Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 218: Not Her Replacement

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Yao Yuan was in a fine mood today because the six-legged Black Dragons had given birth to another baby dragon. Maybe it had something to do with the change in their diet, but the total number of baby dragons now had reached three. Combined with the one Yao Yuan found, humanity now had four baby dragons. They would be great assets to mankind in the future.

As long as the baby dragon was raised by human, then they would have a natural intimacy towards human beings. This intimacy would follow them for life. Even though it might decrease their feral nature and thus lower their combat power, the six-legged Black Dragons didn’t completely depend on their feral nature to be such an imposing presence on the battlefield. They had their naturally impressive physical prowess for that. Therefore, not being raised in the wild was not an issue. If this was how things went, in the next 100 years, or at least while Yao Yuan was still alive, complete taming of the Black Dragon was entirely possible.

Buoyed by this good mood, Yao Yuan specially went to purchase one kilogram of Milk Fruit. It cost him five days’ worth of salary. This was one of the few favorite foods Bo Li liked. When he thought about how Bo Li’s face would light up when she saw the Milk Fruit, the splurge was be worth it.

When Yao Yuan arrived home, Bo Li was making dinner, a simple, home-cooked meal with some of Yao Yuan’s favorite foods. When he saw this, his heart warmed. He was comforted by a sense of belonging. No matter how difficult it was outside, it would be safe and welcoming when one was home. This was something he would use his life to protect.

However, his heart skipped a violent beat when he saw Bo Li’s face. After all, the two of them had been officially together for half a year. If calculated from the beginning, the period of time they spent in each other’s close company was about one and a half years. They were familiar with each other to the point where one could tell the other’s mood from their expressions and demeanor.

At that moment, Yao Yuan saw anger, disappointment, and determination on Bo Li’s face. He had a bad feeling when he remembered their most recent conversation.

"Err…" Yao Yuan sat himself at the table, picked up a big bowl of rice, hesitated, finally forced a smile, and said, "What’s wrong? You don’t look so happy; is something from the lab bothering you? Or you’re not feeling well? By the way, I bought your favorite Milk Fruit…"

Bo Li interrupted him, "Let’s have dinner first. We need to have a serious talk after it."

The usually assertive Yao Yuan was cowed by guilt. He nodded anxiously and started eating. As he shoveled the food into his mouth, he kept trying to figure out why Bo Li was angry, what she would want to discuss, and how to handle that prickly discussion… like the issue of pregnancy that she recently brought up.

After Bo Li cleaned the table, she told Yao Yuan directly, "I want to get pregnant and have children together with you. Can you promise me that?"

Yao Yuan had prepared many different scripts in his mind, but at that moment, he stumbled. After an uncomfortable silence, he uttered, "But I can’t have…"

"Yes, you can." Bo Li interrupted him again, saying calmly, "Yes, you can. Will you please stop lying to me? It’ll only lower you in my eyes. I only need a promise today, or tell me truthfully why you did this to me. Don’t feed me any more lies."

Yao Yuan’s heart skipped another beat. He was certain Bo Li had found out about some things, but that was no longer important. Who told her, what she knew, all these were frivolous details. At the end of the day, he was in the wrong, so he couldn’t blame it on others. Therefore, after some consideration, he came clean. "It’s not my intention to deceive you, but can you give me more time about on the issue of children? I believe both of us need a bit more time to prepare ourselves…"

Bo Li launched into her question immediately, "Then how long? Five years? Or ten years? Or one hundred years? It took you that long to fulfill the promise you made to bring me to the beach; what about this one?"

"…"

Yao Yuan was speechless. He sat there quietly even though he had many things he wanted to say. Finally, he sighed tiredly, "Can you please give me a little more time? For me to forget the pain and start anew…"

Bo Li suddenly walked to Yao Yuan’s side and pulled him in for a hug. She leaned her head on her heart, saying, "I don’t want you to forget your past. If we erase everything that has happened to us, then what are we? I’m not forcing you to forget it ever happened, because that made you who you are today… and I’m deeply in love with the Yao Yuan I see before me. I don’t implore you to suppress your past for my sake. Instead, I wish for you to draw strength from it to accept a different future, to accept me and our child…"

"…Our child…"

Suddenly, these few familiar words rang in Yao Yuan’s mind. His expression changed immediately. Shaking his head wildly, he said, "Hong, you can’t possibly give birth to this child. Hong, listen to me…"

"Hong?"

Bo Li repeated the unfamiliar name. She pulled herself away from Yao Yuan. She stared at the man before her and despair crashed over her like a tsunami. Her heart was being pulled apart. Even when she received news about her father’s death, she didn’t feel this way. That was because her father was at a terminal stage of cancer, so even if he didn’t die by Yao Yuan’s hands, he would eventually die from the disease several months later.

