Chapter 3: How did you take off your ‘brain’?!

Chapter 3: Why'd You Take Your "Brain" Off?!

Even though he had held this little fluffball once before, Amos still stiffened as he picked it up again.

No bigger than two hands put together, the tiny creature melted bonelessly into his arms, blinking its big eyes and letting out a tiny *meow*.

Its little tail twitched with nervous excitement behind it, and the small halo above its head swayed, shimmering with golden light.

No shying away, no escape—just held.

The cub was still uneasy and startled, the terror of the boulder's crush still fresh. But like a newborn duckling latching on, it had opened its eyes to see Amos—a being so similar to itself—and felt an inexplicable closeness.

Its tiny paws clutched Amos' clothes, and it nudged its head into him.

Then, with wide eyes, it watched for Amos' reaction.

Amos held the little thing, face blank, saying nothing. He walked slower and slower until finally reaching the bare-bones medical pod. He placed the small white fluffball inside.

This was the simplest model—just a thin cushion inside. The white fluff coiled into a ball on instinct, triangular ears perked, eyes darting nervously around at the unfamiliar surroundings.

Amos hit the button, jaw set.

*Beep—*

The cub in the pod instantly poofed up like a cotton ball, feathers bristling. Before the pod could close, it flapped its wings and bolted out—

*Bolted out?!*

This thing was *quick*.

Amos barely had time to react before the cub, like a tiny cannonball, slammed into his chest.

He caught it reflexively.

The cub’s wings had only been used for that split second. Once its claws latched onto his clothes, it scampered up in a heartbeat, scaling his clothes until it perched on Amos’ shoulder. Its body arched, hackles raised, amber eyes wide as it stared at the now-sealed medical pod.

After closing, the pod ran a quick scan.

The screen lit up: *Empty pod. [·-·?] Stop messing around! Injured personnel, please lie down properly! Don’t waste resources!*

Whoa, it *lit up*!

Having never seen such strange interstellar gadgets before, the cub widened its eyes, hissing at the bright screen—it couldn’t read the words, but in its old world, light usually meant an attack was coming. It had to be on guard.

*"Meow!"*

Before Amos could pluck the little one off his shoulder, it had already leaped down, landing with a *smack* on the screen, little paws batting at it, tail whapping.

*Bad thing! Eat this!*

*Zao Zao'll pull out his little bow and shoot ya!*

The halo above the cub’s head flashed briefly. During his time being mistaken for an angel, Chu Zao had used his power to obtain an angelic bow—a special little bow he rarely used.

Was it—time to bring it out now?

Fire lit up the cub’s amber eyes.

*Come forth—!*

Then—the little cub was promptly hauled back by Amos.

Seeing the little one pull off so much in mere seconds, Amos: "..."

He pinched the frantically wagging tail with his other hand, watching the tiny angelic wings fluttering behind the cub. At this moment, holding the cub aloft felt like holding a flailing moth.

Wait a minute—hold on—this was completely different from the cub's demeanor when they first met. Amos began to question his sanity. Was this level of hyperactivity even normal?

Xiao Chuzao, now lifted mid-air, hadn’t yet retracted his actions. His tiny wings flapped, his little claws popped out, and he made a fierce but confused face at Amos.

After a moment, the cub finally retracted his claws and let out a tiny "Meow."

—This strange, weird creature looked like it was about to attack! Zao Zao’s gonna handle this!

Yes, a cub who grew up without parents needed to act tough at times.

Otherwise, he’d get bullied.

The little cub seemed completely clueless about all these things.

Amos studied the flickering halo above the cub’s head, his twitching ears, and the small wings fluttering behind him.

"Don’t be afraid."

Amos was terrible at comforting others. Over the centuries, what the Crown Clan excelled at was pounding others into the ground.

So now, faced with such a small cub, his tone was gruff and clumsy as he attempted reassurance.

"It’s just a small check-up."

Xiao Chuzao gradually relaxed, letting out a tiny "Meow." His fluffy ears twitched before his tiny body was placed back into the medical pod.

The little white puff wiggled his four stubby legs inside the pod, turning in a circle before pawing at the transparent lid to peer out.

Xiao Chuzao had never seen anyone like him before.

Though he’d suffered plenty of bullying as a child, he was still young—his personality hadn’t yet turned bitter. He was merely saddened and confused by his hardships. Having once lived among a large group, he acted like he didn’t care about family, but deep down, he yearned for it. After years of wondering what kind of little monster he was, he’d finally found his own kind. The cub was too excited to be cautious.

His little tail wagged back and forth, his amber eyes sparkling.

Through the medical pod’s lid, he let out tiny, hopeful mews, calling for "Papa."

Holding onto a thread of his own hope.

Truthfully, this cub’s appearance posed a million questions.

Amos knew this well.

