TCPUAAV Chapter 114

 

After the planetary shield was lowered, the spaceship successfully departed from Driftwood Star.

 

The anxious passengers finally breathed a sigh of relief. Many immediately used the restored comms to contact their families or uploaded footage of the harrowing events of the past few hours onto the holonet. Meanwhile, the captain was finally able to get through to his superiors and report what had happened on Driftwood Star.

 

At first, the higher-ups found it hard to believe that an entire resort planet had fallen without warning. But when the captain transmitted the previously captured thermal scans, the other end of the line fell into stunned silence. Orders came down quickly: the airline’s executives instructed the captain to redirect the ship to the nearest planet for repairs and to wait for rescue.

 

Initially, one of the instructions from the higher-ups had been to avoid publicly disclosing the situation on Driftwood Star. The captain agreed on the surface but scoffed privately after ending the call. He wouldn’t post anything himself—but if the passengers did, that was beyond his control.

 

Seeing that the ship’s course had been set, Ruan Shiqing didn’t linger. He borrowed a small craft from the captain, preparing to head back to the space station to rendezvous with Rong Heng.

 

The captain had already programmed the coordinates and engaged autopilot. As Ruan Shiqing was about to leave, the captain walked him to the cockpit door with deep gratitude. “If not for you and your companions, we wouldn’t have made it out alive today. I’ve worked with Bassa Airlines for years—if you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out.” With that, he handed over his business card.

 

“Anyone with the ability would’ve done the same,” Ruan Shiqing replied, waving off the thanks. But after a moment’s thought, he said, “Actually, there is one thing you could help me with.”

 

“Of course, whatever you need.”

 

“I have a friend with a rather… special identity. About the surveillance footage from the ship…”

 

Back on the ship, when everything happened so quickly, Rong Heng had already shifted into human form. While very few people had access to information on the former imperial crown prince—and it was unlikely anyone would recognize him—there was still a risk if footage from the ship was made public.

 

The captain immediately understood without needing further explanation. “Ships under Zerg attack often suffer damage to their data archives. Don’t worry—I’ll clear all footage right away.”

 

Ruan Shiqing finally relaxed. He thanked the captain and went to find Garland.

 

Garland had already returned to the ship and was waiting at the docking corridor.

 

“You’re heading back to the station?”

 

“Yeah.” Ruan Shiqing nodded. “The Empire’s reinforcements won’t get here so soon. That Zerg hive on Driftwood Star is still a threat—we can’t just leave it. Besides, Hector and the others should be on their way. Since we’ve started this, we might as well see it through and blow up the hive before we go.”

 

“Sounds good.” Garland thought it over and added, “The ship still needs time to reach the next planet for rescue. Judging by how the Zerg operate, there could be other nests out there. I’ll escort the passengers to safety first, then regroup with you.”

 

“But… Hector…” Ruan Shiqing hesitated.

 

He’d assumed Garland would be eager to see Hector again—after all, since he’d informed Hector of what was happening on Driftwood Star, the man had fired off over a dozen urgent messages.

 

“We’ll meet eventually. What’s a few more hours?” Garland replied, but looked away a bit too quickly.

 

Ruan Shiqing caught the shift and chuckled knowingly.

 

Ah. So it’s homesickness—with a touch of nerves.

 

He didn’t press the matter and teased, “I’ll explain things to Hector for you. But don’t take too long—escorting a ship won’t cost you that much time.”

 

Garland grunted an “Mm” in response, waved, and strode off toward the passenger area.

 

With that, the two split up. Ruan Shiqing made his way to the lower deck and piloted a craft alone toward the space station.

 

Inside the space station, with the help of the two surviving staff members, Noah quickly took over the control system.

 

Meanwhile, Rong Heng’s group used the station’s systems to access large amounts of data and footage from the planet’s surface control centers. Apparently aware that reinforcements might never come, the last garrison of soldiers had, before their final stand, protected the few remaining researchers and made sure to preserve as much genetic data as possible—along with countless precious records.

 

The little mermaid opened a few of the farewell videos, his nose stinging slightly as he watched.

 

Driftwood Star had been a truly primitive planet, with little in the way of industrialization and a slow development curve. Unlike the capital planets, where social hierarchy was rigid and deeply ingrained, Driftwood Star’s sparse population had lived in relative equality—free of the harsh divides between rich and poor. Crime was rare, the locals were kind and close-knit, and thanks to a booming tourism industry, outsiders were warmly welcomed.

 

It had been a beautiful, peaceful world—until the Zerg wiped it out in a single blow, leaving behind only devastation.

 

Next to him, Ruan Jiao was also watching the video, head tilted up to see the screen. His small fists clenched tightly, his face taut with emotion. His soft antennae drooped in sorrow.

 

He leaned slightly toward the little mermaid’s arm and murmured in a low, downcast voice, “Zerg… bad.”

 

The little one was experiencing a rare moment of deep, unfamiliar rage. He clenched his fists tightly, staying silent for a long time before whispering again:

 

“It wasn’t like this.”

 

In the few scattered memories he had, things hadn’t been like this at all.

 

Back when he was still in his egg, he remembered the gentle presence of his companions. They couldn’t communicate with him directly, but the emotions they conveyed through their antennae were comforting. When he grew restless in his egg, they would bring flowers and fruit to pile around him, and sometimes even made strange, rhythmic sounds—looking back now, maybe they were singing to lull him.

 

But at some point… they stopped coming.

