He and It Chapter 127: Utopia (23)

If you want more of this novel, we are accepting donations on Ko-Fi for sponsored chapters. https://ko-fi.com/exiledrebels

Chapter 127: Utopia (23)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The dog whined, as if sensing something, and began to twist slowly in Tian Yuan’s palm, arching instinctively towards Gu Xingqiao’s position.

A bundle of enthusiasm for a familiar dog.

Gu Xingqiao subconsciously asked, “How do you know I like–” 

“Just an assumption based on facts.” Tian Yuan said lightly, hiding the real answer in a rational gaze, “Give it a name.” 

According to Sissel’s memory, Gu Xingqiao had a pet when he was a child. Not a “dog” as in the famous and expensive breed, but a small, slimy, five-legged, hairless thing that had been exposed to atmospheric radiation and had a life span as tiny as its size. But to Gu Xingqiao, it was his precious little dog, worth thousands of dollars.

He named it–

Tian Yuan’s lips opened and closed slightly, noiselessly spitting out two light characters.

“…Soybean.” Gu Xingqiao murmured.

The dog accepted the name senselessly, smacking its lips. Tian Yuan approached the bed and placed the dog in Gu Xingqiao’s arms, who was at a loss for words as he cradled the small, soft, hot creature in his arms, not knowing what to do.

“Then, from now on, his name will be Soybean.” Tian Yuan announced solemnly.

Gu Xingqiao held it carefully, and Tian Yuan handed over a small, hot bottle from the side, which Gu Xingqiao took in a hurry and gently stuffed into the dog’s mouth, letting it gobble it down.

“Are you feeling better?” Tian Yuan asked. 

Gu Xingqiao paused, turning his gaze away from Soybean’s round head to look at Tian Yuan.

He knew why Tian Yuan did what he did, to give him a little life in desperate need of care, to spare him from his own failed vengeance.

Yes, he considered his revenge a failure.

“I feel…” Gu Xingqiao said to himself, “I feel like I got nothing.” 

Soybean moved around in the crook of his arm as Gu Xingqiao repositioned the bottle and wiped up the spilled milk stains with a towel.

“I pressed for the truth of the betrayal, but I was completely unable to understand Sissel’s motives; I cut off his arms as retribution for his damage to my mental energy, but the joy of blood for blood, was only for a brief moment.” 

“He made the first half of my life a joke.” Gu Xingqiao said, “The so-called good old days are all garbage wrapped in gold paper, and my ideals, goals, everything I worked so hard for, have all turned into nothing… Even if I were to lynch him, I couldn’t turn back the clock to the night before it all happened.” 

“You got something positive out of it after all.” Tian Yuan said, “After all, it’s the past that shaped you into the person you are now.” 

“It doesn’t pay off,” Gu Xingqiao whispered, “it doesn’t.” 

Soybean’s belly was already bulging, but it still struggled to hold the bottle. Gu Xingqiao had heard that puppies were greedy creatures who didn’t know when they were hungry or full, so he patiently removed the nipple, wrapped the little mass in a towel, turned it over, and patted it on the back.

“What about Soybean?” Tian Yuan looked at him and asked, “What do you think, if you consider it as an extra reward you get?” 

Gu Xingqiao smiled, and for the first time in days, he offered a smile.

“Well,” he said, “that’s debatable.” 

Soybean, it must be said, did, in a way, change his life, which had come close to an existential crisis.

If a mutant winged bird could be called a pet, then Gu Xingqiao had had one when he was very young. The flightless bird was perched on his shoulder, its degraded plumes as wet as fetal hair, the crystals of its eyes cloudy, and the canker sores caused by radiation clinging tenaciously to its misshapen wings.

As a native of the Wine God Planet, Gu Xingqiao was fortunate and unfortunate to receive a gift from his home planet. Wine Folk didn’t have to suffer from atmospheric radiation, but he’s seen firsthand how a mutated cankerworm can keep a grown man up all night wailing – the pain Soybean endured was unimaginable, but the birdling simply stuck to him, one day at a time, for the rest of his life.

The new Soybean didn’t have to endure that kind of torment, born in Tian Yuan’s warship’s genetic programming room, healthy, strong-limbed, and growing fatter every day than the day before. Gu Xingqiao held the bottle, and by the time he looked back, a golden retriever rolling on the floor had already taken shape, and was looking at him eagerly with round eyes like black grapes.

How did the dog grow so fast!

Gu Xingqiao was very surprised, Tian Yuan saw his surprise and calmly passed by with the dog’s leash.

This was the clear division of labor they had set up when they raised Soybean: whoever prepared the dog’s food, the other had to take the dog for a walk.

“Adequate nutrition, a regular diet, and good care from the owner all contribute to a dog’s growth.” Tian Yuan says, “It’s normal, don’t be surprised.” 

The artificial lifeform puts a leash on Soybean, and the exoskeleton slowly nudges him to the ground for his after-dinner walks, which he takes several times a day.

