Ryan pursed his lips, wanting to say this was a gift for him, not for sale, but the words wouldn’t come out. An inexplicable depression welled up in his heart. He shoved the flower into the cat’s arms, took the one-yuan coin, and turned to leave.
⊙-⊙? Li Ao didn’t understand the youth’s awkwardness and genuinely liked the flower.
“Machine!” He held up the flower and went to find the robot. “Plant this one, yeah!”
“Do it yourself.” The robot strictly followed the <Cub Rearing Guidelines>. “From now on, do all the little things you can by yourself.”
“Oh.” The little cat dragged out a vase and happily pulled the little dog along. “I’ll teach you how to arrange flowers!”
He even knew to trim the flower stems, directing Xun to hold one branch while he gripped the scissors himself.
“Snip—” The silver surgical scissors neatly cut off the sutures. Medical Corps Chief Kuren kept a stern old face. “You old geezer, calling me over for something this trivial?”
Researcher Shelby winced in pain. “You’re trying to murder me! Pulling that hard!”
“Would I even need to kill you?” Kuren sneered as he tossed the scissors into the disinfection chamber. “You’ll kill yourself sooner or later with your own antics.”
Shelby touched his shoulder, bitten by the Strangling Vine, still shaken. “How was I supposed to know? I saw the Buddha Hand Vine spitting out flowers to coax the cat—I thought it was vegetarian.”
“The little cat is the little cat. You old thing still trying to compare with Highness?” Kuren’s mouth was harsh, but his bandaging was gentle. “Those are sprouted from the little cat’s spiritual power; the little cat is their master, so of course they revere him above all. But you? Old enough to know better, yet brainless. You really think something exterminated by humans for its brutality is friendly?”
Shelby shrugged. “I just wanted to slice a sample for research, see what kind of effect the little cat’s spiritual power had on them.”
“Speaking of which, any results on the tomatoes?” Kuren asked. “What does the research institute say?”
“Some leads.” Shelby stood up, stretched lazily, his tone carrying an ambiguous smile. “That ain’t no tomato at all. The plant is classified the same as the Strangling Vine—an interstellar dangerous extinct species.”
Kuren recalled those sanity-draining horror plants in the tomato fields and shivered. “They turned out like this because of the little cat too?”
“Yes.” Shelby’s expression grew heavy. “I asked that robot. It said because the little cat nags every day about wanting to eat tomatoes and describes what they look like to them, so they really bore the fruit the little cat wanted.”
“Human spiritual power…” Kuren murmured. “Can it really do this much?”
Altering species genes, even reviving a mother tree from death—this power could be called divine.
“Didn’t the sun say it?” Shelby patted his old buddy’s back. “That’s the cat cat god.”
“As if that’s serious.” Kuren rolled his eyes at him. “I’m worried that such powerful strength comes at an equal price.” The old man’s lips tightened, faintly showing the handsomeness of his youth. “Like the Crystal of Delphi—fate doesn’t grant humanity great power for free without demanding a price.”
“He’s still so small…” Surprisingly, Kuren pulled a short-legged cat toy made of wool felt from the drawer. “How are we mortals supposed to protect him?”
Shelby wasn’t as worrywart. Pretending to comfort, “Isn’t there still His Majesty? As long as the sun shines one day, it won’t let darkness cover the little cat. If it really comes to the point where even the sun can’t shelter him, then humanity might as well go extinct together. Why overthink it?” In truth, he was snatching. “Hand it over.”
Kuren jumped up in fury to chase him. “You old geezer, give me back my little cat!”
As the two tussled, the wool felt dropped to the ground and was picked up by a slender hand.
“Highness Reniya, Highness Ryan.” Kuren kicked Shelby aside, his expression turning mild. “You’ve arrived. The examination procedures are all prepared.”
Ryan lightly coughed, as if searching for a handkerchief, and turned to stuff the little cat wool felt into his pocket.
“Doctor Kuren, Mr. Shelby.” Reniya was very respectful toward these two elders of her father’s generation. “Can Ryan undergo all the examinations now?”
Due to the child’s frail constitution, many high-radiation checkups had been impossible before.
“Don’t rush.” Kuren’s assistant team arrived one after another. “We’ll take it slow.”
A physical for one person alone? Results came out very quickly.
Involving the royal bloodline, Kuren’s teacher—the most authoritative elder in Delphi today—also hurried over.
“Teacher.” Kuren yielded the seat. “Take a look at these results.”
Reniya held Ryan close, her expression unavoidably worried.
“Reniya.” The aged elder spoke. “Rest assured. His genetic condition has been cured. With normal life and training henceforth, he’ll be as strong as his uncles.”
Reniya let out a breath, tears in her eyes as she kissed the top of Ryan’s head.
Shelby asked, “Teacher, with Highness Ryan’s genetic condition cured, does this mean the royal family can continue its lineage?”
