TCPUAAV Chapter 93

 

 

Let’s get back in time.

 

At the moment when Balham Star’s transport ship was hijacked, Mr. Rong was out on a mission with the young cubs. Along the way, he had also retrieved a weapons production line from a factory, along with several pieces of high-end, precision experimental equipment. Meanwhile, as B3024 faced the threat from Sijialan Star, Mr. Rong had gone to Balham Star to “borrow” a planet-level weapon—and the little cubs had tagged along with him.

 

The timeline and location matched perfectly.

 

Aside from their age, the three wanted criminals—”Kraken,” “Fire Fox,” and “Evil Dragon”—bore striking resemblances to the little mermaid, little fox, and little dragon cub, respectively.

 

If Ruan Shiqing’s guess was correct, then these three fugitives were none other than the cubs, all grown up.

 

He had no idea how the cubs had suddenly transformed into adult human forms. However, considering that even Mr. Rong could turn into a snowball-like infant form, then the cubs suddenly growing up wasn’t entirely impossible.

 

Looking back carefully, the cubs had indeed been undergoing subtle changes for quite some time.

 

For instance, the little dragon cub’s growing horns and wings. The little fox’s increasingly sharp, silver eyes. And… the little mermaid’s face, which had gradually taken on the features of a young man.

 

They had all been growing up, little by little.

 

Yet, because he spent every day with them, he had never thought much of it. He had never suspected anything, nor had he any reason to. So, all these abnormalities had simply gone unnoticed.

 

But now that he was piecing it all together, he realized just how clumsy the cubs’ attempts at concealment had been. There were flaws everywhere.

 

As he stared at the oblivious little cubs standing outside the crowd, Ruan Shiqing ground his teeth lightly, suddenly feeling the urge to spank them.

 

But there were simply too many accounts to settle, and for a moment, he didn’t even know where to start.

 

The crowd in front of the electronic bulletin board continued to grow. Many were whispering about the white-masked “Reaper.” Previously, when the Reaper had exposed Sijialan Star’s conspiracy with the Zerg invasion, he had made quite the sensation. Now, seeing him listed on the wanted notice alongside the other members of the “Eastern Alliance,” having even taken control of all of Balham Star, naturally sparked heated discussions.

 

After all, Balham Star was a resource planet under the Naxi Group! There was even a jointly operated weapons factory on it!

 

The common folk, of course, felt no sympathy for the major financial conglomerates. They were just watching the spectacle with great interest.

 

Ruan Shiqing pushed through the crowd, preparing to leave. However, just as he turned his head, he noticed the bulletin board’s display had changed again. The screen no longer showed the wanted criminals but instead displayed a cyan-colored warship.

 

The warship was called the Eastern, an old retired model that had been modified for reuse—the very one that Mr. Rong frequently piloted.

 

His steps, which had been about to carry him away, halted once more.

 

Ruan Shiqing turned back and carefully examined the wanted details.

 

When he saw that this warship had once belonged to a notorious interstellar pirate group and that its history was filled with countless atrocities, his gaze froze.

 

Because he had read this before—in a novel.

 

Even the phrasing, “internal strife among interstellar pirates, leading to the ‘Eastern Alliance’ taking over the former pirate group and escalating their crimes to new heights,” was exactly the same.

 

The only difference was that, in the novel he had read, the warship wasn’t called the Eastern but the Black Phantom.

 

But just like the Eastern, the Black Phantom had once belonged to a famous interstellar pirate group. Then, one day, that pirate group mysteriously vanished, and the retrofitted warship was taken over by another newly emerging pirate organization. With that, the ship became known as the Black Phantom.

 

In the following years, these new pirates, piloting the Black Phantom, committed countless heinous crimes. They rose to become the most notorious space pirate group in the Galactic Empire, topping the empire’s most-wanted list.

 

And these infamous space pirates—because they all wore masks—had never been seen by anyone.

 

Even on the wanted list, they were only referred to by their codenames: “Reaper,” “Kraken,” “Fire Fox,” “Evil Dragon,” and “Half-Zerg.”

 

The realization that parts of the novel he had read overlapped with this world left Ruan Shiqing’s thoughts in turmoil. Was it just a coincidence, or had he truly entered the world of a book?

 

If traveling to an alternate world was possible, then entering a novel he had read before didn’t seem entirely implausible either.

 

He tried hard to recall the novel’s plot and discovered that a significant portion of what he remembered did indeed correspond to this world—except the timeline didn’t match.

 

In the novel’s opening, the Black Phantom had already gained notoriety. Within the Galactic Empire, its name alone was enough to strike fear into countless people. Despite the numerous wanted notices issued, no one had ever been able to capture this group of space pirates.

 

They were ruthless in their actions. In the novel, their first appearance was marked by the destruction of Queen Thea’s royal spaceship.

 

At the time, the ruling Emperor was a tyrant—violent, deranged, neglectful of state affairs, and even absent from Imperial Council meetings. Governance had fallen entirely into the hands of Queen Thea. Because of this, he was known as the “Mad King.”

 

Yet, after the Queen’s death, the Mad King remained indifferent. He didn’t even attend her funeral.

 

The novel was told from the perspective of their son, Prince Soma.

