In the primitive forest, Qiao Yi’s magic array collapsed again.
He coughed twice, his face slightly pale, surrounded by swirling wood-elemental magic, looking somewhat unstable.
“Still can’t contact him?” The brown-haired “young woman” supported him, first feeding him a magic potion, then holding his hand, trying to transfer some energy to him.
“Don’t, your magic pool is damaged, you can’t exhaust your energy too much.” Qiao Yi held her hand, shook his head, and replied, “Qiaoqiao’s power seems a bit strange, as if something bad has mixed in. I can’t sense him independently, and this barrier is blocking our magic array information.”
The brown-haired “young woman” looked up at the seemingly normal sky above her head, her brows deeply furrowed. Her eyes, very similar to Qiao Zhiya’s, stared slightly, appearing fierce, and said, “The world where our baby arrived is more complicated than we imagined. We must first find a way to get out of this barrier.”
Qiao Yi also looked up at the blue sky, reaching over to hold the young woman’s hand, gently opening her clenched fingers, and interlocking their fingers, comforting, “Mi Lai, wait a little longer. It’ll be soon. When I recover from my injuries, I’ll take you out of this barrier and find Qiaoqiao.”
Mi Lai1since both QZY and his dad’s name are romanized hanzi, I chose to tl’d Mi Lai like that as well. A more western version of Qiao Yi would be Joey, while Mi Lai would be Miller or Mire. held his hand back, looking at him sideways, her eyes softened. Thinking of the efforts her husband had made over the past two years to find their son, her nose felt sour, and she turned around and threw herself into his arms.
In the following days, Qiao Zhiya stuck to Chu Rong, never leaving his side. Whenever there was a chance, he would feed him potions and medicines, and he would also pull him to play with toys and the rabbits.
Chu Rong patiently accompanied him, even setting up a children’s playground in the area of the yard with the best lighting, much to Qiao Zhiya’s delight, who ate an extra bowl of food happily.
While Chu Rong rested and recovered from his injuries, Chu Huai took charge of all the work in the political and military sectors. Contrary to speculation, there was no falling out with the Xiang family. Instead, he heavily relied on Xiang Lingyun, delegating many important tasks to him.
The upper echelons of the Federation were relieved to see this, and their admiration for Chu Huai grew even stronger.
With such generosity and ability, this young new president was even more reliable and excellent than they had imagined.
The collapse of the Presidential Palace was quickly closed under the pretext of “the final counterattack of the Zergs,” an explanation that was relatively easy for the public to accept. All subsequent investigations and inquiries were conducted secretly, and the public remained unaware.
The matter of Chu Huai moving into the Presidential Palace was naturally postponed, and he didn’t need to find any more excuses for it.
Officials who sought to curry favor with Chu Huai proposed that relevant departments work overtime to rebuild the Presidential Palace, arguing that a national symbol should not be left in ruins. However, Chu Huai firmly rejected this request, stating that the nation’s resources should not be wasted on non-essential matters, especially so soon after the end of the war.
The national symbol of the Federation was never the Presidential Palace, but the safety and stability of all Federation citizens!
With these words, Chu Huai once again gained the favor of countless neutral officials and citizens. Xiang Lingyun immediately understood Chu Huai’s intentions and discreetly intervened to indefinitely prolong the reconstruction project of the Presidential Palace, significantly extending the duration of its reconstruction.
About a week later, it was time for the final exams at the Federal Military Academy. Qiao Zhiya hinted that he wanted to go to school with Chu Yan. Chu Rong’s relaxed expression immediately tensed up upon hearing this, and his hand instinctively grabbed Qiao Zhiya’s wrist.
“Xiao Yan will accompany me.”
Qiao Zhiya acted as if he hadn’t noticed anything wrong, holding his hand and touching the scabbed-over wound on his arm. Seeing him twitch from the itch, Qiao Zhiya’s lips curled up, and he leaned in to rub his chest, saying, “After the exam, let’s go to that garbage planet. Tan-ge2he’s referring to Tan Shengwei said it’s been cleaned up.”
Chu Rong hugged him, nuzzling his forehead with his chin and then reaching up to touch the small bump on his head that hadn’t fully healed. His furrowed brows relaxed slightly as he agreed to Qiao Zhiya’s request to visit the garbage planet.
—After resting for so many days, they couldn’t delay important matters any longer.
Seeing this, Qiao Zhiya took the opportunity to continue, “Also, next year when school starts, I want to skip a grade again and go directly to fifth grade. That way, I can graduate in the middle of next year. Do you… do you remember what you said to me before?”
Chu Rong looked down at him, gently stroking his slightly flushed face with his hand, asking, “What did I say?” He had said so many things, and Qiao Zhiya’s question was vague, making it difficult for him to understand what he was referring to.
Qiao Zhiya became even more shy, burying his face back into Chu Rong’s embrace, clutching his clothes with his fingers, and murmuring, “It’s about when we got engaged. You said you would be with me… uhm… you didn’t change your mind, did you? I’ve been sticking to you these past few days, do you find me annoying…” His ears drooped again, looking very upset.
“Nom” Chu Rong was taken aback, immediately hugging him tightly. He then understood that Qiao Zhiya was referring to his promise to marry him as soon as he graduated. His melancholy mood immediately lifted, and he leaned down to kiss his ear gently, sighing, “We’ll get married. After you graduate, we’ll get married and be together forever.”
Qiao Zhiya’s ears twitched, and he smiled with narrowed eyes, happily rubbing against him. Then he looked up and said, “Will you take me to the exam? You can accompany me. It’s been a while since Xiao Yan and I had a good chat with you.”
