Chapter 120: If Nothing Goes Wrong, Something Will Go Wrong

Chapter 120 If Nothing Goes Wrong, Then Something Will

Finn was quite a bit taller than the little one.

In Saint Cas, he was rarely assigned the delicate task of cheering up a little one.

Most of the time, Finn was the one leading Xiao Chuzao into mischief, raising hell.

Looking at the young boy with his icy, heavy-lidded gaze—

Normally, the little one was cheerful and good-tempered, so it wasn’t noticeable.

But once he stopped smiling, the chill would press down on his brows and seep into his gaze… Truly, Amos’ spitting image.

At first glance, his aura was strikingly similar to Amos’, successfully putting Finn on edge for a moment.

In a way, Xiao Chuzao wasn’t one to mess with either.

It was just that the adults in front of him had his back, making it less obvious at first glance.

But now, in this unfamiliar interstellar world, the little one had gotten a taste early of what a ruler must do and consider…

So much like Amos…

Way too scary.

What the hell was this?!

Finn raised his hand, his baby-faced but dead serious, and pinched Chuzao’s cheeks, roughly squishing them.

Chuzao, cheeks wobbling under the assault: ?

“Zao Zao is all grown up now, did great.”

Finn’s hands didn’t stop moving.

“Now that we’ve found everyone, we just need to wait for Second Brother to arrive. Lighten up—”

Grown up?

It was rare to hear such praise from Finn.

This guy wasn’t exactly the reliable type. After the Dwight family had their little one, Finn was the one who most loved egging the kid on.

Even after growing up, he often roped Chuzao into antics that gave Amos headaches.

So Amos’ hesitation about using Finn was quite justified.

Chuzao blinked, his soft young cheeks squished like putty by his third uncle.

Chuzao wriggled to escape his face from Finn’s grip.

“So I did good?”

Xiao Chuzao tilted his head, not waiting for Finn to nod.

Then Chuzao said: “Then you’ve got ten minutes—start praising.”

The little one’s mood shifted on a dime, and it was hard to say if he was hiding them. Now, chest out, he grinned up at Finn.

Finn: ...

Finn reflected on himself at this moment—had he corrupted the kid?

Meanwhile, Chao Huangmu didn't hesitate at all.

"Today is also the undefeatedly handsome, cute, and strong leader, Algae Algae, whose strength keeps growing!"

He stood ever-ready.

Finn: ...Wait, no, you...

Chu Zao had originally just been changing the subject, but upon hearing this, he paused and started laughing.

"You hear that, Third Uncle?"

Chu Zao muttered, clearly in a much better mood.

He had always loved being praised since childhood. Whenever he was complimented, his little wings would unconsciously flutter with joy.

Though he had toned down this trait as he grew older, his tone still noticeably brightened.

Then he pulled out a piece of candy from his pocket and popped it into his mouth.

Chao Huangmu had previously "tributed" several packs of candy, all of which were now stored in Xiao Chuzao's pockets.

Watching Chu Zao crunch candy was almost a natural response for all members of the Crown Clan now.

"Didn't Brother Amos set candy limits for you? Haven't you already had too much today?"

"Candy shouldn't be restricted after adulthood."

Chu Zao's voice was a bit muffled with the candy still in his mouth.

Then Finn prodded his cheek.

"You haven't had your rite of passage yet. You're still a kid—candy has to be limited."

If Amos found out he hadn't enforced the limit, Finn would be in for it again.

Chu Zao blinked his big eyes at him.

Finn: "Staring at me won't help... Wait, Zao Zao, speak properly. Don't take out your notebook."

Then Finn went quiet and took two steps back, his movements strangely synchronized with Chao Huangmu's.

"And definitely don't pull out your Cupid's bow."

Wait, in this confined space, who exactly are you planning to shoot "love and peace" to, kid?!

*

The preparations for mineral collection in the Sacred Territory were still ongoing.

By now, the sky above had grown completely dark.

Stars scattered across the sky.

The afternoon's dark clouds seemed to have had no effect here. At night, the view remained clear, the stars shining brightly, as if the entire star system was barely affected by pollution.

Chu Zao was still waiting for their news while making a casual circuit around the entire Sacred Territory.

The Saint Casians were still the Saint Casians, but those who had wandered here for thousands of years were visibly more restless and less self-assured.

Finally, Chu Zao vaulted onto the starship's highest point and sat there, gazing at the sky.

His fine-boned face, still faintly reminiscent of his childhood, had grown even more beautiful. His features were naturally cold, inherited from Amos, but as he matured, he mastered guiding and controlling the emotions of those around him. Thus, when he smiled, he often gave off a gentle and soft impression.

