Chapter 59: The Little One Looks for Daddy

Chapter 59: The Little One Looks for Daddy

The two attendants quietly left the room when Landis entered, leaving just the father and son alone, undisturbed by anyone.

Before the baby was born, Landis had considered several names but hadn't settled on an official one yet.

Looking at the little one's sapphire-blue eyes blinking, as if countless brilliant stars were dancing within, Landis finally gave him a temporary nickname, Xiao Xingxing.

At this age, the baby simply ate and slept, and after a satisfying meal, he slowly closed his eyes, so content that a tiny bubble of snot formed at his nose.

Landis placed the baby into the crib to let him sleep peacefully, then took out the breast pump to relieve the discomfort on the other side.

Landis removed his shirt and ran his hand over his firmer, more resilient chest muscles. One side was wet and glossy from the baby's nursing, while the other side, for some reason, the baby refused to latch onto, necessitating the use of the breast pump.

Perhaps due to his excellent physical condition, Landis's milk production had been particularly abundant since pregnancy and childbirth, so much so that the baby couldn't finish it.

He had to change shirts countless times a day; while at home, he could endure it, but when going out for work or meetings, it became awkward.

In the end, out of necessity, he had to pad his chest area with nursing pads to manage the issue of wet clothes outside.

Before, when Xiao Sa asked him to use nursing pads, Landis found it too shameful, completely unbecoming of his dignified and solemn image as a general, utterly inappropriate. But now, he could no longer afford to worry about these minor details.

Landis silently expressed the excess milk in front of the mirror. Perhaps due to the pregnancy hormones, his skin had visibly become plumper and more lustrous over the past six months, and even the most vicious scar near his heart, once a deep pink, had lightened to a faint pink, barely noticeable unless examined closely.

Only the area where the baby suckled the most had darkened.

The intimate, rose-colored marks Xiao Sa had left had long faded.

Looking at his smooth chest, Landis found himself wondering if Xiao Sa would have appreciated it...

His palm involuntarily tightened slightly, his long neck arching elegantly, the Adam's apple sliding gently as broken gasps uncontrollably escaped from his throat.

This was the spot Xiao Sa used to kiss most often, and Landis's eyes grew hazy, as if he could see Xiao Sa holding him, their necks intertwined in intimacy.

A few strands of golden hair fell from his forehead, and fine beads of sweat slid down his cheeks, dampening his temples.

Landis's hand traced his chest, sliding along the midline over the slightly contracted abdominal muscles. There had once been a line of a surgical wound, but it had healed in the healing pod, leaving only a faint trace that was barely noticeable.

The faint sound of a metal clasp unfastening echoed briefly by his ear.

Landis bit his lips, lost in thought, his eyes filled with sweet memories of the past.

Whether it was kissing or caressing, Xiao Sa had always been gentle and reserved at first. At those times, Landis would always impatiently and roughly want to take more or elicit the other's rare expressions and emotions.

When Xiao Sa could no longer hold back, his fierce and bloodthirsty side would immediately emerge. His lips and kisses were always hot and scorching, and when he was eager, his actions became strong and fierce.

It was painful yet pleasurable, exhilarating in its intensity.

Was Xiao Sa missing him just as much? Or had he already moved on to a new life with someone else...

Landis took a deep breath, slowly calming his heaving chest, and withdrew his hand, using a wet wipe to carefully clean each finger and the gaps between them.

He walked to the baby's crib, looking at the sleeping baby, his dark red eye corners softening. He bent down and kissed the baby's smooth forehead.

He would leave early tomorrow, finally able to depart from Central Star without suspicion.

The only thing Landis worried about was that Xiao Xingxing was still so young and had never been apart from him. But this departure might take a long time before he could return. Bringing the baby on board the warship would be impractical, surrounded by soldiers, making it hard to care for him properly.

Landis sighed softly and whispered, "Goodnight, sweetheart."

He took a hot bath and went to bed early, waiting to set off the next day.

Early the next morning.

Landis gave the baby one last feeding, gently patting the baby's back, and whispered his farewell, "Daddy is going on a business trip. Be good at home and don't run around."

Little Star seemed to sense something, stretching out his short, chubby hand to grab Landis's collar, shaking his head while whimpering and clinging tightly, refusing to let go.

Landis was helpless, overwhelmed with a strong sense of reluctance. Having a child really does change a person's perspective; even the coldest heart becomes soft, with a clear weakness.

