Not don’t, but don’t know
When he had been encircled and pulled close by the tail, Xie Luan’s hand was still in the middle of touching the silver hair of the nox in front of him. Caught off guard once more by hearing the word “like” come from the other’s mouth, Xie Luan was obviously stunned for a little longer this time.
After saying this word, Ya Yi thought about it and then added,
“Love.”
Hearing the same low and unhurried voice from a very close distance, particularly spoken next to his ear, it sounded especially clear to Xie Luan. These two words combined did not leave any room for him to misunderstand what kind of love this was again.
This was the second time Xie Luan had heard the nox say he loved him. The first time, Xie Luan had subconsciously thought that the other’s “love” was the result of some kind of “chick imprinting”.
But this time, Xie Luan felt that he couldn’t explain it away anymore.
Just now, he had asked the nox whether he liked the flower. Xie Luan had seen the other nod his head in response, but the expression on his face had not changed at all.
However, when the nox had opened his mouth and said he liked him, Xie Luan had clearly seen those two nearby vertical pupils slightly tighten. It was different from the apathetic and cold expression the other had when he nodded his head a moment ago.
After saying these two words, Ya Yi, who was encircling Xie Luan with his tail, did not do anything more. He merely lowered his head slightly, his vertical pupils silently gazing at the other.
Unprepared, Xie Luan who was shown this meek appearance by the nox, once again felt some part of his heart being lightly jabbed.
The other had previously taken the initiative to lower his head in a similar posture to let him touch his horns, at that time Xie Luan had also sensed this feeling a bit, but he had been slow to react and let it slip out of his grasp.
This kind of feeling, like some soft place in his chest was being lightly jabbed, must be due to emotion.
When it came to being treated differently, it was usually quite easy for the one who received the “special treatment” to discover it.
Xie Luan now, at last, clearly sensed it.
“…What about others?” Still not knowing how he should respond, Xie Luan was quiet for a good while and finally could only come up with this question.
Asking this, Xie Luan waited and then heard the response after a moment.
“I don’t know.”
Pondering for a second, Ya Yi gave this answer.
Not don’t, but don’t know.
Xie Luan felt that this reply was a little unfair.
The tail was very firmly encircled around his waist. Before the ice-cold tail was willing to release him, Xie Luan would be unable to move.
While in this position, Xie Luan suddenly felt a kiss land on his cheek. He had not yet reacted when he was pecked again, a second time.
The lightly pursed lips that briefly touched his cheek felt a little cool to the touch, but also soft.
This kind of touch moved across his cheek, gradually nearing the corner of his mouth. Xie Luan discovered this, but because he could feel that these pecking kisses were meant to very carefully sound him out, Xie Luan’s heart immediately went soft and he slightly relaxed his body, ultimately choosing not to move.
It’s allowed.
The tip of the nox’s tail, which was wrapped around the youth’s waist, moved by itself and subconsciously tightened a little more.
Waiting until the silver tail let go, Xie Luan touched the corner of his lip that had just been pecked and shrunk his head back, too embarrassed to speak. [1]
At this moment, Xie Luan heard the nearby muka cub softly issue a low sound, it was not a hiss, but more of a simple sound. His bring red eyes were looking directly at him.
Faced with this, Xie Luan could not help coughing. He approached the muka cub and had him lower his head a little, Xie Luan then planted a kiss on the large cub’s forehead.
Four important wanted people were reported to have been captured on Saina and the news had been confirmed as correct. Receiving this report, the Star Alliance headquarters immediately dispatched personnel to Saina, it only took a mere two days for them to arrive.
These four people were all high ranking members of the infamous star pirate gang. The reward issued by the Star Alliance was very considerable, it most likely added up to at least 10 million.
“Who caught them?” One of the people in the troops sent by the Star Alliance asked Duke this question after inspecting the conditions of the criminals.
In order to ensure that the important criminals did not escape, the Star Alliance personnel sent to Saina were naturally soldiers.
As Star Alliance army’s special forces who had undergone special training, the personnel dispatched could nearly at first glance clearly see that the four tied up criminals had been wounded by the same person.
Among them, one was seriously injured. The upper part of his body had suffered a very heavy blow. What they did not know was who or what could possibly have inflicted this ruthless strike.
It was not simply a matter of a few broken ribs that could easily be solved, rather they had been directly smashed.
The attack had actually been intended for the heart. If it wasn’t for the other urgently adjusting his position at the critical moment, he would have since long already turned into a corpse.
The young man in front of them was obviously not someone capable of this, the dispatched personnel had therefore also asked this at this time.
It did not look like a muka attack, but if it was not the mukas, who on this planet could have subdued the four wanted criminals? It was not something your average person could accomplish. Although they were reluctant to admit it, these four wanted people were really capable when it came to using their abilities. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to escape their multi-party pursuit up until now.