Gu Xingqiao says, “It’s like in a blink of an eye, it can run and jump on the ground by itself…” 

“It’s not a blink of an eye,” says Tian Yuan, “Two weeks have passed, and of course he can move on his own accord.” 

Gu Xingqiao and Tian Yuan walk side by side through the biosphere, staring at Soybean scurrying through the forest, his four little paws blackened with mud.

These days, he wondered if it was his fault, but Gu Xingqiao felt that his life was too… Too good.

It wasn’t that his previous life in the Warship hadn’t been smooth; Tian Yuan’s feelings for him were the same as they had always been, unchanged – even stubborn to the point of being a bit disturbing. He still insisted on a complimentary and honest communication style with Gu Xingqiao, and in his daily life, he did his best to fit in with Gu Xingqiao’s wishes.

This was the problem.

Tian Yuan was too good to be true.

At first, Gu Xingqiao was sensitive to the fact that the meals at the warship began to be more in line with his own preferences.

His favorite dishes tended to be sweet and sour and spicy, so Tian Yuan reproduced many old recipes. Squirrel and cinnamon fish and sweet and sour pork are occasional surprises, and everything from juicy pork chops to sizzling tofu on a steel plate is at the fingertips of the warship incarnation.

In addition, Tian Yuan developed more than a dozen recipes for lost sauces in an effort to “revive the night market traditions of the Origination Star.” No matter how disciplined he may be, Gu Xingqiao remained mundane in the real world, nearly swallowing his plate several times during his late-night snacks, a gesture that could not be described as anything less than wretched.

In this kind of horrible food offensive, he had to strictly control his own body fat percentage, so as not to let himself get out of control to become fat.

In addition to his appetite, Tian Yuan’s gifts to him seem to have been made to scratch an itch.

Those ancient books that should have disappeared in the long river of history, the legacy of sages and philosophers, one after another, one after another, all intact, appeared in the gift basket outside Gu Xingqiao’s door at a fixed time every week. High above the ground, far from the poison of Soybean’s inquisitive mind.

Gu Xingqiao had tried to refuse these overly expensive gifts, but Tian Yuan looked at him and said, “If you don’t want them, then they’re worthless trash to me, waiting for their own decay in the storeroom.

Therefore, there was nothing else he could do but accept them.

Bored of reading? It doesn’t matter.

A holographic wargame that Gu Xingqiao used to love, but had long since been discontinued, Tian Yuan was able to find it for him and reprogram it to produce many new backgrounds and rules.

In the past, only Sissel was able to keep up with him in this game, but now that he was playing against Tian Yuan, he needed to rack his brains to get that little bit of a head start. Which, it must be admitted, also provides Gu Xingqiao with an unfathomable amount of fun to be had.

As for the rest… Since when, his room has been decorated in a number of pleasant shades of blue and beige. Cream-colored shag carpet covered Soybean’s range of motion, and holographic windows were layered with soft ice-blue curtains like shifting waves. The silvery, orderly lines of the interior are gradually being replaced by his favorite colors.

His everyday clothes include many ordinary, comfortable styles. When Gu Xingqiao wasn’t occupying the training room, he used to walk Soybean around in a light blue pajama top with slightly frayed cuffs, a pair of drawstring pants, and a pair of light gray slippers, or he would share a room with Tian Yuan and spend time in his study…

Using Soybean as an opportunity, his interaction with Tian Yuan slowly took up all his free time.

Early one morning, Gu Xingqiao was awakened by a whining Soybean.

He opened his eyes in a daze to see the ceiling a frosted, furry light beige color. The soft couch and thick blanket wrapped around him like a cocoon of security, and the books on the nightstand were within easy reach. Soybean, on the other hand, had a wet dog’s nose poking anxiously at his fingertips.

Tian Yuan gently knocked on the door, quietly walked to the bedside, and asked in a low voice, “You sleep first, I’ll go walk the dog?” 

Gu Xingqiao closed his eyes and grunted vaguely, so Tian Yuan reached out and carried off the clingy puppy, letting him have another rare nap.

After Tian Yuan and Soybean left, Gu Xingqiao opened his eyes in confusion.

Something subtle, something unusual was happening. His intuition, honed on the battlefield, told him.

… But where was the anomaly? 

Gu Xingqiao was sleepily dressed in his current favorite pajamas, curled up in the warmth and softness of the mattress. The holographic window was timed to light up, providing the morning news of the day, reporting the constant temperature and humidity of the day.

Since he was going back to sleep, the curtains faithfully carried out their duty, blocking out all the changing light and shadow.

Unable to resist the heavy eyelids, the young man slept soundly, and after the dutiful broadcast, the holographic phantom light immediately released a closing animation – a spider with long, sharp legs, pulling the invisible, transparent and pervasive spider’s web, bowing comically and anthropomorphically to the viewer’s direction, and then crawling down the spreading velvet web, quietly disappearing into the darkness. Then it climbed down the velvet web and quietly disappeared into the shadows.

… But where is the anomaly? 

Gu Xingqiao pondered, half asleep, half awake.