"Daddy will only be away for a short time." He thought for a moment and whispered to comfort him, "Just a few days."

Little Star pouted, his bright blue eyes filling with tears, and then, for the first time, he called out, "PaPa!"

Landis was astonished, never having imagined that he would be so moved by the baby calling him "PaPa."

He took a deep breath and gently held Little Star in his arms, but the reluctance ultimately prevailed.

"Alright, I’ll take you with me." He slowly stroked the baby's golden hair, "If we manage to find that guy, you should meet him too."

Landis made a quick decision and had someone organize the baby's daily necessities. He held the baby in one arm and boarded the aircraft heading to the spaceport.

※※※

On the other side, at the edge of the debris belt, a newly emerging power, the Star Alliance, was growing vigorously.

The news of the Dawn Empire lifting its border blockade also reached Xiao Sa's ears.

Hearing this, he was surprised but also hesitant. Landis hadn't come to find him in the past six months, clearly having accepted the divorce agreement.

It was likely that Landis had already started a new life, and the Dawn Empire, especially its high-ranking officers, placed great importance on marriage, even mandating matchmaking by the Central Mind.

After such a long time, Landis might have already had a second match.

As a "former husband," it would be quite awkward to contact him rashly.

But Xiao Sa couldn't keep waiting like this. No matter what, even if his marriage with Landis was over, he still needed to search for the past of his clansmen and the secrets of the ancestral planet, which required him to return to the Dawn Empire.

He discussed it with his father and elder brother, and finally, Xiao Sa, along with Haino, his elder brother, and a few trusted subordinates of Broken Peak, returned to the border of the Dawn Empire under the guise of foreign merchants.

All starships entering and leaving the empire had to pass through the trade port worlds opened by the Dawn Empire, also known as customs worlds. Each customs world was not only the most active in commercial trade but also in smuggling.

Since Xiao Sa removed Haino’s core, it took the royal family of the Dawn Empire half a year to recreate a new core for the Central Mind, completely replacing Haino’s former position.

The intelligence of this new system couldn't compare to Haino's, but it was sufficient to maintain the daily operations and governance of the empire.

Most importantly, this new core did not contain the hidden database region from Haino's core, which was why the royal family had been relentlessly hunting for Alpha.

Haino, now stripped of all his privileges by the empire, was just an ordinary bio-robot upon returning to the Dawn Empire. He could no longer access the conveniences of his previous system, such as viewing surveillance ports or mobilizing system resources.

Without this major source of information and advantage, they had to create new identities, registering new IDs on new lightbrains to avoid being traced back to their past.

Xiao Sa's starship landed at the spaceport of the customs world.

After completing basic information registration as a foreign merchant, they were guided to a high-end hotel in the business trade district.

As a trade port, the customs world had preferential policies for foreign merchants and didn't scrutinize their identities too closely, as there was little to find anyway.

However, foreign merchants were confined to designated areas for commercial activities and couldn't easily leave the area or travel to other worlds within the empire without passing through customs.

Xiao Sa sat in the coffee shop on the first floor of the hotel, silently watching the news broadcast on the hall's projection.

It was reported that the royal family, aiming to boost the national economy, had opened the borders. However, the policy remained one of external relaxation and internal vigilance. Mech enforcers would assist local governments in citizen identification checks at each customs port.

Xiao Sa stayed silent, gently stirring the spoon in his coffee cup. The news wasn’t exactly encouraging.

After a short while, Broken Peak returned to the coffee shop with a few of his subordinates and relayed the information they had gathered:

"There are two pieces of bad news," Broken Peak said gravely, his expression serious.

"We are currently only allowed to move within this free trade zone. If we want to return to Central Star, we must pass through customs to check our identities. The royal family has deployed mech enforcers there, supposedly to prevent malicious individuals from sneaking into the empire now that the borders are open, thus raising the empire's security level."

Xiao Sa frowned; this was indeed troublesome. While Broken Peak and his crew were wanted criminals, they didn’t emit pheromones, so they had nothing to fear from the mech units, but the risk was much higher for him and his older brother.

Xiao Sa couldn't help but wonder if the royal family of the Dawn Empire was merely trying to track down the core of Haino.

Could it be that the royal family suspected a link between the pheromones his people carried and the so-called 'humanoid mutants,' which was why they were so vigilant?