A figure alighted lightly beside him.

"Zao Zao."

Chao Huangmu had been shadowing Xiao Chuzao at a discreet distance ever since the boy said he wanted to go out for a stroll.

Finn should have been there too, but as an adult member of the Crown Clan, Finn's mental presence was far stronger, making it difficult for Chu Zao to detect him. Chao Huangmu, however, knew that if he tried to hide, he’d definitely be noticed—so he simply followed openly.

There wasn’t much light overhead, only hovering lights, brighter than moonlight.

A silvery, cool radiance settled over Chu Zao.

At this moment, Chao Huangmu looked up at him.

Most of Chao Huangmu’s emotions were calculated.

This often led him to overlook certain things—for instance, though Chu Zao’s mood had clearly improved earlier, he now seemed somewhat unhappy again.

Chao Huangmu couldn’t quite decipher it.

Chu Zao also looked at Chao Huangmu, reading the unspoken question in his gaze.

Hugging his knees and gazing at the sky, Chu Zao thought for a moment before saying, "Brother Mu, I really miss Father… There are just so many problems—"

Chu Zao had never been apart from Amos for this long. Since being taken in by Amos, from the previous training period until now, it had been nearly half a month since he’d last seen him.

What’s more, as a still-green and growing youth, he had suddenly been handed the responsibility of the Sacred Territory—a place plagued by problems, lacking food, clothing, and medicine, in an unfamiliar corner of the galaxy that Chu Zao scarcely knew.

There were many things Chu Zao was unsure about, and each time, he wanted to ask his father or uncle—but none of them were here.

Only a Third Uncle who wasn’t the most capable administrator.

Of course, that wasn’t Third Uncle’s fault.

Chu Zao let out a quiet sigh, resting his chin on his arm, making his pretty face appear rounder and less aloof, much more adorable.

Chao Huangmu had no parents.

To be precise, Chao Huangmu had never met his parents and had lost all related memories.

He had spent most holidays alone at the military academy or with Chu Zao, Yun Songquan, and Peng Liang. He couldn’t fully grasp Xiao Chuzao’s emotions.

But as for the matter of "many problems"—

Dressed in his black military uniform, Chao Huangmu lifted his gaze, his dark eyes reflecting Chu Zao’s figure. His black hair was disheveled, his handsome face always wearing a warm, friendly smile. The contours of his muscles were faintly visible beneath the fabric as he knelt beside Xiao Chuzao, like a coiled black dragon ready to spring—

"Confront problems and overcome them—hasn’t that always been our way, young master? Zao Zao should believe in himself, in Prince Hale’s teachings, and in King Amos’ guidance. Nothing will stand in your way—if there are—"

Chao Huangmu lowered his gaze, still kneeling beside Xiao Chuzao. He reached out, took Chu Zao’s hand, and drew it forward in a time-honored knight's salute.

Chu Zao went still for a heartbeat, his hand extended as he turned to look at Chao Huangmu.

Listening as Chao Huangmu continued to speak.

"If there is—then I shall be the sharpest blade of the *Little Highness*, eliminating all threats for you."

This also meant he would stay by Chu Zao's side forever.

Like a greedy little black dragon-dog, clumsily pawing at the most beautiful treasure with its claws.

The wind ruffled Chu Zao's hair as he blinked his large eyes at Chao Huangmu, who had somehow learned and pulled off a perfect knight’s salute.

"Oh no, Brother Mu, that was... pretty cool just now."

Chu Zao's eyes curved into crescents.

Chao Huangmu stiffened visibly.

The next moment, he withdrew his hand, his gaze darting around nervously, his ears burning red instantly.

"R-really?"

Did Zao Zao like that?

Did it seem... cool?

What part was cool?

Chao Huangmu was already hard at work analyzing, trying to draft a 20,000-word mental essay in his mind on Chu Zao's definition of "cool."

"Yeah," Chu Zao laughed.

Then, the communicator Lai Qing and the others had given Chu Zao lit up.

It displayed—*Little Highness, everything is ready.*

Time to go.

Might as well scout the area too.

Chu Zao stood up, reaching out to Chao Huangmu beside him and pulling the kneeling man up. Then, he glanced downward.

"Third Uncle."

Finn was leaning quietly against the side of the starship. From up here, he was just a speck.

But the Crown Clan’s vision and hearing were exceptional.

Chu Zao heard his uncle respond.

Then his uncle added—

"What’s to worry about? Third Uncle’s got your back, right? If there’s any trouble, I’ll bulldoze through it."

After all, solving problems with brute force was something Finn had done plenty of times.

And also—

Finn muttered under his breath.

