LBRDI Chapter 43

---

Small Galaxy

The delicate little girl gulped down two thermoses of water in two gulps and the little pointy horn on top of her head popped back up.

That’s enough water.

[Rumble: Why would it deflate? Is baby Xing Fei made of water?]

[Oasis: I feel like Xing Fei’s horns feel super nice, are they the kind that is bouncy and not hard at all?]

[Red Pork Chop: Does deflating have any special use? I feel that although dragon cubs are strange, their characteristics are very useful.]

[Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs: I’m curious as hell, the dragon cubs all have strangely cute traits.]

There were a lot of humans inquiring in the barrage, so Shen Mian explained, “The cetacean dragon mainly lives on land. When the dragon’s technology was backwards, adult dragons would go to the sea to hunt for food. Their body water content was higher than that of humans and other dragons and they lost water easily. When the cubs are young, they cannot speak or express themselves, so their parents rely on their horns on their heads to determine if the cubs are short of water.”

At the time when the dragon race had not yet established an empire and the level of technology was still very low, there were no childcare centres. The adults had to go to the sea to catch food to eat or sell, the newborn cubs did not even know how to enter the water and had to be left alone at home. Crying at the top of their lungs will consume more water, so cubs who can’t even speak won’t cry when there’s a real water shortage.

When the parents come back and poke the cub’s horn, they will know if they are thirsty and lack water. Now that childcare centres are available, the childcare teachers are too busy to ask, so they poke the horns of the cetacean cubs when they are taking care of other cubs, to determine whether the cubs need water or not. 

Xing Fei set down her bottle and the scales on her tail regained their lustre. She squeezed her little horn and dragged her big tail along with two books.

He Xing picked up the thermos and filled it with water on the second-floor pantry. When he returned, he saw that Xing Fei was still on her feet to put the books on the shelves. She was so small that she couldn’t reach the higher places and leaned on the shelf on her tippy toes to put the book up.

Shen Mian bent down and picked up the book to help her put it on the bookshelf.

[Death Rays: The dean bent down! Wu wu wu, how can he do everything with such style.]

[Falling out of love: Because of the tenderness, the silent thoughtfulness… I know why my wife divorced me, I’ll learn from this.]

[Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs: Hah, a good-looking man does everything with style. When our dean drinks water, I think his Adam’s apple rolling is an A burst.]

He Xing came back after filling the thermos with water and put it down and squatted beside Xing Fei.

“Aren’t you tired after organising them for a few hours? Will you take a break?”
At this point even Yan Tan, who was reading a picture book, was asleep and there were several books stacked beside Gian.

Xing Fei gently stroked the spine of the book, “I like these.”

[Ring: Xing Fei’s eyes were especially bright when she touched those books.]

[It’s sweet: Xing Fei, just like Gian, will probably be a particularly powerful school tyrant later on. That’s great.]

……

Xing Fei’s sleep time was getting shorter and shorter. She now only needed to rest for two hours a day and could mostly stay awake for the rest of the time. Shen Mian, as a person with abilities, also shortened his sleep time appropriately, but even a naturally strong race like the mythical dragons can’t match the cetacean dragon’s natural ability to make the left and right halves of their brains rest alternately.

So most nights, Xing Fei had to spend them alone.

Shen Mian deliberately gave Xing Fei the keys to all the libraries and He Xing put a row of soft sofas and desktop quantum computer’s in the library so that the little girl could be less lonely late at night.

In the early morning, the sky was slightly white.
Xing Fei pushed open the dormitory door with the thermos and walked to the library, opening the door to the new library.

Here were all the books that were just put together today and a good portion of them were sorted by Xing Fei.

Xing Fei went to the bookshelf and picked out a book of poems she’d been looking at during the day, then set aside the poems she had already written.

The call for Nova Magazine’s submissions was in five days and she wanted to refine her poem a bit more. She was so engrossed in her reading that the green and gold dragon cub was already standing in the doorway when she heard footsteps.

Gian rubbed his eyes and sat next to Xing Fei.

“I came out and saw the lights on here, so I came over to check it out.”
He knew that Xing Fei couldn’t sleep, and although Shen Mian’s textbook hadn’t yet covered cetacean dragons, Gian, who wanted to advance his education, had already read through several textbooks on his own.

Xing Fei put down the poetry book and smiled at Gian, “I couldn’t sleep.”

Gian looked up, the only thing in the library besides various books was a desktop quantum computer. Xing Fei always read by herself and would get bored.

He pulled out a book on astronomy from the shelf and took Xing Fei’s hand.

“Come on, let’s go look at the stars.”
The Dean and Uncle He seemed to have spent a lot of time with Xing Fei yesterday, so today it was his turn to stay with Xing Fei.

Xing Fei was led out of the library by him. The roof of the building was unobstructed, making it the best stargazing spot in the centre.

But the door to the roof was locked by Shen Mian. The two dragon cubs, holding books, looked at each other in front of the door.

Gian was very torn: We can’t go call the dean, or we’ll disturb his rest. But if I take Xing Fei back now, I won’t be able to take Xing Fei to look at the stars.

The two dragon cubs stood silently in front of the door, simultaneously falling silent and after a moment, Gian blinked, “So… We’d better…”

The lights in the corridor were suddenly switched on and behind them came Shen Mian’s voice, “Do you want to go to the rooftop?”

Gian felt light and held in the arms of the adult dragon, the little gem dragon blinked, “Were we too noisy?”

