CH 7

Jian Ning, who rubbed his eyes and sat up, wrinkled his nose and smelled the aroma of milk.

“Ah!”

Seeing the milk bottle in Zhan Xi’s hand, Jian Ning reached out his chubby hands to grab it. A new yellow one today had replaced the milky-white bottle, filled with milk as usual.

“Drink slowly.”

Zhan Xi handed over the bottle and told him to hold it and drink slowly so he wouldn’t get hungry.

After Jian Ning held the bottle with both hands and drank most of it, Zhan Xi finally asked, “Baby, was it fun going to class today?”

Jian Ning’s ears twitched, and after patiently asking for a while, he nodded seriously.

Zhan Xi hadn’t forgotten the little chubby face he had just seen on the virtual screen. He reached out to touch Jian Ning’s face, but the latter leaned back, obviously afraid that it would hurt.

“Good baby, are you full?”

Zhan Xi held the baby in his lap. This way, they would be closer and the baby would feel more secure.

Jian Ning drank the milk quickly, and soon he started shaking the empty bottle. “Ah!”

‘It’s all gone!’

Zhan Xi took the empty bottle away and didn’t let him drink anymore. This baby didn’t know when to stop drinking, as long as he kept giving him milk, he would keep drinking.

“Your belly is already swollen, you can’t drink anymore.”

Zhan Xi touched his swollen little belly and comforted him while asking, “Baby, did any other kids bully you?”

Jian Ning knew what bullying was, and he hesitated for a moment before leaning his right cheek towards Zhan Xi’s eyes.

“Ah!”

He pressed his right cheek under Zhan Xi’s eyelids and started babbling complaints. Among a bunch of unintelligible baby language, there was vaguely a new vocabulary.

Zhan Xi’s eyelids twitched, suspecting he was hallucinating.

He scrutinized his own baby with curiosity and asked, “Baby, say it again.”

Jian Ning: “...”

Jian Ning started to repeat his words with sobs and even took off his little socks and let Zhan Xi put them on him.

“Gougou?”

In the baby’s babbling, Zhan Xi captured the word ‘gougou.’ According to the pronunciation errors of young children, he quickly deduced that ‘gougou’ meant-

“Big brother.”

Zhan Xi frowned and checked his baby’s small face, feeling both distressed and angry. “What big brother are you talking about? Did the big brother bully you?”

The teacher had already reported to him that his baby didn’t like to play with other children. To let his baby have a swollen face and still call someone ‘big brother,’ it was probably not a good baby!

“Did another child bully you? Did they make you call them big brother?”

Perhaps he asked too many questions, or maybe the questions were too complicated. The baby who was asked was confused and looked at him with big eyes.

“Forget it. I’ll contact your teacher.”

Usually, Zhan Xi didn’t want to have too much contact with the teachers inside. His baby was an undocumented resident. If it was discovered, he would surely be expelled.

After being expelled, it would be as difficult as ascending to the heavens to try to re-enter the education system.

Even though learning was important, it’s not as important as their baby. The baby their pirate crew raised was not to be trifled with.

Zhan Xi wanted to contact the teacher, but before doing so, he didn’t forget to take care of his baby.

“Let’s change your clothes and go find Boss Zhan.”

Zhan Xi found a new outfit from the closet and gently dressed Jian Ning. From the beginning of not knowing how to dress the baby to now being skilled, it was a process of mutual adaptation between the two.

Most of the time, Jian Ning was a well-behaved baby who cooperated by reaching out and kicking his feet. In just a few minutes, he had put on a brand new outfit.

The climate on the barren planet was divided into two extremes: scorching heat or frigid cold.

During this period of scorching heat, Zhan Xi did not put a diaper on Jian Ning. After a few times of wearing it, Jian Ning’s little butt became so red that he cried day and night.

Zhan Xi took him to the bathroom and when they returned, he wiped Jian Ning’s little feet and put on new socks.

The baby’s feet had never touched the ground and were white, chubby, and clean.