 

And the ones who took their place… felt different. Their presence slowly grew cold.

 

He hated that kind of presence—cold, aggressive, alien. So he stopped responding to them, turned away in silence.

 

Until one day, he sensed a familiar aura again. And that was when he knew—it was time to leave. But somehow… those bad things had followed him.

 

Thinking about the Zerg on Planet B3024, the little one grew even more disheartened. His antennae drooped weakly, nearly on the verge of tears.

 

He believed it was his fault. That because he ran off on his own, he had brought disaster with him.

 

The little mermaid, noticing the change in his expression, assumed he was simply mourning Driftwood Star’s fate. He gently pulled the cub into his arms and softly stroked his back.

 

“What happened?”

Sally, one of the two surviving staff members, had just arrived with a nutrient pack and saw the scene. Her voice was gentle with concern.

 

[He’s just a little sad after watching what happened to Driftwood Star,] the little mermaid explained as he accepted the nutrient pack with a somewhat sheepish smile.

 

Though he couldn’t speak aloud, his gentle nature, striking appearance, and endless patience made Sally feel close to him. Now that she’d calmed down emotionally, she even enjoyed chatting with him now and then.

 

Sally sat down beside him, unscrewed the cap of her own nutrient drink, and took a small sip. Her voice was bitter as she murmured, “The dead are gone. The living can only grow stronger.”

 

The little mermaid furrowed his brows and sighed silently, offering her a quiet, heartfelt comfort.

 

But it seemed Sally hadn’t come looking for comfort. After finishing her drink, she stood up and said, “I should find something I can do to help.” Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she turned back and asked, “Do you have any plans coming up? If you need help with anything, let us know. We’d rather keep ourselves busy—it helps take our minds off everything.”

 

Her words were sincere, though the sorrow still lingered faintly in her expression.

 

The little mermaid originally wanted to tell her a bit, just enough to give her some peace of mind. But just as he opened his mouth, he felt a sharp tug at his sleeve.

 

It was Ruan Jiao.

 

He looked down at the cub in his arms—he hadn’t said anything, but his grip on the fabric was tight and urgent.

 

Though he didn’t know the reason, the cubs had an instinctive trust in one another. So the little mermaid stopped himself just in time and instead smiled gently, shaking his head at Sally.

 

[Nothing for now. Please get some rest. When the rescue forces arrive, they’ll escort you away. As for the rest—leave it to us.]

 

Sally didn’t press further. She gave a slight nod and left.

 

Only after confirming that she was gone did the little mermaid look down and ask the cub:

[What is it?]

 

—Just before he was about to reveal their plans, Ruan Jiao had tugged his sleeve with unusual urgency.

 

Still frowning, Ruan Jiao didn’t answer. Instead, he slipped off the little mermaid’s lap, sniffed around the place where Sally had been sitting, and swayed his antennae in small, precise arcs.

 

He was concentrating hard, trying to catch the lingering traces of something strange in the air.

 

After some careful observation over the past day, he’d begun to notice it—both Sally and her colleague carried an odd kind of wave, something… off.

 

It was the same strange fluctuation he had felt from the Zerg on this planet.

 

His little face stiffened with seriousness. He pointed toward the direction Sally had gone and said in halting, choppy words, “Sally. Zerg. Same.”

 

In his memory, Zerg couldn’t take human form.

 

The identical spiritual waves between Sally and the Zerg made the little cub deeply confused and uneasy.

 

Of course, he didn’t count.

 

He may not have known much, but from the moment he gained self-awareness, he understood that he was different from the Zerg.

 

Whether it was the gentle Zerg that once kept him company, the unpleasant ones that came later, or now these strange-wave Zerg—they were all different from him.

 

Only Dad was the same as him.

 

The little cub scrunched up his face, frustration mounting as he struggled to explain further. In the end, he simply blurted out, “Bad things!”

 

Even though Ruan Jiao’s words were fragmented and disjointed, the little mermaid listened with a deepening sense of realization.

 

An entire planet had fallen, yet two staff members had miraculously survived in the space station. They’d questioned this at first, but the survivors had been cooperative from the start, showing complete familiarity with the systems in the control room, which helped ease their doubts.

 

After all, based on everything they currently knew, even if the Zerg were intelligent, it was hard to imagine them being so well-versed in a space station’s infrastructure—especially the main control systems. It wasn’t unreasonable to assume that some humans had been kept alive to assist them.

 

But now, Ruan Jiao’s words cast a shadow over that assumption.

 

The little cub had always had a unique sensitivity toward the Zerg—he’d shown it back on B3024. The others hadn’t pried too deeply into that ability, worried it might expose Ruan Jiao to danger.

 

Yet now, that same sensitivity was warning them again.

 

The little mermaid furrowed his brow in thought for a while, then quietly instructed Noah to initiate a high-security lockdown on the main control room. After that, he took Ruan Jiao’s hand and went off to find Rong Heng.

 

At the moment, Rong Heng and 09 were out scouting ahead with the little dragon cub.

 

Through Noah’s access, they had obtained a complete military deployment map of Driftwood Star. It turned out that, perhaps realizing help would never come, desperate soldiers and civilians had taken matters into their own hands. They quietly distributed various torpedoes, laser bombs, and other high-power explosives across the planet.

 

Each of those bombs came with tracking devices—and now, on that deeply buried digital tactical map, the precise locations of those hidden weapons were marked.

 

 

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??? WHAT THE HECK IS IT WITH THIS CHAPTER??? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS????

 

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