Chapter 14: Blueberry is a Liberal
After tidying up the car, Zhou Siyan lay down.
As usual, Xue Yu slipped her hand under his shirt, her warm palm resting on his stomach. “Huh, the baby hasn’t said a word all day. Do you think something’s wrong?”
“Probably not,” Zhou Siyan said, also placing a hand on his belly.
Xue Yu leaned in closer. “Baby, why aren’t you talking today? It’s Mama. Can you hear Mama talking?”
No response…
Xue Yu tried again. “Baby, are you unhappy? Why aren’t you talking? Mama is very worried about you.”
Still nothing.
Xue Yu grew anxious. She lifted Zhou Siyan’s shirt and pressed her ear against his stomach. “Baby, why aren’t you making any sounds?” She looked up at him, uneasy. “The baby didn’t die, did it?”
Zhou Siyan’s face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot. “How could it? Don’t say such things.” He was worried too. Had he been taking too many libido suppressants lately and affected the child? He was suddenly frantic and said softly, “Baby, can you hear Papa talking?”
Still no response.
Xue Yu pressed closer and sang to his stomach, “Off to school I go, never ever late~~ I love to learn, I love to work~”
Immediately, a sleepy, lazy sound came from his belly, just one syllable: “Work.”
Xue Yu breathed a sigh of relief. She poked his stomach. “You little lazybones. Not a peep out of you all day. Mama thought you were going to die!”
The tension in Zhou Siyan’s expression visibly eased. “Don’t keep saying such unlucky things. It’s not good for the child to hear.”
“Okay, I’ll be more careful in the future.”
That night, they slept in the same position as before. Both were on their sides, with Xue Yu curled up, her face close to Zhou Siyan’s abdomen. Her proximity soothed the baby, keeping it from acting up and allowing Zhou Siyan to get a good night’s sleep.
In the middle of the night, Xue Yu was woken up by the heat. Drowsily, she realized the source of the heat was Zhou Siyan. She shifted and bumped into something hard. Because they were worried about fuel thieves, both of them were on high alert. Xue Yu subconsciously assumed the hard object was one of the guns Zhou Siyan kept with him. She reached out to touch the “gun,” intending to move it so it wouldn’t poke her. But the moment she touched it, she realized something was wrong and quickly pulled her hand back.
Then, she heard a muffled groan from above her head—strained, pained, and tinged with a hint of suffering.
Xue Yu realized Zhou Siyan’s body was frighteningly hot, burning up as if it were on fire, filling the car with a humid heat. She thought he had a fever. She turned on the dome light, climbed up to look at his face, and then it hit her.
This state… it was familiar. This wasn’t a fever. He was in heat!
After awakening their spirit bodies, people in the White Tower had random periods of heat. When they were still together, she had seen Zhou Siyan in heat before. He did get very hot, burning hot…
“Zhou Siyan, are you in heat?” The question was a bit too blunt. As soon as she asked it, Xue Yu felt a pang of embarrassment.
Zhou Siyan’s eyes were squeezed shut, his brow deeply furrowed. He managed a low, “Mm.”
“Then what do we do? Do you want a shot of suppressant?” She started to get up, intending to get the medical kit.
Zhou Siyan grabbed her wrist. “No need. I can endure it.”
His palm was also scorching hot. “But this can’t be good for the baby either,” Xue Yu said. “What if your body temperature is too high and you cook the baby?”
Zhou Siyan was still insistent, afraid that too many suppressants would affect the child. “Get me a wet towel,” he said. “Wring it out until it’s not dripping.”
“Okay.”
Xue Yu got out of the car, went to the trunk, found a towel, and wet it with water from the barrel, bringing it back to him.
Zhou Siyan had completely taken off his shirt. He took the towel from her, unfolded it, and placed it on his stomach to cool down.
Xue Yu’s heart ached. “You’re in this state, and you’re still only thinking about the baby.”
Zhou Siyan’s voice was still strained. “Isn’t the baby important?”
“The baby is important, but your health is more important.”
“Being in heat doesn’t affect my health.” He placed his hand on the towel and said softly, “Baby, are you hot?”
No response.
He raised his voice and asked again, “Baby, it’s Papa talking to you. Are you hot?”
A voice finally came from his stomach: “Hot.”
Zhou Siyan handed the towel to Xue Yu. “Go wet this again.”
Instead of going immediately, Xue Yu leaned in and spoke to his stomach. “Baby, are you cold?”
The baby: “Cold.”
Xue Yu: “Are you hot?”
The baby: “Hot.”
Xue Yu: “Is it uncomfortable?”
The baby: “fortable.”
Xue Yu: “Is it comfortable?”
The baby: “fortable.”
Xue Yu looked at Zhou Siyan and threw up her hands. “See? It doesn’t know anything. You should stop asking it questions.”
Before Zhou Siyan could reply, the voice from his stomach mimicked again: “tions.”
Zhou Siyan touched his stomach, and a sudden thought made a worried expression cross his face. “Xue Yu, do you think… the baby will only be able to say one word when it grows up?”
Xue Yu hung the towel on the back of the front seat. “Who knows.”
“If the baby is born an idiot, will you blame me?” Zhou Siyan asked seriously.