When Zhan Xi put on his socks, he often playfully bit his chubby little feet and said, “Ah woo, whose little piggy is this? If the baby doesn’t call me daddy again, I’ll eat this little chubby piggy foot!”

Jian Ning kicked his chubby feet and laughed out loud.

After playing around for a while, Zhan Xi picked up Jian Ning and kissed each of his little cheeks. With his beard shaved off, Zhan Xi’s deep facial features and three-dimensional facial contours were fully visible. He held the baby in his arms, and the two had the highest facial value among the crowd.

At first, Jian Ning did not recognize Zhan Xi without a beard. When he was picked up by Zhan Xi, he almost cried.

Now that he’s used to seeing Zhan Xi without a beard, he thinks the current Zhan Xi looked better.

The little prince brother looked good, and so did Zhan Xi.

“‘Baby, do you remember how Daddy taught you? When you see other uncles and aunties later, wave your little hand and say hello.”

“Our baby has to be a polite little treasure.”

Star thieves never spoke politely among themselves. They were aggressive, combative, selfish, rude, and most of the good qualities were not within their reach.

If it weren’t for Zhan Xi’s protection, Jian Ning, no matter how cute he was, might not have been taken care of properly after being taken to the barren planet.

Zhan Xi held the baby and spoke in a low, pleasant voice, telling him how to be a good baby.

Jian Ning hugged Zhan Xi’s neck, his little face serious, looking like he was trying hard to listen.

Halfway through their walk, there was a sudden loud explosion not far away, followed by a group of people rushing forward in a hurry. Despite the sound of the explosion and these rushing people, Jian Ning showed no panic.

“Ah!”

He just reminded Zhan Xi.

Zhan Xi patted his back lightly, with a calm expression, “It’s okay, baby. Someone is setting off fireworks. Daddy has set them off for you before, with a loud bang.”

Jian Ning heard the word ‘fireworks’ and babbled, seeming to communicate something with Zhan Xi.

Zhan Xi smiled and understood his babbling, “Okay, next time Daddy will set off fireworks for the baby.”

They communicated about fireworks and firecrackers, and the little baby didn’t know at this moment that the sound of fireworks nearby and the sound of the explosive toy Zhan Xi made for him were completely different things.

One could actually cause death.

And the other was just a toy to comfort the young baby.

On this barren planet, survival had never been an easy task. Their location was remote and dangerous, and whether it’s the disgusting Zerg or other alien races, they were constantly trying to claim the land for themselves.

They could not leave.

Apart from this barren planet, there was nowhere else that could accommodate them.

The sound of gunfire still echoed.

Zhan Xi held the baby in his arms tightly. This was the biggest hope in his long and painful life. He would take good care of this baby and raise it well.

Feeling the sudden tightening of the hands that held him, Jian Ning extended his chubby hand and patted Zhan Xi’s back, as if coaxing him.

A few minutes later.

Jian Ning was brought into a strange room with nothing in it, not even a chair. There was only a stone lying in the center.

The stone was black and dull, and there was no trace of its value.

But this stone would almost exhaust Zhan Xi’s savings.

“Boss, is this a detection stone?”

“Yeah, I got it from an Imperial commercial ship. I didn’t sell it since you asked for it. But according to the rules, this stone should be sold and the money should be divided among everyone.”

Since Zhan Xi wanted this stone, he naturally had to pay for it himself and then make up the money to others.

Zhan Rao and Hua Ya did not get a share of this money.

The detection stone was used to measure one’s mental power. In this era, everyone was born with mental power. The stronger the mental power, the stronger the person’s attacking power.

A person with peak mental strength naturally had unbeatable power.

Powerful mental strength often honed the strongest physique and the most terrifying attack power. People with powerful mental strength were destined for greatness. Even if they came from humble backgrounds, they could become important figures in the end.

But as things reach their extremes, they would decline. Powerful mental power could bring not only glory but also endless pain.

The stronger the mental power, the easier it was to lose control.

Take the emperor of the empire, for example. He was still very young, and his son was only three years old, but it was said that his mental power had been out of control for a long time.

The direct bloodline of the royal family has been strong for generations, but correspondingly, they had almost always died from losing control of their mental power.

