Chapter 77: The Admiral Returns!

After Alton picked up the little one from the cave and went back, he began to worry.

There was naturally no food in the cave, and it was impossible for the little one to hunt, so with Pure City having been destroyed half a year ago, what had he been eating for the past six months?

Alton took the doctor’s advice and had the kitchen boil eggs before mashing them up.

Holding the bowl in his hand, Alton looked at the little one lying on Lucas, and was dumbfounded. He stepped forward and said: “Aiya, come down, little one.”

“Yiya…..” Little Luo Ran grabbed Lucas’s neck and refused to let go.

Lucas was strangled by the neck, and wondered: “Why is he sticking to me?”

“He’s attached like a baby bird.” Alton smiled and shook the eggs in front of Luo Ran.

Luo Ran blinked, then turned his head to stare blankly.

Alton carefully fed Luo Ran small bites, and the big, tall man felt helpless against such a soft dumpling.

After the child had eaten a bowl of eggs, Alton finally succeeded in abducting him into his arms.

Holding Luo Ran, Alton grinned at Lucas and said: “Aiyo, he’s so soft, completely the opposite of you, you stiff little brat.”

“There’s no telling what this little guy will differentiate into when he grows up. A Beta is okay, but if he’s an Alpha or Omega, that would be incredible. After all, he’s a child of Pure City.”

Some people like Lucas were differentiated from birth, but others had to wait until adulthood.

Lucas looked at the child who had his face buried in Altons neck and said: “He has no parents, and they can’t be found. Then in the future……”

After a doctor examined him, it was confirmed that Luo Ran had lost his memory. He had aphasia and lesser cognitive function after living in a cave for half a year, and even the functions of his body had changed a lot.

By the time the patrol reached his cave, the stones and the insect had vanished. They didn’t know what was going on, and only thought this was because he had been disconnected from the outside world for so long. After all, it was a miracle in itself that the child had survived.

“Naturally, he’ll live a good life in the capital in the future. We’ll have to send him back to receive rehabilitation and formal education. Look at him, he can’t even speak now. He needs a teacher to show him how to live in human society again. How could he go with us everywhere for battle?” Alton raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Why? You’re reluctant to part with him and want to keep him? How about we adopt him into the family as your future spouse?”

“No!” Lucas’s face reddened, and he glared angrily. “Absolute nonsense, how old is he?”

“Hahaha……” Alton loved to tease Lucas the most. He kicked Lucas on the ass and said: “Silly bastard, what kind of spouse do you want? Go train!”

“Wu…..” Little Luo Ran bit Alton’s shoulder quite aggrievedly when the big one drove the little one away.

“Hungry again?” Alton deliberately teased. “He picked a small leaf from the potted plant on the desk and held it up to tickle Luo Ran’s nose and ears.

“Ao-wu!”

However, little Luo Ran lifted his head to vigorously bite the leaf, as if extremely hungry.

Alton frowned slightly. The child had looked puzzled at the eggs, but treated the leaf as if it was food. Could it be possible……that this kid used to eat vegetation in the cave?

“Poor little thing, I’ll make you more eggs.” Alton carried little Luo Ran to the kitchen.

. . . . . . .

Luo Ran remembered.

He was once carried by Alton, Lucas’s uncle and true family, his father, who was once the hero embraced by the Empire.

It was Alton who sent him back to the Capital orphanage, arranged a doctor and a counselor for him, and in order to protect him from outsiders and star pirates, concealed his identity as a descendant of Pure City.

And after he went back for rehabilitation, his body that had been empty of food for half a year was properly treated, and finally broke down. He became seriously ill with a fever, and was muddleheaded for half a year, even losing his memory after he recovered.

Luo Ran slowly opened his eyes.

“You’re awake.” Xia Zhi was sitting to the side, reading a book. Upon seeing that Luo Ran had woken up, he poured him water.

Luo Ran stared blankly at Xia Zhi.

“You’ve been transported back from the mountain.” Xia Zhi rubbed Luo Ran’s hair and and said. “You were injured again. You really are……”

“I didn’t expect this either.” Luo Ran smiled and said in a hoarse voice, “It happened so suddenly.”

Luo Ran supported himself on the bed and sat up to take the water, his head still buzzing. He drank the water, then pressed his temples and kneaded them gently. 

Xia Zhi sighed and said: “You originally had a bad spiritual injury. The combination of UNK and the mecha wasn’t good before, and now you’ve been injured again. I’ve already injected you with a lot of sedatives and painkillers, and it will be bad for your health if you have more. You can only wait for the Admiral to come back or take care of it yourself.”