He Xing rubbed the little gem dragon’s head, “No, it’s almost time for us to get up.”
Shen Mian and he were already alert in their sleep and they were more likely to wake up after three in the morning.

Shen Mian held Xing Fei’s hand and the little girl took out the book in her arms, “We’re going to the rooftop to look at the stars.”

Shen Mian opened the door and walked to the rooftop with the two little dragon cubs.

“How did you think to look at the stars?”

Gian was a little embarrassed, “Reading all night hurts my eyes, so I thought I’d come out with Xing Fei to look at something else.”

The stars on Water Star were still bright at 3 am. Water Star was a remote agricultural planet in the Empire and most of the land was still undeveloped wasteland that was ecologically sound.

Gian rarely saw the sky at this time of year and took a deep breath of the cold air.

The night temperature in October on Water Star was already very low, so Shen Mian picked up Xing Fei and sat on the low wall. The higher body temperature of humans warmed Xing Fei’s cold hands and feet.

He Xing also hugged Gian. Although the little gem dragon was not as tall as Xing Fei, he was much more robust and carefully leaned on He Xing.

He Xing, who was holding Gian laughed very hard, “Don’t be scared, you’ll be fine if you fall.”
The ground at the bottom of the building is going to suffer.

Gian shook his tail, “Really?”

He Xing nodded, “The dean is here, do I dare to speak nonsense?”

Gian seriously, “You would.”

He Xing, “…”

Shen Mian couldn’t be bothered to look at him.

Xing Fei tilted her head up in Shen Mian’s arms. The dark night stars were scattered and twinkling and Xing Fei’s eyes were bright. Her eyes seemed to cross the distance of light years and roam in the starry sky.

“I want to stand up.”
Xing Fei turned to look at Shen Mian.

Shen Mian, “Are you not afraid?”
Three stories isn’t high for many dragons, especially cetacean dragons, who leap from jagged rocky cliffs and use gravity to plunge into the deep sea to reduce the time it takes to reach the foraging site and avoid appearing like a dragon that has run out of air when they only just reached the site.

Many cetacean cubs are forced by their parents to jump into the water for the first time, but Xing Fei is a human-dragon hybrid and she’s never played with an adult cetacean dragon before, is she not afraid of heights?

Xing Fei shook his head, “I’m not afraid.”

Shen Mian let go of Xing Fei and came down from the low wall. Xing Fei held his hand and walked along the low wall.

The night wind came from all directions and Xing Fei turned around.

“Dean, I feel like I could fly-”

Never before had an elder played with her like this. Xing Fei felt lighter than ever, the night breeze was kept out by soft fluffy pyjamas and there was still a steady stream of warmth from the hand being held by the dean.

The soul of the cetacean dragon yearns for freedom, for wind and giant waves. Xing Fei was dragged down by her own body and can only appreciate the heavens in the vast sea of books.

Shen Mian held her in one hand and walked slowly with her on the short wall, “Do you like being high up?”

Xing Fei raised her other hand, “I want to touch the stars.”

“Touching the stars is unlikely, but you can be higher.”
He Xing let go of Gian and hugged Xing Fei.

Shen Mian had a hunch that this dragon was going to make trouble, but he let go of Xing Fei and hugged Gian.

The little girl was wearing a proper fluffy pyjama tonight and He Xing weighed her up, tossed her high and then caught her securely.

Xing Fei covered her mouth, only letting go of her hand to laugh a little when she landed in He Xing’s arms.

He Xing looked down at the little girl in her arms, “Do you want to go again?”

Shen Mian, “…”
He Xing and an adult cetacean dragon who forced the cubs to jump into the sea must have been quite a conversation starter.

Shen Mian lowered his head and whispered to Gian.

Gian suddenly raised his short claws, “There can be little stars made by dragons.”

He Xing and Xing Fei looked at Gian together. The little green and gold dragon cub gestated for a moment, inhaling a deep breath and exhaling a flame.

His flame was no longer a thin one, it was hot and bright. The pillar of fire broke through the darkness on an unlit night and lit up the centre and removed all the shadows, the building reappearing like it was daytime.

Flame stars.

Shen Mian carried Gian down the short wall and held out his hand towards Xing Fei with his back to the light. “Come.”

He knelt down and stared at Xing Fei.

Shen Mian gathered a mass of mana in his hand, which was the non-lethal mana supplied to He Xing. It seemed to be condensed, but it was loose inside. The relationship between the mana and the factor is one of iron and sword and requires the factor to be forged in order to have a special function.

The silvery spatial ability wrapped around the wooden one and the surge of silver occasionally turned up bits of dark green.
Like an aurora borealis, or a slow-moving cosmic island.

Xing Fei’s eyes widened.

Once Shen Mian withdrew his hand, once the mana left his supply, it withered down and faded away as they descended.

Shen Mian withdrew his hand, “A small galaxy.”

Xing Fei held up the mana and watched them leak through her fingers into the darkness as if she were holding up an irretrievable galaxy.

Gian, “So pretty-”

Xing Fei, “Like older brother’s scales.”

Gian’s flames had disappeared and the slowly spiralling mana was withering away, leaving only a glimmer of light.
He Xing looked through the light of stars to see Shen Mian. The darkness blurred the brow arch that was soo cold and his eyes were illuminated by a bright light, beautiful and a little unreal.

He Xing thought: This is the best-looking person I’ve ever seen.

sauced

---

Shallotnoodle

Please support the author by buying the raws.

---

---