Chapter Two

The staring contest lasted for what seemed like several minutes, or perhaps just a few seconds.

At this moment, time seemed to have little meaning for the little boy named Xiao Jian Ning, who was lying on the ground. He nervously swallowed his saliva as he looked at the bearded man in front of him.

The man was also sizing him up, his eyes revealing an ambiguous emotion. Just as the big and small were still playing the staring game, a few more people came from behind.

Most of the men who came were bearded, while the women wore short skirts and boots with weapons attached to them, looking sexy and charming.

“Boss, what are you doing standing here?”

A green-haired, bearded man, who was slightly thinner, walked over from behind and was surprised to see the curly-haired little boy on the ground.

“Where did this child come from? Isn’t it forbidden to bring children on this kind of commercial transport ship?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, it’s probably some crew member’s child who was secretly brought on board.”

During the transportation process of a commercial transport ship, it had to go through layers of inspections and screenings due to the dangerous circumstances.

Therefore, the crew members working on such a high-risk commercial transport ship had to undergo strict selection. It was a big deal to raise a child on board.

The green-haired man squatted down, showing great interest in Xiao Jian Ning.

Xiao Jian Ning’s gaze also shifted from the bearded man’s face to the green-haired man’s face. His dense beards covered half of his face, but his deep eyes, tall nose bridge, and distinct facial features were enough to tell that he was not bad-looking.

Compared to the previous group of bad guys, this group of bad guys didn’t seem that bad just by their looks.

Although Xiao Jian Ning was prepared to be reincarnated, he wanted to struggle a little longer before he lost his life.

“Ah!”

‘Hello!’

Xiao Jian Ning, who couldn’t speak earlier, propped himself up from his prone position with his little chubby hands. He changed his posture to a sitting position and made a friendly “ah” sound.

When he realized that the bearded men didn’t understand his language, he didn’t give up. Instead, he tried a new approach.

Just now, when he was thrown out, his bottle was also thrown out. The bottle was rolling in a corner not far away from him. This bottle, which still had half of its milk, was Xiao Jian Ning’s only remaining possession besides his red stone necklace and little underpants.

He crawled over, picked up the bottle, and because he couldn’t crawl while holding the bottle, he pushed the bottle with his chubby hand all the way to the green-haired man, and then picked it up again.

“Ah!”

‘Here, take this protection fee.’

Jian Ning, who had rich survival experience from his past life, knew how to deal with robbery. The best way was to call the police, followed by paying for peace to stabilize the robber and prevent them from causing physical harm. The last resort was to beat the robber down.

In the current situation, Jian Ning couldn’t call the police, nor could he beat the bad guys with his short arms and legs. He could only choose to hand over his last bit of property.

Green Hair looked at the milk bottle handed to him, and the baby handing him the bottle. He was stunned. Even the man next to him, Zhan Rao, raised his eyebrows.

The two men stared at the curly-haired baby holding the bottle. The baby had a white and tender round face, black shiny eyes, and a watery look. It was clear that the baby was afraid of them, but he was also bold enough to approach them.

It was strange.

They had never seen such a young baby before.

Jian Ning held the bottle up, his chubby arms tired and sore, but the bottle was still not taken.

This won’t do.

He thought to himself, while his brain was spinning rapidly. Perhaps he was thinking too fast. His head was a little dizzy.

After a moment, he ignored the discomfort in his head and seriously put on a stern little face.

“Ah!”

‘Open your mouth!’

He urged Green Hair to take the bottle before his arms ran out of strength. He mustered the last bit of strength and slammed the bottle directly in front of Green Hair’s mouth.

Green Hair’s mouth didn’t close tightly, and it was actually pushed into his mouth.

Jian Ning: “!”

Jian Ning’s eyes lit up all of a sudden.

‘After drinking this bottle of milk, spare this little baby!’

All of Jian Ning’s thoughts were written on his face. After pushing the bottle into Green Hair’s mouth, he had no more energy and slumped back.

Green Hair bit the bottle and the astonishment in his eyes only lasted for a second before it was replaced with complexity.

He looked at the baby, who sat on the ground like a deflated balloon, swaying back and forth. The soft flesh on the baby’s cheeks bulged slightly as he exhaled, like a freshly steamed white and soft bun.

“Are you... trying to please me?”

The green-haired man held a baby bottle in his hand. His naturally smiling eyes were now serious as he asked the baby a question. As the words left his mouth, he even felt like he was going crazy for asking about it.

The baby in front of them was so young, it could only crawl and make cooing noises. How could he possibly understand what they were saying?

