TCPUAAV Chapter 126

 

Ruan Shiqing was startled by the sudden appearance of the tendril. He froze for a moment, then instinctively reached up to check if there was another one. Just as he moved, a second tendril dropped down of its own accord and came to rest in his palm.

 

Both tendrils looked strikingly similar to the ones on Ruan Jiao’s forehead.

 

But Ruan Jiao was very likely a Zerg. Ruan Shiqing, on the other hand, wasn’t. For over twenty years, he had firmly believed himself to be an ordinary human being—whether in his original world or after transmigrating to Planet B3024.

 

He never would’ve imagined that after waking up in a completely unfamiliar place, he’d find two tendrils sprouting from his forehead—like he’d switched species overnight.

 

The whole situation was even more bizarre than waking up inside a novel he’d once read.

 

Suddenly, the tendril in his palm grew scorching hot. Ruan Shiqing jerked his hand back in surprise, frantically patting his cheeks and repeatedly telling himself that this was all just a dream.

 

He floated in the water, surrounded on all sides by an endless expanse of blue—no objects, no boundaries in sight.

 

Yet somehow, he wasn’t drowning. In fact, he could breathe with ease, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

 

That alone defied all logic. The only plausible explanation was that this had to be a dream.

 

Ruan Shiqing scrubbed at his face hard, trying to snap himself out of it. Everything is a dream, he told himself. Then he glanced up at the rippling light above and began swimming upward with all his strength—driven by a strange, blurry premonition that if he could just get out of this body of water, he’d finally wake up.

 

His long limbs moved in steady rhythm, each stroke full of determination as he powered toward the surface.

 

*

 

Tonight, Ruan Jiao was sleeping with Daddy again.

 

His little pillow was placed right next to Daddy’s big one, and the little cub lay cautiously by his side.

 

With Rong Heng and the other cubs not at home, and 09 recharging in sleep mode on the first floor, it was just him and Daddy on the second floor. The cub, feeling a bit lonely, could only find a sense of security curled up beside his father.

 

He had always slept in a well-behaved manner, lying on his side facing Ruan Shiqing, one small hand resting lightly on his father’s arm. The tendril on his forehead rose and fell with his gentle breathing—a picture of peaceful slumber.

 

But it was Ruan Shiqing who was far from calm. Around him, faint ripples were spreading outward, like waves on the surface of still water, flowing out endlessly.

 

The increasingly intense fluctuations in mental energy startled the cub awake. Ruan Jiao sat up with a jolt and looked around in alarm, only to realize the disturbance was coming from right beside him.

 

The ripples had now turned into crashing waves—violent and relentless.

 

His eyes widened in shock. Anxiously, he called out several times, “Daddy,” but Ruan Shiqing only furrowed his brows in pain. A glance at the monitor at the head of the bed showed its graph swinging wildly up and down.

 

Panicking, Ruan Jiao scrambled onto his knees and bent forward, pressing his forehead to his father’s.

 

A softer wave of energy was released from the cub, gently merging with the raging tides. Gradually, the violent mental storm began to calm, as if being soothed.

 

But he was still a young cub, not yet fully grown. After holding on for a while, exhaustion began to take its toll. The tendril on his forehead drooped lower and lower. Each time it nearly fell, it would suddenly spring upright again, trembling but maintaining its rhythm.

 

Meanwhile, Ruan Shiqing was struggling.

 

The further he swam upward, the murkier the water around him became.

 

Wisps of gray-white debris floated in the water, and as he drew near, they instinctively reached out to entangle him—bringing with them a suffocating weight and overwhelming fatigue.

 

He tried to shake them off, but the more he struggled, the faster his strength drained. His mind grew hazy, and amidst the dizziness, he seemed to hear that newborn Zerg’s piercing screech echoing again.

 

His movements slowed, dull and sluggish.

 

Realizing how powerless he was, Ruan Shiqing’s heart jolted. Gritting his teeth, he began to fight again. He resisted the ear-splitting screech and pushed away the gray debris as he struggled upward.

 

His desperate thrashing churned the water into a cloudy mess.