Chu Rong looked at him with trusting and affectionate eyes, his lips curving up, nodding, “Okay, I’ll accompany you.”
Like any ordinary school day, Chu Rong took Qiao Zhiya and Chu Yan on the hovercar to the military academy.
“Erge, next semester I want to take some command major’s courses. What do you think?” Chu Yan eagerly leaned over as soon as he got in the hover car, full of energy and seeking approval, just as lively as ever.
Chu Rong’s gaze swept over his face, then glanced at Qiao Zhiya, who was clearly listening in with his ears raised but pretending to be engrossed in organizing notes. Feeling soft-hearted, he looked back at Chu Yan and gently asked, “Can you keep up with the courses?”
“I can! I find the command courses very easy to handle. I’ve been self-studying them for several months already.” Chu Yan slapped his chest, brimming with confidence and seeking praise.
Chu Rong nodded, advising, “If you’ve chosen, then stick with it. Don’t give up halfway. I’ll have Xiangnan prepare some command course materials for you later. Study hard, and if there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask.”
“Okay!” Chu Yan nodded eagerly, then gave Qiao Zhiya a look that said “Mission accomplished.”
Qiao Zhiya’s lips curled up, and his ears perked up, putting away his notes and leaning against Chu Rong while playing some games on his photon computer with Chu Yan.
Chu Rong allowed him to lean on him, watching his beloved and his younger brother playing happily together. He reached up to rub Qiao Zhiya’s ears as they twitched with the game’s movements, feeling the crazy emotions stirred up by the magic array incident finally subsiding.
When the hovercar arrived at the school gate, both Qiao Zhiya and Chu Yan were on high alert, though they tried to appear normal. Their movements when getting off the car were stiff, secretly prepared for Chu Rong’s potential outburst.
But unexpectedly, Chu Rong didn’t exhibit his usual “over-anxious” behavior. He calmly watched them get off the car, then reached out to touch the spiritual energy simulator on Qiao Zhiya’s ear and handed him a blood-red pendant to wear. He pinched Qiao Zhiya’s ear and instructed, “After the exam, don’t wander around. Go home with Xiao Yan. Don’t use magic recklessly during the exam. I have to go to the military department and might be home late. Be good and have your meal.”
He only cautioned against using magic recklessly, rather than forbidding it altogether.
Qiao Zhiya’s eyes lit up, and he nodded quickly, then leaned his head against Chu Rong’s palm. Stepping back, he stood beside Chu Yan, watching as Chu Rong closed the car door and left.
“Finally sorted it out…” Chu Yan let out a long sigh of relief after Chu Rong left, exaggeratedly leaning on Qiao Zhiya and sighing, “Erge is really scary. The atmosphere at home these days has been unbearable. It’s all thanks to you. Last time when he went crazy like this, it was because of Mom and Dad… Oh well, forget it. Let’s focus on the exam. Afterward, let’s go home and have a big meal. Dasao has been eating a lot lately, making the butler bring tons of food home. I feel like I’m getting fat.”
Qiao Zhiya remembered Gu Yan’an’s increasingly bulging belly, and he reached up to touch the blood-red pendant around his neck, which seemed to carry body heat. He shook his head happily and entered the campus with him.
During the exam, neither of them used any privileges as members of the Presidential family. They followed the other students throughout the entire exam.
Chu Yan was okay. Most of the time, he was at school, so everyone often saw him. It wasn’t surprising anymore. But Qiao Zhiya was different. He skipped grades quickly, only showing up for midterm and final exams every year. Sometimes he didn’t even show up for midterm exams, making him both impressive and mysterious. His appearance during exams always caused a sensation in the Mecha Manufacturing Department.
The war footage released by Chu Huai had been scrutinized by the public over the past few months. The gray manually-piloted mechas from the Chu family, including “Rong Tian3I forgor on whether I tl’d it as Rongtian or Rong Tian… sorry if it’s wrong” and “Elf”, had left a deep impression on them.
Especially Rongtian and Elf, as most of the students at the military academy had seen the Star Network Mecha Manufacturing Competition and the following Mecha Piloting Competition. They could say they had witnessed the birth of these two mechas. However, they had never known that these two mechas were manually-piloted.
While they had heard of the concept of manually-piloted mechs before and knew that Chu Rong had used one after his spiritual power injury, and had even defeated General Neitaxi of the Empire with it, Chu Rong’s high status meant they had never had the chance to see him use a mech. So manually-piloted mechas were like a distant legend to them.
But now, this legend appeared before their eyes, in the form of a savior. And the creator of this savior was actually a young man under twenty years old! Their classmate! An Exoplanet Native!
They had long known that Qiao Zhiya was a genius, but they never knew he could become such a genius.
While they were still struggling with their studies and feeling anxious about the war, he was already piloting the mecha he designed to save the world!
How could they not be excited to see Qiao Zhiya after all this!
Qiao Zhiya felt the burning gaze of his classmates around him, making him involuntarily nervous, and the small bump on his forehead suddenly started itching.
Feeling uneasy, he quickly took out a hat and put it on to cover the bump that was only partially hidden by his bangs. Then he hurried to finish the exam, not even bothering to check the scores given by the system, and rushed out of the exam room.
At this moment, not even half of the exam time had passed. The fourth-year students in the same exam room looked at the perfect score that popped up on Qiao Zhiya’s desk from the system, then glanced at their own papers, which they had only partially completed. They withdrew their gaze with bloodshot faces.
Comparison indeed brought frustration!
Also, did Qiao Zhiya suddenly put on his hat because he felt embarrassed by everyone’s gaze?
Ah, what a cute little genius, but unfortunately, he’s taken.
