Chapter 12: 012
Zhu Ran didn’t sleep well in the unfamiliar environment. After sleeping fitfully for two or three hours, he woke up before 6 AM.
He changed out of the soft, fluffy pajamas and put on his own yellowed, washed-out light-colored knit sweater and jeans.
The knit sweater was a bit deformed from too many washes, but it happened to fit Zhu Ran, who had grown taller.
Opening the room door, Zhu Ran saw the Ragdoll cat officer sitting at the open kitchen bar having breakfast.
The freshly awakened Zefaer was already wearing his cloaking device. He was currently wearing a crisp white shirt, with every button done up neatly, looking very reserved and ascetic.
He still wore black gloves on his hands and was slowly eating breakfast with a fork.
Zefaer sensed Zhu Ran getting up and looked up, his blue eyes calm.
Seeing that the other was still wearing the same tattered clothes, he frowned.
Zefaer: “Sit.”
Zhu Ran: “Iβ”
Zhu Ran was about to bid farewell, but Zefaer interrupted him unequivocally.
Zhu Ran wasn’t someone who compromised easily, nor did he like others giving him orders.
However, under the gaze of those beautiful blue eyes, Zhu Ran sighed inwardly and sat across from Zefaer.
The AI robot quickly prepared a new breakfast and placed it before Zhu Ranβa smoked meat and fried egg sandwich, a small side of vegetable salad, and a glass of milk.
Zefaer said nothing, but the hearty food placed before Zhu Ran indicated that he was treating him to breakfast.
This was the first time Zhu Ran had seen food that wasn’t nutrient solution since arriving in the interstellar era, so his gaze couldn’t help but linger on it.
In the original host’s memory, the original host hadn’t eaten normal food like this many times either.
Due to environmental changes in the interstellar era, many edible animals and plants had mutated, and the pollution accumulated in their bodies made them inedible.
Research institutes had developed purification devices for food, making some animals and plants edible again, but the prices became extremely high.
As a result, food became a luxury, and most people chose to consume cheap nutrient solutions to supplement their daily needs.
According to current interstellar prices, this breakfast for Zhu Ran was worth about 1,000 Star Coins.
“Thank you.”
Zhu Ran wasn’t pretentious and began eating the expensive breakfast.
Zhu Ran ate very seriously; in his view, any food was hard-earned.
He took a bite of the sandwich and chewed carefully; the malty scent mixed with the slightly salty meat, paired with the soft, runny yolk of the fried egg, made for rich layers and sufficient nutrition.
Although the texture was a bit strange, it wasn’t bad.
After a bite of the sandwich, Zhu Ran took two sips of milk and continued to tackle the sandwich.
Zefaer ate faster than Zhu Ran, but out of politeness, he didn’t leave after finishing; instead, he sat to the side and opened his optical computer to handle official business.
From the corner of his eye, he watched Zhu Ran eating seriously; the other’s cheeks were puffed out as he ate, and his eyes were bright with joy.
He looked very satisfied.
The scent of vegetation lingered by his nose; it was very light and almost masked by the smell of breakfast, but Zefaer still caught it.
His spiritual sea, which had been acting up, began to stir upon touching this scent, wanting to occupy this light fragrance at all costs, to make it its own and merge with it.
Zefaer’s gaze darkened.
His fingers holding the optical computer pressed down until his fingertips turned white.
Zhu Ran noticed Zefaer seemed to be waiting for him, so he accelerated his eating. Even so, it took him about 20 minutes to finish the hearty breakfast.
“Thank you for the meal. I’ll go find a house later.”
Because he had replenished his nutrition, Zhu Ran’s originally colorless lips became a bit more flushed and lovely.
However, the scratches on his cheeks from the wind and sand were a bit of an eyesore.
“Have Xiuna take you.”
As Zefaer spoke, a small robot brought a bag and placed it next to Zhu Ran.