Duke stalled and did not answer immediately. He was trying to think up a way to deceive them. Earlier, he had just wanted to contact the Star Alliance in order for them to arrest the four criminals, but he had forgotten that it might expose the identity of the nox.
The fewer people who knew of Ya Yi’s identity as one of the nox race, the better. Although Duke himself held no hostility towards the nox race, he knew that the race, which was said to already have been extinct, was still a target of a lot of hatred in the interstellar.
But even though Duke didn’t say it, he couldn’t stop the four people in front of him from not doing the same. The wanted man who had been seriously injured and was lying down seemed to sink into the scarred mental state from before. At this time, he said, as if talking to himself, “The nox race is not extinct, there are still some alive, on this planet…” As soon as this sentence was said, the expressions of the personnel from the Star Alliance slightly changed.
Contrary to what one might expect, this was not something hard to believe for these people. At that time, the nox egg, the sole survivor, had originally been found by scouts dispatched by the Star Alliance army. All high ranked personnel at the Star Alliance knew about this.
They were merely surprised that the egg had actually been able to smoothly hatch. The nox cub who had been born should have advanced to adult form by now and like this they had by chance been given the opportunity to meet them on this planet.
“Can you let us meet?” Cuffing the four star pirates with special handcuffs to block their abilities, the leader of the dispatched troops moved his eyes to the young man standing to the side.
Finally seeing him. The people sent by the Star Alliance were not looking to trouble the other party, it was simply that this mission required them to report the other.
They needed to record his contribution, to subdue the important wanted criminals and hand them over to the Star Alliance could be considered as an outstanding achievement.
At the annual evaluation of the Star Alliance, it was possible to be awarded the Medal of Honor for individual contributions.
Although recording the nox’s contribution was somewhat tricky in their opinion, they couldn’t deny that the other had really done a good thing this time.
Silver hair and green eyes, the iconic silver tail behind.
It had already been many years since they last saw a living nox. The soldiers in the dispatched troops still could not help but pause for a second when they truly saw it.
“Thank you for your contributions to the Star Alliance. The reward will be issued shortly after we escort the prisoners back to the Star Alliance, please provide a valid crystal card account first.”
The leader of the troops, a comparatively high ranking officer, walked up to them and made a military salute as per normal to express the gratitude of the Star Alliance for his contributions.
Ya Yi did not respond, he merely turned his head and stared at the youth next to him.
Xie Luan quickly provided a card number. As Ya Yi did not have a crystal card, he could only provide his own at this time.
“As soon as we get back to Gaia, we will open a new account and I’ll transfer the money to you.”
After seeing off the personnel from the Star Alliance, Xie Luan opened his mouth and said this to the person next to him.
The reward money should be taken by the other. But the property in the space button confiscated from the four star pirates, as well as the large amount of money and valuables buried on another planet, were all left for Duke to handle. Xie Luan wished that the money would be able to help the development of the village.
However, shortly after he finished speaking, Xie Luan saw the silver tail not far from him move a little and he then heard the nox say, “Give to Ah Luan.”
It was a very calm statement. Xie Luan thought about the amount of the reward, which was no less than 10 million. Naturally, it was impossible for him to take it just because the other said so.
Knowing that the other meant what he had said, Xie Luan thought about it and tried to find a compromise, “You can put it there for the time being. I don’t need it, so I will save it for you. “
“Good.”
With a curt reply, Ya Yi nodded his head. The profile of his face seemed slightly softer at this time, his normally cold appearance had faded and Xie Luan caught a glimpse of an expression which made him not seem as hard to approach.
This time’s long journey was coming to an end. It had been confirmed that the condition of the eight newborn cubs had stabilized and Xie Luan felt ready to return.
Knowing that the youth was about to leave, the day before Xie Luan had booked the return trip, the adult mukas in the village brought the cubs with them to do something.
Xie Luan saw the adults take the cubs with them in the morning. Nick who normally liked to follow him around took the initiative to join the group as well.
At first, Xie Luan also wanted to follow them and have a look, but Duke stopped him and had him wait in the house.
Since this was all the other had told him, Xie Luan could only stay there so he didn’t ruin their plans.
It didn’t take too long. After waiting in the house for about an hour, Xie Luan heard the sound of the adults and the cubs returning.
The cubs walked into the house. Xie Luan barely had time to notice this before he at once was surrounded by the dozen of muka cubs who had entered.
Encircled by the cubs, Xie Luan originally intended to coax the cubs like usual. But before he could do it, he was distracted by the blue gems they held with their forearms.
It was baseda ore.
Baseda ore was in fact a kind of blue and semi-transparent gem. Even if you disregarded its important role as a raw material for cores of high-tech weapons and merely relied on appearance alone, after being processed and polished, this kind of stone would certainly still sell at a considerable price.
