CH 26

While Jian Ning was sleeping, Wagner was still awake.

“He called for his dad.”

Wagner, who was playing with a star machine not far from Jian Ning, looked up and said to Huo Lin.

Upon hearing this, Huo Lin stood up and walked over to the crib to take a look at the sleeping child with closed eyes.

“He’s been missing his dad these past few days,” Huo Lin explained softly. After finishing his explanation, he looked back at Wagner and asked, “You’re about the same age as Ningning. After you left your father, did you miss him?”

Wagner had been living in the palace for several days. Although this child had a bit of a bad temper and often quarreled with Ning, they would reconcile shortly after and Huo Lin had already gotten used to it.

Wagner heard the question and was silent for a few seconds before responding, “If you were separated from Uncle Ludwig, would you miss him?”

Huo Lin remained silent as he thought of his father’s face.

Both of them looked at each other and didn’t continue the conversation about their fathers.

Huo Lin sat next to Jian Ning’s crib and took hold of the chubby little fist, which was a bit cold, and indicated that he needed more clothing.

In the eyes of his older brother and another little friend, Jian Ning’s budding mental power went unnoticed. He was still trying to find his father.

After a while, the sleeping child woke up, and instead of being grumpy, he cried out for his brother with tears in his eyes.

“Waaah, Brother, I want to find Dad.”

“Ningning, be good. We’re already on our way to find your dad.”

“Wrong, it’s the wrong way.”

Jian Ning said, climbed directly off the bed and started running barefoot towards the door. Seeing this, Huo Lin grabbed his shoes and chased after him.

“Ningning, put on your shoes first!”

“Don’t run so fast. Be careful not to fall. There’s a threshold in front of you!”

Huo Lin’s reminder was a bit late. As long as there was a close adult around, the child would always walk without looking at where he was going.

And now, he once again walked without looking, and ended up tripping over the threshold, falling hard on the ground.

He had just fallen when Huo Lin caught up to him.

“Don’t cry. I’ll take care of this in a moment.”

Huo Lin skillfully picked up the child lying on the ground and placed him on his lap to put on his shoes. “After we finish putting on your shoes, you can get down.”

The shoes were easy to put on, and they were on in just a few moments.

Jian Ning, wearing a pair of nice little leather shoes, had a bruise on his forehead, but he held back his tears and didn’t ask to be spoiled, not even asking his brother to comfort him after the fall.

Huo Lin felt a bit strange.

Jian Ning was placed back on the ground, perhaps because he really hurt himself just now. He slowed down a lot when he started running again.

“Ningning, where are you going?”

“Ningning is going to the cockpit.”

“What are you going to do in the cockpit?”

“Ningning wants to fly the spaceship.”

Huo Lin: “......”

Huo Lin was shocked by the answer that the child wanted to fly the spaceship. Instead of rushing to stop him, he followed the child and asked for the reason.

The child walked ahead with big steps and wiped his tears with the back of his hand. His voice was a little hoarse: “Ningning will fly the spaceship to pick up daddy!”

Huo Lin continued to ask: “Do you know where daddy is?”

Huo Lin had been looking for Zhan Xi for a while now on this route, but he hadn’t found him.

Jian Ning responded with a heavy, “Hmm.”

The child was firm and said, “Ningning knows!”

He knew where his father was, and his father was waiting for him now!

Huo Lin did not dismiss Jian Ning’s response as childish nonsense. He bent down and picked up the child who was wiping his tears and seriously confirmed with him: “Do you really know where daddy is?”

The child nodded and answered, “Yes, I do.”

“Okay, that’s good.”

Huo Lin carried him and went to the front of the cockpit. In the cockpit, he instructed the pilot to follow the directions given by the child in his arms and embark on a new route.

Jian Ning pointed in the direction for two hours, and the spaceship flew to a desolate area.

This area was almost like a vacuum zone. It was rumored to be the origin of the massive invasion by the Zerg race. The first emperor of the empire sacrificed himself and annihilated the Zerg king, queen, and their entire army here. From then on, the Zerg race experienced a decline for hundreds of years.

During this period of hundreds of years, the empire was able to recover rapidly because it had reduced one of its major enemies. The empire made significant progress in technology and the military.

Too much killing happened in this space, perhaps due to the corpses, and the breathable gas was constantly decreasing. Now, this place has become known as a death zone.

Even some people who want to commit suicide would choose to enter this place and wait for death.

“Up ahead.”

Ningning, who pointed the way here, was no longer willing to sit on his brother’s lap. He clung to the window and pressed his chubby face tightly against the glass, not moving even when it became distorted.

“Daddy!”

Ningning shouted loudly outside, “Ningning is here!”

He shouted several times, and Huo Lin poked his back as a reminder, “Ningning, this glass is soundproof, and your voice cannot be heard outside.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ningning, who was shouting for his father, suddenly froze.

A few seconds later.

Ningning stopped pressing his chubby face against the window and started to open it, trying to climb out.

Huo Lin immediately picked him up.

The pilot’s window can be opened. During the process of flying the spaceship, the pilot might feel bored and would open the window to listen to the sound of the wind blowing in. There was a filtering setting at the window, and the wind that blew in was very gentle.

“Daddy.”

Jian Ning was still stubbornly looking outside. “Ningning wants to find Daddy.”

Huo Lin held him and patiently reassured him, “Ningning is too young. Even if you go out, you can’t bring your Daddy back, right? Let your brother go out, and your brother will bring him back.”

Huo Lin had been helping raise Ningning for so long that he was very sensitive to his emotions. He could feel that the child had been tense since he woke up.

