Chapter 103: The Mysterious Guest

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: The Mysterious Guest

The secretary was frightened by his superior’s curse word into freezing stiff like a stone statue. He had worked under Theodore for eight years; even when shrapnel from the Insectoid race lodged into Theodore’s shoulder on the battlefield, this military medical general had only frowned to pull the fragment out himself without ever uttering half a profanity.

"Mr... Mr. Vance? Is there a problem with the report?"

Theodore was startled back to his senses. He immediately slammed the dossier hard onto the desk while quickly snapping off the screen of the gene analyzer, his stern face trying to regain its usual calm composure:

"It is nothing. You go outside first, lock the access rights to this room; without my order, no one is permitted to step inside."

The secretary nodded blankly, quietly withdrawing outside and shutting the alloy door tight.

Only Theodore remained alone in the room. He stood bracing both hands against the edge of the desk, taking five or six deep breaths in a row, yet his chest still heaved violently.

He paced back, forth in front of the dividing glass, his gaze looking at the man lying inside the hibernation pod both angry, helpless. When he was on Sirius, his oath to "personally castrate the culprit once caught" was still fresh, yet now he had discovered the perpetrator was none other than the Crown Prince whom he was pouring all his painstaking effort into treating.

As for castration, he certainly did not dare go through with it. However, if he just left his maternal nephew to suffer the grievance of carrying a pregnant belly through childbirth alone, he could not swallow this lump of anger down!

Theodore’s eyes swept past the medical instrument cabinet in the corner of the room, stopping at the specialized gland extraction machine. A bold thought flashed through his mind. Perhaps while this person was sleeping soundly oblivious to heaven or earth, he could secretly jab a needle into the Crown Prince’s gland, drawing out a few tubes of pheromones to send back to Sirius for Liam to nourish the pregnancy?

Theodore strode quickly over to the instrument cabinet, his hand already touching the box of alloy syringes, but merely two seconds later his hand froze again.

That would not work.

First, Noah Coronado was a 2S-grade Alpha currently in the stage of genetic mutation and mental sea collapse, so Noah’s gland was extremely sensitive. Even while in a state of hibernation, so long as an external force directly invaded the gland, the instinctive self-defense mechanism of a 2S-grade would immediately trigger a destructive riot. Setting aside the fact that extracting gland fluid from the Crown Prince without authorization was a capital crime of treason, merely causing Noah to suffer a mental power riot alone would be enough to wipe this research station off the map.

Second, 2S-grade pheromones would rapidly lose their biological activity once separated from the host body. Even if preserved inside a time-freeze storage box, the effect of soothing the fetus would still drop by eighty percent, making it no long-term solution whatsoever.

Theodore let out a long, heavy sigh, pulling his hand back before ruffling his silver-streaked hair. He deliberated for half the day; late at night, once certain nobody was passing through the isolation area, he finally switched on the highest-grade anti-eavesdropping device, using an encrypted line to call straight to Liam’s smart watch.

At this moment on planet Sirius, Liam had just finished eating dinner and was sitting on the sofa rubbing his belly while reading the revenue report for the seventh day since the tourist area opened. He saw the call from his eldest maternal uncle, happily pressing the answer button:

"Hello, Eldest Uncle, did you get back to your workplace safely? How are the analysis results for the blood sample of me and the little one?"

The screen displayed Theodore’s strangely conflicted face. He looked at his maternal nephew smiling gently on the other side of the screen, opening his mouth several times before managing with difficulty to utter a sentence:

"Liam... Earlier when you told me the baby’s Daddy met with an accident to ’pass on’... You know who he is, do you not?"

The smile on Liam’s lips froze slightly. He looked at his eldest maternal uncle’s expression that seemed as though just struck beside the ear by lightning, connecting it with Theodore performing a top-secret mission outside the meteor belt and having a personal connection with Mr. Mason, so the gears in Liam’s head immediately clicked into place.

He lowered his eyes, gently stroking his round belly, calmly asking in return: "Are you in charge of treating him?"

Theodore heard this completely unsurprised answer from his nephew, drawing in a deep breath: "So you really did know already! Since when have you known? Why did you not say a single word to me?!"

"I only tracked it down a few months ago myself." Liam sighed, speaking the truth: "His identity is so sensitive, furthermore he is in a state where his life or death is uncertain; my speaking of it would only drag more trouble onto our family. Besides... what happened that night was originally unintended, both sides were drugged, so I have no intention of using the baby to demand any status from the Royal Family."

