Chu Rong saw Qiao Zhiya in Qiao Yi’s arms for the first time, reflexively wanted to reach out, but considering his current position and impression in Qiao’s parents’ hearts, he discreetly withdrew his hand, lifted his eyes to meet Qiao Yi’s gaze, handed over the insulated food box, and said, “Uncle, this is dinner. Also, the flagship will land on the Capital Star tomorrow morning.”
“Are we going home? So soon?” Qiao Zhiya couldn’t help but speak first, thinking of Gu Yan’an, whom he hadn’t seen for a while, and her baby in her belly, getting excited.
Chu Rong’s gaze shifted back to him, softened, nodded, and responded, “Yes, we took a special route. We’ll be home tomorrow.”
Qiao Zhiya’s happiness was evident as he excitedly flapped his wings, wanting to rush over and rub against Chu Rong. However, he restrained himself in consideration of his father, and instead just smiled foolishly at him.
The relaxation of Qiao Yi’s touch on his son and Chu Rong’s gentleness were unreserved. Qiao Yi patted his son’s small body, reached out to accept the food box Chu Rong had brought, met Chu Rong’s gaze, and said, “Thank you.” Then he stepped back and closed the door.
The gentleness in Chu Rong’s eyes slowly faded as Qiao Zhiya disappeared from view. He looked at the closed door, touched the spot where Qiao Zhiya had just stood, clenched his fist, and turned to stride away — there was much more he needed to do to help Qiao’s parents quickly adapt to the Federation.
As Chu Rong’s figure disappeared, Qiao Zhiya stopped flapping his wings and turned to look at his father. Suppressing his longing for Chu Rong, he joyfully said, “When we get home tomorrow, Mom and Dad will be able to see the little rabbits I’ve been raising. They’re all so cute!”
“Home…” Qiao Yi noticed his choice of words and exchanged a glance with Mi Lai, touching her and nodding.
These past two days, Qiao Yi and Mi Lai had been focused on watching videos. They ate casually with nutrient supplements, using ingredients stored in their storage rings to specially prepare food for Qiao Zhiya. They had sent back everything Chu Rong had brought before, so this food box marked their first acceptance of Chu Rong’s care.
Previously, they had been furious and had wanted to take their son away immediately. Now, their views on Chu Rong had softened slightly, and they had also learned to look at things from another perspective.
Opening the food box, inside were dishes like steak and vegetable salad that catered to their eating habits. After removing the layers of food and juice on top, the snacks at the bottom were revealed.
Mi Lai’s anger dissipated with just one glance at them. “These are all snacks our baby likes…” She muttered discontentedly as she took out the nuts and dried fruits one by one. Seeing that the nuts were already peeled and very convenient for Qiao Zhiya in his current small dragon form to nibble on, made her feel even more depressed.
If the other party was really bad, she could deceive herself into continuing to be hostile and naturally take back her baby. But the other party was careful and considerate in every way, not rushing or talking too much, quietly enduring. As a kind-hearted dwarf mother, she didn’t know what to do.
Accept it? Or not? If they didn’t accept it, their son liked the white-haired man so much, and the white-haired man didn’t seem as bad as she imagined. She didn’t want to be the bad person who destroyed her son’s happiness.
Seeing his wife’s dilemma, Qiao Yi reached out and stroked her hair, unsure how to comfort and reassure her.
Qiao Zhiya, however, didn’t see his mother’s conflict. He thought she was just sighing casually and saw that all the snacks were indeed ones he liked to eat. He retracted his claws shyly and said, “Next time, I’ll ask Chu Rong to prepare snacks that Dad and Mom like. He’s really thoughtful and kind.”
Mi Lai looked at him with a pout, couldn’t help but grab him and rub him hard, muttering something incomprehensible.
Qiao Zhiya was confused by the rubbing, turned to look at his father, who smiled, let his wife vent, and moved the last layer of the food box. Underneath, he found another compartment containing a book with the lingua franca that Qiao Zhiya had learnt from. His eyes narrowed, he took out the book and flipped through it, confirming it was a beginner’s guide to the language. He closed the book and put it away.
