Chapter 1376: Xia Fan

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

Ten months of gestation, one day of birth.

It was not long afterwards that Xia Fei’s third child with Avril was born.

It was a boy, with rosy red cheeks and fair skin. His eyes were large and his gaze was filled with vigor, looking very much like Xia Fei and his pretty wife Avril.

Except this child did not cry when he was born. Instead, he looked at the faces of his parents and giggled, his tiny hands waving constantly, almost like he was trying to clap.

“Strange. Why isn’t he crying?” Xia Fei restlessly stroked his chin, perplexed.

Babies would always cry. Whether it was his oldest, Xia Xiaofei, or his second daughter, Xia Xiaowei, both were crying when they were born.

The only one different was this third child of his. Not only did the boy not cry, he was even laughing, his lips curling into a crescent moon as he let out that tinkling laughter. How he looked as his hands waved like he was dancing, as if he was celebrating his birth into this world.

“Father, look,” The usually quiet Xia Xiaofei, who was fond of reading books, set aside the thick book titled “Cosmic Chronicles Volume 7”, and pointed out to the starry space outside the porthole.

“What is it?” Xia Fei walked to his son’s side and froze up.

A meteor shower seemed to have broken out without any warning in the endless expanse of darkness, a beautiful sight as countless meteors streaked across space, lighting up the dark sky.

Xia Xiaofei was still young, but he possessed the calm one would expect from an adult. He spoke in a serious tone, “I read in the books that when there’s a heavenly phenomenon upon birth, there would be an auspicious sign. There were many great people who would be accompanied by such manifestations when they were born.”

Xia Fei nodded, and took both his son and daughter into his arms, happily saying, “But of course. After all, he is my son!”

…

As time went by, the happiness that this third child displayed very quickly disappeared. In its place was a look of glumness.

Xia Fei discovered that though his son was adorable, he did not have a seventh brain region.

Xia Xiaofei and Xia Xiaowei both had their father’s genes, demonstrating astounding talent not long after they were born. They were the Fiendish Blade Skywing, inheriting the speed super ability. Yet it was the youngest who was born with no talent whatsoever, aside from an adorable smile.

Xia Fei was despondent, and used everything he had learned in his life to do all sorts of tests on his son’s body, but everything failed.

Xia Fei was unwilling to accept his youngest would be a mere mortal, so he brought him across the universe, seeking help from the Fiends and the Draconids, as well as all his friends.

Finally, when the baby was finally one year old, Xia Fei helplessly admitted that out of his three children, there was really a mortal among them, and that he could never live a life like his, with a pair of Fiendwings on his back, flying freely across the galaxy and nine heavens.

Looking at their sleeping infant, Avril showed the tenderness of a mother, “Look, even when he’s asleep he’s still smiling. What a handsome smile.”

Changing the subject all of a sudden, Avril changed her tone and somewhat reproachfully said, “Even if he does not have a seventh brain region, he is still our son. And what’s so bad about being mortal? You’re anything but normal, and your days and nights are inundated with troubles and problems, constantly worrying me to death.

“Look, he’s now one years old. You ought to give our third child a name, right?”

Xia Fei nodded, looking at his youngest son with gentle eyes and said, “Then… Let us call him Xia Fan, in hopes that he can lead a fulfilling and normal life.”

…

Xia Fei’s youngest son’s first birthday was a momentous occasion.

Everyone came to congratulate him, and God’s Eden was crowded with all his friends. Everyone, young and old, from the Skywing Clan had never been one for rules, and their casual personalities very quickly turned the party into a boisterous affair. Everyone was exchanging drinks, heartily imbibing alcohol without any restraint, acting as if they would not be stopping until they were all properly drunk.

All of a sudden, someone heard a scream coming from Avril’s bedroom.

Trouble!

In that instant practically everyone rushed over. The banquet was trampled, and God’s Eden was in a mess.

Pushing open the door to Avril’s bedroom, everyone saw her in a pretty white long dress, adorned with simple yet precious jewelry and make-up.

As the hostess, Avril would of course have to receive guests, which was why she had put in a lot of effort in dressing up.

But at this moment, the make-up on her face was already smeared, and tears were streaking down her face. Avril was as pale as fresh snow, her breathing labored. She pointed to the empty crib and screamed hysterically, “He’s gone! Our precious third son was gone when I left the powder room!”

*Boom*

There was a buzzing sound that echoed in everyone’s head instantaneously, standing rooted to the ground as if they had just been struck by lightning.

Xia Fan was nowhere in his crib; all that was left was a set of windchimes that hung from the cot, still softly twisting in the wind, tinkling its crisp notes.

　　…

　　…

　　…

There were no good men under the dome.

No one had any idea who had thrown this transparent skydome up, but a whole host of scoundrels from all over the universe were trapped under it.

At this very moment, it was already late at night. There was a machinist and a doctor sitting outside a tomb, looking up at the stars above.

The machinist only had one good eye and a mechanical eye, one good limb and another mechanical arm, one good leg and a mechanical leg.

Ultimately, the machinist was a half human, half-robot mostronsity. He did not need to eat, and relied on the energy crystal embedded in his abdomen’s storage device to survive.

In contrast, that doctor had an ashen countenance, looking sickly, skinny and always coughing. His eyes were completely sullen, almost as if he could just die at any moment.

