Chapter 186: Extra 1 – Another Baby!?
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
In the Marion Empire, the Imperial Parliament legally held power, but after the emperor was overthrown, the crown prince surrendered, and the Dionysus and Long Whale regions nearly declared independence, the parliament’s authority had become virtually meaningless. After the Alliance fleet occupied the Crescent District, the parliament was essentially powerless.
Many nobles witnessed the war erupting like rolling fire on the night of the palace battle and attempted to flee Capital Star by spaceship. Some were intercepted by the Alliance fleet, while others were shot down as attackers.
The minor noble factions nearly collapsed and dispersed. When the remaining major noble families saw that the Neuman and Hill clans had openly sided with the Alliance, they chose to give up resistance and joined forces with the parliament to send representatives to negotiate with the Alliance.
After all, the Imperial regime was gone, but life had to go on. They had lost their noble titles and possibly some privileges, but their vast wealth remained solid and untouchable.
Some nobles even encouraged the Chu family to contact Heinrich, hoping to leverage his influence within the Alliance to secure more benefits for themselves. The Chu family returned haughty but disheveled—Heinrich refused to meet them at all.
For the ordinary Imperial citizens, unlike the nobles, there was less fear of execution or property confiscation. Since its founding, the Alliance and the Imperial regime had fought over representing human civilization. Now that the Alliance was in power, it was unlikely they would commit unforgivable acts against ordinary Imperial people.
What concerned the populace was whether the Alliance would impose its military governance system on the Imperial territories, and whether they would abolish the ABO gender system unique to the Imperial domain.
Dionysus Region
Guy hurried back from the battlefield, dusty and worn. After jumping down from his mecha, Uriel, he immediately went to Alonso’s office.
Alonso sat alone at his desk, holding a cup of hot tea, steam curling up and reflecting softly on his refined features. Adrian slept soundly in his arms, indicating the office had been peaceful for some time.
Guy stepped in quietly and asked in a low voice, “Have you finished talking with Lin Xu?”
Alonso nodded, stood, and set down the tea. He patted Adrian’s back gently and placed him into a cradle. Adrian fussed a little but quickly fell asleep again under Alonso’s soothing touch.
Alonso set a soundproof shield near the cradle, then pulled Guy aside to stand by the panoramic window.
“How did it go?” Guy asked. Alonso raised an eyebrow. “You’re eager.”
“How could I not be? This determines our future,” Guy said. “Now that the war with the Zerg and Imperial is over, I only need to deal with the Star Pirates. But if the talks with the Alliance fail, Dionysus might find itself at war with them again.”
“That may be true,” Alonso replied, “but we just left the Imperial regime and are rushing back to the Alliance. Do you think… putting Dionysus under another dominant power is too risky?”
Guy noticed Alonso’s hesitation and said plainly, “You also believe Dionysus should be reintegrated under human governance, but the risk makes you hesitate.”
“Yes…” Alonso said. “Dionysus has always needed support. I spoke with Lin Xu, and he made some promises, but once we agree now, it will be almost impossible to break away in the future.”
“I think we can trust Lin Xu,” Guy said. “He’s… a good man, and he has the ability to keep his promises.”
Guy remembered the old days on a frontier planet, trekking through the desert with Lin Xu. When night fell, they rested beside a slain beast. Suddenly, a desert wildcat darted out, apparently trying to steal some of the meat. When the two humans noticed, the cat arched its back and bared its teeth fiercely.
Lin Xu’s eyes lit up. Carefully, he coaxed the cat over with a piece of meat, feeding it while taking off his gloves to stroke the cat’s furry head in the freezing air. Lin Xu was fiercer than the wildcat back then, but Guy saw that he was a man who respected life.
Alonso sighed. “He’s now the Chief Administrator, wielding considerable power. I hope he truly keeps his promises.”
The news of Lin Xu taking office as Chief Administrator had not yet been publicly announced. It had only been confirmed internally after negotiations. Five days later, after talks among various forces within the Einstein Galaxy and Red Moon System concluded, humanity’s final resolution was announced to the entire universe.
The Dionysus Region, the Crescent District, and the Long Whale Region merged fully into the human interstellar federation alongside the Alliance.
Daily life in each area would remain mostly unchanged, including the ABO gender systems that differed between the Alliance and the former Imperial territories. Any changes would proceed gradually.
The Alliance’s military governance system would be dismantled, and both former Imperial and Alliance forces would be reorganized under the federal parliament’s authority. Most of the old Imperial military units were disbanded and restructured.
Before all these reforms were completed, a figure capable of balancing the various powers needed to oversee the transition. After intense disputes, the candidate for Chief Administrator was confirmed—Lin Xu.
As the victors of the war, the Alliance had greater influence over the selection. The Dionysus Region supported Lin Xu’s appointment. The special zones reasoned that Lin Xu only bore grudges against the royalty and nobility, not humanity as a whole, so they acquiesced.
The financial magnates of the Long Whale Region, seeing a civilian candidate, guessed he would be easier to bribe and welcomed the decision.
– –
The inauguration ceremony.
P666, a star located at the border between the Long Whale Region and Crescent District, was once a beautiful tourist planet. In the coming days, it would become the capital of the Federation and serve as its political center.
The sunlight on P666 was just right, and white clouds drifted across the clear blue sky. Lin Xu stood before the newly completed Federation building, announcing to the entire universe the establishment of the human Interstellar Federation.
As his final words fell, a tidal wave of enthusiastic applause broke out, continuous and overwhelming. Yet Lin Xu maintained a steady smile, though after three seconds, it faltered slightly. Heinrich, seated below among the audience, noticed Lin Xu’s furrowed brow.
