Chapter 65

Chapter 65

"Nevi, Nai Nai, wake up, we've arrived at the hospital." Barlow's soft call beside his ear made Nevi open his eyes and snap back to reality.

Looking at Nevi's exhausted and haggard appearance, Barlow's heart ached. "Nevi, it's only been a few days since I last saw you, but you look like you've fallen ill. Are you sure you're not feeling unwell anywhere? Don't hide anything from me!"

Little Meimei in Barlow's arms kept calling out to his sire, trying to scramble over to him with both arms and legs. Just as Chubby Meimei's foot slipped and he was about to fall to the ground, Barlow caught the solid, hefty little one with a quick reflex.

Little Meimei hadn't even registered what happened before his plump bottom received a light smack, followed by Barlow pulling him into a tight embrace.

Nevi pinched Meimei's chubby little paw, then leaned over and gave Meimei two kisses on his cheeks, making Little Chubby's face flush red before he finally settled down.

"I'm fine, Barlow. I'm not sick. These past two days I might just not have adjusted to the new environment yet—didn't sleep well, so I'm a bit tired." Nevi reassured Barlow, pretending nothing was wrong.

Wenoy still hadn't returned, and there was no conclusion on Aesop's matter yet. Telling Barlow now would only make him worry and anxious along with him, with no benefit at all.

"Alright, it's true that it's easy to have trouble sleeping in a new environment at first—that must be really tough. But you can't keep going on like this. Without proper sleep, you'll have no energy at all. Nai Nai, I have some calming tea at home that works quite well. Tonight Orit will bring you some—steep it in the evening and drink it..." Barlow frowned with his baby face, rambling on and on, his heart and mind entirely filled with concern for Nevi.

Nevi listened attentively and nodded obediently, fully accepting Barlow's arrangements.

At that moment, Bai Bai, who had been sleeping groggily against Nevi's shoulder, finally rubbed his eyes and woke up. Leaning against his sire's chest, he asked softly, "Sire, where is this?"

Nevi reached out to smooth Bai Bai's messy light-colored hair and said gently, "This is the hospital. Today, Sire and Uncle Barlow are taking Bai Bai and Meimei for a check-up!"

Bai Bai responded obediently, while Meimei beside him shouted excitedly.

Barlow looked at the two chubby innocent little ones, unable to suppress the slightly teasing smile on his lips.

Enjoy being happy now, keep smiling—soon you won't be able to laugh anymore.

Having experienced little of life, Bai Bai and Meimei had no idea what was coming.

*

Insect-kind had advanced technology and superb medical techniques—painless surgery, healing devices, medical pods, and more were abundant and constantly being updated. Especially in places like the capital planet, such technology was even more common. For instance, healing devices that were rare on designated planets were practically standard household items on the capital planet.

However, these technologies that could rapidly heal injuries could be used on adult insects, but for younglings not yet a year old, they absolutely could not be used.

Younglings under one year old had underdeveloped bodily functions and poor resistance—these technologies were extremely dangerous for them.

Therefore, when tender younglings fell ill, they could almost only recover slowly through the most primitive methods of taking medicine and getting injections.

The youngling wards in the hospital's pediatric department were almost constantly filled with heart-wrenching cries from the little ones and the flustered soothing attempts of their parents.

No youngling liked the hospital.

Bai Bai and Meimei, who were healthy and had never been sick, were no exception.

"Waaah, no shots, don't want shots..."

"I won't take medicine, it's bad, won't take it, waaah..."

At that moment, two adults and two younglings passed through the youngling ward. Amidst a sea of tender crying, Bai Bai and Meimei visibly quieted down.

Bai Bai clung tightly to his sire's clothes, peeking out in both fear and curiosity. He happened to catch sight through the glass of a doctor bug in a white coat firmly pressing down on a squirming youngling, and amid the youngling's wails, ruthlessly plunging a huge needle into the little one's body.

The youngling's mouth opened wide, but his cries cut off abruptly, while his entire face flushed bright red.

Bai Bai's round pupils instantly widened. He shrank back into his sire's arms, his body trembling with fear.

Hearing the rising and falling cries of younglings all around, a thin sheen of tears formed in Bai Bai's eyes. He said in a choked, pitiful voice, "Sire, Bai Bai wants to go home."

"Alright, we'll go home after the check-up, okay?" Nevi felt Bai Bai's fear and quickly kissed him, but this time the kisses didn't seem to work.

Bai Bai pressed tightly against Nevi's chest. It took a long while before he sniffled and looked up, red-eyed and pitiful. "Sire, Bai Bai is good. Can they not poke Bai Bai?"

Seeing Bai Bai like this, Nevi's heart ached terribly. He kept comforting Bai Bai repeatedly, promising him that this was just a check-up—Bai Bai wasn't sick, so of course he wouldn't get a shot.

Bai Bai trusted his sire the most. Under Nevi's repeated reassurances and guarantees, Bai Bai finally stopped sniffling, though he looked downcast and lacking in spirit.

However, when they arrived outside the genetic level testing room and heard the crying from within, Nevi uncertainly tried to rummage through his own vague childhood memories.

Hmm, how was the genetic level test done again?

Amid Meimei's wails, Nevi awkwardly touched his nose.

He remembered now—it required a blood draw.

Meimei, sitting on the small bed, cried loudly, mumbling indistinctly that the doctor was mean. Barlow soothed Meimei while pressing a cotton swab on the bleeding point of Meimei's plump white arm.