 

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but the water above seemed to grow brighter, as though he were close to breaking through the surface.

 

A glimmer of determination returned to his eyes. But his body was growing heavier, his mind foggier, and his movements slower and slower. Just as he was about to reach his limit, a gentle force wrapped around him once more.

 

The surrounding water turned clear again, and the gray-white debris was pushed away, unable to approach him any longer.

 

Strength returned to his limbs. Ruan Shiqing pulled himself together and swam hard toward the surface…

 

The mental energy it took to help had drained Ruan Jiao completely. Still maintaining his position with his forehead pressed to his father’s, the cub finally collapsed from exhaustion.

 

His tense little body relaxed and slumped forward. His head tilted to the side, slipping to rest against Ruan Shiqing’s neck. Somewhere in the haze of sleep, he vaguely remembered he was supposed to help Daddy. His tiny body gave a little wiggle, but he was too tired to wake again. In the end, he lay sprawled on his father’s chest, head buried in the crook of his neck, fast asleep.

 

…..

 

The slumbering cub was awakened by shrieks from outside.

 

He wobbled upright, rubbing his eyes, still half-asleep, and heard 09 and the Xiong brothers talking downstairs.

 

“What’s with all these vines?”

 

“How did they grow so big overnight?”

 

Still groggy, the cub shook his head hard to wake himself up. As his thoughts cleared, he noticed something wasn’t quite right—the bedroom seemed unusually dim today.

 

Instinctively, he looked toward the window, and what he saw made his eyes go wide with shock.

 

The usually bright floor-to-ceiling window was now completely blocked by a mass of tangled Falling Star Vines, their thick coils pressed against the glass. Only slivers of sunlight managed to slip through the gaps in the leaves, casting a dim glow that barely kept the room from plunging into total darkness.

 

The little cub gaped in astonishment. He didn’t even bother putting on his shoes as he dashed out of the bedroom, his bare feet pattering against the floor. When he reached the living room, he found it shrouded in dim light—the windows were completely blocked by thick coils of Falling Star Vines.

 

Then, as if suddenly remembering something important, he turned on his heel and sprinted back to the bedroom to check on Daddy.

 

The monitor at the head of the bed had stabilized. Ruan Shiqing was lying there peacefully, no longer frowning in pain, his expression calm and composed.

 

The cub instantly let out a massive sigh of relief. He was about to put on his shoes and go downstairs to call 09, when he suddenly froze and turned his head, alarmed.

 

A pair of dark red eyes were wide open, the vertical black pupils staring fixedly at Ruan Shiqing—completely still.

 

—Something about Daddy… felt different.

 

Before the cub could figure out exactly what had changed, 09 came charging up the stairs. He only relaxed when he saw that both the cub and Ruan Shiqing were safe and sound. Still, he muttered with exaggerated frustration, “No idea what’s going on, but the Falling Star Vines in the yard suddenly started growing like crazy…”

 

Calling it “growing like crazy” wasn’t entirely accurate. To be precise, the vines were undergoing rapid cycles of growth – sprouting – fruiting – withering.

 

It was as if the vines outside were experiencing an accelerated rotation of the four seasons. Once modest decorative plants standing two to three meters tall had shot up to five or six meters in height. The overgrown vines had wrapped themselves entirely around the house, and now they had entered their fruit-bearing phase.

 

Clusters of golden Falling Star fruits hung heavily among the leaves, like stars on the verge of falling from the heavens.

 

The unprecedented spectacle drew a crowd in no time—outside the repair shop, people had already gathered to gawk at the scene.

 

Since the reason behind the abnormal vine growth remained unknown, 09 didn’t dare act recklessly. After sending a message to Mr. Garland, he had immediately rushed upstairs to check on Ruan Shiqing and Ruan Jiao.

 

“Mr. Garland is on his way,” 09 said, comforting the cub while efficiently checking the data on the monitoring device to assess Ruan Shiqing’s condition.

 

When he saw the wild fluctuations in the data from the night before, he turned to Ruan Jiao with a serious expression. “Did anything unusual happen with Mr. Ruan last night?”

