FT DR Chapter 8: The Exciting Wake-Up Call

Chapter 8: The Exciting Wake-Up Call

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Hannibal wanted to show fatherly affection to his new son and decided to personally drive Wu Chenghe to a feast. In this era, humans had become accustomed to consuming precisely balanced nutrients, but food enthusiasts were still widespread, and traditional food restaurants existed all over the world, including at the Gabriel Military Harbor.

As the shuttle entered the orbit, the route was under strict security. Two shuttles were clearing the way two hundred meters ahead, their tops flashing warnings, and two more were flying on their sides and rear, likely bodyguards.

The elaborate setup for a simple breakfast made Wu Chenghe feel a bit uncomfortable, but Hannibal was accustomed to it. After setting the destination and switching the shuttle to autopilot, he began to chat with Wu Chenghe. “You should already know, I have a wife named Lilith Lancer, and a son, who is a year younger than you, named Marlow.”

“Yes, I’ve seen the information you gave me,” Wu Chenghe said. He also knew Lilith Lancer’s identity was quite prominent. Her father was General Lancer, one of the three star generals of the Voyager Army. She herself had led the “Mulan” fleet on expeditions to the second arm of the galaxy. The Lancer family was a prestigious military family, producing three star generals alone. Hannibal’s rise to the commander of the Voyager Army was not unrelated to this.

“You’ll be living in this apartment from now on, and when you turn eighteen, I’ll transfer it to you,” Hannibal said. “At home, Lilith is often away, and Marlow attends boarding school. It’s not that we’re not accepting you, understand?”

“Yeah,” Wu Chenghe nodded obediently, thinking the decision was indeed wise.

“You’re a good kid,” Hannibal sighed. “I’m sorry about the memory loss. According to the Scout’s medical officer, you still haven’t recovered, and the chances of recovery in the future are slim.”

“It’s okay, starting anew is not a big deal,” Wu Chenghe replied sincerely.

“Yeah, there’s still a long way to go in the future,” Hannibal smiled. He glanced at his left palm and said, “I have to take a call.”

Wu Chenghe nodded as Hannibal answered, “Yuna?”

He said something on the other end, but Wu Chenghe couldn’t hear because he was in private mode. Then he said, “Good, order Scout to withdraw and continue patrolling. Command the Fourth Fleet to follow up and annihilate them within two standard months.”

Yuna said something, and Hannibal’s left eyebrow raised slightly as he replied, “I know it’s not my jurisdiction, but I’m the Commander, I have co-management rights, so let the Fourth Fleet strike first. I’ll explain to General Lancer later.”

After ending the call, he said to Wu Chenghe, “It’s the Free Revolutionary Army. Scout has determined the locations of several of their important bases. I’m going to eliminate them.”

His tone was very casual, as if it was just another day’s work. Wu Chenghe’s mouth twitched. Then Hannibal’s expression turned serious as he said, “They’re getting bolder and bolder. I won’t allow our citizens to be threatened by terrorists. The primary duty of the Voyager Army is to protect the life and property of citizens.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty arrogant,” Wu Chenghe suppressed his speculation about Hannibal’s personal vendetta.

But then he smiled and said, “Of course, I wouldn’t have intervened in this level of event originally, but because you’re involved, I decided to take action personally—I hate it when my family is threatened by idiots. So it doesn’t matter if I overstep a bit.”

Was it still a personal vendetta? Wu Chenghe wiped his sweat and thought again: since the main bases of the Free Revolutionary Army were in General Lancer’s territory, as the illegitimate son, would there be some melodramatic reason behind the attack on him? Now Hannibal was taking such a drastic action of overstepping his authority, would General Lancer turn against him?

Thinking about this, he realized he was a harbinger of trouble…

“What’s wrong? Are you unhappy?” Hannibal noticed Wu Chenghe’s vacant gaze and patted his head, saying, “I’m doing this to make up for the harm the kidnapping incident caused you. I hope that in the future, even if you can’t see me as a father, you can see me as a reliable protector. Anyway, don’t worry, no one will dare to mess with you again.”