“How could I blame you for something like that? If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. My genes are bad.”
Zhou Siyan didn’t refute her this time, instead confirming her answer. “Yes, your genes really aren’t that great.”
Now it was Xue Yu’s turn to scowl.
Zhou Siyan added, with perfect logic, “Have you forgotten? When I took you to the hospital for a check-up, the doctor said you had a genetic defect.”
Xue Yu: “…”
It was a rough night for Zhou Siyan, but he toughed it out and didn’t take any suppressants, worried it would be bad for the baby. Xue Yu lay beside him, shaking her head, but didn’t try to persuade him further.
…
The next day, Xue Yu got up and started packing. In the distance, she saw yesterday’s sniper again. He was negotiating with a local driver, seemingly trying to hitch a ride.
“What are you looking at? Let’s go,” Zhou Siyan urged.
“Oh.” Xue Yu got into the driver’s seat and drove away from the safe zone.
About an hour later, the seahorse, which had been snuggled up with the black panther in the back seat, floated out of the car through an open window.
Xue Yu slammed on the brakes. “Blueberry, where are you going?!”
The seahorse floated through the air as if it were in the sea, effortlessly and quickly.
“Where are you going?” Xue Yu shouted. “Are you coming back for lunch?”
The seahorse gave her no response, not even a hint of a mental connection.
“Let’s wait here for it,” Zhou Siyan said.
The seahorse wasn’t gone for long. It returned about twenty minutes later, a piece of meteorite crystal in its mouth. The crystal was translucent like amber and very beautiful. The seahorse flew into the car, used its tail to break the crystal in half, and fed one half to the black panther and the other to the baby seahorse.
Xue Yu had learned about this at the military academy. Spirit bodies didn’t need to eat, but there was one thing that could supplement their energy: meteorite crystals. These crystals were formed from meteorites that had fallen from space during the initial cataclysm. They were also the origin of humanity’s ability to awaken spirit bodies and contained immense energy.
“Blueberry is very responsible. A good mother, and very good to its partner,” Zhou Siyan suddenly remarked.
Are you trying to make a point? Xue Yu thought.
They had a simple lunch. Xue Yu racked her brain for any knowledge she had about pregnancy and looked at Zhou Siyan’s stomach. “Shouldn’t you walk around a bit? You’re pregnant, and sitting in the car for so long might make your legs swell.”
“Okay.”
After Zhou Siyan got out, Xue Yu set the SUV to autopilot, adjusting the speed to its slowest setting, about the same as a person’s walking pace. The one thing this godforsaken place had over Earth was its relatively advanced mechanical technology. The car’s autopilot was sophisticated; the system could plan its own route and automatically scan ahead, avoiding obstacles.
As they walked, Xue Yu found a long, straight tree branch. She thought about what Zhou Siyan had just said about Blueberry being a good mother. She took out her dagger, shaved off all the dry twigs, and fashioned it into a stick, handing it to him. “For you.”
He took it. “What’s it for?”
“To play with.”
“What’s so fun about it?”
Xue Yu took the stick back and swung it a couple of times. “It’s long and straight. That’s what makes it fun.”
Zhou Siyan placed a hand on his abdomen and smiled faintly, as if speaking to the baby. “Mama is a little kid.”
Up ahead, a scattered group of people was walking. Many of them had IV drips, looking like patients on their way to the South Continent for medical treatment. Xue Yu saw that the sniper was in the group. His spirit body was a large, blue-ringed octopus, which was currently wrapped around the two sniper rifles on his back.
“Didn’t you say you had an ex-boyfriend who was a sniper?” Zhou Siyan asked. “What was his spirit body?”
Xue Yu shook her head. “I don’t know. We were only together for a month. I never saw his spirit body.”
Forget his spirit body; she couldn’t even remember what this ex-boyfriend looked like. They had had a one-night stand by accident. Feeling she should be responsible, Xue Yu had suggested they date. He had agreed, but a month later, he broke up with her. During that month, they hadn’t seen each other much. He was often on missions, and his face was either covered in camouflage paint or a mask. Xue Yu had never gotten a clear look at him.
Just then, the seahorse, which had been in the car keeping the panther company, flew out again. It had another small piece of meteorite crystal in its mouth and was heading straight for the sniper with clear intent.
“Blueberry, what are you doing now?!” Xue Yu shouted from behind.
The seahorse approached the sniper, pressed itself against the blue-ringed octopus on his back, and fed it the crystal from its mouth. The octopus seemed to know it. Its writhing tentacles wrapped around the seahorse in an intimate, nuzzling embrace. The octopus didn’t swallow the crystal immediately but held it in its mouth for a moment before spitting it out and feeding it back to the seahorse, mouth to mouth. The seahorse didn’t eat it either, spitting it back to feed the octopus.
They went back and forth, feeding each other mouth to mouth.
Xue Yu could practically see a scene of a lovey-dovey couple showing off their affection, making her clench her fists.
Honey, you eat.
No, honey, you eat.
No, you.
No, you…
Xue Yu was mortified. She shouted, “Blueberry, get back here! Why are you fooling around everywhere!”
Beside her, Zhou Siyan calmly commented, “Blueberry seems to be a liberal.”