Theodore heard his maternal nephew speak in a nonchalant tone, feeling an even deeper ache in his heart. He slapped his hand lightly against the desk, speaking in a low voice:

"We can set aside any talk of status for now, but the baby in your belly carries the bloodline of a 2S-grade Alpha! When I was on Sirius I did not perform a deep scan so I failed to detect it; now that I have cross-referenced the genetic map I finally see the embryo has inherited an immensely vast source of mental power from its father. For the first few months, thanks to that special medicinal ingredient of yours, it was held in check, but from the sixth month onward, when the child’s brain and mental core begin to mature, without the pheromones of its own Daddy directly enveloping and guiding it, not only will the baby be at risk of genetic damage, even your E+-grade body will suffer a backlash from that energy source!"

Liam froze slightly. He hurriedly called out to Nirvana inside his head: [Nirvana, is what my eldest maternal uncle said true? Why did you only tell me before that there was a 3% risk of genetic defects?]

Nirvana, which was lying gnawing on a virtual dried fish inside the soul space, immediately sprang straight up, its eyes running a long string of data: [Host, wait a moment for me to rescan! A few months ago the embryo was still small, plus it was masked by the layer of energy from the mutant watermelon you ate the other day, so I did not detect it. Indeed, the mental core of the little one in your belly is expanding three times faster than a normal fetus! That white watermelon accidentally activated the dominant genes of the 2S-grade Alpha inside the little one; if there are no pheromones from its biological father to suppress it starting from the sixth month, by the eighth month your body will not be able to withstand the pressure!]

Liam: "..." Misfortunes truly never come singly; eating a piece of melon that was too nourishing turned out to be digging a pit to bury himself!

Theodore on the other end of the line saw Liam fall silent with a slightly pale complexion, speaking impatiently: "Initially I intended to secretly extract his pheromones to send back to you, but doing so is both dangerous, unable to preserve their biological activity for long. Liam, this matter concerns the lives of both you, your child, so I want to ask your opinion first. Do you want to come to the research station at my place for a period of time?"

Liam immediately shook his head: "That will not work. The target on me at Sirius and Altair right now is far too large; my every move has no few eyes prying into it. If I am heavily pregnant yet suddenly vanish from the Polaris star system, running all the way out beyond the meteor belt, in case his enemies follow the trail to find the research station, it would be no different from giving away our hiding place."

Theodore knitted his brows tightly: "Then what are we supposed to do now? Can we really just leave you to face the risk?"

Liam tapped his fingers lightly against the armrest of the sofa, his eyes narrowing slightly in calculation. Although the research station outside the belt was secret, it lacked resources; furthermore, the Grass Worm solution made via ultrasonic liquefaction had lost one-third of its medicinal efficacy, so continuing to administer it indefinitely would only help that person hold on, making it difficult for the man to wake up anytime soon.

However, if that person were brought back to Liam’s own turf, it would be a different story altogether.

A moment later, Liam raised his head to look straight into the screen, speaking decisively:

"Eldest Uncle, instead of letting me take the risk of going out there, you should find a way to secretly bring him to planet Cygnus."

"Bring him to Cygnus?!" Theodore was startled: "Are you out of your mind? Cygnus is an agricultural planet with no military defense system; bringing someone who is currently being stalked by an entire pack of wolves in the imperial court back there..."

"The most dangerous place is precisely the safest place." Liam smiled as he analyzed: "First, right now the gaze of the entire Galaxy is pouring onto the tourist planet Sirius, whereas Cygnus in the eyes of outsiders is merely a barren raw-material zone specializing in growing vegetables and composting manure for our family; apart from the transport staff of the Mason family and two farming robots, not a single soul ever wanders near it. Second, beneath the underground cellar of the composting area and the newly built warehouse on Cygnus, there is a signal-shielding system personally designed by Leonardo that not even military satellites can scan through."

Liam paused for a beat, lowering his voice to speak of the most important point:

"Moreover, the raw materials for the mental sea stabilizing medicine that Mr. Mason sent to your station were actually supplied by me. Using the liquefaction method to send it far away reduces its effect by more than half; if you bring him to Cygnus, I have a way to help his mental sea recover faster, while my child and I will also have a ready source of pheromones right beside us."

