyes shone with fanatic faith.
“Destroy those barriers—rely on the God’s Gifted Stone. Humility, Temperance, for the sake of the plan’s success, you two go in person. The most dangerous place—give it to those test subjects.”
Chastity continued.
“They are just consumables; useful if they can be. Where the Crown Clan is, send our most loyal Dogs. Holy Cas First Military Academy still resists ‘God’, which is irrelevant. That little Crown Clan member apparently will attend the exercise too—with fewer protectors there. Do your best to distract them—if given a chance, get rid of that Dwight family Crown Clan child named Chu Zao.”
“Yes!”
“My lord, have you chosen the person to actually control the pollution zone?”
“I have. He’s already en route—the ultimate test subject, our most obedient Dog. Hopefully his sacrifice will bring new dawn for our holy cause.”
Chastity smiled.
Somewhere in the stars, a starship sped to its destination.
Inside, Xi’s black hair was tousled. His back slouched, face tired, irritated, and pained.
He opened his eyes, a gleam of ferocity flashing within.
Meanwhile, in another corner of the stars.
A carefully evolving beast, completely hidden, had already eaten some people, but always cautiously, never drawing any real attention.
He continued his quiet evolution.
His form subtly changing, the wings of spiritual power on his back growing; the indistinct mass of the beast was slowly taking human shape.
“Still not enough—far from enough—”
And it was too dangerous—
That fellow with the strange crown above his head.
By instinct, the evolving beast known as Black Spring hid away in fear.
He shrunk back, hiding his aura to the minimum, suppressing his instinctual desires, separating his power. Moments later, his real body vanished into the most hidden place, as countless similar figures split off, flying toward the surrounding planets.
*
On the planet chosen by Holy Cas First Military Academy.
Everything was underway.
Teams were scattered and dropped down.
Creatures left alive on the planet, sensing the scent of flesh, quickly became active.
Little Chu Zao’s team landed on a small hill.
Little Chu Zao stood atop, first looking all around.
He skillfully took a map from his supply bag—the supply bags were given out upon drop.
To ensure student safety, not only was the Crown Clan present in control, but many teachers and soldiers awaited to handle emergencies.
“Um—where are we?”
Little Chu Zao cocked his head.
“Here, right?”
He looked uncertainly at his companions.
Chao Huangmu barely paused before nodding in support: “Yes, right here—”
“Correct,” Peng Liang asserted, unwilling to lose.
“I think so too,” Yun Songquan agreed quickly.
“Then if it’s here—”
The cub took another careful look. No creatures nearby yet, but after a pause, the little guy seemed dazed for an instant; uncertain, he flipped his map over, glanced at his three friends, and for once was at a loss—he silently flipped over the map he’d been holding upside down.
Yes, Little Chu Zao was still learning his classes, not yet taught how to read maps—he only had a fuzzy concept.
Plus, the map in the supply bags wasn’t a crisp, military one; it was an undetailed terrain map—so it was only natural that Little Chu Zao had held it upside down.
When he saw the instructions printed on the back while marveling at the bag, he finally realized.
Hiding his face in the map.
A little embarrassed.
Countless broadcast bots released by Holy Cas First Military Academy flapped their tiny wings as they launched from the mothership, projecting everything into various broadcast rooms.
So, the waiting broadcast rooms flooded with viewers.
Most early footage wasn’t live; only after official start did they open the broadcast, so finding the little highness took some time.
But once found, viewers poured in.
‘Ahhhhh!! It’s finally started!’
‘Little Highness!!! Little Highness!! I’m going mad, why can the broadcast only start here? And why so strict? No data’s allowed to be saved; without the little highness, I’m dying, I’ve watched all the old streams so many times I could recite them!’
‘To the one above, please share previous broadcast resources, especially those with the royal family; even the old videos have been taken down, ahhhh, I’m dying.’
‘I truly understand why my ancestors were so obsessed with the Crown Clan’s little highness—’
‘Yes, totally relatable. But speaking of, I see that the highest attention in the old days was on His Majesty Amos—my gramps said he was so cute and cool. Hard to imagine—’
‘What? That person just said—does that phrase mean what I think?’
‘Did the little highness…take the map the wrong way?’
‘Hahahaha—’
‘No laughing! How can you say that! Ahhhh, little highness is covering his face with the map—’
‘Wait!! Is that a beast behind His Highness?! That thing’s approaching!’
‘Ahhhhh! Can His Highness handle it?? But he’s an archer! Why is it so close—so annoying—’
At last correcting the map, Little Chu Zao rubbed his face. With the entire broadcast room watching in anxiety, the little one suddenly moved.
The three standing by the cub moved, too.
That thing, like a kind of underground creature with horns, lunged in a flash—this was a low-level beast, hiding belowground, lured by the scent of flesh.
Chao Huangmu kicked it hard, sending it flying.
Yun Songquan stayed by Little Chu Zao; Peng Liang gripped his energy gun, ready to fire.
Then—the little one grabbed its horn, used his spiritual power, and tried to fling the beast away—at which point: “crack”—
The beast howled in agony, but before it could shrink back, Peng Liang shot its weak point.
As the cub stared at the beast horn in his hand, he had no concept of his own strength. His standard of comparison was Feeney and the others—he was still a little weakling to them; but to the ordinary beast—it went airborne, was stunned, and let go—
Small and innocent, his tuft of curly hair swaying apologetically in the wind.
Sorry, seems like he accidentally used too much strength.
The previously worried people of Holy Cas froze—oh, right, why worry about the powerful Crown Clan? At Little Highness’s age, there had been records of wiping out beast teams.
Inside a starship which had been silently following and monitoring all along.
Anya clapped: “Zao Zao’s physical condition really is improving fast. It’s still those angels’ fault, right, second brother?”
The Crown Clan who weren’t supposed to be on Holy Cas’s capital planet were all crammed into this ship, quietly following.
At the control seat, Amos said nothing.
Just stared at his tiny one.
Meilun clapped along: “Baby’s amazing. By the way, any special reason for sending Feeney out alone?”
Amos finally snorted, speaking coldly.
“Let’s see if Feeney can run into some rats in the gutter.”