“Hard to say…” The elder’s gaze was clear. “Right now, the most important thing is Highness Leo’s growth.” As if knowing Kuren’s worries, this elder who had weathered storms saw through everything. “No unearned favor exists; something must be happening. But since the little cat is healthy, we just need to protect him and wait patiently.”
The little cat, who had completely forgotten his deal with the laws, was now making a deal with someone else.
Li Ao sat in the chair, facing a bearded uncle across from him. The man smiled broadly and spoke. “Highness Leo, I’m Delphi’s procurement minister. We hope to purchase the tomatoes you’ve grown.”
Those tomatoes were rich in special spiritual power, effectively delaying the crystallization process of the Crystal of Delphi. All departments had already listed tomato harvesting as a priority task; now it was time to formally discuss procurement.
“Selling veggies?” The little cat’s eyes sparkled. He had been talking that morning about earning money to support the family, and now the opportunity had come!
Li Ao had sold vegetables with Grandma before. The balcony veggies always fruited too much to finish, so Grandma would take him to set up a stall. He still remembered those cool mornings: Grandma spreading a clean cloth, neatly arranging bundles of fresh greens, while he sat to the side, swinging his little legs in the sun, calling out to help Grandma hawk them.
“Yes.” The bearded man said, “We’ll buy however much you’re willing to sell—all of it.”
Even if the little cat didn’t sell, it was fine. Delphi’s ninety thousand people had endured long years, accustomed to surviving on fate’s knife-edge. Their faith never wavered; even without salvation, they’d fight to the last moment, until turning to dust.
They thought Li Ao was small. Even though he was Delphi’s Highness, Delphi’s future Monarch, right now he was just a cub who couldn’t maintain his transformation for long.
How could such a little guy understand responsibility?
But he said, “No money.”
In Li Ao’s past life, aside from Grandma, money was the most important thing. Their life wasn’t affluent; he knew the pressure Grandma endured raising him. He tried his best to pick bottles, sell them for money, so Grandma could relax a bit.
Money was truly, truly important. But he lifted his round face and said, “I’ll give you the tomatoes, no charge.”
He was indeed small, but his perception and emotions were richer than many adults’. “You’re Xixi’s family, so you’re my family. You take care of me too. I, Li Ao, won’t take your money.”
They were Delphi’s people. Under the sun’s shine, they could gain peace. With just negligible faith, they received shelter from their Monarch. Yet their future Monarch called them family.
“Highness—!” The bearded man looked rough but was sentimental, prostrating on the ground and bursting into tears. An eight-foot man bawling loudly made the accompanying ministers think something was wrong.
“His Highness says we’re his family!”
“Highness—!”
“Highness Leo!”
Once they understood, instantly, a group of ministers cried as one.
The little cat tilted his ears, mouth agape, dazedly looking left and right at these people.
They cried while pulling out gifts they’d brought, wailing heaven-shaking earth-shattering. Their words sincere, emotions surging—until Brenna arrived with a team of guards and kicked them all away one by one.
“Gentlemen.” Brenna endured the twitching at her temple, forcing out the words. “Please mind your decorum; don’t scare His Little Highness.”
The bearded man choked up, his squinted eyes opening wide, full of emotion. “Little Cat Highness, we can’t take yours for free. Name a price—any amount is fine.”
Li Ao hesitated… He looked up at the robot.
“Those are tomatoes you grew.” Silver Wing ruffled his head. “Decide yourself.”
The little cat lowered his head to look at Xun. Last time, Susu said to give Xun that collar but didn’t… The little dog still didn’t have one… He had to take good care of the little dog!
Li Ao extended his claws, baring one claw toe. “One coin each.”
And so the deal was sealed. The little cat wasn’t dumb—his little brain was plenty sharp. He suddenly called out to stop them. “Um, could you guys help me plant tomatoes too? Li Ao and the Cow Monster plowing the fields is way too slow. If you help, we can plant a ton more.”
He jumped down from the chair and ran inside to grab his special little backpack. “With this money, can I buy seeds?”
There were only five coins total in the little pack. He’d already spent one that morning on peach blossoms. His little claws held up four one-coin pieces. “Is this okay?”
The big-bearded man’s heart nearly melted. He wiped his snot. “Of course it is.” He took the money. “Rest assured, we’ll buy enough seeds to fill up the entire Aiai’ang’ang!”
The ministers swarmed in like a dark mass and swarmed out the same way. From a distance, the little cat could still hear them squabbling like they were fighting. “Give me one!”
“Mine! Little Cat Highness gave that one to me!”
“You’re full of shit! Highness gave it to all of us!”
Delphi was an extremely xenophobic planet. They were fully self-sufficient in their daily lives and rarely bought anything online. But on this day, the country placed an outbound order, purchasing millions of tons of seeds.
“No way? Are they nuts?” In the Federation’s trade department, they were utterly dumbfounded by this massive order.
