Chapter 16
First word
Xie Tao was still a bit shocked by the situation and did not react when the owner of those eyes moved.
However, the young man did not make any big movements, he only leaned in slightly in order to sense the youth’s familiar scent. He then turned his head to the side and with his lips, he gently touched the white fingertips that had before been nestled in his hair.
But it didn’t seem enough.
The markings, his scent, that were left on the youth were simply too light. The cold and beautiful young man had not shown any expression up until now, but his actions of touching the youth’s fingertips seemed very serious. After a slight pause, he repeated his movement and dragged his lip across the tip of the youth’s index finger.
Although the two movements made it seem as if he was kissing the youth’s fingers, the Knox was in fact only following his instincts and marking Xie Tao. He had after all just advanced from the cub form and had no concept of kissing.
Feeling the cold and soft touch on his fingers as well as the other’s warm breath, Xie Tao finally reacted. His brain that had been shocked blank went into overdrive and his thoughts were a mess. He had to force himself to calm down a little and take a deep breath before he could make sense of the situation. He then looked up and met those light cyan eyes. He already knew deep inside who it was, but he felt the need to call out his name.
“Ya Yi…”
After figuring out the other’s identity, Xie Tao felt a bit relieved, however he was still puzzled as to how the originally small fluffy cub could suddenly grow so big.
Except for the eyes and the tail, the Knox race’s adult form looked no different from a human.
The contractible pupils were the same as in cub form, but the tail… It had gone through a drastic change and looked completely different in humanoid form…. The fluffy tail was gone and in its place was a powerful tail covered with hard scales, similar to that of a dragon.
The tail in front of Xie Tao had gleaming silver scales and although it was very beautiful, it also gave of a cold feeling similar to that of ice.
When he had called the cub’s name, the pupils of the silver haired man in front of him had slightly contracted and he had looked up at him. This reaction had confirmed what Xie Tao had already suspected.
This person was really the Knox cub.
Noticing the youth’s sight, Ya Yi moved his silver tail closer to Xie Tao and then looked at him silently. As a cub, the Knox often called out to Xie Tao, however ever since he had crossed over to adulthood and transformed into a humanoid form, the Knox had not said a word.
The first real word a cub said after advancing into humanoid form was special. Just like how humans taught their child to say mommy and daddy, a majority of the races in the interstellar did the same. They would teach the cub these phrases in hope that they would one day be able to hear the cub say it.
However, cubs who grew up without parents were not the same as other cubs, they had never been taught this.
The first word was therefore something they had to choose themselves, and Ya Yi had this vague feeling in his heart of what he wanted to say. He knew that it was related to the human youth in front of him, but he could not remember of the exact phrase.
Ya Yi silently squinted his eyes and looked at Xie Tao as he thought.[1]
I think this is an important thing.
Xie Tao had already taken back his hand from the other’s head and as he now looked down at his own fingers that had been kissed by the other, he felt a bit conflicted.
If the other had still been a small fluffy cub, Xie Tao would certainly not have thought anything about it. After all, the other often used to lick and stroke against his fingers when he was a cub. However, despite knowing this, the action felt completely different after the cub had advanced into his adult form and looked more human. But knowing that it was unintentional and just a matter of two finger, Xie Tao dismissed it as nothing and calmed down.
Seeing the silver tail that had been moved closer and was laying in front of him, Xie Tao briefly thought about it and then looked up at the Knox to get permission as he reached out to feel the wonderful scales.
When it was touched by the youth, the tip of the silver tail unconsciously bent upwards, just like how the fluffy tail had done when it had tried to grab onto his wrist.
Noticing the familiar action, Xie Tao smiled and could not help but feel that the silver haired man in front of him was not that different from the small cub he knew.
Xie Tao finally relaxed as he sunk into his old pattern and treated the Knox as he had before. However it was at this time that he noticed something strange that he been too rattled to think about before.
The Knox was actually not naked but was wearing the same staff uniform as all the other caretakers…
Xie Tao’s work clothes were still laying folded on the small wooden cabinet in his room, so he could not phantom how the Knox possibly could have gotten the clothes, no, wait… could it be because of his ability?
(T/N: Damn it! He had clothes on! Me and every fellow pervert out there →
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ ）
As a cub, the Knox had repeatedly run over to his room at night, even though the door was always locked at night, the cub still managed to get inside. Therefore Xie Tao felt that it probably wasn’t hard for the adult Knox to get the clothes from wherever the club stored them.
When Xie Tao later brought the silver haired young man with him and showed him to the employees, everyone except Zarad got paralyzed by the shocking turn of events.
“The Knox’s cub period is very short. However what’s different about this race is not the short time in itself but their strength.” Looking around, Zarad saw his stunned colleagues faces and touched his chin as he took on the task to explain.