 

Following his mother’s funeral, Soma, determined to avenge her and save the empire from its impending collapse, took action. In the midst of the empire’s turmoil, he used his sharp political acumen to subdue the four major financial conglomerates one after another. Then, he built his own military force, quelling internal rebellions and resisting the Zerg invasion. After much struggle, he managed to pull the empire back from the brink of dissolution.

 

As for the five-person space pirate crew, they were the novel’s main villains, constantly scheming to sabotage Soma’s efforts and disrupt the empire’s peace.

 

Ruan Shiqing had never actually finished reading the novel. He wasn’t someone who typically read fiction—his work and research kept him busy. This half-read book had been something he had picked up during a rare idle moment, though he couldn’t even recall exactly when.

 

But he had an excellent memory. A moment of concentration was enough for him to recall the general plot.

 

—The last part he remembered before dropping the novel was the male lead, Soma, setting a carefully orchestrated trap to ambush the Black Phantom alongside his trusted subordinates, seeking revenge for his mother.

 

Caught off guard, the Black Phantom was severely overwhelmed. In a desperate bid to break through the encirclement, the pirate known as “Evil Dragon” transformed into his black dragon form, his massive bat-like wings blotting out the sky. In the end, he dragged the entire Imperial Fleet down with him into the abyss of space…

 

Ruan Shiqing had never felt strongly about the novel’s content before. It was just casual entertainment, nothing worth getting emotionally invested in.

 

But now, realizing that the world in the novel might actually be the world he was living in—and that the five notorious space pirates could very well be the very cubs he had raised—his heart pounded with anxiety.

 

He refused to believe that the cubs would commit such terrible crimes, and he absolutely did not want to believe that they would meet such a tragic fate in the end.

 

The wanted notice cycled back to the beginning on the electronic bulletin board, but Ruan Shiqing could no longer pay attention. He hastily pushed through the crowd and called the cubs to go home.

 

His mind was in utter chaos. The flood of shocking revelations left him no room to even consider settling accounts with them. His only priority was to get the cubs safely back to the hotel first.

 

—Even though the cubs as they were now bore no resemblance to the criminals on the wanted list, it was better to be safe than sorry. He couldn’t take any chances.

 

“What did the sign say?”

 

Seeing his dad return, the little dragon cub climbed up his pant leg, trying to perch on his shoulder for a better view.

 

Ruan Shiqing reacted quickly, catching him and holding him securely in his arms, his expression utterly unreadable. “Nothing important. It’s getting late—we’re going straight back to the hotel.”

 

Pressed into his father’s embrace, the little dragon cub didn’t see anything. But he didn’t push the issue. Instead, he simply snuggled in comfortably, finding a cozy position to rest. His golden eyes narrowed lazily in contentment, while his long tail swayed cheerfully.

 

Ruan Shiqing lowered his gaze to look at him. No matter how he tried, he simply couldn’t reconcile this adorable little dragon with the “Evil Dragon” from the novel—the one who had perished alongside the entire Imperial Fleet.

 

He didn’t want the cubs to see the wanted notice, so he didn’t even wait for the hotel’s sightseeing shuttle. Instead, he flagged down a hover taxi and had it take them straight back to the hotel.

 

Once inside the suite, Ruan Shiqing didn’t even bother confronting the cubs yet. Instead, he locked himself in his room to sort out his thoughts.

 

He laid out two timelines.

 

One was his personal timeline, starting from when he transmigrated to B3024 Star and gradually adopted the cubs. The other was the timeline from the novel.

 

When he had arrived on B3024 Star, it had been late summer in Star Calendar Year 2021. Now, nearly a year had passed, and it was early summer in 2022.

 

But the novel’s story took place in the year 2038—seventeen years ahead of his current time.

 

When Ruan Shiqing carefully compared the events and details he remembered, he found that many elements matched up. For instance, both worlds had a Galactic Empire, with its capital star being Sikkim. The empire’s queen was named Thea in both versions. And the Kaisalia Sector, where “Evil Dragon” had perished alongside the Imperial Fleet, was indeed one of the nine major administrative regions of the present-day Galactic Empire.

 

But there were also notable differences.

 

For example, the Black Phantom no longer existed—only the Eastern.

 

The infamous space pirate crew on the wanted list was no longer just the original five members; several more people had been added.

 

Running his fingers through his bangs, Ruan Shiqing leaned back into the lounge chair and let out a long, heavy sigh.

 

So many overlapping facts and events… Even if he didn’t want to believe it, he had no choice.

 

He had most likely transmigrated into the very novel he had once read, but seventeen years before its official storyline began.

 

And the little cubs he had painstakingly raised and cared for—

 

They were the ones who would become the notorious space pirates. The villains fated to be defeated by the righteous protagonist.

 

At some unknown point in time, the cubs he had nurtured with such care were already starting down the path of becoming villains.

 

Ruan Shiqing stared blankly at the ceiling for a long moment.

 

Then, the confusion in his eyes gradually solidified into determination.

 

He stood up, pulled open the door, and strode toward the living room.

 

He would not let the cubs continue down the wrong path.

 

And he would never let anyone hurt them.

 

 

 

 

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OH MY GOD SO THE TITLE FINALLY MAKES SENSE!!!

 

(and we have the confirmation Ruan Ruan knows that Snowball is “Mr Rong”)

 

(and Siyan is supposed to become mad and not care about Thea’s death, huh…? Interesting)

 

Thanks for reading!

For every three ko-fis, I will upload a bonus chapter~