If he were his real dad, Wu Chenghe would have been particularly touched, but unfortunately… he was a fake. So Wu Chenghe sincerely said, “For the citizens’ sake.”

Hannibal burst into laughter, parked the shuttle, and opened the door for him, saying, “Sweetheart, you’re so sweet.”¹

He sounded just like an adult praising a child, but Wu Chenghe inexplicably remembered the sergeant who had tried to assault Monica and said, “You’re so sweet.”

Goosebumps covered him, Wu Chenghe cleared his throat and got out of the car.

This was a very quiet Korean restaurant, similar in layout to those a thousand years ago. In the middle was a circular main hall surrounded by small private rooms. Similarly, it had been cleared and guarded, with only a few casually dressed bodyguards patrolling around, besides the servers and chefs.

Wu Chenghe felt a bit uncomfortable, thinking, “Even President Xi doesn’t get treated this well when he eats baozi.” He followed Hannibal into an elegant private room furnished with tatami mats and low tables, with a sunken grill in the center.

“I haven’t been to a restaurant for a long time, too much trouble,” Hannibal arranged the cushions for him, sitting across from him. “My son—I mean Marlow—used to love coming here as a child because he could cook his own food, like playing a game. I hope you like Chinese barbecue.”

“This should be Korean barbecue, right?” Wu Chenghe glanced around. Ink paintings hung on the walls, with inscriptions in Korean characters, and the tea cups on the table were Korean style.

“Huh? Isn’t this a Chinese restaurant?” Hannibal looked puzzled, glancing at the paintings on the walls, the blue-and-white porcelain vases, and the guzheng in the corner. “I always thought this was a Chinese restaurant. Chinese paintings, ceramics, guzheng… Last time I came, they had a performance promoting classical culture, such as movable type printing, compasses, gunpowder, aren’t these the Four Great Inventions of ancient China? Why would a Korean restaurant showcase these? Don’t they have their own culture?”

Wu Chenghe was speechless. After a thousand years, were they still tirelessly plagiarizing? After some thought, he said, “It doesn’t matter, Korea used to be called Goguryeo, a vassal state of China, just a border region, what kind of indigenous culture could they have?”

“In that case, it’s still a Chinese restaurant. I brought you here for a meal because I knew you’re of Chinese descent,” Hannibal said, praising, “Your mother said you’re good at science, but it seems you’re also good at humanities, with a deep knowledge of ancient Asian history.”

Wu Chenghe chuckled inwardly. God knows he had long returned his history books to the teacher. This kind of sky-high praise was truly unbearable. The charcoal was lit, and Wu Chenghe placed slices of pork belly and mushrooms on the grill, brushed with seasoning. After grilling, he placed them on a cheap plate and offered, “Try it.”

“Thank you.” Hannibal accepted eagerly, saying, “Marlow never takes care of me. Occasionally, he’ll be attentive, but it’s usually to get toys and snacks, and of course, he was much younger then.”

“Have you not eaten out together for a long time?” Wu Chenghe casually asked.

“That’s right,” Hannibal said, “He grew up too fast. By the time he was ten, he was as tall as you are now, and he started liking to act cool. Later, he became a baseball star, and the more fans he got, the more stoic he became.”

His tone was completely different when speaking of his real son. Wu Chenghe couldn’t help but sigh that blood is thicker than water, and then he grilled a mackerel, experiencing the feeling of being a “filial son.”

After the meal, the servers cleared the plates and grill, and brought fresh barley tea. Hannibal said, “School is starting soon. If you’re not facing any major health issues, I’d like to send you to Gabriel Basic School. Once the household registration is changed, you can enroll.”

“Oh, okay.” Wu Chenghe nodded. School was a relatively safe environment, and he could systematically learn about the social structure of this society.

“Your mother said you’re in tenth grade, and Marlow is just starting. I’ll arrange for you to be in the same class, so you have someone to look out for you.”

In this era, pre-university courses were called basic education, divided into ten levels. After completing tenth grade, you could take the union examination (college entrance examination). Wu Chenghe nodded, “Okay, I’ll ask him for advice.”