But to their surprise, the baby hesitated for a moment and then nodded its head.

This nod made the green-haired man’s heart skip a beat. They poked their companion, Zhan Rao, in the waist and exchanged a look with them, saying without words: “Boss, did you see that? This baby can understand us!”

Zhan Rao had been observing the baby and also thought it was somewhat unusual.

Having been together for many years, they had enough rapport that with just one look, they silently agreed on a plan: take the baby back to their base and study it carefully.

The simple-minded Jian Ning, who couldn’t understand their silent communication, was left behind.

Zhan Rao was a man of few words and wasn’t fond of playing with babies. Not only did he dislike it, but he was also a little annoyed by them. Babies cried and were difficult to take care of, and he had no plans to raise one in his lifetime.

Even if they brought this baby back and studied it, he would send it away as soon as possible.

Since Zhan Rao didn’t like dealing with babies, he left the baby to Zhan Xi after giving him instructions and then got up to call a few people who were watching the commotion behind them and asked in a low voice, “Did you do what I asked you to do?”

Before boarding this transport ship, Zhan Rao had already assigned tasks to them.

Seeing that Zhan Rao had asked, the people who were still interested in watching the baby suddenly straightened their backs and went to do their own tasks.

These few people were here to inspect the transport ship, and three others were sent to chase after the escaped Poison Spider members.

When it came to robbing someone, they preferred to kill their peers and take over all of their assets.

There were rumors that this commercial ship, codenamed B33, was transporting an extremely rare cosmic treasure. The leader of the Poison Spider organization was notorious for being greedy, so Zhan Rao wasn’t surprised that they had come to rob it.

Not long after, a beautiful woman came over with a photon gun in her hand, her finger hooked on the trigger, spinning it as she reported to Zhan, “Boss, we’ve checked everything, and we haven’t found anything valuable.”

The Poison Spider organization probably took the rumored cosmic treasure.

As she spoke, the woman added another piece of information. “I saw the baby’s clothes. They were next to the trash can, and it looks like they were ripped off forcefully. A few of the buttons were broken.”

Zhan Rao’s assistant, Zhan Xi, who had just picked up the baby, looked over for a few seconds and then averted his gaze.

During the conversation with the woman, Zhan Rao ignored the topic of the baby’s clothing.

He knew the reason why the Posion Spider cleaned the baby’s body: it was to check if the baby was hiding any treasures. The fact that this particular baby was still alive after being checked by them was a testament to its tough life.

Zhan Rao continued to speak softly, while Zhan Xi continued to harass the baby as if the other could really understand their conversation.

“Did you hear my introduction earlier? We’re Star Pirates. That person over there is our leader. Our main job is to rob, and our side job is to eat little kids. You better listen to us, or else, being such a tender and juicy little kid, I could eat two of you in one go.”

These brutal words would probably scare a real baby to tears, but Xiao Jian Ning’s small, round face just looked a bit startled on the surface. In his heart, he was extremely indifferent to it, thinking that he was not a baby and would not be scared.

Zhan Xi talked tough, but he was actually holding the little baby firmly. Not only did he hold the baby securely, he also picked up two tattered little clothes from the trash can the woman had just mentioned.

“Come on, stretch your arms out and put on the clothes. I love to eat little kids who don’t dress properly.” Zhan Xi tried to put the clothes on Xiao Jian Ning.

Seeing this, Xiao Jian Ning quickly extended his arms and let him put on the clothes.

But Zhan Xi, who was clumsy, couldn’t put on the simple little clothes properly. He either folded his arms or choked him by the neck.

When Xiao Jian Ning threw up twice and was nearly dying, the woman who had been talking to Zhan Rao finally couldn’t bear it any longer.

She snatched the poor baby, who had been messed up badly, and expertly dressed him in the little clothes. “You’re so stupid, you can’t even dress a baby properly.”

She complained while holding the baby, unwilling to give him back to Zhan Xi. The soft and warm feeling of the baby in her arms made her want to keep holding him.

Zhan Xi could not refute her criticism, so he just pulled a long face with a pair of eyes full of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. This was the first time he had dressed a baby, so how could he know how to do it properly?!

Apart from the little baby, there were no other living creatures on the transport ship. The little baby was taken away by Zhan Xi again and transferred to a new spacecraft.

On the new spacecraft, Xiao Jian Ning felt dizzy and his eyes felt heavy, as if he had been drugged. He sat on Zhan Xi’s lap, leaning against Zhan Xi’s chest, listening to him whisper in his ear, “You can understand what we’re saying, which means you’re a precocious kid. Let me test you, 1+1. What’s the answer?”