“It has been a hundred and twenty-three years, four months and nine days. How I really want to escape from this accursed place,” the machinist’s voice was a hoarse and electronic sounding. He did not have a voice box, and used a sonic vibrator as a replacement.

“Who doesn’t wish to leave?” the doctor retorted in an enigmatic tone. He let out a sigh, “Hey, had we not let ourselves let our emotions get the better of us, spurring us to capture this tomb, we wouldn’t be in this state that we’re in today. I’m afraid we might never be able to leave this dome for the rest of our lives.”

Suddenly, the machinist abruptly got up, and the mechanical eye in his left eye socket let out an infrared glare.

“What are you doing, robot?” the doctor asked with pursed lips.

“I seem to hear someone laughing.”

“Laughing? Being trapped in such a damned place, who could find it in them to laugh?”

The machinist shook his head, “It doesn’t seem to be our people. It sounds like a child.”

“A child?!” the doctor coughed fiercely, of such intensity it sounded like he was about to cough out his internal organs. “You must have been trapped in here too long, and problems are starting to crop up,” the doctor scoffed. “Why don’t I make a few cuts in that half-brain of yours? You won’t have any more hallucinations after I extract the neurons in your brain.”

The machinist shook his head again and said in a very serious tone, “You murderous doctor, I wouldn’t let you operate on my remaining half of my brain even if I die. Also, I’m not pulling a prank on you. There really is a child crying out there. My hyper-audio monitor can’t be wrong.”

With that said, the machinist began to run at a shocking speed toward the darkness behind the tomb.

“He’s gone mad, stark raving mad!” The doctor got up and shook his head, muttering to himself. “Well, it’s good that he’s gone insane. Then this doctor will be able to put his scalpel to work on his brain.”

Hmm? It sounded like… there was really laughter?

The doctor was startled as he turned to face the darkness behind the tomb.

*Whoosh*

The doctor watched as the energy thruster on that machinist’s back ignited, a blue flame shooting out from its exhaust as he returned from somewhere far, far away. He was holding something in his arms, and because the nights here were very dark, the doctor could not make out quite clearly what it was, but he could distinctly hear the crisp sound of giggling.

“It really was a child!” The machinist’s voice was filled with excitement as he arrived by the doctor’s side and displayed the thing that he cradled in his arm under the light.

The two of them could now make out a small face wrapped in a cashmere blanket. His rosy cheeks and big eyes sparkled with awareness. Curling his lips, the baby let out a giggle, waving his arms as if he was clapping, looking absolutely excited.

The machinist was so excited his entire body was trembling, “A child! It’s a child!

“He was not even in the least bit afraid when I held him as I flew here. Instead, he was laughing even more enthusiastically!

“Just look! The god of the universe had sent us a child!”

“Tsk!” The doctor waved his hand in irritation, but his eyes did not move even a centimeter away from the baby’s face. After all, this was a child, and he had almost forgotten the last time he had set his eyes upon one.

“There’s no such thing as a god in this universe.” The doctor was resisting the urge to look at the giggling child. He turned his head toward the darkness all around the tomb and remarked coldly, “Call everyone out and search the surroundings to see if there’s still anything else alive. Kill anything alive.”

…

There was a crowd thronging inside the tomb, their heads poking out to get a good look.

The scoundrels who lived under the dome had all come out. There was some inexplicable force that actually made all these evildoers line up all orderly, all for the sake of setting their eyes on the little life that had been found.

The doctor was keeping things in order, letting everyone just have a minute of viewing, while the one in charge of taking care of the young one was the dancer couple.

These scoundrels all had peculiar personalities and pasts, and no one had any experience taking care of a child. No one, except the dancer couple.

There were no good men under that skydome, and that couple was of course no exception. But despite how vicious they were in life, they loved each other dearly. It was rumored that they had once had a child together, and it was just too bad that it had died prematurely.

“How cute!”

“Such a handsome boy. Look at how big his eyes are!”

“Have you seen his small hands? So tender and soft. I really want to touch them.”

The doctor that was maintaining the order frowned inwardly. How had all these infamous scourges all turned into nice people the moment they set their eyes on a child?

The chef was holding a pen, diligently taking down the instructions from the dancer couple.

The chef was absolutely inexperienced when it came to what food to give a baby, and what he should be making for the tot. Afraid that he might make mistakes, he had decided to write down everything that the couple told him in his notebook, nodding incessantly as he listened.

After he was done jotting down his notes, the chef proceeded to rush to the kitchen in a hurry.

Rat grandpa blinked his beady eyes and asked, “Hey chef, didn’t you claim to make the most atrocious food in all the universe? Won’t this baby end up vomiting out all the food you make for him?!”

“How could the food I make for you to eat be the same that I make for a child? Watch your words, you old undying rat, or I’ll poison you to death!” the chef cursed him without even turning to face rat grandpa.

Rat grandpa shrank his head back in fright. He knew very well that the chef was a master poisoner!

When the doctor witnessed this exchange, he could not help but feel perplexed. The only ones alive under this dome were all scoundrels and scourges, yet it was like everyone became a different person the moment this child arrived.

The doctor heard the dancer couple call his name, so he went over with a stern expression on his face.

“This child’s surname is Xia!” The couple pointed to the name that was knitted into the corner of the small blanket.

“Skywing Clan, Xia Fan.” The doctor read the words and furrowed his brow, “Skywing? Haven’t heard of them…”