How much did Landis know about this situation?

As Xiao Sa pondered, Broken Peak continued, "The second piece of bad news: one of the main reasons the royal family agreed to lift the blockade was to address the inhibitor smuggling problem."

"Now, at the borders of the Dawn Empire, various local power groups are involved in smuggling inhibitors, which has drawn the concern of the Royal Association and the royal family. They have reportedly dispatched troops to eradicate these groups."

"Unfortunately, the armed groups we are cooperating with are the targets of this eradication. These gangs are all about money and couldn’t care less about loyalty. It’s hard to say whether we’ll be implicated."

Troops? Could it be Landis?

If so, that would make things even more awkward.

Besides being from an "alien" race and suspected humanoid mutants, would they now also be considered enemies as a "hostile nation's" general and smuggling fugitives?

Xiao Sa rubbed his nose, wondering how he had ended up on such a hostile path...

※※※

A military starship slowly docked at the military spaceport.

This time, Landis was leading his troops not to eradicate a mutant nest but to eliminate those armed smuggling groups. He hadn’t brought too many forces with him.

Some well-informed armed groups might have already started packing to escape, while others, unwilling to abandon their massive operations, were still trying to hold their ground.

Landis paid them no mind. These groups were like weeds that would grow back no matter how many times you cut them down. The main goal was to set an example by cracking down on them.

He had come here personally for a private reason—something only he knew.

The suspension bridge was slowly extended from the starship's hatch and connected to the floating bridge of the spaceport. Landis, holding the baby, strode across the bridge.

To avoid alerting their targets prematurely, Landis did not publicize his identity. He had the troops stationed at the spaceport for the time being and, with only two squads of security personnel, quietly checked into a luxury hotel in the free trade zone of the border planet.

The trade area here was the most complex place on the entire planet in terms of power dynamics.

After a long journey, Landis rested for a night with the baby. The next morning, the late-arriving administrative officer hurriedly sent an invitation to Landis, the tone growing more respectful with each sentence.

In the presidential suite on the top floor of the hotel, Landis fed the baby and placed the sleeping infant in the master bedroom's crib.

He left two attendants to look after the baby in the room and stationed two security personnel at the door. Then, he had an entire squad seal off the top floor before heading to the local administrative palace for the meeting.

Over an hour passed, and Little Star, having woken up from his nap, turned over and found himself in a strange place. His father wasn’t there, and a stranger was dozing nearby.

Little Star immediately pouted, his big blue eyes wide with confusion. Bored, he played with his fingers in his crib.

Minutes ticked by, but his dad didn’t return. At his age, a young cub had no patience. He simply felt that if his dad wasn’t here, he should go look for him.

Little Star held back for a long time, not knowing how to look nor how to express his thoughts, which made his eyes well up with anxious tears.

Finally, it was as if a strong will burst forth in his mind, wanting to fulfill his wish.

A moment later, a small gourd, only the size of a baby's palm, slowly materialized in front of him, with two cute green leaves on it.

Curiously, Little Star looked at the suddenly appearing gourd. Suddenly, he realized he could control it.

In the next instant, a soft green glow enveloped him, and Little Star vanished along with the newly awakened mental entity gourd.

The other attendant who had just gone to the restroom returned to the room. Seeing the little master had vanished from the crib, his face turned pale with fright. He quickly woke the dozing person up. "Where did the little master go?"

The other attendant also panicked. "He was just sleeping here a moment ago!"

The two searched everywhere and, upon opening the door to the corridor, Little Star, who was invisible along with the gourd, smoothly crawled out under everyone's noses.

The attendants were stunned. No one had seen anyone leave the room.

"Quick, notify Lord Landis! The little master is missing!"

※※※

Little Star crawled around the corridor with curiosity. His attention was soon captured by the light coming from the elevator. He followed a hotel service staff into the elevator, rode it all the way down to the lobby, and then crawled outside.

He lay on the street, looking around in confusion, unsure where to begin his search for his dad.

Just as he was about to burst into tears from sorrow, a figure walked confidently over from the café across the street—tall, well-proportioned, with black short hair, handsome, and... familiar?

Little Star’s eyes widened suddenly, and a small light bulb seemed to brighten above his head.

He didn’t know who the man was, but he recognized the face. He saw it every day.

"Daddy!" Little Star joyfully exclaimed.

