Chapter 94: Rest

    When the bright moonlight completely replaced the afterglow of the setting sun, the dinner party began.

    Long wooden tables were lined up in the huge shed, the low tables were arranged in a 回shape. Yang Yang and Archibald sat in the middle of the 回 character, receiving enthusiastic gazes from all directions.

    Yang Yang: “…”

    Suddenly he felt full.

    At the dinner, apart from the giant clawed bird caught today, the villagers also brought out the preserved cured goods prepared in advance for the Chinese New Year, as well as a dozen jars of fruit wine brewed by themselves— all goods that they kept at the bottom of the box.

    It’s difficult to refuse such sincerity.

    Even though Archibald knew he couldn’t hold his liquor, he still poured a small glass. Although Yang Yang couldn’t drink, the food in front of him was the most abundant.

    Looking at this sumptuous dinner, Yang Yang thought that he must send more supplies to the villagers to make up for the New Years.

    The atmosphere of the dinner was very good. The villagers gathered around Archibald asking questions, Archibald answered every question and Yang Yang was taking care of Kami while paying attention to Dr. Lu’s actions.

    However, Dr. Lu did not leave until the end of the dinner.

    After the dinner, Dr. Lu went into a big house to rest with several single women in the village. Yang Yang and Archibald couldn’t keep guard at the door, so Yang Yang came up with a compromise —let Roth plant a small virus on Dr.Lu’s terminal to monitor her movements.

    Yang Yang:【If the comparison result comes out, you can send it directly to the Duke’s terminal.】

    Yang Yang wasn’t being very sleepy recently, but when he fell asleep, he slept like dead. He was afraid of missing the news.

    Roth: 【Okay, Master. 】

    However, Archibald’s attaching such importance to Dr. Lu still made Yang Yang a little curious.

    So when they moved into the room that the villagers cleaned up for them, Yang Yang asked Archibald.

    “Duke, did the village head tell you something? What’s the matter with Dr. Lu?”

    Archibald did not intend to hide anything from Yang Yang and told Yang Yang what the old village chief had said.

    It certainly wasn’t a happy story.

    Yang Yang fell into a long silence after listening.

    However, apart from feeling sorry for the villagers, Yang Yang also thought of another thing—since someone used the villagers to test drugs, there must be people who needed the drugs and who would these people be?

    Archibald obviously thought of this too and already had a guess.

    Archibald’s hands were clenched into fists and lowered his eyelids expressionlessly, showing no emotion, only his voice was a little dry: “Their symptoms are very similar to mine.”

    “Don’t think about it.”

    Yang Yang covered the sleeping Kami with the quilt, then went to sit next to Archibald, took his hand and said: “The only thing they have in common with you is beast characteristics but this situation will appear after the Soul Palace is damaged to a certain extent. Although it is rare, if you want to deliberately control it, it is not impossible.”

    Archibald took a deep breath, interlocked Yang Yang’s fingers with his and stretched out his tail to wrap around Yang Yang’s waist.

    Yang Yang smiled and continued: “Besides, when the catastrophe happened that year, this place was still the Imperial Capital.

    I read related articles and the disaster happened around the same time as now, close to the New Year. All the dignitaries gathered here in the Imperial City and the first city that dragon-level soul beast attacked was the Imperial City.”

    “At that time, your Donton family didn’t have a name yet. The Duke’s title was only granted in the second year after the disaster. And until your father’s identity was exposed, the status of the Donton family in the aristocratic circle was also very embarrassing. If someone was actually willing to do this for you, your family would not have been bullied by Zhou Hua for so many years.

    So, how can this be blamed on you, how old are you? How many years had the experiment the village chief said been ongoing?”

    Archibald, who had been unconsciously been rubbing Yang Yang’s belly with the tip of the tail slowly calmed down, his tense expression softened a little.

    Archibald: “Then who do you think it will be?”

    Yang Yang: “Of course it was one of the dignitaries back then. I have a suspicion that the village chief and the other were targeted before the starship crashed, that is, back in the New Imperial Capital.

    Otherwise, how could that doctor be sent there immediately after he went out to ask for help? Can such a coincidence really exist?”

    Archibald frowned and thought for a while: “Brother should be able to find out were the nobles on the Old Emperor Star back then.”

    Yang Yang was relieved to see that he finally no longer blamed himself: “Let’s go back and talk to Brother Ash in detail. There were so many people who were infected back then and many nobles have been deeply involved,  it’s not so easy to investigate.”

    After hearing this, Archibald was not discouraged, but was filled with righteous indignation instead.

    He nodded, and then suddenly remembered another thing.

    Archibald: “By the way, the old village head wants me to take away the children in the village.”

    Yang Yang was stunned: “Just let the children leave with us?”

    Archibald nodded: “That’s right.”

    Yang Yang’s face suddenly became solemn: “Why did he do this? Will the villagers agree?”

    Yang Yang was fully aware of the importance of children to this village. Letting the children leave permanently and separating them from the village… Such an approach was really suspicious.

    Archibald shook his head: “I don’t know, but I promised him.”

    Yang Yang thought for a while and sighed: “They should have agreed.”

    Even if it they really wished to entrust their children right before dying*, what could they do?

*托孤tuogu again

    However, Yang Yang was still not reconciled and thought about going to the village chief to clear it up during the the two days they will be staying here.

    …

    Yang Yang didn’t know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, it was already daylight.

    He was the only one in the room and there were already sounds of children playing outside.