The child didn’t cry, didn’t make a fuss, didn’t even complain when he bumped his head. This indicated that the child’s state of mind was so tense that he was about to have a problem.

“ Ningning, look at your big brother. Your big brother will go and pick up you Dad.”

Huo Lin lowered his head and pressed his forehead tightly against the forehead of the chubby little child, trying to make the child feel a little reassured. “Stay in the spaceship, play with Wagner and wait for your brother and dad, okay?”

After a while of snuggling, the little child finally nodded.

Huo Lin didn’t hesitate anymore. He held the little child in his arms and brought him in front of Wagner, saying, “Wagner, don’t you want to watch Ningning? You can watch him now. Before I come back, don’t let him leave the spaceship.”

Wagner furrowed his brow, not knowing what they were going to do.

Huo Lin handed the little child over to another child, then turned and called Auben, preparing his clothes and oxygen tanks for going outside.

When Auben learned that he was going to the Death Zone, he immediately knelt down on one knee and said, “Your Highness, please reconsider this decision. I will take the team out to carry out your mission, but please stay here.”

Huo Lin looked down at the kneeling guard captain. He inherited his father’s golden eyes, but compared to the oppressive feeling his father’s golden eyes brought, his own aura was still somewhat naïve.

Naïve, but not to be underestimated.

“Auben, the decision I made will not change.”

Huo Lin put on his clothes and brought enough oxygen for two hours of activity outside. He personally ordered a team of people, opened the spaceship, and entered the Death Zone to find Zhan Xi.

While Huo Lin was on his way to the Death Zone, Wagner was chatting with Jian Ning.

Wagner was never a quiet child. Seeing the curly-haired child next to him looking so sad, with a bottle hanging around his neck that had not been sucked on for a long time, he asked, “Are you missing your dad?”

Jian Ning’s chubby face looked like it had lost its luster.

He sat cross-legged, holding a toy, and the whole child seemed visibly low-spirited: “Ningning wants dad.”

Dad’s mental power was in a mess. The child was just calming it just now, but it’s too far away to calm it thoroughly. Thinking of this, the child who was holding the toy clenched it and closed his eyes again, continuing to search for Dad’s mental power.

Wagner didn’t feel him releasing his mental power, and continued to talk to him. “How does your dad usually take care of you? Why are you so attached to him?”

The child who was busy with things answered absent-mindedly, “Dad hugs Ningning, kisses Ningning, and makes milk powder for Ningning.”

Wagner asked, “What else?”

The child continued to perfunctorily answer, “There are many, many more.”

Anyway, his dad was the best dad in the world.

The child spread his mental power with closed eyes, but no matter how he spread it, Dad’s mental power was good and bad, bad and good again. It’s like his dad has been induced all along, constantly keeping his mental energy out of control.

The little tender shoot shook its leaves and wanted to rest in a sorry state.

Wagner realized that he was being perfunctory and wanted to speak. But when he looked up, he saw the little curly-haired face in front of him was a bit pale.

“Hey.”

Wagner touched him lightly. “What’s wrong with you? Are you sick?”

Jian Ning didn’t answer. He dropped the toy, climbed onto the bed, and covered himself with a quilt. After covering himself, he closed his eyes again, urging his little tender shoot to help Dad.

Two hours later.

In the dead land, Huo Lin, who had exhausted his oxygen, still had not found out where Zhan Xi was.

Just as he was about to go back to get a new oxygen cylinder, suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something floating in mid-air out of the corner of his eye. It was a poorly stitched plush toy, also Jian Ning’s favorite fluffy toy.

Before going to the White Mist Star with him, Jian Ning specially gave his beloved fluffy toy to his father. When he handed the toy to his father, his chubby little face was particularly serious: “Mao Mao will accompany Dad on behalf of Ningning.”

His beloved fluffy toy would accompany his father.

Huo Lin followed its direction, swimming towards it with gritted teeth. In the almost vacuum space, everything was floating, and in order to move here, one must use a “swimming” posture.

There was only a little oxygen left.

When Huo Lin was about to give up, he finally saw Zhan Xi.

It was not just Zhan Xi, his hands were still desperately twisting another person.

Huo Lin did not know the person whom Zhan Xi was twisting, but he recognized his identity from the unique spider pattern on his clothes.

He was also a star thief, and the name of the organization seemed to be Poison Spider.

Huo Lin did not have time to deal with this star thief from Poison Spider. He stretched out his hand and forcefully separated the two people. From the looks of the two, they must have passed out during their fight.

And their postures were all bluntly wanting to kill each other.

Huo Lin grabbed Zhan Xi and planned to take him away. He held onto Zhan Xi’s wrist and whispered to him, looking at Zhan Xi, who seemed unconscious, “Uncle Zhan, you can’t have any problems. Ningning is still waiting for you. If you don’t go and accompany him, I won’t be able to pacify him.”

After speaking, Huo Lin was about to take Zhan Xi away.

But unexpectedly, the unconscious Zhan Xi miraculously opened his eyes. Huo Lin was overjoyed, but before he could react, Zhan Xi grabbed his dagger and viciously stabbed the still unconscious member of Poison Spider: “He knows Ningning’s secret.”

The dagger went in, and at the moment that Zhan Xi pulled it out, he also vomited a mouthful of blood, which splashed onto Huo Lin’s clothes.

Huo Lin stretched out his hand, his eyes showing a hint of panic.

He hugged Zhan Xi, who had closed his eyes again, and this time he didn’t delay, but swam quickly towards the spaceship.