“It’s all right.” Luo Ran adjusted his breathing and said: “The pain isn’t unbearable, just a little uncomfortable.”

Like someone holding a needle and poking it into him every now and then.

“En, if you really can’t stand it, let me know.” Xia Zhi gently rubbed Luo Ran’s shoulder. “I was really afraid for you. Next time you have something to do, don’t go out, just let the people below you do it. You are a target of the star pirates.”

Luo Ran nodded: “I’ll be careful next time.”

It was truly difficult for him to run around outside anymore. Even if the team he led was powerful and elite, accidents could still happen.

It wasn’t that Luo Ran was afraid of accidents. He just didn’t want to put himself in danger, lest Lucas worry about him while on the battlefield.

“What happened?” Luo Ran asked. “Why was I spiritually attacked out of nowhere?”

“Ah…..”

In order to facilitate the treatment, Xia Zhi had also learned about the situation from Lu Cheng and the research institute, and explained to Lu Ran about the giant insect that had been detected.

“But we can’t determine the insect’s true appearance, and there is only an infrared picture.”

“Can I take a look?” Luo Ran frowned slightly. Could it be……

Xia Zhi showed Luo Ran the picture on his terminal, and Luo Ran immediately had a subtle feeling.

Upon seeing its square head, Luo Ran recognized it. It was indeed the insect he had met in the cave as a child, but it hadn’t been this big back then.

“Maybe…..it didn’t come to attack me.” Luo Ran frowned slightly.

He had lived in the cave for half a year without the insect attacking him. On the contrary, perhaps it was due to the insect’s energy that he was able to survive.

“It’s hard to say. We don’t know what it is. But you’ve been unconscious for a day and a half, and the research institute has already made a preliminary judgment.” Xia Zhi took an apple and peeled it for Luo Ran, telling him about the research institute’s discovery that day.

“First of all, we know that ice mines are produced due to the energy of geological processes. There are countless movements, changes, and creatures underground. The environment is not suitable for us when the ground reaches a certain level, and drones will also be shot down by unknown creatures, so this has always been an unknown field.”

After the creation of the universe, people had discovered countless unknown areas, but each group kept to themselves. 

Xia Zhi continued: “Experts calculated the energy and strength of the insect. They have inferred that it came from that unknown underground area, and the lines on its back are likely underground magma.”

Luo Ran said with a frown: “Then why did it come up…..?”

“It should be because it came from the ground in East Luobing. Not only is the largest primary ice mine located there, but also countless other large and small mines. The excavation projects there are so frequent and deep that they even changed the geology, and the east is also connected to the ocean and seabeds. Perhaps the insect came up when it felt the fluctuations in the ground……”

“I understand.”

“The research institute has also speculated and determined the species.” Xia Zhi showed Luo Ran the photos on the database. “The code for this kind of insect is EX1. They are originally small in size, but will absorb the energy of the land and the movement of the planet’s crust to make a hard shell to protect themselves. Radiant energy is released during the construction process, just like humans breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Now there is UNK in the present world, so we can make the connection and deduce that the unknown energy source is likely what allows the ice mines to evolve into UNK. After all, wherever UNK appears, the insect’s energy traces are also there.”

Luo Ran’s chaotic brain struggled to absorb this.

“You mean that the insect that suddenly appeared came up from the ground due to excessive excavation, and because of the construction process of its hard shell, it released energy that caused the stone to evolve into UNK?”

“Yes, but nobody has actually seen the insect thus far, so it is uncertain if it is EX1. And even if it is, nobody has really encountered it, so the descriptions in databases and textbooks might not be accurate. Everything is just guesswork.”

Luo Ran lowered his eyes, thinking silently.

He thought this information should be correct, and if it was correct, then by inference, he should have met the insect in the cave before, absorbed the energy it released, and evolved with the other stones so that he didn’t die.

And when he was an adult, he evolved into a 3S Omega.

But human beings were not stones. All those Omegas, including him, had side effects after being exposed to UNK.

Then why did he absorb the energy for half a year and turn out fine?

Luo Ran took the apple Xia Zhi handed to him and absently took a bite.

Why were there no side effects? What made him different from the others? It couldn’t be because he was from Pure City. In the end, Pure City only had a little higher spiritual power, so his outbursts were not as serious as others.

“Xiaxia.”

“En?”

“Since the government and the research institute know about the insect, what are they going to do?”