    “Woke up?”

    Archibald came in with a basin of hot water and seeing Yang Yang half-sitting up, he put the basin on the small wooden table in the middle, went over and gave him change of clothes to wear, “Get up and wash, it’s freshly boiled hot water.”

    Yang Yang put on his clothes, walked to the table and washed his face, then suddenly became sober: “By the way, what’s the result of Roth’s comparison?”

    Archibald moved the basin to other hand, then took out a large bag and a small marching stove from the space, and while fiddling with it, he said: “No matching records were found.”

    Yang Yang was taken aback and hurriedly asked: “What about Dr. Lu?”

     Archibald’s handsome face showed some annoyance: “Run away.”

    Not long after Yang Yang fell asleep last night, Roth sent back a message. Archibald immediately went to the hut where Dr. Lu was, but after knocking on the door, he only found a pillow placed under the quilt instead of Dr. Lu and her terminal left behind.

    Archibald: “She should be a soldier and one with rich anti-reconnaissance experience to that. I have asked Roth to screen the records based on her height and body shape, but there is not much hope.”

    After all, they had already beat the grass and scared the snake*.

*idiom meaning alarming enemy that they’re investigating

    Although a little frustrated, they could only accept this result.

    Yang Yang took over Archibald’s job— that was heating up the breakfast that Amber and Mother Yu gave him before they left.

    “After the village chief and the others learned of it, what was their reaction?”

    Archibald: “They’re very calm. They expected this to happen.”

    Yang Yang frowned—so, asking them to take the children away was really tuogu?

    But Yang Yang didn’t understand, even if the lifespan wasn’t long and there was no cure, wouldn’t they prefer to spend their last years with the children? Those were their most precious children.

    Archibald: “By the way, I have contacted Monta. We will set off after you finish eating and send Kami back.”

    Yang Yang recovered and replied: “Okay.——Have you both eaten already?”

    Archibald: “En, there are still a lot of dishes left from last night and the mixed bone porridge made with the roasted meat wasn’t bad, Kami also liked the porridge very much.”

    A “noble” like Byrd was probably being avoided by other nobles like snakes and scorpions.

    Yang Yang smiled and said, “You’re really not picky. Ai, when I go back, I must make you a hot pot with soul power dishes.”

    There were hot pots in thisworld, with many cooking techniques that Yang Yang had never seen in his own world, making him really curious.

    Archibald nodded, but after thinking about it, he shook his head again: “We’ll wait until the baby is born.”

    Before leaving, Gu Lita, Zhang Jun, and Ya Qing had a “joint consultation” for Yang Yang. Although it was unbelievable, but the expected due date of four months later had been brought forward again.

    Zhang Jun calculated that at the child’s growth rate, Yang Yang would have given birth about a week after the end of the winter camp, that was, less than 20 days from now.

    This still veing conservative estimate, because the child’s growth rate may also be constantly accelerating, meaning that this time would be even more shortened.

    This was the first time for Ya Qing to hear about this. He had been worrying for a long time and said that he must give Yang Yang a careful examination— it usually took a year for a female to conceive, with only three months in advance that the egg could be be born.

    However, under Gu Lita’s persuasion and guarantee, Ya Qing did not treat Yang Yang as a “patient”, and if Archibald and Yang Yang hadn’t insisted on it themselves, Yang Yang would have been unable to come to this winter camp at all.

     But even if allowed to go, Archibald was careful with Yang Yang in every possible way. Of course, it would be more appropriate to use soul power after the child was born—— after all, the female body consumed a lot of soul power during childbirth.

    Yang Yang didn’t mind, he offered a bag of hot fruit milk and began to drink, while touching his abdomen: “A female body really only has eggs the size of a palm? Why do I always feel that my stomach is even bigger than before?”

    Yangyang didn’t care about having big belly or whatever, but when he thought about the place where he would give birth, Yang Yang felt that it might be a fate he can’t bear.

    Archibald’s crammed knowledge was much more comprehensive than that of Yang Yang, and he nodded affirmatively: “There is fetal fluid in the Soul Palace, which will ensure the size of the child’s egg. After the baby is born, it needs to be put tin the artificial fetal water and scrubbed, and then within 24 hours, the egg will develop again, hardening its shell. The child’s shell-breaking period usually comes about a month later.”

    Yang Yang let out a “huh” and said: “It’s still okay if it’s a double-form Lester, but if it’s a single-form… You say, that poor little hand, can it break through the eggshell? What to do if it gets stuck?”

    Based on his knowledge of newborns in Yang Yang’s world, the newborn’s small hands were as big as two fingers of an adult, being frighteningly tender, not to mention eggshells, they might not even be able to move cotton balls.

    Archibald looked at Yang Yang and sighed after a long while: “I know you are only interested in soul power and soul essence plants, but you are already close to the expected date of delivery. Why not learn some of the common sense of pregnancy.”

    Yang Yang raised his eyebrows, took a sip of milk juice, and said with great sadness on his face: “Ying, you still despise me!”

    Archibald: “…”

    Yang Yang: “This one worked so hard to carry your child and yet you hate me for being uneducated! Tell me, do you have a mistress outside?!”

    Archibald: “…”

    Archibald sighed, pulled over Yang Yang and bowed his head to kiss him ——This mouth, he couldn’t argue with it, so he had to find something else for it to do.

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Author has something to say:

Byrd: You ought to be good at the same thing with your mouth and hands

Yang Yang: ……….