After dinner, they continued watching videos. Surprisingly, after the competition video, there was footage of their engagement.
Qiao Zhiya felt a little shy but also very eager, hoping his parents could see how happy he was.
The scene began with the beautifully decorated courtyard of Chu family’s residence. Mi Lai paused, her gaze falling on the beautiful treehouse in the courtyard. She hugged her son tightly. Though reluctant, she had to admit that Chu Rong had done his best to give their baby everything he could.
The warm and happy music, surrounded by relatives and friends, the lovers exchanging rings in front of the treehouse… Mi Lai and Qiao Yi watched their blushing son kissing Chu Rong in the video, feeling a mixture of heartache and sentimentality.
This was their baby’s happiest moment, but they had missed it because they had been selfishly traveling, carelessly losing track of their son.
Mi Lai wiped away her tears secretly, hugged her worried son close, choked up and apologized, tears falling one by one. Finally, she couldn’t help but cry softly.
Her crying was usually bold and hearty, never so heavy and suppressed before. Qiao Zhiya was stunned for a moment, then his heart immediately tightened. He reached out his claws to hold her, anxiously asking, “Mom, what’s wrong… Mom, it’s my fault, don’t cry… Mom…”
Mi Lai shook her head vigorously, stroking his small body. Overwhelmed by guilt and self-blame accumulated over more than two years, she was crushed as a mother.
Qiao Yi sighed, reaching out to embrace her, his eyes filled with deep remorse and guilt.
Their current journey had started because he wanted to find a magic tome. The destination was a dangerous environment, and out of selfishness, he had tacitly agreed to his son’s desire to stay in the village alone and try to be independent. That’s why they left Qiao Zhiya alone in that village.
After crying for a while, Mi Lai suddenly pushed her husband away, got up, and thrust her son into her husband’s arms before rushing out with a giant hammer towards the door.
Qiao Zhiya was stunned and quickly flapped his wings to chase after her, anxiously calling out, “Mom, what are you doing?”
“That white-haired ugly thing actually dared to publicly kiss you and even dared to propose to you without my and Qiao Yi’s consent! I’m going to beat him to death!” Mi Lai answered angrily, leaving the room without looking back, slamming the door loudly behind her, her earth-elemental aura emanating.
Qiao Zhiya became even more anxious upon hearing this. Qiao Yi quickly held him in his arms, comforting him, “Don’t worry, let her vent. She knows what she’s doing.”
Qiao Zhiya looked back at his father, recalling his mother’s quiet tears just moments ago, hesitating and stopping his flapping wings, his eyes filled with worry.
In the central area of the flagship, everyone felt a gust of wind sweep past them, and then the door to the highest conference room was smashed open. A tremendous force surged towards Chu Rong, who was seated in the main seat of the conference room.
Fan Xiangnan and Lin Zhen, who were discussing how to arrange Qiao’s parents’ official residency in the Federation, were shocked. They hurriedly stood up to protect Chu Rong, but Chu Rong sensed the incoming force and immediately released his spiritual power to push them away. Then he drew out a standard-issue energy blade to block the attack.
Crack! The energy blade shattered under the blow of the giant hammer, forcing Chu Rong to step back.
Mi Lai stopped her attack, gestured to the outside, and in broken lingua franca, ordered, “Arena, now.” She swung the giant hammer to the ground with a dull thud, exuding a fierce aura.
Fan Xiangnan and Lin Zhen stared dumbfoundedly at the scene, somewhat unaccustomed to Mi Lai’s sudden display of dominance and intimidation. They couldn’t help but look towards Chu Rong in unison, only to see Chu Rong calmly respond with a simple “okay” before walking out first.
Mi Lai followed suit, and the two disappeared from the conference room in a flash.
Fan Xiangnan and Lin Zhen were dumbstruck, taking a few seconds to regain their senses. Fan Xiangnan was the first to react, taking out his communicator and urgently contacting Chu Huai. “Bad news! Qiao’s mother and the Marshal are fighting.”
Chu Huai, who was in his study sorting through documents, was so startled that he almost threw his e-book away. Without caring about his work anymore, he hurriedly ran outside.