He shouldn’t soften. He should get to the bottom of this to uncover the truth about this little creature.

Was it from some hidden interstellar lab? Or perhaps a terrorist organization? Either way, it was a security risk.

But now—

Watching the tiny one with his golden halo swaying atop his head, softly calling for "Papa,"

Amos flinched. Unfamiliar with cubs, His Majesty didn’t realize he was being completely smitten. He averted his gaze, focusing instead on the medical pod’s screen.

Then—the screen suddenly flashed red—

"Alert! Alert! Data anomaly detected!!! Detected presence of a cub, detected presence of a cub!!! Age assessment—five years old!! All vital signs critically low, abnormal mental development! Current resources insufficient for proper care, strong evidence suggests cub abuse!!! From this moment onward, recording everything from now on!"

Amos: "..."

Amos clenched his fist and coldly struck the back of the medical pod's screen.

The impact jolted the medical pod, freezing its basic AI.

Amos: "Is your programming glitching or are you just stupid?"

Seemingly sensing the threat, the medical pod's basic AI stuttered, as if it were buffering. Then, an arrow began spinning slowly on the screen before—*ding*—"Imperial emergency line failed to connect, retrying—"

Amos nearly laughed in frustrated rage.

He looked at the confused little cub pressed against the lid of the medical pod and suddenly remembered that these AIs had been programmed by a Crown Clan member many, many years ago.

Back then, the Crown Clan hadn't been in such bad shape. The elders, even on the brink of collapse, had always dreamed of having cubs, envying other species' offspring.

Thus, although the current Crown Clan felt little of this, past generations had left countless traces across the Saint Cas Empire—signs of their protectiveness, love, and longing for cubs. Now, these traces popped up like unexpected reminders in daily life, unnoticed by most of today's Crown Clan.

Like now—

When it sensed something wrong with the cub's health and suspected abuse, the pod went into immediate lockdown and frantically dialed the empire's emergency line.

But here, too far from Saint Cas Empire's imperial capital, the call couldn't connect.

Amos stared at the beeping medical pod.

Medical pod: ...Danger!

Moments later.

The scrapped pod lay to the side, making dying electronic noises.

Amos had forcibly pried open the medical pod lid barehanded and tossed it aside.

Xiao Chuzao shook out his soft, short fur, tiny claws gripping Amos' pant leg as he scampered upward.

Effortlessly he climbed onto Amos' shoulder.

Amos was plotting their course on the navigation chart.

The cub's physique couldn't withstand space jumps, so he had to avoid Cosmic Pollution and Star Beast clusters to return to the Saint Cas Empire. Their departure planet was Saint Cas' original habitat, relatively close to the current imperial capital. After the pollution spread, the empire had relocated, leaving this area a border zone with refugee settlements.

"Meow~"

Dad!

Xiao Chuzao stood on Amos' shoulder.

The cub seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

Amos pulled him off twice, but he climbed back up both times. Finally, Amos looked over and asked, "What is it?"

"Meow! Hungry!" he complained.

Amos paused. Reaching out, he lifted the cub down once more.

After picking him up a few times, Amos was now much more adept at it. His excitement at possibly finding a youngling of his own kind had somewhat calmed down.

He placed the little one on the table.

He stood up and grabbed a packet of nutrient solution from a nearby cabinet.

Amos had left in a hurry and hadn’t brought much with him. Plus, due to his busy schedule, most of his meals were just nutrient solutions anyway. He looked at the plain-flavored packet in his hand, then at the eagerly waiting little cub.

With some hesitation, he ripped open the packet and handed it to the youngling.

Little Chuzao was definitely hungry.

His strength was depleted, so he couldn't turn back into his little angel form—recovery was extremely draining. His stomach had been rumbling nonstop since earlier.

Gripping the nutrient packet with both little paws, his big eyes blinked in confusion before *Meow!* he took a big gulp.

Then the horrible taste hit him.

As Amos stared in shock, the little one’s paws loosened, and the nutrient packet splatted onto the table.

The little one gagged on the mouthful, staggered two steps, and flopped onto his side. One tiny paw reached up, hooked onto the halo crown above his head, and pulled it down, laying it gently on his chest: “*Meow.*”

Papa.

Zao Zao has been slain by the disgusting taste QAQ.

Amos: …

“Hey, wait a second—!!”

Amos’s eyes went wide.

That halo was indeed a genuine Crown Clan halo—he had already confirmed it earlier. But—

“How did you just take off your halo??”

For the Crown Clan, the psychic halo was basically like their brain. They could touch it themselves, yes, but most of the time it simply hovered in midair as a manifestation of psychic power. If the halo shattered, their mental energy would collapse, leading to destruction.

But now, the little one had casually removed his halo. Even calm-as-ice Amos lost his composure. To put it another way—*Did you just yank out your brain?!*