The gems held in the forearms of these cubs were not mined by the adults, but by the cubs themselves after having studied and imitated the adults’ actions.
Considering the cubs’ builds, the ores mined by the eight muka cubs who were still only small babies were going to be a bit smaller. Xie Luan squatted down to receive the gems the cubs held up to him with their forearms.
One by one, the cubs let go of the gems and Xie Luan used two hands to catch them with a bit of difficulty. Once finished, the eight cubs seemed very happy and were waving their forearms at Xie Luan, making low hissing sounds.
It was about liking, but also about thanking.
They had been able to be born into this world all thanks to the youth’s attentive care.
The biggest gem Xie Luan received was the one Nick gave him. The adults who had gone with the cubs told him that in order to smoothly extract it, the muka cub had diligently chosen to work on it for a long time.
「Which, family, cub?」Word by word this sentence appeared on the floating virtual screen as an adult muka in the room asked Xie Luan this question.
They only knew that this muka cub came to the village with the youth. The mukas in the village didn’t know anything else.
Because he didn’t think that it was necessary to specially mention it, Duke hadn’t told them at that time.
He now had to explain that this muka cub was staying at a cub raising branch, that there were no parents. But just as he opened his mouth, Xie Luan rushed to answer before him.
“He is my family.”
Saying these four words, Xie Luan slightly paused, and then once more confirmed it with a warm voice, “He is my family’s cub.”
The parent was him. This muka cub also had a parent, just like the other cubs in the room.
Actually, when adopting the mermaid cub, Xie Luan had seriously considered the issue regarding the adoption of the other cubs.
He hadn’t adopted Gale out of partiality, he treasured all the cubs in the club equally.
The reason why Gale had been the one to be adopted first was due to the fact that the mermaid cub already fully viewed him as his parent. As Xia Qi had said, basically, the little mermaid would not accept being adopted by other people.
As for the other cubs who were waiting to be adopted, until they truly had a family Xie Luan wished to take on the role of a parent.
Of course, if after some time they still hadn’t found a suitable adopter for a cub, Xie Luan and the other caretakers in the club had the intention of adopting them.
The possibility of the muka cub being adopted by others was very low. Thinking about how hard the cub had tried to protect him in the battle, Xie Luan’s tone was especially soft as he said this sentence.
After being treated gently by Xie Luan since the beginning, he had liked following after the former. This muka cub subconsciously actually considered Xie Luan as his parent.
Now hearing Xie Luan’s words, this large cub with a scary appearance at once looked like an obedient baby. With his head lowered, he issued a very distinct hissing sound from his throat.
The next day, when they boarded the starship at Saina starport, it wasn’t just Ya Yi and Nick that departed with Xie Luan.
After talking it over with the other adults yesterday, they at the last moment made the decision to let the newborn muka babies stay at Yunbao Branch as well and have them study and be raised alongside cubs of other races.
As for the cost of their stay, these small ores gifted to him were enough to cover many years.
Listening to Xie Luan’s previous suggestion, Duke contacted and persuaded several villages who also mined baseda ore in order to prepare for a unified increase in price of the exported ore.
The darrow tree seedlings planted in the wilderness not too long ago had adapted well to the environment. This type of tree had a very high vitality and grew quickly.
Duke predicted that they might see a lot of vivid green next spring.
Although the thought of this green covering all of Saina was still distant, Duke was now quite motivated. He wanted to unite the mukas living in the other villages as well as the small towns and together spread this vivid color a bit more.
One day in the future, Saina would truly have become green and full of life. When that day came, Duke would invite the youth to visit their planet again.
__________________
Translator’s note:
Ya Yi’s book of love: 6 steps to success
Step 1: Stay by their side, never leave them.
Step 2: Get them used to “harmless” affection.
Step 3: Bombard them with words of love.
Step 4: Attack, but still observe their reaction and respect their wishes.
Step 5: Give them your everything, even if that everything is ten million.
Step 6: Persist until they no longer can resist. °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
[1] – The literal translation of the last part is something like “some ostriches don’t speak”, I was so confused by it. Luckily Jujuseason was there to explain it to me, it turns out it was referring to the mental image of an ostrich burying its head in the sand when scared.
….God, I have such an embarrassing story that fits perfectly with this, actually, after my first kiss I literally buried my head, it was not even under the covers but in a small space between the wall and the bed… I was just so embarrassed and shocked (I had been asked to close my eyes and so did not know that they were going to do that, they were the same sex as me so I really did not except it despite the classic line). Actually, afterward, I ended up being much more embarrassed by my reaction, I mean, I did it right in front of them… (but, like, I was really young, nine or so, so… Nope, still embarrassed by it.(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄)
Finally Nick have family TuT