In less than five minutes, everyone gathered at the training ground, staring wide-eyed at Mi Lai and Chu Rong in the middle of their fierce fight, shocked by the intensity of their battle.
“Oh my god, is Erge insane? He’s actually fighting for real with Qiao’s mom, and he even brought out his double-barreled gun!” Chu Yan pulled at his hair, feeling like this was the end of the world.
Chu Huai also felt like he was suffocating, watching Chu Rong mercilessly aiming a shot at Mi Lai, choked with emotions, almost choking himself.
This was bad, really bad, completely disastrous.
“What do we do now? Should we go and try to stop them?” Fan Xiangnan anxiously asked.
“In this situation, whoever tries to intervene might end up dead,” Lin Zhen frowned, calculating the current strength on the field and feeling that perhaps they should raise the protective level of the training ground.
Chu Yan simply turned and walked away, saying, “I’ll go call Uncle Qiao and Qiao to come over!”
“Swoosh—”
A short dagger flew straight and embedded itself in the ground right in front of Chu Yan. Everyone turned their heads to look. Chu Yan hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and walked back.
Chu Rong clearly didn’t want them to disturb Qiao Zhiya, everyone exchanged glances, and then collectively suppressed their anxiety, looking back into the field.
In the center, Mi Lai approached Chu Rong again, no longer holding back. Magic surged wildly towards Chu Rong, while flames of brown color ignited on the giant hammer, wielding an aura that seemed capable of smashing everything towards Chu Rong.
Chu Rong immediately sidestepped to dodge and no longer held back his strength, releasing his spiritual power and aiming the double-barreled gun at Mi Lai.
“Bang!”
“Boom!”
The giant hammer smashed into the ground, creating a large pit in the alloy surface. Mi Lai leaped in response, evading Chu Rong’s gunfire, causing the bullets to explode on the ground, also creating a huge crater and scorching black marks everywhere.
After a brief exchange, they swiftly separated. Mi Lai twisted her body like a lingering shadow, closing in on Chu Rong with a cunning angle and intense killing intent. Chu Rong immediately dodged back, his gun barrels turning with precise and swift movements.
“Boom!”
“Bang!”
Another round of gunfire ensued, damaging the ground once more. Mi Lai’s hair was grazed by the gunfire, and Chu Rong’s clothes were torn by the flames of earth magic.
Chu Huai felt like his heart couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t understand Chu Rong’s current actions. Unless he didn’t want to continue with Qiao Zhiya and was prepared to upset Qiao’s parents to remain single for the rest of his life, there was no reason that justified him mercilessly fighting with Qiao’s mother like this!
His head and heart were both hurting. He couldn’t control his younger brother anymore.
Chu Yan was also at his wit’s end, frantically pulling at his hair, but he didn’t dare to step forward to intervene.
Mi Lai was focused on forging ahead and didn’t care much for cultivation, so her strength was only at the level of a Grand Mage, similar to Qiao Zhiya.
Chu Rong had just upgraded to the SSSS-level in spiritual power, theoretically making him slightly stronger than Mi Lai. However, the resilience and hidden potential of earth magic being one tier higher than spiritual power made him somewhat passive. Moreover, contrary to what others might think, he wasn’t actually giving it his all.
After all, she was Qiao Zhiya’s mother. Though he wanted to let her vent and display her strength, he still exercised restraint. His attacks seemed fierce but were actually very restrained.
Up to this point, he had been on the defensive, retaliating only to force Qiao’s mother to stop her attacks.
Mi Lai soon noticed his restraint and felt infuriated. After another round of exchanges, she suddenly put away her giant hammer and rushed forward bare-handed. In broken Common Language, she said, “Use your full strength, or your sweetheart walks out.”
The implication was clear. Chu Yan paused for a moment, then also put away his weapon, immediately intensifying his attacks.
Mi Lai gritted her teeth, using her physical advantage and excellent combat skills honed from hunting in the forest to throw a punch towards his face, eyes flashing with ferocity—”You ugly thing! I’ll beat you to death!”