Not only the imperial family, every strong person, whether a marshal or a foreign leader, could not escape this fate.

Jian Ning didn’t know anything about the imperial family, so when Zhan Xi let him go, he was placed on the coat that Zhan Xi had just laid out in front of the stone.

The coat belonged to Zhan Rao.

Jian Ning sat on the coat and listened to Zhan Xi’s urging for a long time. He raised his small hand and touched the big black stone in front of him.

“Baby, touch it a little longer.”

The detection stone could accurately detect the specific level of mental strength. The highest mental strength level in the entire interstellar world was SSS, and there was only one person at the 3S level: the emperor of the empire.

The emperor’s level was too high, so high that the people feel relieved and worried at the same time.

The young prince had not yet grown up, and there were many enemies outside the empire, and they had not been peaceful for too long. At this time, the emperor of the empire must not fall.

Jian Ning curiously touched the big stone. While touching the stone, Zhan Xi’s hands were tightly clenched into fists, muttering incessantly: “C level, C level is enough, don’t make it too high or too low.”

There were a total of six levels of mental power, with the lowest being F level and the highest being A level.

Above A-level was S-level, and the number of S-level individuals was very small. These people were basically rare and important figures. As for S+ level, there’s no need to mention it further.

Zhan Xi didn’t want the baby to be too strong or too weak. He only wanted the baby’s spiritual power to be at a safe level.

After some time passed, Jian Ning searched the stone thoroughly, and Zhan Xi recited his prayers, but the stone remained dull and unresponsive.

Zhan Xi: “?”

Zhan Xi frowned and looked at Zhan Rao. “Boss, is this stone fake?”

Zhan Rao also frowned, obviously not understanding what was going on.

He approached the stone and said in doubt, “It shouldn’t be. I tested it when I brought it back. This stone can be used.”

He placed his hand on the stone as he spoke.

The next second, the dim stone suddenly emitted a bright light, and Zhan Rao’s level was detected as S-level.

Zhan Xi followed suit and tested himself, revealing A-level.

Everyone could detect their levels, except for Jian Ning. He couldn’t even detect the lowest level, F.

The scene became a bit tense.

Ling Qi leaned against the wall, looked at everyone, and lazily said, “If you can’t detect it...there are only two possibilities. Either it’s too strong, strong enough to surpass the 3S level, or it’s too weak, so weak that it can’t even reach the F level.”

“Oh, and there’s a third possibility. He’s a little anomaly and can’t use the detection stone like us.”

As soon as Ling Qi finished speaking, Zhan Xi’s eyes shot daggers at him. If it weren’t for fear of the baby learning bad language, Zhan Xi would have definitely cursed him out.

Zhan Rao had never seen this situation before. He had Jian Ning retest it several times, but the results were the same every time.

“Maybe he’s still too young.”

Zhan Rao came up with an unconvincing excuse to comfort Zhan Xi: “When he grows up a little more, maybe the stone will be able to detect it.”

Zhan Xi just made a sound of agreement and didn’t say much, and took Jian Ning away.

On the way back.

Jian Ning sensitively sensed that Zhan Xi was not in a good mood. Young babies were actually very smart and could easily sense the emotions of adults.

Even if Zhan Xi wanted to hide his emotions, he couldn’t.

When they arrived back in the room.

After Zhan Xi finished washing up, he put Jian Ning to bed.

The usually easy-to-put-to-sleep baby refused to sleep this time. Not only did he refuse to sleep, he also clung to Zhan Xi.

Zhan Xi kissed the baby’s cheek, then buried his face in the baby’s chest. His heart rose and fell, filled with sourness at this moment.

“Baby, what should I do?”

He murmured to himself. The baby’s mental power was not even at F level, and not to mention that going to school might be difficult, even if he went to school, he could easily be bullied.

Jian Ning didn’t know his old father’s worries. He reached out his chubby little hand and patted his father’s head, cooing and cajoling him like he was comforting his own toy doll.

***

The author has something to say:

Ningning patted his old father: Don’t worry, I have gougou!