Inside the bag were the pajamas Zhu Ran had worn last night.
“Take the clothes you wore with you.”
Was this… him being disgusted by the clothes he had worn?
Zhu Ran was stunned for a second before taking the bag with the clothes, his impression of Zefaer dropping by 0.1 points.
Five minutes later, Xiuna arrived at Zefaer’s doorstep.
As the adjutant who had been with Zefaer since he awakened early at age 15, Xiuna knew Zefaer very well.
Zefaer had never been a sympathetic or kind-hearted person.
Therefore, when Zefaer asked him to accompany Zhu Ran to find a house today, Xiunaβs mind was full of ‘I must be dreaming!’ captions.
Because of his loathsome parents and the aftereffects of his early awakening, Zefaer didn’t easily trust or get close to anyone.
Being solitary, cold-blooded, and moody was the first impression others had of Zefaer.
And today, Zefaer was actually concerned about a… common citizen?
One couldn’t say he was doing it to play the role of a helpful officer well; who would believe that?
So… why was Zefaer so different toward Zhu Ran?
Xiuna was deeply puzzled.
“Good morning, Sir!”
Xiuna saluted Zefaer.
After receiving Zefaerβs nod in response, he smiled and greeted Zhu Ran: “Morning, Zhu Ran. I’ll take you to find a house today. I’ve already found a few residences through big data; I’ll take you to see them later.”
The officer named Xiuna had been with Zefaer yesterday, and Zhu Ran had seen him.
Compared to the expressionless and stern Zefaer, Xiuna often had a shallow smile on his face and was very approachable, clearly much more amiable than Zefaer.
Zhu Ran smiled: “Thank you, Officer Xiuna.”
“Just call me Xiuna.”
Xiuna had a kind smile. He helped Zhu Ran put the bag of clothes in the car and also helped him carry the five pots of grass.
“Natural… plants?”
Xiuna was full of surprise when he took a pot of Freesia.
“Yours?”
The survival rate of natural plants in the interstellar environment was almost zero, making it nearly impossible to cultivate them naturally.
But because their slight soothing effects had a therapeutic effect on spiritual sea diseases, many people still invested in cultivating natural plants every year.
Zefaerβs spiritual sea was unstable and very prone to losing control; to alleviate this symptom, natural plants cultivated by all interstellar research institutes were sent to Zefaerβs manor to help soothe his spiritual sea.
Every time Xiuna dealt with the research institute people, they always had a superior attitude, talking about how difficult it was to cultivate natural plants and how strong their capabilities were, implicitly suggesting research fund increases.
But who knew… Xiuna would actually see… extremely hard-to-cultivate natural plants on a barren D-grade planet?
And they were healthy, blooming natural plants?!
Xiuna expressed his amazement.
“Yes.”
Zhu Ran nodded.
“I have a plant-type ability. I tried to catalyze a few polluted seeds and was lucky enough to succeed.”
“I see! You’re very capable, Zhu Ran.”
The entire interstellar space knew that plant-type abilities were weak and useless, and they definitely couldn’t make polluted seeds sprout.
So… was Zhu Ran an exception?
No wonder their impersonal Majesty looked at Zhu Ran differently; so this was the reason.
Xiuna thought he had seen through Zefaerβs plan, but who knew… Zefaer didn’t care about the plants Zhu Ran catalyzed at all.
Compared to the natural plants, he was more interested in Zhu Ran himself.
Xiuna carefully placed the several pots of plants in the car.
The plants were well-maintained by Zhu Ran, with fresh green leaves, abundant flowers, and a pleasant fragrance.
Xiuna, who had dealt with many plants sent from research institutes, had to admit that Zhu Ran’s plants were superior.
Every time the researchers sent plants, they either had only grass and no flowers, or just a single wilted flower about to die.
How could they compare to Zhu Ran’s pots?
