[Wahhh, haven’t seen the kitten in a few days and now he can fly!! (biting handkerchief)]
[How did the kitten learn to fly ahhh, release the footage, I wanna see how he learned to fly!]
Li Ao didn’t fly high, but just high enough to reach the tomatoes. Like a diligent little bumblebee bear, he landed on a branch, not worried about the thorns pricking him at all. With legs splayed out, he swiped with his claws, and the tomatoes rolled into the bucket.
Once one plant was done, he flew up again, found another spot, and landed.
[Baby, you’re a chubby little kitten bumblebee wahhh.]
[What planet is this? Why do these plants grow so well? How do they do it? (stunned)]
[I still don’t get what this has to do with humanity’s turning point (irritated). The cat’s cute, but what does it have to do with me? Can you just say it straight—how exactly is he gonna help cure my Doom disease?]
[Don’t wanna watch then don’t, who’s forcing you? Besides, who are you to demand it have anything to do with you? Why should he cure your disease?]
[Exactly, he’s only six years old, please don’t have overly high expectations for him, okay? Even if he really can cure Doom disease, there are so many infected in the interstellar, is he really gonna cure them one by one?]
[Hah, indeed. Probably like Bai Yunjun—priority treatment for the elites, who cares about us civilians dying.]
Bai Yunjun had been in the late stages of Doom disease back then, about to be euthanized, yet now he was perfectly fine, picking tomatoes behind the kitten. How could people not question it?
[Is it because he joined Delphi that the kitten cured him?]
[Delphi’s playing a good hand—trying to get people to join your feudal monarchy? (vomiting) What era is this, and people are still kneeling to a cat! (vomiting)]
Humans can keep some rationality when they can’t see the cat or the cured ones. But once hope is right in front of them yet out of reach, it sparks the vilest, most disgusting remarks.
In a very short time, public opinion split into two camps. Some were crazily cat-obsessed, others cursing Delphi for toying with them. Compared to the trolls’ firepower, the chill cat lovers clearly couldn’t win the argument.
Just as the tide was turning against them, the little bumblebee Li Ao finally landed on the ground with his bucket of tomatoes.
“You’ve worked hard.” Bai Yunjun smiled and pulled a candy from his pocket, holding it out in front of the kitten.
Li Ao’s eyes widened, staring blue and watery at the man, then twisting his head to look at the machine.
[Give it to the kid! It’s just one candy, why haven’t you given it to him after so long?! You’re starving the kid like this?!]
“…” Silver Wing’s data stream was constantly linked to the Star Network, and the robot was truly speechless. These people only cared about feeding, completely ignoring the cub’s teeth.
Actually, Silver Wing had already scientifically calculated to let the kitten eat snacks as much as possible.
Fortunately, the short-legged cat hadn’t touched any snacks since waking up today. Seeing his eager look now, the robot nodded in approval.
After eating the candy, the kitten was like a fully charged toy car, excitedly going back to work.
[Baby, you’re too easy to coax.]
[How is he so good ahhh wahhh, one candy and the kitten’s working! Shameless robot, at least give the kitten another one!!]
Fighting wits and courage daily with Delphi’s feeders was one thing, but Silver Wing never expected that in the near future, countless sleazy outsiders would line up along the short-legged cat’s paths, taking turns feeding him snacks.
Bai Yunjun picked up the tomato bucket and finally spoke: “Hello everyone, allow me to introduce the fruits grown by Highness Li Ao.”
His fair palm held up a tomato high—the tomato was brilliantly red, its skin plump and juicy, utterly different from the shriveled veggies mass-produced under conglomerate monopolies. Even through the screen, people could imagine the burst of juicy, tangy sweetness when bitten.
It looked delicious, but that wasn’t the point. Taste was just a bonus value. What really took people’s breath away was Bai Yunjun’s next words: “It can alleviate Doom disease symptoms. Long-term consumption can even completely cure Doom disease.”
[What did he say???]
[Did I hear wrong? He said tomatoes can cure Doom disease? Is this my pre-death hallucination or has he gone mad?]
Bai Yunjun had taken over the Bai family young and built it into an empire—his business acumen was nothing short of genius. Even if it were fake, he could sell it as real, let alone when it was true.
“One can stop the pain immediately, effects on the spot.” Bai Yunjun said with a smile. As soon as he finished, a thick stack of research data appeared on everyone’s terminals. Before people could recover from the shock, Bai Yunjun had several people who had suffered from Doom virus and now recovered take the stage one after another, showing before-and-after data and condition changes from consuming the fruits and veggies.
These test subjects were Bai Yunjun’s trusted aides, all slick businessmen. Their speeches might have some performative flair, but the way they looked at Li Ao was truly moved and grateful.
“Thanks to Highness Leo, I could live on, and my daughter could live on.” To prevent hiding patients, Doom disease victims’ data was public. The little girl beside the man, not yet ten, was immediately identified as an early Doom infectee.