Nevi, meanwhile, held the pitifully crying chubby youngling in his arms, comforting him continuously, and pulled out a lollipop—Meimei's favorite—from his pocket, holding it in front of him to coax him.

Seeing his beloved lollipop, Meimei's crying quieted down a bit, but he still looked sad and wronged.

A chubby youngling getting his first shot was truly hard to soothe.

"Eh, there's one more youngling, right? Come on over!" With the doctor bug's call and Meimei's cries.

Bai Bai, who was also sitting on the small bed clutching Nevi's arm, couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Waaah, Sire, Bai Bai won't do it, Bai Bai won't get a shot, waaah..."

Big drops of tears kept rolling down from the corners of Bai Bai's eyes.

Nevi and Barlow were nearly run off their feet. Fortunately, another doctor bug heard the commotion and came over to help.

Amid Bai Bai's struggles and Nevi's guilt, the doctor bug quickly and deftly drew Bai Bai's blood.

Bai Bai sat in Nevi's arms, crying his heart out.

Nevi frantically tried to soothe Bai Bai and Meimei, while Barlow helplessly rummaged through his luggage, searching for Bai Bai's favorite plush toy.

After that, there was another round of frantic scrambling.

Once Bai Bai and Meimei finally calmed down a bit, Bai Bai hugged the blonde plush toy tightly and curled up in Nevi's arms, while Meimei had already happily started sucking on his yummy lollipop.

Sitting in the waiting room, Nevi glanced at his data pad, then at the exam room that showed no signs of activity, his brows furrowing.

The doctor bug had said the test results would be ready in about fifteen minutes, but nearly half an hour had already passed.

Why was there no movement at all?

Compared to Barlow, who was quietly muttering curiously about what the younglings' levels might be, Nevi remained utterly unruffled throughout, aside from soothing the younglings.

He truly wasn't nervous or curious about the younglings' levels.

Whatever the result, he would accept it with equanimity.

The birth of his younglings was already a gift from the heavens.

Seeing them now growing up healthy and safe filled his heart with contentment and relief.

High grade or low grade, they are all his most precious children.

"Mr. Nevi, this, this is truly unbelievable!" Suddenly, accompanied by somewhat hurried footsteps, an excited doctor bug babbled incoherently as he rushed up to Nevi with the test report in hand.

"Mr. Nevi, both of your little ones are excellent A+ grade!"

As Nevi and Barlow stood stunned and dumbfounded, the doctor bug announced loudly with excitement.

"Rest assured, the results are very accurate. I used three different machines, each testing five full times, and all yielded the same result! Congratulations, Mr. Nevi, this is absolutely mind-boggling for a bug! It completely defies the laws of genetic grade inheritance! But now that I think about it, there actually were signs—when your children first hatched and I examined them, their physical data was already far superior to ordinary children..."

The doctor bug continued to hold forth with sparkling eyes.

Nevi pursed his lips, a sense of panic rising within him.

Especially when the doctor bug looked at the children with a gaze akin to spotting a rare specimen and asked if he could run a more detailed physical check on them.

Nevi's heart clenched, and he instinctively refused.

He masked his unease, striving to maintain a calm facade. "The children's mother has a very high grade; maybe they inherited their mother's grade..."

But before Nevi could finish, the doctor bug interrupted.

"No, that's even more impossible!" the doctor bug retorted heatedly.

Seeing the doctor bug's face flushed red with excitement, Nevi instinctively stepped back two paces, clutching the children, a flicker of caution appearing in his eyes.

Barlow, who had snapped out of his daze, quickly interjected, "Why are you yelling like that? Can't you talk normally?"

The doctor bug, realizing his lapse, quickly apologized. "I'm sorry, truly sorry. I've just never run into this before, and I'm honestly a bit overwhelmed."

With that, the doctor bug slowly explained, "You may not be aware, but according to the laws of genetic grade inheritance, a female and male bug of the same grade are highly likely to produce children of the same grade, with a tiny probability of producing a child one grade higher.

If one parent is of a lower grade and the other of a higher grade, the child will most likely slip to a grade between the two parents' grades, and cannot possess the higher grade. For example, if an A-grade and an S-grade combine, the child would fall between A, A+, and S-. If a B-grade and an S-grade combine, the child would fall between B, B+, A-, A, and A+, with a higher probability of being above A-grade due to the higher S-grade."

The doctor bug paused, his gradually calming eyes turning toward Nevi with a hint of scrutiny. "But the most crucial point is that female and male insects with a significant grade difference cannot produce offspring. According to extensive theoretical data from the past, this grade gap is approximately three major grades."

As Nevi's face gradually paled, the doctor bug hesitated, "Mr. Nevi, you... might want to consider scheduling a thorough physical examination when you have time?"

*

After Barlow refused and sternly threatened him not to leak any of this information, Nevi tightly held the children in his arms, in a daze, barely aware of how he'd gotten back into the hovercar with Barlow.

The innocent children remained oblivious.

But the adults were fraught with complex emotions. Barlow looked at Nevi, at a loss for words, as today's events had indeed hit him hard. He too was in a daze.

For a moment, the atmosphere inside the hovercar was silent and heavy.

Whether the children sensed it or not, even the usually restless ones quietly nestled in the adults' arms.

However, what the two insects in the hovercar could never have anticipated was that shortly after they left, the doctor who had promised so fervently to keep the secret turned around and pulled out his light brain to make a call.

"Mr. Vitkay..."

*

---

Author's note:

Thank you all so much for your support. I will continue to work hard!