Chapter 23: Kloldâs Descent part 1
Yu An encountered the biggest problem of his life so far: he was utterly unable to distinguish between Gu Yixing and Gu Ersheng. To make matters worse, the two were intentionally being mischievous, both claiming to be the younger brother one moment and then fighting over the older brother’s name the next.
Yu An stared blankly back and forth, his eyes blurring, yet he still couldn’t figure out who was who.
Monday wanted to help Yu An, sniffing the scent around the two. But these two brothers were always stuck together, and the scent on them was identical; even Monday couldn’t tell them apart.
Failing to help Yu An, Monday returned dejectedly to Yu Anâs feet, its ears drooping listlessly.
“Enough, you two stop teasing him.” Seeing Yu An was at a loss, Fu Yunshu stopped the brothers’ play. He told Yu An, “Gu Yixing has a small mole below the tip of his eyebrow. You can tell them apart by that.”
Yu An focused his gaze on the twins’ faces. Sure enough, one of them had a tiny mole under his left eyebrow that the other didn’t have.
“Yunshu, thatâs cheating!” Gu Yixing rushed over and gripped Fu Yunshuâs neck tightly. “Cheating, cheating! Youâre no fun at all! I was hoping to tease An-an for a few more days.”
The teenagers’ play was full of vitality. In this moment, Yu An saw a different Fu Yunshu. He wasn’t the gloomy, taciturn person from the small room at the Base; he looked helpless, yet one could clearly see the smile in his eyes. The precocious steadiness surrounding him vanished instantly.
Only then did Yu An truly realize that Brother Yunshu was also just a “Big Brother” who wasn’t even ten years old yet.
While Yu An was staring at them in a daze, Ji Yunyan, who rarely spoke, walked over to his side. He lowered his body slightly, staring with great interest at Little White on Yu Anâs shoulder.
His gaze was too burning. Yu An looked over, startled, his round eyes growing even rounder. “Is something wrong, Brother Ji?”
“This bird of yours… is it a robotic bird?” Ji Yunyan spoke slowly and deliberately, clutching the cross on his neck. “Whatâs the principle behind it?”
This question truly stumped Yu An. He was still only half-familiar with basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; how could he know the principles of making an intelligent robot? He was truly overestimating this “Little White Idiot.”
Yu An shook his head honestly. “I don’t understand. Little White was given to me by Papa.”
“Then I’ll go ask Uncle Wen next time.” Ji Yunyan looked thoughtful. “An-an, do you think I can modify my cross to make it fly beside me like your little bird?”
A flying cross?
Forgive Yu Anâs meager imagination, but he couldn’t visualize such a strange image.
In his interactions with his companions, Yu An gradually opened up. He was much bolder than when he first arrived and dared to say a few words to his friends.
The banquet hall was solemn and boring, and the place where the adults socialised wasn’t liked by the children. After a while, they couldn’t sit still and wanted to take a turn in the back garden.
As the little host, Yu An naturally led the way at the front.
The back garden was far from the noise of the lights, quiet and peaceful. The chirping of insects rose and fell in the lush grass, and the dim streetlights barely illuminated small patches of ground.
Yu An had always lived in the villa at Blue Moon Bay and wasn’t familiar with the Lin familyâs ancestral home in Kyoto. He could only lead his companions based on his few memories. “There are many beautiful flowers here during the day. There’s a lake over there, and in the center of the lake is a small pavilion. Do you want to go see it?”
Gu Yixing asked curiously, “Is there anything fun in the pavilion?”
Yu An shook his head. “Nothing fun, but there are easels and sketching paper. Do you want to draw?”
Wen Xun had brought him to the back garden only to sketch. The drawing tools from the morning hadn’t been tidied up and were left in the small pavilion.
Hearing this, Gu Yixing lost interest. “I don’t know how to draw. Not going.”
The others also shook their heads one after another.
“An-an, do you keep small animals in this back garden?” Gu Ersheng suddenly spoke up. He scanned the area, listening intently. “Something is crawling… and thereâs a sound. Itâs like an elderly person who can’t catch their breathâa very difficult wheezing.”