A simple word shook Bo Li’s normally indifferent heart. She felt her heart shattering into fragile pieces. Her eyes were red, but no tears seemed to come.

"I don’t know what to say anymore, Yao Yuan. The memories of the things that we’ve been through flooded my mind; the time we met, the arguments we had on the Hope, the time you jokingly awarded me 250 H-coins, our altercation on the battlefield, and most recently, the wonderful day we spent on the beach. I really love you, and I want to spend our lives together, hopefully with a family of our own, but… but…

"Yao Yuan, I’m not her replacement…"

After saying those words, Bo Li turned and left. The moment she turned her head away from him, her tears fell like chain of pearls, breaking into pieces when they hit the ground…

Yao Yuan raised his hand weakly as if trying to grab at something, but all he got was air. He couldn’t even say a word. He slummed back down on his chair. After Bo Li had left the room, he mumbled softly, "No, you’re not her replacement. You’re really not…"

Alas, it was already too late…

That night, Yao Yuan carried a few bottles of spirit to the beach alone. It was the spot where he once saw the sunrise with Bo Li. By now, the stretch of beach had added many public amenities, like a freshwater showers, changing areas, parasols, and beach lounge renting places. As people settled into a comfortable rhythm, conveniences like these tended to spring up.

While Yao Yuan was drinking himself into a stupor, about ten Defense Unit soldiers and two Black Star Troopers were patrolling the area. It was not that Yao Yuan requested for their presence, but the rule of the new capital stated that no one was allowed outside of the city after night fell. Today was the first time Yao Yuan had used his Chancellor’s special privilege, the first time he violated his own rules. Therefore, the night patrols assigned a few soldiers to escort Yao Yuan, to ensure his safety.

After half an hour, a group of people approached from a distance away. After the patrols realized it was Guang Zhen leading a small troop of Defense Unit soldiers, they let their guards down. Guang Zhen saluted the patrols and left them to their devices. He sat down beside Yao Yuan, grabbed one of the bottles, and took a small gulp.

"Hmm, this is Lao Bai Gan [1]. Rich bouquet and goes down smoothly; this must be a recent brew," Guang Zhen commented after he wiped his mouth.

Yao Yuan didn’t reply. He took up his own bottle and clinked it against Guang Zhen’s before tossing it back.

Guang Zhen sipped on the liquor to steel his determination. "Ol’ Yao, it’s me who told Bo Li… about your past. I’m sorry, I really didn’t know it would end up like this, I really…"

Yao Yuan shook his head. "This is not your fault, Ol’ Wong. I deceived her first. I planned to tell her a few years in why I couldn't have a child with her, but I underestimated her autonomy… In any case, I guess this is the end for us. It might be better this way."

Guang Zhen took another heavy gulp of the spirit. He eyed the soldiers, and after making sure they were out of earshot, he whispered, "But don’t worry, I didn’t reveal your biggest secret… About how you’re a genetic clone…"

Yao Yuan nodded. "Like I said, it worked out better for the both of us. She deserves better than what I can give her. I don’t want to deprive her of the joy of motherhood…"

Guang Zhen laughed bitterly because he had no idea what else he could say. After another sip of the liquor, he added, "Right, after Bo Li came to me today, I ran a check on her recent activities and realized that she passed your blood sample over to Ivan for testing. Don’t worry, because I have asked someone to deal with the sample over at Ivan’s… But Ol’ Yao, technology is constantly advancing, so don’t worry too much. Maybe when we reach the height of 4th revolution, our genetic technology will be powerful enough to fix the natural flaw of your cloned body, so…"

Before Yao Yuan could reply, about ten soldiers rushed over. Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen recognized the one leading as one of the leaders for the Space Surveillance Department. He was a second-lieutenant, so part of the Barracks. Seeing his anxious arrival, Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen looked at one another and stood up in a hurry.

"Captain! We found, we found…"

The second-lieutenant started yelling even before he got near.

Yao Yuan ran to meet him and told him to stop talking. He had Guang Zhen move the surrounding soldiers away before he asked the second-lieutenant, "Why? What happened? Don’t worry, tell me softly. Remember the confidentiality clause."

The blanched second-lieutenant said, in a barely audible whisper, "A neutron star fragment suddenly appeared outside of the solar system and…

"According to the calculations by the central mainframe, it will collide with the sun in the next three years!"

Translator's Thoughts

Lonelytree Lonelytree

[1] Laobaigan is one proverbial brand of Chinese liquor.