"What’s he up to? Eh, whatever... Doesn’t matter. Relax, Zao Zao, nothing’s gonna happen."

Finn straightened up, took a few steps forward, turned around, and reached out his hand to Xiao Chuzao.

"Let's go, little troublemaker. It's time to set off."

"Alright."

Chu Zao quickly responded, looking at Finn's demeanor and couldn't help but think—*Third Uncle's actually pretty dependable right now.*

But—

Just when you think nothing could go wrong... something unexpected is about to happen.

About a few hours later, aboard the starship of the Sacred Dominion.

"Course deviation—Huh? It seems the Pollution Tide's influence has caused us to veer off course."

Lai Qing and the other delegates who had come along were sweating bullets.

"Recalculating coordinates now. Please wait, Your Highness and Little Highness—we'll surely get back on track soon—" (sweating profusely)

Chu Zao watched as the path on the navigation display abruptly vanished. Clearly, getting lost in space where pollution was rampant and powerful Aberrant Beasts prowled everywhere was a terrifying prospect.

But for Chu Zao, it wasn’t all that scary.

And Finn was calm—freakishly calm.

*Of course he’s freakishly calm!*

Chu Zao widened her eyes, staring at Finn, silently questioning: *—Third Uncle, what backwater have you dragged us to this time???*

*This has to be some kind of weird luck, right? There’s definitely some special reason behind this, isn’t there?*

Finn: "..."

"Don’t look at me. I don’t know."

But when Finn glanced at the panicking members of the Sacred Dominion, he was suddenly reminded of the Third Army during their first mission with him.

Now, the Third Army had adapted completely—the entire Group Army had become weirdly used to it and was the most adept at improvising precisely because mishaps happened so frequently.

Though he didn’t think it was his fault, Finn still felt a faint, eerie twinge of weird guilt looking at the chaos.

He spoke up, trying to reassure them.

"Don't sweat it. Based on my years of experience, while this might not be anything good, it probably isn’t the end of the world or anything."

Like the times he’d wound up in Aberrant Beast Legion territory or stumbled into areas run by those sponsored by the Hymn Organization—whether it was labs or military outposts.

Finn had been there, done that.

Generally, we always come out in one piece.

Just then, he heard Lai Qing nervously speak again.

"We’ve completely dove headfirst into the pollution—completely off course. Adjusting the route now—Apologies, Your Highnesses. Our instruments seem to have glitched out briefly. We’ve never encountered... No, this was our bad on the pre-flight checks. Our sincerest apologies."

Chu Zao: "...No need to apologize."

Finn: ... (awkward silence)

Huh... So trespassing here is actually serious? Severe pollution?

Space pollution was already bad enough for Finn, and now there's a severe zone?

"Emergency retreat—"

"Weird. Shouldn't a hotspot like this be crawling with beasts?"

"Exactly—that’s why we didn’t realize we’d entered such a place from the start. Fortunately, all starships are built triple-shielded against contaminants—if not for the alarm sounding, we might have continued navigating incorrectly for a while longer."

There aren’t many reference points in space, so navigation is usually relied upon—but Finn’s navigation is a hotspot for mishaps.

Finn froze mid-step, then sheepishly scratched his head.

Little Chuzao orbited Finn twice, still unable to figure out what kind of constitution his uncle had—why, just when he thought Finn was utterly reliable, did reality have to remind him that he wasn’t?

Chu Zao's train of thought derailed as he suddenly froze, turning dazedly toward the direction they had just fled.

Wait—did something just glint out there? It was so fast that in the next instant, Chu Zao only saw the starship’s lights and—

"Hey old man, catch that just now?"

"Nope."

Finn looked at Chu Zao, even reaching out to pinch his little ear. "Space madness getting to you?"

Chu Zao swatted his hand away, then stared again into the depths of the pollution, where almost no beasts gathered, feeling bewildered—

Was something lurking in that toxic soup?

But Chu Zao couldn’t be sure.

After all, the Crown Clan’s senses were sharp, and Finn, as Crown Clan in his prime, should have clearer perception than him in such matters. Yet Finn clearly hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

Chu Zao found it a little strange but still withdrew his gaze.

He waited as the Holy Domain's starship swiftly exited the heavily polluted contamination pressure zone.

The ship punched back out, and finally, a console screen flickered somewhere—the alarm sounded again. "We’ve completely deviated from course."

It seemed the navigation system had finally recovered.

The council members wiped their brows, their tension finally easing.

"But Speaker, we're way off course. It seems we won’t be able to reach our target planet before our life support runs dry."

Inside the starship, someone reported again.

Lai Qing paused, then pulled up nearby planetary scans.