Yu An was stunned. He quieted his mind to listen. Sure enough, amidst the rustling insect chirps, he heard the sound Gu Ersheng described.
“But we don’t keep small animals…” Yu An shook his head firmly. “No small animals, not even little bunnies.”
Before coming back, Grandpa Ide had said there might be wild bunnies in the garden, and they might even see newborn rabbit kits at this time of year. But after Yu An returned, he had searched once and hadn’t found a single small animal in the garden.
Fu Yunshuâs expression grew solemn. He reached out to pull Yu An to his side. “Itâs a Xenogenic. The rank isn’t low. Let’s go back first.”
Liang Xingsang and the others already knew of the existence of Xenogenics. Most of them had mental magnetic fields, but except for Fu Yunshuâwhose mental magnetic field had greatly increased after participating in the CAF Projectâeveryone elseâs mental power was very low-level.
Soland climbed from Yu Anâs pocket onto his shoulder.
[Chausier is here.]
Monday wagged its tail excitedly.
[Beautiful person! Beautiful person! Itâs the scent of the beautiful person!]
Yu An had heard Chausierâs name before but had never seen the other person. He only knew that Chausier was of the same race as Soland and was also a little octopus. Monday said he was very beautiful; could Chausier be a multi-colored, sparkling little octopus?
Yu An spaced out, imagining Chausierâs appearance.
Wu Yao followed his friends toward the garden exit, turning back every few steps. He was very curious about Xenogenics. “Can we go take a look? Iâve never seen a Xenogenic.”
He wanted to participate in the CAF Project and had begged his father to help. But Wen Xun had always refused on the grounds that he was too young. Occasionally going to the Base, he only stayed in Fu Yinâs Botanical Garden. Growing up this big, Wu Yaoâs impression of Xenogenics only existed in the conversations of his elders.
Rong Chuyu pulled him toward the exit. “Look next time. If you look now, your life will end today.”
The group came in a hurry and ran in a hurry.
Yu An was still thinking about Chausier. After some thought, he struggled to push Fu Yunshu away, stammering, “I… I just saw that my brother is still in the garden. I want to go find him.”
“Your brother?” Fu Yunshu pondered. “Big Brother Ling Xingcheng?”
Yu An nodded guiltily and took a step back. “Iâm going to find him. You guys go first, okay? Don’t wait for me.”
With that, he turned and ran back.
Fu Yunshuâs hand remained in mid-air, his lashes drooping to hide the disappointment in his eyes. It seemed that in An-anâs heart, Ling Xingchengâs status was higher than his. Was it because Ling Xingcheng was already an S-rank Arbiter? Then he could do it too.
Liang Xingsang turned and didn’t see Yu An. “Where is An-an?”
Fu Yunshu walked silently to the front of the group. “Ling Xingcheng is in the garden. He went to find him.”
Liang Xingsangâs brow furrowed for a moment, then smoothed out. Although the garden was dangerous now, Ling Xingcheng was there and would surely protect Yu An. Thinking this, he turned and left with peace of mind.
The Lin estate was filled with monitors. Unlike common surveillance on the market, these monitors could detect mental power magnetic fields; once a magnetic field exceeded the set value, an alarm would be triggered.
Arbiters stationed at the Lin estate immediately mobilized and rushed to the back garden.
In the front hall, Ling Xingcheng, as a high-level Arbiter, was well aware of his subordinates’ movements. He looked at the message page on his phone. “My Majesty, how has a Xenogenic sneaked into your home? The guards of this imperial palace aren’t quite up to snuff.”
Lin Huaichen also received the news. He didn’t care much, ignoring his sarcastic tone. “Arbiters have already gone. Aren’t you, the ‘Bodyguard with a Blade,’ going to take a look?”
“Are you paying?”
“No money.”
Ling Xingcheng: “…Stingy.”
Seeing Ling Xingcheng stand up and walk leisurely toward the back garden, Lin Huaichen belatedly remembered Yu An wasn’t by his side. His heart suddenly tightened. He asked Ide, “Where is An-an now?”
Recommended Reads