Heinrich scanned the surroundings but found nothing that might have caused Lin Xu’s unease. Before the applause ended, Lin Xu stepped down from the stage, leaving the rest of the ceremony to Meng Zhenhua, and disappeared into the waiting room behind the podium.
Heinrich’s gaze hardened. He followed closely, intending to ask Lin Xu what was wrong. But he only caught a sweet fragrance—no sign of Lin Xu himself. Minutes later, Heinrich’s terminal beeped with a message from Lin Xu: [I’m in the private lounge on the 87th floor. Come quickly.]
Heinrich hurried there. The 87th floor lounge was Lin Xu’s private quarters within the Federation building, where they had been staying lately. As Heinrich entered, he was immediately surrounded by the dragon-shaped Yuanxiao and two rabbit-cats. They tugged at Heinrich’s pant legs, pulling him toward a tightly shut bathroom door. Steam and warm, moist air leaked from the crack beneath the door. Heinrich looked down and asked, “Is Lin Xu inside?”
The little dragon nodded furiously. Heinrich himself already knew—the sweet scent leaking out was almost sickeningly honeyed. Using his special clearance, he unlocked the bathroom door and gently shut the curious little dragon and rabbit-cats outside. A thick, sticky honeyed sweetness instantly enveloped Heinrich.
Water overflowed in ripples from the bathtub. Heinrich spotted a fish tail, black as iron, resting on the tub’s edge, rising and falling with Lin Xu’s breath. He stepped carefully over shredded pieces of suit fabric scattered across the floor and drew closer. Inside the tub lay a steaming mermaid cradling his uniform.
In the next moment, the mermaid’s gray eyes—clouded with mist—opened and locked onto Heinrich’s. He reached out and pulled him into the water, holding him tightly.
“Lin Xu…” Heinrich felt the tremor running through him. “What are you—”
Before he could finish, the sensation in his palm gave Heinrich the answer. Underneath the scales of the tail, a single egg was half-ejected. The muscles beneath the scales contracted repeatedly, straining to push the egg out.
Lin Xu clung to Heinrich, refusing to let go. He closed his eyes again, his mind hazy, driven by instinct. When Heinrich tried to move slightly, Lin Xu bit his shoulder.
“Shh—” Heinrich whispered, about to press a calming kiss to Lin Xu’s temple. Lin Xu had no time to build a nest. He pulled Heinrich close to serve as his refuge, curling his whole body into Heinrich’s embrace, straining with effort to give birth.
Night had fallen, and Lin Xu and Heinrich were supposed to attend the evening banquet. Yet Meng Zhenhua hadn’t seen either of them arrive, and messages sent to their terminals went unanswered. After thinking it over, he decided to find them. He grabbed Zhou Pingbo, a new acquaintance with whom he had quickly hit it off, and headed out to look for them.
The building’s AI informed them the two were in Lin Xu’s private lounge. Meng Zhenhua knocked on the door. Heinrich answered. He was already dressed in casual clothes, his hair still dripping wet at the tips. What had happened? Meng Zhenhua asked, “Is Mr. Lin Xu here?”
“He…” Heinrich paused strangely before continuing, “He’s resting.”
“But the banquet still needs him to attend.”
Meng Zhenhua pressed on, while Zhou Pingbo was already struggling to stand firm, overwhelmed by Heinrich’s alpha pheromones. He seriously wanted to advise Meng Zhenhua to stop disturbing the couple. But then again—were these two really in such a hurry?
“Heinrich!” Lin Xu’s sudden shout from inside surprised Heinrich. The next words left his expression utterly blank: “The egg hatched!”
“What egg?” Meng Zhenhua was bewildered.
“A mermaid egg.” Heinrich tossed the words over his shoulder before quickly turning back into the suite’s bedroom. Meng Zhenhua and Zhou Pingbo followed. Inside, Lin Xu sat on the bed, his fish tail dragging behind him. He bent over, locking eyes with the newly hatched baby dragon, disbelief written across his face. Last time, Yuanxiao had taken almost a month to hatch successfully. This newborn had broken free just a few hours after being born.
“Did the mermaid pregnancy show no signs at all?” Meng Zhenhua couldn’t believe his eyes. He remembered Lin Xu running around recently, busy with all sorts of affairs—no hint of pregnancy at all.
“There used to be signs…” Zhou Pingbo explained. Moreover, this was a pale blue baby dragon.
They had hatched earlier than Yuanxiao and looked more fragile, barely half Yuanxiao’s size. They hadn’t even opened their eyes yet, wobbling as they crawled out of the shell, following the scent of their papa straight toward Lin Xu. The pale blue baby dragon stretched out their claws, translucent and glistening, their veins visible beneath the skin. They softly whimpered.
Heinrich suddenly had an idea and fished out some sea crystals. He crushed them and fed the energy liquid to the baby dragon. Yuanxiao and the two rabbit-cats—one black, one white—sat by the bedside, wide-eyed as they watched this fragile newborn.
“Ying ying ying,” the rabbit-cats chimed softly.
“Ying,” Yuanxiao responded.
After drinking just five or six drops, the baby lowered their head, softly hiccupped, then flipped onto their back on the bed. Their pale blue belly rose and fell rhythmically as they settled into a long, still sleep. Lin Xu gently stroked the baby’s belly with his fingertip, feeling the steady, peaceful rise and fall. He whispered to those gathered at the bedside, “They should be asleep now.”
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