 

Ruan Jiao promptly described the strange surge in spiritual energy he had witnessed.

 

“How could this be?” 09 paced back and forth in the bedroom, his tone full of worry, then checked Garland’s coordinates again.

 

Mr. Garland would arrive in ten minutes.

 

Just then, Ruan Jiao tugged on his arm, frowning with a confused look. “Daddy’s… not the same as before.”

 

09 blinked, then bent down to take a closer look at Ruan Shiqing.

 

As a robot, he didn’t rely solely on visual observation. He pulled up archived footage of Ruan Shiqing for comparison—and quickly confirmed what the cub had noticed.

 

Ruan Shiqing had changed.

 

His height had shot up from 1.78 meters to 1.82. His previously warm-toned skin had shifted toward a cooler, paler hue. His facial features had grown more defined, his overall appearance more mature—shedding the last traces of youthful softness. He now looked like a fully grown young man.

 

Judging by appearance alone, he could easily pass for someone around twenty-four or twenty-five years old. No one would ever guess he had just turned eighteen.

 

So, 09 and the cub sat side-by-side at the bedside, both in a daze.

 

They had no idea what was going on. How could someone go to sleep and wake up looking completely different—yet still clearly be the same person?

 

When Garland finally arrived upstairs, he was greeted by the sight of one big and one small figure squatting next to the bed, both looking worried and confused.

 

Yet from their expressions, it didn’t seem like anything serious had happened to Ruan Shiqing.

 

“What’s going on?” Garland set down his heavy case and began calmly unpacking the instruments to examine Ruan Shiqing.

 

While the equipment was powering up, 09 showed him the comparative data from before and after.

 

“This kind of transformation is completely unprecedented…” Garland’s brows furrowed deeply as he reviewed the data. He mentally flipped through every case study he could recall, but found nothing that matched this situation.

 

In the end, all he could say was, “Let me start with a bone age test.”

 

He adjusted the instrument accordingly, and a moment later, he and 09—and even the cub—were left staring blankly at the result displayed on the screen: 25 years old.

 

If his memory served him correctly, Ruan Shiqing had just turned eighteen not long ago.

 

After a long silence, Garland pulled out a syringe and took two vials of blood. “I’ll run some tests back at the lab.”

 

Before leaving, he instructed 09 and the cub to keep a close watch on Ruan Shiqing and report any further changes immediately. Then, without wasting a moment, he hurried back to the lab.

 

*

 

The Orient hadn’t even landed yet when Rong Heng, unable to wait any longer, piloted a shuttle ahead with the cubs in tow and raced home.

 

Their mission to assist a Zerg-attacked planet had lasted over half a month.

 

During the height of battle, the fierce onslaught of the Zerg had left Rong Heng no room for personal thoughts. But now, as they finally returned home, all the longing he had suppressed surged up at once, clamoring to be released.

 

He was too impatient to wait for the Orient to dock and disembark properly. Instead, he took the shuttle with the three cubs and flew straight back.

 

The shuttle landed just a short distance from the repair shop. Rong Heng and the three cubs jumped off the ramp one after another, ready to rush toward home—only to be stopped in their tracks.

 

The front of the house was completely blocked.

 

Layer upon layer of people had surrounded it, a dense crowd stretching in every direction.

 

Rong Heng frowned, completely at a loss as to why so many people were gathered at his doorstep. With a bit of force, he pushed his way through the crowd, about to shout for someone to explain—when the sight before him rendered him speechless.

 

——The once-familiar, meticulously maintained three-story villa was completely gone. In its place stood a massive, tangled web of Falling Star Vines.

 

The Crown Prince’s eyes widened in disbelief.

 

He’d only been gone for half a month…

 

How the hell did his house disappear?!?!?!

 

 

---

 

 

We must be getting closer to Ruan Ruan waking up, right? :’))))))))) (I can’t do this anymore plsss just let this sweet family reunite)

 

(His son (cubs), his family, his house, next it’s gonna be his spouse–)

 

Thanks for reading!

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