She should’ve died, but now she was healthy and standing before everyone, saying to the camera: “Thank you, Highness Leo. He shared everything selflessly. When I grow up, I’ll join Delphi and become his follower.”
[It’s real… I quickly analyzed the research data; these fruits and veggies really can alleviate Doom disease symptoms.]
[This is a miracle, simply unbelievable…]
[Is it for sale?! I wanna buy, I’ll buy no matter the price!]
Bai Yunjun didn’t continue until the buzz had fermented enough, then spoke again: “Yes, we will sell these healing fruits.”
[How much?] Desperate patients grabbed at hope: [How much per fruit? How long to eat to cure?]
Bai Yunjun said: “As for the price of the fruits, it’s decided by their owner.” The camera turned to the distance, where the kitten, tired from flying, was resting against his little dog.
The sprouts around were tall and clawing at the sky; half the nursery was dim tangled shadows, half bright summer sun.
And that cat lay right at the boundary of light and dark, hugging a tomato and munching. Swinging his feet as he ate, utterly content.
The barrage of price and purchase inquiries had completely covered the screen; people had to block comments to see the picture.
Bai Yunjun came to the kitten’s side, squatted down, and asked: “Highness, how much for one of your tomatoes?”
Li Ao paused, stopped swinging his feet, shoved the half-eaten tomato into Xun’s mouth, stood up, and asked seriously: “Who are these tomatoes for?”
Bai Yunjun was momentarily taken aback by his earnest look, then answered honestly: “They’re for Doom disease patients.”
Li Ao wasn’t dumb, and he was especially sensitive to matters of survival. After all, he had fought so hard, with all his might, to live.
“Those people who hurt a lot, who forget themselves, forget their families?”
“Yes.” Bai Yunjun said: “Just like the one you rescued on Planet 92.”
“He got sick, and then…” The kitten didn’t know fancy words, but he understood feelings. “The people who love him will be sad, will cry.”
[I’m tearing up, sorry.]
[My mother died from euthanasia five years ago. When she passed, she was actually serene because the Doom disease hadn’t fully eroded her sanity yet. I held her hand just like that, watching her slowly close her eyes. In just those few minutes, there was one less Doom disease patient in the world—and I had no mother.]
In the interstellar era, what do people think of when they hear about Doom disease patients? Out of control, beyond saving, a scourge on society. They’re unstable factors that need to be preemptively eliminated for the sake of humanity’s harmony.
But beyond that?
They’re not just patients. They’re lovers, children, parents, relatives, and friends. They love others, and they’re loved in return.
Do they deserve to die? Of course not. But if they don’t die, more people will. There’s no way around it—truly no way. Despair is carved into every interstellar citizen’s heart. Even if you’re laughing together today, you might meet again tomorrow as strangers amid changed circumstances.
[My wife is in the early stages too. She’s already been taken by the government for isolation and management. If it’s real, I beg you to sell me a few—even if it bankrupts me. As long as she can survive.]
Everyone held their breath, steeling themselves mentally for the tomatoes to fetch an unbearably sky-high price.
They’d be hyped up to astronomical levels, become exclusive resources for the elite, or even bargaining chips in political deals.
But right at that moment when everyone was tense and breathless, what did that little cat say, tilting its head up to the camera?
He said: “One dollar.”
When someone’s psychological expectations have been pulled to extreme heights, that single dollar becomes a divine blessing from the heavens.
Bai Yunjun seemed worried the little cat didn’t grasp their value and explained it to him once more.
But after hearing it, the little cat still said: “One dollar. Delphi folks don’t want money—you just pay one dollar.”
As if tired from standing, he sat down, rummaged in the little bucket, and pulled out a cherry-like fruit. He took a bite and mumbled a bit indistinctly: “This is medicine. It can save people. If you don’t have one dollar, then no money. Live well, oh. Only by living well can you meet the people who love you.”
It was only by enduring endless hunger and eating whatever he could find that Li Ao had been able to meet Grandma, Machine, Xun, and Xixi. In his eyes, these plants hadn’t taken much effort at all. Grandma had taught him that people should be kind—if you’re good to others, others will be good to you. Things within your power, you do them casually.
Vile is the passport of the vile; noble is the epitaph of the noble.
A child not yet six, armed with the simplest sincerity, ruthlessly shattered everyone’s sense of shame and moral bottom line.
[Sorry… I apologize to you. I-I shouldn’t have maliciously assumed the worst about a child…]
[How can there be such a person? He’s so noble it brings me to tears.]
Bai Yunjun had already suspected as much in his heart, but hearing the little cat’s decision still shocked him deeply. After his mouth opened and closed several times, he finally managed to rasp out: “Everything shall be as you wish.”
“Here is Delphi. Regardless of status or position, we welcome all who seek the hope of life to come here and transact with Delphi’s future Monarch—for one dollar.”