As soon as he mentioned this, Xia Zhi got a headache: “Aiya, don’t talk about it, history is repeating itself. The First Prince and the Second Prince just had that fight over the use of UNK, and now this insect has started it up again.”

The First Prince advocated capturing it and making the insect create new UNK and energy for them, while the Second Prince’s side hoped that the military could find and kill the insect in order to avoid trouble in the future.

When Luo Ran finished eating the apple, Xia Zhi thoughtfully handed him a tissue. 

Luo Ran asked while wiping his hands: “Then what do you think?”

“Me…..? I don’t know……” Xia Zhi scratched his head and said: “I just think that all things grow together and balance each other, and since UNK is a product of nature, there must be something balancing it. Otherwise, that big insect wouldn’t be able to survive by itself, would it? The animals and plants near UNK wouldn’t be able to survive, right? It’s just that none of us know what that thing is.”

If it could be found, there would be no need to bother with the insect, and UNK could be refined and used while eliminating the aftereffects.

“Never mind, let’s not talk about it. Don’t worry about the outside world, first take care of your body and your spiritual state.” Xia Zhi got up and said: “I’ll turn out the light. You have a good rest first.”

“Wait.” Luo Ran stopped Xia Zhi and said with a bit of embarrassment. “That…..”

“Huh?”

“Tomorrow, I want to be discharged from the hospital so that I can go back to the office to recuperate.”

“Are you crazy?!” Xia Zhi stared. “You still want to go to work?! What, the Empire will perish without you tomorrow, is that it!? Your body still needs……”

“Xiaxia……!” Luo Ran interrupted Xia Zhi’s wild commentary and said with some shame, “I’m not going to work when I go back.”

“Then what the hell are you going to do when you go back, ah!”

Xia Zhi, a gentle physician, was forced into swearing by Luo Ran.

Luo Ran had no choice but to tell the truth: “The Admiral’s room is at the office……”

Xia Zhi was taken aback.

He scratched his chin. “Fine.”

. . . . . . . .

The next day, Luo Ran finished his final checkup and returned to the office with his medications.

Back in the familiar office, Luo Ran glanced at the jacket hanging on the office chair.

Although its owner had been away for a long time, it was worn often, after all, and still carried a trace of pheromones.

Luo Ran lay down on Lucas’s bed with the jacket in his arms.

It truly felt a lot more comfortable.

Luo Ran wrapped himself in the jacket, burrowed into the bed that Lucas had used for several years, and a residual tobacco scent stirred up.

Looking at the dense wisteria flowers in the window, Luo Ran’s thoughts began to go wild.

His mind lingered at the moment Lucas found him at the mouth of the cave.

He couldn’t remember it clearly after so many years, and there was only a vague outline and an impression of someone good-looking.

That was the first person he saw after losing contact with the outside world.

Did Lucas still remember?

Luo Ran suddenly remembered what the First Prince had inadvertently said at a banquet before. At that time, he had applied for the position of Lucas’s secretary. There were people from the Royal Academy competing with him, but he was hired in the end.

Could it be…..

As Luo Ran contemplated, he felt more and more uncomfortable as his thoughts moved. He swallowed a mouthful of medicine and fell asleep in a daze.

. . . . . . . .

Comfortable.

Luo Ran slept from the afternoon to the middle of the night, and woke up feeling comfortable.

The scent of tobacco was very strong. He felt that he was being gently embraced, warm and comfortable, and the pain in his head was reduced by a lot.

Luo Ran opened his eyes and saw Lucas’s hale and hearty features.

“Wu……” 

Luo Ran stretched out his hand to Lucas in a daze.

Lucas held it.

Luo Ran blinked.

Was he dreaming……?

Luo Ran grinned and grasped Lucas’s face, saying arrogantly: “Hold on tighter.”

“Okay.” Lucas nodded, and indeed held him tighter.

Luo Ran fell asleep again in Lucas’s arms.

Lucas gazed fixedly at Luo Ran, and said in a whisper: “Silly Ranran.”

After the battle finally came to an end, he had tried his utmost to rush back as soon as possible.

Then as soon as he returned, he saw Luo Ran wrapped up in his jacket, curled up in his bed and sleeping senselessly. 

This was something that Lucas had never seen before, as it was impossible for Luo Ran to act so dependent in front of him.

Lucas hugged him.

Then, Luo Ran woke up and reached out to him like he had done in the cave many years ago.

“Good night.” Lucas held the man and released his pheromones gently.