Xiuna couldn’t help but sniff a couple more times: “Your plants smell very good and are well-cultivated. Are you planning to sell them?”
Being praised with ‘the flowers smell good’ made Zhu Ran slightly uncomfortable, even if the object of the praise was the plants and not him.
His walking motion paused slightly before he replied a moment later: “I opened an online shop on Xinggou and have already sold a few.”
Hearing Zhu Ran say he had already sold a few, Xiuna crossed off the houses with rent under 1,000 Star Coins that he had planned to show him.
Natural plants weren’t cheap, so since Zhu Ran had sold a few, he must have some money on him.
Xiuna took out his optical computer and showed his ID to Zhu Ran: “Let’s add each other as friends! If you can’t sell them, you can contact me. Our Royβ”
“Xiuna.”
Zefaer spoke up to remind him.
Xiuna immediately changed his words: “We can contact the Imperial family to buy natural plants; they take all of them.”
“If I can’t sell them, I’ll consider it.”
Zhu Ran didn’t refuse Xiunaβs kindness and added his Xingxun, but in truth, he didn’t want to have anything to do with the Imperial family.
He had seen too many casualties caused by power struggles in bases during the apocalypse, and he had also seen people abuse power for selfish desires. Zhu Ran didn’t want to get involved.
Moreover, he heard that the current interstellar ruler was a cold-blooded, ruthless, and dictatorial man.
This made Zhu Ran even more determined to stay away from the center of power.
Xiuna closed the car door, nodded to Zefaer, and then started the hovercar to take Zhu Ran to find a house.
Only after the hovercar disappeared from his sight did Zefaer return to the house.
He walked into the room Zhu Ran had slept in last night.
Although the pajamas had been taken by Zhu Ran, the bedding and towels hadn’t been tidied. At this moment, the quilt was folded at the foot of the bed, and the towels and other toiletries were in the laundry basket.
Zhu Ran had turned on the ventilation, but the room still had the residual special woody fragrance, tinged with a shallow sweetness.
Zefaer sat by the window, deactivating his disguise and replying to messages.
The morning sunlight fell on his golden hair, giving it a holy glow, cold and sacred, majestic and solemn.
The usually stern Zefaer rarely did not lose his temper today upon seeing a report with grammatical errors.
His expression was deep and peaceful, completely different from the rumored moody dictator.
The scent surrounding him made Zefaerβs spiritual sea shift from violent to filled with desire.
Although the spiritual sea was constantly clamoring and greedy for more, this straightforward thought was much better than the constant breakdown and uncontrollable pain.
His breathing gradually stabilized.
Zefaer then followed his heart, spreading out his spiritual power to form a tight net covering the entire room, preserving the fragrance within.
Perhaps because the fragrance was too gentle and the sunlight was too warm, or perhaps because Zefaer was truly too tired, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The wounded beast that had been wandering and lost in the thunderous abyss finally found a safe haven where its heart could rest.
Translator’s Note:
Hi again!
I really enjoyed translating these chapters. The dynamic between our “Ragdoll cat” Emperor and the oblivious Zhu Ran is starting to take shape beautifully! Itβs interesting to see Zefaer’s internal struggle with his spiritual seaβthe way the author describes the soothing effect of Zhu Ran’s scent as “fine rain” falling over “ruins” really highlights how much pain he must usually be in.
A couple of quick cultural/setting notes:
- Optical Computer (ε θ ¦ – GuΔng nΗo): A very common sci-fi trope in Chinese web novels, basically an advanced holographic smart device worn on the wrist or ear.
- Xingxun (ζθ¨ – XΔ«ng xΓΉn): The interstellar communication and social app they use, equivalent to Earth’s WeChat or Line.
- Spiritual Sea (η²Ύη₯ζ΅· – JΔ«ng shΓ©n hΗi): A classic term in psychic/superpower novels representing the core of a person’s mental and magical energy. When it’s damaged, it causes immense physical and psychological pain.
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