He quickly wiped away his tears and crawled toward the man who was preparing to leave, using both hands and feet. If he had a tail, it would be wagging like a propeller.

Although Little Star was growing fast, he was still too young. Even with a high level of mental energy, he couldn’t maintain his mental entity and abilities for long. After a short while, his invisibility skill failed.

Xiao Sa was startled by the baby who seemed to appear out of nowhere at his feet, wondering if he was hallucinating.

He looked around, puzzled, wondering who could be so irresponsible as to leave a small child on the ground.

The cub was desperately tugging at his pants leg, so Xiao Sa had no choice but to pick the baby up and hold him in front of his eyes.

The child had a lovely head of golden hair and strikingly large, blue, gem-like eyes. Even legendary little angels might look like this.

Xiao Sa couldn’t help but look again. He remembered fragments of Landis's childhood from his memories, and this golden-haired child looked very similar.

"Who are you, little one? Where are your parents?"

The baby was very clean, wearing orange tiger pajamas, and had no smell—his glands weren’t developed enough to emit pheromones.

Outwardly, he looked no different from an ordinary one or two-year-old child.

Only his palms and knees were a bit dirty. Xiao Sa gently wiped the dust off his palms and ruffled the baby’s hair.

Who has such a cute baby? If no one claims him, I'm taking him home.

Xiao Sa was just about to look for his parents nearby when, the next moment, the baby stretched out his chubby little hands and wrapped them around Xiao Sa's neck.

With a milky voice, he called out brightly, "Mama!"

The call was so loud that the passersby couldn't help but turn their heads in surprise, their eyes filled with confusion as they glanced between the two of them.

Xiao Sa's foot froze in mid-air, feeling as if he had turned to stone.

His mouth twitched, feeling both exasperated and helpless. "Don't call me that. I'm not your mama. Call me uncle, no, call me brother."

Who lets their kid go around calling strangers 'mama'? When he found the kid's parents, he was definitely going to have a word with them.

"What a cute baby, is he about one or two years old?" Big brother Xiao Ke walked over, extending a finger to gently poke the baby's cheek. "So soft."

The elder brother sighed, "If things were different, we’d have families and kids of our own by now."

Halfway through his sentence, he remembered that Xiao Sa had actually started a family but had to leave his partner for the sake of their relatives.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ke felt a lump in his throat and tears welled up in his eyes. "Xiao Sa, you've really been through a lot."

Xiao Sa had one arm full of a clingy baby and the other trying to calm his emotional brother, making him feel like he was juggling two kids at once.

After patting his brother's back for a while, Xiao Ke finally stopped crying. "How come the baby's parents haven't come looking for him yet? Could he have been abandoned?"

Xiao Sa felt troubled. As wanted men, they couldn’t exactly go to the police.

Finally, Xiao Ke said, "Anyway, we live nearby, and his parents will find him sooner or later. Since the baby seems to like you, how about you take care of him for now?"

With a helpless sigh, Xiao Sa clicked his tongue. He had zero clue how to handle a baby.

"Mama!" The little one called out happily, rubbing his chubby cheeks against Xiao Sa's face and neck.

Xiao Sa felt as if he was holding not a human baby, but a clingy little puppy.

He corrected again, "Call me brother."

"Mama!" The little puppy beamed a big smile, wagging an imaginary tail.

After a brief moment of eye contact, Xiao Sa quickly gave in to the baby's radiant smile. "Forget it, call me whatever."

Shaking his head helplessly, Xiao Sa carried the baby back towards their place.

Once back in the room, the two of them stared at each other. Xiao Sa quickly pulled up his terminal to brush up on baby care basics.

Haino, excited, rubbed his hands together. "Since the baby has been separated from his parents for so long, he might be hungry. Should we give him some milk?"

Xiao Sa frowned. "A one or two-year-old should be weaned, right? Should we buy goat milk or cow milk formula?"

Although he couldn't understand the adults, Little Star's blue eyes lit up at the word "milk."

Milk time!

The little guy used both hands and feet to climb up Xiao Sa’s shirt like a tiny mountain climber.

"What are you doing?" In Xiao Sa's puzzled gaze, the baby skillfully pulled open his collar and buried his round head inside, taking a loud suck.

Xiao Sa’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

His face instantly darkened—who does this kid belong to? Someone needed to take him back right away!