Theodore was stunned upon finishing listening. He had originally suspected the miraculous medicine Mr. Mason delivered was connected to the food helping Benjamin recover from illness; now that he heard Liam confirm it in person, he could not help feeling shaken before the capability of this maternal nephew.

He pondered, weighing the pros, cons for a long while. Although the current research station lay outside the belt, lately the Insectoid race had been operating abnormally, combined with the factions of the Third Prince and Princess Consort Caroline still frantically scouring every frontier military line, so continuing to stay here long-term was indeed no longer safe.

"Alright!" Theodore gritted his teeth, slapping the desk: "Let me contact Mr. Mason’s side and His Highness’s loyal old veterans to stage a fake transfer of the hibernation pod to another star system to throw them off the scent, while the real person will follow Umbra’s biological waste and fertilizer transport ship straight to Cygnus!"

Liam finished discussing the detailed plan with his eldest maternal uncle, disconnecting the call before letting out a long sigh of relief.

Umbra... was none other than the organization of Logan and Leonardo. Logan had led his branch line to break away from the Cromwell family, establishing an independent clan of his own backed by Umbra. Meanwhile, since his eldest maternal uncle had spoken of traveling with Umbra’s spaceship, Liam guessed the person standing behind this organization certainly had a close connection with the Vance family.

Afterward, he immediately refuted that thought: "Not right; earlier when my second maternal uncle met Leonardo, he had to look several times before recognizing Leonardo, furthermore that demeanor of having only just become acquainted was not an act. Thus, the Vance family is unrelated to Umbra; the only one involved is my eldest maternal uncle alone."

Nirvana immediately said: "Host, I discovered a clue that perhaps not even Leonardo has ever known. That is, Umbra and Mr. Mason have several secret transactions through various channels; some time ago, the batch of Cryomollis that Mr. Mason sent out beyond the meteor belt was also delivered by senior personnel of Umbra."

Liam narrowed his eyes: "You mean, the person standing behind Umbra is none other than..."

Nirvana swished its tail: "I am only guessing, Host. It could be him personally, or it could be that he has close dealings with them."

Liam nodded. Regardless of how tangled the roots of the relationships inside it were, the fact that he and the little one had gained another formidable power backing them was undeniable. Therefore, bringing the person back to Cygnus was the right decision.

Naturally, regarding this matter of "picking up" this mobile pheromone generator to bring back to Cygnus, Liam decided to hide it completely from his two older brothers Benjamin, Alexander, as well as his older sister Isabella. If he let them know the culprit who had knocked up their younger brother was lying stretched out right on their family’s planet, Liam dared bet one hundred percent that the three of them would carry shovels to scoop that Crown Prince up, tossing the man straight into compartment one of the compost pit to serve as greens feeding the microorganisms that very night!

Ten days later.

A large-sized cargo ship covered in meteorite dust, bearing the logo of the Umbra livestock farm, quietly landed on the newly built parking pad in the western district of planet Cygnus.

Liam used the excuse of needing to return to Cygnus to inspect the new tropical crop varieties and readjust the composting formula, bringing only Auntie Camila and private soldier captain Gabriel back to the two-story villa on planet Cygnus. Gabriel was originally an absolute confidant personally entrusted to Liam by Mr. Hall, furthermore Gabriel knew the inside story of the incident on the Capital planet clearly, so he was exceedingly tight-lipped.

Beneath the silent night curtain of Cygnus, a gigantic cargo storage container labeled on the outside [Unprocessed Grade-A Star-Beast Droppings - Do Not Open] was transferred by a specialized forklift straight into the secret basement beneath the old mobile home beside the villa.

When the outer camouflage shell was removed, the hibernation pod made of transparent meteorite glass radiating a pale blue light appeared in the middle of the underground room.

Theodore stepped out from the cargo hold in a baggy stevedore uniform, pulling off his gas mask while exhaling heavily: "Damn it, sitting in the same hold with three hundred tons of real star-beast droppings for five whole days, I feel as though my entire body is reeking of manure right now!"

Liam snorted a laugh, handing his eldest maternal uncle a cup of hot ginger tea: "You have worked hard; I already turned on the warm water in the first-floor bathroom beforehand, so please go wash up to rest first."

Once Theodore and the escorting group of hidden guards went upstairs to arrange their quarters, only Liam remained alone in the underground room.

He slowly stepped over to the side of the hibernation pod.