Xiao Jian Ning: “?”

Jian Ning pouted with a face like a steamed bun and made two “ya” sounds.

Zhan Xi quickly understood that the two “ya” sounds meant two, and his face was full of excitement as he asked, “What about 1+2?”

Jian Ning made three “ya” sounds.

Zhan Xi became even more excited as he asked more questions, and his numbers got bigger and bigger. “What about 2+8?”

For 2+8, Jian Ning had to make ten “ya” sounds.

Jian Ning hung his head, feeling fed up. Since he woke up, he hadn’t even had any milk or water, and now he was being made to talk so much that his throat hurt!

But he couldn’t say no, and the person holding him, a star pirate, was urging him to answer.

Jian Ning didn’t want to speak, so he just raised both of his chubby hands. Together, his two hands had ten fingers.

Zhan Xi exclaimed, and when he looked up at Zhan Rao, he saw that other people had gathered around. They were all amazed at this little child who was good at math.

The woman who had just dressed Jian Ning’s voice trembled. “Boss, the child we picked up is a genius baby, right?”

“I heard that this kind of genius baby is very rare, and there are only a few born every hundred years. If we send this baby to school, he will definitely be able to get into university and become an educated person. Maybe he can even go to a big city to develop.”

As a star pirate, they didn’t have a household registration, so they couldn’t go to university or live in big cities.

This once-in-a-century genius baby made them feel excited and fascinated. They didn’t have much education themselves, but they envied the educated.

Jian Ning was asked more and more questions, not just by Zhan Xi but also by other strange uncles and big sisters.

These people were more careful than Zhan Xi, and at least they knew to give him water and feed him a strange-tasting but nutritious paste that could be used as food.

“Okay, okay, let’s stop. I can see that he’s about to fall asleep. Babies need a lot of sleep, so let’s not disturb him,” said Hua Yaqing, making everyone disperse.

The people who were very interested in the baby were somewhat reluctant to leave when Hua Yaqing drove them away. They hadn’t had a chance to interact with the baby yet.

Zhan Rao didn’t show any reluctance, but as he turned to leave, he casually threw a piece of candy to Jian Ning.

Jian Ning forced himself to stay awake, but he was exhausted from working all day and was yawning constantly.

He felt his head spinning even more. The people around Zhan Xi dispersed, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He poked the little face of the baby in his arms and whispered, “I didn’t expect you to be a little genius. Okay, go to sleep now, or you’ll be tired and silly.”

Jian Ning heard this and closed his eyes listlessly.

A few seconds later, Zhan Xi heard the even breathing of the sleeping baby. He hugged the sleeping baby with one hand and browsed the StarNet with the other, secretly watching various videos on raising babies.

While watching the videos, Zhan Xi accidentally stumbled upon a video of the Imperial Little Prince. The Imperial Little Prince had just turned three years old and the royal family occasionally released some videos of him.

In these videos, the Little Prince always had a cold face and a bad temper. Logically speaking, such a baby would not be endearing, but the genes of the Imperial family were superior, and even if the Little Prince had a sulky face, he was so good-looking that people couldn’t take their eyes off him.

Love blinded the group of fangirls and supporters of the royal family, saying that the Little Prince’s bad temper was his true nature and his cold face was just him being arrogant.

Looking at the comments under the video of the Little Prince, Zhan Xi coldly snorted, “Only blind people would find such a bad-tempered baby cute.”

Both babies were in his arms, but the one sleeping was obviously cuter and more obedient.

Zhan Xi was still watching the video when the people who had just gone to chase the Poison Spider returned. The three of them frowned and said to Zhan Rao, who was sitting in the corner, “Boss, the leader of the Poison Spider escaped. We caught his men, but they said they didn’t find the treasure.”

“I suspect that the leader of the Poison Spider took the treasure.”

Zhan Rao and his companions talked about the rare treasure that was rumored to exist and discussed its whereabouts. Zhan Xi was watching videos on raising babies, while the others were quietly chatting about baby geniuses.

The atmosphere on the spaceship was harmonious for a while. However, under this harmonious atmosphere, Jian Ning’s chubby hand tightly clasped Zhan Xi’s finger, and the eyebrows on his round face suddenly furrowed tightly.

A few minutes later, Zhan Xi felt the hand holding his finger was a little hot.

He looked down in confusion and discovered that the baby was sleeping with his eyes tightly closed, his face red, and he was obviously running a fever.

<Prev> <ToC> <Next>