“You’re such a good kid,” Hannibal sighed again, “If Marlow had half of you, I’d be very satisfied.”

After dinner, Hannibal had to go to the military to handle official business and suggested Wu Chenghe familiarize himself with the environment of the Gabriel Military Harbor. So after teaching him some basic operations, he granted him permission to operate a small shuttle. The more intelligent something was, the more foolproof it was to operate, and Wu Chenghe quickly learned to pilot the shuttle, sending Hannibal to the military and then flying alone over to Gabriel.

The first meeting with his adoptive father was harmonious, but Wu Chenghe always felt a strong sense of dissonance, mainly because Hannibal’s attitude towards him was too good, far beyond the normal reaction of an ordinary man to an “unexpected product.” If Hannibal deeply loved Wu Xi or had been childless for years with Lilith, then his actions could be understood. However, obviously Wu Xi was just his lover, and he had Marlow, a brilliant son. Why would he be so good to him?

No matter how you looked at it, Hannibal wasn’t a man overflowing with love…

Wu Chenghe felt inexplicably heavy-hearted, especially when he remembered the black-chested raptor perched on Hannibal’s shoulder. That creature had been staring at him throughout the meal, searching for his quantum beast around him. If his mental resilience hadn’t been so strong, he would have been found out long ago.

Speaking of which, what exactly was that egg that could change colors in his dream last night? Could it be his quantum beast? Damn it! Everyone else had cute cats or majestic eagles, so why did he end up with an egg? Was it going to hatch into a quail in a couple of days? Damn it! Where was his adorable pet?

Feeling utterly frustrated, Wu Chenghe aimlessly piloted the shuttle around, wandering all day until he felt his stomach growling before heading back.

It was already evening when he returned to his accommodation. A giant holographic 3D advertisement had been erected in the square outside the community gate at some point. It announced that a teenage idol named “King” would be coming to the Gabriel Military Harbor on February 14th for a performance art show themed “Space Debris and the Future of Humanity.” Next to it, a temporary ticket booth had already formed a queue dozens of meters long, with a large group of teenagers waiting eagerly, drooling as if they had just seen their favorite idol.

At least they were more excited than he would be about seeing his biological father.

Wu Chenghe looked at the holographic advertisement and couldn’t help but curl his lips. This “King” looked quite handsome, a typical Chinese descendant, tall and slender, with sword-like eyebrows and phoenix eyes. However, he sported messy long hair with countless braids and a red headscarf resembling a Caribbean pirate, giving the impression of a Jack Sparrow impersonation just commissioned at the village entrance.

Artists were too highbrow for Wu Chenghe. He had never figured out the difference between them and the emo. Looking at Mr. King’s jet-black nails and purplish iris, the only feeling he had was a strong urge to get him to a medical check-up immediately to see if there were any problems with his kidneys and liver.

But when he saw the piercings in King’s ears, Doctor Wu thought he might be overthinking it. A guy who could pierce four bullet (yes, real bullets) earrings into his own ears probably didn’t care much about his liver and kidneys.

Returning home with his worldview thoroughly cleansed of the emo influence, Wu Chenghe looked at himself in the mirror and found himself not so averse to his current body—at least he was still a normal human.

Little did he know that this emo, brimming with endless creativity, was designed by God himself to mess with him. He also had no idea that in the near future, his guide identity would almost be exposed to the entire school because of this guy.

The legendary fate, it’s just that badass!

The author has something to say: Couldn’t resist taking a jab at the Koreans…

It’ll be a few more chapters before the main plot thickens, but his overpowering emo aura will strike Doctor Wu earlier than expected.

[Two points to note: First, both sentinels and guides have quantum beasts because their DNA contains fragments of wild animals. However, sentinel quantum beasts are generally aggressive animals, while guide quantum beasts tend to be cute… As for Doctor Wu’s quantum beast… Let’s keep it a secret for now, or he’ll go crazy…

Second, this is not a father-son story.]