"We’re relatively close to the Gesen Empire here, and we might encounter their warframes. But because it’s near a heavily polluted zone, the surrounding stars are uninhabitable—just deadspace between systems."

They continued speaking while rapidly jockeying the controls.

As they worked, they couldn’t help but shoot nervous looks at the Crown Clan duo.

The Holy Domain crew's nerves frayed further—they'd prepped to ace this mission, so how'd they space this so badly?

Until someone casually scanned the nearby planet.

Finn scratched his head, about to suggest using their partially repaired small starship to reach the target planet.

But first, they needed to load the local navigation charts.

The next second, a Saint Cas crew member cut in, "Speaker, scans indicate the nearby planet has the minerals we need. It's in unclaimed space—shall we land and collect?"

Since they were near Gesen Empire space, they knew very little about this region.

Lai Qing immediately responded, "Land and collect."

Chu Zao's gaze shifted away from Finn.

Finn quietly sighed in relief.

Then Lai Qing turned to Chu Zao, "Little Highness, weren’t you curious about how we collect resources? We have dedicated mining bots you can operate—would you like to try?"

"Yeah, show me—"

*

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

"The pollution on this side is much stronger than we anticipated."

The speaker was Fei Man.

Since they were nearby, she had accompanied Amos to search for the missing Zao Zao and his friend, while also bringing back Third Brother.

"Hmm, we’re moving slower than planned."

Amos stood before the command console, his voice cold as he observed the scene.

Fei Man exhaled deeply and nodded.

"Yeah, but Zao Zao and Third Brother should be fine. The crown’s readings are normal."

That was at least some comfort.

Moreover, the locator on Zao Zao occasionally flickered, showing Xiao Chuzao was still moving.

Amos didn’t reply.

He just kept staring ahead.

Just as Xiao Chuzao had mentioned earlier, Chu Zao hadn’t seen Amos in over two weeks—and Amos had gone just as long without seeing his kid.

The Saint Cas starship pushed further in, heading straight for the flickering signals of Chu Zao’s location.

Not far away, Ebinino beat his wings.

Ebinino’s crown was still not fully repaired, and though his severe injuries hadn’t gotten worse, they remained hard to look at.

He remained out cold but still sensed that the little one who had once sang and hummed to him was missing.

His wings fluttered anxiously as he flew ahead, then turned back to check on the Saint Cas starship.

His mental energy was still holding up barriers—the further he got from them, the weaker Ebinino became.

Fei Man had tried to get Ebinino to return, but no luck.

Right now, Ebinino was freaking out.

Finally, he roared—

Flapping fiercely his tattered wings, he suddenly shot forward several meters.

Amos: ...

Fei Man: ...

"Grandfather, take it easy—"

He exerted a lot of effort but barely got anywhere.

"Ebinino, calm down."

The Emperor of Saint Cas spoke.

Clearly, Amos, already impatient from losing his child, did not want his thoughts disturbed.

His precious little young one had never been separated from him for so long.

Especially not with the unreliable Finn.

Meanwhile, Amos's precious little young one was holding the controller of a mining robot, eyes lit up as he operated the little robot to mine.

Like he was playing a mining game.

"Yes, press this to collect."

The person from the Sacred Territory beside him cheered him on enthusiastically.

"Little Highness is truly amazing—"

"This mineral has a very high usable content, Little Highness has an eye for quality—"

Chao Huangmu, who couldn't even get close: ...

Finn was leaning in the doorway, watching from a distance.

Further away, several mechas were lumbering closer.

"Are we exploring this area today?"

"Those are our orders."

"Alright, the Survival Contest is coming up. I heard this year it's going after the Sacred Territory?"

"Right? But it doesn't seem to be going smoothly."

"Just that little shithole, what could go wrong? We could wipe it out easy— Hey, look, what's that over there? A starship? A robot?"

At the same time—

The starship of the Sacred Territory picked up on radar—"Warning—Unknown mechas approaching rapidly—"

Lai Qing and the others immediately looked up and barked a warning: "This is the Sacred Territory of Saint Cas. Maintain a safe distance."

"Repeat, this is the Sacred Territory of Saint Cas. Maintain a safe distance!"

Chu Zao, still clumsily operating his little robot with the 'game' controller, wasn't paying attention to those intruders.

However, as if provoked by the Sacred Territory's warning, the mechas doubled down. One mecha gunned it, making a beeline for his little robot.

Then, through the static-filled comms channel, came a sneering voice—in their eyes, the Sacred Territory was just some backwater to be purged, not worth worrying about.

"Saint Cas? The hell's Saint Cas? This place belongs to the Gesen Empire. The ones from the Sacred Territory need to scram—"