"...Then I don't know, but I'm not the only half-blood child born. Besides Keminting Town, children whose parents are unknown due to the war in the border areas more than a decade ago were also transported here and adopted or sent to orphanages." Kuna spread her hands. "In order to protect these orphans who were unfortunately abandoned during the war, the Federation investigates related reports very strictly... That being said, I think you, a child like meddling too much? Do you really understand what I'm saying?"
Hugo used the same excuse again: "We are coming from Port d'Alple."
It's a really irrational but surprisingly useful reason.
Kunna nodded and said, "I wish you a happy vacation in Kemingting Town. If you have any questions, remember to go to the police."
She patted Hugo on the head, stood up and walked towards the school gate.
"Wait a minute!" Hugo called her, "Big sister, can you please leave me your contact information?"
Kunna handed over a business card and said, "Happy Cemetery, everyone is welcome to visit at any time. No tickets are required, but there will be a bed fee if you bring a corpse to visit."
"That's it, I look forward to seeing you next time!"
“…”
"Wow." Erica looked at her retreating figure and tugged at Hugo's sleeve, saying, "Is this what it feels like to be near the capital planet? It's definitely different from when we were in Port Alple."
Hugo glanced sideways: I’m afraid you also have some strange misunderstanding about the capital planet?
**
Azathoth slept until he woke up naturally, and it was already the next morning.
He opened his eyes on the bed in the master bedroom of Ford Hill Mansion, walked barefoot to the window and pulled back the heavy velvet cloth. What came into view was a few centimeters of smooth snow and the crystal-like icings on the treetops in the garden.
But this scene was completely different from the one on the desolate planet. The former was filled with Christmas-like deep green plants, colorful villa roofs of varying sizes like jigsaw puzzles, a clear blue sky, and the innocent smiles of children. The latter was filled with gray fog, bottomless waters, frozen snowfields, and dilapidated building wreckage.
It was hard to tell which Azathoth preferred. He stared out the window in silence for a moment, his mind racing with the conversation in his dream. A moment later, Igor knocked on the door and walked in. "Are you awake? Hugo just took Erica out to order breakfast. If there's anything you want to buy, I'll text them now."
"Nothing." Azathoth withdrew his gaze from the warm and beautiful fairy-tale world, sighed softly, and then took the initiative to say, "Let's go for a walk in the yard."
"Hmm? Okay." Although he didn't know what was going on, Igor quickly agreed. He put the mobile device aside and said, "I don't know if you saw the news today. The Zerg issued a statement on the Starnet, saying that you are their..."
"Wait a minute, we'll talk about that later," Azathoth interrupted, leading his men to the pine and cypress trees beside the snowy courtyard wall. The black-haired, black-eyed god peered closely at the ground beneath his feet, a hint of subtle confusion on his face. "Igor, don't you think the snow in Keminting is different from that on the desolate planet?"
Igor frowned blankly, raised his hand and touched the branch above his head, and the pure white snow immediately shattered and fell on his shoulders.
"...What's different about that?" He pondered for two or three seconds without a clue. He patted his shoulder and tentatively replied, "As far as I know, Kemingting Town has had serious air pollution in recent years. However, because it's close to the capital and a popular holiday destination for many wealthy and powerful people, many factories that complement local industries have been continuously expanding..."
"Shh - it shouldn't be about this, it has nothing to do with others." Azathoth took a step forward, stared at him and made a gesture to silence him.
"I just thought, 'Your existence also implies my existence', maybe the 'I' in the dream is right. Igor, this snow fell because of you, because you appeared on the snowy plains of the desolate planet, so I had a dream." "W-what?" Igor stuttered suddenly, "You, you mean..."
As he spoke, he inched his feet, attempting to retreat slightly, only to have a tentacle emerge and wrap around his ankle, then move up his straight suit trousers to his shoulder. Azathoth didn't think anything of it, but the tentacles pulled Igor's neat tie slightly apart, revealing his disheveled shirt collar and a small shadow cast by his collarbone.