Because the condition for transitioning into adulthood and being able to transform into a humanoid form, was strength. It meant that the younger a Knox cub was when entering adulthood, the greater its innate strength was.
This was the first time Zarad had seen it with his own eyes, but he felt that even with the cub being a Knox, the speed was unusually fast.
However, it was quite understandable when thinking about it. The rate of which Knox cubs accumulate strength was much faster after hatching but even as an egg it would slowly accumulate. This cub had been on the brink of death and had not hatched for 30 years. Even though the power accumulated by eggs was very small, after such a long period it would certainly be big enough to speed up the cub period.
There were so many races in the interstellar and they all had their own characteristics, with many incredible abilities. Xia Qi therefore quickly accepted Zarad’s explanation, however they now faced a problem…
“Ah Tao…” Xie Qi glanced at the Knox who was standing next to the youth. She then said with some hesitation “The cub has now grown up…”
Although Xia Qi didn’t finish the sentence, Xie Tao could easily understand what she meant. However even though the Knox next to him had physically grown up, he was still a cub at mind and it was obviously impossible for him to leave the branch at this time. Xie Tao therefore said, “This is the cub’s home, since we are still missing manpower, why not have him work here as a part of the staff?”
Since the Knox was an amazing race and Ya Yi seemed to have an ability, Xie Tao felt that he would certainly be an asset to the team.
No one rejected Xie Tao’s proposition and so it was decided. However, they now had another problem…
As the cub had already advanced into adulthood, he could no longer sleep together with the other cubs in the club. He could of course neither sleep with Xie Tao.
Thinking about this, Xie Tao decided to clean up an empty room at the staff quarters and had Ya Yi move in.
However, when Xie Tao entered his room in the evening and was about to go to sleep, he noticed that, like normal, there was a white fluffy creature nestled beside his pillow.
The Knox’s ear slightly moved when the youth entered the room and he followed the youth with his pale cyan eyes.
When noticing the fluffball, Xie Tao abruptly stopped his actions and wordlessly stared blankly at him for two seconds. He really didn’t understand what was happening. Walking over, he picked up the Knox that now had the same small fluffy form as when he was a cub.
“Meah.” Being held in the youth’s arms, the Knox allowed Xie Tao to turn, raise and feel as he examined his second big change for the day.
Compared to his other form, he could get closer to the youth in this one. Although he did not understand the reason why, Ya Yi could clearly feel this and had therefore changed back.
The youth had a warmth that made him want to be close. This warmth easily incinerated the cold and darkness that he had once felt.
Xie Tao made it all go away.
When he had been inside the egg, Ya Yi had been conscious of everything happening around him. However this was not a good thing… Because during all those years he had heard every single thing the caretakers around him said and he had strongly felt that the world did not welcome him.
Inside the egg was only darkness, but at least the dark had been safe. The world outside held light but to Ya Yi it had been new and hostile. However he had still longed for it, he had wanted to see it with his own eyes. But he wasn’t welcome, no one had wanted him to be born.
Then he had heard the voice of Xie Tao and everything changed.
Hearing the young voice of the Knox in his arms, Xie Tao felt a bit conflicted, but he ultimately placed the cub back on his usual spot beside the pillow.
Once the Knox was back on the bed, he moved around a bit to find the most comfortable place and then laid back down, forming a fluffy white round ball as he nestled close to the pillows softness.
Having advanced into adulthood or not having advanced into adulthood, Xie Tao felt that it didn’t matter as long as the Knox stayed in his cub form and didn’t take up all the space on the bed.
Xie Tao was never one to struggle with a problem for long and he therefore quickly accepted the situation and laid down on the bed. Turning his head sideways he could see the familiar white fluffy cub laying close to the pillow and without a worry in his heart, Xie Tao gradually closed his eyes.
However, even after Xie Tao´s breathing became lighter and the quiet of the night set in, Ya Yi was still awake, thinking about the matter from this morning.
The first word I want to say is-
As he said this sentence in his mind, his eyes moved to the youth’s peaceful sleeping face and he finally found his answer.
Xie Tao…
Ah Tao.
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Translator’s note:
I now have an editor! Please welcome Orphire! *\(^o^)/*
Also, the author finally brought up the big white cat in the room. If you have read her other novel you know that the main characters have some similarities and she brought up this matter in her note, explaining that she liked that setting and wanted to use it in this novel that does not have repeated transmigration.
[1] – To a human, squinting one’s eyes can show suspicion or maybe one is just trying to read something small. However to a cat, that is like smiling. Here Ya Yi is showing a smile around level 2, level 10 is when your cat is purring, it’s relatively dark in the room, and as he looks up at you with narrow eyes, the little light in the room reflects and glitters in his eyes which are filled with love.