"Sir...?" Igor barely reacted, half-raising his head and swallowing nervously. He instinctively kicked the tentacle as it reached out, but the familiar cool, smooth touch reminded him of his current situation, and his slight resistance collapsed. The gray-haired young man took a deep breath, and with his breath, large white clouds of mist appeared between their faces, obscuring Azathoth's focused expression.
"Don't move." He heard the god say gently, "This angle is convenient for me to observe."
Igor: “…”
He felt that his brain must be congested - what on earth was there to observe!
The two of them were so close together that an inexplicable tension dominated Igor's movements. He subconsciously flinched, tensing his shoulder muscles and leaning back, but it seemed as if he was squeezing himself directly into the pile of tentacles.
Azathoth blocked all his routes of retreat.
"...So beautiful." The god murmured, staring intently into Igor's bright red eyes. To see more clearly, he reached out and cupped the back of his head, tracing his fingers into the dark gray hair, feeling the vibrant vitality and warmth dancing through his fingertips. "There's never been a color like this on the desolate planet. Perhaps this is why I want to see it again..."
Seeing these eyes shrouded in misty fog.
The sweat and tears that were about to fall condensed on his eyelashes, reflecting pearl-like light, making Igor's pupils look like a deep ocean, surging with waves that no one else could see.
But at the same time, Azathoth found himself completely unwilling to see Igor get hurt. He recalled the sour and low emotions that occasionally flowed through the connection between him and his followers, and his stomach suddenly felt a burning sensation again.
A long-lost hunger made him dizzy. Azathoth withdrew his hand from Igor's hair and gently brushed the tip of his ear, which had flushed red. Like a person approaching a delicious meal but completely unsure how to eat it, he meticulously and precisely dissected the human before him, inch by inch, with an expression as if analyzing some profound worldly problem. Until Igor could no longer bear it and squeezed the tentacle clinging to his skin, he asked intermittently:
"Sir, what exactly do you want to see..."
The back door of the villa suddenly opened with a bang.
Hugo walked over angrily. "Is it over? Not yet? I worked so hard to go out and gather intelligence, and you two are just here making dog food?"
Igor: “…”
Azathoth's tentacles vanished in an instant. He stood up, took two steps back, and glanced at Hugo. His throat was dry and hoarse from hunger, "What does this have to do with you?"
"Of course it does! Please also consider the androids who have no human rights!"
Hugo pointed at Igor and said, "If you two are together, you will be the number one father in the eyes of others."
Then Azathoth: "Father Number Two."
"So what am I? A son conceived through spiritual communication between the two of you?!"
"Why should I have to recognize two more fathers when I come back from going out? This isn't a high school game. This isn't fair!"
As a bionic man, you're thinking too far ahead... You might as well change your hair and eye color now, maybe it can reduce some misunderstandings.
Hugo's train of thought was so bizarre that Igor, who was sorting his clothes, spent so long looking at it that he forgot to refute the hypothesis of 'if you two were together'. He finally changed the subject and asked, "Sorry, so what did you find?"
"It's a big sister named Kunna." Erica poked her head out from behind Hugo and whispered.
"This person." Hugo projected Kunna's photo with a cold expression. "He didn't give a last name when he introduced himself, but I found something very interesting."
Another young man's face appears next to the left side of Kunna's photo.
"His name is Richard Torum. He was originally Marshal Sullivan's aide-de-camp. Earlier this year, he submitted evidence of Marshal Igor Sullivan's possible treason to the Federal Prosecutor's Office. Three months later, he was transferred to serve under the current border commander, Marshal Gonger, but to this day he has not officially taken up his post."
"A simple data comparison reveals that Charlie Torum and Kunna's facial features are 82.6% similar, despite their different hair and eye colors."
"So I made a reasonable guess," Hugo said slowly, "Quinna is very likely a direct blood relative of Mr. Charlie Torum."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
